The learning curve is as steep as some of the hills on this walk. After last week’s aimless perambulations above Bühler, and the spirit-shrivelling dehydration, I made a couple of small adjustments for this weekend’s outing. I dug out an old compass, last used in the Yorkshire Dales in the nineties, and found a water belt of more recent vintage to ensure easier access to fluid out on the trail.… READ MORE.... …
Blog Posts
I can’t now recall whether I’d ever even heard of Appenzell before I moved to Switzerland though it’s renowned within the country for all things pastoral — its beer and cheese for instance, and its velvetty, undulating topography. And then there are the countless ancient rustic Swiss traditions — like making it impossible for visitors to park a car for more than 15 minutes in one place.… READ MORE.... …
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Something’s afoot. Me. For 3½ weeks I’ve been eschewing alcohol and chewing vegetables instead. Leafing through my vegetarian cookbook a month ago, I realised that my quarterly campaign to make a public fool of myself was long overdue. Or was I just sensibly easing my way to twice-yearly shame, on the way to a more rational annual humiliation? This time at least, I was able to negotiate a one-month news embargo.… READ MORE.... …
What’s this? I’m back in London, at the Hole in the Wall pub, near Waterloo Station, surrounded by work colleagues, warning me that something odd has happened to the boss in my absence. And next morning, at the wine shop, the aristocratic Charles greets me wearing a red velvet dress, high heels and a curly blonde wig. Part of a procession of brief inexplicable episodes.… READ MORE.... …
End of a difficult Week 7/60. The bad news is that my nutritional discipline melted, just like the cheese on Wednesday’s double portion of lasagne. For the first time in six weeks, my mornings have begun with overflowing bowls of muesli, bran, banana, nuts and dried fruit. Not exactly unhealthy, and I’m still resisting lactose, moistening the mix with a splash of soya milk and a spoonful or two of yoghurt-like….… READ MORE.... …
Week 6/60, and an accidental stumble on this straight and narrow path. I treat myself, if that’s the right phrase, to a sort of unhealthy meal. Egliknusperli with rice and roasted peppers is not exactly deep-fried Mars Bars with maple syrup, but there is some deep fat frying in there somewhere. Egli is perch, from Lake Zurich. I knew that much.… READ MORE.... …
(Note – This is a rough-and-ready video that needs editing and polishing. Just wanted to get something up to avoid delay.) Snow! An exhilarating wintry plod today, through the densely wooded hinterland of Horgen, brings a fine end to Week 5/60. Covering nearly 13 kilometres this afternoon sounds impressive by my standards, but it did take 1 hour 45 minutes.… READ MORE.... …
Idly tickling the iPad during a break at TEDxZurich this morning, I checked the Berlin Marathon website. Fans of big city marathons feel obliged to keep this one bookmarked — just in case. Christ on a cracker! Entry for the September 2013 race opens today, at 12 noon. Only 60 Euros for the first 10,000 entrants. I tried to lose this information behind the complexity of the morning’s presentations.… READ MORE.... …
A quick update, as interesting things are afoot. Week 5/60 begins well, with the scales registering a 12.8 lb loss over the 4 weeks. There was a brief exchange on the forum today about how easy, or otherwise, it is to lose weight. For me, it is quite easy. I know the formula. But it helps that I live on my own most of the time.… READ MORE.... …