Everyone seems to be grumpy at the campsite, I’ve so far born the brunt of an American doctor with the personality of the Amoeba, look down his nose at me as I talked about my nutritional work in Kenya; A sort of ‘I’m a doctor, what possible good is nutrition’ look. An angry Argentinean asked me when we are going to give independence to the Falklands, and to top it off a Spanish girl (sorry Basque) tried to give me a lecture on the wrongs of the British Empire. Something which is fun to talk about when everyone has an opinion they would like to express and listen to others opinions, but a horrible conversation normally as it seems to galvanise people to extremes. Her other favourite conversation is the moans of the wronged Basque country and their demand for independence. I think England has probably got more rights to parts of France than Basque have for independence. God I wish for long nights of just playing Uno.
'Right Hand of Darkness' my new project
Back to the mish mash of other things I’ve been doing, I’ve pushed the climbing a bit further with Supernova a Font 7C. Considering that when I first got here I couldn’t pull the first move on this problem on sick slopers I am very impressed with myself. I also seem close to other 7C problems and have started work on an amazing 8A. Whether this is possible for me, who knows, guess only time will tell, with only a week left here, probably not possible this trip. Between writing this and publishing it I also managed another 7C, although the guide gives it 7C+.
Bellinzona
Tim left and needed a lift to Bellinzona, as good an excuse as any to enter back into civilization. We entered civilization, whether we looked civilized is another matter. I’m not sure I’d washed very recently and we both sported a thick beard. Compared to the glitzy Italian/Swiss residents we looked a mess. Even with my uncivilized looks I could appreciate Bellinzona, no longer the mundane imperial Swiss towns, this was a taste of Italian renaissance. Frescoed houses, large squares with fountains, gargoyles, gelateries and cafes: If all with Swiss prices. I sat myself down for my first meal out in 3 weeks, unfortunately my taste buds could still remember the food of Italy and it was close, but not close enough. Although the service was more Italian, my cheese starter arriving half way through my main course.
Back to the beard, everyone tells you how itchy a beard is to grow and I can agree. I kept it up to the point when the moustache kept attracting everything I was eating and drinking and then decided it had to go. What no one tells you is how hard it is to get rid of a beard, no simple shave! My Gillet razor worked so hard, every square centimetre clogged the blades, I had to re-soap three times and the ordeal took a good half an hour. But it was worth it.
In this last week here I’m looking back on what i’ve done. Climbing wise a lot, culturally very little and linguistically nearly nothing. Being very international everyone at the campsite speaks English, occasionally a German speaks to me and I just look back blankly, considering how well I was getting on with my Italian, it’s a shame to have been able to keep the languages going. Occasionally Raul and Sabina teach me new Spanish words and I can speak to Jonny the dog fluently in Spanish. Well, as fluently as you need to get a dog to drop the stick and come here and not get run over on the road. Although I did manage to practice my Italian a bit in Bellinzona. I also looked back on a few of the savings graces of staying here in Switzerland, yes almost everything is expensive, except Petrol which is under a £1 a litre, good chocolate is also very cheap and my daily treat, a 100g bar which would cost over £1 in England is 50p for the Coop own brand and 25p if you go for the supersaver, both very good and surprisingly unsickly, where in England a large bar would leave me nauseous here I find myself almost immediately reaching for the second bar. Enough talk of chocolate, hopefully next time I write I will have some more interesting explorations, unfortunately I think the most interesting part of the trip will come in the last 5 days as I cruise through Germany and Belgium then France back to the UK. Probably too much to remember all the details to write it up, but should get some good photos!
