A hike in Bergun to Preda with an Adventure

Yesterday, I had occasion to recount two hikes that I did some years ago (?1998?). At the time, I wrote a trip log about it but failed to keep a copy with me. The trip log has long been lost in cyberspace somewhere. This is the best that I remember.

It was the year of the Swiss Rail System's 200th birthday. To celebrate, they offered day tickets at a very low price. They sold these once a month for a year in limited numbers, and I opened the station each month to buy them early. I decided that since I could use day tickets so cheaply, I would go places in CH (Switzerland) where I had not been.

One of my two-day trips was to Bergun. Bergun is a small village in the canton of Graubunden in the eastern part of CH. This trip took place in late October, as I recall. I took an early train from Sachseln through Luzern and onward to Chur in Graubunden. There, I changed trains to take what may be the most scenic train ride in CH rivaled only by the trip through the Gotthard valley.

I arrived at Bergun about noon. I had never been there, had no reservations for a room, or knew much about it. I had heard about a hike up to a village named Preda. It was not winter season as yet, so I had the town to myself. I found an open hotel right on the main drag and got a room for the night. Then, I took off to check out Preda. I left my backpack in the room and just carried my stick, jacket, hat, and camera with me.

The walk was well marked and varied from flat to uphill and sometimes steeply uphill. A lot of it paralleled the rail line headed upward to the Albula tunnel. There were frequent places with benches to stop and make pictures of trains as they entered or left tunnels on viaducts that seemed to be engineering marvels. There were also several plaques of information on the construction of the line. A lot of the way, the ground was frozen but no snow or ice was a problem. It was a nice walk until I was almost to Preda. At that point, I realized that my train pass, money, etc. was all back at the hotel in Bergun! I did not look forward to walking back down there, and it was fast getting dark.

Well, in a few moments, I realized that I had a coin pocket in my hat. I always kept two five franc coins in it. They were still there, although a bit corroded. With that in mind, I was in Preda in a few minutes. Now, Preda consists of about six vacation homes and a restaurant (closed on my day there). There was not a soul to see, and it was cold and about dark. The mouth of the tunnel was about fifty yards from the train station. The station was unmanned but had a room in which to wait and a telephone to a station down the line. Looking at the schedule, it didn't look like a train was due, so I called the station on the phone. In my bad German, I asked about trains to Bergun. To my pleasant surprise, the man answered in pretty good English and told me that a train was going to come out of the tunnel going my way in about two minutes. It did! I hopped on and got my ten francs out to buy a ticket. In ten or fifteen minutes, I was in Bergun, and the conductor had never made it to me.

My single room was on top of the hotel but looked fine to me. I spent a good night there and recall the shower was so good that I took one in the evening and another the next AM. Breakfast came with the room as is usual in CH. Being the only guest in the hotel, I went down that next AM not sure of what I would get. On the side of the dining room, there was a table set up for one person. I sat down, and a lady came out to find out what I wanted to drink. Breakfast in CH for me is always some "Milchkaffee". This is strong black coffee served with a picture of steamed milk, and it hits the spot! The lady also showed me a small table set up as a buffet with the usual breads, cereals, cheese, sliced meats, butter, jam, etc. I was impressed and well fed when I caught my train for home.