After waking up at about 9.30, having brunch and realising that next to nothing happens here at the base at the weekend, I borrowed Thiery’s bike, adjusted the seat, and lowered it by about a foot, and headed off into the Swiss outback. Only one word could describe my journey: UPHILL!!! I went through many a small village and then up through the hills, for about 20k. The inclines were very steep, but it was worth it for the views!
Eventually, when I got towards the top of a mountain, I realised that if I kept going, then I would see nothing but trees, trees and more trees. I had then travelled for about an hour seeing nothing but trees, a big incline and feeling very jealous of lots of semi pro cyclists on proper road bikes with no suspension. Cycling uphill had become a chore. zzzzzzzzzzzzz. I got very bored and so speeded back to Burtigny - downhill all the way!!! I should also point out that my cheap headphones broke, and so any speech or singing that came out of them was all garbled, so I could only really listen to instrumental tracks. The only one I could find was Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters, which was wierd, but fun too!
After getting back to the base, a guy called Samuel from Mali was outside swinging an old tomato tin full of charcoal in the air. This was a bit wierd, so I went to have a look…. He was making Mali tea the traditional way. I tried some, and it wasn’t just powerful stuff. It was like some kind of supernova explosion in your mouth, with the amount of caffine in it! It tasted like toothpaste, boiled up with a little bit of tea!
Many of you will know that I have a passion for Jazz music - I listend to Louis Armstrong when I was about 1!!! It was then pure luck that my trip co-incided with the Montreux Jazz festival. It is one of the world’s most famous Jazz festivals too! I didn’t even know it was happening until a lady on the plane told me! There was lots of cool music, mostly Latin, Reggae, Salsa etc with some blues and rock and some good artists, Alicia Keys among others, but to my dissapointment, not a note of jazz in sight! Nevertheless, It was a great day, where I saw an awesome sunset and got to know the people really well!
We got back early at about 12.30am, but still we were tired!
I wonder what I will get up to today? Check back here in the next intrigueing installment of…… Sam’s Blog!!!
Haha… you really should try and borrow a real bike Sam… wish I was there with you… with my bike
Nathan