Reckingen to Biel

In contrast to the sunny day when we walked from Oberwald to Reckingen in February 2012 the next section from Reckingen to Biel was done in cloudy conditions with some snowfall in February 2013. There had been very heavy and sustained snow over the previous days .

We broke the walk into two sections: Reckingen to Gluringen which took about an hour and, after lunch,  Gluringen to Biel which was about 45 minutes.

The path starts behind the station at Gluringen

It's about 2km to Gluringen...

.....and with deep snow was quite heavy going in places.

The village of Reckingen was not as easy to escape as expected as the footpaths weren't clearly signposted and we ended up on a path that would have led under the railway and had to back track.

Once under way progress was good and in this photo Gluringen can be seen through the snow.

The Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz passed by. Two days before the line had been closed because of avalanche risk on the Oberalp Pass.

The depth of the snow is obvious in this view of the lane near Gluringen station.

Gluringen village and the main road towards Brig.

The path heads down valley beyond Gluringen..

......passing this unusual ice sculpture.

The path continues downhill with the lower Goms valley coming into view.

The winter path now drops down to join the Langlauf Loipe....

......passing typical Goms barns.

It was then a short walk by the Loipe to Biel station.