The hike that did finally happen!

Today was forecast to be the best day of the week, so we planned to do the hike to Joriseen to see the turquoise glacial lakes, the hike we had aborted on Sunday.

We met the mini bus in the village at 8.15 am and we dropped off half way up Fluela Pass by 8.45am. Fluela Pass featured in an episode of Top Gear and is part of the Grand Tour route, it is a twisting, turning road that has incredible views as you ascend the pass. It was a sunny and bright day, but cold to start - good for uphill hiking! We started the walk at about 2400m above sea level, and then walked up a steep trail to the ridge between two mountains. At the crest of the ridge you look down on to the glacial lakes, and then you descend down into the bowl. Some parts of the descent were a little challenging, where the track is very narrow over slippery scree and you have to hold on to a fixed cable attached to the rock face so you don't fall. Xena thankfully has a good sense of balance and is light footed. The lakes were breathtaking! Despite it being about 12C, Adam stripped off and swam in the one lake, he said it was freezing but exhilarating. I had to blip a shot of the lakes today, more in the extras. The last extra is as you ascend from the lakes up to the other mountain ridge, the views were incredible and so clear. We walked a total of 11 km today which does not sound a lot but you ascend and descend about 950m, going up and down twice, which is very tiring. When we finally got to the mountain hut in the next valley we were all very tired. From there the minibus took us back to the village.

It was an incredible experience, definitely my favourite hike here and we were lucky with the weather. As Luke and Meriel did this walk on Sunday they did not join us today but went to explore Zurich instead. 

After being out all day and then editing my photos in the evening I am struggling to keep up with journals.

I know it is terribly boring looking at other people's photos, but if you wish to see more photos of beautiful Switzerland you can see some here. (but excluding today's walk as I am still editing those images)