Yesterday I went for two walks. The first walk was after lunch because I had something to drop off at the post office. Usually I would have printed the label at home, rather than doing this walk. I desired to go for a bike ride but the chore was more important. In the process I learned something.
If you need to print something, you can go to the post office, and via an app you can print the label for a package there and then.
For two years they worked on a motorway bridge. For two years they cut down trees, added tons of soil, and then widened roads for cars. Never during that time did they consider that people might want to walk along the most direct route from A to B.
More recently I have been walking into and out of town and for a while I had to walk on a dirt path.
I often walk between towns and villages and in so doing I notice how overwhelming cars have become. If you walk from a village to a town, you have to contend with busy roads. These busy roads are often like deep rivers. Sometimes you need to wait for several minutes before you can cross. At other times you notice that cars see you at a crossing but they don’t slow down in anticipation of your wanting to cross.
Today I had to go into Geneva to do something Initially my plan was to drive to the Parking St Antoine. As I got towards Secheron and the P&R parking I thought, “I have time, I’ll park here and walk the rest”. I did park, and then I did walk.
I know that some people drive the car and park as close as they can to where they’re going, even in town.
Bike rides have been cancelled because of rain, rather than wind or other factors. When it rains cyclists don’t want to ride because it gets their bike dirty and they have to clean it, lubricate it and more. With hikers rain is also an excuse to be lazy, within some groups. With other groups rain is just rain and the walks and hikes go ahead.
Yesterday morning we had stormy weather.
Today I looked at the Sports Tracker app and I noticed that all of my activities started from home, whether cycling, hiking, or walking. That’s because I spent this month cycling and walking from home. I didn’t use the car, or trains to get around.
I was thinking of this luxury when I was walking to the food shops this morning. Usually I would go by car, not because I am too lazy to walk four kilometres to the shops and back, but because recently the roads have been congested.
Recently I was thinking about how some people want to offload their work to AI and it got me to think about how people already offloaded getting around to cars. When is the last time that you saw a group of people walk from Nyon to St Cergue via La Dôle, rather than take the train most of the way, and walk a short loop at the top?
If we think about it, years ago we offloaded walking between villages and towns to horses, and carriages, and cars, and trains, and boats and more.
Walking and hiking are integral to my identity. I walk from four and a half to five and a half million steps per year. I walk in heat waves, rare snow and normal conditions. I hike with groups and I walk alone. Recently my desire to hike is much lower.
This isn’t so unusual. I often get tired of going for daily walks so I have to work towards motivating myself to walk on weekdays.
My definition of Mobilité Douce and the Swiss definition are quite different. For me Mobilité Douce is walking, hiking, cycling and other sports that require a certain dedication and desire to cover long distances. In contrast Switzerland seems to see Mobilité Douce as going from home to the shops, while leaving the car at home. The journeys seem to be short, and at a slower pace.
When I walk and cycle into Nyon, almost every day, I am struck by the sight of people waiting to catch a bus to travel 400 meters or less.
Tomorrow there are at least three hikes and three bike rides that I know of. The hikes are via GoSocial and the bike rides are via Meetup. On Sunday I know of at least two to three GoSocial hikes and one Meetup hike. I have plenty of choice for what to do on weekends. In fact the choice is broader than that.
Over a week ago I signed up for a hike but over the last two weeks I have seen people say “I want to participate” without ever being told “sorry, we’re full”.