Well, I made it to the top of the pass! 3 1/2 hours up over about 12 1/2 km. I am sitting on a rock overlooking the beautiful lake that sits beside the Hospice on the Switzerland/Italy border. I’ve just finished the lunch I carried up with me, made up of the over abundance of food I was provided by my lovely hosts for breakfast this morning.
Mount Blanc lies just to the west of me, and this is basically a continental divide with the waters to the north of me flowing into the Rhône River valley through Switzerland and France and the waters to the south of me drain into the Po River basin in Italy. As I sit here, the wind is beginning to pick up from the north blowing towards Italy. It was sprinkling a few minutes ago but that seems to have stopped.
I was up and away in good time this morning, though I did have to do the dishes and clean up! I walk towards town and it was a bit gray out at the beginning of the day, but the cloud was pretty high.
I knew today would be a climbing day and a profile on the video at the end surprisingly doesn’t reflect that. But they were climbs beginning right out of town.
Walking up the valley this morning I started to see a substantial dam ahead of me. For the past two days I’ve been seeing signs telling me to be aware of flash floods and sudden releases. I now know the source of these concerns. I’m still here.
Climbing really began to kick into gear at the dam which provided beautiful views back down the valley.
The lake is quite long and the walk was very enjoyable. I waved to a fisherman as I passed with the usual greeting ‘Bonjour’! Everybody, no matter who you are always says hello here. You walk into a restaurant or a bar and everyone says ‘bonjour’. It’s a nice feeling of welcome and a great custom.
The sun eventually came out for the remainder of the climb. A welcomed friend.
As I looked ahead down the lake I began to wonder what was floating in the distance. As I got closer I began to realize that it must be a solar energy farm. Turned out that’s exactly what it was. The Swiss are so innovative! Their highways and tunnels are legendary, but then you see things like this leading edge structure. No space easily wasted.
The Marmots were out and around in good numbers screaming out their warning as I approached.
What you’re seeing here is the entrance to the extremely long tunnel that carries all forms of transport under the pass. The GSB pass is only clear of snow for approximately two months a year, August and September. It’s accessible to walkers usually by mid June until mid October, but there’s meters of snow still on the ground. The folks at the hospice travel by snowshoe and skis away from him back to the hospice during the winter. They must use the road because having just walked up to the pass I can’t imagine trying to do this route any other way. It boggles the mind!
The building of the tunnel allowed all the road traffic to go through you’re around. The secondary highway that winds its way through the pass is restricted as per my comments.
I couldn’t have asked for better weather to cross in. Well I guess I could’ve asked for completely blue skies, but this was pretty darn close.
The path just kept on going upwards. I met another pilgrim who’s from Prince George at home and she’s walking sections of the Via Francigena due to time restraints. I figure it’s always better to do part of something, than to do nothing. She tells me that she’s going to stop about 100 km from Rome. She knows she won’t get her Testimonium, but seems to understand that it’s just a piece of paper. The real treasure is the experience.
They were beautiful little waterfalls on the way. Small alpine streams tumbling down from the surrounding mountains.
This photo is for my almost son-in-law Paul. This fellow had no gear on his bike and he was clearly a very experienced rider. He was just given it! I wondered if he was a member of one of the international cycling teams that race all over the world. He’s certainly was moving!
This bull seemed quite distressed that I was walking through his turf. He was really bellowing at me. Fortunately he was on the other side of the stream, but I lifted my tempo anyway!
It wasn’t until I came around a rock face that I understood why. His whole herd including youngsters were standing in my way. I had to sweet talk them to get past! Thankfully I have an abundance of experience walking through cowherd‘s in numerous countries, but I was delighted to not have to deal with the bull, lol!
The hut behind the cow was built after a hiker perished here in November 1951.
Inside there is a stove with food, an axe and dry wood. There’s also an SOS phone in the rescue hut.
They also had a visitor guest book. I thought, why not? So I did! Happy Anniversary Annemarie! It would have been nice to be here together, but we had Zermatt, so not too shabby!
I met a young Italian woman who told me that she’s responsible for the Saint Bernard dogs at the top of the pass. They have been bred here for over 200 years. I told her that I’d be taking a break in Parma to meet a friend and apparently this pleased her as it’s her home town. She told me that I will find Italians much friendlier than the Swiss!
Almost there.
And then I was. Phew, that was a solid climb!
Italy!
Inside the hospice is a stunning baroque church. Erin?
The hospice has been welcoming pilgrims for almost 1100 years, 24/7. This is what it looks like in winter.
There is an excellent museum here which I spent at least an hour wandering through.
My dorm. Double old style windows! Not sure I’ll have others in there, but I was the only one there at 14:00. I will have to look. I also need a shower before dinner. Demi pension.
Annemarie will tell you that I’ve been dreaming about this stage for over 3 years. It lived up to the dreams! I head downhill tomorrow. That will be so nice🙂
Oh, and did I mention that they believe Hannibal came through here with his elephants (no idea how that would be possible. Napoleon together with 40,000 of his men came through here for sure. There are reminders everywhere here.
We’ll done!!
ReplyDeleteJandC
Thanks! A beautiful day of hiking.
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