Berner Oberland Switzerland - Lenk and Kandersteg, August 2017

[Pauline]

Start a thread in the Switzerland and Austria forum. Both @Kathy and @jonathan know Austria. Kathy wrote an article about Austria: Alpine Adventures. I've always thought the Bavarian Forest area looked interesting too. Lots of walking.

 

[artnbarb]

Will do! We did some walking in Germany when we were there in 2013 - beautiful, but we really prefer a little further south.

 

[Pauline]

Saturday August 25. Sunny and hot, mid 70sF.

Packing up and leaving after two weeks in a place is always difficult for me. One week feels temporary but in two weeks I settle in. But we packed up and left Lenk Saturday morning. Next year we will return in September when it is a bit cooler and make sure we are there the second Saturday for the Cow Parade. This year we are missing it by one week and don't think that I haven't thought about rebooking rental car/airport parking/flight so that we can stay an extra week!

It took us about 1hr 20mins to drive to Lauterbrunnen. It felt like we were leaving a rural idyll and returning to reality. A big highway along the lake, traffic, the sprawl of Spiez. I had forgotten that the road to Lauterbrunnen is the same as the road to Grindelwald. We were in Grindelwald two years ago, and several times before that. But this time we wanted to do the same hike we did two years ago on our travel day between Grindelwald and Lenk.

Lauterbrunnen, while physically stunning, is also a challange to the rural idyll. A lot of people, and they are not hiking! They are walking along looking at the mountains, taking selfies. Many American accents. The restaurants and cafes have English names and American style food. Waffles for heavens sake! Rick Steves, who popularized Lauterbrunnen, has a lot to answer for. We walked around a bit then back into the car and another several miles down the valley, to the end.

We parked and did the same walk as last time, but this time went a bit further to the remains of mines at Bergwerk. They mined there for hundreds of years.

Hike: Stechelberg (910m) - Berggasthaus Trachsellauenen (1202m) - Bergwerk, 1hr up, 40min down, 300m ascent/descent

This is a beautiful walk, following a river up the valley. You can see the glacier and water fall that create the river. It is a steep climb for about 45 minutes, then a gentle walk to the Berggasthaus which is a guest house and small restaurant. Some people drive up here, but you must get permission to do the drive. We saw a few cars parked near the guest house and a few further up. This trail goes much further up into the mountains to a mountain hut.

We thought we would be back to the start of the trail in time for lunch, where we had a good lunch the last time we were here. Before we started out Steve asked when lunch stopped and they said they serve all day, but we arrived at 2:40, 10 mins after they stopped serving lunch and the all-day menu they gave us was pretty disgusting - pizza, chicken nuggets - all microwaved I think. So we did not stay and had a traveler's lunch - a banana. I have not been missing any meals on this trip, so skipping lunch was needed. We made up by having apple strudel later in the day.

We drove back the way we came, turning off for Kandersteg near Spiez. We were last in Kandersteg about 10 years ago, and once before that. The road in has improved. I think there is a new tunnel. But everything else is the same. We could not checkin until 5pm and arrived at 4pm, so parked and went to the tourist office. The woman there spent a long time with us going over all the hiking trails, showing us where she saw an Ibex (Steinboch) yesterday!, talking about other areas. The Swiss tourist offices are great. Even if I know the hikes, I still get their opinions and learn a lot from them.

So the story on in the Ibex is that you have to be up in the mountains early in the morning, pretty high up, and maybe you will see one. They stay high up in this heat. Last year we tried to see them in the Aosta valley, but it was too hot that September. Next year I am going to organize a trip where we will see them (in May when they come down to lower levels).

The Coop supermarket in Kandersteg is much smaller than the one in Lenk. The town has a more relaxed feel and is smaller. Lots of hotels, lots of people out and about, lots of hikers. And troops of scouts! All hiking. We saw some British ones and Americans. Teenagers. Buying up all the junk food they could find at the Coop. I saw one girl with chocolate milk and chocolate bars. There is a big scouting center in town.

