Valais Sunshine Trail between Brig and Visp

Wednesday December 7, 2022 -- It being so close to the shortest day of the year, it is difficult to judge how long we will have sunshine in the mountains, based on how low the sun is!

We took a trip to Canton Valais, in the Brig/Visp region, as the southern flanks of the mountains in the Rhône Valley get lots of sunshine, great for hiking in winter even when the air temperature is just over freezing.... We had planned on two separate hikes with a 45-minute bus ride in between, and it was difficult to decide which to do first. I thought I had made the correct decision, but it turns out that by the time we got to the second hike in Gampel at 2 p.m., the sun was just going down behind the mountains. (We ended up not finishing the second hike as originally planned).

The first hike was very good though. We started at 10:30 in Birgisch near Brig and walked along the "Sunshine Trail" (aptly named) via Mund, know for its saffron harvest, possibly the only place in Central Europe where the expensive spice is still harvested according to old tradition. The plan was to walk down to the valley-bottom village of Lalden near Visp and take the bus from there to Gampel. But the valley bottom was still in shadow by the time we were near there. My intuition was that we should have stayed up high on the "Sunshine Trail" where there was sunshine till 4 p.m., but Urs wanted to see the irrigation channels in Gampel. The fact that the mountainside there was in shadow by the time we got there, and no water was running anyway, made the rest of the trip rather disappointing. Nevertheless, we had plenty of sunshine on this short December day. 

(Side Note: As we like to try out local products on our various excursions around the country,  and because the local shop owner in Mund especially opened her village shop for us "after hours", we bought the most expensive noodles I've ever had: Saffron Noodles, 10 CHF for a 250g bag of noodles! Well, no surprise, as Saffron costs more per gram than gold!)

Oh, and we saw many Valais Black-Nosed Sheep! Some still in the pastures, most in their small stables in the village centers....

Most of the northern part of Switzerland was under a think blanket of fog. Only here between Spiez and the Lötschberg Tunnel in the Bernese Oberland, there was a bit of break in the fog as we traveled through there. 

From Brig by bus to Birgisch, and we join Trail no.61: "Walliser Sonnenweg", or "Valais Sunshine Trail", a favourite of ours in winter because there is really a lot of sunshine, and in summer it's too hot to walk here. Heading to Mund via the Gredetsch Valley. Started at 10:30 

It's a perfect day for this hike, we have really good visibility of the mountains to the West (this view) and to the East. 

Heading up through Birgisch toward the Gredetsch Valley. Behind me the mountains of the Rhône Valley to the East, and the road up to the Simplon Pass

We saw many of these cute Valais Black-Nose Sheep, some in the pastures, many in the small barns. 

This was one of the two hikes we wanted to do this day, only 2-1/4 hours, (the second was 1-1/4). In retrospect, we should have stayed on the Sunshine trail to Eggerberg and possibly further on. But we took our time for this, and had lots of sunshine. 

On the other side of the Gredetsch Valley to the West is the village of Mund, known for its saffron harvest. 

There are about six irrigation channels transporting water out of the Gredetsch Valley. We have been on the upper channels several times. This is the first time we walked along the lowest one. It was a short detour into the valley, and we had more sun than expected. 

Heading out of the Gredetsch Valley again, a view toward Birgisch where we started. You can see the road we walked, and the irrigation channel below it. 

There were hundreds of choughs in Mund, we don't know why.... 

Heading into the village of Mund, in the lower section where we had not yet been. Always new things to discover. 

A look down to valley bottom to the city of Brig. A large part of the valley bottom here is in the shadow of the mountains for a few weeks in winter. 

It's always fun to watch vehicles navigate the narrow streets in these villages. 

A beautiful brand new stone building amongst the old wooden structures

All throughout the villages are these special barns, many of which are being converted into domiciles. 

Village of Mund

Center of the village, what a beautiful view of the Alps to the south 

The little village shop actually closed at 11:30, and we got there just about at that time. The owner let us in just the same. We were looking for a saffron specialty, and had seen her advertisement for the saffron noodles, so we purchased a pack for 10:50 CHF! There were surely other specialties, but we didn't want to bother the shop-keeper any more. 

The flocks of choughs are still circling above the village

The Mund Saffron Museum. We have passed this many times, have never been in it, though

Another look down at the city of Brig, in the shadows. The elevation we are currently at is the ideal for a sunny winter hike. 

Information panels along the way tell of the saffron harvest. The flowers still grow naturally here (the only place in Switzerland) as the ground is ideal. Villagers collect the flowers in Oct-Nov. and pluck the saffron strands by hand. Harvest is about 2 kg total. That's why the spice is so expensive. It also requires thousands of flowers for that much saffron. 

