Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

October 22, 2016

An Attempt at the Strada Alta (Failed Plans A and B)

October 22, 2016 – So, not all of our hikes work out the way we plan them, especially if we didn't really think out a Plan B.

Saturday's forecast was for wonderful weather in most of Switzerland, but as luck would have it, our train had a malfunction, and we missed the connection for our original plan (Gommer High Trail). A quick decision to change plans took us 10 minutes through the tunnel to South of the Alps where it is usually also sunny, but this day there were thick clouds for a change, and very cold. And the Strada Alta (high trail) in the Leventina Valley which starts in Airolo turned out to be mostly along paved roads....

Now, I can handle paved roads if the weather is warm and sunny, or I can handle cold and cloudy if the trail is interesting, but I hate paved roads in cold weather, so we gave up after 2 hours into the 5-hour hike and walked back to the valley to catch the bus/train back home.

Most depressing was emerging back to the other side of the tunnel into wonderful sunshine. Should have just stayed North of the tunnel, but sometimes quick thinking doesn't always have the best results. I crawled into bed to bemoan the loss of perhaps one of the last nice days before 5 months of winter...

The day started out very promising as we head South toward Göschenen in the hopes of catching our connecting train (no such luck).

Just South of the Gotthard Tunnel looking North over the Alps where the skies are blue and the weather maybe warmer...

Along the Strada Alta (High Road) in the Leventina Valley.

Looking down into the Leventina Valley from the Strada Alta (High Road) near Airolo.

After 2 hours of walking mostly along paved roads, I was too cold to continue, and here in Altanca we headed back down to the valley bottom.

Cross-roads in Altanca, with the option of heading back into the valley.

Heading down from the Strada Alta (High Road) to Piotta in the valley.

Altanca

Our hike down the hill is along the Piotta-Ritom Funicular / Power Plant line. This old building must have been related to the Power Plant.

Under the Ritom Railway, one of the steepest funiculars in the world.

The Ritom train is one of the steepest funiculars in the world (over 87% gradient).

New wagons have replaced this original, in one of the steepest funiculars in the world (87%)

The Ritom train is one of the steepest funiculars in the world (over 87% gradient).

We valiantly walked 2 hours of 5 along the Strada Alta (high road) in the cold along paved roads before I gave up in Altanca.

October 19, 2016

It's Raining Chestnuts in the Ticino -- Berzano to Auressio to Cresmino

Wednesday October 19, 2016 -- After our very reasonably-priced "home-cooked" meal at the Ristorante della Posta in Russo in the Onsernone Valley (photos HERE), we got back on the bus to the starting point of the hike we had mapped out for the day.

Starting in the little village of Berzona, we walked up the hill to an open clearing with typical Rustici stone homes and fantastic views into two side valleys of the Onsernone Valley. It's to the back of one of these side valleys that we hiked, through neverending chestnut forests... and all around us it was raining chestnuts! I felt like the trees were aiming at us, spiny urchins which then spill those big fat shiny chestnuts, with which I filled my pockets and my backpack! (I will try roasting them at home).

Back out at mouth of the valley we crossed through the pretty village of Auressio to below the long and winding main road and walked the final 2.5 km along the old road far below the current one, amazingly created who knows how long ago by building up dirt and rock walls along the steep cliffs. We ended our hike at the bus stop on the main road in Cresmino.

Village of Berzona in the romantic Onsernone Valley

In the clearing called Sella we could see into three different valleys.

There was this random piece of art up here in the little cluster of stone homes.

Each of these stone homes has its own character.

From here we head through chestnut forests on the left to the cluster of homes in the back (Mulegn)

Hiking through the chestnut forests we get great views into the Onsernone Valley.

Below and across the valley is a clearing that we will hike past on our way back out the valley.

We saw so many of these beautiful but poisonous Fly Amanitas in the forests here.

In the village of Mulegn was this structure with a stone vat that collected the ground water.

At the back of the valley, a side valley to the Onsernone Valley

Little cluster of homes at the back of the Valley (Mulegn).

In the back you can see the bell-tower of a village called Loco, along the main road.

This clearing that we had seen from the other side of the valley was a meadow for sheep.

Zoomed view of the church at Loco, a town perched on the steep hill of the Onsernone Valley.

The trail passes above the village of Auressio. To get to the main road we had to descend steep stairways.

Descending through Auressio, more great views westward up the Onsernone Valley.

At the church plaza in Auressio, Onsernone Valley.

Below the main road our trail continues along what used to be the main road here.

The old road below is now covered in grass, while the new road winds its way high above.

At the end of our hike in Cresmino we got this great evening view into the Onsernone Valley. Auressio is the village most in the front, Loco further along, and the valley we hiked is in between.

Wonderful evening view NW into the Onsernone Valley

First we had lunch in Russo, then did a 10 km hike that took us about 3½ hours. (Berzona to Cresmino).

Lunch in the Onsernone Valley (followed by a hike!)

Wednesday October 19, 2016 -- There's a relatively lesser-known valley in the Ticino called the Onsernone Valley, a wildly beautiful and steep forested valley with little villages clinging high up on the sunny mountain sides. It is infamous in that it has so many curves on the narrow road that it takes almost an hour to drive to the last village 20 km in the back of the valley. And the bus driver doesn't take it slow and easy! At full speed the bus weaves along the curves high above the valley bottom, and whips through the villages where the streets are barely wide enough for this kind of vehicle.... looking down through the bus window to the cars that attempt to pass us on the road, I think their drivers must be having mini heart attacks thinking the sides of their cars or at least their mirrors might be removed...

We had made a reservation to eat in a popular restaurant in Russo, about two-thirds to the back of the valley. As of the night before, the owners didn't know what was going to be on the menu. We found out when we got there: Salad, polenta, tender pork gulasch and coffee, for a price unheard of for Switzerland (15 Fr. or approx. $20 CAD). Before lunch we walked through the typical steep alleys of Russo, and after lunch we back-tracked a bit with the bus for our 4-hour hike...(photos of the hike are HERE).