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July 17th, 2007
Thomas Goessl arrived the evening before while we were in the middle of an excellent and atmospheric meal at Schloss Sargans. Atmospheric, both because we ate in the courtyard of the ancient castle, and also because the Foehn wind was blowing with unusual force (which we forgave because it had kept us from cooking during the day's hike).
Russell and Sally had been making noises about going back to the room to put their feet up and relax around 8PM, but Thomas' arrival gave them new energy and it was after 10 when we retired. Other than our charming running waitress dressed in period clothing and speaking a broad dialect that had Russell and I looking at each other in bemusement after every interaction, the only other event of note was Thomas' first question: when's the rest day? Sally, recognizing an ally, was overjoyed :-).
The hike to Vorsiez was fairly short, and the weather was forecast to be excellent, so we had a realtively late breakfast at 8:30 and set off around 9:15. The path up the narrow Weisstannen valley was lovely, with one section in particular past a spectacular forest waterfall that seemed like something out of the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. We stopped for lunch early at the Gasthof zur Muehle about 30 minutes before Weisstannen, where I had the freshest salad so faron the trip ("Wollen Sie auch ein Salat? Da muss ich es aus dem Garten holen!" -- "Do you also want a salad? In that case I'll have to get it from the garden!"... and she did.)
Alpe Vorsiez was a funny blend of Kaeserei (dairy) and Gasthof with a goat that climbed on tables and ate the geraniums in the window boxes until it was caught and returned to its field. Russ and Sally retired early and Thomas and I talked about the H2H.
Thomas felt that there was something quintessentially British about it, perhaps because it involved great effort to achieve what were essentially arbitrary goals (similar in that respect to the many games and sports invented by the British). He said that were he to do something similar he would probably have some spiritual goal in mind, perhaps like a pilgrimage along the Jakobsweg (but not actually the Jakobsweg since he has heard from too many sources that it is crowded and has many unattractive sections).
My claim that there was something of spiritual, although not religious, significance in the linking of the houses was brushed aside as being insufficiently serious. Since, however, Thomas was unable to name a specific spiritual goal he would like to achieve through a hike, and moreover said that he would never do such a long hike anyway, I was left wondering if the British approach of setting arbitrary goals is not perhaps better than the alternative!
We turned in around 10PM, both because our host obviously wanted to turn in, and also because the following day we would need to be up early to hike over for the first pass of the seventeen along the Swiss Alpine Pass Route!
