Most of this week, I've been 'at home' enjoying being with Willow.Sometimes I babysit and Merls and Gemma take a bike ride or go climbing, and sometimes I leave them to it and scoot off by myself. Sometimes we all manage to get out at once.......I've had some lovely outings, notably a walk up to La Croix des Chaux, where one look at the ridge walk (see below) was enough to turn me around and walk the other way as (a) I cannot rely on my feet not to trip each other up and b) the sense of exposure on that ridge would make me wobble so much I couldnt stay on it..... and a lovely afternoon walking and swimming by Lac Leman (lake Geneva) .... Plus, a reunion with my dear friends Bernadette and Patrick Lopicki whom I have known for over 40 years, and their daughter Marie who lives and works near Yverdon les Bains on lake Neuchatel. Thanks to Bernadette I discovered the amazing cultural centre in Martigny , Fondation Pierre Gianadda, with its current Modigliani exhibition, Leonardo drawings and models and a fab sculpture park. Thanks to Marie I enjoyed an excellent Fondue Savoyard which did not help my expanding waistline (despite running up and down hills and swimming and good mountain air I fear its a losing battle against the diet of potatoes and cheese which is mostly all you can afford to eat here). I introduced my french friends and Marie's Swiss boyfriend Matthias to the joys of an english Summer Pudding, which was much enjoyed - for Breakfast! And for my birthday Merlin and Gemma took me to a lovely classical concert in Gryon Church - a wind quartet with a pianist played Mozart and Beethoven, utterly delightful.
this photo is misleading, suggesting the path is actually walkable. The ground slopes away each side at a really alarmng angle and the path itself is barely a foot wide. honestly!
Looking down on Solalex and across to the terrifying Mirroir d'Argentine, a climb Merlin and Gemma have done several times. the Miroir is the great smooth slab on the other side of the valley. The ridge is a fossilised coral reef.
Of course I swam in it!
Bernadette Lopicki, my friend of 46 years
Leonardo's bicycle sketch
the Festival de Lombric (earthworm festival) at Giez is the equivalent of the Greenpeace fair back in Suffolk, with a fabulous view of Lac Neuchatel
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