2013-06-15 47 8

Location

A field near Zünikon.

Participants

Plans

EC train to Winterthur leaving Zurich at 1.16pm
S30 train from rail 9 to Islikon
Walk and be there at 2pm

Expedition

Calamus liked the name Zünikon. He wasn't sure about the actual etymology, but if the demonym followed the regular pattern, the inhabitants were called something homophonous to Zyniker, "cynicists". Also, it was the location of 2013-06-15's hashpoint. When not using busses, it is most comfortably reached by travelling through Thurgovia.

The canton of Thurgovia is mostly known for its apples, its berries and its distinctive rural dialect. Not featuring any communes of interest (except maybe for Frauenfeld, host of an annual Open Air Festival), it is composed of self-sufficient little towns and villages. Calamus arrived in one of them, called Gachnang. Other than sounding a lot like Gangnam, Gachnang is only notable for the Gachnanger Handel, a dispute on the proper layout of headstones in 1610, which resulted in the judge's wine cellar being raided and Thurgovia almost declaring war on Zurich, because why not. Gotta love them Thurgovians. Anyway, the Bernese explained them it wasn't the best idea, and they dropped the plan.

The journey from Gachnang to Zünikon was easy, but with the sun trying to atone for skipping spring, resulting in a massive heat output, it took slightly longer than anticipated. The arrival time, however, was still in the error margin to be considered "in time" by Calamus's standards. The point was in a field, which was being mowed at the time. Calamus could have walked over to the mowers and asked for passage, but he decided to just make use of his right to roam and see if they said anything. They didn't, and Calamus took his pictures.

Just when the prolonged sun exposure and general process of leg-based transportation were starting to have their effects, Calamus came across a farm and bought some cider and almond cake.

And a little further along the way, he suffered a light strain in his right ankle for absolutely no apparent reason. Dancing was awkward this evening.