We proofed
it yesterday: we can also do rubber rafting on the Aare
(in swiss german "Aareböötle") in pouring rain and wind. We did
Thun-Rubigen (where we finally were sane enough to stop that experiment ;-)).
Of course without the Uttigen-Schuss (a “step” in the river near Uttigen, that
is almost 2 meters high) because we had just a little boat. We walked this part
of the way with the boat on our heads. It started raining when we left in Thun
and stopped when we were save again in the train. We have expected this, so we
put everything important in plastic bags, I pulled a yellow postfinance poncho
over me and my bikini and my sister preferred normal clothes and an umbrella.
You can imagine how stupid we looked like!! Unfortunately (or luckily??) in
this weather only few people are walking along the Aare.
But when we saw someone we waved to this person and sang our songs even louder
than before ;-). It was hilarious!! Yes, we WERE cold, we WERE wet and we WERE
afraid of the big waves. But after a certain time, the moment came when I
accepted everything and could really enjoy “Aareböötle”!! It was even harder to
get out of the boat and stand on my own frozen feet than just remain seated in
the water in the boat. The fact that the water of the Aare
was slightly warmer than the air surely helped us stay in the boat. I will never
forget this adventure on august 30 2012.
The other adventure was in the evening before. It was
one race of the “4foulées” in the Jura. The train brought me through a heavy
hailstorm to Saignelégier, where the weather was dry and stayed almost dry. The
race was 9.5 kilometres and resembled an orienteering race without reading a
map! There were only short parts where it was flat, I was always fighting and
minding the slippery cow shits on the floor. The second woman Laurence Yerly
with whom I fought on the first three kilometres didn’t overtake me again, so I
won the womens race in a time of 39:44.8 minutes. In the finish I must have
been looking almost dead (I also felt so), because the one who finished just
before me asked me something like: "Are you okay?" I could answer him
and soon said: "Une très jolie course!" ...and a whole evening, where
I could practice my french! Now I know why they had already more than 600
participants.
