And Another Adventure Begins

4 days and counting until we leave on our next great adventure….flights from Denver to Washington, DC to Geneva, Switzerland. Mike turns 70 this year and two things on his bucket list were to see the Swiss Alps and to walk the Via Francigena from the St. Bernard Pass on the Swiss/Italian border all the way to Rome, a journey of 1,000 km.

We will start with 5 days in Grindelwald where our plan is to do some gondola rides and hikes in the mountains and generally explore the area. From there, a train to Martigny, and a bus to the St. Bernard Pass where we begin our trek.

Having walked the Jacobsweg in Switzerland, the Marskramerpad in the Netherlands, the Camino Frances in Spain, the Via de la Plata also in Spain from Sevilla to Santiago (which we had to abort due to heat exhaustion), we decided to try The “VF” in Italy.

We made all our own arrangements for the previous hikes, most of which included staying in hostels, which for the most part, we enjoyed. But now, getting older, not knowing the country or the language (although we have been studying Italian on Duolingo for the past few months) we opted to travel with U Tracks. (We have no affiliation with them other than having travelled with their parent company World Expeditions to Nepal and S.Africa). U Tracks has booked all our hotels for the 2 month trek, will supply the necessary maps and other information needed, and will transport our luggage on a daily basis so no need to carry heavy backpacks.

Now, all that’s left, is the training. More on that in another post.