Jacobsweg in Switzerland

The camino in Switzerland, also known as Jacobsweg (James`way) is a challenging path. How could it not be, given the terrain it has to cross. We took buses and trains to arrive at an entry point into the Camino, and it was up and down. If you check the map of the way in Switzerland at  http://www.jakobsweg.ch/home-en/information-on-routes/ and find Einsiedien, that is approximately where we walked.

The walking was very strenuous. It was up, quite steeply, for the first hour and a half, likely about 5 km. There was a new shelter built in 2008 on the way up, and we stopped for a snack, and to sign the guestbook. We were the second entry for the day. At the top was a restaurant, and we had soup and some fresh pressed apple juice. At the next table was a guy who was walking for a week, from his home just over the border in Germany, to Lucerne.We knew because he was wearing a tee shirt with ' Konstanz to Lucerne' amd a shell on it. Josef talked to him and got his story. The restaurant filled up with hikers, but we couldn't tell if they were pilgrims or not - no one else was wearing a shell.

But the prize at the top was the view. When we started at Alptal, at 1000 meters, the sun was shining above the clouds. At the top - Haggenegg, we could see a vista of mountian tops in the distance, and they seemed to be floating in a sea of cloud. It looked more like a field of snow, as my brain just couldn't make sense of it.It really was magical. There are pictures on this site                                                            http://www.mythenregion.ch/sommer/zusatz-navigation/english.html
 but none of them do it justice.

This link
http://www.bergfex.fr/brunni/bilder/
has google earth on it, and the sattelite image doesn't do it justice either.

We walked down - this time to Schwyz, which is farther down. It took us 2 hours, and every step was downhill. Some of it was so steep, that I slipped a few times on the gravel, but I caught myself in time. the view was worth every step.

This is a slideshow

 http://www.kronauer.info/images/haggenegg-chatzenstrick/velotouren_haggenegg-chatzenstrick.php

And this is what the signage looked like today.

This may be my last post for a few days, as I travel to Geneva tomorrow, and fly to Toronto Saturday. There will be more reflections to come. Meanwhile, thanks for reading, and post if you care to.
Darlene