Sep 21 Altdorf
Saturday 21st September : Weather: 16°C in Locarno to 18°C in Lugano to 21°C in Altdorf:
Locarno and Lugano and Altdorf: 8k walk: 2k in Locarno, 4k in Lugano, 2k in Altdorf
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 000m, Descent 000m,
Time: 8.30am to 4.00pm: Train Locarno to Bellinzona, then to Lugano, back to Bellinzona, then to Altdorf
Accommodation: Krebsriedgasse 1 Altdorf
Al Porto buying more Pannetone
This turned out to be a very restful touristy day taking trains to Lugano before going to Altdorf. We had a Ticino Ticket and took advantage of it to go from Locarno to Lugano for morning coffee, then back to Bellinzona for lunch before a 100k, 30 minute 200kph train trip through the Gothard Pass to Altdorf where we arrived to see snow on the alps.
We’re awake at 6am, and have a cup of tea in our room before a quick shower then down to breakfast at the Locarno Youth Hostel. It’s not as busy as when we were here three weeks ago - it was supposed to be with a sun and Ice Festival - at least that was teh reason the room cost more. Breakfast is regimented and very ordinary. Take a tray, add a small slice of cake, a tinsy bowl of meusli and yoghurt, a thin slice of stale bread with butter and jam, a slither of cheese and a scrap of ham. The only real nicety was the Latte Coffee. Back to our room for a final pack, then downstairs to push our used linen down the chute, check out and repay the 2 CHF for the locker, then leave at 8.30am.
It’s about a 2k walk to the train. I can’t resist buying more pannetone from the Al Porto cafe at the station. We’re intending to take a train to Bellinzona then change to a Lugano train, but then we see a direct train to Lugano at 9.22am which we take. Our Ticino ticket is still valid so we can go anywhere in Ticino all day today. While on the train I check out what to see in Lugano and see there’s a cable car up to Monte Bre from where you can see Monte Rosa and the Bernese Alps. But with only a few hours to spare, it was not possible.
Al Porto Pannetone - award winner
Mystery Gates open to Lago Lugano
Morning Coffee at Lago Lugano
Lunch at Bellinzona Station
Altdorf and snow capped alps
The train arrives on time in Lugano at 9.54am. It’s a beautiful city sitting between the alps and Lake Lugano. It's an upmarket city judging by the exorbitant price of food and clothes, and the fashiobale look of tourists. The train station is high above the lake, and we walk steeply down a stoney pebbled path past the cathedral then through the town which has a display of upmarket cars - Aston Martins etc - in the town square. At the lake is a beautiful path which we follow around the lake’s edge to the mysterious gates. No one knows who built them or of what significance they are. But everyone stops to have their photo taken at this spot. May as well get a Photo at the gates too! We stop for a coffee with a chunk of pannetone cake/bread, comparing brands from the Coop to Rovana from Cevio to Al Porto.
We’re afraid of missing our 2.17pm train from Bellinzona to Altdorf, so we wander back up the steep stoney path to the station to wait for any train from Lugano to Bellinzona. We take one at 11.55am and arrive back in Bellinzona 20 minutes later. Time to do some shopping at the local Coop which google maps says is nearby. After 15 minutes of looking and trying to interpret google’s directions, we eventually find the Coop UNDERNEATH the station, not nearby! We buy smoked salmon, bananas, brie cheese, tomatoes and a tube of mayonnaise before going to the plaza outside the station for a cup of tea.
The Bbellinzona-Altdorf train is due to leave at 2.17pm, and we don’t want to miss it, so we’re at the platform with 20 minutes to spare. The train is already there waiting as it seems the Lugarno leg was cancelled. Lucky for us we didn’t plan to get that connection from Lugano. At precisely 2.17pm, the train leaves, and soon we’re in the 54km long Gothard train tunnel, emerging in Altdorf after 100k, at 200kph in 30 minutes.
Its’ a gloriously warm day at 21°C in Altdorf and there’s snow on the Alps since we were here three weeks ago. First we walk down the Bahnhof Strasse to check out bus times for tomorrow as we’re planning to walk from Klausen Pass back to Altdorf on the Schächentaler Höhenwegtake by taking bus 408 up to Klausen Pass, then walking back 16k to Briel where we’ll get the cable car down to Brig, and then the 402 bus back to Altdorf. It seems we’ll have to leave early to get the 7.38am bus to give us enough time to walk 16k to the Briel cable car. Early is OK because we’re up before 6am anyway.
