Thursday June 3, 2021 -- This choice for today's holiday hike was very disappointing for me. Even though the weather was supposed to be overcast everywhere, it turns out that there were blue skies closer to home and cold, overcast weather in the region we went to!
We had long wanted to complete the missing section of the Strada Alta (High Road) in the North Leventina Valley, which is just south of the Gotthard Pass in the upper Ticino where the weather is usually better than in the North. It's not often that we travel South and have worse weather there. Granted, it started out not too bad, but I KNEW it had turned better in the North... (back in 2016 we had actually planned to hike this same stretch, and it was the same scenario.. that story HERE)
As usual there were several interesting communities to admire as we passed through, even a quite different style of houses than we normally see in the Ticino (these were more like Valais constructions) and a couple of cute churches and many lovely meadows, but the forest trail wasn't nice, and I sure missed the sunshine for the views down the valley! Also, Urs saw two emerald lizards, and I did not! (It is always a treat to see those!)
Probably the best part of the trip were the bus rides up to the start in Altanca, and down from the end in Osco, as 1) we were the only passengers on each ride, and 2) the streets are so narrow and curvy that it is a real marvel how they are built to access these communities so high up above the valley!
The Strada Alta Trail starts in Airolo and ends in Pollegio near Biasca, about 45 km altogether. We completed it now, in five stages:
1) Airolo to Altanca: Oct.22, 2016 = 6.5 km (cut short because it was very cold) --> Photos
HERE
2) Altanca to Osco: June 3, 2021 = 11.5 km (today's hike)
3) Osco to Rossura: Dec.26, 2014 = 5 km (one of our earlier hikes)
4) Rossura to Cavagnago: Oct.3, 2018 = 11.5 km --> Photos
HERE
5) Cavagnago to Pollegio: May 24, 2020 = 11.5 km --> Photos
HERE
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| To get to the high road, there are several places at the valley bottom from where you can get a bus (a small post bus). In our case, we had a connection from Ambri, which passes first through this community called Quinto |
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| The bus also passed by this cute little church in Catto, which is just below Lurengo, a village we also passed later on on our hike. |
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| Here in Altanca we started on this final "missing" section of the Strada Alta Trail (in December 2016 we had walked from the start of the trail in Airolo to here, but cut the hike short because there was a very cold wind blowing). Our goal is Osco, but it took us a bit longer because we did a detour to another village off the main trail |
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| Here is where we ended in 2016 (at that time we walked down to the valley bottom as well, as there were no buses scheduled for our descent). Now we are starting again at this spot, the church in Altanca. |
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| There were fewer of these stone houses along the way, than the wooden Leventina houses |
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| Most of the construction were these gorgeous dark brown wooden houses. |
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| A look back as we leave the village of Altanca. On the hillside at the back is the Ritom Funicular, which until not long ago was the steepest funicular in Europe. You can ride it up to the beautiful dammed Lake Ritom and a very lovely high alpine plateau. |
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| We were surprised to still see some blossoming trees! |
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| Not long after Altanca is the tiny village of Ronco. Each tiny hamlet has a church. These are mostly from the 19th Century. |
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| Till here we were on paved roads, and from here it's a lovely meadow trail down to the next village of Deggio (above my head in the photo). Splendid views down the Leventina Valley with the Ticino River |
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| A look behind us at the beautiful meadows. At the far back is the Gotthard Massif, through which the Gotthard Tunnel connects us to the Northern side of the Alps. |
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| I can't get enough of the beautiful meadows all around us. Here, they are not yet ready for mowing! |
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| Village center in Deggio |
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| The church in Deggio had a very pretty carved entrance door |
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| The painted ceiling inside the church in Deggio has recently been touched up. |
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| More of what they call "Leventina Houses" |
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| Just 500m further on from Deggio is a cluster of houses called "San Martino". The main feature here is an old chapel dedicated to St.Martin, with lovely frescoes inside which we were able to admire, because the chapel was not locked. (By the way, this trail is also part of National Trail no.2: Trans Swiss Trail) |
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| The chapel of St. Martin, built somewhere around the 11th Century, is an important example of churches built along this trail which used to be the major thoroughfare of that time. To prevent it falling apart, it was recently restored at a cost of 430,000 SFr.!!!! (We had our picnic lunch here). |
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| Recent restorations highlight the beauty of this artwork inside an almost 1000-year-old building. There is also a large painting of St.Martin cutting off a piece of his cloak for a beggar man |
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| This beautiful piece of artwork is painting directly on the wall of the church. (St.Martin cutting his cloak for the beggar) |
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| A fresco of the Last Supper inside St.Martin's Chapel in Quinto |
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| Continuing along the Strada Alta Trail, another look behind us up the Leventina Valley to the Gotthard Massif (there is still so much snow there, it's just not melting this year.) Down below is the tiny St.Martin's Chapel |
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| This field is all buttercups! |
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| Some other pretty flowers along the way. The Narcissi were a pleasant surprise, considering we just recently went to see them in Seewis: Someone has access to lots of these... this beautiful bouquet was in a roadside shrine, and this time we could really smell them! |
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| An attractive waterfall |
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| Now we've arrived in Lurengo... just above that little church we saw when we came up by bus. There is lots of construction going on in this village, so nothing special of note here. |
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| Now we came to a steep descent through a forested area, but there must have been a lot of storm damage in the past years, because so much of the forest has been cleared out. |
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| Steep descent through the forest toward Osco |
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| Across the valley is this spectacular cliff, along which run both the freeway and the railway. The noise of the freeway was a constant background noise, but you get used to it. |
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| At this time of year, lush ferns are abundant on the hillsides. |
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| Below us is one more village before Osco: This one is called Freggio |
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| Urs is always a happy hiker! |
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| Huge boulders, waterfalls, ferns... it makes an interesting tableau |
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| The church in Freggio. In the background, rain clouds seem to be gathering above the mountains. |
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| More lovely meadows |
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| This community of Freggio had a very attractive core. |
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| Another look backwards as we continue southwards. Below on the left are railway tunnels |
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| A close-up look at some of the many tunnels which "aerate" the Swiss mountains! |
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| I was so excited to capture a hummingbird butterfly on a photo, although this is the best I could do before it flew away! |
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| Inside the church it looks like the paintings have also recently been touched up. |
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| The entire road down to Faido was a series of these very tight switchbacks!! |
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| Across from the train station in Faido is this old hotel, no longer in use, because the freeway now bypasses the old road, and fewer people come through here. It is such a shame that they cannot restore or renovate these old buildings... |
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| This is the location of the Strada Alta Trail, in particular the section we did... |
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