After a good breakfast at Bethanien, we walked down to Flüeli-Ranft.
The views over the lake were just amazing as the mist had settled on it with blue sky above.
The walk was very enjoyable and to visit Ranft (the hermitage of St. Nicholas of Flüe* ) in this context,
was very special. We stopped at the little shop to buy cards and the lady there was from the Community of Bethanian,
where we had stayed, and Sue chatted a while with her in French.
From there we walked down to the lake and then along to Giswil.
We visited a last church which stands on the ‘Way’ from which we had a view of the Brunig Pass which was to be our next stage.
We had never thought to get this far on this part of our journey!
We took the train to Stans, picked up the car and then drove to Beckenried to take the car ferry to Gosau
and then drove back to the flat in Wald with the sun setting on the first part of this amazing adventure.
We had covered 222km of actual walking distance in total with our zig-zag approach, even though the official distance was only 167 km.
*(Saint Nicholas of Flüe / Niklaus von Flüe who lived from 1417 to 1487) was a Swiss hermit and ascetic
who is the patron saint of Switzerland. He is sometimes invoked as Brother Klaus.
A farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and mystic,
he was respected as a man of complete moral integrity. )
