As part of our two-day stay in the French-speaking part of Wallis, we also visited the village of Sierre. This time we opted for a quiet road leading through the Pfyn-Finges Regional Nature Park to the Bhutanese suspension bridge in Leuk.

The route initially runs through the village of Sierre. After about 2 km of walking through the town and its outskirts, you finally reach the nature park. Further on, a zigzagging path leads up through a pine forest to the Forêt des Finges hill, which offers a magnificent view of Sierre and the surrounding mountains. Along the way, you pass small lakes hidden behind dense reeds. The whole thing creates an unusual atmosphere.

Swiss Onyx surveillance programme

The closer you get to the village of Leuk, the more visible a station with huge satellite dishes becomes on the other side of town. The antennas are part of the Swiss surveillance programme “Onyx”, which intercepts international civilian and military communications. This programme is run by the Federal Intelligence Service. There are various conspiracy theories about the site on the web. And you can also see the station up close, but on another tour “Leuk: from the Middle Ages into the 21st century”. Recommended!

Bhutan Bridge

The journey culminates in crossing the 134-metre long Bhutanese suspension bridge. This bridge not only connects the French-speaking Unterwallis with the German-speaking Oberwallis, but also symbolises the building of bridges (in an inclusive sense) to distant cultures. The idea to build it came about after the UN declared 2002 as the Year of the Mountains. The aim of this initiative was to raise awareness of the sustainable development of mountain regions in all countries and to promote solidarity between mountain regions around the world. You can read more about it on the information board next to the bridge.

The trail continues down to the Leuk itself.