Tuesday 17th September : Weather: 10°C in Fusion to 18°C in Cevio to 10°C in Linescio: Overcast, cold
Fusio to Linescio: 0 walk: Bus Fusio to Bignasco, change to Cevio, Change to Bosco Gurin, Back to Linescio
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 000m, Descent 000m,
Time: 9.15am to 3.30pm: Buses all day
Accommodation: Wild at Linescio
Leaving Fusio on Post Bus
180° harpin bend on bus
String Line Hedge trim swiss style
Pannetone from Rovana
Colourful Town Cevio Hall
Linescio Guesthouse 8 star
An interesting day! Highlight was the bus trip down Valle Maggia to Cevio, then up to Bosco Gurin to check out where we want to walk tomorrow, then back down ti Linescio. The real gem was meeting Pablo who runs Guesthouse by Wild in Linescio. He’s a mountain climber who spent time in Brisbane learing English.
We have a restless night, mostly because we slept for 10 hours the night before and had only two short easy walks yesterday. Awake at 5am, we get up at 6am to have a cup of tea then crawl back to bed before deciding to aim for the 9.06am 315 bus back down the valley to Cevio to connect with the 331 bus to Linescio. By 7.30am we’re up and having breakfast of meusli and the last of our yoghurt, with the 4 plate stove on full blast. Then we’re packed, cleaned up the hostel, swept and mopped the floors and out the door at 8.45 am.
We’re at the bus stop waiting for the 9.06am bus we we see teh time table for 9.15am. Good, just enough time for me to trot up the road to buy another block of Alpine Cheese for 16.80 CHF. The Post Bus arrives and leaves on time. It’s larger than the one we caught up the mountain but can still swivel 180° on it’s back wheels around teh hair pin bends. We arrive in Bignasco to quickly change to the 315 bus to Cevio, arriving there at 10.30am.
It’s windy and overcast, and we’re looking for a place to sit for coffee. But first, Ian has seen a recommendation on Facebook that the patisserie in Cevio makes the best Pennetone. A short stroll up the street and we find the Patisserie Ravona and buy a larger than we wanted pannetone for 18.5 CHF. Then back to the Town Hall square to find a seat out of the wind. Ian makes a jet boiled coffee, while I carve up the pannetone. It’s nothing like the one we had in Locarno. This one is just like orange cake - an expensive one at that! Never the less it was nice to have with our coffee.
Then we wander up to the Coop to buy 3 days worth of supplies - tomatoes, bread, beer, a box of rose, lettuce, capsicum and two packets of smoked salmon. Loaded up we look for the museum about the Valle Maggia but it’s only open between 2 and 5pm and we’ll be gone by then. But near the entrance is a grassy area out of the wind to sit in the sun for an hour admiring the steep valley sides - no skiing here! At 1.30pm we wander back to the the Town Square to wait for the bus.
At 2.10pm, the 331 bus arrives and heads up an arm of Valle Maggia to Bosco Gurin. We pass Linescio on the way, and check out our accommodation for the night - Guesthouse by Wild, and old villa perced on the hill above the small village of Linescio. We’ve decide to continue up to Bosco Gurin to check out where we might walk to tomorrow. We have our Ticino Tickets so all public Transport in Ticino is free, cortesy of Ostello Fusio, until the end of today. The road is narrow - very narrow with less than 10 cm to spare on each side as the bus passes through tiny hamlets.
In 30 minutes, we’re at Bosco Gurin, and a pile of day hikers hop on. We stay on the bus for it’s return to Cevio and 25 minutes later, after pressing the stop button, hop off at the Linescio di Fuori bis stop. Google maps tells be Guesthouse by Wild is only 350 metres on the upper road, and there’s steps from the bus stop to the upper level. We find the place easily and are amused to see in scratchy paint, a sign that says it’s newly rated 8 stars. Opening the door, Pablo greets us. He’s a cheery fellow who tells us he spent 5 months in Brisbane learing English. Then he shows us at=round the villa. There’s about 8 rooms in this house. It’s rickety, the floor is uneven, but it’s clean. I had chosen an 18metre square room called Cesare with two double beds to give us space to spread out. The shared shower/bath is down a level. We like it. It’s hostel like but quaint.
After a warm shower, we sprawl on the bed to check emails, blog and sort photos - with a cup of box rose and a Anker lager. It’s cozy, and warmer down here at 15°C. We like it here . It rates 8.5 on booking.com, not for it’s gold plated taps, but it perfetly suits climbers and hikers like us who want a friendly atmosphere, a comfy bed, warm shower, and a kitchen with fridge for self catering.
Soon we have a wine/beer in the room with a few nuts then downstairs to dinner of large lettuce leaf wrapped around tomato, onion, alpine cheese and a slither of smoked salmon with mayonnaise - all with another glass of box rose. Perfect. Someone else arrives - a climber - with ropes and shackles wrapped around his back pack. He’s next door in Alfredo, a 4 bed dorm. The kitchen is warm with a log fire burning and a heat stone parked on top. The fridge is stacked with odds and ends and we don’t know whose is what. We leave our stuff in a small aldi zippered fridge bag. There’s no locks on the doors, it’s all swiss style trustworthy.
Back to our cozy room with a view of the mountains. We have a large double bed with a single doona between us. That will be interesting with Ian’s legs from the knees down sticking out the end.