Leaving our nice Pilgrim Herberge this morning was bittersweet. The hosts had been so kind to us letting us use their oven and clothes washing machine and being available for us. The Herberge in Giswil is highly recommended.

We also said goodbye to Otto with whom we’ve been traveling for a few days now. We are leaving Jakobsweg for a couple weeks and have opted for a significantly more challenging route the Via Alpina. As the name suggests, we will be hiking higher in the Alps for the next couple weeks. Why? Well, you will just have to wait and see.

Our day was planned as a relatively short day if you call 14mi short. The difference between 14mi and 18mi is huge in terms of exhaustion for us, so 14mi does feel pretty relaxed. We can take our time up steep hills and stop more often on the shorter days and that makes a world of difference.

But there was another reason for our short day. That 14mi included a 2350ft ascent. That’s a lot of up, up, up! We had to cross the Brünig pass to a new section of the Alps.

Our morning started well with a breakfast of leftover Musli with sliced banana, and some scrambled eggs and cheese. Then we headed out for the day.

After a short period of flat land in the valley near Giswil, we started our first of three climbs. Our route was soon interrupted by a major tunnel project that forced us to take a detour and added some unplanned distance and elevation.

The climb soon started showing results, and we were treated to some pretty cool views.

Soon we were on the shores of Lake Lungern. The water of the lake mesmerized me with its shades of turquoise and teal. Honestly it looked like it was poorly photoshopped.  The colors seemed so unnatural.

The trip around the lake was primarily flat and it was a welcome break from the early climb. Along the way I saw a small group walking in the opposite direction. One of the men was wearing a Clemson Tigers hat and I asked if he was from the USA. Ironically some in the group were from Raleigh North Carolina. Others were from SC and MI and IL as well. The group was on holiday here in Switzerland.

We spoke about our pilgrimage walk of course and they scanned this VLOG’s QR Code. So…may I introduce all of you to the ScootieFoodies. I think I’d really like to get to know them better. Looks like a fun group.

Just a few minutes later a large number of bikers in small groups passed us with “Hello’s” and “Hey’s” vs the traditional “Morgen” or “Grutzie”. Did we just pass a whole slew of Americans??

Soon we passed the village of Lungern (home of our pilgrim friend Reto’s family) and we were off to our longest climb up and over the Brünig Pass.

There are many places we have seen “Stations of the Cross”. But this set was unusual and intriguing to me because it included modern day images. Somehow it put us in the picture.

Along the way we passed a cogged railway. At the top we stopped for a backpack lunch.

Shortly afterwards we stopped yet again since we’d gotten chilled during lunch and desired a hot coffee/tea.

The village of Brünig was the dividing point of the Via Jacobi/Jakobsweg and our new route the Via Alpina. Technically, the Alpina didn’t start there but rather a connector trail “Panoramaweg”. Regardless, we bid farewell to the Jacobi.

The Panoramaweg is aptly named. Another set of beautiful views and another climb was soon over. 

Along the Panoramaweg we spotted a charcoal pit where wood is lit then starved of oxygen creating charcoal.

We descended into Meiringen where we will be tent camping for two nights. This won’t be a rest day, but the lack of lodging on the next stage will require us to be creative. More about that tomorrow.

Tomorrow we officially start the Alpina