And so once again it was with some regret that we walked out of the hotel at 7:15 on Friday morning to hike the next stage over the Richetli Pass to the village of Linthal. The fine weather eased our way, however, and we were soon walking up valley quite briskly, in order to make it more difficult for the annoying small horseflies to settle upon our bare legs and arms. "We" in this case were Thomas and I, Sally and Russell being immune because they typically hike in long sleeved shirt and pants.
It was a beautiful walk and the path seemed to have been thoughtfully laid out so as to make it as easy as possible to climb the 1450m to the pass. After about 3h we came to a mountain restaurant where we had some excellent home-made cake, then climbed up past herds of cows (one of which developed a worrying interest in me, following and almost chasing me along the path, perhaps because I had a red fleece fixed to the back of my pack, thought Russell, or maybe because I looked like a cowherd, thought Thomas) to the pass
