Call off the search dogs! I’m alive!
I mentioned I’d write again after walking from the city, but that idea went out the exhaustion window. It took two hours to walk home (which was a nice surprise as I thought it would be longer) and when I arrived, Rene was finishing repairs on the ride-on lawnmower in preparation to do the garden. So yep, you guessed it, I dumped my backpack on the bench outside our house, and walked straight over to him to help. Thank goodness for leaf blowers and ride-on mowers! Three hours later, I flopped on the couch (after a shower of course!) and after another three hours, I was asleep on the couch. I stumbled up the ladder into bed.
Part of the plan to walk home was so I could stop at a new animal shelter to ask about volunteering. I’d seen a picture of it in a free local magazine so was keen to see if I could be put to good use. Searching in the forest where I thought it would be, I asked a woman with a very funky short grey crop hairdo, who was walking her dog, if she knew where it was. “It hasn’t been built yet,” she said. “Maybe next year.”
Serves me right for not being fluent in German! I’d completely misread the article and thought the place had opened already. What makes the story even more bizarre (aside from my silliness) is the woman who I spoke to, well, her husband is involved with trying to get the shelter built. How about that for a fluke? Of all the people to ask, Heidi was the best person possible. She was very knowledgeable about the whole procedure and said some residents across the river are against it being built, because they’re worried about the noise travelling. If all goes to plan, the shelter could be finished by the end of summer next year.
Anyway, here are the photos from yesterday’s walk:
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Hayfever season is upon us, so armed with my largest hanky (thanks Gab!), I set off on the walk to the bus. Just a tad windy …
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A colourful garden on the walk to the bus
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More colour. Love the clumps of tulips
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I’m in the city now, starting the walk home. This house in the middle of the Langgasse Quartier has a huge magnolia tree and turtles roaming under it
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Dropped some books at the library and off I headed to the forest
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This colourful display was outside a petrol station
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Follow the main street to the very end …
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Pass the bicycle shop with the waving pope …
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And at the roundabout walk into the forest. Can you see the blue Wohlen sign for the cars?
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Into the woods. You can hear the freeway to Zurich, which is to the right only 200m or so
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Cleaning out the dead wood … and some alive wood too I’m sure
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At the sign coming up we take a right …
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And cross this bridge over the freeway …
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Goodbye noisy cars …
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And soon we’re in the cool forest again …
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This is a map of the park I walk through, and eventually cross a footbridge into Hinterkappelen
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There’s a small section on the road inside the park …
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Before rejoining the smaller path again …
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Then there’s a long stretch on a white stony road – I had to put on more sunscreen here …
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After a kilometre or so, the path goes down …
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Heading down. The intermittent orange rooves are markers for a gas pipe …
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A plot of empty land next to this ramshackle house is where they plan to build the new animal shelter …
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After a lovely wooded walk, it’s back onto a short stretch of road …
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Down to the Aare river …
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Police patrolling the water as I crossed the bridge …
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Looking towards Hinterkappelen and the car bridge …
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A pit stop for some strawberries and Anzac biscuits …
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Walking away from the river, up into the quiet end of Hinterkappelen …
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Ugly industrial buildings almost hidden by cows in the field …
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A nice farmhouse …
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A lovely building for the Women’s Health office …
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Then up the hill into the woods separating Hinterkappelen and Wohlen …
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Looking down into Hinterkappelen and you can see a tiny glimpse of the Wohlensee, Lake of Wohlen …
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Nice tracks in the wheat …
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Heading into more lush and green forest …
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Which way from here? We’ll go left …
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Love the sun streaming through trees …
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Out into civilisation again – the houses are on the road between Oberwohlen and Uettligen …
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Speed racer on his bike, being chased by his sister …
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More farming fields …
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Zooming in to see the misty Alps …
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A faded cow sign saying “I prefer to eat grass than rubbish.” They always make me smile!
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Crossing the road from the field into civilisation. My bus stop direction Bern is on the left …
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Walking up the road to Oberwohlen. The normal Wanderweg yellow sign points left but I take a short cut …
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Past this house, which I find really sweet …
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Past the streaked wall which used to have flowers drawn in chalk …
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And this lovely garden …
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Along this street, heading towards the wood stacks …
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Where we take the path to the right …
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Which runs beside a little creek, on the right …
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And with this view to the left …
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To hit the road to home, past the self-pick, honesty-box flower field …
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Which is blooming well now! Our house is in the distance …
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Yellow …
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Looks like the jogger is about to be run over by the tractor!
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And then the road leads to home …
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Soon the poor pool will be loved again …
And here’s the finished garden. My arms were shaking from using the leaf blower to clear all the leaves (the leaves! the leaves!) out of the garden beds and off the concrete areas. (Rene is a stickler for dead-leaf decimation. I follow his orders.) Then I jumped on the mower to finish with this:
Look at that freshly mown grass!
Look at that leaf-free garden!
Look at that ball-crazy dog called Boy!
Look at those flags in the wind (and look at the lovely grass too)!
- Physically Fit: Two-hour walk from the city to home; using the leaf blower (damn heavy thing!)
- Mentally Fit: Meeting Leonie for lunch, walking, beginning French crime show “Braquo”
- Nutritionally Fit: Smoothies, salads and strawberries
- Minimalism: Fail – could have used a broom instead of the leaf blower. I’d still be in the garden though …
Wishing you a wonderful day.
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