I jumped out off my skin

Saturday morning, I got up early to go hike along the crest of the Jura mountains. I went all by myself but the great thing, here in Switzerland, is that there are no coyotes, no bears and no rattle snakes. So I felt pretty safe and relaxed hiking on the trail until I stepped close to a fresh cow patty :-/ Hundreds of BIG black flies that were feasting on it took off at the same time...making a loud HISS. They scared me half to death ! I felt pretty silly jumping away. Thank goodness I was alone on the path. They should have a warning sign " beware of the patty flies" They probably would if we were in California ;-)

Then, I had to walk through a pasture (opening an electrified wire and closing it behind me) with lots of BIG cows in the way. They wouldn't let people walk by the cows if they were dangerous, right? That is what I told myself anyway. I soon found out that they were curious but thankfully also very skittish.

I made it to the highest point from where I had a full view of the "lac leman" and the "vallée de Joux" on the other side. Gorgeous!

Three hours and fourty minutes later I was back to my car...happy and safe.