Crossing the Gotthard Pass on foot – part 3 of 3

From arriving at the hotel to the train way down in Airolo.

Check in at the hotel was nice and easy. Shared facilities were okay. No complaints. There was a museum right next to the hotel and since that closed at 6, I decided to go there before I had my spaghetti for dinner. It just had to be spaghetti – I don’t care what anybody says, that was always a given. The two women I’d chatted with invited me to join them for dinner and we ended up sitting there talking for about two hours. That was the first time we mentioned hoping to see marmots the next day. Oh, and the museum was great. I absolutely loved it. More on that when I write about the history of the route I’m walking.

Evening on the Gotthard Pass

I spent a bit more time outside having a look around, taking pictures. It got chilly once the sun went down and I decided to go rest. Around midnight the stars were out in force. It had been a while since I’d seen that many of them. Just stunning! I decided to set the alarm for 5 AM to see what sunrise looked like in the mountains. It was already light when I woke up before my alarm at 4.45. The sun was of course nowhere to be seen yet and it turned out that it really rose behind that massive mountain next to the hotel and any chance of getting reflections on the small lakes was gone.

The temperature had dropped to 37°F/3°C overnight and I was glad breakfast was at 7 and that I wasn’t tempted to walk off in the cold. My plan was to start walking at around 8 and I almost made that. I’d seen my new friends at breakfast, and they left before I did. We again mentioned marmots and I said that I had a good feeling about seeing some.

The day before it was pretty much all uphill. That had worried me a bit because it was new territory for me. The way down worried me quite a bit more. It was the first time I attempted a “fitness level: difficult” hike. I’d cut some of the others short, but in this case without buses running I just had to go for it. So, off I went. Slow and easy start just getting used to going DOWN. The route first moves down the valley along the Tremola (name of the road). It doesn’t follow the hairpin turns though. It cuts right down, very steep. While I was a bit unsure if I should have brought my hiking poles, I was very happy I hadn’t on the way down. They would have gotten in my way and if I’d fallen, I’d have hurt myself because of the poles.

Plan B would have been just walking along the road - way less steep.

It was steep and sometimes a bit difficult, but I managed incredibly well. I passed my friends on the one short stretch that was a bit flatter and never saw them again. Once I passed the halfway point where the bus stop would have been the scenery changed dramatically – check out the video. There were loads of cows again. A bunch of them wanting to play on a very steep section, blocking my way twice. I had to use my best cow Italian to get them to let me pass. I passed the language border on the way up the day before. The rest of route 7 is now in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

Before and after pictures - in between the pictures I talked to them and they let me pass.

Suddenly there was very tall grass – taller than me in fact and trees. I never knew I could miss trees this much. I almost hugged the first one I saw. Very quickly I could see Airolo down below, but I also knew that I still had more then 300 m in elevation to go down. My legs were still okay but starting to grumble a bit. There were no benches or flatter areas it was just straight down. My muscles were working tirelessly. I had checked the train schedule the night before and knew that I had a train at xx.58 ever hour.

Airolo down below, trees, grass, 10-minutes to go sign, street in Airolo, Canton Ticino hiking route sign.

I couldn’t really worry about that too much though since I had to keep my eyes on the path. I finally came out of the grass and trees to a sign that said “Faura di Airolo 1210 m & 10 minutes to the station”. It was 11.35. That meant another 69 meters down in 10 minutes. The path went straight down through town, passing several parallel streets on the way. I will have a bit of a look around some other time. I just wanted to make the train. A few more pictures and on the train I went.

I couldn’t believe I made it down without any problems. My legs felt fine, I rehydrated and ate something on the train, had a lovely chat with a fellow passenger, started writing part two of this three-part newsletter, walked all the stairs (no escalators) on the way home, took a hot bath and felt really happy. The day after me legs were a bit sore, but not too bad and today I’m moving a bit slower, but still feeling good.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

ICYMI – part 1 & part 2 and here’s the link to the video again. This will also reveal whether I did see marmots on the way.