The Engadine - Switzerland

We've been a bit quiet recently. 

Not because we've been away.  We've just been under the weather and busy with a variety of things of absolutely no interest to our readers.  During one of our jobs - sorting the vast 'tray' of 1500 emails that has accumulated since our New Zealand trip, many months ago, I've come across a few items that are far more enticing than 'December in Timperley'.

For example, one of our new friends from the TGO Challenge - 'The Eccentric Austrian' ('Eccentric' covers a multitude of characteristics that only readers of our TGO Challenge report will appreciate), Markus, reported as follows on one of his subsequent activities:

"At the end of July we undertook a three day biking trip across some great mountains in the Swiss Engadine. A walker's and biker's paradise. We´ll come across some sections of this superb tour again on our Transalp ride. Please, find some photos of this trip in the attachment."

The Engadine may present Sue and me with a bit of a problem regarding our ongoing 'Italian Border Route' walk.  We will reach the area in 2009 or 2010, but the 'ethic' of our route is that it stays mainly in Italy.  We may therefore be missing this superb area of Switzerland that we not yet visited.  That's despite my having been the proud owner of 'Walks in the Engadine' by Kev Reynolds, since 1991!

Perhaps a circular walk will have to be devised.

Markus and his friends clearly enjoyed their bike ride.  The trail shown at the head of this posting looks (if they weren't walking! - do we have an Austrian wimp?) fairly challenging, and the images below give the impression of high level fun.  The track pictured above looks to me to be similar to Sentiero Orsi that links the Tuckett and Pedrotti huts in the Brenta Dolomites - the path nicknamed 'The Lower Cycle Track'.

Anyway, this has added a little brightness to a dull Saturday afternoon in Timperley.  Thank you Markus - I hope you don't mind me using your pictures, and I look forward to hearing more about the 'Transalp' ride (I've admired again the images you kindly sent, and I may be tempted to reproduce them if you can provide a short report...) For those who haven't been there, I can recommend the Brenta Dolomites, where Molveno is a delightful base.  The Engadine also looks as if it is a 'must go' area.  We would like to be able to report from there at first hand in the not too distant future.