It’s midnight: the Gotthard Pass; 2091m. Over 170km south of Basel’s German-French-Swiss frontier tripoint, we’re halfway to Italy and just into Ticino, Switzerland’s southernmost, Italian-speaking, canton.

The souvenir kiosks are shut, day-trippers gone and the mist shrouding Switzerland’s mythical heart is rose-hued from a wind turbine’s light. Below our window in the centuries-old Ospizio, the crew who’ve been filming ‘Citadel: Diana’ all day have finally corralled their fleet of shiny black cars for the night.

It’s peaceful, romantic here in Goethe, Schiller and Suvorov’s footsteps. We’ve crossed Switzerland’s ‘Polentagraben’. Tomorrow, we’ll walk the Via Tremola’s cobbled hairpins down into the Leventina.

Linking north and south Europe

We’d reached the highest point of our autumn Via Gottardo walk. For centuries, the Gotthard route has linked north and south Europe, first with pack-bearing men, then mule trains. Now, rail and motorway tunnels, and the serpentine cantonal road, link German-speaking Switzerland to Ticino and northern Italy. Staying at small hotels and Airbnbs, carrying only light packs, we’re journeying like those early wayfarers.

The 17 days to the Gotthard were rich with impressions and experiences of everyday Switzerland – all heavily freighted with the emotion of our Queen’s death as we left Basel. We’ll never forget Zofingen’s young hipster clerk who exclaimed solemnly in heavily accented English: ‘The Queen isn’t allowed to die!’

First view of the high Alps

Crossing Switzerland’s Jura and Mittelland plateau was remarkably like Cotswold walking. Breaking out of hilltop forest at Chätzigerhochi, between Dagmersellen and Sursee, our first view of the high Alps’ glistening peaks across the southern horizon was breathtaking. Days later, among those peaks, we climbed Uri’s steepening Reuss Valley.

Above Göschenen, the romantic Schöllenen Gorge to the Teufelsbrücke was even steeper. In Andermatt – where James Bond famously drove Tilly Masterson to the Aurora filling station in ‘Goldfinger’ – the iconic pumps are gone. There wasn’t an Aston Martin DB5 in sight as we continued to sleepy Hospental for our favourite yak pizza, before next morning’s ascent through rock-strewn alpine wilderness to the Gotthard Pass.

Our ‘rest’ day there proved equally adventurous. Exploring the once-secret Sasso San Gottardo fortress, kilometres of dark tunnels led us deep into Switzerland’s granite heart. Emerging at a sunny eyrie we found ourselves beside giant guns still pointing towards Italy.

The best gnocchi and merlot ever

Now redundant, they directed us south towards the Swiss-Italian frontier at Chiasso, the best gnocchi and merlot ever and – though we didn’t yet know it – a serendipitous meeting with Swiss rock royalty.

Keep an eye out in your November magazine for part two of our Swiss adventure.