In Switzerland (4) Up and Down the Etzel

Over the last year Emma and Alessio have been trying to complete the series of walks which talkes you all the way round the Zürichsee.  We have accompanied them on a few of the sections.  Though the walk does go round the lake, many of the sections  take you quite a bit away from the lake itself and some involve quite a bit of climbing.  This is the case with the section which goes from Richterswil to Pfäffikon.  Emma and Alessio had already the first part of the walk which goes pretty steeply up to Schindellegi, and was as much as Alessio could manage in one go.

So last Saturday I accompanied them on the rest of the way.  Schindellegi is 685m above sea level which meant we had over 400m climbing ahead.  The town is nothing special, though it does have this spectacular church.

 The walk starts off by following the southern bank of the river Sihl.  Most of this part is through a forest and is pretty level.  For some reason there were scores of walkers coming the other way.  Walkers of all ages and shapes.  Some even had beer bottles with them.  Below are some photos of this part of the walk.

After we cross the Sihl again the real climbing begins.  At first through lovely farmland and then back into more forests.  To get into the woods you have to climb this sheer vertical ascent which goes through a very narrow opening between two fields protected by electric wiring.  A bit scary!

Once past this little hurdle the walk continues ever upward.  En route we passed two strange bunker like buildings, which apparently are stores for the Swiss army in times of emergency.  You can see one below.

The final section is very steep though we were rewarded with some fine vistas, such as this one.  Below that Emma and Alessio on the final few metres before the summit.

Once up, we were rewarded with a fine mountain restaurant where we partook of refreshments and enjoyed a little bit of relaxation.  Luckily there was an adventure playground which was much to Alessio's delight.  You also get great views from the restaurant grounds, particularly of the Sihlsee and Einsedeln.  Here is yours trully high above the lake.

You most definitely need some recuperation, because the onward descent is even more steep than the ascent.  It starts with a shortish and brutal descent to St Meinrad, where there is a chapel in honour of the saint, who was the founder of the famous monastery in nearby Einsedeln.  Here is a view of the chapel.

The remainder of the descent is just as steep and brutish and is almost all through dark forest.  Not really my scene.  I prefer open country for walking.  Though Alessio just loved the forest sections.  Anyway after much puffing and sweating we all emerged safe and (almost) sound at Luegeten.  This is a charming little restaurant above the Zürichsee.  We have been there a few times by car, but this was the first, and probably the last time on foot.  So it was an even more welcome sight than normal.

The restaurant is a very popular place and as on a previous occasion there was a fancy wedding reception enjoying the outdoor views.  Alessio somehow managed to join in and play with some of the children, while Emma and I just sat back and tried to recover.  From Luegeten we got the local bus down to Pfäffikon and then the train back home.  All in all a great day out.

Wet and Miserable in Glen Affric

Glen Affric is reputed to be one of Scotland’s loveliest glens.  Certainly the lower and middle sections are very attractive with lochs and wooded areas full of traditional Scottish trees - the Scots Pine, Ash, Rowan etc.  The upper part of the glen is rather different in character - boggy, treeless and more a degraded landscape than anything else.  It is also very isolated - there is no road into this part of the glen.  However it does have a beauty of its own and more importantly it is the setting for a youth hostel - Alltbeithe.  For upper glen Affric is the base for climbing some of Scotland’s most interesting and inaccessible munros - mountains over 3000ft/914m in height.  Below is an example of what you can expect in upper Glen Affric.  This shows the complex mountain of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan (pronounced apparently as skoor nan Kerranan).

And it was to climb some of these munros that took me back to Glen Affric a few weeks ago.  Though beautiful, Glen Affric, like most of north west Scotland can be a very wet and rainy place.  It was when I was first there some 15 or so years ago and so it was to prove again.  It all started so well, as John and I left Dundee in glorious sunshine.    The first sign of trouble came as we reached the turn off to Loch Laggan and Fort William.  It was closed!  An oil tanker had spilled over and the road was to be closed for at least two hours.  We decided to take the long detour via Inverness.  And shortly afterwards the weather changed and we had our first rain shower.  The weather gradually got worse the further we went.  

The only way in to the hostel in Glen Affric is by walking or cycling.  As the hostel has no store, you have to carry everything you eat in with you.  This makes for a rather heavy rucksack.  The shortest route in is from Cluanie on the road to the Isle of Skye.  Even this takes about three hours.  Luckily, by the time we reached Cluanie, the sun was out again.  This was however to be a false dawn.   The first third of the walk in is over a pretty good stone path.  However this peters out and becomes a featureless outline.  The terrain underfoot also becomes very, very boggy.  And to cap it all, the rain began again.  Heavier and heavier as we approached the hostel.  This rain was not to stop for over 24 hours!  Still we did reach the hostel without any major mishaps.

The following day we awoke to clouds and rain.  Undaunted we decided to tackle two of the munros - Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan and Mullach na Dheiragain (the last word likely pronounced Yerrigan).  It is not really that difficult an outing - at least in good weather.  But there are lots of up and downs and the summit ridges are very rocky.  Which is not ideal terrain in the mist and rain.  As the conditions were deteriorating we decided to forego the privilege of climbing the Mullach and just do the Sgurr.  However, even this was very exhausting, at least for me.  I have not managed out hillwalking as much as I would have liked this year, so I found the slog very tiring.  So much so that before reaching the top I felt I had had enough and decided to forego even this summit.  I would descend a little for some lunch and wait for John, who would go on to the top and then come down to join up with me again.

