Unfortunately we had to tear ourselves away from La Fouly, hopefully to return another day. After a last chat and some hints and tips from Tina and Willy our German neighbours, who we must thank for the LPG tip we are back on the road to head towards Zermatt.
We stopped off in Sion to top up the LPG and food cupboards. LPG is not available everywhere, the same as in the UK. We use the website http://www.mylpg.eu to locate LPG (or GPL as it is in Switzerland) filling stations. It seems to be fairly accurate and up to date so far. The other slight complication is there are four different fittings for LPG across Europe. Most stations tend to have a box of adapters and then the skill is finding the one that matches the UK to whatever particular fitting that station is using. I am happy to report that Andy passed the test and successfully matched the ends to enable us to fill up. The station was the Eni Station in Sion at 46.223993 7.347261. You can buy packs of mixed adapters if you prefer to have your own and carry them with you.
Next stop was the village of Täsch. This village has the last campsite before car free Zermatt. We had been warned by people we talked to that it was likely to be very busy and a real tourist trap. Yes, I can imagine in high season it is probably a bit of a nightmare and the campsite was the most expensive so far, they do have a captive audience. That said there were only a couple of tents and about ten vans when we were there, the facilities were spotlessly clean and we had a great view, so cannot complain. The site is next to the railway to Zermatt but the trains just trundle past as it is near the station, it didn’t disturb us at all. The bonus is it is not far to walk to get the train from the campsite. In the corner of the campsite there is a large stone rock with a cross on it and hidden inside is an amazing little chapel.
Täsch is a small village and our evening walk to have a look round wasn’t a long one. There is a pretty church with an immaculate graveyard plus some very old wooden chalets.
We were up early the next morning to head into Zermatt. You could walk it if you want, it is about 6km but as we wanted to do a higher altitude walk above Zermatt we didn’t think we were up to the walk in as well. The shuttle train was 16.40CHF (£12.50) return for an adult and we had to pay half fare for Finn. At Zermatt right next to the station is the Tourist Information Office who have great info on walks in the area. Their website is pretty good http://www.zermatt.ch.
We decided to get the funicular from Zermatt to Sunnegga and then do the Five Lakes walk followed by a hike back down to Zermatt. The funicular was 16CHF for a single ticket each, dogs go free on the cable car system. It was a stunning walk even on a day that had clouds coming and going. Bits of it were tough going and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted the weather any hotter, we did 9.7 miles in total. I think we did break the dog though, or should I say those pesky Marmots did. They ran rings around Finn, he chased them for miles and they popped back down their holes just as he got to them. Together with swimming in the lakes he just dropped when we got back to the camper.
We had some amazing views on our walk but no money shot of The Matterhorn unfortunately, that dam cloud kept the top hidden from us. The best view after walking for miles was just as we were sat having coffee back in Zermatt, typical! That is the picture at the top of this page.
While in Zermatt we had a wander round the mountaineer cemetery which unfortunately has many people, some very young who have lost their lives climbing the mountains.
It was then back to the campsite by train for beans and toast after our most expensive day to date. Oh and to eat the lovely cakes we just bought in Zermatt.
Weather – a bit of everything, sun, clouds, evening rain
Miles Walked -9.7
Miles Driven to Täsch – 86
Overnight – 2 nights at Alphubel Camping 46.064748 7.774653
Leave a Reply