Switzerland – Following your feet

Day 194: Ruggel to Lustenau

The most noteworthy thing from today’s walk was that I visited three countries. I started in Liechtenstein, walked through Switzerland and ended up in Austria. A first for me. I have never walked in three countries in one day before. Otherwise it was a very uneventful day. I walked 24km and there was 100m of…

Day 193: Maienfeld to Ruggell

This could be the shortest post I have ever written. A very uneventful day, perhaps apart from visiting a country, Liechtenstein, which I have never visited before. After a fine breakfast at the Heidi hotel, I was on my way shortly after 8 o’clock. It was grey and damp as I passed the village, Maienfeld,…

Day 192: Chur to Maienfeld

Back in Chur and ready to continue along the Via Francisca del Lucomagno, where I left off in spring, where I’d walked from Pavia to Chur over the Lucomagno Pass in the Alps. The Via Francisca del Lucomango is normally walked from Konstanz on Lake Constance to Pavia in Italy, but I walked it in…

Day 191: Montreux to Lausanne

Today is the last day of my walk along the Via Francigena – at least for now. Arriving in Lausanne, I will have walked between between Lausanne and Rome, over three stages. Whether I continue through France to Canterbury, time will tell. It was a beautiful walk to end on – partly along the banks…

Day 190: Saint-Maurice to Montreux

A 28km day turned into 32km thanks to diversions, missed turns, a coffee break and doing laundry. Far from the most exciting day, in fact perhaps one of the most boring and irritating days I recall. An 8am start and a day without even the smallest climb, meant that despite the extra kilometers and an…

Day 189: Martigny-Bourg to Saint-Maurice

After several hard days, today was, at last, a relatively short day. 20km with a minor detour to see one of only two gorges listed as national heritage sites in Switzerland – at least according to worker in the florist selling tickets to see it – yes tickets were sold at a florist. It was…

Day 188: Bourg-Saint-Pierre to Martigny-Bourg

Thankfully I sleep with earplugs. Therefore, I didn’t hear most of the thunder claps during the night. But one of them was so loud that the hotel shook. And it wasn’t only me that felt it, the Australian couple I spoke with at breakfast had also felt it. They had planned to walk up to…

Day 187: Bourg de Saint-Rhémy to Bourg-Saint-Pierre

I started the day at ca. 1600m and ended the day at ca. 1600, but in between I climbed to the Grand Saint Bernard Pass at 2470m above sea level, before descending again to Bourg-Saint-Pierre where I spent the night. I was eating breakfast at 7.30 and on my way by 8.15. It was a…

Day 177: Ilanz to Chur

I had a good nights sleep at the monastery, and went down to a good, but very quiet breakfast. There were more people at breakfast than at dinner last night, but nobody said a word. I hadn’t finally decided whether I would split today into two parts, walking ca. 25km and doing the rest tomorrow,…

Day 176: Disentis to Ilanz

Day 21 and the penultimate day of the 9th leg of my Sagres to Rome and Home walk. Today was very much a walk in two halves. The morning mostly along roads passing through small villages, and an afternoon along a path close to the Rein Anteriur river, with little to see, not even the…

Day 175: Acquacalda to Disentis

Wow, what a stage. This is certainly one of the most memorable stages I have walked, from the harsh terrain at the top of Lucomagno to the green rolling hills of the lower Alps. And throw in two suspension bridges and crossing a snow covered path with a drop on one side, this really was…

Day 174: Acquarossa to Acquacalda

Day 19, and I walked from red water (Acquarossa) to hot water (Acquacalda). Today was the day I was looking most forward to and the day I was most worried about. Today is the first day of two, where I will walk over the Alps, more precisely the Lucomagno pass (or Lukmanier in German). Today’s…

Day 173: Sementina to Acquarossa

The sun was shining this morning, which was a nice way to start a day where I will, depending on my legs, walk 42kms. As I get closer to the Alps, there is a gradual elevation from 230 to 570m. If my legs aren’t up to it, I can catch a bus and make up…

Day 172: Rivera to Sementina

Sementina is a kilometer or so off the trail, just outside Bellinzona, but I chose it to overnight after a short stage (18km) as there is a Tibetan suspension bridge close by (3km and 300m climb away) which I wanted to walk over. My worst fears for the day were confirmed when I woke up…

Day 171: Ponte Tresa to Rivera

Welcome to Switzerland and welcome to the rain. After a more or less rain-free walk for two weeks, and as soon as I enter Switzerland, it rains. It was a 5 minute walk to the border withe Switzerland. Walking was quicker than driving with a long queue of Italian cars driving into Switzerland, probably for…