2024 Switzerland - Via Alpini and Via Alta Maggia 

Friday 30th August:  Weather: 18°C to 27°C: 

Altdorf circuit:  12.5 k Circuit walk to Lake Lucerne, Attinghausen and Altdorf centre.    

Ascent and Descent:  Ascent 000m, Descent 000m

Time:  8.45am to 12.30pm:  4hrs 45mins: 1 x 30 min stop 

Accommodation: Air BnB Krebsriedsgasse 1, Altdorf

Highlight today was re-discovering Altdorf, a place we had visited in 2015 when we had previously walked the Via Alpini from West to East, but only stayed overnight. So it was nice to have an easy day walking 12.5k around Altdorf to recover from our 23hr flight. Altdorf is situated on the right (eastern) bank of the Reuss River, about 2 kilometres south of where the river discharges into the Urnersee, an arm of Lake Lucerne.  

We’re awake at 4am, having slept reasonably well in the cool of the evening.  First, a cup of tea before re-arranging our bags and sorting out what we will leave behind in two small cabin bags for when we return to Altdorf on 21st September after our Via Alpini and Via Alta Vallemaggia walks.  Breakfast at 8am of meusli and yoghurt.

At 8.45am we’re out the door, wandering towards Lake Lucerne, past the Eggberge cable car taking hikers to the high walking tracks.  Down to the lakes edge, where I’m surprised the water is a warmish 20°C, warmer than our pool at home.  The sun is beating down as we follow the cycle paths back around the Reuss River to Attinghausen where we look for a place in the shade for a cup of coffee.  I didn’t bring any biscuits to go with the coffee, hoping we’d find a bakery wth apple strudel, but no such luck.  So it was just a straight coffee. Then we follow the signs to the Brusti Cable car to check out where we’ll be going tomorrow.  We’d previously come down in the cable car in 2015, but it was good to check out if anything had changed.  We’d plannned to catch a bus there in the morning instead of walking the 4k to add to an already long day, but Rotem, our hosthas  kindly offered to drive us there in the morning.

Following the walking signs back to Altdorf, the paths took a winding route through flat farm land between ancient stone walls which are part of a 16k network dating back to the 15th Century.  It was very quiet walking through farmland, rather than beside the busy roads running through Altdorf, mostly traffic coming to and from the Gotthard Road Tunnel just 40km to the South.  This 17km tunnel connects North and South Switzerland beneath the Gotthard Massif and for a time was the longest car tunnel in the world.

Back at our studio at 12.30pm to have a cheese sandwich before more re-packing and re-organising for the start of our hike in the morning.  Rotem, our host, pays us a visit to sort out what time would suit us to go to the start of the Brusti cable car.  We agree that 7.45am would be good as she and her husband would be driving to the start of their three day hike near the Gotthard Pass.  She shows us on the map where their alpine walk is and has a photo of a narrow suspension walkway between the alps.  

We spend the aftrenoon sorting photos before walking back to Aldi to buy something for dinner.  Leaving with one bullocks heart tomato, one purple onion, one loaf of bread and a packet of smoked salmon, we walk the 500 metres back to Krebsriedgasse.  Time for a beer and nuts before sitting outside with our dinner to admire the view across the field to the alps, bereft of snow ecept for a few patches wedged in the crevices.  It’s still a warm 25°C.  A few hours of packing then bed at 9pm.