Our apartment is on the outskirts of town, in the valley, a 10 min walk (maybe less) to the shops. It is very close to the train tracks. I knew this from the listing and asked the owner about it. He is right, you don't notice the trains, but they are constant because these are the car-trains that go from Kandersteg to Brig. We have taken this train once or twice before and decided that when we leave next Friday we will take it into the Valais and drive to Geneva that way.

The apartment is small but is almost half the price of the Lenk one. It is on the 2nd floor (US 3rd) and has three small balconies with the most amazing views. Kandersteg is surrounded closely by high mountains. In Lenk they are at the end of the valley, but here we are surrounded by them.

On the trail.

On the trail.

On the trail.

Red rocks in the old mining area.

 

[Pauline]

Saturday August 26. Hot and sunny. 80F

Lazy day. We did nothing. We started out with good intentions but ended up only walking into town for groceries then hanging out on the balcony all day. Lovely! Hiking begins tomorrow. We needed a day off.

View from the main balcony. You can see the train.

Scouts walking in town.

 

[Pauline]

Sunday August 27. Overcast, some sun, muggy, drizzle in late afternoon.

Today we did the walk that was the reason I booked this week. The last two times we have stayed in Kandersteg, we have loved the walk up the Gasternal Valley. Even though the weather was not perfect, we wanted to do this walk today.

Hike: Eggeschwand (1194m) - Waldhaus (1358m) - Selden (1535m), 350m ascent/descent, 2hr10min one way (took us 2hr30min), 2hr return (downhill).

We drove for 10 minutes to the end of the valley and paid 5CHF to park at the Sunnbuel Gondola station. The walk up the Gasternal Valley starts there. The first 40 minutes is straight up, sometimes on steps, on a trail along the river/waterfall. At the top of that you are in the valley.

A road goes into the valley, but it is very narrow and is timed, plus you have to pay 12CHF to drive it. There is a payment machine at the start of the road. Not many people drive in the valley. For walkers, you are only on the road a few times. The trails go in the fields and woods on the other side of the river from the road.

Within 45 minutes walking you come to Hotel Waldhaus, a restaurant in a charming old farmhouse. We did not stop, but there were a lot of people there. There were a lot of people on the trail for the first hour, but then we were on our own. Lots of families out walking. From Waldhaus you walk through open meadows, surrounded on all sides by big rock mountains. Then you walk in woods beside the fast moving river. There is a last steep climb in woods before reaching Selden at the end of the valley. Selden is a few farm houses and two hotel/restaurants. We had sandwiches on the trail (avacado and tomato!) but stopped at Hotel Steinbock, where we stopped the last time we were here (over 10 years ago), for coffee and the best friut kuchen of the trip (plum).

We had been walking for 2hr30min and my foot was hurting, but I was took off my shoes while having our coffee and that helped.

When we drove into Kandersteg on Friday we saw signs for a Country and Western Festival in Fruitigen. We've seen these before in Switzerland, where everyone dresses in a Swiss version of cowboys/cowgirls. Ironed jeans tucked neatly into cowboy boots. Perfect hats. At the Hotel Steinbock there was a table of six cowboys/cowgirls having kuchen. Two of them, male and female, wore leather chaps and spurs that jingled when they walked. At the end of our walk we saw them all ahead of us, on horseback! Which explains the horse crap along the trail.

It was a much easier walk back because it was all downhill. We could have taken the bus but we wanted the longer walk because rain is predicted for tomorrow and we might not walk. The ViewRanger app on my phone went nuts and told me we walked 14 miles (if you look at the trail we made, we seem to be running up the sides of the mountains, then back down - it must have been searching for a GPS signal). My phone said 11 miles, Steve's said 9. I plotted the route on ViewRanger and I think it was 10 miles.

About an hour from the end of the walk it started to drizzle which was quite refreshing and lasted the rest of the walk. No need for rain jackets, it was very light. The day was cooler too because the sun hardly ever came out from the dark clouds.

For the last part of the hike we stayed on the road instead of doing the steeep trail back along the river. Home by 5pm. Another lovely day.

