Day 004. Today was amazingly beautiful. Up to now, going through the bernese Alps was OK but far from being terrific. For the first time today, the weather is nice, the sky blue, my clothes dry, and I went through an utterly scenic route, in the middle of snowy peaks, starting in Zweisimmen, then Gstaad, Chateau d’Oex … until the narrow paved road (hum, it must have been paved half a century ago) that took me here, to Les Cases.
It’s the end of a valley, with Montreux just on the other side, and with some inhabitants somewhere (else). I wanted to reach Lausanne tonight, but first had cross a last pass, the Col de Jaman. My legs were already tired from doing the yoyo in the mountains, I had only 1:30hrs of daylight, and the icy road up prevented me to do even a hundred meters. So I’m staying here at 1000m, and will try again tomorrow. Hopefully the snow on the path will not force me to U-turn (meaning going down the valley to Bulle).
It was 0 Celsius outside at 7pm and I found a nice little spot to camp by a torrent. Well, on the positive side, it gave me the opportunity to try out my tent and stove (not used till now), the post-by-email plugin, my survival strategy when it’s too cold, and to see a magnificent clear sky, full of stars and outlined by the Milky Way and the shadow of pine trees.
Hope you managed your way through the snow :-). And what is this mysterious survival strategy of yours? If it is not patented, it might be of use to us 🙂 The dreaded Kyoto winter is coming you know (don’t quite compare to 1000m high winter in the Alps, OK :-P).
Unrelatedly, it took me until today to understand the pun in the site name. (oui ca c’est dans la categorie “rien-a-voir et tu t’en fous mais bon…”).
Yes, made it but there was slightly more snow that was usually fall on Kyoto …
Survival technique not patented and not unlogical either: I have only 1 piece of clothing of each type (except socks and underwear, 2), that can be used separately but also combined. The survival technique is just wearing all-at-once. If my packing was right, I can wear everything (but the 2nd pair of socks + underwear) and there’s no conflict of duplicates. I’m not sure it all helps inside the sleeping bag, but for sure hat and gloves do.
This is an incredible journey. I will be checking in regularly, not only for the pictures but to make sure you’re safe. You need to get to South Africa in one piece (a certain someone I know wouldn’t want it any other way)
All the best with your travels.
Lyn
Lyn, I do not think there would any of us to hope/want to happen differently.
Agree… We want to have him back in one piece and healthy! 🙂
Our beloved Chateau d’Oex…I hope you pronounced it correctly 🙂 Happy to hear you’re still safe and having fun. Stunning picture as always.
Love,
B
He he … I’m improving, uttered Chateau d’oeufs only a few times 🙂