| Hiking
around Waegi Valley Lake |
| Innerthal,
Switzerland (July, 2008) |
| |
| Elisabeth
and Migg are among our favorite hiking partners. Both are retired
from demanding careers and now
derive |
| great
pleasure from exploring their homeland on foot, discovering hidden
corners that somehow eluded them during a |
| lifetime
of hard work and busy schedules. Wandering the hills and valleys
of picturesque Switzerland is a healthy and |
| relatively
inexpensive hobby, requiring little more than a good pair of walking shoes,
a waterproof knapsack, and a few |
| coins
for lunch or a cup of coffee underway. Once or twice per year,
Elisabeth and Migg ask Irmi and me to join them. |
|
| One
refreshingly cool day in early July, the four of us hiked around
the Waegitalersee (Vay-gee Valley Lake), an idyllic |
| little farming area
an hour's drive
from Zürich. The place might seem lost in the 19th century, were it not for a
few odd |
| electric wires strung on old
wooden
poles or an occasional automobile passing through town on the single
paved road. |
|
| Sometimes,
engulfed in the sounds of civilization, it is easy to forget the therapeutic
value of silence. Once on the lake |
| shore,
walking at a brisk pace, nothing need be said; no need to fill the air
with noise, just to remind the others of your |
| presence.
They know you're there. The birds know you're there. Just
inhale the moment and soak up the stillness. |
|
| We
circled completely
around the lake, covering 13 kilometers (8 miles) in just under
three-and-a-half hours, with two |
| leisure
coffee
breaks along the way at small rustic restaurants offering outdoor
seating areas overlooking
the water. |
|
| The
weather turned misty and overcast, but that came as welcome
relief from the grueling heat and bright sunshine of |
| the preceding
week. Luckily, Irmi's camera lens found sufficient daylight to
capture lovely Waegi Valley in all its glory. |
| |
