Day 3 From Bourg-St-Pierre to Great St-Bernard Pass 12.2 km elevation2473m

Thursday 12th September 2013

One of the most symbolic stages on the Via Francigena! The way to the pass leads along a road which has served the whole of Europe for over 2000 years. Countless archaeological sites line the ascent, at the St Grand Bernard Pass there are also the remains of a Roman temple.

Left Bourge-st-Pierre about 9am after a good breakfast. started off very fresh temperature this morning, 0 degrees overnight. We're still following the number 70 path, there are also little Via Francigena stickers on many of the signs.

The walk today was so amazing, the scenery magnificent, we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather again, the meadows, cows, streams, waterfalls, ruins, Roman remains...! 

The way was mostly steep, but not overly strenuous.

A highlight was walking past this stunning, fairy tale cottage nestled near the dam - our trail went right be it, we would never have seen this unless we were walking.

More old Swiss farm buildings, this one had a date og 1701 on a stone lintel. 

the meadows were full of vivid colored alpine flowers

We saw Tom and Yvonne with their bikes along the road several times.

getting closer to the pass, the track became steeper and rockier, we also walk along the remains of Roman roads and steps - imagine building them thousands of years ago! no gortex jackets to keep the cold out...

nearly at the top!

Arriving at The Pass, we can see the beautiful little lake that forms the border between Switzerland and Italy. The Great Saint Bernard Pass elevation for the crossing is 2473m ! 

 Light snow flakes were whirling around in the sunshine for the last 500m of our climb to the Hospice, we arrived at 2:30 pm. The monk on duty gave us a lovely steaming bowl of tea on arrival!

61 Swiss francs each for room, dinner and breakfast.

I booked the accommodation :) oops, booked for the 13th instead of the 12th - caused a little confusion when we arrived for Frederick the Monk who greeted us, but all OK. I was also confused, thinking the cost was 61 francs for both of us from the email response to my booking inquiry, but it's actually each... apparently lots of Swiss accommodation is priced per person...

dinner at 7:15 pm, breakfast at 8 am 

St Bernard Museum - 10 francs each, but worth it, we arrived as some st Bernard's were coming back from their walk, so we had a pat, gorgeous, huge dogs! very friendly and calm. Wished I could take them for a walk too and spend more time with them - made me miss our lovely Labradors Milli and Pugsley... 

The museum also has fascinating displays of the Roman ruins, the development of the hospice over the years, (I definitely wouldn't want to be walking the VF years  ago when you also had to contend with bandits, robbers, and limited facilities!) and stories of  the rescues the dogs have performed ...  well worth an hour or so of browsing.

Lucky we arrived at The Pass before 4 pm, when a whiteout fog cloud came across, reducing visibility to 20 m at the most, and the temperature dropped significantly, icy outside. I would hate to be trying to follow the markers along the trail in this cold and visibility! We've settled into our room, had a hot shower and my down jacket is snug and warm, even walking outside. (good investment, wasn't sure if it would be cold enough to wear it...)

Dinner tonight was nothing to write home about, in fact I think the worst pilgrim meal I've ever had - soup (like a packet soup) rice and a preformed slab of undercooked meat... BYO dinner is my recommendation! It was good to sit around the table and chat with other walkers and pilgrims though

The building and atmosphere here at the St Bernard Hospice is wonderful, massive stone floors, thick walls about a meter deep, the chapel is beautiful, the significance of the Hospice as a refuge and rescue base is tangible.

Col du Grand Saint Bernard - Ospice PH: 0041277871236 accommodation confirmed for the Hospice for 13.9.13
hospice@gsbernard.net 
email response for booking....
Hi,

It's possible!

Is it sure?
in a room with half-board(61 swiss francs)?
in a dormitory with half-board (48.- swiss francs)?
regards,
For the community : Frédéric

It's reserved for 2 people in the room with half board from 13th till 14th September 2013 in the "Hospice du Gd-St-Bernard"!

See you again soon!

regards,

Frédéric

Day 1 From Martigny to Orsieres 19 km

Tuesday 10th September, 2013
Day one of our Via Francigena Cammino!

http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routes/etappe-01034.html map and route description

 We left Martigny about 10 after Patrick had to go back to phone shop to get the SIM card he bought activated for data so we can check the GPS waypoints and hopefully not get lost! 

We found the markers, for the VF it's also named trail number 70 for this section, and headed towards the  Roman amphitheater, we decided not to go into the Saint Bernard museum, cost 12 swiss francs each, as the dogs should also still be up at the Hospice at the Grand St Bernard Pass.

I was worried were were lost at the beginning of the track after leaving the Martigny, as there wasnt any markers for a while, and the track is also an excersize trail...  however, lucky when we checked with the GPS on Patrick's mobile, we were on the correct trail. 

