Hiking the “Mother Mountain”, and given two drivers and a holiday exploration trip, Farkas and I even got the benefit of adding a one-way section and being picked up by the Van the other end.
From Gent we went back into France again to reach Calais and the dozens of check points for a campervan with a gas cylinder, a EU-passport dog with Swiss-passport owners, and then onto the Isles with a stopover in Dover. The cliffs are magnificent, the rules for photography of the National Trust not so much…
The evening stopover saw us explore the city center of the canal city of Gent in Belgium, where we profited from the balmy evening and the blue hour after sunset.
On the way to the wedding in Ireland we were invited to. Rented a VW T6.1 California Ocean, immediately had to fix a chipped wind shield, packed the dog and off we went. To build in enough stopovers at locations that also offered something to see, we went to the “Maisons des rochers de Graufthal” and “Fort de Charlemont” in Givet, both in France close to other borders (Germany, Belgium).
UFOs and other installations in Munich’s museum quarter upon our return from Vienna.
Conference at EGU during the day, some photography along the Danube at night.
On our way to annual EGU in Vienna we had a stopover in Munich and decided to book a tour to check out the Munich city center and listening to stories from the night watchman.
In a hidden swamp near Les Brenets in the Neuchatel Jura. We added a hike to Saut du Doubs waterfalls and the rapids of the river just below the lake.
To evade the mandatory leash time in some of the cantons, and to ensure one is outside of dense forests, you need to get creative and carefully study the Swisstopo map in high resolution. You’ll find some hidden gems like Mont Raimeux, where you can hike with almost no elevation changes along the crest of one of the Jura chains. You’ll encounter some wild, flowering crocus along the way.
Spent a couple of days skiing in Davos, which was long overdue (but I still know how to do it), and finally visited the world-famous Salginatobelbridge, which is a bit underwhelming at first. You have to read the info signs and follow the self-guided hike to learn more about the architectural pioneering and what it really meant at that time.
