Chandolin
21st September 2009
Apart from some rock climbing on Saturday this is the first time Julie and I have managed to get out together since back in June and probably only about the third time this summer, it’s the first time I’ve been out for myself since July as well. But, it’s a great time, the autumn colours are coming out and the mountain’s empty, the cows have been moved down and a lot of the migratory birds are leaving and tourists are long gone.
There’s a nice path up from the nearby village of Chandolin, it rises about 500m but the angle’s perfect and we’re comfortably up at the Tsape restaurant in an hour for a local specialty, an “Assiette Valaisanne” which is a selection of dried and smoked local meats with local cheese.
Some super colours, these are mostly colonisation plants, that’s things that move into poor ground and poor soil first. the really obvious one is Rosebay Willowherb that’s gone over, it’s also known as fireweed which is apt this time of year.
It’s the time of year for berries, at this height on this type of ground we’re seeing bilberries, juniper and these cowberries, they’re a bit bitter raw but they stew well and they’re pretty good with meats like roast venison. They (cowberries) are Vaccinium vitis-idaea known by other names like mountain bilberry or mountain cranberry, these berries are pretty much all part of the same family. The cowberry is pretty similar to the bearberry, the difference that you can see in this photo is the remnants of the sepals around the tip of the fruit. They (cowberries) are edible on the hill but you need to be sure what you’re looking at, most red berries are bad for you and bilberries can be; like the related bog bilberry at lower altitudes which can carry a fungus which causes a nauseous intoxication.
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