Spring hikes and friends

After a whole year without much of a social life, Spring brought us some visits. The weather forecast had us fearing a rainy visit, but we ended up having a sunny surprise for most of the time. And so we spent most of the time outdoors!

In the forest, heading towards Petra Felix

Early Spring is not the best time to hike in the Alps because they are still full of snow, which is starting to melt. Luckily, we live near the Jura, which has some very nice hikes. Some challenging, others quite fit for carrying a toddler and still getting to soak in the greenery and the views. Just being in nature without having to worry much about technical and physical details you might get on longer and more demanding hikes is actually quite nice. (Well, also because the cognitive effort you used for that you now use on managing the toddler stuff, but still.)

You get to notice other details. You get to talk. You get to get used to just hanging out with your friends again, realizing how weirdly out of normal that seems after a baby and a year without a lot of hanging out.

On the hiking path through Gorges the l’Areuse

With my dear Jo.

Two of these hikes we’d already done: the Dent de Vaulion we’d done running and hiking, and it was our third time on Gorges de l’Areuse. They are really nice and chilled hikes, with very beautiful scenery, and it is always nice to do them with people who haven’t seen them before. Because now I know them, I like to appreciate how different they are in different seasons. But, as they are no longer surprise, I find that I take less pictures of the more “photogenic” spots. It’s a good exercise for me.

The last hike we did was a splendid, simple hike along the Nozon river, from Croy to la Sarraz. It is very near to where we live, and we’d never been in the first part of the hike. The second part, from Pompaples, though Tine de Conflens and back to La Sarraz was not especially fun, because the Tine de Conflens is accessible to a lot of people who choose to park as close as possible to the waterfalls, creating a mini swarm of vehicles and humans.

Since O. was born, it has been special to see her bonding with those who are special to us. As she was barely half a year old when the pandemic set in, and as most of our best friends and family live plane rides away, this has been especially hard to achieve. So we were thankful for these few days.