Stretching those claves

Stage 19: Montreux to Bourg-Saint-Pierre (30,98 km) 

 

Todays stage is relatively short in distance, but comes with a solid 1300m in altitude gain.

I start out early in still sleepy Martigny, and am almost immediately treated with a warmup. Up the hill I go.

Along the way I spot the first sign of the via francigena, one of the name-givers of this project.

Still foggy and cloudy I make my way towards the light.

Another sign I find along the way. Is that a small h or a capital R? I decide on the latter and have to smile.

Until I pass the village on Orsieres, I am more or less alone on some side road. Early on, I get passes by a cyclist who askes me where I was going. From then on, every house in every small hamlet I pass, I am greeted by "Vous allez à rome?". Not much entertainment around here, it seems.

The views are majestic, and the pictures don't really capture that properly. The road however, is quite busy. It is a sunny Sunday, and everybody with a car seems to be enjoying driving up and down the curvy mountain road. Judging from only today, I'd say 40% of the Swiss drive Porsches. 

However, this is Switzerland, not Germany, no one feels obliged to educate me that the road is only for motorists, people just pass, the Swiss with a wide margin, the Italians with a not so wide margin, cars even brake when they can't pass. No honking, no obscene gestures, it is just someone slow on the side of the road and everybody is here just for fun. I also get quite a bit of (encouraging) honking and thumbs up from people who appear to realize that I am crossing the Alps on foot.

I reach my destination early, before 15.00 and for a bit contemplate whether I should continue on to the pass, then decide against it.

The hotel is good, dinner even better and once I stop walking I quickly feel how tired I am. Yesterdays bad parts are forgotten, I am content.

Tomorrow I will pet some dogs.