The Planning
I started planning this trip the day I saw a picture of the place in a brochure. The picture was that of a river flowing in the shadows of two enormous cliffs. To tell the truth it wasn't the most impressive of pictures I had seen. What made me want to visit this place was the fact that I had never been to such a landmark and that this wasn't a landmark which one would expect to see in Switz. Switzerland is more of a lake behind which one can see mountains (often lush green) kind of a place.
Once the decision was made I had to see if anyone else might want to join in this one day trip, as I had envisaged it to be. Fortunately I got hold of two people, both of them former classmates. One of them was Adrien a guy from Benin and the second a Pakistani girl named Basma. After many change of plans it was decided finally to go on a Sunday and due to Adrien's availability to take the train around noon.
Sunday Noon
Fortunately everyone was on time at the train station. We took the train as planned and got comfortably to Neuchatel city. It was from here that we took a regional train to Noiraigue a small town in the canton of Neuchatel. We all agreed that the regional train here was cleaner and more chic compared to the regional trains circulating in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud. It had polished wooden panels and walls instead of plastic or metallic ones. It actually looked like one of those old luxury trains. It was just a lot quieter than those old trains.
The Hike
Noiraigue was the starting point of our hike. According to the brochure the hike was to last only two hours and fifteen minutes. I had already printed out the directions and the train timings for the return trip as well for the arrival. So far everything was going according to plan.
As soon as we got off at the Noiraigue station we sighted the famous yellow hiking posts. We took the direction indicated by the sign post with 'Gorges de l'Areuse written on it. After five minutes we came to a point in the village where we hesitated to take a right or a left. Along came a six year old chap on his bicycle making "vroom, vroom" noises and going in circles around us. The boy's style reminded me off those American movies where a gang of bikers surrounds it victims and keeps on closing in and studying them. I was wondering where the rest of the gang was and what attack plan did they have. I almost laughed out loud looking at the force. Just then a little girl came running towards us from 20 meters.
"Oh great…" I thought. "…one midget heroine to go along with the midget villain. Did she just escape from the biker boys custody and are we gonna have to save her?"
I was still churning up all sorts of impossible situations when the adorable girl stopped right in front of us and asked:
"Are you people lost? Can I help you?"
"What's this? Inversion of roles? Is she going to save us?" I thought somewhat disappointed.
"Which way to Gorges de L'Areuse," Basma asked?
"Go down the road, take a left on to the road next to the train tracks and keep walking straight." the girl answered.
We all bid her our thanks and moved on. We were aware that the girl had already given us a good impression of this area.
"Did you understand what she said?" Basma asked me in Urdu.
"Yeah! Go back fifty meters to the train station. Run around in circles till the next train comes. Get on it and go home." I told her.
"Whaaaaaat?"
"She said........ go straight and take a left........" I told her. "...She was speaking in French!"
"I know but she spoke to fast" complained Basma.
Twenty minutes into the journey and we entered Gorges de L'Areuse. It was as I had expected it to be. A calm narrow river was flowing surrounded by massive natural walls. The river flew very smoothly almost as if the water was that of a small lake. Amazingly the color of this river wasn't comparable to any others I had seen. The surrounding environment had arranged itself to give this river a shiny emerald green color, which shined as if it was polished from above. It was worth coming here indeed. The path that we followed was made for hikers and it was situated next to one cliff or the other and situated a few meters above the water. Sometimes the path was even dug into the cliffs.
A few minutes had passed by when we came into another spectacular scene. This one however wasn't completely natural, even though it was in perfect harmony with nature. It was same as before but there was one fundamental difference. It was but a simple ancient bridge which stood before us. The fact that it was made out of stone and that time had been working on it for ages made it just as smooth as the boulders in the river and the surrounding cliffs. It stood in between the two cliffs as if it was acting as a buffer and not letting them get into a brawl. Though this human intervention was endorsed by nature and went perfectly along with its surroundings. We stayed around the area for a good twenty minutes taking photo shots here and there and then moved on. As we continued we came out of Gorges de L'Areuse and left it behind.
