01 October 2016

Trail Running in the Swiss Jura


At the end of September, I got in the car and drove the 30 minutes south of the border to the Swiss Jura region of Wasserfallen (on the border between Canton Baselland and Canton Solothurn). I parked the car at the Reigoldswil cable-car station, put on my hydration backpack with 1.5 l water, 1 Milka chocolate bar, mobile-phone and a pack-lite windproof jacket. Firstly I followed the hiking signs for Wasserfallen and then for Passwang. Starting at 600 m it is a short steep climb up to 1200 m. With the gradient at times rising to a nose-dripping 45% – it's more of a quick walk than a run.

The terrain up on the ridge is a trail runners dream. Following the exhausting climb, you are rewarded with a small twisty trail that has the odd technical up and down but compared to what lies behind, is pretty flat. The ground is firm but yet has a bit of a spring from the years of fallen leaves that have decomposed and been trodden down by hikers and runners. The trees brush past your elbows. Large drops of moisture drip from the branches high above. No-one else around. Quiet except for the sounds from the valley of a chainsaw and the familiar ring of cowbells. The air is fresh and moist but still. The colours autumnal. Like a world with an instagram filter applied.

I use the Strava app for tracking my runs. You can retrace my route and view the stats here. The app often comes in handy when navigation becomes challenging. The blue tracking line against the digital map helps to quickly find your bearings and to plan your loop back to the car. I realised later that I needed to turn off the auto pause function. Seems when the going got very steep, the app thought I was so slow that I had stopped. Not sure if that's a reflection on the weakness of the technology or my physical condition.