It is illegal for passersby to pick the saffron flowers. You can be fined 500 CHF if you do so. The harvest is a livelihood for many of these villagers. 

From Mund we walked through the forest to the next village of Waflei. We were pleasantly surprised at how pretty it was here. 

Heading down the village street in Waflei (this is a look behind us).

The villagers here seem to decorate the village for everyone's enjoyment. 

Admiring the Christmas decorations in the mountain village of Waflei

Just a couple of wooden stars set outside an old barn makes all the difference!

Another look at the mountains to the east 

Our picnic lunch spot.

Continuing down the trail we came across this interesting chapel built directly into the cliffs. 

Inside the stone chapel, built into the cliff wall

For a short section we followed the Badneri Irrigation channel, which is one of the channels drawing water out of the Gredetsch Valley. 

As this region has little rain and is very dry, these irrigations channels were a necessity of life for many centuries, and required a lot of work to build, such as here, hewn out of the rock. Many of them are still in use, but in winter, the water flow is often "turned off". 

Down below us is the little train station of Lalden on the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS) Railway line called the South Ramp. Our trail heads down there. Below us is the city of Visp (mainly the large Lonza industrial compound) which only gets a couple of hours of sunshine in winter.  

I was hoping that the village of Lalden would have the sunshine by the time we got here at 1:15 p.m., but we could see we wouldn't have sun by 1:30 when we had to catch the bus. I would have preferred to continue along the railway tracks above the shadows, but Urs wanted to see the other irrigation channels in Gampel 

Christmas Nativity Scene in the village of Lalden. 

Side note: Back in February 2017 I did a hike on my own, starting in the village of Lalden and walking up to the railway line (reverse of what we did this day) and continuing along the sunshine trail to Eggerberg and Ausserberg, what I would have liked to repeat this day. Those photos are HERE.  There were definitely more hours of sunshine in February than in December!

It was about 7 km to walk from Birgisch to Lalden. We timed it well to catch the 13:30 bus to Visp (having started at 10:30 for the 2-1/4 hour hike)

The region of the Sunshine Trail is a popular one for us, because it is easy to reach in about 3 hours from home. We chose the trail from Birgisch to Lalden on purpose this way, because we hadn't walked that stretch yet. 

From Lalden we took a bus to Visp (15 minutes) and had to wait 20 minutes there for our connecting bus. Within 10 minutes of getting there, we lost the sunshine. Then another 25-minute bus ride to Gampel where we wanted to start our second hike. It was tough seeing the sunshine on the hillside where I had wanted to continue hiking.  

Heading West by bus, there is so much sunshine still on the hillside here in the Baltschieder Valley. I would have preferred to continue our walk up there just above the shadows and along the railway line. But we had walked into that valley several times already. 

Passing through Raron with its renowned chapel on the hill. The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke is buried here. 

By 2:30 p.m. we reached Gampel for the start of our second hike where the trail would take us up and past the chapel on the hill. Not 10 minutes later, the hillside was in shadow. It goes that quickly!

The second hike we did was another 4 km, but wasn't actually what we wanted to do. Starting at the base station of the Jeizinen cableway we wanted to walk the "lower" then the "upper" water channels, then continue further west to the next village called Niedergampel but I saw no point to this anymore, so we returned to the village and caught the bus straight up northward through the Lonza Valley to the train station in Goppenstein. 

Part of the "Lower Channel" (Untere Wasserleite). 

Looking toward the east, it was pretty clear we should have started here at 10:30, and done the second hike later in the day!

Heading westward along the Upper Water Channel (Obere Wasserleite), I decided I would prefer to try this again when the water is running and the sun shining here! So we returned to the valley bottom instead of continuing on to Niedergampel

Well, it's 3 p.m. now, and the day is pretty well finished here! This is actually two cities, Gampel and Steg. We returned to the city center and caught a bus north at 15:45, and got back home at 7:15 p.m.

The Highest Vineyards in Europe and a 500-year old Irrigation Channel near Visp

Wednesday April 27, 2022 -- After having discovered the endangered flower Adonis Vernalis, which grows in only two places in Switzerland (those photos can be viewed HERE), we traveled by bus and train an hour from Turtmann to Visp in the Valais, to do our second excursion of the day: A walk along the 7-km long irrigation channel called Visperi Suon (first mentioned in documents from 1521, so built 500 years ago!)

A year ago we had spent three days in the area, at Visperterminen in the Vispa Valley, and at that time we did a great hike into the highest vineyard in Europe, the Heida vineyards, which cover a height of 500m up to 1150 m above sea level. (Those photos HERE). Today, we decided to start where we ended last year, and to continue through the vineyard before reaching the start of the irrigation channel near the hospital in Visp.

