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Date:
July
2005. We drove
to Switzerland, just to be different, and we had a really good
run down there. Switzerland was always going to be
nostalgic, not only because it had been my first and only
school trip of which I had fond memories; but also because it
was where Dave proposed to me, in the car park in Grindelwald,
in the rain. You know where you are with Switzerland -
no nasty surprises, everything as it should be, with a
ponderous sense of humour. My only memory of the
Lauterbrunnental was a coach trip on the said school holiday
to the Trümmelbach Falls, so I really did look at it with
fresh eyes, and what's not to like? You overdose on
spectacular scenery in Switzerland everywhere you look, and
with the Staubbach waterfall crashing down the valley walls
right in the village, I breathed a sigh of contentment;
wherever we went, the pictures would be wonderful. But
mountain weather has a will of its own, so our walk along the
valley floor to Stechelburg was fated to be in the rain, with
the clouds descending and rather obliterating the stunning
view upwards that we knew was there. But as we were also
going inside the mountain to see the Trümmelbach Falls, it
didn't really matter - we were going to get wet whatever we
did. They were as spectacular as I remembered, and I
unashamedly enjoyed getting soaked in such a special way.
Wengen
and Mürren were very pleasant to wander through with so
little traffic and always with those wonderful views.
For July, to me, it was remarkably uncrowded which meant I
could linger in little shops and alleyways whilst Dave plonked
his camera wherever he could. This is always a nice part
of the job - when we are not on the trail it becomes a relaxed
walk through certain parts that is always refreshing. I
love trains, to trundling on and off all these little networks
was fine with me, although train fares in Switzerland are not
cheap. I was suitably (and not often!) speechless at the
price of reaching the Jungfraujoch, and could have shed a tear
for a family of four! But it is worth it, oh it most
certainly is. You really feel the altitude up there, and
there are signs everywhere warning you not to hurry but take
your time. The Observatory platform affords a
fascinating view of the glacier, but I'm not a fan of the
see-through gratings, I really have to keep my eyes fixed
firmly on the horizon on these things. I pestered Dave
for a dog-sled ride, and it was over far too quickly.
The dogs are bred on the glacier, and the urge to pull is so
strong that the one dog that was 'resting' strained on his
leash to be part of the sled team whenever it set off.
It was very busy up there, with a constant stream of walkers
following the roped guides to various viewpoints. At the
cog railway station there was a large party of Japanese
tourists who came out onto the snowy observation area, had a
group photo taken and then departed. I felt that they
had completely missed the experience; you need to stand and
gaze around you and take it all in - it's so beautiful a
single glance just won't do.
The
walk from Mannlichen to Kleinescheidegg was an absolute
delight - I've never seen so many alpine flowers, and an
English couple who were regular visitors told us that it
seemed exceptional to them too. Typically in Switzerland, the
way signs were immaculate, uniform and upright, and gave the
exact distance, the time to walk it and the gradient of the
path as well, which was a bit too much information in a way.
It did rather take the guesswork out of it all, and sometimes,
that's part of the fun. But a Swiss map is exact, so I
suppose there was never any real chance of getting pleasantly
lost. Kleine Scheidegg itself was a zoo and almost
completely without character - it was just a terminus for the
bahn up to the Jungfraujoch, so we didn't spend a lot of time
there. We walked down the mountain to Grindeldwald (of
course!) and had a fond moment reminiscing before catching the
Bernese Oberland Bahn (BOB) back to Lauterbrunnen.
The
Heimat Museum there was really interesting, although we seemed
to be the only visitors there. Granted there were an
awful lot of wooden tools and objects, but there were also
rare records of the first tourists to the valley, and other
items that told the history of the skiing boom there - it
appears the British have the honour of having invented winter
sports in the valley. The lace making group were great
fun to talk to; my German is rusty but kept improving so I was
able to have a reasonable chat with the ladies who have my
total respect for the dexterity and nimbleness of their
fingers and their total focus - I don't think I have the
concentration to follow the intricacies of their lace
patterns. It is so labour intensive that it is possible
to understand the demise of the industry; that and the
penchant for machine made items.
As
usual, the food in Lauterbrunnen was very good, but it is
expensive, so we quite often bought rolls and cheese and
cooked meats and made our own meals for the trails which we
tend to do anyway. Everyone is so courteous and
efficient that your stay in Switzerland is guaranteed to go
without a hitch, except for the unpredictability of the
weather.
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the Lauterbrunnental
E-mail
Debra at:
grindelwald_prods@lycos.com
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