See description of the photos, below.

We got to Hotel Edelweiss in La Fouly in time to get a shower before dinner. We were given our spots in the dorm. Seven mattresses on the floor we took two. Down stairs to wait for dinner found our assigned seats. Turned out we were seated next to two Israelis. We had great conversation. Then it’s time for bed.  Our seven dorm mates were from Israel, Spain and three from India, who lived in Ponah and knew about Panjgani school.  Throughout the night we had snoring in stereo as the Israeli and the guy at the other end kept up musically entertained ALL night long. My ear plugs didn’t work well.

Got going on our first hike in our third country, Switzerland, at about 8:30.  Since we had arrived by bus I wasn’t sure where the trail head was so I asked. Down the road , right over the bridge, through the campground. Off we went following the verbal directions. No TMB signs. 😒😒😒 We get to the campground. This doesn’t feel right. Ok. Take out the book. Bummer. Book gives other directions so back track we go. Ok now we are on the right trail. Off we go. 10 minutes later I say to Missy. “ look “. There is the campground. If we had originally gone another 100 meters we would have been on trail. Oh well, what is an extra ½ mile😳

This Stage is supposed to be the easiest Stage. Not exciting but easy. Cool. So for several hours we hike through the woods, meadows and villages. This trail is the most like hiking in the Sierra. We got to the village of Issert where we had a good meal and coffee. Up to now it’s pretty much been all down. About 400 meters down. Now we need to go up 400 meters. Do up we go. A couple hours later we made it to Hotel Alpina. WOW! What a place. It had good reviews but this place is great. Beautiful room with a fantastic view. Last night we paid 168 Swiss Francs for a spot in the dorm, simple dinner, very simple breakfast. Tonight we paid 170 Swiss francs for an awesome room with a fantastic shower. Dinner was extra, fish on a bed of finely chopped veggies, followed by a shank of lamb on a bed of couscous, followed by a hot white peach in a wonderful sauce topped with two cookies and lime sherbet.

Great day. Tomorrow Stage 8.

Photos:

Top: 1&2 La Fouly, 3. Approaching the first village, 4 magnificent views 5. One of the villages. 6. A long stretch of the trail was adorned by great woodcarvings of trees. This is an example of one. 7.Beautiful scenery. 8. Another of the wood carvings

Bottom: 1. I thought this figurine outside one of the villeger’s home described my feeling of joy🤗2. Water station (so nice to be able to fill our water bottles with wonderful cold water along most of the stages.) 3. One of the TMB trail markers. 4. We made it to Chanpex 🤓🤓 taken by our hotel hostess, a gracious French woman named Madeline at Hotel Alpina