This is the first of a series of mini-travel photo stories on Switzerland that will run for several weeks. A very special 16-year-old named Tara takes the train on Saturdays to explore the country where she has grown up. Her mother, GL editor Ellen Wallace, goes along for the ride.

Tara turned 16 in June and, like so many girls this age, she suddenly showed signs of independence, one of which was impatience with everything that had entertained her in the past. And, like many children of international families in Switzerland, she had traveled abroad more than at home, which is a shame because Switzerland is a country well worth exploring.

But Tara is quite unlike most 16-year-olds: she has several disabilities and she needs adult supervision at all times. She certainly can’t travel alone. One of her greatest joys in life is car travel but this year, the family decided, she should see Switzerland by train.

Our first outing was a short one, a 30 minute ride from Sierre in Valais, which will usually be our weekend starting point, to Brig, at the end of the Valais before it climbs to the Simplon Pass or the Goms (also known as Conches) valley. Then we would walk for an hour around town and take the train back.

Tara was thrilled by the train. Two teenagers sitting near us at first looked bothered by her presence. She doesn’t talk but she makes a lot of noise at times. She drools, which doesn’t go down at all well with other kids. But Tara was so clearly excited and happy by the train moving, then the scenery zooming by outside that pretty soon they began to laugh when she did, not unkindly.

Brig turned out to be a far more interesting town than I expected. I’ve known it as a jumping-off point for skiers going to Zermatt or Saas Fee, or for visits to the nearby Aletsch Glacier. But it was also at one end of the first modern road built over the Alps, by Napolean. It is at the foot of the Simplon pass, which gives it a colourful history linked to smuggling as well as legal trade over the centuries.

It has several architectural gems. The 17th century Stockalper chateau was home to a trader made rich by salt, silk and other wares carried over the Simplon mule route. The old town has dozens of patrician homes that speak of the wealth on this ancient trade route.

Tara and I found a quiet bakery where a young woman decided to try her English on us. We bought an apricot tart because it was the only thing she could say clearly and I thought we should encourage her. I had a very good cup of coffee, but before I could drink half of it Tara decided to leave. She is a girl of little patience and when it is time to go, we go.

It took us 30 minutes to walk up the hill to the top of this small town. I thought the return would be faster, but Tara was miserable when we headed downhill, and she refused to walk. The sight of a nearly grown girl sitting in the middle of the road is uncommon. This is a friendly town – several people stopped to ask if they could help.  I thought this was a complaint from Tara that we had walked too far, but when we arrived home I learned the real reason. She walks on her toes much of the time, which wears holes in the tips of her shoes (she goes through a pair every six weeks or so) and sometimes her socks. We hadn’t noticed the socks were going but by the time we’d walked around Brig the holes had grown large enough for toes to poke through and hurt.

It’s times like this that I wish very much Tara could talk and say, “My socks have holes!” The good thing about Tara’s unhappiness is that it flies away as quickly as it comes. A train ride back to Sierre solved the problem in seconds.

And then I had my first lesson on train travel with Tara in Switzerland. She loved it, to the point where she refused to get off the train. Swiss trains don’t stop for long between stations. You have to be at the door, ready to leap off.

Fortunately, for travelers like Tara, Swiss trains have very helpful conductors.

Tip for disabled travelers in Switzerland – avoid peak travel times because the crush can make it hard to make connections.

Coming next: to Bern in late November