The hike to Joriseen

Last night we had no hot water - it was very annoying as everyone was wanting a hot shower or bath after the day's activities but instead we had to make do with a cold shower. 

We were up early this morning as we had to meet the minibus in the village at 8.15am, and yes...still no hot water! Luke, Meriel, Tommy, Inca and I were going to do a 'big 5 hour hike' today but Gavin was unable to join us as he had zoom meetings all day for work. So in a way it was fortunate that he was staying home as he could organise a plumber to come see what the problem was. A plumber had already arranged to come again to see the leak situation from our one bathroom into the apartment below us, which has worsened, and they wanted to start work immediately to find the leak and fix it. But as it will involve making a hole in the wall and possibly taking all the tiles off in the bathroom which is messy work they have agreed to come next week when the boys are not here as this work will be too inconvenient when everyone is here. They agreed to send another plumber to deal with the hot water problem, and he came very quickly and thankfully the problem was fixed. Not sure what the problem was as the hot water is controlled centrally for the building and we don't have access to that.

In the meantime we were driven up the Fluela Pass (part of the Grand Tour route and used for filming in Top Gear) and dropped off at the Wagerhus bus stop where we started the hike. It was a sunny morning and pleasant walking conditions. The hike up is very strenuous, it is over a grassy area which eventually becomes rocks and scree. It took 2 hours to walk to the top of the ridge where you look down onto the stunning, turquoise glacial lakes (turquoise from the silt from the glaciers) but when we looked down we saw....nothing! A thick fog was covering the lakes and the visibility was very poor. We sat waiting for about half an hour in case the fog lifted but it was not shifting, so we descended in the fog and when we got to the first lake it was still very misty - but by the time we got to the last lake the fog was rising and we could see the beautiful blue water as seen in this image. 

From there it is a long descent through a beautiful valley with a river running through it and waterfalls and rock pools, one of the most scenic hikes I have ever done! If I spent a week taking photos of this hike I would probably get better photos than from a week long workshop anywhere else! The going was tough at times, very steep down and clambering over rocks and through streams, but it was all so beautiful so it was worth it. We made it to the Vereina Hut in time for a very hurried light lunch (salad for me, pasta for the boys, soup for Meriel and a veggie rösti for Inca) before getting the minibus back down to the village. The journey back down to the village in the minibus was on a very narrow winding road, a bit hairy at times as you cling to the edge of the road with a sheer drop below. No room for a cyclist or pedestrian on the road - we did come across a cyclist but as the minibus takes the entire road the poor cyclist got into a wobble and fell over on the grassy verge - he was fine though!

It was a good day out, and we were lucky with the weather as the forecast for this week was for rain every day and yet it was a beautiful day today. I think I will have sore legs from this hike tomorrow - these hikes are harder than any hikes I have done anywhere else, they certainly are challenging on the knees.

If you would like to see more photos from the hike you can see them here. 

Adam arrives tonight - his plane has also been delayed (!) but it is an earlier flight so no problem with him missing he last train to us as was experienced by Tommy and Inca on Monday night.