Walking back down to 1 Krebsriedgasse, our farm stay Air BnB, we marvel at the beauty of the snow capped alps around us. It’s like coming home when we arrive at Rotem Marty’s Farm stay where our two stored bags are waiting for us in the room. It truly is a farm stay as we can smell the cows which have just come down from the high alps for winter in their barn. The family is there crushing apples with all the kids helping out. We’re met by Rotem Marty who welcomes us gleefully and tells us that we can get some fresh milk after the cows have been milked and confirms the buses for tomorrow.
Dropping our gear inside the small studio, we quickly do some washing to get it on the drying rack in the afternoon sun, then walk 500 metres down the road to Aldi Suisse to top up our supplies - beer, Pinot Grigio wine, yoghurt, fresh hot bread and capsicums. Plus a large plastic bowl for mixing up our diced salad with a squirt of mayonnaise. Back to our Farmstay and soon we’re sitting outside having a beer/wine with salted peanuts while chopping up our salad. How quickly it gets cold when the sun goes behind the mountains, so we drag our half dry washing in, and eat inside - our diced salad with a tray of smoked salmon and a slice of fresh bread and butter.
Time for a shower to wash away the fishy smell, then blogging and emailing in bed. Ian makes us a decaff coffee with the fresh cows milk and at 9am it’s lights out.
Sep 22 Altdorf
Sunday 22nd September : Weather: 16°C Altdorf: 8°C Klausen: 20°C back in Altodorf: Hazy no rain
Schachental Hohenweg: Bus to Untere Balm, 13.4k walk to Biel : Cable car to Burglen Brug, Walk to Altdorf
Ascent and Descent: Schachental Hohenweg: Ascent 451m, Descent 697m, Altdorf: Ascent 8m Descent 210m
Time: 7.44am Bus to Untere Balm: Schachental Walk 8.45am to 1.35pm: 4h 25m + 1 x 30 m stop:
Altdorf Walk 1hr 15 mins: 2.30pm to 4.45pm
Accommodation: Krebsriedgasse 1 Altdorf
7.15am cows in the shed
Bus stop at Untere Balm with snow
Schachental Hohenweg Balcony walk
Beautiful views all day
Coffee stop half way to Biel
Lunch stop Biel waiting for gondola
A wonderful day on the Schachental Hohenweg walking 13.4k between Untere Balm near the Klausen Pass and the cable car at Biel. We then walked from the bottom of the cable car to Altdorf via Burglen, birth of the famous William Tell.
I’ve been awake since 2am thinking about the next stage of our trip. But I doze off at 5am and sleep for another hour when Ian suggests a cup of tea. Yes please! We’ve already decided to catch the 408 bus at 7.44am to Klausen Pass to start another leg of the via Alpini back to Altdorf. We have a quick breakfast, pack a morning coffee into Ian’s back pack, change into warm clothes as it’s forecast to be 6°C at 1800 metres near Klausen Pass.
We’re out the door at 7.15am and poke our nose into the shed to see the cows chomping on hay while waiting to be milked. It really is a farm stay! Then up the road to William Tell square to wait for the 408 bus to Linthel but we’re hopping off half way at Untere Balm, just before the Klausen Pass. It arrives exactly on time at 7.44am and is already packed with hikers, as the first stop was the Altdorf Bahnhof - the railway station. The bus winds its way high above the Schachental Valley on its way to Klausen Pass. It’s like a tourist bus ride with views of deep gorges, waterfalls and snow capped Alps and a running commentary by the bus driver - in German!
After 50 minutes, someone presses the stop button for Untere Balm, and six hikers plus us hop off to a cold 8°C. We can see the Klausen Hotel a bit further up on the next hair pin bend. We had stayed there with Jenny and Graham on our last Via Alpini trip in 2015.
A sign points along a pathway towards Biel 3hrs 40 mins. This is route 495, the Schachental Hohenweg and obviously other hikers have come to do it too. Its a fairytale wonderland through meadows and forests with views of snow capped Alps, and soon we’re walking up the path with the hazy sun on our backs. The Schachental Hohenweg is a mix of narrow forest paths, gravel tracks and bitumen roads, and is betwen the heights of 1,700 and 1,850 metres. There were many patches of melting snow along parts of the track making it muddy and slippery.
After 3k and 2hrs on this undulating track, we reach a multidirectional sign post that indicates we’re about half way to Biel, where we'll get the cable car down to the valley. A good place to stop for a coffee, with a spicy fruit roll, fresh from a packet stored in our bags left in Altdorf. We stop for 30 minutes to admire the view.
