Joanne's long walks: Road to Home 2023 Day 57: Cascade de Pissevache

The mountains from their heights reveal to us two truths. They suddenly make us feel our insignificance, and at the same time they free the immortal Mind, and let it feel its greatness, and they release it from the earth.

- Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome (1902)

Breakfast today was a cold one. There was no café close to our hotel room at the foot of the waterfall, and we did not have a kettle in our room, but we did have a fridge, and I had bought one of those chilled latte macchiato beverages that they sell in supermarkets for my breakfast. It actually tasted really good! I ate the rest of my birchermuesli/overnight oats, brushed my teeth in the shower (see the previous day's post for an explanation why) and set off along the road to Vernayaz. The Via Francigena actually goes along a trail through the trees here, but it was cordoned off at the base of the waterfall, so there was evidently a problem with the trail. In any case, we rejoined the official route in the village of Vernayaz.

From there we went off into the woods along a dirt track infested with mosquitoes - giving me an opportunity to use the one item in my backpack I had not yet used, the bug spray!

We were soon in Martigny, crossing a 19th-century covered bridge, Pont de la Bâtiaz, into the town.

View of Château de la Bâtiaz from the bridge

The central square in Martigny

The Gaulish city of Octodurus was conquered by the Romans in 57 BC as part of their strategy for gaining control of the Grand San Bernard pass over the Alps. Roman ruins are still visible in Martigny Bourg.

Ruins of a Roman bath in Martigny Bourg

We stopped at a café for a while, mainly to use the wifi, as we didn't have any last night and I had discovered that my data roaming allowance for Switzerland was very small! Then we walked across the town to Martigny Croix railway station, where we caught a train for ten kilometres to get through a narrow gorge where the Via Francigena trail is particularly tricky.

A river, a highway, and a railway all run through the narrow gorge of the Dranse River, leaving little room for the walking trail, so that it gets pushed up onto the side of the mountain. A narrow trail above a steep drop to the river below, and then a section where walkers have to clamber over boulders accumulated over centuries of rockfalls and landslides, make for a tricky section of trail. I imagine it is no trickier than many of the trails I have walked back home in Liguria - such as those of the Cinque Terre - but it's one thing to attempt such an excursion as a day hike, when you are fresh and rested and carrying only your lunch and water bottle, and another to attempt it with a 7 or 8 kg backpack and shoes whose soles have been worn smooth over 1200 kilometres of hiking!

So we decided to take the train between Martigny Saint Croix and Sembrancher to skip this tricky bit of trail, and then walk the rest of the way to Orsieres. A local man with a mountain bike whom we met on the train agreed that it had been a good decision. The train travelled pretty much the same route as the Via Francigena and so we were able to enjoy some of the same views.

After the ten-minute train ride, we disembarked in Sembrancher, where I had been hoping to get something to eat. There were, however, no places of business open on a Sunday afternoon in the village, so we continued through the town, taking a wrong turn because we were so busy looking at the ancient wooden houses and barns!

Eventually we regained the Via Francigena and climbed high above the village, looking back down over the valley.

Another steep, hot climb brought us to the hamlet of La Garde, where there was again nothing to eat, but there was a fountain of delicious cold water. We sat down on a bench a little way outside the village and ate a couple of energy bars for lunch! I had thought we would be in Orsieres by lunch time, and so I hadn't bought any supplies in Martigny; bad idea. It took much longer to get there than I had imagined, including a wait of almost an hour for the ten-minute train ride.

It felt satisfying to climb. At last, we were climbing up into the Alps, toward the pass! Or so we thought, until our forest trail started heading downhill - so steeply it had me sliding on my bottom for a bit, afraid of taking a false step and ending up in the gully below! This part was not even described as difficult or dangerous in the guidebook, so I was glad I had skipped the part of the trail that was! Actually, only the first part of the descent was treacherous; the ground soon became more solid underfoot, and the slope less steep. The valley opened up before us and we could see how the old highway, the new highway, the railroad tracks and the river were all crowded into the narrow valley.

Just before the treacherous part

Soon our destination for the evening was in view: the town of Orsieres. We hadn't booked anything for the evening, as there was supposed to be a pilgrim hostel that worked on a first come first served basis, like the hostels on the Camino de Santiago. You were supposed to get the door code from the rectory, the tourist office or the train station; we figured the train station would be the most likely place on a Sunday afternoon, and headed in that direction. But before we got there, we were waylaid by the sight of the hotel next door. Hotel Terminus - at the terminus of the train line, which does not go over the pass - also offers pilgrim dormitories, and it looked very nice!

We were assigned an attic room with four bunks, and we have it all to ourselves! In fact, we seem to have the whole attic level to ourselves, and therefore we each have our own private bathroom, as there are two on the floor! The wifi works properly, and the bar and restaurant is open downstairs. We treated ourselves to a delicious dinner, to fuel up for the big climb up to St. Bernard's Pass over the next two days!