Swiss O Week

Our time in Slovenia was over, so we caught the awful 'Euronights' train (that was absolutely jam packed) across the border through Austria and on the Switzerland. Apparently it was Swiss National Day, which seemed to mean the Austrians were all having a crazy big party too!

We arrived in the town of Schwyz after changing trains in Zurich. Schwyz is a very pretty old town with the original Victorinox factory, and evidently was actually the place where Switzerland as a country was conceptualized (Schwyzerland...).

We were so tired we pitched our tent on the lawns and fell asleep. A few hours later we were awakened by the crashing of thunder and pouring rain - just great for a sprint event! So we took to the streets and had an enjoyable dash around the old town. My brain was still half asleep so that made the orienteering even a little more challenging than usual.

Emily in usual orienteering pose

Chris, Emily and Seline at the finish

After the short prize giving in the town centre we caught a ride up to our campground in the Muotathal Valley. The campground was an amazing tent city in a big grassy paddock. I'm not sure about this whole mass camping thing!

It was nice to meet up with Keith who is living in Bristol at the moment and he was the proud owner of our camp spot (we parked up on a section of his 'designated land'). The night was misty and by morning the rain had really set in.

Tent city by night

We had to catch a bus, then a unimog to get to the start. The precise 'Swiss' organization made us laugh and of course Chris and I found it hard to stick to the 'rules' too exactly. The start was around 1800 m, with a 35 minute climb to get there by foot even after the unimog trip.

The terrain was steep open farmland, that had turned into steep open mud land. Thousands of orienteers and lots of rain turned the course into a mud slide which some enjoyed more than others. Not really so surprising that Chris loved it!

Soaked and muddy, we caught the unimog and bus back down to the warm dry event centre and had hot showers. The rain continued and soon the campground was also turning into a muddy wash out zone. Unfortunately we only bought our light weight single skin tent and it really wasn't holding up to the weather.

Inside refuge from all the rain!

Poor Chris was disappointed to find out that his course for that day had been canceled due to one control disappearing off the course for some time - he would have come third and won a little prize! On the bright side the organisers let everyone who had wet tents sleep in the warm dry gym and we got a complimentary breakfast.

Chris is really 'rearing to go'!

The following day's orienteering was an exciting one. We had to walk 4km with 700m climb to get to the start area on Glattalp which is over 2000 m! It was a beautiful spot up high by an alpine lake, with traces of winter snow still sitting in pockets amongst the rocks.

What a cool place to orienteer! That was more my cup of tea! We ran amongst grassy fields and a moraine boulder field, plus some good Swiss cows with jingly bells to add to the atmosphere. Mist was swirling about the tops. Both Chris and I had a good run - Chris managed 3rd again!

When I was half way round my course and concentrating hard on a control I couldn't quite find Chris's head popped out from a boulder with a camera! He decided on an 'on course' photo session. He disappeared while I ran wildly to my next to control, only to have him reappear at that one!

After the excitement out on the course we went up to the little hut at the top of where the gondola came to and ordered two hot chocolates. That way we could sit and watch the people orienteering on the Glattalp from the comfort of the warm little hut. That was great!

Then we wandered our way back down the hill, then onto the mass bus transport back to the campground. My legs were pretty tired by now, so I was very excited that the next day was a rest day - and Ed and Abbie were coming to stay. They have been traveling all around Europe in their little red car and managed to coincide their travels to meet up with us in Muotathal.

Dinner with the ever present Lidl bags, or what we came to affectionately know as our 'hobo' bags

We headed down to Brennan beside Lake Luzern. It was a rather amusing trip, with 6 Kiwis squished into Abbie and Ed's car, all sporting wonderful red polka dot Tour de France caps that they got when watching the race a few week's earlier. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we easily filled in the afternoon jumping in the cold blue lake and lounging in the sun.

Some Kiwis plus a car

Blue lake Luzern

Jump!

We had a nice picnic dinner further up the valley before heading back to our camping spot - which by now was becoming quite crowded! The next day 's orienteering event was another high altitude one starting around 2000 m, then descending many hundred back down to the valley.

Once again it was a long haul to get there - bus transport, a walk, then unimog transport, then another walk, plus lots of mucking around in queues. I only just made it to my start time despite leaving a good two hours in advance to get there.

The orienteering was cool though, heaps of down hill running in alpine meadows and boulder fields. When I made it to the finish my legs felt completely like jelly! Chris had the same feeling when he finished his massive course. It was very hot, so Chris discovered a cow water trough to swim in (-:

That night we hung on a grassy terrace by the river with all our New Zealand company. Ed and Abbie and Cris were all parting ways with us the following day - they were heading to Freiburg where I would join them in a few days. In the meantime Keith, Chris and I had two more day's of orienteering to complete.

Day 5 of the orienteering was back down in the forest. The forest was filled with pits and rocks, and was very slow and tough to run through so it proved some tricky times. I was amazed when I made it round my reasonably short course with no big disasters. Chris sprinted across the green paddock to the finish in a very short time and had managed to come second!

That evening we enjoyed a free meal at the event centre thanks to the kind Kathryn and Reinard (our friends from PAPO). Chris won himself some backpack booty and glory points at the prize giving.

Finally the last day of the competition had arrived. I was very sad because they canceled the final alpine day because of the danger of slips after so much rain earlier in the week. Instead we were back in the rough forest terrain from the day before. Chris had a fantastic run and came out on top for the last day, he was very excited.

The weather is coming in again!

We headed back to the campground as the first spots of rain fell from the deteriorating weather that was predicted to arrive. Keith managed to see a flash flood swosh down the Muotathal Valley from all the rain that was falling in the mountains.

We packed up our gear and had a quick cook up on the MSR before getting on the bus down to Schwyz. It was time for Chris and I to part ways - he was heading on the overnight train to Hungary one week in advance of the World Orienteering Champs, while I was spending a couple of days at Julian and Jana's in Frieburg before heading back to Trondheim for work.

We took the same train as far as Arth Goldau, then I hopped off and watched Chris whisk away into the distance. I trotted over to platform 2 to find Cris n (no. 2) waiting to catch the train further with me to Freiburg. The Swiss adventure was over.

If we are lucky there might be a 'Chris addition' added to this post in a while, keep your eyes peeled!