Photo Essay: In the Land of Bisses

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Walking along Bisse Vieux

I know I've been missing in action for the last couple of days, but I promise to make up for it. After all, during this time, I've been discovering some more corners of Switzerland, that I can't wait to share with you. Given that I missed out last week's Photo Essay, I decided to start the week with a walk through the land of bisses. 

What are bisses anyway?

To put it simple, Bisses are old water channels that are used for cultivation. These channels were built to fight the drought that farmer's in Valais are exposed to during summer time. By carving out water paths, farmers collect water from rivers ( mainly La Printse) and artificially divert it to their crops. 

I was surprised to find out that particularly this region - Nendaz - is one of Switzerland's most important raspberry and apricot plantations. When driving up to Haute-Nendaz during spring, we were surrounded by beautiful flowering apricot trees all over the valley.

Walking the Bisse Vieux 

Although there are several hike along different bisses in the region, we decided to explore the Bisse Vieux, one of the oldest channels, built around 1658.

The path next to Bisse Vieux, Nendaz

We found frozen water along the walk!

Unusual rock formations covered in moss

On our way back 

This walk goes for 7 kms starting in Nendaz up to Planchouet. We didn't walk the whole way, because we weren't really prepared for it - it was already late in the afternoon and, as we went by car, we would have had to walk back another 7kms in the dark. However, what I saw (about 3 to 4 out of the 7 kms) were beautiful. Its an easy hike for any age, since the height difference is of 100m along the full trail. 

Its views are spectacular - on a relatively clear afternoon, we could see the whole valley!

Views from the walk

The views as well as the hike is probably even more spectacular during late spring, when the fields are greener and more water flows through the bisse vieux. But I was impatient - couldn't wait for another month!

Facts on Bisses in Canton Valais

1. The water that flows through the bisse vieux has its source in the glaciers Grand-Désert and Tortin. 
2. The oldest bisse of this community - Nendaz - is Bisse de Salins, which was built in 1435 and is still regularly used to irrigate the crops of the region. 
3. In case 7 kms walking aren't enough, there are another 750 kms of walks along  200 bisses in the canton Valais. 
4. Valais is part french-speaking and part german-speaking. Therefore, whereas in the french side these channels are called bisses, the german-speakers call them Suonen. 
5. Valais' longest bisse is a hike of 32 kms that goes through 100 year old larches. 

How was your weekend? Did you find something new in your area?

Lessons I've Learned after Hiking in Tenerife

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This is my 100th post, yay!! 

Don't worry, I'm not going to prepare a list of 100 things you should know about myself. I'm really not that interesting. Instead, I wanted to share with you a photo essay on what, up to now, has been my most challenging travel experience.

Arriving to Afur, Tenerife -Starting point

I'm not a sporty person - while many friends are longing for the snow to come back in order to spend their weekends skiing and snowboarding, I'm hoping to find an excuse to eat fondue and drink mulled wine. This doesn't mean I'm a coach potato (at least not all the time). 

This was one of those days. A friend came to visit me in Tenerife and, to break the routine, I planned to go on an easy hike - maybe 3 hours, nothing too risky. After all, Tenerife has beautiful hidden paths with amazing views, and tiny villages that offer fresh fish for half the price as any bigger and more touristic town on the island. 

After some research, we decided on hiking from Afur to Taganana - A hike that was signalized as being between 3 and 3 and a half hours, absolutely feasible (right?). Right. 

The hike trail starts by going down a the Barranco de Tamadiste (a ravine). This was relatively easy to hike, and we came across some other fellow hikers (who apparently did this every week). After approximately 3km descent, we arrived at a small beach - not particularly pretty, but hey - we arrived to the ocean, first mini-goal completed! 

Warning: as  tempting as the water may seem, I don't recommend going for a swim. The water in this area has a very strong currents. 

The trail then continues to the right, on a strongly pronounced ascent until you reach 120m above the sea. The path goes along the edge of the coast, providing the (exhausted) hikers with rewarding views of Anaga and Los Roques de Anaga. At some times, the trail was very narrow, and we had to literally grab ourselves to the rocks and not look down - the cliffs went straight down from around 140m height. Nothing suitable for anyone afraid of heights! This was also the reason for which I have rather few pictures of this trail (I was too busy not falling into the ocean!). But I did take one picture that may just sum up the whole trail along the coast side. 

Our views along the way

After 7kms walking along the coast and small plantations and gardens, we finally arrived to upper part of Taganana - the place where we would be rewarded with a nice simple beach and fresh fish, wrinkled potatoes and mojo picón. It was only another 20-30 minutes walk down to arrive to the beach, when a kind local woman came out of her house to greet us. We told her where we came from and our plans for the rest of the day which ended with an optimistic "... and then we get the bus back to Afur". There was no bus back to Afur, not even near Afur. "Well... then we'll take a cab", we hesitated. No. No cabs in Taganana. Good. We were stuck.

The local woman told us that the quickest way back to Afur was walking over the mountains.  I wanted to laugh, or cry, or both (and maybe I did). It had taken us 4 and a half hours and a lot of stress to get to where we were. I wanted my reward! But sure, if we walked down to the beach, we then had to walk all the way back plus walk over the mountains. And it was getting cold. And it looked like it was going to rain. 

So we walked back to Afur over the mountain - for another 2 hours. At some point, I stopped feeling pain in my legs, and started to feel desperation - I was hungry, angry, tired, sweaty, and cold, too. But once we had reached the top of the mountain, a strong feeling of satisfaction started growing inside me. 

Taganana, from the Top

The views we got to admire from both sides of this mountain paid back all the breathless, waterless and foodless moments I thought to die along the way (back then, I didn't know what I was capable of doing!). 

