DAY 59 - LUZERN to ALPNACH DORF (Wednesday 14 June)

Before we left for today's walk, we had a bit of time to explore some of the sights of Lucerne. 

Walking on the city wall - one of the highlights of a visit to Lucerne

Some more of the highlights of Lucerne

Once we had finished sightseeing in Lucerne we had another day on the wonderful Waldstätterweg, this time south from Lucerne. We climbed up from Lucerne, then down into Horw, then up from Horw to the Renggpass before descending into Alpnach Dorf. The first few kilometres were along the lake shore. 

Heading out of Lucerne on the Waldstätterweg 

After a while we began to climb. Then we climbed some more, before descending into the town of Horw for a quick top-up of our supplies.

Before long, we were going up

Mount Pilatus was a constant companion throughout the day

The descent into Horw was fairly short and quite steep. When we reached the town we replenished our supplies before moving on. 

Descending into Horw - short but steep

From Horw the path took us up to the Renggpass, a genuine mountain pass in the foothills of Pilatus. There was a lot of climbing involved. 

The path went up from Horw, for quite a while

A table was provided for our picnic lunch

There was a bit more uphill to negotiate after lunch

Well, a fair bit of climbing, actually

But there were pretty wildflowers to look at on the way

And as we climbed higher the views opened up

We had Mt Pilatus for company most of the way

The cable car went overhead

We had left the lake far behind us

And we were still going up

The views on the way up were pretty impressive. We were able to look back on the way we had taken for the previous few days

Lake Lucerne, as seen by Australian long-distance walkers on the ascent of the Renggpass

The Waldstätterweg opened up some amazing views

With just a bit more climbing, we reached the top of the pass and started going down the other side. 

The last stretch up to the Renggpass 

Starting the descent. The caves were part of the Swiss system of defence against a possible German invasion in World War II 

The views were still pretty good going down

The downhill was quite steep in places

It wasn't that far from the pass to the village of Alpnach Dorf,  where we are staying the night. It was mostly all downhill. 

There was the odd uphill section on the way 

Another uphill bit

We eventually joined a road, which descended gradually to the valley floor

We could see Alpnach in front of us as we approached the village

We passed under the Pilatus railway, which is claimed to be the steepest cog railway in the world

And then it was onwards to Alpnach

Nearing the end of the day's walk

Day 59 - Birds 

Day 59 - Elevation Profile 

Day 59 - Route 

Day: 59

Distance: 23.38 km

Walking time: 5 hrs 36 mins

Elevation gain: 986 metres

Cumulative distance:  1,290.72

Switzerland distance: 211.92

Switzerland chocolate consumption: 15 blocks

Poem of the Day:

THE PILATUS

The Pilatus is a mighty mountain

You may need access to the fountain

Of Youth

To get you to the top.

We clambered up past cow and goat herds

A challenge, we may have muttered words

Uncouth

But never did we stop.

But neither did we have access to the fountain

So we did not climb the mountain

But rather climbed the pass.

We saw others fly up with the birds

Using cable cars, avoiding all the turds

Not walking - what a farce.