There are a lot of scouts in town. We drove by the large scout centers today.

Walking in the Gasternal Valley.

An old cabin along the road.

Walking along the river.

A group of young people walking in as we were walking out. Probably scouts.

Cow wearing a bell, house wearing many bells.

Almost back in Kandersteg. The road is on the left and goes into a tunnel.

I love Swiss coffee.

The best kuchen.

Yep, 4CHF for the coffee and 6.50CHF for the kuchen with whipped cream. 9.20Euro for both.

 

[Pauline]

Monday August 28. Overcast, a bit muggy, sun in late afternoon and hot.

I woke up this morning with a very sore throat so we had an in-town day. No big hike. First I got a throat spray from the pharmacy. Then I ordered a new strap for my Victorinox watch that I bought years ago in Gstaad. I tried to get a new strap when we were in Gstaad last week, but they did not have any. The watch store in Kandersteg can order a new strap for me and it will be here before we leave on Friday. After that we stopped for breakfast at the bakery - coffee and gipfel, the Swiss version of a croissant or cornetto.

The tourist office has a good brochure about the town with three suggested walks and points to see along the way. They even have an English translation. One of the big historic events was the building of the train tunnel in the early 1900s. The train tunnel opened in 1913 connecting Kandersteg in the Bern Canton with Brig in the Valais. It is used for passenger trains and to transport cars.

We did one of the walks in the brochure and saw a Buddhist monastery in the building that once was the Hotel Waldrand, used when the tunnel was being built. The brochure pointed out several "faces" on the rock cliffs and we could sort of see them. There is a Via Ferrata for rock climbers. We walked by the Internation Scout Center, one of three worldwide centers. This was the first one and was started by Lord Baden-Powell in 1923. It still runs today and each year 10,000 scouts visit from around the world. I think all of them were out walking yesterday. We walked to Ruedihus, built in 1753 and considered the best of the art of carpentry from the 18th century. Now it is a restaurant. Next was an old saw mill that was run for generations but stopped in 1975. The water mill is still there and you can push a button to turn it on and let the river move it. We walked by, and plan to return to, a small lake and nature preserve on the edge of town.

On another part of the walk we saw the oldest house in Kandersteg, built in 1556. It is on the main street and looks like it is still lived in.

I looked it up and the population of Kandersteg is 1300. Lenk is only 2400. Both have a lot of hotels, vacation rentals and second homes, so the number of people there at any time is much higher.

My throat is feeling better and tomorrow we are back to hiking. We are sliding towards the end of our vacation.

Looking up the spelling of Grüezi I found this blog - Cowbells and Chocolate. about living in Switzerland.

Coffee and gipfel.

Walking along the river.

The apartment we are renting is on the top floor of that chalet. That is the VW Golf that we rented. We drive the same car at home except it is 9 years old (and the steering wheel is on the other side). This one seems peppier.

This is what we say to each other on the trails - Gruessech. We thought it was spelled Grüezi (and it is in some parts of Switzerland).

Hiking signs and a beautiful carved sign to the mountain huts. Kantersteg is at 1200m. The closest hut, Doldenhornhutte, is 1915m, a 700m climb. We could do it. The other huts are over 2500m.

From the center of town looking towards one of the churches.

Hotel Victoria in the center of town.

 

[Pauline]

@Roz I saw chocolate tools. I remember you posting a photo of this. These are in a bakery in Kandersteg.

 

[Pauline]

Tuesday August 29. Sunny and hot, 28c/82F.

Hike: Sunnbuel, top of gondola (1920m) - bottom of valley (1872) - Schwarenbach (2060) - Daubensee (2229) - Gemmipass (2314m), 4.5hours return. We shortened the walk a bit, turning back at Daubensee, 4hrs, 400m ascent.

We drove to the gondola station, paid 5CHF to park and got into the gondola full of Swiss kids. It was a very loud and active 10min ride up to Sunnbuel. At the top we started out with coffee and gipfel at the restaurant at the gondola station. The coffee we are making at home is horrible. I was using the coffee they left us. Tomorrow I will try some we bought. I was spoiled by the Nespresso machine at the apartment in Lenk. This apartment has a French Press.

