Neumühle to Lüderenalp in the Emmental

June 10, 2017 -- We had a plan. We picked the trail and figured out the train schedule. And then... good thing we checked the Engelberg website because we saw that the trail we wanted to walk is closed. Maybe still icy on the shady sections? Or maybe a land slide? They didn't say.

Plan B, a hike in the Emmental region of Switzerland, one I've been wanting to do for a while. But when we got closer we saw the dark clouds hanging low to the South and blue skies to the North, so after a quick look on my hiking App, we took a chance on something unplanned to the North.... and it was a pleasant success.

Also in the Emmental, we walked North 11km along a ridge from which we had views into valleys on both sides, such a picturesque landscape with typical Emmental houses. The first part was through a forest called the Dürsrüti forest, known for its very large and tall fir trees. At the end of our hike after an icecream treat at the pass restaurant Lüderenalp, we marveled at the "longest bench in the world" made entirely of the trunk of such a white fir, 38 meters in length.

The bus ride back was along a road so narrow that it is closed to opposing traffic for 30 minutes for each of the bus's four runs each way. 

And best of all, at the start of our trip we discovered the most fantastic second-hand book shop I have ever seen! The owner has packed over 210,000 books and records and DVDs into four storeys of the old mill, built shelves into and around the old mechanical works, with labyrinthine nooks and old carpets and reading corners... and musty musty smell, that we almost got lost and didn't make it on our hike.

Definitely going back there one day, just to walk the labyrinth again. Don't know how one could ever decide on a book....

This is the typical style of Emmental houses

Düsrüti forest has lots of large fir trees. According to an information placard, the largest (Number 165) is 42 m high and 156 cm in diameter, and is 350 years old. We didn't see it.

We started late in the day, and had lunch at 2 pm., in the Fir Forest

The village below is approximately where we started the hike.

Our view West was all the way to the Jura foothills and the French border

We got a few glimpses of the Bernese Alps from here (South of our location)

Mowing the meadows is hard work in Switzerland, and this isn't even really a steep slope.

This house has a drive-through section!

The air wasn't clear but we did get some views of the Bernese Alps

Another well-earned rest after a steep uphill section

Admiring the view South across the vast Emmental landscape

This branch broke off recently, it crashed into the public fire pit. I wonder if anyone was there at the time?

Urs is laughing because I just stepped into a cow pie.

Not much more than 5 minutes to the Lüderenalp Pass

Ice cream reward for a successful hike

The world's longest bench made of one entire tree trunk = 38 m

If you come by car and you want to drive this road, and you just happen to come at 08:10 or 10:10, for example, you have to wait 30 minutes till the bus arrives. There are special "waiting places".

The red path is what we had planned to walk, the green one is what we ended up doing (11 km, 3 hour 15 mins.)

At the start of our hike was this large old mill, no longer used as a mill, but as a huge second-hand book store (Urs is talking to the "owner" of the project)

On four storeys are over 210,000 books and records and CDs in "The Book Mill"

On four storeys are over 210,000 books and records and CDs in "The Book Mill"

Most of the inner workings of the mill were kept here, and shelves built all around them.