photo gallery

May 12: Swiss Camino Day 3

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Another long day with a very steep and arduous hill at the end but the view from the top is worth it!

It was pretty warm today, even I can admit that. I had sweat droplets coming down my face which hasn’t happened for a very long time! We left the accommodation in Tobel at 8.45am (we’re creatures of habit it seems) after a big breakfast talking to the owners and another couple who are walking one more day with their dog.

First came some fields with fresh hay bales, then some flat parts, then some hilly parts, then lunch in Fisherlingen, then some really beautiful forested parts and then finally some open parts which were very, very steep. Leo asked me was it just him or was I suffering on the incline too? I was suffering. We arrived in Hörnli just after 4pm and decided after 28km that was enough for one day. It was time to stop and enjoy that view.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I’ll write descriptions when I’m home.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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May 11: Swiss Camino Day 2

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We set off just before 9am after a hearty breakfast at our hotel in Constance, through the city for about half an hour and then into a lovely forest area next to a stream. After just over three hours we arrived at our intended destination, Märstetten, and thought why stop now? So we went on, for another four hours and made it to Tobel. Just over seven hours of walking and about 26km under our belts.

All up a wonderful day in the sunshine with plenty of spectacular views and animals and hay bales. We’ve had dinner and my hayfever tablet has worn off and my nose is running and I can’t stop sneezing so I’m going to keep this short!

We’re definitely going to feel our legs and feet tomorrow and are worried we may have overdone it on day one! But the weather was too good to stop. Leo has a sore part at the back of his knee and I have a blister on the back of my left heel. Not to worry! We’ll power on tomorrow (we’ll probably be up quite early as it’s 8.15pm and Leo is asleep already!) and see how far we can go.

Enjoy the small selection of photos. I’ll add descriptions when I get home.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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May 6: Catch-up photos and postponed nervousness

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The big news which distracted me from writing yesterday’s post is … I have a job interview. It was supposed to be this morning, via telephone, but it has been rescheduled for next Wednesday. I’m not going to say anything more about it for fear of jinxing myself. Please cross all fingers and toes.

As a catch-up for yesterday’s simple post, here are a few drab-looking photos.

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A glorious full moon from May 4

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We’ve had so much rain in Bern and surrounds that the Aare river is flooded and the walking paths on both sides have disappeared

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Looking towards the city from the Lorrainebrücke (bridge). The water is normally crystal clear

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Grey skies in Bern at Waisenhausplatz

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Markets in Waisenhausplatz

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Across the tram lines from the wares in Waisenhausplatz is Bärenplatz, home of the food markets

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Lovely fresh, unpackaged products

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Bring your own container! Zero Waste!

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At the top of Bärenplatz is the Bundeshaus (Federal Palace of Switzerland) where Parliament sits. Most people think the Swiss capital is Zürich

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Looking towards the Gurten (the small hill) from the viewing platform at the Bundeshaus

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The building in the distance with the spires is the Einstein Museum. He was a lecturer at the University of Bern in 1908

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There are several street chess boards in the city

Monday night was the final of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield. I was lucky enough to be at the Crucible Theatre in 1995 for a night and day session – amazing to be there after watching it for so many years on television. It’s always sooo quiet! Congratulations to perennial underdog Stuart Bingham on his first world title! It was a fantastic final (against Shaun Murphy) and I’m glad Bingham won because he beat my favourite player Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-final.

Yesterday was a very social day – lunch with Leonie and then drinks and dinner with Claudia (not my old German teacher Claudia, who I meet once a week, but Leo’s friend Dani’s girlfriend Claudia, who lives in Basel). In between the two catch-ups, I went to the library and finished this beautifully written, memorable book.

I was amazed to see the unusual pink and green tulip from our local tulip field in a recent post from Freda at livesimplysimplylive. I’ve never seen them before and then twice in three days! Freda’s grow in her garden. How wonderful! Must try and plant some too.

I’ll post again with some fitness stuff. This is really more of a catch-up from yesterday, where my exercise was walking around the city looking at the flooded river.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May 4: The force was strong on Monday Runday

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Not only is it Monday Runday, it’s also Star Wars Day … May the 4th be with you.

The fourth, I mean force, was strong today on my 5km run. Apart from stopping to take the odd photo and having to walk 200m to get rid of a stitch (again!), I felt really good and was happy with my time. I think I’m so worried about being dehydrated and getting that weird pain in my ears, I overcompensate and drink too much water before I head out.

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At the beginning of the run, one of these tracks was a little creek

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Looking towards Sariswil

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These calves looked so cute, I had to stop for a photo

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So sweet – they ran over to say hello!

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Maybe I smelt good, but I doubt it

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In the end, they all lined up for their 15 minutes of fame

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Saw a man using a strange machine in the fields, and waved … and maybe ran a little harder! Such a dag

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Rape seed in full bloom

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I startled this heron (?) in the puddle and it flew off majestically

I had thought about taking a longer route, but then chickened out at the last minute. Probably a good thing, as it was really humid (no wind too) and I ended up having to shed top layers and run in my tank top – first time that’s ever happened in Switzerland!

