Monday 12th May - Day 1 in Lauterbrunnen (or should that be Rivendell?) Trummelbach Falls and a Bose moment

Lauterbrunnen is a small town in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and the valley is absolutely stunning!  Created by glaciers, there are large stretches of vertical cliffs up to 1000m high running along it's sides.  With 72 waterfalls falling dramatically over the cliff walls, and the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains towering above, you can see how it would be the inspiration for Tolkien's Rivendell. 

The Jungfrau, towering over Lauterbrunnen Valley

Our plan today wasn't too athletic or hectic. We knew that if we took a walk alongside the river that runs down the valley,  we could visit the Trummelbach falls, about 1.7 miles away, and if we walked a bit further we could get to the Stechelberg cable car station which will take you up to Piz Gloria of 007 fame.  With the weather forecast distinctly glum, we decided to visit the falls,  and maybe walk to the cable car station afterwards and get an idea of the prices, lay of the land etc. 

Dressed for wet weather, we set of on the 45 minute walk to the falls. The Lauterbrunnen valley is spectacular. The sheer cliffs rising up around and above us, the snow covered mountains, the waterfalls and the flower filled meadows at the bottom.  Even in wet weather, the landscape is outstanding.  I just loved every step.

Low clouds are hiding the mountains

The tourist description for the falls is: "the largest underground waterfalls in Europe...... Feel the power of the glacier water of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau".  As usual, I had an idea what to expect, cos I looked at the website.  Peter lets me surprise him. 

I find it amazing how other countries are prepared to invest the time, work and money to make places accessible.  The falls are inside the mountain, but the Swiss have tunnelled and then built walk ways to allow people to visit, and I am so glad they did, we had a fantastic time.  First a funicular lift takes you up 100m inside the rock towards the highest sets of falls.

You can walk up a little further, and then follow the walkways and platforms down to see all ten sets of falls as the Trummelbach river drops 140 meters inside the rock.  The sheer power of the water is amazing, looking up, you can see where it had carved it's path downwards through hundreds of meters of rock.  We loved it. 

The first five or six drops are inside the mountain, and then the route takes you outside to follow steps down the mountain slopes down to the floor of the valley.

Mountain Cowslip

Eventually we reached the bottom.  Time for a loo visit, quick snack on mini cheddars and 10 minute rest.  The sun had come out  and everything was drying out and looking a lot less grey.  Next stop Stechelberg cable car station.

So another 45 mins or so of walking, and it's beautiful.

The snow topped mountains, dramatic cliffs, paragliders,  green meadows full of flowers and waterfalls  (I know, I'm repeating myself) under blue skies and glorious sunshine.  We even heard the cowbells echoing around the valley.

One of the valley's 72 waterfalls

Before too long we were at the station.  The plan was find out where everything was, timings, costs and possible discounts, and then walk back to the campsite.  The cable ride was to be tomorrow's day out  when the weather was going to be much better.  But the weather was already lovely, and we had already walked the three miles to the station, and we had good four hours before we would have to get the last cable car down.  With a 30% discount on the price, bringing a £230(ish) trip down to £162 we decided to go for it. 

It's called a Bose moment.  A moment when we suddenly and unexpectedly decide to spend a lot of money on something that we weren't really planning to buy or spend that sort of money on. 

From the first cable car - looking down on the valley to our right

So one Bose moment later, we were on our way up to Piz Gloria.  You have to change at Murren, a pretty and much visited village, then Birg, which has a Skyline Walk and a Thrill Walk, (more about them later), and then the final stop in on top of the Schilthorn. 

Looking down on the valley to our left - our campsite is a way off, around the corner

Still going up. There are lots of little villages on these mountain plateaus - their main mode of transport to get up here is the cable car.  

Piz Gloria is the revolving restaurant there - it got it's name from the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - (the film makers contributed financially to it's completion).  007 and the film are very much part of it's attraction, including a whole exhibition dedicated to the film.

You can see it a the top of the mountain, a revolving restaurant - who else but Blofeld would think of it?

