Via Francigena Special - Bourg Saint Pierre to Col du San Bernard
Bourg Saint Pierre (1632m) to Col du San Bernard (2473m) 1062m ascent, 224m descent, 5 hours, 12.4 km
This is a stage of the Via Francigena which runs from Canterbury, England to Rome, Italy, a distance of 2,000km taking about 3 months, it has been followed by Pilgrims for 1,000 years. The Col du San Bernard can only be walked between about June and September, due to heavy snow. However, in the other months it may be possible to catch a bus. We were surprised how quiet this walk actually was, we were expecting more walkers going to Rome. But this would necessitate walking through Tuscany and Lazio in the height of an Italian summer. Maybe people plan to be here in September, then arriving in Rome in October.
We were very much looking forward to this walk, up to a pass, looking over the border to Italy, and following in the footsteps of so much history, from the Romans, Pilgrims and Napoleon's soldiers to name a few.
We stayed at hotel rest du Cret, where there was a choice of a large or small breakfast. We had chosen the small breakfast of orange, croissant, and coffee for 7francs.The hotel is located on the main road-which was very quiet, just above the village. There is a restaurant for evening meals, alternatively there is Auberge Les Charmettes in the village.
Leaving at 8am, we walked down the quiet road taking the path to the village, passing the Auberge. We visited the pretty church, with a large Roman milestone on a buttress by the church tower. There is a plaque on one of the houses saying Napoleon stayed there. Leaving the village at 8.30am, there is a choice of routes, we chose the one to the right, as it sounded more scenic, with signs 3 hours 10 minutes. Walking up through the countryside, we passed a pretty little house on the right, 186m ascent, 1 hour 5 minutes, 2 miles.
We turned right at the sign Barrage de Toules, just below the dam, the weather starting to warm up, 250m ascent, 1 hour, 2.5 miles. At the top of the dam, there is an information board, and a small café, 297m ascent, 1-hour 45minutes, 2.95 miles. We sat on a bench with a beautiful view over the reservoir and mountains with small patches of snow.
We followed the track, going along the right-hand side of the reservoir, then we went left off the track, taking a bridge over a stream. Passing a derelict building with great views, we spotted a marmot playing in the ruins, (3.8 miles, 371m ascent, 10.15am). At the top end of the lake solar panels had been installed-we thought that this was a great idea.
We passed another old hut, which is next to a bridge over the stream, connecting our path with the other side of the valley.
We were slightly alarmed with the large number of cows-with small horns, which were all over our path, but apparently, they are fairly harmless. We went on a fairly long diversion up the hillside to avoid them. Heading, downhill once more, there is a fascinating ancient bridge, presumably it was used as a water course, by a large farmhouse.
The path goes down a track then uphill to the road, crossing the road, then up a steep ancient cobbled path, with some snow on the side, with painted yellow diamonds showing the path. We stopped for lunch, with views down the valley. The main road was very quiet, with lots of hairpin bends all the way to the top. The road is shut due to snow during the winter, and a tunnel which opened in 1964, can be taken instead.
Continuing once more, the day was warming up and we were happy to see signs 30 minutes to col de St Bernard, along another old cobbled path. We crossed a patch of snow, then up a steep slope to the top of the pass. There are free toilets to the left, a cafe, the hospice where we stayed, church with museum, and St Bernard Museum.
Coming round the corner past the Hospice we had a sublime view of the lake, with Italy beyond, together with snow topped mountains. It was very exciting to see.
Later we walked down the road, passing the lake and the now disused border post, a statue of Napoleon on his horse and a massive statue of St Bernard. There is a shop and a couple of market stalls. We had a delicious pizza and lasagne in the Bar at Hotel Italia, over the border in Italy, where life is so much cheaper than in Switzerland.
We had so enjoyed our day, as it embraced our favourite things walking and history. We did wonder whether we could have stayed in Hotel Italia instead of our hospice-which was very nice, if rather expensive. We arrived at 1.30pm, check in was not till 3pm, which is not a problem. But there was nowhere to leave our rucksacks. I thought maybe it was set up for tourists, not hikers.
Distance 9.5 miles (15km)
Duration of Walk 6 Hours
Ascent 3458 feet (1054m)
Descent 767 feet 234m
Average Pace 37 min/mile
Steps 22,836
Information
www.bookings.com Auberge de L’Hospice, buffet breakfast was included. There is a restaurant that served dinner at 7pm, which we did not visit.
https://www.gransanbernardo.it/contatti/ We ate dinner here, in Italy. It was a beautiful hotel, which has rooms too.
Book Walking the Via Francigena Part 2 Sandy Brown, Cicerone Press
https://aosta.arriva.it/ If wishing to catch the bus instead
https://www.saint-bernard.ch/en/activities/great-st-bernard-hospice-museum-7550/ 12 francs each to enter. We visited this museum, the famous St Bernard dogs are bred here, and until the 1950s they used to be used in rescue operations. We watched them being trained. The rest of the museum spread over 3 floors is worth a visit, with the 2,000-year history of the pass, and lots of interesting exhibits. We left our rucksacks at the reception, as we could not check into our accommodation till 3pm
Inside the Hospice there is a bridge linking it to the building on the other side, which has an amazing church, museum, and further accommodation.
