Read Online 360 Degrees Longitude by John Higham - Free Book Online Page B

thought the same of me for attempting to pedal from London to Istanbul with two kids under the age of twelve.
    We soon got to the business of seeing what Zermatt had to offer in the way of excursions. We learned to stay alert so we could keep our toes out of the trajectory of the predatory golf carts the locals use to get around town. Passing through town, we were drawn to the back of the valley, toward the Matterhorn, where we found a dirt path; the trail offered a perfect opportunity for our lack of an agenda. We followed the path, which paralleled a river that raged with fury as it carried glacier melt down to the Rhone, eventually flowing to Lake Geneva. The trail then worked its way up steeply toward the Matterhorn.
    We hiked along for the better part of an hour, with no particular destination. It was, really, the perfect Higham outing—beautiful surroundings, warm sunshine, and no particular place to go.
    Above Zermatt there are several tiny mountain villages with no more than two or three dwellings and a restaurant for the wandering hiker. One village was Blatten, and we arrived purely by chance. Nestled in with the two or three dwellings and the restaurant was a playground. We had gotten used to the weird juxtaposition of playground equipment at or near the tree line on our previous trip through Switzerland.
    We stopped at the playground to let the kids run free. September and I treasured moments like these because it meant we could have a quiet conversation. The playground had tall grass filled with grasshoppers practically begging to be caught by a kid with no agenda. The centerpiece of the playground was a massive boulder about the height of a two-story house. Permanently affixed to the top of the boulder were ropes to assist anyone who wanted to climb to the top.One side of the boulder had a modest slope that you could climb, even without one of the ropes. The other side of the boulder was a vertical face.
    We let the kids play, climb, and catch grasshoppers. Before long, the shadow of the Matterhorn fell across the playground and it was time to head back to our campground.
    For the next few days we enjoyed taking trams up the mountainsides, then hiking down while sunshine splashed across the mountains and valleys. You never know what you’ll find while hiking in Switzerland. We found curious items along the trail, such as long slides, zip lines, swings, and outdoor chess sets that were so big that a person could choose to be one of the pieces.
    The morning came for us to leave Zermatt, cycle down the mountain to Visp, and continue our journey toward Istanbul. The sun shone brilliantly. “We’re not in a hurry,” I said. “Is there anything we want to do before we take off?”
    â€œYes!” exclaimed the kids with one voice. “We want to go back to that boulder to climb it again.”
    I hadn’t planned on anything quite that involved, as the excursion would be at least three hours round trip. I glanced at September. She gave me the one-eyebrow-raised-other-eyebrow-furrowed look, which I interpreted as approval. “Okay, let’s go climb that boulder!”
    An hour later we were once again in the high mountain village of Blatten. September and I let the kids use the ropes to climb the boulder as we sat in the shade of one of the three dwellings that comprised the village.
    We sat there for a long time. Eventually Jordan came and sat by us and I decided it was time to get going. Katrina was nowhere in sight. “Little Dude. Where’s your sister?” I asked.
    â€œI don’t know. She was climbing the boulder, but I was chasing grasshoppers.”
    I looked over at the boulder she was climbing. At the age of eleven, Katrina had had a fair amount of climbing practice, with a climbing wall in the basement of our house six thousand miles away. I couldn’t see her from where I was. “Jordan, go tell Katrina we need to be going.”
    But Jordan was busy