Distance: 18.3 km
Moderately hard
Today was the first day of trekking in steeper mountains and apparently many people consider this section to be one of the toughest of the entire Via Francigena!
The guide book suggested that you can skip the first half and take a train instead.
We discussed this option but soon decided the train was not for us! We began our day by fuelling up with a fabulous breakfast of warm fresh breads, cheeses, cereals, yogurts etc in the historic cellar dining room of the hostel.
As we had a tough day ahead of us we left the hostel at 07.40 at which time, similar to yesterday, the weather was cool and refreshing at around 17 degrees.
Thanks to the location of last night’s accommodation we were already 2 km in and with Russell leading the way we left Martigny-Croix and located the immediate steep uphill path into the woods.
After this wider track, the woodland section consisted of narrow uneven woodland paths with steep 20m drops towards the river below. This might be slippery in wet conditions but for us the ground was dry.
This fungi looked like a little beach umbrella!
Next we came to a suspension bridge over the Dranse River.
Our guide book said that people from flatlands might be nervous crossing this bridge! It wobbled as we crossed but it was perfectly safe.
Shortly after the suspension bridge as we arrived in Le Bourgeaud, we met 94 year old Pierre! Complete with walking poles and backpack he appeared from nowhere, asked if we were walking the Via Francigena and joined us for a short distance.
We passed a creative garden and just past here Pierre stayed behind.
There was a water fountain outside this church and we stopped here at Bovernier for a few minutes. The church was open and we obtained a stamp.
From Bovernier we came to a forestry and logging place.
Negotiating our way through the next forest section was more tricky with ancient boulders to scramble over.
With delightful smells of fresh pine and dappled sunlight upon us, this was a really enjoyable part of the Via and this would be missed by taking the train.
Boulders to clambour over
We came across a Christmas tree along the path!
We found a bench in the forest where we stopped for a snack.
We left the woodland behind and panoramic views of the valley opened up as we approached Sembrancher.
As mentioned, there is an option to take a 10 minute train ride between Martigny Croix and Sembrancher.
We hoped to find a coffee shop in Sembrancher but everything in this quiet little town was closed for lunch.
Walking out of Sembrancher.
Our route from Sembrancher took us straight up into the mountains and at around 1 pm we stopped in a field in this picturesque spot to eat our lunch.
We continued gradually uphill along wide gravel tracks and through sloping pastures and came to La Garde, a small hamlet.
La Garde had a quaint tiny chapel!
We passed several water fountains again today including one or two in La Garde. Again, there wasn’t a need to carry too much water today.
Walking through the valley…
Orsieres
At the end of a beautiful trail we reached Osieres, our destination.
Orsieres has narrow medieval streets and a 12 century bell tower.
We stayed in the Hotel Terminus which is next to the train station and the place where the train line from Martigny terminates.
Within Orsieres there seemed to be a somewhat limited choice of restaurants for dinner tonight. We looked at options but some places were closed and a couple of others didn’t look too appealing.
We decided to have our meal in the restaurant of the Terminus hotel. The menu was expensive with many of the mains priced at around £45 each. Chris and I both ordered veggie burger and fries. But while even these were £25 each, they were filling and very tasty and one of the best ever veggie burgers!
Summary
A great day of trekking and I was pleased not to have taken the train as this was truly one of the most enjoyable stages and really not that difficult. Previous VF stages have been harder!
frombluetogreen.com 