We started on Saturday morning trundling over to visit Andrew and Jackie on what is a rather sad occasion. Something that is rare in Switzerland: they are actually moving away to follow their careers in Zurich
We had a fantastic time on Saturday:
- Agata had the chance to go into bubble wrap overload
- Marcus had the chance to use his electric screwdriver
- We all had chance for a good chat, catch up and talk about the future
- We had an entertaining visit to the Lausanne storage facility Zebrabox, boy are they posh
The mostly empty van before packing
A lounge that needs to be disassembled
Agata: the bubblewrap packing queen
The essential packers tool: Nespresso coffee (no instant coffee for us posh movers)
Jackie and Andrew just before their departure.With our Saturday exercise completed we headed back to Lausanne for an early night. This was not just an entertaining Saturday but a vital exercise warmup for the main event of the weekend
Bouveret is a small port village on Lac Leman east of Montreux and they have a good Overview Brochure and a Website. This year Bouveret has teamed up with 2 other villages Vionnaz and Rochers de Naye to make a 3 run trophy. Due to laziness (and the rainy weather) we missed Vionnaz so we make a good start with Bouveret.
This is the profile of the run, but with this profile I expect to spend quite some time walking! As such I am taking my carbon fibre waling poles with me.There were 2 possible runs from Bouveret to Lake Tanay, the long 21Km shown above and the shorter 11Km one. Clearly we chose the longer one!
Agata after arrival at Lake Tanay
Marcus having arrived at Lake Tanay
Lake Tanay
Race report: We finished within a few minutes of each other. Marcus had severe navigation problems, effectively getting lost 3 times. The first time there was a fork in the road, one up one down and no indications. I had to wait around for other runners to arrive who knew the way. The other 2 mis directions were my fault and the worst was 5Km from the end where I missed a (small signed!) turn and continued down an asphalt road. About 5 steep minutes down later I saw runners on the other side of a deep ravine. So I had to run all the way back. Frustrating I can say.
Rather than wait 2 hours for a bus to take us back down to Bouveret we thought a much braver idea would be to walk back down. In retrospect until we have become better trained and fitter the bus might have been more sensible.
We study the map trying to figure how to get home. Notice that Bouveret is nowhere on the map. We had 1 hour to find a Bouveret sign and if not we would double back to Lake Tanay to get the bus.Thankfully we found a sign after about 45 minutes so with stiff legs and only 500ml of water we optimistically continued downwards.
Half way down, a beautiful princess is spotted.
We have just run up this mountain! And then walked back down.
Some not very interesting statistics...
Time to run up the 21Km course: just over 3 hours
Time to walk down (ouch) the 11Km course: 2 hours 50 minutes
Marcus Weightloss after the run (even after rehydration) 3Kg
Bit of body that are aching: Absolutely everything. Not sure about exercise on Monday!