I can't put into words how beautiful, overwhelming, amazing and incredibly fantastic the views were up there.  First, we wandered around the terraces and platforms, trying to take it all in.  Photo's and film just cannot do it justice, and you wander around trying to burn it all into your memory. 

Then we went inside to try and get something to eat, since it was about 3pm and all we'd had since breakfast was a packet of mini cheddars.  There is a small informal cafe, but it wouldn't take card, and then we found the stairs to the restaurant!   Once inside we realised that the way it works is that the outer section of the floor rotates inside the building.  As you sit, your table moves, passing different windows and views, travelling the full 360 degrees within the circular building every 45 minutes.  It was quite exciting to be sat in the place designed for the rich and famous of the film, watching the mountains and scenery change.  We absolutely loved it.  (Reasonably priced too.)

Keeping an eye on the time, we checked out the OHMSS display, bought a little momento from the shop and then took the cable car down to the next station, Birg

Views from the Birg cable car station

As I mentioned before, there is a Skyline Walk and a Thrill Walk.  The Skyline walk isn't much really, a platform built out over the side of the mountain to enjoy the views from.  Except.....  as I discovered as I strode on down the stairs and out onto it.......  The floor is see through!  And the barrier fence at the far side is made of glass.  I shouldn't have looked down, but I was suddenly in a panic.  My brain looked at the massive drop beneath me and decided NO! NO! NO!  So I scurried very quickly back to the safety of the platform with a solid floor.  Weird innit?  I know that many of the platforms and terraces on these mountains are built out over drop, but I can't see it, so I don't care.

I did try again to walk out on the Skyline Walk, but I failed. 

Peter on the other hand was having a whale of a time.  The see through floor and glass barrier didn't phase him at all, so he decided to take on the Thrill Walk.

Peter on the thrill walk.

I could see him from above - it's basically a path attached to the cliff wall with a see through floor.  There was also a part with a rope walk.  Peter took it on, although I think even he was a little scared by it cos it wobbled.

And then it was time to go back, down to the next station, Murren, change cable car, down to Stechelberg and from there 1.7 mile walk to our van in Lauterbrunnen. 

Murren seen from the cabl car.  1638 m (5374 ft) above sea level.

What a absolutely fantastic day.   Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat.   And again and again and again.  But tomorrow we are going somewhere new. 

Sunday 10th & Monday 11th May - Dalaas Austria, then on to Switzerland.

Sunday we had to say goodbye to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  We have loved our time there and will very gladly go back.  The van was cleaned out, everything packed away, the final bill paid, and then we were off.

Our next stop was Camp Erne, in Dalaas Austria.  I'd picked it because of the fact it was on route and looked brilliant - green & grassy.  We had plenty of time so on the way we looked out for interesting stops.  We found a one with a view of the Zugspitze..... 

Looking back on the Zugspitze on our way to Dalaas, Austria

A zoomed in view - you can see the viewing station, restaurant etc at the top.

And a second which promised an interesting walk around some old mines.  Trouble was, after climbing up some narrow village streets in the van to reach the promised location, there was nowhere to park.

So we went back down to the motorway.  We were using Google as a satnav, and since Peter had already paid for a vignette which would allow him to drive on the motorways, we'd not told it to avoid tolls.  We didn't realise that would result in us ending up paying to use the Arlberg tunnel.  It's a magnificent tunnel - 8.7 ish miles long, but we could have gone around it.  It would have taken 4 minutes longer and saved €13

We reached Camp Erne at around 2pm, and sadly we were a little underwhelmed.  It was full of long seasonal caravans that had obviously been there a long time, they had small attached extension buildings and covers.  But they were all empty and the place felt unloved.  If it wasn't for the fact I had emailed ahead a booked a pitch, I think we would have left there and then.  Eventually the owner came out, she was chatty and like everyone else we've met on this trip, spoke very good English.  We decided to give the place a go, and as it turned out, it was a really good site, just empty.  The facilities were just about the best we've come across, absolutely immaculate, as if they'd only just been installed, and there was a massive Spar minutes away.

