Thursday 19th September : Weather: 10°C Linescio, Bosco Gurin, AlpGossalp, 16°C at 4pm Linescio. Overcast
Bosco Gurin to Grossalp to Linescio:19.7k walk: 8.8k Circuit Bosco Gurin/Grossalp:10.9K Bosco Gurin to Linescio
Ascent and Descent: TOTAL Ascent 559m, Descent 1,382m: ( Grossalp 430/430: Bosco to Linescio 129/950)
Time: 8.21am to 4.40pm: 8.21 Bus to Bosco Gurin. 9am to 12.30pm Grossalp Circuit 3hrs + 1 x 30 min stop
12.30pm to 4.40pm: Boscu Gurin to Linescio 3hrs 40min walk + 1 x 30 min stop
Accommodation: Wild at Linescio
Capped stumps - Mice deterrents
On the way up to Grossalp at 1800m
Coffee at closed Capanna Grossalp
Lunch in meadow down to Cerentino
Walk from Bosco Gurin to Cerentino
Paper mill at Collinasca
Another fabulous day in Valle Rovana, a side valley of Valle Maggia. Overcast and cold for most of the day, but rain that was forecast didn’t eventuate. We caught the bus to Bosco Gurin again, then climbed 400 metres to Grossalp and back before deciding to walk 6k down to Cerentino, which was so nice we walked all the way to Linesco. A total of almost 20k for the day with a total descent of almost 1400 metres, but on very well graded tracks.
We’re awake at 6am after a better night than last night. We turned the single doona sideways so that rather than not cover us from side to side, it covered our bodies, but not our feet! We have a hot cup of tea, still thinking about where to walk today. We plan to take the bus to Bosco Gurin at again 8.20am, then walk 400 metres up to Grossalp, then see what the weather is like as rain was forecast after midday.
Changing into warm clothes as it’s 10°C outside and could be even colder at Grossalp, we have meusli and yoghurt for breakfast. A quick tidy up, pack lunch and coffee in Ian’s back pack, and we’re out the door at 8.10am to walk 50 metres down the stone steps to the di Fuori Bus Stop. The two donkeys are still there saying hello.
The bus arrives on time at 8.20am and I give him a 10 frank note plus a 1/2 Franc coin which I mistook for a 1 cent piece because it’s the size of the old threepence. I’m old so I remember! There’s no one on the bus except us as we wind our way up the mountain road. Soon and older lady gets on with her dog, she looks like a local as I saw her yesterday. We arrive at Bosco Gurin to a still cold 10°C, and immediately set off towards Grossalp, a little hamlet 400 metres above Bosco Gurin that we can see perched on a ledge high in the valley.
Walking up though the village of Bosco Gurin, there’s several old huts with mice caps - a piece of round granite sitting on top of the house stumps to deter/prevent mice from stealing the food/grain stores. The sun briefley shines as we climb steeply up through ski fields and arrive at the deserted Capanna Grossalp at 10.30am, where we find a table and chairs for coffee with a magnificent view down the valley to Bosco Gurin. Still no rain!
We decide to take the snowshoe trail down a winding gravel road instead of the steep stoney hiking trail. Very relaxing to be able to look around. The only people we see are two mountain bikers on their way up. It’s a longer 5 k down but not strenuous and we arrive back in Bosco Gurin at 12.30pm. Stll no rain. We had planned to wait for the 2.58pm bus, but the weather looks good, and we keep on going down a track we had seen online to Cerentino, where we planned to get the next bus back to Linescio.
Walking 1k down the road to avoid the hiking path, which looked really steep, we take a turn off down a narrow bitumen path we had seen on the way up in the bus. It leads down to a sunny meadow which had only recently been cut for hay. It’s 1pm, but this is such a nice spot we decide to stay for lunch of a cup of tea with a hunk of pannetone bread/cake. The raging torrent thunders nearby down Valle Bosco, a split off from Valle Rovana.
Moving on, we're amazed at how well maintained this track is. It looks recently signposted and trimmed, and the gradient down hill is not steep. We’re able to walk quickly down hill, switching sides over the torrent, and at 2.15pm we see signs to Cerentino where we had planned to catch the 3.20pm bus back to Linescio. On the same sign, it's 1 hour to Linescio via Collinasca. It’s still not raining and is such a wonderful walk that we decide to continue all the way to Linescio - our home for the night at Guesthouse by Wild.
The track is a little rougher than from Cerentino, but still good as we walk a bit of a roller coaster up and down, just above the road. We reach Collinasca and see the paper mill that Pablo had told us about. There’s only about three houses plus the paper mill. Following the red and white signs to Linescio, the track is about 50 metres above the main road. It’s a bumpy, stoney, rooty track with no steep up and down sections and an hour later we’re down to Linescio Paese and walk another few hundred metres to our “Guesthouse by Wild”.
Pablo is out but the door is unlocked and we straightaway have a shower and wash a few clothes before heading down to the warm kitchen where Pablo has left a log on the fire - a good place to hang our washing on a chair in front of the fire. A beer/wine and a slice of Alpine cheese and soon we’re having dinner of diced lettuce, onion, tomato mixed with mayonnaise, plus the rest of our smoked salmon. We’re the only ones here so it’s quiet.
It’s hard to move while sitting by the kitche fire waiting for our clothes to dry. Pablo is still out - probably rock climbing somewhere. He returns aboit 7.30pm, quite damp, as teh foreast rain came later than expected. We chat about Ticino and life in general and he explains that 80,000 Italians come across the border into Switzerland each day to work. It changes the demographics as these people are far worse off than those from Switzerland and puts teh honesty system into question. It’s almost 9pm when we’re off to bed.