Sunday, February 06, 2011

The VF in Switzerland

When I was planning our VF trip we only had a month to walk so I asked other VF pilgrims to recommend the best sections.  All agreed that the most beautiful was the route through Switzerland, the Aosta Valley, Tuscany and Lazio.
So we planned to walk from Lake Lausanne to Ivrea.  (We skipped a 200km section in the north across the rice paddies of the Po Valley and continued from Parma and Luca to Rome).  The Swiss section was the most beautiful and the most memorable.  The hiking was rated 'easy' but the conditions rated 'difficult'.
 This website has all the information a hiker would need to walk 215km of the VF in Switzerland including transport (how to get there), profile maps, stages, accommodation, guide books, etc,  http://www.wanderland.ch/fr/buecher_karten.cfm

It lists 12 sections starting from Ste-Croix

Section 1 Ste-Croix

Section 2 Ste-Croix–Yverdon-les-Bains
Section 3 Yverdon-les-Bains–Orbe
Section 4 Orbe–Cossonay
Section 5 Cossonay–Lausanne
Section 6 Lausanne–Vevey
Section 7 Vevey–Aigle
Section 8 Aigle–St-Maurice
Section 9 St-Maurice–Martigny
Section 10 Martigny–Orsières
Section 11 Orsières–Bourg-St-Pierre
Section 12 Bourg-St-Pierre–Col du Gd St-Bernard



Profile photos from http://www.wanderland.ch/

"The Swiss stage runs through a variety of landscapes and is without doubt also one of the most spectacular pilgrims’ paths in Europe.  The route from Sainte-Croix to Vuiteboeuf leads past unique sections of cart tracks then alongside the quiet Venoge to Lac Léman. Stops at Romainmôtier Abbey and the Roman mosaics in Orbe are highly recommended.
From Lausanne, the Via Francigena runs through the vineyards of Lavaux to the bend in the Rhone. From the ancient city of Octodurus, it winds through the narrow pass shaped by the wild waters of the Drance to the northern slopes of the Grossen Sant Bernhard-Pass. In Val d’Entremont, medieval villages line the route, which peaks in the aptly-named Combe des Morts."