After the last day crossing that pass I was ready for a relatively easy one. Day 4 of the Haute Route is mostly downhill and then a quite long valley walk but overall only about nine miles. The road down from Arpet into the bigger lakeside town of Champex was quite steep. From there the trail north toward Sembrancher descended steeply and then more gradually into the valley past meadows and a few villages with good views south to the valley that rises toward the Saint Bernard Pass to cross to Italy. This is the land of Saint Bernards, but I haven’t seen any huge cuddly ones yet.

I got to Sembrancher just around lunch time and had a pizza at a restaurant. Sembrancher is an impressively old town with a French-style center surrounded by wooden Valais-style sheds and chalet. It’s all very scenic. The wood and stone sheds, barns, and chalets remind me a little of the villages I walked through on the Annapurna Circuit trek in Nepal.

There was also a large Migros market, kind of like a Carrefour, just outside of town where I was able to acquire a vital commodity. Upon entering Switzerland I discovered the plugs and sockets are differently shaped than other continental European countries.  I had to get a special adapter to be able to recharge my camera, computer, and other electronic gadgets. Who would have thunk?

The afternoon part of the walk to Le Chable was up valley but with a gradual ascent of only a few hundred feet. Le Chable lies at the terminus of the rail line from Martigny to Verbier ski area, where a gondola can whisk you up the mountain to the main ski village from the train. I suppose if you’re skiing at Verbier you can also stay in Le Chable.  I decided to splurge on a reasonably priced room in an old hotel in the center of town for 80 Francs including breakfast. Ah, a room of my own and fast Internet connection for a night – now that’s luxury!

On the trail today I thought about why I love Switzerland so much even though I haven’t spent that much time in the country. I think some of it has to do with impressions formed during childhood and early adolescence.  The late 1970s and early 1980s were before the Internet and digital photography, so when someone went somewhere on a trip they would make slides of their photos and put on a slide show for their friends. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Della Fera, put on slide shows of her road trips to the West for her class which is probably what got me mesmerized at an early age with the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest canyon country. Anyway, the minister of our church, Dr. Palmer and his wife went to Switzerland to visit friends for several weeks one year and put on a slide show of their trip as part of a church potluck supper. I recall that they were also in Valais Canton on the southwestern part of the country, and I was mesmerized by the pictures.  Another lady from the church with whom my parents became friendly, Betsy June Bennett, worked at the time for Ciba-Geigy, the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturing company with offices in Westchester County. Every year she would send us a big calendar with pictures of Switzerland, each year with a different theme – Castles of Switzerland, Vineyards of Switzerland, Bridges of Switzerland, Mountains of Switzerland, etc. I was enthralled by the beautiful pictures and the descriptions of the places in them, so much so that I kept the calendars for years so I could keep looking at them because I thought it was the most Switzerland was the most gorgeous place on earth.