In September 2023, we used our QANTAS Frequent Flyer Points to book a trip to Europe in June 2024. Ian went to Croatia with his brother Robbie to cycle, whilst I went to the UK, to visit my brother John who now lives in Newquay, Cornwall. We all met up in London inJuly where we spent a week at the Wimbledon Tennis.
In October 2023, we used our Virgin Velocity Points to book a trip to Switzerland, a place we had hiked in several times previously. But apart from booking flights, no thought had been given to where we would hike except that we would also try to visit our exchange student Luca who now lives in Bern Switzerland.
So soon after we arrived back from the UK in July 2024, I was into planning mode to decide on where we would hike in Switzerland. We had hiked the Alpine Pass Route (now called Via Alpini) from Gstaad to Sagan’s in 2015, and the central part of this was spectacular - some of the finest hiking paths in the world. I’d wanted to return to do this again. Mean time, our exchange student Luca and his family had holidayed in Fusio, Val Maggia,Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland. He suggested that there was a hiking circuit from Locarno called Via Val Maggia which we might be interested in.
And so hastily, I planned a combined hike of the best part of the Via Alpini from Altdorf to Kandersteg in the Bernese Alps with the Via Alta Valmaggia, a circuit from Locarno, Ticino.