By 1.35pm, we’re at the Biel cable car station and look for a place in the sun for lunch, eventually sitting near a brick wall adjacent to the unoccupied ski units with outside tables and chairs which we were afraid to use. Lunch is very basic - a slice of Al Porto Pannetone, with a cup of tea. We watch the gondola going up and down from Burglen Brug to Biel, with views of snow capped alps in the background. It's 2.15pm when we pay 14 CHF each to take the two stage gondola down to Burglen Brug. There’s no 402 bus for an hour so we decide to walk the 4.5k back to Altdorf.
It’s an easy downhil walk beside the main road and soon we come to the Imholz Sport store where in 2015 we bought gas cans, but this year, no one there replied to my emails so we stoppd off at Zurich when we first arrived to buy them. Everything is closed on Sundays in Switzerland - and so they should be in Australia - so we can only peer in through the window to see what they stock. No gas cans but they might be downstairs. Who knows?
We walk down a footpath through Burglen, the home of William Tell, and read his tale of told through story boards every 20 metres. All we knew about William Tell is that he shot an apple on his son’s head, but the story boards on the path spell out the full folklore tale.
In brief, the Habsburg rulers sent Gessler, their bailiff, to this area of Switzerland to ensure that people obeyed their ruler, and he placed his green cap with feathers on top of a pole in the Altdorf town square for people to bow to. William Tell refused and Gessler forced him to take a test of freedom by shooting an arrow through an apple placed on his son Walter’s head. Tell succeeded, and took revenge sometime later and killed Gessler. This inspired the people to rise up against the Habsburgs for their freedom. An interesting story, brought to life in story boards.
Continuing on down the pathway lined by ancient stone walls, we’re back in Altdorf and walking the extra 600 metres to 1 Krebsriedgasse arriving just before 4pm. It’s sunny and a warm 20°C so a good time to have a shower, wash clothes and put them outside on the drying rack in the afternoon sun. I sort photos for a bit and at 5pm, we have a beer/wine outside admiring the alps and the setting sun. A family member arrives and reiterates what we have heard many times in the past few weeks - it’s not supposed to snow ths early and a few weeks ago, the cows and sheep up on the high pastures were in deep snow.
When the sun sets and it gets cool, we move inside to chop up our lettuce, tomato, onion, capsicum into our plastic mixing bowl with a few squirts of mayonnaise. Then dish it out onto plastic plates with slices of smoked salmon, washed down with a pinot grigio diluted with apple juice. Going outside to retrieve our washing, we see a few family members crushing apples and wander over to help by turning the cutting wheel. We only last 10 minutes and we’re glad they’ve run out of apples. They use the squished apples to make Schnapps during teh winter months.
I blog while Ian watches Tennis on Eurosport. After a cup of hot milk and honey we’re in bed at 9pm. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow so we’ll wait and see and plan our day over breakfast.
Sep 23 Altdorf
Monday 23rd September : Weather: 14°C to 17°C: Sunny spells, no wind, no rain, cool most of teh day
Altdorf to Sisikon: 12.0k walk: 9k Altdorf to Sisikon on Swiss Path: 3k shopping around Altdorf
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 250m, Descent 250m,
Time: 7.45am to 11.45pm: Actual Walk Time 3hrs 30 mins + 1 x 30 min stop: train Sisikon back to Altdorf
Accommodation: Krebsriedgasse 1 Altdorf
Swiss Path 35k South Lake Lucerne
Swiss Path 1991 - 700 yrs Federation
Views back to Altdorf Swiss Path
Walking Tunnel on Swiss Path
Carillon of Bells near Sisikon
Coffee At William Tell’s Chapel
Today was an unexpectedly fabulous day walking 9k on the Swiss Path around the southern end of Lake Lucerne from Altdorf to Sisikon. It was built in 1991 by connecting a series of ancient walkways and new paths to commemorate 700 years since the establishment of the Swiss Confederation in 1291.
We’re awake at 6.30m to have a cup of tea with fresh cow’s milk, Then breakfast of meusli and yoghurt for Ian, while I have pan fried bread on the induction hot plate. We’re looking for a place to hike today as rain was forecast after lunch so we decide to postpone a trip up on the cable car to Eggberge, already in the misty clouds. We found a walk beside Lake Urnersee, an arm of Lake Lucerne, but don’t know much about it except that it’s lower in altitude and we’d be back in Altdorf before the anticipated 10mm of rain at 2pm.
We leave our farmstay at 7.45am. It’s 14°C and cold and grey with looming rain clouds as we walk 2k to Fluelen to start the lake walk. As we get near the Lake, my Garmin watch notifies me we are near a Great Trail. What Great Trail?. Further on, we see a large sign with a map describing the Swiss Path and then realise it’s also on Swiss Toppo as a yellow track, not the normal hiking trail marked in red. It’s quite a famous path that we weren’t aware of, marking the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation, formed in 1291.