Via Francigena Special - Col du San Bernard to Aosta
Col du San Bernard to Aosta 28.8km, ascent 455m, descent 2347m, 7hours. These were the statistics given in the book, I am not sure where the ascent of 455m came from, or the time of 7 hours.
We were looking forward to walking from Col du grand Saint Bernard to Aosta. Since it was a long day, we were keen to avoid the ascent. We had researched and printed out the bus timetable in advance too.
We ate a cold buffet breakfast at 7.30am, settled the bill at the Auberge de L’Hospice, and left at 8.10am. We walked down the road, passing the lake, statues of Napoleon on his horse and of St Bernard. As the road was quiet, we continued, then picked up the path, arriving at Casa Antonio Refugio, (La cantina 2208m) which is now unfortunately, shut down 45 minutes, 29m ascent, 2 miles. We continued down track, after a while a sign says path number 103, Saint Rhemy 1hour 25mins. Interestingly we met a biker with his Enfield motorbike, (made in England), half way up the track. We passed above the entrance to the St Bernard's tunnel at 9.20am, 2.85 miles.
We went down the road, then a path, across the road following a stream to St Rhemy, passing a big information board about the Via Francigena (33m ascent, 2 hours 4.8 miles). There was a lovely church to visit in this pretty, small village, with no food available. There is one hotel, but it was closed.
Further along the path is a very interesting record of how many walked this way last year and the year before, their nationalities, a sheet to complete and a Camino stamp. A total of 1159 pilgrims last year, and 1335 the previous year. We walked the15 minutes from St Rhemy to Saint Leonard and called the tabac for a coffee 1.2e each and a croissant. Outside the tabac, there is a full-size model of a pilgrim and a sign saying Rome 1005km.
Continuing we arrived at another information board on the outskirts of the beautiful town of Etroubles. We walked round passing 3 restaurants, then decided to go to the Carrefour to buy lunch, arriving at 12.54, just as it was being locked up, as it shut at 1pm. We went to Hotel Beau Sejor for lunch next door instead, (75m ascent, 4 hours 45 minutes, 9.7 miles). The food was delicious but took 30 minutes to arrive, we left 13.45pm. We don't normally spend an hour having lunch. We followed the water channel, for a few miles, fortunately in the shade of the trees. This is 13km long, and was built in about 1400 to irrigate the land.
We after 7 hours, came to a Grotto 168m ascent, 14 miles, shortly afterwards there is a sign saying Gignod, in hindsight maybe we should have taken this path, but instead we took the path saying Aosta (Arpuilles) 1 hour 15 minutes.
We were getting slightly concerned as we knew it would be a long day, but Aosta was still a long way away. We cut down to the left, followed a red painted AV sign, past some houses, to arrive at a bus stop (4.45pm).
We were so lucky as a bus was due in ten minutes, arriving just 5 minutes late at 5.00pm. It only cost 2euros each, and took 40 minutes to Aosta going through Gignod. We probably could we have continued walking, but it had already been a long hot day. The bus goes into Aosta, arriving at its final stop, the train station at 5.30pm. We called into Carrefour for some drinks, arriving at Hotel Roma at 5.40pm. So happy to have arrived.
Distance 17 miles (27 km)
Duration of Walk 8 Hours 30 minutes
Ascent 580 feet (179m)
Descent 4760 feet (1450m)
Average Pace 30 min/mile
Steps 38,400
Information
We had been thinking that maybe we should have continued walking the previous day after arriving in the col de Bernard, relatively early at 1.30pm. But we were so happy that we had not done this, as we could not see any accommodation for at least 2.5 hours down towards Aosta. The first refuge having closed down, and the hotel in St Rhemy was shut.
We were surprised how quiet the Via Francigena is. We only met a couple of people who were walking the Via Alpina red trail, it runs for 163 stages over the Alps from Monaco to Trieste. The road was very quiet too.
Aosta was a fabulous city, it is very compact with a lovely pedestrian street, busy on a Friday night. We walked round, unfortunately the beautiful Roman remains were covered in plastic, undergoing renovation. But one could imagine how impressive they were. Having eaten a large lunch, we went to Il Panino Della Battega, for a sandwich, enjoying sitting out on the street, watching the world go by.
We had walked for 17 miles, but I think the walk would have taken nearly another 2 hours, even if we had gone through Gignod, like the book.
The following day, after a delicious breakfast in our Hotel Roma, we spent an hour looking round the beautiful town, with the Roman Bridge, old walls, Cathedral and Port Pretoria. We caught the rail replacement bus to Ivrea, then various trains to Milan airport. Alternatively, there was a Flix bus running to Geneva airport. The Aosta valley did look beautiful with many old towns, and castles to visit-another time!!
Resources Used
Book Walking the Via Francigena Part 2 Sandy Brown
www.arriva.it Bus times
www.booking.com Hotel Roma Lovely hotel, a lot cheaper than Switzerland, lovely breakfast