Time is passing quickly. I’ll be going to meet Lisa in about 2 weeks and I don‘t feel ready for this trek. That said, it was a pretty eventful week. The gym was open again after a forced week closure for annual maintenance and the weather has held well for outdoor activities.
On Wednesday I was reminded that this apartment is right next to the main arena for the Lucerne football club - FC Lucern. It turns out they had a match against the Zurich Grasshoppers - their main rival. As usual I was clueless until The noise got really loud and I heard all the football songs/chants. If I cared at all, or if Chris had been here, I would have gotten tickets, It was probably a good game as the match ended with a tie score and the Grasshoppers are supposed to be much better than Lucerne.
Monday I did a 3000 training, again up to Frakmuntegg and Wednesday, my light hike day, was to Sonnenberg again, about 1100 feet (the little squiggle circled on the map).
Sometime during this week I realized one of my hiking poles is starting to have a split on the plastic head. It will survive TMB, but something to look into later. It doesn’t show well in this picture, but the black top bit is starting to separate from the blue bit.
Monday’s hike went pretty well. Even though the weather forecast did not reflect rain, there were low clouds which made for a wet hike. This changed the entire environment which made the hike more interesting. The part of the route I like the best is up about 200 feet of steps supported by wood logs, through the forest and by a stream. The damp made this a bit slick, but I saw things like mushrooms and frogs. The clouds made all the views quite mysterious. Coming down the view across Lake Lucerne made the mountains look ethereal.
Along the way to the hike trailhead I noticed that the ugly apartment block actually had a mural along the side which was kind of nice. Also, I finally took a shot of the bird coups kept by a farmer - one for pigeons and the other for doves
Wednesday’s hike was uneventful and the weather was glorious. The one change I made was returning the same way I came up instead of continuing the loop. This was a good decision as it was much prettier. I also noticed this mural on the side of a barn on the way down.
As I was descending I went through a cow pasture. As you remember, the cows wear really big bells around their necks which make a huge racket. They were on the other side of the field, but as I walked through the field the noise got louder to the point that I turned around to see the lead cow coming closer to say hello. When I turned around she stopped and decided I wasn’t so interesting after all, unless they were going to mug me - I guess we’ll never know!
Tuesday and Thursday were gym days and it was nice that it was open. A few words about the facilities. They have a salt room. I’m not sure if I reaped the benefits of less stress and better sleep, but I really enjoyed lying on a “0 gravity” couch after my workout. They also have an open air area that is set up with 4 “troughs” for want of a better word. These troughs are filled with shin high freezing cold water. You do the “circuit” and walk through the troughs, avoiding the gravel option. It feels wonderful after hiking and/or a workout.
As you know, one thing I’ve been doing to avoid boredom is to knit mittens in case the TMB becomes wet and cold. I finished them this week - they don’t look like the pattern, but at least they look like each other. Now I’m not sure what I will do to help occupy my days. I guess I will be glad when Chris gets here.
One thing I did to lessen the boredom was to get a haircut as I could no longer stand my bangs getting in my eyes. It’s always stressful for me to get a haircut in another country where English is not a first language (or even a second language here). I found a Syrian barbershop that did men, women and children and took the plung. I managed to communicate that I didn’t want him to use a razor, but it still came out looking like a man’s haircut. At least it will grow and it was half the price of most places and in line with UK/US cost.
While I was downtown, I sent a postcard to my friends from Cupertino (the Adens) and stopped in the visitor’s bureau to get some information for Chris’ visit next week. I couldn’t resist asking about Pilatus access and found out there was a mountain bike trail which didn’t involve any scrambling. This, and the good weather forecast, motivated me to try the hike on Saturday and this is the topic of a separate blog post.
The weekly eat out was uninspiring. I went to Rossini and ended up with pizza again. Mediocre. Walking back I found a crepe place that offered cinnamon and sugar crepes- also mediocre.
Final thought for the week - Exodus published its 2023 trekking calendar. That’s grist for another posting:)
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