Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs: October 2018

Wednesday October 17 -- After spending a restful night in the pretty hotel Emmental in Thun, we enjoyed the town in early morning light (all these years we have been passing through on our way to Canton Valais and this is the first time we actually had a look at this pretty old town, now one of my favourites) on our way to the train station for the second day in this area: A hike above Lake Oeschinensee. (Photos of Thun are at the very bottom of the page).

This lake is extremely popular and so we have put off hiking in this area for a long time now. Every review I ever read about hiking near this lake mentioned the masses of tourists. I try to avoid hiking where lots of other people do, because I don't like the constant chatter; I need the silence that belongs to this kind of landscape. So mid-October with balmy weather was probably the best we could hope for.

Most of the people who come up to this lake (there is a very handy gondola cableway just 15 minutes' walk from the Kandersteg railway station) go straight to the lakeshore but we chose the high trail, less frequented, but on this day still enough people walking up here so you can't really get away from the chatter. But I cannot deny it, this setting is definitely something spectacular and no wonder everyone wants to come up here. And even though there is a decent amount of uphill, it is a good trail with a lot of variety and not difficult or dangerous in any way.

I could almost say it was a satisfying way to end (maybe) a long year of hiking, except that we should have descended with the cableway again after returning to the foot of the lake, but we decided to walk the extra 45 minutes back down to Kandersteg, which was rather uninteresting, and partly steep and gravelly. So as a reward, we stopped for a sweet chestnut vermicelli dessert at the cutest little chalet-café we had seen in Kandersteg in the morning....

From Kandersteg Train station it is a 15-minute walk to the Cableway (on the left)

Heading up to the lake in the Gondola, looking down at Kandersteg

The ascent was not particularly difficult. The trail was good and varied.

I always enjoy sections of trail like this one!

Looking backwards at how far we came from the summit of the cableway

First glimpses of the lake, definitely a jewel!

It is impossible to capture the splendour of this setting. The lake is surrounded by vertical cliffs on three sides!

An alpine chough

It is only possible to photograph this with a 360-deg setting on the phone-camera, but the shade on the opposite side appears "washed out"

That promontory was a good look-out point, but also many people there. From there the trail was pretty level, a real treat to walk.

Up ahead are a few cabins, one of which has a terrace and the farmers are still up there serving refreshments. After our picnic lunch, we descended the zigzag trail back to the lake

It was a spectacular view along the entire trail

Up there, next to the flag, is where we had our picnic lunch

The cabins receive extra propping with sticks and stones to withstand the pressure of four meters of snow here in winter

From here we walked another hour and 45 minutes down to Kandersteg, but we should have only gone back to the lake and taken the gondola down again

Exactly at this spot is where we had our picnic lunch

Up on the right is the high trail, and from here you go back down to the lake.

They have fixed up the trail here, it's wide enough for a the farmer to drive a small quad up, but slightly steep none-the-less. When he came racing up the trail, it was hard to find spots to give way to him!

Very interesting and varied trail. The loop took 2.5 hours and was not at all boring.

There were many people hiking this loop, several were hiking in groups as well.

And heading back to the foot of the lake.

Here at the foot of the lake is a restaurant with sunny exposure. Lots of people come up here. We were up on the slope on the left.

Heading down the valley back to Kandersteg, there were a couple of glimpses of the valley, but mostly the trail was gravelly and steep.

For all our effort we decided to reward ourselves with a dessert at this very lovely café in Kandersteg.

Ice cream sundaes with meringues, whipping cream and sweet chestnut past vermicelli.

Our total walking time was about four hours.

If I ever did this again, I would ride both ways with the Gondola

CITY OF THUN in Early Morning light, a 10-minute walk from the Hotel to the train station:

View from the Hotel Room

Hotel Emmental in Thun, it had a great Mexican Restaurant, the rooms were modern, but the room doors were paper thin, still the originals!

Schloss Thun

On the Aar Canal

There were two wooden bridges, this one at right angles

The lovely town of Thun

This second covered bridge is about two minutes from the train station.

Thun on the Aar Canal

Tuesday October 16 -- A trip to the top of Mount Schilthorn, world-renowned from the James Bond movie "On her Majesty's Service" which was mostly filmed at that location in 1969, is usually an expensive proposition reserved mainly for Asian Tour Groups -- who whip up and down again within an hour before rushing off to the next "must-see" peak on their whirlwind prepaid coach tour of Europe -- but we had discount passes so took the opportunity to head up there, mainly for the view, as there isn't much regular hiking to be done (just long, steep slopes).

Mount Schilthorn, whose revolving restaurant is nicknamed Piz Gloria (from the movie) is accessed by a series of cable cars from Stechelberg at the back of the Lauterbrunnen Valley via the little vacation village of Mürren. Before heading all the way up, we had planned a 3-hour hike near Mürren, because I always feel we must include a hike on our day-trips, but for fear of running out of daylight, we only did a short round tour up to Allmendhubel on the newly created "Flower Trail" (no flowers this time of year, though) for our first views of the famous Berner Trio: Mounts Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau.

By that time the cable car was less jam-packed, so that was a good thing. Up at the summit, the building and surrounding view platforms are decked out in 007 trivia: A movie theatre, a walk of fame introducing some of the Swiss skiers who had stunt roles, the revolving restaurant that serves a James Bond breakfast buffet (I immediately got dizzy when I stepped foot on the revolving part) and more, most of which we ignored, except the stunning views across the tops of the mountains....

