I come to the Engadin almost every year but this was the first time I’d been in autumn.
I came to see the larch trees and wasn’t disappointed. Cycling from Silvaplana to Morteratsch we saw hundreds of these beautiful trees. Some were still green but the needles of other trees had already turned to the characteristic autumn yellow. They were simply stunning.
At Morteratsch we parked up the bikes and did a short hike along the waterfall trail. We had done the same walk in May this year but it was definitely worth seeing again, especially given the gorgeous autumn colours of the shrubs and trees along the route. After stopping for a picnic it was time to cycle back to the car.
The bike ride turned out to be much hillier than expected, especially on the route back when we added some additional climbing by heading up to Alp Staz, rather than doing the easy route around the lake. In total we did almost 700 metres of climbing which is more than I’m used to.
Other highlights of the holiday included a gorgeous hike on Alp Flix, exploring the region around Val Mustair and crossing the hanging bridges near Val Sinestra.
Language Tip
I’ve used the past perfect three times in this blog post.
The first time I used it was in the expression ‘it was the first time I had….’. Note that if you change the word was to is, you’ll need to use the present perfect. (It is the first time I have…)
The other times I used the past perfect as I was emphasising events that had happened before my story:-
The leaves had already turned yellow
I had already done the same walk in May this year
Do you want to learn more about the past perfect? If so, read this grammar post.
