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| Reached Barenalp |
My last day
in Chur, and I overslept! The celebrations that went into the night, car
horns hooting in celebration of the German, their neighbours', World
Cup win over Argentina, obviously kept me awake.
By
the time I had found myself a cup of coffee in town, come back and
packed, it was gone midday. I got the cable car up to Brambruesch again,
but this time, I had no agenda in mind, no peaks to go for, instead a
gentle amble picking my way along a path just above the tree line,
before heading down.
Before I go into the walk, a bit
about the day before; Sunday had seen more inclement weather so I jumped
on the train to St. Moritz for lunch. a couple of hours away, it was a
rewarding journey through some spectacular scenery.
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| Glacier Express carraige |
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| The Landwasser Viaduct |
St. Moritz itself? a bit posh, and the only
explanation I can have for why on earth that would come about, is that
it was a renowned spa town back in its day, and was the first alpine
resort in the Alps.
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| The lake at St. Moritz |
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| St. Moritz |
The lake it sits by is picturesque, but no more
extraordinary than anything else I had seen in the Swiss Alps. Hardly a
reason for still being the place for the rich to seek out, yet here
they were, a plethora of "well to dos" in expensive down jackets (I was
glad I brought mine along to fit in!) doing lunch and admiring the
British vintage car rally that clogged the main street.
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| River in St. Moritz |
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| The lake at St. Moritz |
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| Classic British Car Club Rally |
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| Classic British Car Club Rally |
After lunch, I wandered awhile, thankfully the
majority of those noisy automobile contraptions had left, but honestly,
the journey was so much better than the destination, and I was soon on
my way back to Chur.
Now to the walk;
Today
was warm, and I was enjoying the long spell of sunshine. With any
ascent of note out of the way early on, and a gradient that suited me as
well, I could enjoy this without over exerting myself.
I
was on a road through the village, and up to Malixer Alp, but once
passed the restaurant there, I was on a dirt track in sloping woodland.
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| Looking down to Spinatobel |
The going got a little tougher when I ascended
right onto a saturated path of mud. It was drier going out of the trees,
and it afforded some fine views of Gurgaletsch to the east.
Before
me I could see Gruenenbuel, at 2043m. I entertained the thought of
bagging it, but, in truth, it wasn't one I weighed up for long. I was
soon taking a left turn down into the forest, near the hut at Galtialp.
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| Gruenenbuel above |
The shade was joined by a cooling alpine breeze which made easy work of the walk down to Barenalp 1682m.
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| Alpine woodland |
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| Tadpoles |
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| Alpine woodland |
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| Barenalp, looking up to Gruenenbuel |
I now stepped into Pradaschierer-Wald, a continued descent of switch backs on dirt roads and wide paths.
Into
a clearing, I was met with a beautiful view of the mountains on the
other side of the valley. Good decision to come this way!
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| Out of the woods and into a clearing with stunning views |
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| Hitting the road above Churwalden |
Soon after, I had reached a paved road and was
down into Chloster, where the bus stop for my ride back to Chur was
found easily. A short walk today, but worthwhile, and given that I had
slept in, it was all I could really find the time, or inclination to do.
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| Chloster |
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