Thread by @JulietJFall

Sunday border scramble in the sun, near Malval in Geneva. Political borders seeming dauntingly less trivial this week, as we think of people in Europe fleeing to safety across borders, while soldiers invade across others. #Geography #BorderNerds 🇫🇷🇨🇭

No. 138 We chased down lots of border stones in a marshy wood, of different ages. This one was apparently moved to save it from being swept away by the stream, so the marks on top indicate this, showing that the border follows the stream after this point.🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Geography

No. 139 Super strange F (France) engraved backwards; G (Geneva) presumably recarved over previous mark/sign🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Geography

No. 140 Apparently the only one in Geneva (?) using the acronym CS for « Confederation Suisse »🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Geography

No. 141 🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Geography

No. 142 Someone’s shot holes in the sign next to it…🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Geography

No. 143 🇫🇷🇨🇭Marks on the top indicate that the border then follows the stream. Then we look a longer loop, but saw no more stones. #Border #Geography

We pick up our walking border tour again several months later with no. 144 🇨🇭🇫🇷, back near Malval in the Geneva countryside. Six family members & a picnic during a day off work & school for Ascension. #Geneva #Geography #SlowTourism #AscensionDay2022

Border stone no. 145 took some finding! Perhaps it was a little shy, because the noble Geneva eagle 🦅 looks a bit like a wierd 🐓 ? This is like geocaching, only for geography border nerds with a side helping of history…🇨🇭🇫🇷
#Geneva #BorderTour #Frontière #Genève

No. 146 stood majestic by the usual French-road-to-allow-surveillance-along-the-border. It was getting hot, so we ate a cucumber sandwich, channeling our Englishness to confuse the French. 🇫🇷🇨🇭#Geography #Borderlands

No. 147 did not apparently exist as a stone, so we found 148 instead. A lively red G replaced any clumsy attempts at carving eagles, in a clear & interesting font. It was getting hot, so the younger members of our party started grumbling (Can’t imagine why…😜)
#Borders #Geneva

Border stones no. 149 & 150 were nowhere to be found but as 151 was along the edge of a (Swiss) field, hiding in the high grass, perhaps they were removed or pushed over? They would make a pretty annoying obstacle for anyone trying to harvest. #Mystery #Genève #Frontière #Bornes

Border stone 152 was a modern replacement from 1981, and apparently a great place to sit for a little rest to admire the view. 🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Border #Frontière

Border stone no. 154 was the next in line (153? Where were you?), marking a sharp turn at the edge of a field. Trees! Shade! Time for a picnic before heading into the woods along a brook. 🇨🇭🇫🇷#Geography #Borders

Bucolic no. 155 took some finding in the undergrowth & concluded our walking tour / treasure hunt. The younger troups rebelled and complained that this was Longer Than They Had Been Promised. Those over 80 were happy to keep going, but lost out to youthful rebellion.🇨🇭🇫🇷#Border

As ever, huge love & thanks to my more or less willing border exploration companions, combining three generations this time & using Olivier Cavalieri’s excellent guide book as useful inspiration.
To be continued… #AscensionDay2022 #Borders #WalkingSlowlyAroundGenevaCanton 🇨🇭🇫🇷

A new stage of the border wander. Another sunny day & an evening walk for a little over two hours chasing borders, this time just 2 of us. We started out on a bridge straddling the border. No fancy stones, just markers halfway across. #Borders 🇨🇭🇫🇷

We failed to find 157, lost in the forest near a river (we’ll be back…), but these are ‘bornes frontière’ 158 to (very faint) 160, in pleasant forest. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 161 follows its neighbours all in a straight line demarcated in 1818, each just visible from the next. 🇨🇭🇫🇷 #Geography #Borders

No. 162 was repaired, the number recarved rather poorly. We emerged from the dark woods close to the highest point of the border, following the lines indicated on the stones. Slow treasure hunt, taking us to unexpected delights & views. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 165 was delightful (did we miss some?) with views to the distant city and mountains all around. The wheat 🌾 was high, ready for harvesting. These stones must be terribly impractical if you are driving a tractor through a field. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 166 was hiding in a field. The wheat had been cut around it, presumably so a combine-harvester 🚜 wouldn’t hit it? 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 167 had its base sticking up above the ground, part of the Sentier des Bornes marked out in Dardagny. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 168 was the end of our evening walk, as this connected to another section that we had previously explored, last year. This, we think, is the highest border stone in Geneva. Perfect place for Ascension weekend! #Borderlands 🇨🇭🇫🇷