We had read about some dizzying sections with vertical drops along the Visperi Suon and were looking forward to some excitement... As it turns out, it was a pretty tame irrigation channel hike for us, compared to others we have done. (The vertical drops were not so high, and screened by outward-growing bushes, so that probably lessened the effect).

Along the way we got a good look at the Lonza industrial compound, the largest employer in this area. We were not far above the freeway which passes through here, so had the constant noise of industry and motor-vehicle traffic along the way. 

At the far end of the channel we descended back to the valley bottom and followed the 850m-long Gamsen Letzi Wall to the bus stop along the main road. This once-magnificent wall (two meters wide and six meters high) was built in the Middle Ages (between 1352 and 1355) as a defense fortification. Many parts of it are still intact. 

Together with the first 1.5-hour walk we did in Turtmann in the morning, we did a total of 13 kms of walking in about 4 hours. 

Heading up to the starting point of our hike, this is the view over the city of Visp from the bus window

A look up the Vispa Valley as we head toward the starting point of our hike (toward the left). The mountain massif in the back is called the Mischabel Group, and it contains the highest mountain in Switzerland that is 100% on Swiss terrain (Mt.Dom, 4545m)

Here is the place we ended our hike last time. We wanted to start from here this time. 

The trail heads through the Heida Vineyards of Visperterminen, the highest vineyards in Europe (at least till 2019, it could be that there is now a higher one).

Of the 8.5 km we walked along this stretch, about 7 km are along the irrigation channel. You can see where it is located by the steady slow incline of the graph. It looks flat when you walk it, but it has just enough rise for the water to flow well. 

Above me the vineyards stretch up in fantastic terraces for a total height difference of 500m !!!!

Information panels along the way, about viniculture in the area. This one is specifically about the building of the fabulous stone walls which support the terraces. "One square meter of dry stone wall requires one tonne of stones"!!! A benefit of the stone walls is that they absorb and retain heat which then emanates back into the ground at night and in the late fall. 

The short section through the vineyard goes just around the corner to the right. Below is the very expensive freeway bypass through the mountain, which was supposed to be completed in 2019, but it's still not finished! (Started in 2015). It has also ended up costing a whole lot more than originally planned

A look back at the terraces

We found a picnic table where we had our lunch. This was the view South down the Vispa Valley toward the Mischabel Massif. 

And this was the view North toward the city of Visp and the Rhone Valley

Near the start of the irrigation channel trail, the sign informs us that we still have 2 hours and 15 minutes to walk until our bus stop in Gamsen. It didn't take us that long, though.

A look down at the houses of old town Visp, from the channel trail

Staring out along the Visperi irrigation trail. This water channel was first documented in 1521, so it is over 500 years old!

We could hear the hammer from quite a way off. The point of this mechanism is that it gives off a regular hammering sound as the water turns the paddles, indicating that the water is flowing properly. If the locals below don't hear the hammering, they know they have to go clean the channel from debris

VIDEO:

Hammer working on the irrigation channel 

to indicate that the water is flowing properly

On the sections which were narrow or had a vertical drop, there were hand-holds for safety

The sign says "Do not stop along the way", and Urs takes this very seriously!

Down below is the large industrial complex of the Lonza Company

Not to forget, that this water channel was carved out of vertical rock face over 500 years ago!

Looking eastward up the Rhone Valley. The river is more of a wide channel here. And there is a lot of noise from the vehicle traffic along the freeway below. Nevertheless, we love to hike these mountainsides (especially on the other side) in early Spring, because it is warmest here!

A tamer part of the water channel

At this point the water is diverted to another irrigation channel further down the hill

This irrigation channel was carved out of the vertical cliff wall 500 years ago

VIDEO:

Walking along the Visperi irrigation channel (can be watched here or on YouTube)

The water drips down the cliff face here and has left calcium deposits. 

Calcium deposits from water dripping down the cliff walls

Coming to the end of the section of the water channel before heading down to the Gamsen Letzi Wall

Still a few blossoming trees

The Letzi Wall. It used to be two meters wide and 6 meters high!

Here you can see how wide the defense wall was. 

This was was built between 1352 and 1355 and many parts of it are still intact!

850-meter long Gamsen Wall

Last year around this time we did a hike from Visperterminen to the Heida Vineyards, and ended on the road below the vineyard. This time we started where we had left off, and walked along the 7-km long Visperi Irrigation Channel to Gamsen. 

Back at the Visp train station, I was able to get a beautiful close-up photo of the Mischabel Massif.