tour du lac de joux

Today we ran the Tour du Lac de Joux- a "break" from Saturday hiking. The 24k race around Lac de Joux started in Le Sentier, Switzerland at 2:50 pm, warm, but plenty of shade and a light breeze for the afternoon run. The first half of the race consisted of mostly rough trail running- rocks, roots, leaves, grass, some tight switchbacks, a bit of shoe-sucking tar, until reaching the little town of Le Pont on the opposite side of the long lake. The return journey offered long stretches of paved pedestrian trail and 1.5k on a narrow boardwalk. The constantly changing footing and the lovely views kept things interesting for the long run, and was great training for the upcoming Jungrau Marathon. We were both happy to finish the full loop. After the run, we walked a little  on the trail and waded out into the lake.  (We also got cool Swiss Army knives as the race prize!)

in the city

Today was an unusual day for me, a mini city-vacation. This afternoon I took the train into Geneva to get my hair shampooed and curled at the Blow saloon (I had a coupon). Being such a lucky, fancy girl today, I even wore shoes without laces. The saloon treatment felt so luxurious, and then I walked around Geneva, trying my best to leave my bouncy-curly hair down despite the steamy hot day. I happened upon a parade...no one I asked knew what it was for, but the drummers were fun. I popped in and out of shops- something I never do in the city, and even bought new jeans and two cute dresses- something I do even less in Geneva, but summer soldes just started and it was the first time prices actually seemed reasonable. I had a nice time wandering old town before heading back home, melting on the train, and hitch-hiking back up the hill to avoid antagonizing the blisters from my pretty shoes. That was fun... but I'm ready to turn back into pumpkin. 

simple sunday

After our morning runs, a brief trip to the market, and a friends birthday BBQ, we stopped (randomly) in the Evires for an evening walk just before dark and heading home. It was a nice place to walk in the pre-Alps, with great views and quiet farms.

hiking: augiulette de houches (2285m)

We made an early start for Merlet this morning (on the trail by 8:45) and hiked a loop peaking at Augiulette de Houches (2285m) via Refuge de Bellachat (2152m). The first section is part of the Tour du Mt. Blanc (TMB) a multi-day circuit that we'd love to do sometime. It was another beautiful, sunny, Saturday for our weekly hike (although next Saturday we are replacing our hike with the Tour du Lac de Joux 24k run). This was a super trail for an early start, mostly exposed and rocky, but mixed with a bit of shade and soft pine trail, although the constant amazing views posed a bit of a problem for watching our footing.

We took a snack break near the Refuge de Bellachat and diverged from the TMB to loop to Augiulette de Houches for a spectacular 360 and wond our way back down in the early afternoon. Bonne randonnée!