Mārīte`s story

Camino Way in Switzerland

8 years ago, in April 2016, as part of four people group (Sandra, Zane, Edijs and me), we flew to Switzerland to walk Camino Road. It’s a part of Francigena Way, which starts in England and ends in Italy (Rome). It has a total length of more than 3000 km.
We came out to walk around 90 km. We started the road at Lausanne and ended the Orsieres. Because of the snow, we couldn’t go further. I must say we didn’t feel the spirit of Camino as we walked around Switzerland. We didn’t see the pilgrims either. Albergue like those in Spain or Portugal didn’t happen to us along the way. In two places, Magnity and Orsieres slept in the Sunday’s school in the church, spent two nights in the tents in the campgrounds. Other nights in hotels.
Day one as a fairytale trail, or beautiful, wide pedestrian road along Lake Geneva. Time by time our road is crossed by railway. On the other side of the lake are the snowy Alps. In the afternoon, we reached the beautiful resort town of Montreux with a monument by the lake for rock legend Freddie Mercury. From Montreux, the Camino Way cuts off the lake and little by little begins to go higher and higher up the mountains. Camino marking is good and understandable. Let’s go, there’s a blooming spring around. Eyes are delighted by the beautiful fields with rapeseed. Bees fly and we also. All the way to Martigny.
We’d learned there was one very dangerous stage behind Martigny, with creepers, toppled trees and overflowing mountain rivers. Young people, Edijs and Zane, yet risk and choose that stage of the road. Later, when Sandra and I met with them again, just listening to them, I was afraid. Conclusion – don’t do it in April! Mountains is not a joke thing.
Sandra and I, obedient pedestrians, were driven by the train to Sembrancher, a beautiful medieval village. The church was open, but we didn’t see people anywhere. Further down the road we were led across the Alpine meadows, which cannot be described, should be seen and enjoyed by yourselves. We did. We enjoyed it. Beautiful lodges, fast mountain streams, countless beehives, and peace around them…. In the afternoon we reach our destination, Orsieres. Let’s not keep going further because there are snow fields and mountains ahead. It’s still winter there. We made sure of this by bus to Aosta, Italy. Going through Liddes first. All white. All I saw was a camping sign where we wanted to build a tent. Ridiculous. A Bourg St. Pierre sign flashes past the window. And then a unique view. Down below, the big water dam that we should go. Although the snow is thick, you can see the outline of the trail and the small cabin further up the hill… The Mountain pass itself, the famous Gran Saint Bernard, is never seen, because the bus takes us to Aosta through the tunnel, which also has a two-state border point.
Camino’s adventure is over. I can only thank Sandra, who insisted and we flew to see Switzerland.
The lessons I learned from this trip.
* Contact your planned accommodation before buying a plane ticket. I did the other way. It was only through correspondence that I learned I needed snowshoes. I didn’t even know there were any. But I got to see.
* Switzerland was neither cheap nor very expensive for us as pedestrians. Good thing cheap shop networks like Coop, Lidl etc are there too
* Local residents aren’t happy we’re “trolling” there. I’m not talking about pastors here.
* You must choose the appropriate time to walk it. Best July, September
* Definitely always need to try to go and not be afraid!
* Good to have a man’s shoulder side by side
Glad we also looked at Bern and Geneva on this trip. In Geneva, if you sleep in a hotel, there’s an opportunity to get a one-day transport card. Can go wherever you want and whatever transport you want. We had the same experience in Lugano, where we could travel to the Italian border with such ticket.
On this positive note, I will also end my story. Even though so many years have passed, the memories are many and beautiful…

We’re pulling our shoes up, throwing our rucksack in our shoulders and going into our CAMINO!

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