Breakfast is at 7am at Rifugio Elena. Not the best breakfast but adequate for a mountain hut. We were served bread, cereal, yogurt, coffee, milk, juice, etc. This place is not as isolated as it seems. There are unpaved roads that some high-clearance vehicle can get on. Some groups have their travel bags delivered to the hut, probably by vehicles.
Immediately behind the hut we start our climb up to the Grand Col Ferret. It's a tortuous ascent of 480m in about 2km. The path zig-zags above Rifugio Elena and provide some excellent views of the Italian Val Ferret valley below us and the Glacier de Pré de Bar in front of us. It gets colder as we get higher and soon clouds enveloped us. There was snow on the ground and visibility was poor. We start running into other hikers coming from the other direction. We even ran into mountain bikers at the summit.
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| View above Rifugio Elena |
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| View of the Glacier de Pré de Bar, though most have melted |
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| Looking back at the Italian Val Ferret |
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| It gets cold and cloudy on top |
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| Visibility is poor |
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| Snow on the ground |
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| Mountain bikers riding through snow |
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| Sign marking the border between Italy and Switzerland |
After crossing into Switzerland we started our long descent into La Peule. This part of the hike is about 4km long, about 470m descent. We are looking into the beautiful Swiss mountainside. As we get lower we start to hear the symphony of cow bells. It's a beautiful sight - seeing cows grazing on the side of mountains.
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| Looking down as we leave Grand Col Ferret |
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| Cows grazing on the mountainside pastures |
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| The trails are nicer and better marked in Switzerland |
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| Snow-capped mountains as we hike down |
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| So this is what the mountains in Switzerland really look like |
We are finally down in La Peuly. We needed something warm and some nourishment. We bought a cup of warm milk and a cup of hot chocolate. We are using Swiss Francs for the first time on this trip. I had some leftover Swiss Francs from our train trip in December. The warmth of the farmhouse felt good. It must be an isolated feeling for the family running the place. There are some beds available for those who want to spend the night there.
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| Farmhouse at Peuly. A welcome stop. |
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| Signs pointing to difference places |
From La Peuly we started on an easy 3.5km hike to Ferret. It was mostly downhill. The scenery makes the hike even more beautiful. At Ferret we passed neat and beautiful Swiss houses. The Swiss always have a way to make their houses look so neat and clean.
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| One of the houses in Ferret |
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| Crossing one of the streams |
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| A glacier-fed stream |
Then we are off to our final leg of the day - from Ferret to La Fouly. Again it was a beautiful walk through the Swiss countryside. We finally start to see school-children as we approach the town. It's basically a one-street town. There is a Tourist Information Center, then a super-market. You also see ski-lifts just above the town so in the winter this would be a busy place. We easily found Hotel Edelweiss on the main street.
When we checked in we were surprised to learn that we have our own room. We've been told that we'll be sharing in room with other hikers. But due to some cancellation a room with a bunk-bed and a single bed was given to us, although we have to share the shower and toilet with others. We were overjoyed. It makes sleeping much easier without a stranger in the room. Dinner and breakfast were included with the room. At dinner we met other hikers that we saw on the trail. Though it looks simple on the outside the hotel looks very modern on the inside. A deserving end to a long day.
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| One of the houses as we approached La Fouly |
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| The Edelweiss Hotel where we stayed in La Fouly |
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