Wednesday 3 July 2024 - Lagh Da Cavloc

With the weather forecast not so good today we decided to stay low and visit Lagh Da Cavloc by a roundabout route.

This involved a 14 minute bus ride to Maloja, with Australian couple Matt and Jenny. We left them to do the Via Engiadina walk that we enjoyed on Monday. Our route crossed fields, from where a view back to the village is shown above. 

We soon reached a bridge over the frothy Orlegna river, from which the views downstream and upstream are shown below. 

Apparently this is an old smugglers' route. We found ourselves following the Smugglers Trail, a route defined by smugglers' hats screwed onto rocks. It's also a snowsoe trail.

A steep climb through the forest brought us to a small lake, Lagh Da Bitabergh, where we lingered for an elevenses break.

About 2.5 km of forest paths then led to Lagh Da Cavloc, where we enjoyed lunch on a bench. We had started the walk with David and Jill, so it was a surprise to meet them coming the other way. They had decided to reverse Collett's recommended route. Suzy and Phil, who we hadn't met before, were just behind them.

A cuckoo serenaded us, as did one yesterday outside our apfelstrudel hut.

We opted to walk up to Plan Canin, on the way to which a large and very clean herd of goats was encountered. Sue went into 'goat whisperer' mode.

A gently undulating path led to Plan Canin and a locked private bothy. The view up to a high pass confirmed that proper snow and ice equipment was needed up there. A suitably equipped group passed us on their way up. The next three pictures were taken at Plan Canin, from where we retraced our steps to Lagh Da Cavloc. 

A huge boulder field was passed on the way back to the goats.

Given recent rain, it wasn't a surprise to see waterfalls streaming down from high above.

We made our way back down past Restaurant Cavloccio, deciding not to visit. On our way down the good track we found Tony and Caroline admiring the flowers, and back at the bus stop we found Chris and the other Caroline. So the only Collett's guests we didn't see today were David and Avril.

The next picture was taken near Maloja. I was puzzled as to the purpose of the dam.

The bus back to Sils was crowded.  Standing room only.

The Ride with GPS app seems to have worked today, and roughly tallies with my Garmin watch that suggests we walked 14.5km with 450 metres ascent, taking around 5.5 hours.

Here are a few flowers from today.

Round-headed Rampion

Common Kidney-Vetch

Large Bittercress

Rock Cranesbill

Yellow Wood Violet 

Alpine Birdsfoot Trefoil

Tuesday 2 July 2024 - Alp Muntatsch

Today the weather was superb, so it was good to enjoy a higher level route. We were on another section of the Via Engiadina long distance route, this time above Celerina and Samedan in the Alp Muntatsch area.

We started with a 30 minute bus ride to Celerina Cresta Palace, then a gondola ride up to the Marguns Top Station at 2278 metres.

Then a gradual ascent took us all the way to Marguinin, a sort of col with signposts.

Looking back to the gondola station

The mountain views and banks of alpine flowers were simply wonderful. 

There was just one patch of late snow to cross.

After Margunin, there were fine views down to the Bever valley. 

Sue was delayed by multiple flower identification issues, but she eventually caught up.

Alp Muntatsch (2185 metres) was reached down a lovely path. Here we enjoyed cappuccinos and apfelstrudel. Delicious. 

The view from our table 

Then a delightful,  leisurely,  descent took us all the way back, past Cristolais, to Celerina and the #6 bus home.

Sue spotted a patch of Fire Lilies as she marched through the final field.

The bus took 15 minutes longer than this morning's #2 route, but our hotel was bathed in sunshine when we reached it at 4:30.

The 13km route with 400 metres ascent took us around 5.5 hours, including a multitude of flower identification stops.

And here are a few of those flowers. As always, the nomenclature may not be entirely accurate, and click on any image for a slideshow.

Ciliate Rock Jasmine

Leopardsbane

Slender-leaved Marsh Orchid

Alpine Toadflax

King of the Alps

Great Yellow Gentian

Fire Lily

Later. We enjoyed a very civilised evening with the other Collett's guests.  We are now up to 14 in number.

Monday 1 July 2024 - Via Engiadina

After saying our goodbyes to Markus and wishing him well on his bike ride to Zernez, we caught a bus for the 14 minute journey to Maloja, on the other end of Lake Silsersee. 

Before embarking on our walk proper, we walked up to the Belvedere Castle. I may add more about its history later.

There's a splendid view to the east from the castle - a reminder of how high we are in the Sils area (1800 metres or so).

On the paths around the castle are a number of circular holes formed by meltwater from a glacier where it has spun around with sand and debris to wear away the rock.

This 'glacial pothole' still has snow at its base.

This one just has a deep pool.

After this 2.5km meander, we joined the Via Engiadina route out of Maloja. We were soon looking back down to the town from today's short section of the long distance route.

A splendid waterfall caught the eye.

The visibility was OK, but dark clouds hinted that the Swiss Meteo forecast might be correct. "Rain from 12 noon to 1pm."

As the skies darkened, we climbed up to 2000 metres, passing a herd of very relaxed cattle.

At Blaunca we encountered a comprehensive signpost before continuing along our route.

Next stop: Heidi town, aka Grevasalvas, the Swiss village where 'Heidi' was filmed.

By now it had started to drizzle. We walked on for a few minutes before sheltering under an overhang whilst we enjoyed our lunch. The predicted rain had arrived bang on time.

We enjoyed the confined space and tried to cheer up some bedraggled walkers from both directions.

There were better overhangs further along the path, but we stayed dry and happy until it was time to continue along the excellent belvedere path. 

Eventually we came to a closed section of path that Taea and Arabella had warned us about. From there we simply headed down the open path and back to Sils before 3pm.

Here's my last picture from the descent, towards the Sils end of Lake Silsersee. 

We had walked 11.5km, with 450 metres ascent, in around 5 hours. There followed a relaxing afternoon and evening, with more Collett's guests arriving (four arrived yesterday) and a welcome party with wine, organised by the hotel. We need to decide what to do tomorrow, but first, here are a few of today's flowers. 

Golden Cinquefoil

Thyme

Cyprus Spurge

Dark Mullein

Leopardsbane

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Common Butterwort