Week 4: Six hours to Zürich

Back in 2007 I wrote about this Wegweiser in Baden. It lists hiking distances. Six hours to Zürich. One of these days I will test it out. Not on such a wintry day though.

I wish you all a good week.

Trivia of the week: 

Some of you will notice that I'm listing this under week 4 for the year. Those of you in the US will disagree, as your week numbering system puts it at week 5. Another manifestation of the non-metric stance. Causes confusion all around, especially when one uses localization on computers to be able to use American-English spelling without the spell checker going bananas. Luckily there are manual workarounds.

Sign of the season

One of the (unfortunate) hallmarks of this area is the morning fog in the winter. Apparently it is related to the proximity of the Wasserschloss — the confluence of the rivers Aare, Reuss and Limmat — which dumps a lot of water into the region.

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The trails

Part of the trails from which I took all the photos of neighboring areas.

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Edge of Würenlingen

A view across the river Aare from one of my walks along the Wanderwege around Villigen. I think all of this is in the Gemeinde (commune) of Würenlingen, but there might be a wee bit in Untersiggenthal.

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Back to Villigen

Back in Villigen in today's post. I don't know what this shack is used for but it's located in the middle of areas with vineyards and grazing land so it might have some agricultural function. The little yellow arrows on a post on the left side of the building are Wanderweg signs. Click on the label below to see other posts mentioning them.

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Excursion: Hellela in Valais

An overnight trip and a lot of photos. A walking trail marker - Wanderwegweiser - somewhere in the vicinity of Hellela in Canton Wallis (Valais in French). Rough orientation here via Google Maps, be sure to zoom out to see the setting within the tall mountains.

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Der Wegweiser

Remember the Wanderweg sign? I had mentioned the signposts, and this is the largest example that I've come across so far. It's in Baden. The progression from Villigen (by car) is Brugg (10 mins) - Baden (20 mins) - Zürich (50 mins). The sign lists walking times from Baden: two and a half hours to Stilli, 5 hours 50 minutes to Zürich. The time estimates take into account the changes in terrain and while I haven't tested these in particular, the ones I have have been quite reasonable.

Request to readers: if anyone has come across a bigger Wegweiser in CH, please let me know where it is.

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Wanderweg

A network of public hiking trails crisscrosses all of Switzerland and is marked with yellow diamonds. This is a slightly fancy marker, complete with the emblem of Aargau Kanton (state), keeping watch from halfway up Besserstein. It is more common to find diamonds just painted onto lightposts, tree trunks or rocks. There are also signposts indicating destinations and the estimated travel time required to reach them. A topic for another day.

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