Sion

Saturday morning and we’re trying to get away before the traffic starts. We turned down breakfast as it didn’t start until 7.30 and we were on the road by 6.30. There was a supermarket open at Lax so we got the usual, two bananas ,two tubs of yoghurt and two croissants

Just after Lax the road zigzagged down a really steep section but by the time we reached Brig the valley was opening up and the trail ran beside the railway line for about 10 kms.

Most of the hay was cut and bought to a barn loose. Some then bailed it , but most fed the hay into a cyclone like this one which then blew it up into the loft

After the trail beside the rail ran out , it became difficult to find the route as it crisscrossed the river several times.

The further down the valley we went the more industrial it became but the bright side was it was now following along the stopbanks, fast and straight so we made good progress

It’s still only 11.00am but we stopped for lunch and were soon joined by a French couple. Although we’re still in Switzerland,this is a French speaking area with everything written in French as well.

We stopped at Sierre for a beer and to use the bars wifi ( I wish I knew how to get a French SIM card). It was 1.00pm by now and we’d done 60kms so we wanted to get on to Booking.com to find a place somewhere up ahead of us. Still feeling pretty good we settled on a hotel 20kms away on the other side of Sion. What we didn’t allow for though was the wind.!! It had been a head wind most of the morning but now it started blowing stronger. At least it was keeping us cool

We passed through the old part of town which was charming and meant to come back for more photos but we never realised how far out the hotel was I had booked. I hate going back, perhaps I’ll just get the brochure

The meal in the restaurant was good ,if not a little overpriced , but hey ,that’s Switzerland . We’re just feeling happy that after a 3 year break we can still manage an 80km day.