Day 26: Stage 21: Bourge-Saint-Pierre, 13 kms, Sun, 20°

That Was A Bit Surprising!

I woke up this morning in my bunkbed feeling more refreshed than I have in quite a while. The staff at the hotel obviously knowing that I wasn’t a local, looked after me very nicely. The food was good, the beer was great and they had a TV playing a premier league football game from London. Can it get any better? 

Sunrise from my window. 

My little dorm was centred on the top floor under the curve in the roof. It cost me CHF 35, a fraction of what a room would’ve cost. Of course it had the requisite quilt on the bed which I quickly removed, and the window opened allowing nice cool mountain air in all night long.

I was awake at 6 AM, but lounge in bed for 45 minutes knowing that today was a fairly short stage. My guide said it’s a five hour walk, rated moderately hard and just 14 km. I’m climbing and descending the GSB pass slower than I might normally, following the prescribed stages. I’m here to experience the Alps, so not in a particular hurry. Here’s todays the profile.

At 7:45 after a simple European breakfast I set off looking for the first climb of the day. I found it. The climb was a bit of a grind. The view back as I continue to climb simply enhanced the walk.

I was heading first to Liddes and then on to my destinations.

I even saw a little wildlife early on in the morning. Judging by the number of spiderwebs I walked through  I must’ve been the first on the route today. When the deer saw me they took off like a shot!





For most of the day I was following a very nice stream which kept me company. The cows did too!

I continue to climb and as I sometimes do when walking alone I spoke to myself. Sometime saying, Annemarie would like this or, Annemarie would definitely not like this! As far as walking goes, the scenery was pretty good.



It was about here that I missed a turn, although I know that I did follow the signs for a footpath. The yellow and black ones. So in my head I was still on route. It didn’t take too long to catch my error, but by then I had climbed a fair ways. I looked at my route app and decided that I could continue and found that there were several small paths that would eventually reconnect me with the Via Francigena. The only issue was that I missed the small hamlet of Liddes where I had planned to take a rest stop.

The route I figured out turned out to be a little shorter than the official route.

Ever wonder how the Swiss keep their mountain pasture so green?

Here irrigation systems are running every day along the valley. simply watering the grass for the cows. That’s how they make their wonderful Swiss chocolate!



Once I was back on the Via Francigena I took a short break to get my hat out as the sun was starting to warm a little.

Geoff with hat. Yup, there will now be occasional selfies, sigh. My excuses is that our grand children like to see me, though they have absolutely no idea where I am. I keep them engaged by sending daily videos of the various critters I see along the way. My daughters tell me that these are well received😂 I think the problem will come when we are at home and our grandchildren come to visit and look for all the animals. I’ll have to figure out something unique to tell them, LOL!

Look kids, there’s cows! There were cow bells ringing the entire day today. I almost called this post, The Bells, The Bells!

I believe I head in that direction tomorrow morning.

I love the honey bee colonies! The Swiss do this so well. 

Just about at the top of todays stage only to find that I have to climb a ski hill. That’s kind of a kick in the butt! In winter I could simply ride up, but there were no chairs to be seen. 

Shortly after the ski hill I found myself looking down on today’s home. Vertical climb today 745 m (2438’). 

For those who follow in my steps, I found B&B Chez Vero (right side, first building) on Booking.com. CHF 50 which is less than a third of the cost in the big hotel on the left. 

The place is fabulous! A full apartment which is incredibly well appointed. By Swiss standards it’s a steal. The top veranda is all mine in a Swiss house!

Also has a full kitchen including a dishwasher and a full double bedroom. 

I stopped for a drink when I arrived in town just 3 1/2 hours after starting. That was the unexpected surprise today. Nowhere near the estimated five hours. I could’ve walked on to the top of the pass today, but then I would’ve missed staying in this nice little place. 😂 As I was saying, I stopped for a drink at the hotel when I arrived. The owner was quite brusque with me, so I decided not to eat lunch or dinner there. I had read that the petrol station across the street had a small convenient store with items favouring travellers and walkers. So I walked over and I found enough food for lunch and dinner, including a half bottle of nice wine, at least I hope it’s nice. My hosts will bring me my breakfast stuff tonight. I can then leave when I’m ready in the morning. 

This was the display in front of the little store. St. Bernard puppies! I’ll be sending this photo to Saoirse and Avery. If I could manage to carry three of them I’d bring each of the kids their own puppy. Sadly, or maybe fortunately, I won’t be able to do this.

I was in so early that I even managed to get all my laundry washed and there was a good place to hang the clothes. I even washed my walking shorts for the first time since leaving home a month ago. I swear that if I just sent them off down the road on their own that they would be sturdy enough to walk without my help! They were pretty dirty. 

They let me into the apartment about four hours earlier than usually permitted. Very nice hosts. The view from the deck. Looking up the road towards the GSB pass.

I have time on my hands this afternoon, hence the length of the blog. Great Wi-Fi so posting the blog has been a breeze. Until tomorrow, hopefully from the top of the GSB pass! My guidebook rates the stage as hard, and it’s just 12.4 km. It’s all trail, no roads. I’m pretty excited about this stage for a number of reasons, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the weather holds. It’s now 15:45. I wonder if that’s too early to test the wine?