June 4
June 4 Emmetten to Altdorf Today was Bennett’s last day hiking and we did a little bit of everything–some rain, some sun, some roads, some paths, a lot of up and down, towns and forests, boat and funicular. The walk out of Emmetten was initially on the Swiss Camino as we crossed a ridge […]
June 3
June 3 Flueli-Ranft to Emmetten 25 km We could not find a place to stay in Beckenried (very expensive lakefront town) so we had to catch a bus from there to Emmetton. It will take some maneuvering to get back on the trail tomorrow, but that’s always part of the walk. An uneventful but pleasant […]
June 2
June 2 Sorenberg to Flueli-Ranft 25 km Some strange geology here. From having seen the alps in different places–sheer solid rock walls–I expected most of the higher elevations to be the same, but most of what we have been walking through is puddingstone– small to medium rounded rocks in a grey sediment that resembles concrete. […]
June 1
June 1 Eggiwil to Sorenberg 32km Whenever we find ourselves on a steep climb in some woods that appears to be heading to some wild peak, Bennett always says we are about to cross a field. He is usually right. This area has been long settled, so the steep wooded area remain, but any possibility […]
May 31
May 31 Lützelflüh to Eggiwil 22 km Walking deeper into the German part of Switzerland, the architecture shifts a bit, closer to a traditional sense of Swiss structures. Today we had a chance to see up close a number of the traditional barn/houses which are incredible buildings. Built on a one-story masonry base usually containing […]
May 30
May 30 Bern to Lützelflüh 33km In the middle of May, 2014, Sarajevo experienced the worst flooding in more than a century. I remember standing by the Miljacka River watching the rush of water and expecting at any moment the banks to breach, flooding the old town. They held there, though there was devastation downstream. […]
May 29
May 29 Murten to Bern via train Today we did a little “iron blazing”–we took the train to Bern, skipping a little over 30km of the Trans-Swiss trail. Had we walked that stretch it would have been more of the fields we’ve been doing and, because Bennett has limited time, he would have fewer days […]
May 28
May 28 Neufchatel to Murten 17 km (plus ferry ride across lake Neufchatel) When I was around 11 years old, I was given a working model steam engine. It had a horizontal nickel boiler, a whistle/release valve and a single cylinder engine. I would fill the boiler, burn some Esbit tablets (hexamine fuel) to get […]
May 27
May 27 St-Imier to Neufchatel 26 km Walking a narrow river valley, turning at a gap in the surrounding range to climb over to the next, then crossing it for the next– that’s walking in this corner of the world. Each kilometer brings something different– wheat field, yew forest, meadow with milk cows, beech forest–sometimes […]
May 26
May 26 Saignelégier to St-Imier 17.5 km The French cantons in Switzerland are known for agriculture, which seems primarily to be dairy, and watchmaking. Yesterday walking into St-Imier Bennett and I peered into a high tech lab, speculating about what they were studying with all the clean rooms and microscopes. It was a watch factory–something […]