The Steepest Postbus Route in Europe, and an Equally Steep Hike in the Kiental Valley

Wednesday, August 15th -- A holiday in the Catholic Cantons, but not in the Protestant ones. So we thought we were brilliant heading to the Protestant Canton of Bern, thinking there wouldn't be many people here as they had to be at work! Not so. We had full trains because of the "working" commuters from Zurich (also no holiday) to Bern, PLUS all the people from the Catholic regions taking the day off in the mountains. 

That meant that both little Post Buses (at least they brought in two, usually there is only one!) making this 30-minute run into the pastoral Kiental Valley were packed full including standing room, because the attraction here is that at 28% incline, this is the steepest route in Europe traveled by the Post Bus... (a local person told us this used to be a secret valley with few visitors, but nothing is secret any more....)

Our goal was to find (and have lunch at) a particular mountain farm called the Dündenalp, an alpine farm which is one of 44 "Berghilfe" (Mountain Help) Projects. (This is an organization which provides financial help to individuals wanting to establish businesses in the mountain areas). This farm is considered one of the prettiest alpine cow farms in Switzerland. And it was very idyllic and the cows were so cute, but as it seems to be a pattern for me now, even though the weather forecast was for cloudless skies, once again the clouds pulled in exactly, and ONLY exactly, right over this farm. So it was a "cold" lunch, but we were the only guests, and the alpine farm with the waterfall is as pretty as they said.

I did take home a wheel of 10-day-old cheese which should last us a while...

As seen from the train station as we got on the little bus, the clouds are just moving in exactly where we will be hiking.... (Zoomed view of the mountains known as Bluemlisalp)

It was steady uphill for an hour but it was actually quite a good climb and not too hot

It took a little over an hour to walk up the 420 altitude meters to the first of the two dairy alps. We actually stopped here because we wanted a drink, but waited for 15 minutes without service, so we left again.

Till now we actually still had sunshine. From here we walked another 50 minutes over a pretty muddy cow trail to the second alp, where we had planned to have lunch

The low clouds actually look kind of cute. As long as they don't block my sun!

Even with the clouds, it's still pretty up here

Here in Canton Berne, the main type of cow is the Simmental Cow.

Around a corner and we are met with this idyllic vista: a large pasture encircled with mountains. So beautiful up here. In the very middle is the farm we want to visit.

At the Dündenalp, which was a very rustic farmstead, we were served a nice plate of cheese and dried meat by the obviously very hard-working farmer's wife.

This is the cheese storage hut for which the farmers received financial help through the Mountain Help Organization. 

And this is the huge chunk of cheese I brought home (they didn't sell half wheels). It's only 10 days old. 10-day old cheese has rather no flavour and a rubbery texture, but I like it.

Time to head back to Griesalp to the little yellow bus. The landscape on the way down was prettier, and the trail as well.

Lots of cute and curious baby Simmental cows with their tinkly bells. It was a lovely afternoon up here.

Heading back down again

I liked the landscape here better than on the way up.

Lovely waterfall...

The trail is actually an educational trail; there were information boards along the entire loop telling of the art of mountain dairy farming, and of the workings of nature (glacier potholes, for example, of which there were two here) and the types of animals that live in the woods. This one obviously had to do with cow bells. I could only think of "The Bell for Ursli" which trail we did the week before.

And this is that very steep road, the steepest in Europe that is actually a Post Bus Route.

Along the way the driver stopped so we could take a couple of photos.

This is the Kiental Valley and we are headed back out toward Mount Niesen in the background. This is near Spiez on Lake Thun.

Our loop hike started at Griesalp, where there is a hotel and restaurant. It is the last stop on the steepest Post Bus Route in Europe.

We did this loop in exactly the time that was calculated. For us lately a rather short hike.