Anyway, I got the train the Grindewald. I must have mis-read, but I thought that village was meant to be car-free. You could have fooled me, not just delivery vans, but plenty if regular cars. Anyway Viewranger (again!) pointed me the right way for the cable car station to First where I planned to walk, or is the right term "hike" up to Faulhorn, an Alpine peak with a walking trail to the top. The view from First is amazing.
It seemed to start off badly. It was warmer that I expected. There was no way I could wear my jacket again but my tee shirt had no collar. I was convinced (wrongly) that despite my suncream, I'd get burned (instead the suncream has worked really well). Anyway, off I went and a few dozen other walkers if all ages. I looked in the distance and could see the Faulhorn. Unlike the pictures on Google Earth, it was covered in snow.
It was fairly ardous but I made it to Bachaplsee which is a very pretty glacial lake. On the way there I noticed there was a lot of unmelted snow about and after the lake it blocked the path. Bless my walking shoes, but they are more designer than designed for hiking and they stuggled. When I saw this then, I knew I had to give up.
Bascically the rest of the path was covered in snow.I could see walkers with proper boots and walking poles getting through but I had little more than glorifed trainers. Disapponting. Nevermind, I turned tail and set off down to Grindewald. This path took me down a glacial valley, which, when I looked at it seemed obviously to be a ski slope. At the end of it was another spectacular vista of the mountains.
I walked down to Waldspitz, where I had a much needed mineral water and chocolate cake. Then I took the harder shorter route down to Bort. It was all steps down through a steep sort of field of bushes and flowers. There were lots of little signs in German explaining what the plants were. I don't speak German, but at the bottom it turned into a meadow. Speechless.
At Bort I decided to take a Trottibike that's a large scooter with brakes down to Grindewald. I think it's primarily meant for children, but adults are allowed too. I think for a light child it must be fun. The brakes would be strong and the speed on the steep downhill manageable. With a heavy man aboard it was terrifying. I had to use all my bike skills to keep upright and the a speed would go up so quickly it was positively dangerous. Oh and did I saw they had cars in Grindewald. Cripes.
At the bottom I had to return the trotti to Grindewald station. So I looked for a sign, found none and went to the train station. They were shrugged shoulders unhelpful so I figured it had to be the cable car station. The upshot of this was that I missed the train back to Lauterbrunnen for my 2nd attempt at the Schilthorn.
I wasn't sure what to do so I looked at my map. I remebered seeing another cable car that morning. Where did it go? Well it went to Mannlichen (tall mountain great view) and from there the Wengen (so pretty, great views) which is one stop from Lauterbrunnen. Frantic checking of timetables said that it would be tight, but I might make it. I didn't. The problem was I was going to a play that evening. And the timing from Wengen was just too late. I had a look at the Schilthorn entrance and it seemed the cable car was shut anyway.
So I went straight to the play. This years premier showing of Tell. That's William Tell. It's the national legend of the creation of Switzerland and it's liberation from Austrian rule. The story is a bit complex to tell, but basically the Austians were treating the Swiss badly and made Tell try to shoot an apple off the head if his son. Tell was so skilfull he suceeded but later assasinaywd the Austrian prince who made him do it, sparking a revolution and Swiss independence. The booklet accompanying said thatt he story was inspriration for many other struggles for freedom like the Americans and the Palestinians. I choked a little when I saw the comparison to the Americans, little squabble over money, hardly a tyranny, but there you go.
There were some intervals acts of Swiss flag waving. I'll upload a YouTube video. It was impressive, although the Victorians have something to answer for, giving the world lots of slightly silly 'tradtional' costumes.
I was going to go to Lucerne the next day but I could not be bothered. I had a day off and walked into Town to look around. There wasn't much to see. A big alpine meadow and a tourist strip. I did see a cuckoo shop though. I bought one yesterday and it is being shipped to England.
Something I didn't see 7 years ago was the bikes. There were mire cyclists than car drivers in town. I should have hired one for the day but I decided not yet. I sat by the lake for an hour and then felt bored. At that point I should have grabbed a train to Lucerne for a late afternoon sightsee, bit instead I took a train to Thun for a boat trip back. That was foolishly unplanned and although I got to ride on a paddle steamer (toot toot!). I had to get off after only 2 stops as the boat terminated well before Interlaken. So fun but a bit of a wasted day. I got rest though.
Next day was cycle hire day. A sense of missing out on the fun was bulding in me. I now (I'm on the train to Martigny) realise that all the trains taking me up the mountains have bike racks. I should have hired a bike taken a train up and blasted down.
But I opened the window and the sky was clear. Not a cloud. That meant only one thing. Shilthorn.
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