A stream of cloudy light woke me as I climbed up from the floor where our 5 mattresses covered the entire floor. Our new young German friend Brigitte slept on mattress no. 5 under the window while those possibly with more need of the bathroom – Corrie and I, slept near the door.
Our wonderful sleeping companion who was great to talk to, also helped us with accommodation tips, walking in Switzerland hints, and translations with our new hosts. It was not just a huge 3 story farm house but also a government social experiment. It was expertly run nearly entirely by those with a disability – efficient, maybe fastidious at times. They ran to a tight schedule and because we were having some technical problems, they moved us off to a room for those who were late.
We said goodbye to our hosts, hugged Brigitte and took off happily downhill! Through the village, up a long ‘balance’ hill and continued our roller coaster ride. Beautiful views took our mind off the tough parts as we walked through dandelion fields and dairy farmyards.
The pathways often through farms were not always obvious so we would look for a distant Camino symbol and head for it. Paths were often not obvious on farms because they hadn’t been worn down by hoards of winter walkers, and often the grass had hidden them.
Down our last hill of the day and up another to our first monastery stay run by a Brazilian Franciscan monk.
