The Gotthard Pass - short trip back to Switzerland

In early June, I took a break from the E1 for a vacation with friends, although it didn't mean a break from hiking, as we walked a few stages of the Moselsteig.

Most people I told just shook their heads and probably wondered if I ever did anything else.

But no matter, I was infinitely looking forward to it, also because it is a completely different hiking experience than alone and the stages were significantly shorter.

Subsequently, I was then anyway already in the southern Black Forest and therefore decided to now make a detour to Switzerland to make up for the missed part around the Gotthard, since this had not been walkable before because of snow.

So I set off for Biasca, where I had stopped earlier, and arrived at noon after a few hours on the train.

After about twenty kilometers I finished the stage for the first day and pitched my tent at an abandoned inn, just in time before a thunderstorm came up and raged once briefly and violently. A short time later, however, I could close my eyes to sleep with the sound of a drizzle.

View on day 1 back in the mountains

The following morning I continued under cloudy skies in the direction of Airolo, which I reached at noon. Despite the lack of rain, I got so wet up to my hips due to the high and damp grass that I was able to wring out my socks and my shoes were half filled with water...

In Airolo, however, the sun came out and within a very short time it became very hot.

The ascent was quite strenuous, but also beautiful. I especially liked the hiking trail along the old pass road. The summit was always draped in fog and I never saw how far it actually still was. Eventually I had climbed so far that the fog surrounded me, visibility became very limited and it started to rain. Shortly after, I reached the top of the pass and sheltered for a few minutes until the rain had passed again.

So I quickly left the people on the top of the pass behind me again and started to descend. My legs carried me actually still to Andermatt and after about 51 kilometers and 2,270 meters of altitude I arrived in the pouring rain a quarter of an hour before the campsite was closing.

Fog cover at Gotthard pass

The next day, the sun was shining again and I unhurriedly packed my backpack and then strolled towards Göschenen. Since I had already booked the train and still had plenty of time, I took advantage of every photo opportunity and enjoyed the sun and the views to the fullest.

View back during the descent to Göschenen

After the three days I spontaneously went to visit my family again, before I left again with a short stopover at my best friend's house to Detmold, now to go further north.