Panorama Hike near Thun in the Geographical Center of Canton Bern

Saturday May 22, 2021 -- Lately the weather is all mixed up, and still no sign of the snow melting. In fact, it is so cold that it continues to snow in places where we should long be walking through flowering meadows.

We've had lots of rain lately, which usually means clear skies when the forecast is for sunshine, so we traveled to Canton Bern again for a panorama hike near the city of Thun, which would give us some fantastic views of the snow-covered mountains... only with our luck, the fleeting sunshine after a rain also meant low clouds in the valleys, so although we had sunshine, our view of the mountains was hindered. AND it was very cold, and the trails were very wet and muddy. We even left home very early for this.

In addition, our planned trail was to take us to the very geographical center of Canton Bern, but again as luck had it, just before this point our trail passed directly through a shooting range, which we reached at exactly 14:00 when the shooting started. We had to backtrack and descend to the nearest train station in a village called Brenzikofen, which turned out to not be a bad thing, as there were some very pretty buildings to admire, and local hand-made icecream to purchase. We could have gone up the hill again after skirting the shooting range, but the echoing sound of the shots fired wasn't very idyllic...

On our way by train from Bern to Oberdiessbach (from where we took a bus to our starting point of Heimenschwand, but which was also going to be the end of our tour) we had this beautiful view of the Bernese Alps, probably the best for the day as the clouds moved in quite quickly in the valley. This was at 08:50 in the morning....

Our start in Heimenschwand. First main goal is Falkenflue, from where we were going to take a longer route to Oberdiessbach, for a total of 3.5 hours of walking.

Here in Heimenschwand were the first beautiful houses we got to admire.

More clever artwork on this wooden house, including a painting of the two bears under the roof overhang, which seems to be quite common on these Bernese houses

Heading up the hill from Heimenschwand, the first of many such farm houses along the way.

The view southward over the roofs of Heimenschwand to the Alps, which are already blocked by low cloud over Lake Thun

There was quite a cold wind blowing, so we found this wind-protected bench under someone's house to sit on and enjoy our first views

The large white massif in the back is the Blümlisalp Massif and is very impressive when you can see it clearly

To our southeast is a ridge called "Sigriswilergrat" which is of interest to us, as there is a narrow valley behind it, flanked on the other side by another such ridge, creating a sort of couloir which we also one day want to walk down. It's called the Justistal (Justis Valley)

Heading uphill in the direction of Falkenflue, with the Sigristalgrat behind me.

It must have been siesta time for these sheep, there wasn't a single one standing up.

Close-up of sheep back ends!

In these hills there were lots and lots of sheep.

A look south to the city of Thun

We are always impressed with these constructions, they are tiny houses where traditionally the elder owners of a farm moved into when their children took over the operation, moving into the large main farmhouse. (Alternately these were also built for servants, as bakehouses, and extra storage). These little houses are called "Stöckli" and are found in abundance in Canton Bern (Mittelland)

This is probably the best view that we had of the Blümlisalp Massif.

I'm getting all excited about the meadow flowers

Behind the Sigriswilergrat, the tip of Mt. Eiger is just starting to show as the clouds dissipate

At Falkenflue, which is the top of a long steep ridge that we're going to descend, after having lunch up here. Oberdiessbach is the goal of our excursion, but we are going the other way first, in the direction of Brenzikofen (as it turned out, we had to end our hike in Brenzikofen, because of the shooting range which we could not cross)

Our view from the bench we found in front of a building in Falkenflue (where we had our lunch). The western tip of Lake Thun is visible, with the pyramid-shaped Mt. Niesen in the middle.

An interesting artistic detail in this chimney!

Descending the Falkenflue ridge. On its West side there was a vertical drop. It was also quite windy, so if we went too close to the edge, we had the feeling we'd be blown over!

Looking North from the Falkenflue ridge. Oberdiessbach is the village on the left, where we wanted to walk to, but we didn't make it there.

As it turned out, there were many very nice buildings to admire in Brenzikofen (only the sound of the shooting was annoying)

More lovely artwork on this tiny wooden house

Lots more wonderful Bernese-style homes in this small village of Brenzikofen

In Brenzikofen, Bern

Another cute little "Stöckli"

Directly to the South are the mountains of the Gantrisch Nature Park, a place we have yet to visit (it takes us too long to get there for a day trip). 

A look up the hill to the firing range which spoiled our plans for the day. Marksmen often do their shooting practice on Saturday afternoons, and if we had been aware that there was a shooting range here, we might have thought to ask about their schedule. (I found one in the Internet after the fact)

We got to the section of the trail that crossed the shooting range right at 14:00. Maybe, if we had been there 15 minutes earlier, we might have made it across? I guess we will study our maps better next time, as the shooting ranges are actually marked on the map, you just have to know what to look for!

Our original plan to walk to Oberdiessbach after coming off the Falkenfluh, would have made this a 3.5-hour hike. So we didn't exactly pass the geographical centerpoint of Canton Bern after all. We could have walked back up the hill after skirting the range (in the circle on the map) but it was no longer idyllic with the echoes of the shots fired...

In 2017 we did another hike nearby. We could have started this hike in Linden, to join the routes, but there wasn't much to see on that stretch, and after all, the bus went all the way up the Heimenschwand.

(PHOTOS of the hike we did in 2017 from Röthenbach to Linden can be viewed HERE)

From Brenzikofen we had to travel to Thun by train, before returning home. This is the castle in the city of Thun.

The area where we did our hike this day (in the circle)

The city of Bern as we head out of the train station, heading North

Another favourite sight of mine is the Aarburg Castle (on the River Aar) near Olten, which we pass each time we travel to Bern.