In Switzerland

Our Trip to Europe, September and October 2008

30 August (Saturday):

Left Lauchringen for Switzerland about 10:30 am with two cars. We had to follow Christian as he wanted to go the most direct way which involved small, unimportant roads on the map. We had the planned route marked on our map incase we lost them on the way but didn’t really want to try and follow that. If we had lost them I would have got our GPS system working and taken the more main roads. However we never lost them. Christian did take a turn that put us on the wrong freeway, going east instead of west so we had to turn around at an overpass/exit and got back on to the correct freeway. It being a Saturday, the typical Swiss road traffic was in effect – thousands of motorbikes and hundreds of bicycles working their way up into the high passes and then down again. The Swiss cyclists must be the most fit group in the world – those roads go up thousands of METERS, some very steep.

We arrived at our lodgings about 3pm. The house we are in is about 400 meters up from the valley floor. Our suites are both very nice I think there are 6 suites in this house, two per floor. The view over the valley is lovely.

31 August (Sunday):

We woke to a partially cloudy sky, but lots of blue visible. We are eating all our meals together in the Wirth’s suite. We decided to use that one as it has a better supply of cooking utensils and lots of herbs and spices we can use. It does not have a dishwasher but we decided the things it does have make up for having to wash the dishes by hand.

After a good breakfast Hans and Christian drove to the destination town of today’s hike and left our car, then returned. We started our hike from our house. It took about half and hour to climb up to the ridge, 275 meters higher than the house. From there it was reasonably level walk for about 90 minutes. We met lets of other people walking the route too. The views of the valley and mountains were wonderful. At one place there was a beautiful valley going up the mountain that was full of purple wildfire flowers. It was then we realized we didn’t have the camera with us! The third hour of the walk was down about 300 meters to the valley floor at the town where our car had been left. We had been walking up the valley and the floor had been rising so we were much closer to the floor than when we started. It was a very nice hike.

During the walk we had watched dark clouds gathering over the mountains. We had stopped at a small cabin we passed and talked to the owner (the cabin is his hunting lodge and he was getting it ready for the hunting season). He said it would not rain on our walk, but maybe in the evening. Sure enough, about 8pm the thunder and lightening started and it poured for a while.

1 September (Monday):

This morning the sun was shining brightly on us while the valley was covered in cloud. We thought the sun would burn it off quickly but instead the wind started blowing and soon there were clouds everywhere. We had to go grocery shopping (the stores all close for a 3 hour lunch and often for the afternoon as well) so we did that chore after breakfast and returned in time to have some lunch. The sky was showing some blue off to the west, the way we wanted to hike, so we got ourselves on the way by 2pm. We started the same way we went yesterday but turned west instead of east at the first trail junction. The path was much more up and down than the day before, with the path often clinging to the edge of a steep slope. This country is 80% vertical. Again we had one car waiting for us at the end of the trail, in Bellwald.

2 September (Tuesday):

A beautiful clear sky this morning – perfect for our trip to see the Matterhorn. The drive was about 2 hours, then we had to park the car and take a train to Zermatt. From there cog-wheel train takes you up to a spectacular view point called Gornergrat, with several stops along the way. At the top the altitude was over 10,000 feet (3,100 meters). Hans and I both felt the lack of oxygen. We had wonderful views of the Matterhorn on the way up but it was difficult to get a photo from the moving train. From Gornergrat we could see about a dozen glaciers, receded to the point where they no longer meet. We were above the snow line but there was no snow left where we were. We walked part of the way down enjoying the wonderful panorama. By the time we were part way down it was getting close to 2pm. We had been told that by that time the clouds would be covering the Matterhorn and they were covering one side and starting to work their way around the whole thing. After descending about 800 meters we reached a station that was still a 2 hour walk from Zermatt. My knee said enough as did the time (about 3:00) so we rode the train the rest of the way down then had a brief walk around Zermatt. What a tourist town! It’s a good thing no cars are there – pedestrians fill the streets – and I do mean fill. Not a place any of us would want to spend a holiday. We had left at 9:30 in the morning and returned at 6:00 pm. A lovely day.

