The Trans Swiss Trail #19

With the St. Gotthard pass behind me, I decided to push forwards and do another stage of the Trans Swiss Trail. Unfortunately, the day that I chose for the enterprise was a little bit damp. The forecast did not say there would be rain, but there was an indication of showers through the day.

From Airolo, most routes towards Bellinzona descend towards the valley. Airolo is at 1142m, and from there the main road goes downwards. So does the railway. And so too does the other trail the Via Gottardo. Its route had joined the Trans Swiss Trail just outside Altdorf, and the two routes shared the way from there across the pass. But at Airolo, they separate again, with the Via Gottardo descending through the valley. My route, the Trans Swiss Trail, does not. Instead, it actually goes up the hillside, keeping to the high ground.

It was not raining when I left Airolo, but as the trail took to the higher ground. That changed. The trail goes through several tiny mountainside villages with names that sound like they should be far to the south of Switzerland: Valle, Madrano, Altanca, Deggio, and others. Between Madrano and Altanca, it started to rain. I debated with myself about taking out the raingear, but the day was warm, and I was wearing clothes that would keep me warm in spite of the rain.

I would like to say that this was a perfect balcony route, with stunning views of the valley below. But in fact, the route spends much of the time in the woods and forests of the mountainside. It is signposted as “Alta Strada”, the Old Road. Much of the route is now tarmacadamed roadway, but most of it seems to follow ancient mule tracks. I doubt that this was the main commercial route for trains of pack animals crossing the pass. More likely, it was simply the way that people went from village to village. But in those places where the forest did open up to give views of the valley, those views were indeed spectacular.

One of the features of this part of the route is the number of religious shrines along the way. And there are many different styles in evidence. There was a very modern, quite avant-garde shrine in Airolo. There were also more traditional types. Some were large, almost like a small church. And some showed signs of age, almost overgrown with vegetation. But all seemed to be well looked after.

The route also had some great waterfalls, cascading white water rushing to the valley below. The summer has been wet in Switzerland, and many of the streams were in spate, with more than their usual volume of water. The waterfalls ranged from small to very large. And that does not even take into account the hundreds of rivulets what crossed the trail, sometimes following it for a few meters before resuming their downward rush.

And in places the trail crossed those streams. In a couple of cases, what would normally be a small stream was rushing white water across the trail. In other cases, the bridgework did not look the most reliable, but was actually perfectly fixed to the rocks. And in one case, the bridge seemed almost decorative. But I am glad to say that I crossed all the streams without incident.

But my abiding memory of the walk will be the many villages that I went through. They seem to cling to the mountainside. In many cases, there is only one street for vehicular traffic. Everything else is narrow streets and paths only suitable for walking. The architecture seems a mixture of styles. Some houses, made of wood, seem typical Swiss, while some of the stone buildings, such as churches seem almost Italian.

The guide to the trail listed two sections, one of eighteen kilometres from Airolo to Osco, and one of twelve kilometres from Osco to Anzonico. But twelve kilometres seemed too short for a day’s walk on its own, so I put the two together and walked all the way to Anzonico. That distance of thirty kilometres brought me past the 400km point on the trail. I have now covered 405km. There are less than a hundred kilometres to go to the end of the trail at Mendrisio. It will not take many more days of walking to bring me to the end.