Well, after yesterday's exhausting stage we may look forward to a long, but at least flat stretch along the Ticino.
Our little group has gained a temporary new member. Silvia, my ex-wife, wants to find out about her fitness and accompanies us to Bellinzona.
In Biasca, where the stage starts, the Blenio Valley and the Leventina join. The waterfalls of Saint Petronilla are located just above the station. Foaming, they tumble over the rock walls. After a few minutes crossing Biasca, we reach the river Ticino.
At Biasca, the valley opens up into a wide, elongated plain: the Riviera. Here you can hike along the banks of the Ticino, mostly through floodplain forest, often on river embankments. At the end, Bellinzona awaits us with its three castles.
Our data: length 25 km; rise | descent 680 m | 710m; Hiking time 7 hours 30 minutes
Along the Riviera
Oddly enough, the long plain extending to just before Bellinzona bears the promising name of Riviera. In any case, today's stage offers 25 kilometers of pure hiking pleasure along the Ticino.
The path mostly leads through shady, fragrant floodplain forest. We take it easy, despite the fantastic stages, the last few days have left their mark. But hiking on this sunny day brings so much variety that the tired legs are soon forgotten. This is how you might imagine it: flat, varied, shady. But that might probably soon turn into a certain boredom again.
However, today's hike is long and anything but boring.
Sometimes, perhaps just imagined, we get the impression that the abundance of light in the summer hours has diminished.
It is still warm, occasionally quite hot, but autumn announces itself on quiet soles. This summer, which seems to last forever, will end. Perhaps we will be glad for what is waiting for us. In the best case, we will again get used to darkness, to cold and frosty winds, maybe even enjoy it.
However, these visions are far away on this warm late summer day.
And so we walk, chatting, laughing, hardly ever out of breath, along the bank, occasionally on dams along the river. They remind you that there is always a latent risk of flooding.
Hidden Beauties
After almost two hours we cross the river at Lodrino, from now on the hike continues on the other side of the river.
Thus, we have the opportunity to take an extended break at Castione-Arbedo with a photo session, while behind us the Moësa gurgles and rushes before shortly afterwards it is swallowed by the Ticino.
The travel guide is once again unhappy at our heedless hiking ahead, because in fact we might find numerous hidden beauties in the villages along the way. But they are hidden and therefore unknown, and so we learn once again afterwards what we have missed.
Some examples: the chapel of Santa Maria del Castello in Osogno or the mountain monastery of Santa Maria Assunta in Claro.
However, I must point out that since Airolo we have seen so many chapels and churches that at the very least we have bought ourselves a free ticket to heaven.
The monasteries of Santa Maria del Castello in Osogno and Santa Maria Assunta in Claro
A future energy supply
Unlike the hidden beauties that find little interest (unfortunately), a strange building near the path, a kind of crane with six arms, captures our eye. The fact that it is a futuristic project, initiated by an American, is quite unique in its utopian direction.
It is a lifting power plant. The idea seems trivial and ingenious at the same time: when electricity demand is low, concrete blocks are raised using renewable energy, and when electricity demand is high, they are lowered again to generate additional energy, similar to the system of hydroelectric power with a dam and pumping station.
Let's see if anything comes out of it and if the idea will ultimately remains just an idea.
The last hour
Bellinzona is getting closer, we have actually unwound 25 kilometers without noticing it. And once again, there might be a lot to see and discover, examples of defiant defense, witnesses of past conflicts, probably as unnecessary as today's ones.
The travel guide is definitely enthusiastic:
A short detour to the castles of Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro is worthwhile. They are among the most impressive examples of medieval fortifications in the entire Alpine range. With their crenellated walls, towers and gates, the magnificent monuments were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The purpose of the fortresses was to block access to the Ticino valley for the northern peoples and to control tolls and the road towards the Gotthard.
The castles of Castelgrande and Montebello above Bellinzona
Bellinzona at the southern entrance to the Gotthard, San Bernardino and Lukmanier Alpine passes is probably Switzerland's most Italian city.
The mighty fortifications of the three medieval castles form the skyline of the Ticino capital, so to speak.
The town is said to have a Lombard character; here the influence of the northern Italian province seems to have been greatest. Not surprisingly, Bellinzona is a World Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO.
In any case, in the evening we will at least duly celebrate the culinary merits of the city. Which proves once again that the primary way to art and everything else is through the stomach.
Matching song: The New Colony Six—At the River's Edge
And here the trail continues... to Tesserete
