Bubikon to Lützel Lake Hike

In September my parents always come to visit for just over 2 weeks, one of the main reasons is that Alessio has his birthday at the beginning of the month.

While they are here I try to plan outings and in the last couple of years we have had long weekends away. This year we had no long weekend away instead we did some day trips, we also like to try and do a hikes.

I drove to Bubikon where the hike begins, it is circular hike which takes you to the Lützel lake and then back to Bubikon. It started off well and we were walking and enjoying the lovely Swiss scenery and saw lots of animals. We liked seeing the cows wearing some massive bells and the sounds it made! Then suddenly my father realized that we had taken a wrong turning a bit back. We were heading in the right direction of the lake but not the way we were supposed to go, anyway we continued and finally made it to the lake. It was rather warm by this time and we were extremely glad to have some refreshments in the badi! The lake is very small and the badi was busy not everyone was there to swim. Some were like us just there to enjoy the scenery and warm day.

Afterwards we carried on our journey back to Bubikon, by this time we were all exhausted and happy to get back to the car. Just before we reached the outskirts of the town we saw many horses, and I mean possibly around 50 or maybe more. They all looked beautiful, we tried to count them but it was impossible.

Bubikon itself looked like a nice small town and as per usual on a Sunday in Switzerland everything was closed even cafes and bars. So we headed back to Kilchberg for a bit of relaxing!

Another Walk from the Zoo to Forch

Viewing tower Lorenchopf

Tree tunnel

Strong man!

World War I Monument

Yours Truly!

Back in January Alessio and I did this walk from Zurich zoo to Forch, it is 11.5km and takes about 3 hours. As you can see from the photos the day started out rather overcast but by the afternoon it was lovely and sunny.

Nearly a hour into the walk we came to the viewing tower, we did not climb it but you would get some good views. We stopped at a very nice restaurant which was very busy as the day had become lovely, but cannot remember the name. Then we carried on with nice views of the countryside, seeing some horse riders too. Eventually we made our way to the town of Forch but before you reach it you come to a monument. It is dedicated to the Zurich men who fought in WW1, which is 18m high.

So all that was left to do was to find the train station and hop on a train back to Zurich! Hopefully soon we will get another walk in!

Hike from Andelfingen to Rheinau!

Goodbye Andelfingen

Lovely village of Marthalen

Oh hello there!

Alessio, Noah and Halloween

View of Kloster Rheinau

Autumn Colours

During the school holidays in October Alessio and myself went to Andelfingen to meet Aimee and Noah to go on a hike together. The hike started in Andelfingen and we would take us to the Monastery at Rheinu, it should take 3.5hours and is 13.5km.

Once we left Andelfingen we continued walking along the river Thur shore, crossing over a bridge and eventually climbing steep steps into the forest. We reached the lovely village of Marthalen with lots of wonderful houses from the 17th and 18th centuries which are all protected. We walked through the village and came upon some goats and a lovely black cat which then proceeded to follow us on our journey. We also saw unexpectedly a bunch of llamas, hidden away in a shed munching on their food. Our walk continued through more bits of forest and the black cat was still accompanying us, the boys had decided to name him Halloween. Aimee and myself were a little afraid the cat would not know its way back and we would have to take it back. But lo and behold he suddenly stopped following us, he must have know his boundries.

Finally we saw in the distance the maginficent Rheinau Monastery which is situated on a little island on the Rhine. The Benedictine Monastery was founded in 778, in 1184 a Roman Basilica was consecrated and to this day it remains one of the most significant religious buildings in Switzerland. It certainly is amazing to see from near or afar. It is well worth a visit, there was lots of renovations going on inside though and the gardens were also lovely to walk around.

We then went into the village of Rheinau and stopped for drinks and the kids could play a bit. We continued on to get our train at Altenburg-Rheinau only to discover that the station was closed so we had to walk on to Jestetten which is in Germany. It was the last thing we wanted to do and the kids were not at all happy about this extra walking which added about 30mins to our hike.

It was a lovely walk and we saw lots of great scenery, I think the whole walk took nearly 5 hours in the end! We were all happy to get home that evening!

A Walk in and Around Blairgowrie

Walking along the banks of river Ericht

Views of the Sidlaw Hills

Remains of the old mill cottages

A old chimney

remains of an oldwater wheel

On the Monday we headed to Blairgowrie in Perthshire to do a shortish walk in the area. It was ok weather, rather typical April day mixture of rain, sun and wind. Once we parked the car we started our walk along the river Ericht, techincally we should have continued but there had been some land slides so the area was cordoned off.

Therefore we had to walk upwards and were rewarded with some lovely views of the surrounding Sidlaw hills and farmland. Then we found our way back down to the river and to the area where in the 19th century there were around 12 jute and flax mills. Blairgowrie was very important in the production of Jute and linen, the powerful river Ericht was needed to pump the water wheels.

We then crossed over a bridge to the other side and walked into Rattray, over another bridge which took us back into Blairgowrie and went for a well deserved lunch. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant but we had a good lunch and the staff were very nice. Then we headed off to see my nephews in Tayport.