On our way back to Afur (this time over the mountains)

... And after 6 and a half hours, we arrived back to where we had parked our car. Just in time to drive back home, get a shower and make ourselves through the full menu of my favorite restaurant, La Rosa di Bari. 

Lessons learned during my first real hike experience?

1. Don't trust the estimated walking hours you can find at the start of a trail (or on the internet). Unless you are an expert hiker, I would recommend to add up to one hour more. 
2. Wear correct footwear. I didn't wear hiking boots but simple sport shoes and thought this would be enough. When I noticed how much I slipped with them, walking along the edge of the coast was really scary - I didn't feel safe at all. 
3. Take a hiking stick with you. You may think these sticks are disturbing, but  they really come handy when walking along steep paths. 
4. Be prepared for anything. We just had 1 L of water with us, and we were 3. We managed to refill twice on the way, but it wasn't enough (specially on the way back). We didn't have food because we had planned to eat fish at the beach, and consequently spent 6 and a half hours starving.  
5. Organize yourself before you leave. It would have been wise to research the best way to go back from Taganana to Afur before walking the 4 and a half hours. 

Which has so far been your most challenging travel experience? What have you learned of it?

By the way, on thursday I was featured over at Amanda's A Dangerous Business as her Thursday Traveler, check it out!

NZ Road Trip #6: Southern Island Glaciers

Franz Joseph Glacier from the Helicopter

It has been ages since I last wrote on the journal of the trip, but only because I was carefully searching the best way to describe the next chapter, which was definitely one of my favorites: the Glacier hike!

When we crossed over from Wellington to the Southern Island, we immediately noticed the cold breeze and you're imagination goes to fantasize about a totally different landscape from the one we had before: you substitute beaches for rocky cliffs and the volcanoes you once (tried) hiking for impressive high mountains covered by snow. Well yes, it's pretty much like that, but before we arrived the nearest of the heart of the island, we drove through quick changing landmarks that went from flat vineyards to rocky mountains through rivers and of course, miles and miles of deserted roads.

Vineyards in Marlborough region

On the road

It's a long way from Picton (where the ferry stopped to start our way to the south) to the glaciers, so we spent the night in Greymouth (not really worth mentioning - at least not in autumn/winter).

On the next day we finally arrived to Franz Joseph Glacier. Our initial thought was to take a helicopter ride for 45 minutes to overfly both glaciers and Mount Cook - we were short on time to drive up to Mount Cook and take a few days to hike and still wanted to get a glance of the highest mountain of the country! But once in the tour office, we saw a great offer: "10min heli-tour and glacier hiking for 3 hours" for only a fraction of the price we would pay for the heli-tour. That was our chance! We - the fittest people on NZ - were going to hike a glacier! We took a look at the people we were going to hike with and stood up with a self-convinced if-they-can-we-can attitude. Well this time we weren't wrong: we could! It was definitely worth every single NZD spent and every stiffness earned the next day.

At the beginning you start feeling insecure with the bulky hiking boots. In your mind you are standing on ice, which, you have learned, is slippery and should be avoided to stop on. And suddenly, wherever you're eyes reach: it's all ice. You get a stick - which, in my opinion, has as sole function to boost people's confidence. The walks start easy, for you to get used to your own steps and, specially, to learn to take decisive steps into the ice to get those nails deep in. We were a young group of people, which made the tour much more venturesome! We climbed up with cords, passed through ice caves, saw not-so-iced-lakes and could try glacier water from a small stream. The sensation is indescribable - you lose notion of time because every step is an adventure.

I would definitely do it again.

Franz Joseph Glacier

Franz Joseph Glacier

NZ Road Trip #4: Tongariro

An insight of the day we found out that Frodo and Sam were NOT as lazy as we thought - at least they made it!

The attempt of walking the 8 hours Tongariro Alpine Crossing (classified as one of World's top 10 one day walks by National Geographic) started at the information desk. As we got there (of course, not as early as we had planned) the first thing we were told that some showers were expected in the afternoon. But we felt strong and full of courage - we had our hiking boots and a simple raincoat we had bought, that fits in a surprisingly small bag.

Of course, we warned the information desk assistant that as good as we look like, we are not sporty people:

Us: "I know we are young and pretty, but please consider, we have absolutely NO physical condition and NO hiking experience" (we lied - me and my best friend HAD some hiking experience... but it was a nightmare and as we almost died we didn't want to consider it as "experience").

Assitant: "Oh no don't worry about that, it's a easy path"

Us: "Yes, uhm, but how steep is it?"

Assistant: "Well, the only difficult part is the beginning, which is pretty steep... but you can avoid it by starting on the other side of the walk (in Ketetahi Car Park)".

That sounds like a plan!

Here's a map of the 19.4km walk.

And just fyi - this actually was quite useful for our decisions- here's a picture of the different steeps and heights we were going to face that day (our tour started on the right side).

Anyway, now you must be wondering why anyone is willing to go through this suffering. Well, there are some good reasons I guess:

- It was the location of Mordor and the Plains of Gorgoroth (Lord of the Rings)

- You get to see a variety of natural scenes: volcanoes, geysers, lakes, forests...

- You meet other healthy/motivated people on your way...

Unfortunately, despite our good intentions, we did not lie about our physical condition and had to turn back after reaching the Ketetahi Hut. This is what we managed to see on our 4.5 hrs trip.

Recommendation: Be prepared. Practice some sport regularly before trying to do the Tongariro Crossing, even if the path is easy... half of the time (at least) you will be walking up the hill. Take 2L of water with you (per person) 'couse there's not such as a water fountain on the way. Take comfortable shoes and not too many coats and jackets (you'll start sweating after the first 45 min walking).

I'm sure that walking the complete path must be amazing... and I regret my laziness! I just hope to be fit enough next time!