Heidi's alter ego

[kmai1961]

I admit here, semiprivately, or perhaps more to the point, semipublicly, that I'm a slave to marketing, or suffer from an overactive imagination based on Hollywood, or am maybe just a hopeless fantasist. It was Rob Roy, and to a lesser extent Braveheart that first captured Scotland in my imagination (plus it’s in my blood).

Salzburg? The Sound of Music.

Switzerland? Heidi, a book I read many, many times as a youngster. The wee girl, abandoned by her aunt to the gruff but kindly grandfather. She played in the wildflower meadows, had Peter and his goats as her friends, and got to eat bread and cheese for breakfast. And got terribly homesick for the mountains when she had to go down to the valley to go to school.

Fri 12 June -- 12-hr travel day. Two flights, three trains, a gondola, and one final train, whew.

the hotel, perched perilously on the hillside


view from my balcony -- Jungfrau is the high pointy peak behind the sheer rock wall


view from my balcony -- panning to the right...


...and to the left (Eiger on the left; Monch to the right)....


...and straight down, to the valley floor (I think this must be zoomed -- note the parasailer)

Sat 13 June
Murren to Schiltap to Bryndli to Rotstuckhutte
15.5km, 26k steps, 4.5 hrs, approx. 517m ascent

As Leslie was not due to arrive until late afternoon, I had much of the day to myself, and after yesterday’s travelling, I was keen for a walk and to explore the immediate area. So after a breakfast of bread and cheese (uh-huh, that’s right), I started out easily and a bit “up,” toward Allmendhubel, and then just kept going. All the paths are well signposted. Even when a path split, both ways always seemed to lead to the same destination – usually a higher route and a lower route – unless it was signposted otherwise. It’s interesting that signs show the time between destinations (that is, hours and minutes), rather than actual distances – according to whose pace, I wondered. I found the times to be mostly generous. The route I took over Bryndli was quite high (max elev 2280m), and I walked through to Rotstuckhutte, where there was a catered mountain hut with bier on offer. I returned via a lower path that took me through Spielbodenalp, then back to Murren.

For parts of the day I was following the North Face trail, which included fascinating signboards that showed the various routes taken by climbing pioneers on the sheer rock walls and peaks across the valley – Monch, Eiger, Jungfrau, Gspaltenhorn.

signboard along the North Face trail

It was a sparkling, lovely warm day, under impossibly blue skies, and I was living the happy Heidi dream as I wandered through green meadows filled with wildflowers, amongst contentedly grazing cows with their bells ringing charmingly, surrounded by towering and rugged mountain peaks that soared another 2000m above me, a fair few snowfields still clinging precipitously. Wow, wow, wow. Unbelievable views in all directions. Every path I was on was well maintained and user friendly, even when climbing or descending steeply – although there were still a few places with vertiginous drops on either side (don’t look down, don’t look down, just keep watching your feet – but not too much to either side of them). I did wear my boots on the first day, but the trainers would have been sufficient, and I did in fact wear only them thereafter.


a Heidi moment


stunning backdrop, happy girl


sigh...


part of the path / ridge that had some scary drops


...and again


snow clinging precipitously


and again; how is this hanging on?


one more -- looking at these absolutely fascinated me...


clever gate/stile -- top bar lifts up, necessitating only an easy step over the bottom two bars


I shouldn't be quite this smiley, given that my glass is empty!


Rotstuckhutte






the pics really don't do justice to the fields of wildflowers...

What a JOY to walk in shorts, a tee shirt, and a sun hat. A SUN HAT. I don’t think this dorky thing has seen the light of day since CA. Legs, arms, and neck sunburned. Like I don't know better.

Returned to the hotel about 13:30, sat on the balcony with a(nother) bier, and watched the parasailers cruise past on their way to the valley below (796m). Then off to meet Leslie at the train.


coming back into Murren


parasailer


the ridge I'd walked over, taken (zoomed) on the last day from my balcony

Sun 14 June
Murren to Grutschalp (where the gondola from Lauterbrunnen lands), then back to Murren via the Mountain Trail
11k, 15.5k steps, approx. 3 hours, 363m ascent

Poor Leslie is sick! So I’m on my own again. The day wasn’t nearly as bright and clear as yesterday, and the skies opened up (to rain, not sun) just as I returned to Murren in the early afternoon.


the gondola that goes from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp


the train that goes from Grutschalp to Murren




wildflowers

Mon 15 June
Rode the funicular from Murren to Allmendhubel, then walked the Mountain Trail to Grutschalp (the reverse of what I did yesterday).

It was quite foggy and misty for most of the way, and started to rain when we were about halfway to Grutschalp. We were soaked through by the time we arrived there, so hung out in the café for lunch/chat/sit/Bailey’s with coffee (or is that coffee with Bailey’s? either way, YUM). It was still raining, so we took the train back to Murren.


Leslie's feeling better!

Tues 16 June
Rain, rain, rain. Virtually no chance of it clearing or stopping. So we took ourselves down to Lauterbrunnen, and on to Interlaken. Had a wee wander and a leisurely late lunch, then went back up the hill.









Wed 17 June
13k, 23k steps, 757m ascent
Last day, and finally, some decent weather. We walked to Gimmelvald, then on to Im Tal, a picnic area in the Sefinental valley, along the river -- we’d dropped a fair distance down from Gimmelvald. I suggested that we head up, toward Rotstockhutte, where I’d been on Sat, but it was a fair old climb, and probably a bit more than Leslie needed, wanted, or felt up to with her still-stuffy nose. But she was a very good sport about it all, and claimed to not to be too put out with me; however, that was only after returning to Murren and having a drink or two. I hope that in retrospect she'll recall it as a good day. I enjoyed it, and was just so happy that we had another stunning day with uh-may-zing views – the only one that she got during her stay.


down to Gimmelvald


scary! As bad as clowns.


cows at Im Tal


first the forced march, then making me pose under this humungous rock!


nice -- morning mist finally clearing













Thurs 18 June -- 12-hour travel day in reverse.

last view of Murren -- taken just outside the hotel


heading home