Sunsets in Switzerland

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A quick call to Sempachersee Camping in the morning confirms that they have a place for us and off we go. Simon has been nervous that we will encounter some large mountains with steep gradients, but this is the Swiss and why go up a mountain when you can bore a tunnel through it and save everyone the bother.

Claire pulls her commercial skills out and, after 9 weeks coming, we have our first premier pitch – right on the lake, a view to savour, sunset directly infront – so good even the locals come to admire the view and take pictures across the lake from our pitch at sundown.

The first night is idyllic; beautiful weather and the boys playing crazy golf around the caravan. The next morning lovely too and we head off to the lido next door where they play in the long awaited paddling pool as neither of the campsites in Slovenia or Munich had one.

In the afternoon we go to Lucerne, which is quite beautiful to look at but has all the traffic problems of a city anywhere in Europe. We compound our efforts to find parking by having left our top box on which means that most of the parking is off-limits to us as we are too tall – grrr. In the end after 40 mins of searching we give up and come home.

We are no sooner out of the road tunnel under Lucerne as the heavens open and we are in a hail storm of such severity that no-one can do much more than 10 miles per hour on the motorway as visibility is wiped out. Unfortunately, this sets the weather pattern for the next week, and once again we find ourselves outside in a storm in the middle of the night hastily packing the sun shade away less we unwittingly imitate Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and take off to the other side of the rainbow.

Between stupendous alpine storms, we visit Mount Pilatus. We reach the summit via the worlds steepest cog railway (48% gradient for those at Invensys!), and descend on a series of cable cars. In the middle of our descent we take advantage of the opportunity to ride on the “longest summer bob-sleigh” (a claim they all seem to make) having caught the bug in Slovenia. It doesn’t disappoint being much longer and much faster and with tunnels and inclines to boot!

Once at the bottom of the cable car it is a trolley bus and main-line train back to the starting point. A great day out but so it should be it cost us nearly £100 and the boys were free!

Top box removed, we return to Lucerne via the mini golf at the Lido. A funny little place with table footballs that had Simon itching to re-live his days as Southern England Table Football Champion! The smaller boys were delighted that the last so-called “swallowing hole” (ie one that keeps your ball) not only didn’t keep their ball but gave them some bonus balls back too!

Being a Brummy, I often have lapses of good taste and my insistence on a family visit to a traditional Swiss restaurant for an alpine music show was no exception. Over our fondue for Simon and I - a huge favourite of ours - and schnitzel we were treated to yodelling, Alpine horns, tunes played on saws (not recommended) and um-pa-pa songs. Marvellous stuff, but Thomas and Miles had their hands clamped to their ears for most of it and Simon sat it out only thanks to a large beer.

In the early evening we have the boys doing crafty stuff under the sun-shade as the rain falls. Soon enough their curiosity takes the better of them and before too long they have donned their swimming shorts and are out in the rain gleefully filling our kitchen recepticles to the brim with water and hurling it at the car to clean it – oh well, two birds with one stone – no need for showers tonight.

Sunday was the day earmarked for a trip to Interlaken to see if not visit the really big Alps – Eiger and Jungfrau etc. After another night of storms (our poor neighbour was out in his vest and pants holding on to his awning for dear life) we make an early start and when we arrive the Eiger and Jungfrau are glistening away in the sunshine.

Unfortunately, with a combined cost of over £200 just for the two of us - kids go free!) and a return journey of over 3 hours we have to forego the railway trip up Jungfrau but we picnic in front of Switzerland’s largest waterfall instead and marvel at how a BBQ pit and wood stack is provided for free public use – we do wish that this could be done in the UK – Argentina and Chile were the same.

The neighbour that was hanging on to his awning comes over to say goodbye as he is going back to work mid-week leaving his wife and daughters in situ. He asks a question about the caravan and we invite him in for a look which is reciprocated by them too. Now we have been itching to see inside a Dethleffs caravan and theirs, like ours, is a new model. It is very similar with a few nice touches – everyone’s curiosity is satisfied!

On the way home we encounter the obligatory hail and rain storm but arrive at the campsite just as the sun comes out…

We loved Switzerland, it is clean, tidy, beautiful and very expensive. Stock up on food before you come and you should be OK.

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