Camp Erne from a nearby bridge.  It's probably lovely when all the caravan owners are about.

We ate a late lunch, researched local walks, and then it started to rain, so we ended up having a very lazy day.  We decided there wasn't enough to keep us in Dalaas so we would move on in the morning.  I emailed ahead and booked us in to our site in Switzerland a day early.  All good then. 

Monday morning we set of for Lauterbrunnen. It was a horrible wet day, it rained most of it and we decided it was a good day for driving.  We drove first through Liechtenstein, which was a bit of a novelty.  We left before we knew it.  Once in Switzerland, we followed the Rhine for a little of the way as it followed the the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.  I never realised the Rhine started this far south.

We were 20 mins into Switzerland when my phone data suddenly stopped.  I'd been using it to find out stuff (e.g. the Rhine) as we travelled, and I got a load of messages telling me I'd run out of data.  I was really confused, cos I had loads of data.  Turns out I should have checked the message I got as we crossed the border.

We've gotten so many as we've been driving around "Welcome to......  calls and minutes are included in your allowance..."  we'd stopped reading them.  And we both missed the message in Switzerland that said "not included", and essentially I had used up my bill cap of £20 on data in 20 minutes.   Peter was still online because his cap was higher, but he was using Google as a sat nav.  We needed to sort it out fast. We found a MacDonald's, bought a Swiss priced lunch and used the wifi there (after a struggle), to buy data for Switzerland.  If we had known to do this before we entered the country it would have saved us nearly £100 (£30 MacDonalds, £20 on my phone and £45 on Peter's). Lesson learnt. 

Once the data issue was sorted, we drove on,

enjoying the scenery, 

even in the terrible weather. eventually arriving at Jungfrau camping late afternoon.  The site looks really promising, but the rain has persisted, and the lad that had to find us a pitch (Sebastian), seemed to be struggling to find a suitable dry one.  He even lent us a couple of pallets to step out of the van onto.  Good job he did.  It was a very wet night. 

We did manage to get the awning up during a dry patch though, so we are settled in.  The weather forecast doesn't look brilliant for tomorrow, but we have worked out that we can walk up the valley towards a waterfall attraction, which would be fine for wet day.  The Swiss chapter of this adventure begins.

Saturday 9th May - A walk in the Losaich Valley

We like to walk, and where better to stretch the legs than a lovely stroll along the Losaich valley beneath the Jubilee Ridge - the line of mountains that lead up to the Zugspitz.  

We found the walk on Komoot, called "View of the Zugspitze - Bader Lake loop from Grainau"  I was worried it was going to be a bit boring.  Initially we had to walk along roads, but it wasn't too long before we turned into the woods and started going uphill.

And then it was absolutely lovely.  Flowers everywhere, little huts to shelter in along the way, cowbells in the air at one point.   Then there was a beautiful little chapel war memorial, fantastic views, meadows full of buttercups, even the little Badersee was gorgeous.  It really was a really lovely walk. Just brilliant

This is actually a red squirrel, just a dark grey version. 

But as the walk progressed, the showers started.  As we got to the Badersee, we heard the rumble of thunder. 

We walked into Obergrainau and then the rain came......

We sheltered in a tourist information stand - the rain got heavier. The thunder and lightening rumbled and flashed and we started to get cold. We didn't know whether we should stay or move on.

We eventually decided to move on, thinking we might be able to find a somewhere for a coffee or a beer - and of course we did.  I got cheesecake too.  Two beers later (for Peter), the rain had stopped.  We walked on through Obergrainau, admiring the attractive designs and paintings on the buildings.

Then it was back to the campsite, 6 miles total walk with a trip to Aldi included.  As soon as we got back, the sun came out.  It was so hot that we had to shelter under our canopy to avoid burning. 

Another brilliant day.  We are leaving tomorrow and I am going to miss this view.

We've decided we'd love to come back, perhaps when all the cable cars are working as they should. But for now, our adventure continues.  Tomorrow we drive on to an Austrian town called Dalaas.  I'm hoping we'll love it there as much as here.