It’s the end of the season. Of the hotels only the Bernerhof remains open and our choice of places for a drink later is limited to the Crystal bar and Sina’s. We met Beanie and Sandro and the kids and had a wander. Larena and Aliena had a go at the slack line.
Fun in the forest.
Friendly cat.
Tomorrow we’ll travel back to the UK. We’ll be back here at the beginning of December.
There was a frost on the ground when we woke up this morning, but the sun is out and it’s a nice autumn day. We get the train to Wilderswil and walk down the river to the lake.
Last time we were here the lake was busy with swimmers and lots of people enjoying watersports. Today we have it to ourselves.
The Sunstar is closing this weekend, so we’ll have a party tonight to finish off the beer.
We knew yesterday’s sunshine wouldn’t last, and sure enough today began wet, windy and cold. We had the season’s first flakes of snow in the village this afternoon.
Our thoughts today however are for our friend John, who died suddenly on this day a year ago. We’ll raise a glass to him later.
It’s a beautiful day. We head over to Mürren. You can see our intended route on the map behind Val.
We head off down the main ‘street’. The village is looking good as usual.
After half an hour or so we reach the tiny village of Gimmelwald. The inhabitants enjoy some spectacular views.
The path takes us into a valley called Sefinental. Other walks go off in all directions from here.
Old sawmill by the river. It’s still working.
The path then leads us into the forest as we descend towards the valley. The view when we emerge from the trees never disappoints.
Yesterday was wet and cold, but the forecast for today was much better, so we got up early and headed for Grindelwald. From there we caught a bus to a place called Bussalp high in the hills behind the village. There’s a restaurant at the top where we had coffee before starting our walk. Great views.
If you’re reading this in daylight there’s a 360 degree webcam here – click here to see it. The walk is quite steep to begin with before the path flattens out in the meadows below the restaurant.
There’s never been any skiing up here, but in winter the paths are used for snowshoe tours. Bussalp also has a claim to fame – the longest toboggan run in the world starts here. It’s 12.5 kilometres long. This is so popular that there’s a series of bars on the way down to make the run even more fun.
We emerge into a clearing to get this fantastic view of the Wetterhorn.
This cow seemed to want to have a conversation about something.
Eventually we reach our destination which is the hamlet of Bort. In winter the only way to get here is on the gondola lift.
Bort is part of Grindelwald’s ski area. In summer there’s another adrenaline fuelled way to get down – by scooter.
We took the gondola.
It was raining when we woke up this morning, and it stayed cool and cloudy all day. We did our recycling and popped into the Co-op. Minced beef was 50% off, so we can have spicy meatballs for dinner. This is possibly the weirdest recipe I’ve ever come across, and the end result isn’t what you expect either.
To make spicy meatballs you will need:
First, make your meatballs. Put the mince in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of curry powder, 2 teaspoons of garlic paste and 2 teaspoons of ginger paste. Mix it all up and press the mixture into balls a bit bigger than a golf ball. Put them in a baking tray and pop them in the fridge.
Next we need to make some sauce. Chop one of the onions up and gently fry it until it’s soft. Try not to let it brown too much. Once it’s done put it in a bowl with the peaches (include the syrup from the peaches too) and purée the mixture with a hand blender.
We’re almost there now. If you’re planning to serve rice with your meatballs now would be a good time to start it.
Preheat the oven to 200C and put the meatballs in. They’ll take about 15 minutes to cook.
Dice the remaining onion and put it in a frying pan with a good slug of oil. Add curry powder, garlic paste and ginger paste – 2 teaspoons of each. Stir-fry until the onions are soft.
Now reduce the heat and add the puréed peach and onion mixture. Stir it all up and make sure it’s warmed through.
Get your meatballs out of the oven and mix them in with the sauce. You want the sauce to be pretty thick so reduce it with a blast of heat if needs be.
And serve!
Surprisingly, the result of your labours is not a curry. Just rich, warming meatballs with a bit of a kick.
Today’s article was going to tell you all about the world orienteering championship which is being held in Grindelwald this weekend. I’d done all the necessary research and all I needed were some photos. Alas, when we got off the train at Zweilütcheinen to get the connection up the valley no train appeared. The line was closed owing to an accident.
Eventually a bus arrived – it was going to Lauterbrunnen. We hopped on and got some lunch at the bakery when we arrived. Lots of people waiting for busses to Interlaken.
If the orienteering returns next year you can rest assured that all the details will appear here.
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