The best laid plans of mice and men!  Someone wrote something along these lines a long time ago.  How true they are.  For at this point things went from bad to worse.  I had my lunch - oatcakes and Manchego cheese.  However it was so cold and I was by now so wet that after ten minutes I was beginning to chill.  No alternative but to keep on walking, just to keep warm.  I slowly descended a little further, and then a little further on.  But no sign of John.  I waited around for some time - walking back and forth on a level section of the ridge to keep warm.  Still no sign of John, so after an hour or so, there was nothing for it but to go back up the mountain to see if anything nasty had happened to him.  Funnily enough after all this rest, I found the ascent second time around very easy and reached the summit in next to no time.  But John was nowhere to be seen.  So all I could do was return to the hostel and wait and see if he turned up safe and sound.  And if not call out the rescue team!

Meanwhile, John had reached the summit and gone on to make the second top further along the ridge.  On his return past the main summit he took the wrong turning and ended up walking along the ridge to the Mullach!  After some time walking along this ridge he realized that something was wrong, and he was lost.  To cap it all the map he had did not extend as far as this part of the mountain.  Luckily for John the clouds rose briefly and he was able to see where he was and what he had done.  He was also able to work out the route back to the main ridge - which involved a descent and rising ascent.

While all this was happening to John, I was descending carefully down the main ridge to reach the col where the path to the hostel starts.  Unfortunately  I missed this point and started to descend too soon.  This meant I was coming down a very steep section, at first rocky and then grassy and boggy.  And all the time it kept on raining and raining.  This part of the descent was so steep and wet that I fell and slipped down the grass.  

However by the time I got down to a plateau section I could see John coming down the path.  I soon joined him on the path and we filled each other in on what had happened.  It looked like our travails were over for this day at least.  Alas, no.  The path crosses the burns that hurtle down the hillside and by now, after some 20 hours or more of continuous rain, the burns were now raging torrents and the stepping stones nowhere to be seen.  We prodded about a bit trying to find a possible crossing point.  Eventually we settled on one section that didn’t look too bad.  And we did both make it across.  Unfortunately in making sure we did get over the spate we both lost our balance and fell over in the water.  Luckily we fell forwarded and suffered little damage.  I hurt my right hip a bit - nothing serious.  We did get very wet, but by then we were so soaked that some extra water made no difference at all.  

After that there were no further mishaps and we at long last, after eight hours  on the hills, staggered somewhat exhausted, (at least I was exhausted) back to the hostel to try and dry off and get something warm to eat and drink.  We started with a well earned nip of whisky.  Never been more welcome.   The following day was sunny and warm.  I was too tired to face up to another long hard climb to stayed by the hostel to rest.  John, however did manage to complete another three munros.

Though a very tiring and for me exhausting day, the whole trip to Glen Affric was not to be missed.  It is always good to test yourself now and again.  And of course you do get to see some of the best scenery in Scotland.  In addition you meet some very interesting and colourful people in hostels, especially one as far off the beaten track as Alltbeithe.  I have now promulgated my very own three golden rules for hillwalking.  1. Never go on a long hard hike (more than six hours walking and over 700m of ascent) unless you are really fit.  2. Never go on long hard hikes on successive days unless you are really, really fit.  3.  Never, ever, go on a long hard hike in the pouring rain.  But do go to Alltbeithe - for an experience of a different kind.

The Schnebelhorn Horseshoe

The Schnebelhorn is the highest point in the Zürich Oberland and indeed in the whole of Kanton Zürich. The Oberland area borders on St. Gallen Kanton and is a lovely hilly landscape full of woods and farmland. The Schnebelhorn is only 1292m high which is pretty insignificant in Swiss terms, but high enough to compete with the highest Munros in Scotland. With an ascent of some 620m and about a 7km hike to the top it is also a fair outing by Scottish standards.

The hike starts at the little village of Steg, which is only about one hour's drive away from Zürich. From the roadside you start climbing pretty steeply right away and after a short section through some trees you emerge to a more open, but still rising area. Here you pass by some wooden houses, all richly decorated with flowers, and plenty of apple trees. As we did the walk in mid September the trees were all laden with fruit and we happily availed ourselves of some tasty sustenance.

The walk continues in this mode, with some short but very steep sections followed by longer and more gentle but still rising sections. You even have to edge your way past grazing cows.

Most of the way though is through wooded areas which makes it most unlike a typical Scottish walk. The summit itself though is open and has great views of the Bodensee, Austria and the Alps. Unfortunately for us we had chosen a rather cloudy morning and got no views whatsoever. Here is Cosimo appearing through the mist just below the summit, followed by both of us on the summit itself.
Luckily you can make the descent by a different route thus completing the horseshoe. Also luckily and again most unScottish there is a charming little inn just below the summit. This descent is very steep and rocky and the normally reliable Swiss markers got this one wrong as it took us quite a bit longer to manoeuvre our way down to the safety of the inn. Below is a view of the summit area with the inn in the foreground.
It was well worth the steep descent though as the inn was a most welcoming place. Very busy too and all the guests were very friendly and even the waitress was lively and friendly. The food and beer was very good too.

By now the sun had come out and the rest of the descent should have been relatively easy and straightforward. And yet. Faced with what looked like a shortcut – saving 15 minutes – we took this route. Big mistake. This section was really steep and almost straight down through a forested area. It seemed to go on for ever and ever. And all the time we could hear the ringing bells of cattle on some hillside. The sound of these bells can be quite pleasing, but not for hour after hour, particularly on a hard descent.
Still we emerged unscathed and were able to complete the walk along a more gentle path through open farmland. Throughout the walk we came across some lovely wild flowers and some unusual fungi growing on trees. We even caught a glimpse of a high flying bird of prey, but not sure what it was. Quite big though. All in all this was a fine outing. Including our R&R in the inn the whole walk took just over six hours. I definitely plan to get in more walking in the Zürich Oberland.