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.