The sun was bright and the day was hot. Sunnbuel is a large "sunny bowl" above the tree line. It takes over two hours to walk to the other side at Gemmipass where you are in the Valais Canton and can look down to Leukerbad (we did this the last time we did this walk). We started out walking downhill, then a long flat stretch, then a 200m climb out of the bowl. During this walk you are surrounded by tall rock mountaintops. After the climb you reach a hotel/restaurant. We were there around 12:30pm and every outdoor table (there were many) was full. They have public toilets which were well appreciated because there are no bushes to nip behind out there! And a tap to fill your water bottle.

We pushed on and climbed another 200 meters to the next valley and a beautiful alpine lake. Another half hour and we would have reached Gemmipass but I called the lake the end. My foot was hurting a bit and we had been walking over two hours. We had lunch at the edge of the lake, with several other people, and I soaked my foot in the ice cold water.

The walk back was all downhill, except for a short 100m climb to the gondola station at the end, and went surprisingly fast. Another packed gondola down, but this one filled with Swiss hikers about our age. Nice and quiet, except that the gondola driver was entertaining them all in German. Steve caught some of the jokes but not all.

This was a great hike. The trail was a good, there were other walkers but not enough to bother us, the weather was lovely (okay, a bit hot), the views up to the mountiantops were incredible.

From the gondola parking lot straight to the bakery for kuchen, then straight to the Coop for Movenpick ice cream, then straight home to sit on the balcony and wathch the hikers and trains go by.

Tomorrow looks to be good weather, but rain starts on Thursday and Friday, the day we are driving to Geneva, is forecast for heavy rain. I am going to look at our routing again and maybe we will not take the car train to the Valais, but instead go the quickest route. We are spending Friday night at a hotel in Nyon before a mid-day flight on Saturday.

A troop of kids going by our balcony in the morning. And a paraglider.

Starting out on our walk in Sunnbuel.

The lake where we had lunch.

Hotel Schwarrenbach. The trail goes through their outdoor area.

On the way back, looking towards the gondola station at the end of the valley.

 

[Pauline]

Wednesday August 30. Sunny and hot, low 80s. Clouds came in the afternoon, a bit of rain (drizzle) in the evening. As I am writing this I can hear heavy rain. The forecast for tomorrow is 10c lower and lower still on Saturday, with heavy rain.

Oescheninsee is the most popular place to go in Kandersteg. You can walk up from town (400m ascent) or take a gondola. The gondola does not take you right to the alpine lake, but it is an easy 20 minute downhill walk from the gondola station (Lager) to the lake. There is an electric bus if you don't want to walk. There are two restaurants at the lake, both with large outdoor terraces and views of the lake.

The lake, Oescheninsee, is a large turquiose lake surrounded by high mountains. You cannot walk around the lake because the eastern edge is right up against a sheer rock face. It is fed by water falls from the glaciers visible above and must be cold, but we saw several people swimming. You can rent boats to take out on the lake. There is one large beachy area and a few smaller ones.

If you don't want to do big hiking, you can follow a path along one edge and then the other edge. That is all we have done on previous visits (plus we walked up from town instead of taking the gondola). The woman in the tourist office said forget about walking up from town (boring), instead take the gondola both ways and do a real hike at the lake. She pointed out a popular circular walk, route 7, and said we would get great views. She neglected to mention how freaky steep and narrow the trail was.

Hike: Top of Oescheninsee gondola, Lager (1682m) - follow upper path to lake, then branch off on route 7 - Hueberg (1940m) - Oberbargli (1978m) - Underbargli (1724m) - Oescheninsee (1639 - return to gondola. 3hrs for route 7, 1 hour for the rest.

