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Published: August 2nd 2009
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Reflections of the Matterhorn.
One of the five lakes in the mountains above Zermatt. Well here we are in lovely Switzerland! At the moment we are having a lazy day, catching up on a bit of reading, napping and blogging. Half the reason for this is because our feet are quite sore and the other half is due to the weather. We have rain and thunder today so it’s quite nice being wrapped up in the van while watching the rain hit the glaciers above us.
We are currently staying near a little village called
Randa which is about 15 minutes drive away from Zermatt Village. We have spent the last couple of days doing loads of walking around the
Zermatt area and have been blown away by the ease of Swiss travel. We could get quite used to this place!
Our campsite is fantastic. There are no set pitches. You can just set up wherever you want to. As it gets busier, I suppose they just open up more of the paddock. There is good walking just outside the van and most of the people here are here for hiking and biking so its really quiet. Oh, did I mention the bathrooms? Real showers and toilets with paper! Ridiculously clean too. Go
Switzerland!
Our reason for coming to this area of course was to see the famous
Matterhorn. As you can see from the photos, we ticked that box pretty well!
The area is an absolute drawcard for walkers and the tourist infrastructure make it all very easy. The campsite owners are so helpful, the tourist information centre is the best we have ever encountered, maps are freely given and everything is clearly marked. With all this, you would think that the hiking trails would be teeming with people but this hasn’t really been the case so far. On our first hike around Randa, we didn’t pass another person for hours.
Yesterday we set out on another big hike starting from the chocolate box village of Zermatt.
Zermatt has a magical setting in a valley surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It is a pedestrianised village so all cars have to stop in the outlying villages. People get about by walking, cycling or small electric taxi cars, a little like tuk tuks. To be honest, I was dreading going to Zermatt as we are getting a bit sick of tourist towns, but the cleanliness, efficiency, and miles of beautiful
Go the Matterhorn!
Yes Shannon, we copied you and Rob! Jump! window boxes has kind of won me over a little! Even if the place is crawling with loads of coach tour groups, it is really easy to get away from everyone. All you have to do is arrive early and hit the mountain trails.
Our walk took us on a two-hour stretch straight up the side of the valley. In the hot sun, we were both feeling this by the time we got to the top! After getting some great shots of the Matterhorn, we continued upwards for another five hours, exploring the lakes, waterfalls and amazing mountain views. The final two hours were downhill - surprisingly, this again, being the most painful. Downhill walking is a killer; I have three blisters and that’s just on my little toe! My feet have aged ten years in the past week.
The scenery is stunning. The butterflies gorgeous and the alpine flowers were outstanding. There were so many colours and varieties. Only in the ‘Valley of Flowers’ in the Himalayas, have we ever seen alpine flowers like it.
Even in summer it is easy to see how great the winter sports must be. We gazed at the ski runs,
trying to imagine what they must be like to ski. Loads of them looked terrifying but there seemed to be plenty of green and blue runs for numpties like me! In summer, many of the cable cars and lifts are still running allowing mountain bikers to transport bikes. Loads of hikers take the cable cars to a certain point before walking around and catching the lifts back down to Zermatt. I guess this gives everyone a chance to get a bit of mountain air - pretty expensive though. I’d rather get the exercise any day!
It looks like the rain has stopped and the sun is beginning to shine through again. We are going for a small cycle this afternoon so hopefully the sun and my legs will last the day! I’ll certainly be avoiding those hills!
Tomorrow we are setting off again for the
Jungfrau area and a bit more exploring.
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