As part of my cool-down, I walked back to the tulip field (I measured it as 550m from our house) but the ducks from yesterday were gone. I bought a bunch of solid hot pink flowers as consolation.

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Magnificent tulip with insects!

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The bunch from yesterday, downstairs

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The new bunch from today, upstairs

The tulips aren’t going to be around for much longer – I’m almost tempted to collect a bunch of beautiful white ones, with pointy tips, tomorrow!

This morning was rainy and pretty miserable, so while waiting for a break in the weather, I mended the split in the backside of my apple-green cotton trousers. Initially I thought my pants would only be good enough for garden work afterwards, but I think I did such a good job, and the thread matched so well, I can wear them out again. (Can’t believe (and am very thankful) a hotel sewing kit carried that colour!) Then again, I may have been without my glasses when looking in the mirror … And after taking this photo, I’m now having second thoughts. I’ll wear a long top. 🙂

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Maybe my mending effort wasn’t so invisible after all …

All this rain has made our next holiday plans a bit sketchy – from next weekend, we’re planning to walk the first third of the Swiss Camino, from Constance to Einsiedeln. It should take about five to six days of walking, and is only 93km long, but if it’s going to be too wet, maybe we’ll have to rethink our plans. We walked the second (middle) section from Einsiedeln to Thun in 2012 and hopefully we’ll complete the third and final stage from Thun to Geneva before too long.

  • Physically Fit: Monday Runday – 5km jumping across the muddy puddles
  • Mentally Fit: Walking to the tulip field again and talking to the calves
  • Nutritionally Fit: Sixth day of fasting (500 calories) on the 5:2 Diet (and start of the final week perhaps?)
  • Minimalism: Mending the green pants

Have you been out wandering in your neighbourhood recently? I’d love to hear about what you see when you go walking or running.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May 3: Another Sunday walk

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We had a great time at the BEA with everyone yesterday, and a quiet, relaxing time home alone today.

The gang - Leo, Tom, Sandra, me, Leo, Pastora and Iva

The gang – Leo, Tom, Sandra, me, Leo, Pastora and Iva

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We didn’t go on this ride

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Leo, Tom and Sandra

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General BEA sideshow and ride alley

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Bueller … Bueller …

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Sandra and her hamburger, me and my second Berliner raspberry doughnut. I told you I was addicted

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Leo found the biggest sausage grill

A little bit of wine tasting

A little bit of wine tasting

Seems to be a Sunday tradition at the moment, going for a wander in the neighbourhood. It’s been raining so much the past few days, we made a break for it during a rare break and headed out. Again, the walk was leisurely, but they say 30 minutes a day is all you need.

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Good weather for them

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You know it’s impossible not to stop at the tulips

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These ones came home with us

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A mistake photo but I like it

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What an amazing tulip!

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Beautiful light on the rape seed field

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Lovely colours, blues and greens

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Mud up a side track

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He wasn’t very camouflaged

At home I spent a bit of time in my garden, admiring the blooms. We also watched the first season of Broadchurch, which I really enjoyed. I’ve long been a fan of Olivia Colman – she never disappoints. She was amazing in Tyrannosaur (not for the faint-hearted) and Green Wing too.

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In my garden at home

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The first two signs of my gladioli!

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My new bulb garden is coming up a treat! Those pink tulips started white

Oh and Mayweather beat Pacquiao. I didn’t watch the fight, just read about it. The more I know about Mayweather, the less I want to retain.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 26: Strolling in the neighbourhood

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Like a couple of old wanderers, Leo and I walked around the neighbourhood this afternoon for more than an hour. I have to admit it was at a very relaxed pace.

(Writing ‘walking in the neighbourhood’ reminds me of this Sesame Street classic. And can you believe? People think kale is something new and funky but here it is mentioned in … what … the mid 1970s?! Love Bob too.)

Back to the walk … We went to the tulip field, up the hill to visit the cows at my favourite farmhouse, said hello to what felt like half the village during peak hour in the forest, then along the horse trail, past fields of Urdinkel, into the neighbouring village, patted the little horses and up through the fields to home.

All in all, a very nice way to spend the afternoon before the rains came. Tonight we chowed down on Leo’s lasagne and started a new TV series called Bloodline. This is much more to my liking than Braquo. I am a major Kyle Chandler fan, which helps.

  • Physically Fit: A leisurely wander
  • Mentally Fit: A leisurely wander; saying hello to all the animals
  • Nutritionally Fit: Last of the chocolate cake and too much lasagne
  • Minimalism: A leisurely wander. It really does tick all boxes other than food.

Here are some photos from the walk.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 21 #2: Walking from the city and gardening

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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:

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:

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Look at that freshly mown grass!

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Look at that leaf-free garden!

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Look at that ball-crazy dog called Boy!

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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.

April 20: 5km run, walk, run, shuffle, walk, run … argh!