At about 12 stopped at  Bovernier a tiny village - looking for a coffee and snack, stopped and a lady if there was a cafe? She says no, and then asks us to come in for a coffee!    we chatted as best we could with Marinette, us with no French and Marinette with no English! As we were leaving, did the Swiss kiss goodbye, she explained that the Swiss kiss cheeks 3 times- left, right, left, the French kiss twice.

The VF took us  up and down, through pretty, mossy forests and fields. My feet are feeling OK, but a bit tired.

Stopped for a late lunch, 2:50 pm at Sembrancher. Gorgeous village with amazing old buildings of timber and stone.

Had a light lunch in an Italian cafe of coffee, prosciutto and fungi pizza. Pizza delicious, fresh cooked, thin crust.

Walking on to Orsieres, we walked up, up, up... through meadows, forest, over clear mountain streams... very beautiful. The trail here is called the Napoleon way

Every hour or so we could hear the whistle of the Saint Bernard express in the distance - we could have caught this iconic train and been at the top of the pass in an hour, rather than 3 days of walking! But we would have missed all the beautiful scenery, architecture and the deep "dong dong" bells of the cows, and the higher pitched "ding ding" of the sheep bells.

http://youtu.be/Xib3i0sjPX4  The Melodic cow bells

Shortly before Orsiers we walked up a steep switch back track with timber carvings of the stations of the cross. 

 Walking down the track into Orsieres we saw the Cathedral and a timber covered bridge!

At Orsiers we went to the Cathedral to try and find someone to stamp our credenzia, luckily we met Linna, also a pilgrim walking the VF from Germany, she showed us the way behind the cathedral to the VF accommodation and introduced us to the priest who stamped our credenza - pilgrims passport. 

At the accommodation, we met 3 other pilgrims, Tom and Yvonne an older couple from the US who are cycling the VF and Chris  from Germany. We were able to chat with everyone and get some useful accommodation tips - Lina is going backwards along this section of the VF and Tom and Yvette have already walked most of the Italian section of the VF. 

We decided to go out and experience a real Swiss fondue tonight! I also had a glass of local red, which was delicious! Don't know that I need to have a fondue again... very strong cheese with just bread to dip into the pot. Feel like I need a big serve of veges tomorrow.

We were back to the pilgrim accommodation by 8:30 and settled on our mattresses on the floor by 9pm... tired pilgrims!

Accommodation - Orsieres:

at the parish accommodation, mattress on the floor

TOTAL KILOMETERS WALKED ALONG THE VIA FRANCIGENA - 19 km

Monday 9th September Arriving in Switzerland

Monday 9th September 2013

We arrive at Zurich 

Swiss online train booking and information

http://www.viefrancigene.it/le-tappe/svizzera.html 

 What a long journey! we departed Brisbane airport at 2 pm Sunday 8th September. We had a 4 hour break at Bangkok airport - not much to do or see there... Our flight from Bangkok was delayed by an hour, so we finally arrived in Zurich at 8:30 am Monday 9th Sept local time - about 33 hours traveling. I managed to snooze for a couple of hours on the last leg of the plane flight.

Once we arrived and went through all the customs etc... We found the Train booking and information service at the airport and booked our train tickets - all so easy and organized here in Switzerland!

We caught the  train to Lausanne, and then changed for Martigny.  Total journey time around 3 hours 10:13 dep Zurich airport, change trains at Lausaunne, then arrived at Martigny at 1:40 pm

One of the most expensive train trips I've paid for-  162 Swiss Francs for both of us. In one 3 hour train trip we changed languages, signage and announcements from German to French!

Gorgeous scenery on the train- particularly around Lausanne, with views over the Lake - terracing squeezes every possible bit of space for the vineyards! 

Martigny is a lovely town, surrounded by the mountains, lots of lovely buildings, Roman ruins, and a castle.

Tried to get my first stamp for my Pilgrims passport, but there wasn't anyone at the Catherdral, I'll try again tomorrow.

Accommodation in Martigny 

All the accommodation here seems very overpriced for what it is - we found an room available at the Motel des Sports , 148 Swiss Francs for the night - very basic room with bathroom, at least it's clean.

And, as a bonus we have a view of some new excavations of Roman Ruins behind the hotel!

View from the front of the hotel, castle on the left - Chateau de la Batiaz. Cathedral spire on the right, and real mountains all around!

After checking into our room, having a lovely shower and settling in, we thought a little snooze before dinner was in order - turned into quite a long snooze! we slept from 5pm to nearly 11 pm 😴 oh, well too late for dinner, more sleeping! 

Tomorrow, on our way to Orsieres we'll  walk past the St Bernard dog Museum and the Roman amphitheater.