Shade and Chestnuts in the Morobbia Valley

Wednesday October 12, 2016 -- It got cold here recently, and it snowed down quite low, but this Wednesday proved lovely and sunny but cold most everywhere, so we headed South in the hopes of slightly warmer weather. But the tour we had planned was on the North flank of a mountain, and until you get there and see the dark, dark shadiness, you don't realize how narrow the Ticino Valleys are and how the sun doesn't reach very far into the valley already in October....

We tackled it anyway but it was depressing to hike in the cold dark chestnut forests whilst admiring the sunshine on the opposite side of the valley, so instead of finishing the hike on the North flank, we crossed over to the sunny side and finished our three-hour hike out of the valley much happier.... It did mean hiking down into the valley and back up the other side, twice. It was a good exercise to test out my new hiking boots (no sore feet, yeah!).

(Note: We were in this valley for the first time in June of this year. Those photos are HERE.)

Heading into the Morobbia Valley by bus, you get a superb view of the Magadino Plain toward Locarno with the snow low on the mountains, and all that sunshine!

The starting point of our hike in Vellano, looking South to the shady forests that we are heading to, after first descending into the valley to the dam.

Vellano in the Morobbia Valley, Switzerland.

Vellano in the Morobbia Valley, Switzerland.

The Piazza in Vellano in the Morobbia Valley, Switzerland. From here we head to the bottom of the valley.

At the bottom of the valley is the dam. The lake was completely in shadow. Looking West you can see how narrow the valley is, and the south side of the valley (which we are ascending) is all in shadow.

Back up on the hill are the summer homes, they can only be accessed on foot. Each little cluster of homes had a telephone booth. This was so they would not be totally cut off from the outside.

We are hiking Westward back to Giubiasco in the Magadino Plain, on the shady side!

This is the only little piece of sun I got in 1½ hours of hiking!

  

Right about here I said "enough"! I want to go back across to the sunshine! Which meant hiking back down to the river again.

Half-way down we found a sunny plateau for our lunch. Looking eastward, the dammed lake is right about center of the photo.

This little cluster of homes also has a phone booth!

This area is chestnut forests, and the chestnuts are ripe and falling as we walk. I stuffed my pockets full....

And this is what I brought home. Just have to figure out what to do with them.

Back down at the river we are in shadow again, before heading back into the sunshiny village of Pianezzo.

These stone bridges are called Roman Bridges, not because they were built in Roman times, but built the way the Romans used to. Lovely bridges. 

And finally back in the sun, not regretting leaving the dark side of the valley.

Last couple of kilometers to Giubiasco where we catch the train back home.

Looking North to the next community, this is one of the three beautiful castles of Bellinzona. It is called Castel Grande. 

Looking North to the next community, this is another of the three beautiful castles of Bellinzona: Castello di Montebello. 

Looking North to the next community, this is another of the three beautiful castles of Bellinzona: Castello di Sasso Corbaro.

Our 10-km hike from Vellano in the Morobbia Valley to Giubiasco, as viewed on Google Satellite Maps. 

A Trip through the Val-de-Travers in Canton Neuchâtel

(Note: This album was created on May 16, 2020. This refers to an outing we did several years ago to the Western part of Switzerland, specifically Canton Neuchâtel, where we don't often go. As I don't have many photos of that part of Switzerland, I thought I would do up a small album of the photos of this trip, that I never even looked at till now...)

October 5, 2016 (a Wednesday) -- On this day, what we had planned was a trip to Noiraigue in Canton Neuchâtel, which is most well-known for the starting point of the hike to the top of the Creux du Van, a fantastic horseshoe-shaped canyon, and one of the most memorable places in Switzerland.

As we had already hiked up to the canyon rim in August 2013 (one of the very first hikes I did after moving to Switzerland), what we had planned this time was to rent electro-bikes at the Noiraigue train station and ride up instead. I had really wanted to get some better photos than the first time. 

We had already called ahead to reserve the bikes, but when we got there, after leaving early to get there by 10 a.m., it turned out that the sky was very overcast and there was a very uncomfortable strong cold wind blowing. So we cancelled the reservation of the bikes, and decided to just spend the day on the train traveling with a variety of special private railways through the hills of the Val de Travers. Even though the wind continued to blow cold, the skies cleared, so we had lots of nice sunny views from the train. The unfortunate part was that we had to change trains/buses often with lots of waiting time in between. Our ultimate destination was "Les Ponts-de-Martel" (actually only about 5 km from Noiraigue "as the crow flies", and a journey we could probably have done faster on foot (2hrs,30mins?) if it hadn't been so cold) from where the small-gauge railway aptly called " La Chaux-de-Fonds–Les Ponts-de-Martel Railway" connects this town with La Chaux-de-Fonds.... a railway that was new to Urs and he wanted to ride it.