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The first tulips of the season from the self-pick farm. The stems were quite short but I wanted some colour

Today was a beautiful day and the wind was cool and strong – not enough to stop me going for a run. Well, that’s what I thought as I was leaving the house!

After last Monday’s effort, where I felt I could run my best time on the 4km track, I started off on the 5km loop and within 800m had an ice-cream headache. Mine comes inside my ears and it feels like both ear drums will explode. The wind was cool and fierce and before I knew it, I had to walk. That’s the first time I’ve ever had to walk this year. Couldn’t even manage a shuffle in some parts. I’ve been told it could be because I’m dehydrated but I thought I had that covered today. 😦

While it was disappointing, and slow, it was still good to be outdoors, taking in all this:

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Leaving our property and heading into the woods

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I stopped running about here. Windy!

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Nice view of the Alps

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Soon this will all be yellow rape seed

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Clouds and sunshine … and wind!

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Even walked most of the downhill

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Empty animal houses on the homeward stretch

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The cows were back in the sunshine at my favourite property

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The Alps and cows again

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A study in cow

I spent a lot of time on the computer today, listening to the Tibetan bells and ocean sounds, setting up a Google+ account for fitfor15in15. I wonder if it will be worth the trouble?! My friend Kate from The Outdoor Diaries helped out. Thanks Kate!

  • Physically Fit: 5km walk/run
  • Mentally Fit: Setting up Google+ for the blog. It still needs a lot of work and I need to learn more!
  • Nutritionally Fit: Third fasting day on the 5:2 Diet – 500 calories
  • Minimalism: Avoiding the Icebreaker website. I love their gear!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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I didn’t plant this tulip in my garden! The wind must have brought it here

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Same goes for these two!

April 19: Walking around the Schwarzsee

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No, no, not the Black Sea, the Black Lake! The Schwarzsee is about an hour’s drive south of Bern and today was my first visit there. Very pretty, still some snow up high and a crazy dragon.

We followed the Witches Walk (Häxewääg) around the lake for about 90 minutes, stopping to take lots of photos. Unfortunately most of the ones with the snow-capped mountains were taken into the sun, so they didn’t turn out so well on my phone, sorry.

But it was wonderful to be outdoors after binge-watching “The Killing” for too many hours yesterday. We only binge-watched the start of season four for a few hours tonight. 🙂 Enough to make me forget I hadn’t written the blog today!

Here’s a little tour of the Schwarzsee:

  • Physically Fit: 90-minute walk around the Schwarzsee
  • Mentally Fit: Being outdoors; planning our next holiday; watching more of “The Killing”(!)
  • Nutritionally Fit: Coconut water & fresh fruit smoothie; steak and three veg!
  • Minimalism: Making a mushroom, shallot and bacon steak sauce off the top of my head, from scratch, no recipe required. Not really a great minimalism example, but something I’m proud of!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

April 15: New 20-minute HIIT routine with a happy trainer

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I chose today’s workout because of the trainer’s magical striped socks! How cool are they?! It’s called Burn 200 Calories in 20 Minutes (I don’t care so much about the calorie element) and it turned out to be no easy-peasy, candy-coloured workout. Sweat was dripping and I couldn’t do all the exercises properly.

The push up inch worm ones were especially tough and my balance was really out of whack on the lunge to knee lifts. Overall, I really enjoyed this workout and look forward to doing it again, and going deeper into those lunges. It’s a great beginners-intermediate HIIT routine and at the end, the instructor was also feeling exhausted, which is pretty cool – it shows she’s human! And she had an infectious fun outlook during the whole routine.

Right now, I’m in the library in Langgasse using the free wifi on my iPad. I still haven’t worked out where the exclamation mark is, so from now on you’ll be spared the excitement.

Part of my Christmas present from Leo was a membership at the Kornhaus Bibliotek (library) in Bern. I hadn’t been an active member of a library for years and it was strange how comforting it was to walk back through the compacted rows of books. Today’s the first time I’ve come in here to work *in inverted commas but I don’t know where they are on this tiny detachable keyboard either. And now I can’t find that star again to close the train of thought. The first one was a fluke. Grrr …

Do you have a library you regularly use? I’ve found books I’d normally never look for, which has its pros and cons of course. Not all of them have been winners. See the Books section in the top menu for book reviews. I’ll be adding another one tomorrow.

Free libraries are popping up in unexpected places, but not everyone seems happy about them. A free library is a box on the corner with a “take me or swap me” sign on it. Would you like a free library in your area? Should they be allowed to be free? Here’s a story about them being banned and here’s a lovely story from Free Our Kids about one that is thriving.

I met Claudia for lunch today and stayed in the city to meet Sandra for a drink after she finishes work. The sun is outrageously glorious again – I’ll post photos when I get home tonight. Here are today’s photos:

  • Physically Fit: Today’s workout; walking to the bus
  • Mentally Fit: Meeting Claudia and Sandra; being in the library
  • Nutritionally Fit: A healthy day until this evening’s beers
  • Minimalism: Using the library for travel guidebooks and novels

Wishing you a wonderful day. Now … where’s that exclamation mark?