A Short Section of the St.James Trail between Brunnen and Schwyz

Monday May20, 2024 -- This Monday is a religious holiday in Switzerland (Pentecost Monday) and still good weather forecast for our part of the country, mostly in the morning. But the closer our bus got to the original place we chose to walk in -- a mountain hike, from the Haldi plateau (two hours' travel time) to Erstfeld -- the more the clouds moved in, so we turned around and went back to the north end of Lake Uri, where we did a rather short (5.5 km) walk along the St. James Trail between Brunnen and Schwyz, a section we hadn't done yet.

Most of the trail was surprisingly nice, except the final kilometer into the heart of Schwyz which was along the main road. As this is part of the "Camino de Santiago" through Switzerland, there are of course many chapels and churches along the way. And the pastoral landscape of Canton Schwyz is always pretty. But the day turned hot and muggy, and quite honestly, this short hike seemed to take longer than the two 12-14 km hikes I did earlier this weekend!

Always a pretty sight as we head south by train along the east side of Lake Zug (10:15). This is Mount Pilatus, which is Luzern's local mountain. 

And just as we reach the south side of Lake Zug, we look across at Mount Rigi, which is basically our local mountain and the gateway to the Central Alps, and a popular excursion site for tourists (as the views from the summit are spectacular)

Heading south now into Canton Schwyz and on to Canton Uri, we are still anticipating blue skies further south where we originally wanted to walk. 

As we near the south end of Lake Uri, though, we can see that the clouds are rapidly covering the skies. By the time we got to Altdorf (not much further south) it wasn't looking great, so we took the next train back northwards. This is in Sisikon, and also one of my favourite views. (Canton Uri)

From a Webcam on a mountain nearby, the place in the circle is where we were planning to hike on the Haldi Plateau, but by 11 a.m. (when we decided to head back), it was pretty overcast here.

Webcam on the Haldi Plateau at 11 a.m. We were going to get up here by cable-car by 11:15 to start our hike, but the skies further north were still blue, so we changed our minds and headed back north again. 

Heading back north now to Brunnen at the north end of Lake Uri, from where we started our (as it turns out) rather short walk to Schwyz. This mountain range is part of Mount Rigi, and we probably should have just stayed in this area in the first place. 

So what we ended up doing was a short 5½ km walk along National Trail no.4: "Via Jakobi", on that portion of the St.James trail (Camino de Santiago) through Switzerland. We started at 11:20, and caught a bus in Schwyz at about 2 p.m.  

Leaving the train station in Brunnen and heading east you are actually in the community called Ingenbohl. Not along our trail but further north is the parish church of Ingenbohl. We neglected to notice this on our map, or we would have included it in our walk!

Walking along National Trail no.4: "Via Jakobi". It's barely a 90-minute walk to Schwyz. 

From the train station in Brunnen, the trail first leads up to the Theresianum, a private highschool originally built (1888) as a teacher's college for nuns (Ingenbohl Abbey). 

Looking back at Brunnen from the site of the Abbey. As it turns out, the sky became overcast as we got here as well. 

The cemetery next to the Ingenbohl Abbey (Theresianum) were planted with many rosebushes. We found a nice bench here and had our picnic lunch (as it was now noon). This is one of the first roses that was blooming here. 

We headed back out on the trail toward the city of Schwyz (capital of Canton Schwyz) at 12:20, always with the twin peaks of the Mythen mountains ahead of us. 

A low-level moor of national importance belongs to the abbey, and is a biotope for rare amphibians, in particular a yellow-bellied toad.  

The wild irises in these flat-moor landscapes are so pretty. 

A look past the moor to the Ingenbohl Abbey. 

My favourite meadow flowers: Daisies

The pastoral landscape of Canton Schwyz. The skies have cleared and it's muggy warm now!

The first chapel we pass on the trail is called Wendelin's Chapel. (The St.James trail tries to touch on as many religious buildings as possible)

St. Wendelin's Pilgrim Chapel in its current form was dedicated in the year 1721, although there was another chapel originally at this location in about 1635. 

Except for the final kilometer before the bus station in Schwyz, we had some nice pleasant trails to walk for the first four kilometers. 

This next small chapel has the funny name of "Toothache Chapel", built in the 17th Century. People believed that they would be healed of toothaches if they prayed here at this location. 

A lovely narrow trail through the pastures of Canton Schwyz

A look behind us to the south to Mount Fronalpstock. There is a ridge trail there which is very popular with tourists. Fronalpstock is reached by chair-lift from the plateau town of Stoos, which in itself is reached be the steepest funicular in the world, completed in December 2017. That is part of the attraction as well!

Heading into the town of Ibach, which is between Brunnen and Schwyz. (We have done many hikes in this region, several of them on and around the two peaks. Once we hiked to the top of the larger peak, and once we descended between the two peaks.)

The summit of the Large Mythen is always an interesting sight, as the red stone at the top is actually older than the rock below it. 

Another small chapel in Ibach, it is called the Erlen Chapel, dating from the 17th Century, although the original chapel here was built in 1485 in the belief that as a thankyou, God would protect the region from floodwaters. It was locked so we did not get a look at the interior. 

Crossing the Muota River, which flows into Lake Luzern / Lake Uri at Brunnen. 

The next chapel along the trail is that tiny one up ahead!

The panel on this one was hard to read, but it states that the chapel is called the "Fünffranzenkapelle" or "Five-Francis Chapel", built from 1675 to 1680 and dedicated to five saints called Francis. It was severely damaged during the invasion of the French and restored in 1811. It was also locked, although one could look at the inside through a small iron grid in the door. 

This lizard looks like it might have lost its tail at some point and grown a new one?

Final nice stretch before the main road. 

These roses were HUGE! At least 10 cm in diameter. 

And these are the headquarters of Victorinox, the manufacturers of the very popular Swiss Army knives!

Pretty old farmhouses

The final chapel along our trail, before reaching the main square of the city of Schwyz.

This chapel is called "Our Lady of Sorrows". This one was unlocked.

The chapel was built in 1683, but not at this exact location. At one point it had to be moved due to road construction. It had some very nice stained-glass windows. 

This is near the main square in the town of Schwyz. As it was quite a warm day by now, and we have been here many times, we headed directly to the main bus terminal, which is to the left. Photos of the pretty buildings and lovely Baroque Church (considered the most grandios parish church in Switzerland) can be viewed --> HERE , when we had a good look at it after the descent between the two Mythen Peaks

Behind the bus terminal is the Swiss Historical Museum, decorated with these pictures of what the locals looked like back in the 13th Century when Switzerland became a confederacy. Canton Schwyz was one of the three original cantons which joined to form the country in 1291. 

And this lovely building is the Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation, built in 1936 for the sole purpose of housing the Federal Charter of 1291. 

This is the 5-km trail we walked, and all the churches and chapels we saw along the way!

Here are all the hikes we have done in the region around the city of Schwyz. This is the fourth hike that ended there. The yellow one is where we walked down between the two Mythen peaks (2020).

Location of Brunnen and Schwyz within Switzerland.