From winter to spring - 2026 New Season

 

2025 Overview - part 2

 Beginning of spring in Switzerland, I went to prepare a week-long tour for Alpenwild in the eastern part of Switzerland, in the Grisons or "Graubünden" in German. Don't know yet if it will take place, but that's the JOB ! And what a JOB! Not paid when preparing, but it's a little like holidays.

Then during the month of June, a regular visitor came for a month long experience with walkandtalk, and at the same time we started the regular hikes with a local international company, with some great outings in really hot weather!

In July, I co-guided (actually I was the second guide, assisting my friend Ella) a tour around Chamonix Mont-Blanc called Best of French Alps, in partnership with Alpenwild; here a few pictures from that 9 days tour.

Later in July, another challenging hike with some swimming in a mountain lake!

End July walkandtalk organised a week-long hiking programme for a singing project taking place in Les Diablerets, called Musique & Montagne. Here is a group that I led to the summit of the Chamossaire.

Then the weather got wet so I organised a few hikes in ¨the forest of the Risoud in the Jura, with some nice sausage cooking in a small cabin, great taste and great FUN.

August was a good month, with fabulous hikes in Valais; then September was COLD! On a weekend hike, we woke up to some significant snow fall and had to venture down quicker than expected. During that trip one participant fell and injured his wrist: I arranged a "splint" with what I could find at the hut. It turned out his wrist was broken! Very courageous of him !

 I also work with the historical magazine Passé Simple; here are 2 photos from a trip I did to Rarogne in Valais on the traces of the famous poet Rilke.

September turned out to be cold again, with some snow, and October was not much warmer! Here are some pictures of a walk in the Fribourg canton (I had to modify the original plan to stay below the snow line), and some other pictures of a memorable mushroom hunt outing with an expert mushroom gatherer and official controller, the amazing Cedric from Moudon!

November and December are actually great months to hike, especially to explore little known areas at lower altitudes. Here are a few pictures of some walks with an exclusive guest visiting our region regularly and always fond of new adventures! The photos of a river are taken on the banks of the Rhône, which flows out of the Alps, through the French-speaking part of Switzerland, to Geneva, and then down to the Mediterranean.

Just before Xmas, I went -with my wife Mathilde- into the French Jura for a holiday but I always have in mind new destinations! Here are three pictures of a beautiful area near St-Laurent-En-Grandvaux.

And that's it for a "quick" overview of 2025! 

See you in 2026!

(by the way I have a new web site: www.walkandtalk.tours)

2025 Overview - part 1

 At the end of 2024, a trip to the German speaking part of Switzerland, preparing a historical article for the magazine Passé Simple, this is what we saw in the forest, is it not fun and poetic?

And just before New Year, 3 Richards folk (Matthew, Evie, Phyllida) made they way up in the Jura, thanks so much for visiting us, it was GREAT!

Then a period of preparation for us Mountain Leaders, checking out new places, new tours, new opportunities and ideas. Here's a triptyque!

And then the groups are back, intense and FUN !

And why not not a MOVIE ?

It's not all about hiking, it's also about EATING!

One week I focused on bird watching with a zoom lenses on my Fujifilm camera, here are two pictures that I like. The first one shows a couple of Cormorants flying above the Leman lake and the second ... well can you find the Wagtails?

Ahhh Valais! The panoramas! Here are pictures from a spring winter hike, one of the last ones of 2025: so warm!

And then suddenly it's SPRING!

Green is back.

Sunshine.

And I have finished my historical GUIDE book, it took me almost 3 years, you can buy it HERE!

April 2025: 750th Anniversary of the Consecration of Notre-Dame de Lausanne, the cathedral on the hill, quite an event!

It's always so enjoyable to check out new tours, so pretty!

And then here comes the famous May-Beer hike, what a treat! We explored around the Gruyère lake and visited a micro-brewery called GARTACUS (and tasted the beers!-).

I recently bought a second hand6x6 twin-lense camera from the 50' (a Walzflex) and started taking pictures with it, here are 2 colour pictures from this ancient camera!

And that has taken us to the beginning of the month of June 2025.

Next article on this blog will cover the second part of the year, see you soon!!

Matthew