It unexpectedly is a wonderful path, sometimes following obviously ancient walkways, then a bike way, then the old road, and sometimes on a footpath beside the new motorway as it passes through tunnels imbedded in high cliffs. The views back to Altdorf, up to Brunnen and across the lake to the Alps are amazing. After two hours, we come to the the biggest glockenspiel in Switzerland - a tower of 38 bells that can play 20 melodies. Every hour for up to 10 minutes past the hour, ta recording plays melodies by the bells when you press a red button and we are there at 10.09am, just in time to hear the bells play.
A few minutes further on we're at the chapel at Tellsplatte, 3 kilometers south of Sisikon. According to legend, it was this particular spot where William Tell jumped out of the boat from the Habsburg Bailiff Gessler and fled to Küssnacht. This little chapel along the lake is covered in the most beautiful murals depicting significant events in the life of local hero William Tell. It's the perfect place for coffee while sitting on the chapel steps.
There’s no sign of rain yet, so we linger a while enjoying the view. A group of 4 people rush past, and we see they're in a hurry to catch the ferry that had just arrived at the platform 100 metres further along. After leaving the chapel, it's two minutes to the ferry landing and we see from the notice that we'd have to wait another two hours for the ferry to return. It circulates around the whole of Lake Lucerne, stopping at seven villages.
Moving on to Sisikon, I check the train times on the website The Trainline, and see that there’s a train from Sisikon at 11.43am. We have 7 minutes to get there. Walking quickly, we arrive in time at the station but it’s too late to book the tickets on line so we try the automatic ticket machine. Following the prompts for two tickets, Ian swipes his visa card and the sign says take your tickets. No tickets. We do it all again. The sign says take your tickets. Still no tickets. And then the train arrives so we jump on. Ian checks his Wise Visa card statement and we see we’ve paid for our two sets of tickets twice. It shows two lots of 9.20CHF (4.60 CHF per person). Bummer!
The train takes only 10 minutes to get to Altdorf Bahnhof and we immediately go to the SBB office. Luckily we get someone who speaks English to explain what happened. They can see we’ve been charged twice and immediately refund the money, but the girl refunds it twice. The supervisor looks on and says no problem, too hard to change it’s OK. So we off we go, up the Bahnhofstrasse to the Zentrum.
We want to check out the Coop to see what we can buy for dinner. They don’t have pork fillet like we’d seen in Aldi two days ago. We’ll shop at Aldi later when we go to the Kantonal Bank which opens at 2pm, to change our old Swiss money for new. I have 250 CHF left over from our 2015 trip and since then, Switzerland has new plastic money and no one accepts old money. Rotem has said they should change it at any Altdorf Bank rather than make a special stopover in Zurich to go to the Swiss National Bank on our way back from Davos next week. We can’t walk out of Coop with nothing, so I buy two gala apples to eat on the way home, plus a small Entire cream for coffee.
The apples are beautiful and soon we’re back at our farmstay to have a coffee and cream with a piece of Al Porto Pannetone that we’ve carried from Locarno. Time to sit on the bed and blog while waiting for the bank to open at 2pm. Then there’s a knock on the door and it’s our host Rotem, offering to change the money for us as she is going shopping up the road. That’s so nice of her, saves us a trip. This is a wonderful place to stay.
At 4pm, we wander down to Aldi and return with a 500g pork fillet for 14 CHF, two large Portobello mushrooms, a box of Aldi brand red wine for 3.25 CHF and bananas. Still no rain as we walk back. Time for more blogging and looking for a place to stay in Zurich for the night before we leave. A few options to choose from. Dinner time, and our first cooked meal in weeks - half the pork fillet pan fried with mushrooms, capsicum and onion, with a pot of pumpkin soup condensed to a gravy. Bed at 930pm. Still no rain!
Sep 24 Altdorf
Tuesday 24th September : Weather: 9°C to 17°C: Sunny spells, no wind, no rain, misty up high. Cool at 1800m
Altdorf:12.0k walk: Cablecar Fluelen - Eggberge: Schachental Hohenweg: Ratzi Cablecar - Spiringen, bus Altdorf
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 000m, Descent 000m,
Time: 9am to 4.00pm: Walk time 9.45am 1.15pm: 3hrs 30min + 2 x 30 min stops
Accommodation: Krebsriedgasse 1 Altdorf
Lake Lucerne from Eggberge
Another unexpectedly fantastic day walking 12k on the second half of the Schachental Hohenweg between the Eggberge cable car and Ratzi cable car, at about 1800 metres on a balcony walk through mostly meadows and a few pine forrests.