Back to border rambling, now the weather is cooler. We walked along a stretch near Chancy, connecting two bits we’d already explored. (17a) Mostly G for Geneva, S for Savoie along here.
#geography #borders #borderwalk

No. 18, in the Bois de Chancy, with a long line all along a path that follows the border. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No.19 Unusually, this stretch didn’t have dates carved on the stones. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 20 A newer one, but also dateless. Almost a straight border marked on top.🇨🇭🇫🇷

No.21 Again, reasonably new, looking almost as if it too can been sliced off & recarved. Or else the sculptor got his G rather high up in the first place?🇨🇭🇫🇷

No.22 🇨🇭🇫🇷

Then a curiosity: according to the map, the ‘real’ border is marked with a pole, as if this were laid in correction of the stone that lies a little further away, not numbered in sequence. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

Our patience and curiosity is rewarded with finding No. 25, completely off target and away from the present border, hiding in a field. And not all in the right place to be in numerical sequence 🇨🇭🇫🇷#GeographicalMystery #BorderHistory

Back along the present border, and back in sequence, no. 23 🇨🇭🇫🇷

No. 24, with strange double lines on top. Is it saying the real borderline is further away? Still no dates.🇨🇭🇫🇷

We emerge from the woods close to the very dry Laire river, flowing towards the Rhône. Another odd red & white pole marks more recent demarcation (?).

The last border stone is recent, but again unnumbered & undated, carved onto a natural rock. This is a dynamic, shape-shifting river, but not right now after months of drought. 🇨🇭🇫🇷#geography #ClimateEmergency

Any potters out there? We pass an excellent spot where someone has been collecting seams of post-glacial clay, and then walk through oddly Mediterranean dry pine landscapes, across the border in France. 🇨🇭🇫🇷 #OnDiraitLeSud

Abandoned border architecture: a former tax collection point or border post?
This was a good gentle ramble, seeing us walk off the (Swiss) map into Foreign Lands on the way back! Still miles to walk until we have completely ‘beaten the bounds’ of our Canton, however… 🇨🇭🇫🇷

Flashback to why we started these rambles: when the world seemed to go mad in 2020, closing our borders, and we tried to make sense of it in our daily lives. Seeing them back being mundane again now helps me to think back, visually & bodily, about these past extreme episodes?

https://twitter.com/JulietJFall/status/1251838051434799104

Back to walking today after a week of nursing one of us with Covid, with a short expedition to find the missing no. 156, really hard to see. (

https://twitter.com/julietjfall/status/1529824037425205249?s=46&t=wIXekFzjoRsg0LB47uFccw

)

We continued on almost to La Plaine, closing another section, then back to Dardagny with time for a picnic 🇨🇭🇫🇷. #Borderline #Geography

Let’s just take an extra moment to celebrate the full avian majesty of this 1818 eagle, carved and laid to demarcate the border defined by the 1816 Treaty of Turin. I mean, the artist just adapted it from a really rubbish evil cartoon chicken, didn’t they? I love it!🐔🇨🇭

And if anyone wants to find it, it’s here. Easy-peasy, right? 🤣 We are such geographical nerds…

More border stone exploring for a quick walk in the late afternoon. We searched out no. 181 across the river from where we were last time. It’s an azimutal stone, showing that the border runs down the middle of the Rhône. We needed the Swisstopo app to find it in thick brambles.

No. 181, after many scratches scrambling around blindly in thick undergrowth. It’s amazing how many different plants can grow prickles! Very worn inscriptions, although we can just make out the Geneva crest. #BorderWalk #Borders #geography 🇨🇭🇫🇷

We found a large badger set in the forest, with huge piles of earth shifted over what must have been a long period. A whole different world, with their own territorial logics and markings. Autumnal colours, and a new nip to the air, walking close to the river-border. 🇨🇭🇫🇷

We continued today, walking a loop that continued along the river, gazing across into France. No border stones on this stretch, just a super weird military training ground, for playing war games. More control to get into that than the state border.🇨🇭🇫🇷 #BorderWalk #Geography

The thread & visual journaling project continues on Mastodon here: mastodon.social/@JulietJFall/1…