Last day, it's a bit cloudy, and I've presents to buy... so up to Andermatt for souvenir shopping, one hop on the train to Hospental, and a gentle wander back along the valley. The tourist horse-drawn post coach was in town, complete with a man in a van for the luggage, who also had a shovel for cleaning up afterwards:
Every hour at Andermatt, it looks totally chaotic, as coaches are removed from the Brig-Göschenen train, only a portion going forward, while in the station at the same tim
Grüezi wohl mitanand.
A day of two halves today. Early rain put me off a possible walk up from the Italian side of the Gotthard pass, but the rain left off by about 10, so it's on with the rucksack and away up the side valley from Göschenen. After rain is apparently a good time to see the local salamanders, just sitting on the path, not bothered about running away:
Then through some woods, out into alpine meadows and ever upwards (patience, there's some transport interest coming later):
Enough with all these trains: time for a bit of history and a change of language. South through the Gotthard Tunnel to Bellinzona in Ticino, the main Italian-speaking area of Switzerland, where the three castles guarding the valley are a World Heritage Site. By happy coincidence, you can see the railway from them too.
The obvious entrance when walking from the station, appears less and less inviting the closer you get to it. An odd concrete slit in the corner of a modern piazza, with a sign mou
There's a leaflet in Göschenen station showing the Gotthard rail path, which runs down the valley, close to the track at some points, past the three levels of track at Wassen, and onwards. There's also a detour to an Aussichstspunkt (viewpoint) marked. Looks like a plan for the day. Load up the rucksack, and we're off for a day's linesiding. Apologies in advance to the Swiss train experts, but I'm no expert on identification, so some of the descriptions may be a bit vague.
First, in a little
After a strenuous day yesterday, something a bit more touristy. On board the stopping train down the valley, here coming out of the Gotthard tunnel at Göschenen. A lot of these trains carried extra, older-type coaches (like the first one here), which were mostly reserved for group travel, such as school parties. They also carry a first-class observation car with the high windows, as well as the super-comfortable standard SBB air-con opens. That's the MGB line to Andermatt top right.
Change
So, first day proper, the sun's shining, and the forecast is warm to hot. After muesli, tea, bread and an attempted conversation with an enormous Austrian, whose German was nearly unintelligible to me, it was time to gather up the necessary equipment - general map, cameras, three water bottles, hat, sturdy shoes and waterproof+umbrella (unused):
Göschenen sits at almost the same altitude (1111m, 3645ft asl) as the summit of Snowdon (1085m, 3560ft), and today's "stroll" just goes up and up,
Since there are a few Swiss fans on here, I thought I might put up a travelogue, travelblog, or perhaps trog, of a week's holiday in June 2013. Rather than spend all the time travelling, I decided to stick mostly to one area, around the Gotthard pass, and based myself in Göschenen.
Every journey begins somewhere, and mine began with a small hop from S Yorkshire:
...followed by a bigger hop up to London. Taking a photo at Kings Cross, the guard, who I'd spoken with earlier, trying to
