May to July, 2023
Reading time: 6 minutes
The Wonder of Nature
An impulse from the girls took us back to Asia, pointing us in the direction of Japan. From an idea, a fantastic project took shape in just a few days. The 2023 Wonder of Nature Project. From the desire to ride from one talk to the next, we were appointed Japan Eco Track Ambassadors. We become ambassadors for a Life in the Outdoor life. We inspire everyone, especially children, to spend time in nature, for our well-being, for the balanced development of our children, for the future of our planet.
6 months
5000 km
25 inspiring talks
4 environmental symposiums
4 Sea to Summit events
More than 30,000 m elevation gain, equivalent to 8 times Mount Fuji
8 articles for Vitality.Swiss, the communication programme of the Swiss Embassy in Japan
More than 100 articles on our blog.
We were able to meet the intense challenge of reaching all the talks solely by bicycle. This was made possible by our 13 years of experience on the road of the world. It was also a huge challenge for our daughters. Nayla, aged 10, cycled the entire route on her bike, sometimes in very difficult conditions. Fibie rode between 10 and 35 km every day.impulse from the girls took us back to Asia, pointing us in the direction of Japan. From an idea, a fantastic project took shape in just a few days.
Daisen's Sea to Summit
Daisen's Sea to Summit in Tottori was the starting shot! What an incredible welcome to start the project, and also the challenge of covering 8 kilometres of sea kayaking, 700 m of ascent by bicycle before walking another 1,000 m to reach the summit of this sleeping volcano! From there, we can see all the way to the Sea of Japan.
This first event sets the tone for the months to come.
It's going to be an intense adventure.
DISCOVERING JAPAN
We follow this rugged coastline over endless passes. Fortunately, the lookouts offer spectacular views of the small traditional fishing villages. Above all, it is the delicious smell of jasmine that remains the symbol. It's here that Nayla is celebrating her 10th birthday, on a beach beside a Torri that opens onto infinity and a stone lantern. With the added joy of swimming in the sea. Moving inland, Fibie discovers her first castles and, above all, the small Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines along the way. They are magical, inspiring, hidden, pure and elegant places that offer us a little break, sometimes next to a bamboo forest.
We plunge into the infinite green of Japan and its hills. We camp beside rivers and bathe in them. We even discovered a waterfall under which Nayla spontaneously took a shower! We then rejoined the coast and drove around the Noto peninsula, the one we'd heard so much about. We cycle for over 8 km along the beach, euphoric as we race against the waves. We discover dried octopus markets, salt villages that still use traditional methods to extract salt from the sea, and the rice terraces that have shaped the Japanese landscape for centuries. "Dolphins" Fibie shouts after losing her first tooth. Their leaps bring us the light-hearted, mischievous energy of play!