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Published: August 7th 2009
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I’m a bit behind on the blogging as we have been pretty flat out since our day relaxing in the rain near Zermatt!
The rain did continue as we made our way towards the Jungfrau area. Luckily it did stop in the afternoon - which is just as well, as we spent nearly and hour and a half trying to find a camp ground!
Since we were planning on spending a few days here we decided to hunt for a really nice pitch. The first camp was really expensive and the pitch was in the overflow carpark overlooking the chemical loo point. The second camp was huge - and very, very busy. The first thing we saw was a massive Contiki bus in the parking lot so we fled! Similarly, the third campground was geared towards ‘Top Deck’ and the lady warned us about the noise because of ‘the bus loads of young drunk Australians’ we didn’t need much more convincing. The fourth was too wet, Brian would have sunk in the mud and the fifth ended out being perfect. Lucky for us we got the last remaining pitch! Whew!
Our camp was the last in the Lauterbrunnen
Valley which is also known as the Valley of the 72 Waterfalls. On our first afternoon we went for a walk but the low cloud and rain meant that we couldn’t see much beyond the base of the valley walls. We realised we weren’t going to see much unless the rain cleared so we did some pretty serious praying to the weather gods that night!
Ah yes, the weather god smiled on us. The next day was like waking up in another world. Our campground was right at the base of some outstanding waterfalls, steep forested cliffs on three sides, a glacier and snow capped mountains. Due to the rain, the waterfalls were pumping out the water and looked amazing.
Wanting to beat the crew from the Contiki bus, we jumped on our bikes and cycled a few kilometres down the road to Trummelbach Falls. These were something completely different as the falls here are actually inside the mountain. The falls drain all the water from HUGE glaciers sitting up behind them in the mountains. A giant lift takes you up to the top and you walk through tunnels looking at the falls. The force from the pounding
water was amazing, the walls vibrated and we couldn’t even speak to each other over the thundering water. Taking photos was pretty difficult due to the dark conditions, so I haven’t put any on this blog.
We spent the rest of our stay relaxing and hiking. We went up to Gimmelwald which is a ‘pretty as a picture’ Swiss village up on a hill above the valley and also walked The Eiger Trail in the Grindlewald Valley.
To begin ‘The Eiger Trail’, we caught a cogwheel railway to a station in the mountain. The station was full of tourists and funnily enough, full of goats wearing bells! At first we thought they were a gimmick for a café or something but it turns out that these little highlanders shun their diet of alpine flowers and grass, and venture down to the train station where they spend their time nibbling on crossiants and waffles. Now that’s good thinking!
The North face of the Eiger is an amazing sheer rock face and The Eiger Trail takes you right underneath it. One of the highlights of the day had to be the beautiful Glacier that drains down to Trummelbach Falls.
It was a good uphill slog in the sun and added an hour onto the Eiger Trail but it was definitely worth the effort.
After our days of hiking and relaxing, it was time to pack up and head out through Interlarken and the lovely Susten Pass. This pass was absolutely stunning. Certainly one of the prettiest mountain passes we have ever driven over.
Our short time in Switzerland definitely lived up to expectations. The areas we saw were stunning - definitely the stuff of glossy magazines and those brochures you see in the window of travel agencies. The hiking here is amazing - you could spend years in the Swiss Alps and never hike the same path twice. The stereotypical images are true: beautiful blue lakes, deep blue skies, glaciers, valleys, mountains and especially… cows with bells! They are everywhere!
Not the cheapest place in Europe to visit (the cable cars and mountain railways are pricey) but not as bad as expected. Would we visit again? Definitely!
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