Have you ever gone hiking before the sun rises – using only the moonlight to guide you? 

Neither had I until the other day!

My crazy hiking buddy Andrea suggested it so I assumed it must be a thing done in Switzerland and so agreed to go.

We made plans to meet up at our normal meeting place and drive over to a remote route way up in the mountains that we had done a few times before. It’s not too steep or difficult (in daylight anyway) and offers amazing views from the top of the mountain range.

The plan was, as it was a really big full moon, we would leave around 5 am and have 2 hours or so hiking by moonlight, then get to the top of the mountain and watch the sunrise, get some pictures, and head back for breakfast.

Andrea is always late. So I’m sat there in the dark with two dogs in the back of the car going mental. When she finally turns up she is dressed like Sherpa Tenzin ready for an attempt to summit Everest and I am dressed in just shorts and a light jacket – it’s hilarious!

We drove to the foot of the mountain, parked up and got ready to go, but the one thing I forgot was a head torch, and so had Andrea of course. So we were totally reliant on the moonlight to find our paths.

We got soooo lost, Andrea has a new catchphrase now “I can see a path” haha I heard it so many times in one morning!

Of course, the dogs thought it was brilliant and just charged around and played. Being out in the dark walking must have been a real change from normal, allowing other senses to guide them

We had such trouble finding the routes as the moon casts a funny light – everything just merged into one with no definition so seeing where you were stepping was really difficult, but we powered on and eventually, we were granted the most spectacular sunrise! It was truly breathtaking.

The dogs had a ball, we did as well to be fair and laughed so much.

We eventually made it back to the cars – all jokes aside, we had an awesome morning’s hike and got some great photos