Swiss Alps, June 2010
Another high-speed jaunt around Europe - this time to visit my eldest brother, in Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss Alps.
After a flight to Zurich, and a slightly blurred view of Berne station (2 minutes to change trains! Fortunately Swiss trains are, well, Swiss), I got a great view of the Thunersee as the train approached Interlaken and the mountains. Lauterbrunnen itself sits is a beautiful valley surrounded by cliffs with waterfalls and green hillsides, with serious mountains all around - the Jungfrau almost overhangs the valley.
The next morning, we took the cog railway up via Wengen, on the hill above, to Kleine Scheidegg and then on up through a tunnel inside the Eiger mountain to the Jungfraujoch. Though expensive and rather touristy, the Jungfraujoch is still impressive - situated at the top of a glacier at 3500m, the view is amazing - blindingly bright, being entirely snow-covered in June. Afterwards we did the long walk down through classic alpine meadows and woods to Wengen, for some well-earned beers and dinner.
On Monday, I took the gondola up to the cliff-top above Lauterbrunnen with a mountain-bike, and followed the woodland path along the ridge to Mirren (a bustling and entirely car-free village) and then along a steep, bumpy and very fun path down to the head of Lauterbrunnen valley. Later, for a change in pace, Alistair and I did an excursion back to see Berne. This is a busy, friendly and pleasant city, with its old city situated on a hill above a bend in the fast-flowing river Aar. As well as having dinner there, we also visited the city's mascots - the bears! The two cubs play-fighting and paddling in the river were especially cute, while the dad just wanted a snooze in the shade...
The next day, I went out walking again. After taking the gondola up to Männlichen - a small (at 2,343m) mountain above the valley - I followed the trail along towards Klien Scheidegg. I also took a couple of detours up the peaks - Tchuggen (2520m) and Lauberhorn (2472m), with spectacular view of the valleys and the north face of the Eiger and Monch, and a close encounter with an eagle that whizzed past the ridgeline.
Wednesday was the day for the big hike - from Mirren up to the Schilthorn (2970m), an altitude change of over a kilometre. Starting in woodland, this wound up past the treeline though stunning terrain, which grew rockier as I climbed. Soon large patches of snow were around, and as I approached the midway point near Birg the path itself was snow-covered. By the time I reached the base of the Schilthorn proper, the snow was several feet deep in places on the path, and the final ascent involved a bit of scrambling through scree and snow. Definitely not a straightforward walk, but rewarding and good fun, and with epic views all round. Unfortunately when I reached the top (a revolving restaurant which can otherwise only be reached by an enormously long cable-car ride), the view disappeared in the mist as a cloud came down. No matter, a tasty lunch was to be had, followed by a wander back down the trail to Mirren
I capped off the trip with an outing with Alistair to Lucerne, a pretty city on its own lake. The final set of photos are again of the Thunersee - this time at dawn, on the return journey. An excellent trip, in some of the most stunning landscapes I've seen - thoroughly recommended!
- Login to post comments