Ahmed

Jun 15, the Swiss Alpes.

Today marks the end of a great vacation, a vacation where I felt a deep connection with nature.

What started as a “let’s try a hike” suddenly became “we didn’t hike today!” with a sad face.

Even though we make sure to find hiking spots wherever we travel, Switzerland was different. We didn’t try that hard to find a hiking spot; hiking spots find you.

Our first hike was simple. We managed to max out our heart rate a few times, but the path was straightforward.

Actually, straightforward makes it sound like the path was clearly outlined, but that’s not the case. On this hike, we managed to walk through private fields, muddy terrains, cow poop (that was a close one), freshly cut grass, etc. But it was all part of the hiking path.

How does walking on a private field become part of a hiking path? Yeah, I was puzzled too. But we were following a sign.

In all of Switzerland, you’ll see a yellow sign with a hiking mascot that looks like this:

It’s called the Wanderweg and it is used as a reminder of the hiking path.

What started as a “reminder” of the right path quickly became a mystery. We transitioned from “Are we on the right track?” to “Hey, there is something here if we follow the sign!”.

This was how we spent the rest of the trip, chasing the Wanderweg sign.

“Chasing” is a little harsh; it wasn’t that hard. This country is built so that you can walk anywhere. As soon as you hit the street, you’ll find many Wanderweg signs waiting for you. And if you’re crazy enough, you can even walk between cities.

So, for scientific reasons -not the craziness part- we decided to do it. We ended up walking from a restaurant near Krattigen all the way to Spiez. It was a beautiful walk by the river, with clean drinking water fountains along the way.

We love walking and hiking. But this was next level, and we were damn ready for it.