3 September (Wednesday):

Today we had expected rain so scheduled a late start. Instead there was lots of blue sky so we changed our plans and set out for another hike. Our first hike had taken us eastward to the town of Gluringen. Today we drove back to Gluringen and hiked from there to Munster. The trail took us from 1300 meters to 1800 meters to get around a steep valley and over the river that made the valley. It took an hour of steady climbing to get to the bridge over the river. Then it took another hour and a half to walk down and over to Munster, where we did some grocery shopping before driving home (in the car positioned in Munster before we started). During the hike the clouds built up but the rain didn’t arrive until dinner time and then it was just a brief shower. However rain is forecast for tomorrow and the clouds are all around us.

4 September (Thursday):

We awoke to find we were inside the clouds. It wasn’t really raining but the moisture was condensing on the slate roof and dripping into the eaves trough. It was late morning when we drove east, the way we had come, to the foot of the high pass. There we continued up the river instead of turning to the pass. The river comes from the Rhone Glacier. Back in 1860 someone dug a cave into the face of the glacier and every year since a new one is created. The glacier is currently moving 10 cm a day so the cave has to be cleaned up every morning. We paid our 5 Swiss Francs each and walked the trail to the glacier view points and then into the tunnel and the cave. They have installed fluorescent lights (no heat from fluorescent lights) in holes in the walls so the deep blue colour of the ice shows up well. The glacier has receded some in the last 50 years but not far compared to the Mendenhal Glacier near Juneau, Alaska. (That one is at sea level where this one is over 1400 meters high.) What it has lost is height. The cave was dripping about the same amount of water as the clouds were outside. We have a hike planned for tomorrow so hope the weather co-operates.

5 September (Friday):

We awoke to a mostly blue sky so our hike looked to be great. Problem was, Hans, after a 10 hour sleep, felt too tired to do anything. He complained of sweating and feeling dizzy. After breakfast Christian insisted he see a doctor so arranged an almost immediate appointment with a doctor in Munster. The Dr. checked him out, found his blood pressure was at the very high end of the acceptable range, gave him some medications (pharmacy and blood testing lab attached to his office) and sent him home to rest. The Wirths and I decided we wanted to hike and left him in the house while we drove west to the town of Aletsch where we took a cable car up to 1900 feet and started our hike to see the glacier (the largest in the Alps). It took us two and a half hours to reach the farthest point of our hike at an altitude of 2333 meters. We returned along a path on a very old moraine, lower than the trail up. This path was fairly level. It took us one and a half hours to get back to the Cable Car. Ute and I were both aching in our sore joints by the end but the trip was well worth it. We had taken an hour longer than the guide book had said the hike would be so Hans was beginning to wonder about us by the time we returned, six and a half hours after leaving him. He was feeling just fine and had recovered fully, thank goodness, as he has to drive us back to Lauchringen (the Wirth’s home town) tomorrow.

6 September (Saturday):

The German schools open on Monday so there were a lot of cars on the road heading home to Germany. In spite of the heavy traffic we made good time and reached Lauchringen by 2:30pm. We had to shop for groceries in Munster, Switzerland, as all stores close at noon on Saturday and don’t open until Monday in both countries.

7 September (Sunday):

Today we drove for about an hour to the northwest. We went through Switzerland then back into Germany, this being the shortest route to see the ruins of a mountain top fortress (Burg) called Hohentwiel. The Burg was built on the remains of a volcanic cinder cone so the trail up was very steep – just as much energy needed as the trail up to the Aletsch glacier on Friday, though this one was not quite as long. From various parts of the castle, especially the lookout tower, we had a wonderful view of the surrounding country, which included the town of Constance and Lake Constance (the Boden See). Part of the trip was through downpours of rain but at the Burg the sun was shining. We returned the long way, staying in Germany.

8 September (Monday):

Today the sun burned the clouds off in the morning. We went for a hike in the afternoon. We placed one car at our destination then walked from the house here. It was a pretty walk through the woods and pastures where we saw a few deer, then up to another ruined Burg. The first use of the lookout was by the Romans! The ruins are the remains of structures started in the 12th Century. There is not much left but there is a tower with a 360 degree view of the whole country-side. A great finish to our stay with the Wirths.