The weather’s even hotter today, so we’re going as high as we can for our walk. The train takes us up to Eigergletscher above Kleine Scheidegg.
The hype around ‘that’ Korean TV series has even arrived up here.
The view down to the Fallboden lake and Scheidegg.
The Eiger glacier, 2.5 kilometres of ice. Sadly, it gets smaller every year.
We had lunch back down in Wengen. Look what has appeared on the main street.
It’s a speed camera. In a car free village. Whatever next?
Alongside Lake Thun, not far from Interlaken is a mountain called the Niederhorn. In all the (33) years we’ve been coming here, we’ve never paid it a visit. A strange gondola lift takes us to the top. The cabins travel in groups of 3.
There’s a nice restaurant at the top – we had lunch.
A huge TV transmitter dominates the summit. Broadcast TV was closed down in Switzerland a few years back, so I’m not sure whether it actually does anything anymore.
There were bound to be alphorns I guess.
Behind the mountain is a wild and beautiful valley called Justistal.
A funicular railway takes us back down to the lake, where we can catch a bus back to Interlaken.
We quite liked the Niederhorn, it was nice and fresh up there on a very warm Monday.
The heatwave is well and truly upon us. It’s too warm for hiking in the afternoon, so this morning we headed up to Allmend after breakfast. It’s already warm, we have floppy hats and lashings of sun cream.
From here we can walk in the trees above the village where it’s cooler. We had a good wander around the forest paths, before making the descent back to Wengen.
A lazy afternoon is in store, followed by Uptown Lights at the Alpine Hotel this evening.
We had a weather warning from Swiss Meteo this morning – a heatwave will take place over the next few days. It’s already very warm, so we caught the train up to Wengernalp to start our walk. At this time of year Wengernalp is home to a large herd of cattle.
I’m not sure whether the cows appreciate the views, but the mountains are certainly spectacular.
The walk back down to Wengen takes about an hour and a half, which was quite enough in these high temperatures. Ali popped round for ice cream this afternoon, and tonight we’re having dinner at the Eiger.
It’s another lovely day, and having enjoyed yesterday’s boat trip we thought we’d have another. This time we’re on our other lake, the lake of Brienz. Leaving Interlaken we pass underneath the railway line that will bring us back this afternoon.
Our first port of call is the village of Bönigen.
A kayak school operates in Bönigen, and a couple of the instructors are Val’s winter ski school colleagues.
Next stop is Ringgenberg. There’s just a hotel by the jetty, the rest of the village is up the hill.
Our boat is the old paddle steamer ‘Lötschberg’. Great views from the upper deck.
Our next port of call is the idyllic village of Iseltwald.
Iseltwald was catapulted to global fame by the Korean TV series ‘Crash Landing on You’. It’s on Netflix, and if you haven’t seen it I wholeheartedly recommend that you do – it’s a really gripping romantic drama. Our hero, the handsome Ri Jeong-hyeok plays piano on this jetty.
Next stop, Giessbach, with a funicular railway to take guests up to the Grand Hotel which overlooks the lake.
Approaching Brienz. This town is at the end of the lake, and we will disembark here.
Lake Brienz has a character that is completely different to that of lake Thun where we were yesterday. There are far fewer lakeside villages, and the banks rise steeply. It can feel quite isolated in places.
We need some lunch, so we have a wander around the town. It’s very nice, with surprisingly few concessions to tourism.
It doesn’t take long to get home on the train. It’s July the 4th, and Wengen is full of American visitors. Justin has decided to hold an Independence Day party in Rocks tonight, and we wouldn’t want to miss that.
Time for a boat trip. We catch the steamer at Interlaken, and our plan is to go all the way to the city of Thun at the other end of the lake. Lots of photos of the things we saw and the villages where the boat pulled in. Leaving Interlaken.
There are a number of steamers criss-crossing the lake.
Tiny marina at Neuhaus. The restaurant serves wonderful ice creams.
The hamlet of Sundlauenen. The crew are very efficient; the boat is only tied up to the jetty for a couple of minutes per stop.
This stop is called Beatenbucht. Passengers can disembark here and take the funicular railway up to the village of Beatenberg.
It’s lunchtime, so we take our seats in the dining room. The recommendation is fresh fish from the lake with boiled potatoes. Everyone else seems to be having it, so we put our order in. It was delicious.
Next stop is a village called Faulensee, on the southern shore of the lake.
Not far from Faulensee is the town of Spiez, with its vineyards, castle and church.
We cross the lake again and call in at a place called Gunten.
The grand hotel behind the jetty has been abandoned for some years, though there are plans to renovate it.
A kite surfer passses our boat.
Another castle. This one is at a town called Oberhofen.
We pass the paddle steamer ‘Blümlisalp’ going in the opposite direction.
Eventually we reach the city of Thun. Like any city, the outskirts are quite built up and commercial, but we do get a glimpse of the medieval castle and church above the rooftops.
A really good day out. At Thun we caught a train back to Interlaken. It was a lot faster than the boat, but not nearly as much fun.
It’s cool but dry this morning, ideal weather for enjoying the valley. We got the bus to Stechelberg. Many walks start here.
Lily pads on the pond.
It’s about 6 kilometres back to Lauterbrunnen, so I ran while Val walked. The impressive Mürrenbach waterfall.
The run took me a little over half an hour. Val’s broken leg is back to 100% now, so she was only 20 minutes behind me. Uptown Lights at the Alpine hotel later.
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