The hike started off very steep along the edge of a steep rocky slide area, then went on a very narrow trail across the slide. My heart was pounding, and not from the climb. There were other people on the trail taking it very casually. I was happy that we had our poles. If I stopped to take a photo, I felt a bit dizzy. After 45 mins or so of the climb, you come into woods which are just as steep but the trail was wider and I felt more secure. We stopped at the lookout for lunch, with several other hikers. This was the high point of the trail. We talked to a young woman who works for Swiss Air who loved the trail, but came up the way we were going down. She warned us how steep it was. I thought it was not possible that it was worse than the way we came up (I was right).

It was probably 1 1/2 hours to reach the high point and the same to go down the other side. The trail was better going down, but was steep and very rocky. We ended up at the lake, walked along it and stopped in one of the restaurants for the highest priced apple strudel we have experience - 11CHF. I thought 7CHF in Lenk was bad. We shared one piece. It did come with both ice cream and whipped cream! Then back to the gondola and back to town.

I complained the whole way up on the hike because it was scary for me but it was one of those situations where you don't want to go back because that would have been worse. I asked Steve if he wasn't upset about the trail and he pointed out that I was complaining enough for both of us. Still, it was worth it and I would do the trail again. We were about 350m above the lake looking straight out at glaciers and a few mountain huts.

Rain was forecast for 4pm but did not arrive until 8pm. We walked out for dinner tonight - only our second dinner out on the trip - and had a nice meal. Steve had local fish, I had the same thing we had with Barb and Art in Lenk- Rosti with raclette cheese, tomato and an egg. This time the dish was lighter.

There is one mountain ride we did not get to - Allmanalp - and we may not do it tomorrow. There is a nice hike in town where you walk up to a viewpoint. We were talking to the woman in the chalet behind ours. She lives here full time and told us about that walk. Rain is forecast for tomorrow along with cooler temps. It was a bit hot at times today.

This is the worst part of the trail but it was like this for a good 30 minutes of walking.

A better part of the trail.

Near the top of the trail. We hiked up from the lake below.

Our lunch view.

Our lunch bench was claimed before we even left. As we claimed it from the Swiss Air woman before she left.

A farming area on the way back down.

Cows, on our way back down.

Cow near the gondola station.

From the gondola top station looking down to Kandersteg.

 

[Pauline]

Thursday August 31. 18c, heavy rain and fog.

Yesterday was 28c/82f and sunny. Today it is 18c/64f with heavy rain. I can't see the mountains. Tomorrow is forecast to be 11c/51f with rain. Changeable mountain weather. Now I am happy I packed our fleeces, rain pants and sweaters (which have not been worn until today).

No hiking today. It was pouring rain. I thought we might walk in the rain but we only drove to the store to get my watch with its new strap. We got wet just doing that.

I am packing up and tomorrow we drive to Nyon, near Geneva airport. Home on Saturday. It has been a great trip!

Foggy view from the balcony.

 

[Pauline]

We walked 112 miles in our 3 weeks in Switzerland! My foot is getting better too. Our yearly total is 914 miles - we should reach 1000 by October.

 

[Pauline]

Friday September 1. Colder and wet.

We could have got home in one travel day but decided to do it in two. We left the apartment, had breakfast at a cafe in Kandersteg and were in line for the car train before 10am. It was drizzling and very foggy. They loaded us on after a few minutes and then we were off. It was fun going into the tunnel - pitch dark with only the noise of the train for 10 minutes.

We came out into brighter and dryer weather. The road takes you down the mountain to the valley floor where you eventually get on the autoroute. We drove by areas we have visited before - Crans-Montana, Nendaz, Martigny, Aigle. We stopped at the large St Bernard Rest Area, took a walk and had an early lunch. The rain started again.

We drove on to Nyon and checked into the hotel. The place we last stayed is closed for renovations so we tried a new hotel, Base Nyon. It is very nice. Modern, large rooms with a kitchen.

When the rain stopped and the sun came out we walked around town and down along the waterfront. The historic center is charming and the lake area is lovely too.

Dinner in the same Italian restaurant that we ate in last time.

Breakfast.

On the car train going into the tunnel.

Roman ruins in Nyon.

View from the castle in Nyon.

 

[artnbarb]

I didn't realize you put your car on the train! How cool!