We also didn't have too much luck with lunch plans, having found on the Internet a restaurant that we could visit on one of the longer transfers we had to do ("La Chaux-du-Milieu"), but that restaurant turned out to have been out of business for several years already (a fate of many businesses in this part of the country), so we had a picnic at the very old church cemetery instead, and had a late lunch at the station restaurant in Les Ponts-de-Martel, where the cook comes out of the kitchen regularly to ask you if you are enjoying your meal.

Another point of interest was the chocolate shop in Noiraigue, (where we had to wait for an hour for the next train after cancelling the e-bike reservations) where you can buy a very special absinthe-filled chocolate, (absinthe = a liqueur made from wormwood, anise and fenchel, first made in the Val-de-Travers in the 18th century, and rapidly rising to success in 19th century Paris). Very expensive, but a necessary purchase when in this part of the country!!

In front of Jacot Chocolatier in Noiraigue, where we bought some very expensive Absinthe Chocolate to send to my Dad for his birthday that year

The cliffs behind Noiraigue. On that upper Plateau, only a couple of kilometers away, is Les Ponts-de-Martel. To get there on foot we would have climbed up this hill. It would have taken about 2 hours 30 minutes

We had an hour to kill in Noiraigue, so we we walked around the little town for a bit.

Some beautiful late autumn colours

It was a schedule very similar to this one that we had, train then three buses to get to Les Ponts-de-Martel, with some long pauses in between. We planned for lunch in La Chaux-du-Milieu

Somewhere along the road from Couvet to La Brévine

Somewhere between La Brévine and La Chaux-du-Milieu

The countryside of the Val de Travers

Typical old farmhouse of this area

The pastures of the Val de Travers

Arriving in La Chaux-du-Milieu, where we had another 45-minutes wait for the bus to Les Ponts-de-Martel

This is the restaurant where we were planning to have lunch, but a look in the windows showed that this hasn't been in operation for probably a while

So we had a coffee break in the cemetery while waiting for the bus, and hoping that the restaurant in Les Ponts-de-Martel would be open

This is a very old graveyard. The oldest stones we found were from 1927. Usually, the graves are removed after about 20 years to make way for new ones. Not a lot of people need spots here, I guess

On the bus toward Les Ponts-de-Martel. This one is a short ride, only about 6 minutes.

Making a bee-line right for the restaurant! It was 13:15, so high time to eat.

After lunch we finally get to ride the "La Chaux-de-Fonds–Les Ponts-de-Martel Railway"

In white is the Train/Bus/Bus/Bus trip we took to get to Les Ponts-de-Martel. Also there, at Les Ponts-de-Martel were some very nice marsh areas I would have liked to see, but the wind was still strong and cold, so no hiking this day. In yellow as our 2013 hike to Les Creux du Van, and in Pink a hike in 2016 through "Les Gorges de L'Areuse" (Areuse Gorges).

And these three photos are from the first trip we did to Les Creux du Van in 2013:

A Swiss Tradition: The Alpabzug (Alpine Cattle Descent)

Saturday October 1, 2016 -- The Alpabzug in Switzerland is basically that time of year when the cattle which had been grazing at higher altitudes get brought down to lower pastures before the first snows fall. This happens usually mid-September / early October depending on regions. The farmers lead their cows from the higher pastures on hikes of about 10 km or more.

It has long been a tradition that to celebrate this event, the cows are fancifully decorated with their huge bells, handmade leather embroidered collars, and headdresses or waist girdles of flowered wreaths and state flags. The herds are brought through the villages in procession, with the owners proudly representing their farms and families, and sometimes laboriously navigating the tired cows through the gathered crowds. 

But it's a wonderful sight, and depending on area can attract crowds of 10,000 or more. The number of cows on parade can be anywhere up to 1500 or so. The community then also organizes food and entertainment (consisting naturally of yodeling and alphorns). These events have in fact become so popular that the communities are starting to have problems with traffic control.

The Alpabzug that we witnessed on Saturday was a small one in Kerns in Central Switzerland, with about 400 animals descending from higher pastures, including a few sheep or goats. I loved it!  

I put together a little video, it's worth watching HERE, or view at the end of this blog entry.   

Town Square in Kerns, Central Switzerland. Waiting for the cows to come down from alpine pastures

Entertainment with Alp Horns while waiting for the cows.

Family members proudly advertise their farms

Fanciful decorations

These tired cows have sometimes walked 10 km or more.

Sheep and goats also come down from higher pastures.

Sheep and goats also come down from higher pastures.

This interesting goat was a bit much to handle for the young farmer!

And then there was this random decorated tractor....

Farmer children wait with their parents to watch their cows come down the road. They will join the parade later.

It takes a lot of work and manpower to keep the animals moving in the right direction.

Such a pretty cow!

Heading down the road toward the village square.

We were offered some very weak coffee laced with schnapps. That's the traditional mountain coffee!

The next group coming down the hill toward the town.

Getting them through the village streets can also be a bit complicated.

And at the very end we got to enjoy a bit of traditional Swiss yodeling.