A Walk through the Capriasca Region near Lugano

Saturday January 4, 2020 --  After our two "winter" hikes, we took a couple of days off (well, actually a work-day and dentist appointments! so two days off from hiking), and on this Saturday, the weather once again was best in the South (our winter go-to). So we completed a three-hour hike which we had planned for earlier in December, that day we were surprised by so much snow near Lugano.

The hike was more like a 10-km stroll through the landscape and villages of the Capriasca area just North of the city of Lugano. We've walked here before, but we chose a different route this time, different old villages mostly (my favourite had all kinds of arched alleyways under the buildings) as well as a look at the location of an abandoned mid-fourteenth century farming village of Redde (all that remains is the restored town tower and the village church, now amidst the forest) and the San Bernardo Hermitage with a view South over Lake Lugano. Again, it was so warm and mild, hard to believe it's the 4th of January.

(The trail we walked, starting in Sala Capriasca near Tesserete is actually part of National Trail no.7: "Via Gottardo" as well as Trail no.7: "Trans Swiss Trail", and also a local theme trail called "Passegiare in Capriasca" i.e. "Stroll through Capriasca")

We started our excursion with a walk through the alleyways of Sala Capriasca, the next village over from Tesserete

 

In Sala Capriasca

In Sala Capriasca

The local church in Sala Capriasca. On a side wall is a Fresco which was moved here from an old stable, a painting done locally in the early 17th Century.

The altar inside the Church in Sala Capriasca

 

Heading out of the village of Sala Capriasca, to start on our "Walk through the Capriasca". In the background (to the West) is the snow-covered peak of Monte Tamaro (we walked that entire ridge many years ago)

Along the trail called "Passegiare in Capriasca" and also "Via Gottardo" and the "Trans Swiss Trail", of which we have now done many sections. Approx. 11 km, and took us longer than 3 hours because we spent lots of time looking at all the villages. 

To the East are the distinctive peaks called "Denti della Vecchia" (or: "Old Lady's Teeth"), another ridge that we have walked many years ago.

Walking on the trail called "Passegiare in Capriasca"

 

The temperature was very mild and there were some very nice trails through the sun-dappled forest

Walking on pleasant forest trails in the first week of January!

Here in the forest is what is left of a 14th Century agriculture village called Redde. This is the Oratory of San Clemente

The chapel was locked, but I was able to get a photo through the tiny barred window

The other part that remains of the village is the tower, called "Torre di Redde". It is mentioned in documents dating 1310, and was restored in 1990 (only the walls are left)

Only 15 minutes from San Clemente is the other church we have on our agenda: San Bernardo on the "Via Gottardo" and "Trans Swiss" Trails

15 minutes from Redde and up a steep hill we came to the Hermitage of San Bernardo, which unfortunately was also closed. 

From the San Bernardo hill, a nice view over the villages of Sonvico and Villa Luganese, as well as the Denti della Vecchia

To the South, a view over the city of Lugano, Lake Lugano, and the distinctive Monte San Salvatore

Good place to have a coffee break and soak up the sun before heading down to inspect two more villages

 

Down in the village of Comano, this is the main church: "Santa Maria della Purificazione"

View from the church terrace over the region called Capriasca

I am always fascinated by the ceilings inside the churches

"Santa Maria della Purificazione" is the name of the church in Comano, first mentioned in 1359, but has undergone radical changes over the years, especially in the 17th Century. Note the juxtaposition of palm trees and Christmas Tree!

This was my favourite town. All the roads went through archways under the buildings! (We came dressed warmly, there are four jackets hanging on that backpack!)

Roads through archways in the village of Comano

Roads through archways in the village of Comano

 

Just a few meters down the road was another section of old town in Comano, just as interesting

If I lived here I would spend all day on this terrace

Heading out of Comano toward Cureglia, a look back at the Church "Santa Maria della Purificazione" with the backdrop of the stunning "Denti della Vecchia"

Also looking back at the second section of old town Comano which we just walked through

In this region we see a lot of old phone booths converted to libraries or defibrillator stations

Heading through the town of Cureglia before walking along the ravine and down to the railway station in Lamone.

 

In 2017 we did another similar walk through the Capriasca area, starting and ending basically at the same places, but covering different areas, inspecting different villages. Always something new to discover!

First Hike of 2020, a Winter Hike above the Domleschg Valley

January 1, 2020 -- First hike of the new year, and it turned out to also be a beautiful winter hike!

Well, at first we weren't sure...  We wanted to return to the same corner of Switzerland as the day before, in Canton Graubünden, where the skies have been clear but the air is also warm. But if I am going to do a winter hike, it has to be with real snow, not on half-melted, icy, slippery trails. 

Studying the maps and the local tourist websites, a round tour high above the town of Thusis looked promising, elevation was higher than the day before, but it was also a sunny exposure, so who knows?

When we got to the village of Obertschappina we could see that the snow wasn't very good, even though we were at 1600m. The first part of the round tour through the forest was icy and hard to walk, and also longer than on the map. After 40 minutes we were back on the main road, and could see that the continuation of the trail was on bare asphalt. Just then the next small bus was heading further up the mountain to the Glas Pass so we hopped on it at the spur of the moment, and decided to worry about the rest of the hike later.

Good choice! The snow at the pass was worlds different than 200m further below, and we had heard we could catch a small bus back (runs only in winter) from the ski lift at Oberurmein, just two hours walking along the sunny hillside, and everything worked out perfectly. Altogether we walked almost three hours, and at times it was even almost too warm!

Heading up the hill from Thusis, it is incredible how little snow there is left in this area. We were worried we'd end up doing a "winter" hike without snow

Down below in the valley, this area is called the Domleschg. This would have been great choice to hike for us, as the weather is so warm.

This is where our originally planned round tour hike was to begin, in the tiny village of Ober Tschappina. 

40 minutes on an icy trail through the forest brought us back to the main road pretty close to where we started, and the next segment was on pure asphalt, so we decided to catch the bus heading up to the Glas Pass and see what it looked like from there. It was perfect! We had just discovered that there was a winter bus in Oberurmein, so we made that our new goal.

Perfect winter conditions here at the Glas Pass (1845m). There were lots of people in the little bus, probably all going to the restaurant which is up the trail on the right. 

We headed straight away into the beautiful landscape

In the back, the local mountain called Piz Beverin which actually threw a shadow quite quickly on the village of Ober Tschappina, where our original round tour was supposed to end.

 

Ahead of us the peaks of the Domleschg

Looking behind us at the trail we took from the Glas Pass and Piz Beverin. It is also a sledding trail. 

 

It was actually very mild to walk up here, almost too warm in the black stockings

In this landscape there used to be a lake (it has disappeared, not actually covered in snow)

Zoomed view of Obertschappina where we started on the first part of the hike

It was such a perfectly beautiful landscape

Zoomed view of the first of two small family ski areas on this mountain. This was about the half-way mark of the second part of our walk.

This was the largest number of people we ran across on our walk. But it wasn't a large ski hill, so we continued past this quite quickly.

Another look backward at Piz Beverin

The second half of the upper hike gave us some nice views into the Domleschg and Albula Valleys

Below us the village of Oberurmein, the goal of this second part of the hike. Another small bus runs up here in winter, because it is also a small family ski area

The read trail is what we had found on the Internet as a winter hike suggestion for this area. The first part through the forest was longer than expected, and the snow was poor. So we took the next bus to the Glas Pass, and the 7 km to Ober Urmein were a perfect winter trail.

Back at the train station in Thusis, I was trying to get Urs to lighten up a little... he is otherwise always so serious.

This is the part of the Switzerland where we did the winter hike