ZERO IN ADELBODEN

VIA ALPINA DAY 50 – MONDAY 10 AUGUST 2026
ADELBODEN

DISTANCE HIKED: 0 km
ELEVATION GAIN:  0 m

TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 1,254.50 km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 66,433 m

A very much needed day of complete rest. We got some groceries, put our feet up and grazed on snacks for most of the day. We watched a bit of the European Athletics Championships from Birmingham and generally did as little as possible.

It was warm and sunny outside. For a moment, I felt guilty about not being out there hiking. Hammer had no such qualms.

Over the past five days we’ve traversed some of the most visited parts of the Bernese Alps — Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen and Mürren, hiked around the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks, and extensive glacial fields. The towns and trails around them have been busy, but it is peak summer holiday season.

The large daily ascents and descents have been punishing, especially in the heat. So far, we’ve resisted taking gondolas or cog railways up the mountains, but our resistance is beginning to wane.

The landscape has been breathtaking in its scope and scale, and at times it’s almost impossible to take it all in. We’re finding that the daily grind is rewarded with spectacular views, but it is also extremely exhausting.
And, strangely enough, the daily struggle to find somewhere to sleep — somewhere with a patch of flat ground that isn’t occupied by a farm, a herd of grazing cattle, or an eye-watering hotel price — can be more exhausting than the hiking itself. We’re really missing the huts and rifugios that dotted our route through Slovenia, Italy, Germany and Austria.

Day 50 feels like a milestone. We’ve now hiked 1,255 km and climbed 66,400 metres.
Our bodies and spirits are holding up remarkably well.

There are about 100 km of the Vaud Alps left to hike in Western Switzerland, then around 90 km through the Aosta Valley in Italy, before we cross into France for the final stretch to Monaco.

We’re getting closer.