We had already passed through a few towns. It had drizzled for a few minutes in between but luckily the rain stopped soon afterwards. Meanwhile Basma had started complaining that we were going too slowly. Adrien was walking in a relaxed mood so he was usually behind. Personally, I was of the view that when hiking in group one should keep their pace to the slowest in the group so as not to force them into feeling like running a marathon. After all it isn't to suffer that one takes up hiking.
By now we were walking on a road and it passed by right next to that same river we had been crossing and following all day long. More than the suggested two hours and fifteen minutes had passed by and the destination didn't seem any closer according to the signposts than when we had started. Basma once again was of the view for the nth time that we weren't walking fast enough. Finally I had decided to take up the matter. I went up to Adrien and asked:
"How about going a lil faster?"
"Sure. No problem." he answered.
From someone who hadn't been on any hikes as I had understood and was saying a few days before that two hours and fifteen minutes was way too much and considering that we had already been walking for over three hours this was an unexpected, no resistance success.
"Ok, you lead then!" I gave him the go.
"All right, but you people are gonna have to keep up!"
"No problem." I answered.
As Adrien took the lead we crossed yet another bridge and were back on off-road. Initially we moving at a moderate pace but as soon as the track took height Adrien sped up. Normally people slow down when climbing but this was Adrien. I ended up jumping and half jogging from boulder to boulder. This was fun. I was beginning to wonder now if this was in the plan all along. Walking deliberately slow to take the lead and than taking us on a rollercoaster ride through the track. In the meantime we were back into the some cliffs. These one seemed even bigger and savage but not as breathtaking as the Gorges de L'Areuse. Three minutes on and I had already lost the directions and train timings sheets I had while brushing past a safety railing. Where they had fallen it would be impossible and dangerous to go so I moved on quickly to stay right behind Adrien but with hesitation. Luckily I knew the name of our end point destination of this hike. Two more minutes on and I realized that the 3rd person was no where to be seen. On this I told Adrien to stop, which he did after another fifteen meters. A good moment was to pass before Basma came around walking calmly. When she came up to us this is what she had to say:
"I'm sorry but you people are jerks."
"Huh... did she just get kidnapped by aliens and sent back with angry thoughts directed at us to see how humans handle these situations?" was the thought which came to my mind. "Those UFO’s must be pretty well made to be able to come down these cliffs."
"Just when there's a place to observe and take photos you people start running." She continued.
"Ok, maybe it wasn’t the aliens." I still couldn’t figure out the problem here.
Personally I was dumbfounded. First of all it was her who wanted to go faster. Secondly she could have just shouted at us to stop anytime if she wanted to stop or slow down. Thirdly she didn't have to get angry. She could have said the same thing in a more diplomatic fashion. To top it all off she added afterwards:
"I'll come at my own speed, you guys can continue running."
Whatever happened to the concept of group and team?
Adrien took up the argument: "I wasn't running! If you call that running that you haven't seen me running."
That led to a short stalemate conversation.
"Ok, we'll follow you then." I attempted to bring the situation down.
"Just move!"
That wasn't taken well either. From that I understood she was too angry for a reason which I simply couldn't see. I suppose it's the same reason for which I can't understand girls. Without any warning temper meters go red. It was clear that saying anything else wouldn't help and would be a waste of time. I smiled told Adrien that she was angry and took the lead.
We moved on taking photos here and there. Fortunately in a few minutes the tense atmosphere had moved on. In forty-five minutes we were out of the cliffs, into Noiraigue (our destination) and at the train station waiting for the train to start the ride back to our homes.
The hike which was supposed to last two hours and fifteen minutes ended up to be more than a four hour hike.
Moral of the story: Don't trust everything written in brochures.
Disclaimer: Some accounts have been slightly modified and dialog's added to make the tales more interesting (That’s why the day one of these people in my accounts end up reading my blogs they’ll declare war against me). Besides, I had to translate :-)
Copyright © 2005 Kazim Rehman
Sunday, August 14, 2005
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