A Romantic Meal for Two on the Ilhorn Over Looking the Rhone Valley – 2716m

After saying goodbye to the well-dressed cows early on Saturday afternoon in Ayer, we hopped on a free bus to nearby Vissoie and then onwards on a second free bus to the cable car station just outside the beautiful village of Chandolin. We had visited this cable car station once before, during our visit in June, but it hadn't yet started it's summer timetable. This time, with just 1 more day before the cable car closed (until the ski season) we wanted to take a ride up the mountain and rest our legs. It was also the first chair lift we'd taken and the thought of swinging our legs over the mountain was quite exciting, and a little scary.

The view on the way up stretched right along the Rhone valley more than 2000m below (although I think Esther had her eyes closed for some of that). Stepping out at the Tsape ski station at 2470m, we couldn't quite believe that we had travelled all the way from our motorhome to this great height without it costing us anything more than our nominal tourist tax – the Liberte pass is amazing.

With just a few hours left in the day until the last return chair lift we settled on a shortish walk to the peak of the Ilhorn at 2716m just an hour or so away, which promised beautiful views along the length of the Rhone valley and to the high peaks all around. The hike was one of the easiest we'd taken on since returning to Val d'Anniviers and we arrived at the top fresh and ready to just relax and take in the panorama which, despite the gathering clouds, was fantastic.

Feeling a little peckish after the cows and now a short walk, we had about an hour to spare and decided to prepare a little home made soup and noodles (roasted garlic and butternut squash, one of our favourites). Once ready, we settled down into a comfy wind shelter and shared a romantic mountainside meal for two. Cooking outdoors is always fun and having such a great view after a fun packed day was the icing on the cake (or soup I suppose).

After lunch we had another wander round the summit before making our way back down and onto the chair lift and 2 buses (all free!) to get back to our motorhome just in time for another swim (free again!) at the brand new pool in Zinal.

Walk Information:
Motorhome Base: Zinal (or Chandolin)
Transport Used: Bus to Vissoie.  Bus to Chandolin Chair Lift Station.
Start / End Point: Chandolin Chair Lift Station
Time It Took Us: 2 hours
Level: Easy / Moderate
Map: LS 1382 'Sierre' 1:25,000 or LS 1307 'Vissoie' 1:25,000 (see below)

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More details of our hikes in Val'Anniviers