Our plan on the way back down to Mürren was to stop at the mid-station called Birg, which according to the webcam from the day before had a lovely sunny terrace and bistro serving French Fries and such, which I was looking forward to, but would you know it, they closed exactly this week for the season.... But there's a new gimmick here for the tourists: The "Thrill Walk", a 200-m walkway built onto the steep rock face, with glass-bottomed sections or a metal mesh tube you can crawl through. Not quite finished building yet, at this point you have to walk back the same way, and that can be difficult with all the tourist groups, but still it's an interesting addition.

Instead of returning to Stechelberg in the valley bottom, we walked through Mürren to the little train that runs parallel to the valley but high up, and from there took a different cable car down to Lauterbrunnen. We had planned a second hike in the area the next day, so stayed in an old hotel next to the castle in the lovely city of Thun. That was the "icing on the cake", such a pretty town and the evening so mild for a stroll in the old town.

So actually, this day ended up consisting of FOUR mini-excursions...

PART I .... 5-km hike to Allmendhubel

Usually there is a funicular you can take from Mürren to the top of this little hill, but they had just closed for fall revision, so we hiked the 330 m uphill along the newly created "Flower Trail", which we will definitely come back again to do in summer, as they had all kinds of information about plants and herbs and their medicinal properties. It was a short 2-hour round-trip back to the Schilthorn cable car.

In Mürren, here's one of many full loads of Asians already on their way back down from Mount Schilthorn at 11 a.m., heading back to their Bus and the next mountain they have to ascend.

Mount Jungfrau, at 4158m the third highest mountain in the Bernese Oberland, dominates the landscape

Up above is the Schilthorn station called Birg, the one with the Thrill Walk below the station building.

It was a pleasant walk up here to the cauldron-shaped valley below Birg Station

Lots of interesting information to learn about alpine plants and their medicinal purposes. This one: VERY POISONOUS!

A flower park for the kids at the summit station of the funicular, which was in revision as of this week.

Walking back to Mürren beneath the Allmendhubel funicular

PART II .... To the summit of Mount Schilthorn

The first part of the cableway goes to the mid-station at Birg, where you have to change to a single car that continues to the summit:

Heading up above the cauldron-shaped valley. Slightly to the left is the little peak called Allmendhubel.

Approaching the mid-station Birg with its viewing platform and "Thrill Walk". We changed cable-cars here to head up to the summit of Mount Schilthorn.

Second section passes over a little lake called Grauseeli. You can walk there from either cable-car station.

Approaching the summit: Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant and James Bond museum.

At the summit, at 2970m above sea level, is the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria and some James Bond trivia, but mostly we came for the view, although unfortunately rather hazy this day. We stayed up here for an hour and then returned to the mid-station "Birg" where we had planned to enjoy coffee on the sunny terrace.

In the background the distinctive North Face of Mount Eiger

Some James Bond Trivia

Along the "Walk of Fame" are quotes by Swiss skiers who participated in chase scenes in the movie. We went out just slightly past the second viewing platform.

On top of Mount Schilthorn

Piz Gloria. The movie company was allowed to film here in 1969 provided they supply financial help to finish building the not-yet-completed building.

We came especially for the view of the trio of mountains well-known and well-loved in the Bernese Alps: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau and the Lauterbrunnen Valley way way below.

Next load of tourists coming up from Birg Station. On this stretch there is only one cable car and it runs every 15 minutes.

Really. Some people still try to walk here in heels...

PART III .... The Thrill Walk at Schilthorn Birg

A 200-m walkway attached to the vertical cliff face, to offer a bit something to the tourists. This will be better when they finish the escalator at the far end, so you don't have to walk back the same way. My favourite part of the walk was the sign that warned you "not to leave the Thrill Walk"...

Looking up past the little lake called Grauseeli to the summit of Mount Schilthorn

All the people.

Walking the "Thrill Walk"

So who would want to actually "leave" the "Thrill Walk"?

Not much danger, although I guess some people have problems looking down.

Another group of Asian tourists, they come by the busload all day long.

I rather enjoyed this. We timed it badly though, should have come earlier in the day after all, to get more sun.

Up on the sunny terrace, the bistro had already closed for the season and all the picnic tables were removed.

Tourist shot!

And then returning to Mürren, taking a train for 20 minutes northward along this side of the valley, and descending with another cable car to Lauterbrunnen.

Returning to Lauterbrunnen (on this section are two cable cars, they run every half-hour or more often if there are lots of people.

Walking through the village of Brunnen (15 minutes) to the little train.

The mountains look totally different from down here.

Arrived at the Grütschalp Station, before descending on the cable car, one last view of Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau. On the distinctive saddle (Jungfraujoch) between Mounts Mönch and Jungfrau is the famous observatory called "Top of Europe". Perhaps this was the next stop for the Asian Tour Groups after coming down Mount Schilthorn.

Zoomed view of the observatory "Top of Europe"

Evening light in Lauterbrunnen. From here we travel for an hour by train to Thun.

PART IV ... The lovely quaint city of Thun.

The air was mild and warm and there were still lots of people sitting outside in the cafés and on the promenade along the Aar River Canal. Of course it was only 6 p.m. These are all the pretty things we saw on our way to the hotel, a 10-minute walk from the train station.