Monthly Archives: June 2015

June 8th – fourth day:

Start: in the forest east of Bonfol;  finish: Les Bornes, north of  Bure
Total distance: 33,8 km, of which 4 by bicycle
Walking time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Vertical distance: 820 m uphill, 730 downhill

Taken to the starting point by Sally.  Two Swiss foresters told us that all the fallen trees were due to a thunderstorm last Friday (the same one we had in Hofstetten-Flüh).  Overcast, so not so hot.  Neil and I started slowly as neither was feeling too well.  All day, a lot of beautiful forest paths, but also some cultivated fields that were difficult to cross or go around.  We took 5 hours to reach Boncourt for a drink, then I bicycled across the valley to the motorway frontier crossing, and continued alone the last 2 hours.  Early on, met a friendly French walker, who turned out to have been an experienced skier and alpinist in his time (see photo).

Night:  Le Chandelier, St-Ursanne

June 7th – third day

Total distance: 7,4 km
Total time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Vertical distance: 115 m uphill, 135 downhill

A bad night with little sleep, due to village festival outside our hotel window.  At breakfast, I still couldn’t swallow anything solid.  Neil also ill (he went out to enjoy the fun outside).  Nevertheless I set off slowly.  Many detours needed as the whole frontier area here is marshland.  Many obstacles – trees across the tracks – there must have been a strong storm recently.  See photo – this was the first of many.  Then the crux:  I followed the only possible “path” on the map but it was completely overgrown and impossible to find without a GPS.  For some 600 – 700 m I battled with brambles, giant stinging nettles (that stung your knees through the trousers), boggy areas, shrubs, fallen trees, etc.  By the end I was quite exhausted and soon contacted Sally to be “rescued”.  Difficult, because of weak mobile networks in this area.

Night: Hôtel de la Gare, Porrentruy

June 6th – second day

Total distance: 40,0 km, of which 11 by bicycle
Total time: 11 hours of which 2 hours resting
Vertical distance: 1275 m uphill, 1165 downhill

Christoph Braendle, our Basle host, joined us today, arriving at Bättwil/Flüh by tram just before 8 a.m.  We started off almost immediately.  It was again very hot and some fenced off fields near Rodersdorf and elsewhere forced us to do some tedious detours.  Beautiful paths once in the forest.  Passed a huge beech tree, 40 m tall, almost a national monument, the “largest tree in northwest Switzerland”.  Just inside Swiss territory, it seems the local inhabitants had to defend the tree against the German Wehrmacht who wanted to fell it during World War II.  Finally finished going round the village of Rodersdorf and were forced to go to the nearest inn for a cool drink.

Next, a lovely ridge walk to the summit of Raemelsberg, with its slender concrete observation tower.  Sally was waiting for us at Chlösterle, where I had to pedal the 11 km to Lucelle for another drink – the others went by car.  After much discussion, Christoph and I decided to walk the last few km, while Neil was taken straight to the hotel for a shower!  I was quite exhausted at the end and could not eat anything solid.  Christoph took the train back to Basle.

Night: Hôtel de la Gare, Porrentruy

Statistics first day – June 5th:

Total distance: 29,7 km of which 3 by kayak and 5 by bicycle
Total time: 6 hours 50 minutes
Vertical distance: 930 m uphill, 800 m downhill

Pushed off in the kayak at Kleinhüningen in murky harbour water, passed the Dreiländereck and entered the current.  Paddled upstream 3 km and found it quite tough.  Current stronger than expected, and obstacles on the bank, e.g. restaurant boat, that forced one into the middle where the current was stronger.  But in the end I managed in well under an hour.  The bicycle part was much easier, since much of it had been reconnoitred earlier.  Later, many detours were needed – fenced off villas on the Swiss side, cultivated fields on the French side, with no path in between (see photo).  Neil joined me on the walk from Schönenbuch, the last 12 km.  It was very hot and we ran out of water!

Night in a B&B at Hofstetten-Flüh.
  

Arrived in Basle in heat wave conditions in time to collect grandson Neil at the airport.  He will be our movie photographer and will accompany me on some sections.  Immediately reconnoitred the Franco-Swiss border on the left bank of the Rhine.  All is a huge building site on both sides of the border and we soon learned that it would be impossible to traverse that part of the Novartis Campus.  So I will have to land the kayak about 1 km further upstream near on old ferry across the river.

Lovely evening with our friends in Basle, Christoph and Elke in their house.

Two days to go!  Tomorrow we leave for Basle, with a lot of luggage and gear, including a kayak and a bicycle on the roof of the car.  My son Roger lent me a mountain bike.  I did 10 km on it on Monday – the first time I have ridden a bicycle for at least 5 years!  Not much time left to train.  There is a problem with the kayaks:  they have not arrived in time from France, although ordered some time ago.  So Passion Nautique in Morges lent me another one-seater which I picked up today.  Again, no time to practise or to train on it.