We’re awake at 6am to have a cup of tea and plan our Swiss Path walk on the opposite side of the Urnersee (lower Lake Lucerne) to yesterday’s walk. We check ferries from Bauen as there’s no bus from there to Altdorf. Bauen is opposite Sisikon where we walked yesterday one the Swiss Path. Breakfast is meusli and yoghurt for aIan while I have pan fried bread and banana and a cup of coffee with the cream we bought yesterday. It’s 8.45am when we leave to walk down to Fluelen to join the Swiss path near the bottom of the lake.
Down the main road, we re-consider our plan and decide to take the ferry from Fluelen to Bauen then walk back instead of the other way around. Hurrying along to catch the 9.30am ferry, Ian has another idea. It’s such a beautiful blue sky day, and we can see a cable car gliding up to Eggberge, let’s take it and do a walk up high. So we did. We buy a 4-Bahnen Kombi-Billett. Which means we can take any of 4 cable cars up or down from/to Eggberge, Ruogig, Biel or Ratzi, for CHF 23. The next cable car leaves at 9.30am, and we’re joined by six “senior” hikers, chatting as we glide up to Eggberge. At the top, there’s a sign to Route 595 - the Schachental Hohenweg. We have the option to descend on any of the next 3 cable cars so we’ll see how far we get.
Morning Coffee Lake Fresche
Second Half Schachental Hohenweg
Cable car from Ratzi to Spiringen
Alpine Cheese 20 CHF pkg for lunch
Lunch at 2.30pm Spiringen bus stop
It’s a steady 4k climb for one hour 15 minutes, and it’s cold. I’m in four layers of two shirts plus a vest and jacket plus a beanie and gloves. I haven't worked up a sweat when we reach Lake Fleschsee which is so small we mistook it for the cow’s pond. But there’s tables and bench seats in the sun overlooking the mountains and the “pond”. A good stop for coffee, it’s already 10.45am. We spread out the map on the table to see where the cable cars are located, and think we have enough time to walk to Ratzi, tha last of the four.
Walking over a low ridge with a small tent cafe, the sun now has warmth as we meander around wide farm tracks in the meadowed valley sprawling in front of us with cows grazing on the last of the summer grass. Following the 595 signs, this section of the Schachental Hohenweg mostly follows farm roads and we encounter farmers tending to hay, cows, dogs and hikers passing through their property following red and white signs painted on the side of their sheds. It’s a busy time of the year for them preparing for winter - bringing the cows down from the alpine pastures, cutting and bailing the hay ready for feeding the cows in the winter barns. Mostr of these farmers have put small refrigerated boxes outside their houses full of alpine cheese, with a tinsy cash box next to it. We stop at one to buy another wedge of Alpine cheese which sells for 20 CHF per kg - about $AUD40 - cheaper than even Aldi Suisse supermarket alpine cheese.
We’ve been walking for a few hours now after morning tea, and finally see a30 minute sign for Ratzi. We take a turn descending sharply down a few hundred metres to the top of the cable car station. It appears deserted. We’re looking for a spot for lunch when we hear bells ringing inside the cable car cabin. There’s no attendant, but we can see a video camera perched high in the cabin and has probably alerted the operator below of someone near the gondola. We quickly decide we'd better jump in. The bells keep ringing and then the gondola moves off slowly with just us in it. In 15 minutes we’re at Spiringen, at the bottom of the valley and the attendant who looks like a part time farmer/part time gondola attendant, smiles as we exit and points the way to the buses.
Just 5 minutes down to the small village of Spiringen we find a seat at the bus stop to have lunch - a chunk of the Alpine Cheese we had just bought - no knife, just a torn piece off the end - together with a slice of Al Porto Pannetone from Locarno, and a hot cup of tea. The bus arrives at 2.51pm and I pay the driver 15.20 CHF - the euiivalent of $AUD30 for a twenty minute bus ride to Altdorf. We hop off at the William Tell statue in Altdorf and walk the 600 metres down to our farm stay, after a wonderful day on the Schachental Hohenweg.
First, we do lots of washing to ensure it dries before our train trip to Davos tomorrow. Then shower, blog, sort photos and do a quick tidy up before having a wine/beer at 5pm with a few nuts and a bit more alpine cheese. We chat about the wonderful day, and of days gone by in the alps, then prepare dinner - sliced onion, capsicum. mushrooms and pork fillet covered in a gravy made from pumpkin sauce. Oh, and some pan fried bread. All with a mix ofso-so red box wine, awful pinot grigio and sweet apple juice in various proportions to make a nice drink.
A bit more tidying up and a hot cup of milky honey, then bed at 9pm.