Across Svizzera |
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21 April 2024 - Domodossola
Today we are travelling from Bellinzona to Nyon, which takes us through Italia. The Ferrocavia Vegizzina Centovalli wends its way up from Locarno through the Alps along a canyon cliffside before crossing into Italia and descending to the valley of the Toce river where we swapped trains. It's definitely one of the most beautiful trainrides in Switzerland and, like Jestetten in Germany, included in the Swiss train network despite being in another country. This must be a popular smuggling route because there's a drug sniffing dog on the train and the police are searching people's bags. Paula has a general antipathy to German Shepherds, but is behaving herself fortunately, only growling a bit each time the dog passes by. Last night she slept with me at the bottom of my sleeping bag after shivering the first night in the corner of the tent. I cuddled with her on my lap just inside the sleeping bag in the morning yesterday while I read to help her learn that it was warm. Usually she likes her space at night. Yesterday we followed the Ticino river together from Bellinzona almost down to Lago Maggiore. I'm still learning the geography of the area and didn't realize that the Ticino also went to that lake instead of Lago Lugano. Ticino is actually the name of the river that flows out of Lago Maggiore as well. It continues down past Milan where it joins the Po and flows into the Adriatic. Through the tunnel back into Schweiz we find ourselves in the wide, flat Rhône river valley. Like the Ticino it flows into a lake and has the privilege of keeping it's name as it exits Lac Léman in Genève. We'll be spending the next few days walking the shore of that lake and then on to France.
Looking back down the Melezza river to Ticino.
