Up the hill

---

---

Isn't that the magic of travelling when you're planning to go somewhere and you end up somewhere completely different??? Well, my initial destination was Chamonix and I even made it there. Believe it or not I EVEN foudn a place to stay (that's not in my car!!). The bad news were that I litteraly could touch the clouds and it was pissing down with rain. So guess what that meant for a climb up those mountains around town....
Consequently it didn't take too long and I sat down examining the map of Switzerland and the weatherforecast simultaniously. I looked at the route I was going to take north, closed my eyes and pointed on any spot that happened to be in my finger's way. If it was close enough to my proposed route north I double checked the weather report, then researched the net for hiking trails in the area. The second hit was a go! So I instantly (well afer a long chat with Jeannette:-)) packed up and got on my way towards Melchsee-Frutt. Luckily I got there just when the visitor's center was about to close. The lady was friendly enough to equip me with hiking maps of the area even though it was already a quarter past when I left (she worked overtime for me, awesome!). By then I was close to starving so over dinner I examined the map that I had bought and figured that there was only one spot worth going to (not much space is free of settlements even higher up in the mountains). I assumed that I would have to take the gondola up to a high plateau, so I spent the night - due to a lack of affordable accomodation - in my Volvo, hidden on some deserted forestry road. The next morning I was told that I could actually drive up all the way. Only one direction can be driven at a time, it alternates hourely. It took a while to get up there - the farmers were driving their life stock down the valley - and guess what - yes, they were using the same road. Lucky I had no bull run into my precious mobile home:-). On the way up I was wishing for a nice affordable place with nice people and ask my intiution to guide me. And amazingly it didn't take me long to find that place. The owner wasn't there, but the guests told me that it shouldn't be a problem. So I packed my hiking gear and went on my first hike. As it turned out half way into the trek it was going to be a 8 to 9 hour tough sort of walk. Ah well, that's what I came for. When I returned I found the other 6 guests from Loerrach (which means that they almost spoke the same dialect as the owner - swiss German, which is hardly recognisable for me as anything even remotely related to German) and the owner getting pissed already. So even though I didn't end up doing that multiple day hike that I had been yearning for I enjoyed this version of hiking trip very much. I could even have a hot shower!!! And a hot meal that didn't only consist of dried instant food. And the best about it - the German guys' kids cooked for us!!! If that's not a success...well...I don't know what is:-)

---