Haetzingen, Glarus

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After a day of travelling yesterday, today is catchup and 'get into the time zone' day.

It is fabulous having warm, sunny days again and here it has cooled down to a nice 24 degrees, which after our winter actually feels very warm. However, never say goodbye to rain, because the next few days look as if we will have showers. So much for escaping Taranaki rain!

After taking 'No More Jetlag' tablets every few hours for a day, we seem to have adjusted to the new time zone really well. Whether these things really work or it's all in our heads, who would know? What we do know is that we rarely have a problem with travelling long distances across time zones. It certainly helps too, to have a niece and her family living here to provide hospitality and knowledge.

Our day started with an orientation up the valley towards Linthal which is the next sizeable town towards the Klausen Pass. This is an area we walked through a few years back when we walked the Alpine Pass Trail across Switzerland - not that we remember it that well. Haetzingen is one of several villages mostly joined together going up the valley from Glarus which is the main town and the Canton name. It is typical of many Swiss valleys in that it is glacial, fairly narrow with grassy farms on the valley floor and forested steep valley sides. It is isolated from the main towns and cities to the north but is still only one hour by car or train from Zurich. Typically, the valley has a lovely river running down the middle with flood control and houses dotted all along in varying ages from 100s of years to more modern apartments. High above the valley are towering steep sided mountains still with snow high up.

In earlier days, the valley was well known for the textile industry and the river was used to generate power for it. The industry has now disappeared just leaving an old building but the river is now controlled mainly to prevent flooding.

Along the valley are many walking and cycling routes, this being Route 4 for cycling which is the Panorama route across Switzerland. In the afternoon we chose the cycling route to walk down the valley towards Glarus so we now have our bearings about where things are. The railway station is about 5 minutes walk away, the grocery shop is about the same, the school is just up the street, the playground further up the valley and the restaurant/pub is just in front of the house. If the cows were down from their summer grazing in the mountains, they would be heard near the house. All in all, a very pleasant place to live.

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Photos

Bettschwanden up the valley
Heading up the valley from Haetzingen towards Linthal

Diesbach
A lovely vista up the valley from Haetzingen towards Linthal.

Lutchsingen down the valley
A view of the high mountains from a wooden bridge across the Linth River which supplied power for the textile industry which used to be in this valley

Comments

[Robin]

Phone call!
Sorrry about the call - hope it didn't disrupt sleep too much. Looking forward to reading miore. xxx