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| Chur |
It
had seemed a lot longer than just 3 days ago that I was out hiking. My
train journey from Zermatt to Chur, in the Graubunden region, had taken
the best part of Thursday under gloomy skies, and on Friday I was
resigned to exploring the city as there was no way anyone should be out
on the mountains in this awful weather.
Arriving
tired and grumpy, I didn't afford Chur much credit, and it wasn't until
the next morning that I discovered it had some charm. The oldest city
in Switzerland, the architecture in the old town is worth a visit alone.
Anyway,
enough of that because this is a blog about hiking, and on Saturday,
the sun came out and the clouds lifted enough to make it worth exploring
the hills.
The
JBN Hostel, where I was staying, is conveniently located a few doors
away from the cable car that takes you up to Kanzeli at 1170m, where you
transfer to a smaller capsule to Brambruesch, high above the city at
1595m.
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| Swiss blaze to indicate a hiking route |
Leaving
the station, I was soon taking a path right, leaving the majority of
German hikers to head along the well trodden route, instead scaling a
narrow path through gnarly tree roots and mud. To the left, the edge of
the mountain dropped away, and the incline of the path had me gasping
for air.
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| The path to Spundiskopf |
Spundiskopf,
at 1847m, was my first peak of the day. A small clearing next to a
fence that protected both livestock and hikers from an untimely death.
There was a rock, marking the spot, but I couldn't quite make out the
inscription.
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| Town of Dornat / Ems below |
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| Spundiskopf summit |
Moving on, to Spundiskopf See, a small pond some half a kilometre away as you exit the trees and step out into meadow.
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| Wildflower |
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| Spundikopf See |
Here, I picked up the main track taken to Dreibundenstein, a wide path dotted with cows and their cocophony of bells.
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| One standing, two sitting |
I laboured on up to Huhnerkopfe, at 1947m, my next peak to bag, where a chair lift station sat idle in the summer months.
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| Looking back to Huhnerkopfe and Spundikopf |
By
now, I could see the larger party of German hikers before me,
disappearing out of sight occasionally, as clouds drifted over the
ground. I blindly followed them, believing they were also heading for
the summit. Maybe they were, I never found out, but for whatever reason
they turned right and followed a mountain path that was soon contouring
the mountain.
Below, we were afforded occasional glimpses of the height we were at, but for most of the time, we saw only cloud.
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| Just see Dornat / Ems through the cloud |
I
eventually caught up with the party, as they inspected a plaque by the
path, that was a memorial to a US Bomber called Lady Patricia, that
crashed into the side of the mountain in 1944.
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| Crash site of The Lady Particia |
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| Caught up with them |
Still
following the Germans, passing them one by one as the ground widened, I
reached the point I should have been descending to from the summit. Not
one to let this pass, I carried straight up the slope, which was about
150m.
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| Approaching Term Bel |
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| The path I should have benn coming down from Dreibundenstein |
Before
the summit, a junction is reached; left is Furggabuel, right was
Dreibundenstein. I turned right and reached the bullet shaped cairn that
marked the summit at 2152m.
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| Cairn at Dreibundenstein |
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| Views from Dreibunednstein |
I
retraced my steps to the junction but carried on up to Furggabuel, at
2174m. Much more of a summit feel to this peak, the other end of the
chairlift from Huhnerkopfe.
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| Views from Furggabuel |
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| Views from Furggabuel |
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| Chur from Furggabuel |
I
lingered a while on Furggabuel. The unintended diversion to the crash
site had set me back a bit, and so I weighed up my options. I decided to
carry on to Feldis, and went back down the slope to Term Bel ski hut.
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| Term Bel Ski Hut below Tgom' Aulta |
I
took a break at the ski hut, enjoyed a Nestea, and their toilet
facilities. Refreshed, I carried on, passing Tgom' Aulta. My
preoccupation with the correct location of this particular peak on my
left caused me to miss Sennestein at 2001m on my right, so I was a bit
miffed when I realised it later in the day. as it was, Tgom' Aulta
wasn't incorrectly listed in Geonames, it was one of two with the same
name within a couple of kilometres of each other!
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| Tgom' Aulta |
I
stopped before Leg Palus, and sat on a bench, admiring Chur below. The
low clouds had long cleared and I had great views of the area below, and
could see the ridges of Spundiskopf and Furggabuel rising.
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| Spundiskopf and Furggabuel |
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| Spundiskopf |
Leg
Palus was a small lake, overgrown, but a pretty spot. From the lake, it
was short walk into Alp de Veulden. I walked though this small
collection of huts, and decided to ascend to Mutta, where I could take
the cable car down to Feldis, or so I thought!
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| Marmot |
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| Leg Palus |
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| Wooden sculptures near Leg Palus |
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| Alp de Veulden |
When
I reached Mutta, a peak at 1974m, with splendid views of the
Hinterrhein valley, it soon became apparent that it wasn't a cable car,
but instead a chair lift. Not being one for heights, I chose to walk
down.
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| Wooden sculptures on Mutta |
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| Mutta |
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| Looking south to Rothenbrunnen |
At
first, finding the correct path down was confusing. For a while I
appeared to be heading back to Tgom' Aulta! Eventually the track veered
right away from the peak, and I descended a muddy cattle trodden track
through a meadow to Retga.
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| Muddy path down Alp Raguta |
From Retga, it was steady descent, a mixture of road and meadow, with plenty of wildflowers and butterflies.
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| Wildflowers |
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| Wildflower |
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| Butterfly |
I
was next through Rumadetsch, and then on road, under the chair lift
from Mutta, and into Feldis / Veulden. I arrived at the cable car
station with only fifteen minutes to wait for my ride down to the train
at Rhazuns.
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| Feldis / Veulden |
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| Church at Feldis / Veulden |
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