Lauenen > Hahnenmoospass [Thu 28 Jun | 27.50 km]
Lauenen > Trutlisbergpass (2038m) > Lenk > Hahnenmoospass (2000m)
Hahnenmoospass > Kandersteg [Fri 29 Jun | 44.44 km]
Hahnenmoospass > Adelboden > Frutigen > Kandersteg
Kandersteg > Kandersteg [Sat 30 Jun | 34.31 km]
Kandersteg >-by train-> Gopperstein > Lotschental > Gopperstein >-by train-> Kandersteg
Kandersteg > Stechelberg [Sun 01 Jul | 59.45 km]
Kandersteg > Aeschi > Interlaken > Stechelberg
Stechelberg > Rosenlaui [Mon 02 Jul | 44.43 km]
Stechelberg > Zweilutschinen > Grindelwald > Grosse Scheidegg (1965m) > Rosenlaui
Rosenlaui > Engstelnalp [Tue 03 Jul | 31.54 km]
Rosnelaui > Innertkirchen >-Susten road-> Gental > Engstlenalp
Engstlenalp > Engstlenalp [Wed 04 Jul]
Engstlenalp >-by foot-> Jochpass (2207m) >-by chairlift-> Engstlenalp
Engstlenalp > Bumbach [Thu 05 Jul | 79.79 km]
Engstlenalp > Tannenalp > Sarnen > Giswil > Sorenberg> Salwidili > Bumbach
Bumbach > Bern [Fri 06 Jul | 54.86 km]
Bumbach > Schangnau > Steffisberg > Kiesen >-by train-> Bern
Bern > Zurich [Sat 07 Jul]
Bern >-by train-> Luzern >-by train-> Zug >-by train-> Zurich
After leaving Col des Mosses, it was back down the hill and over to Col du Pillon, to begin my descent into Gstaad and my trip through the Berner Oberland. No patch for the Carradice at the col, but there was at least a summit marker this time around, so I added one more picture to the collection of shots of my bike at col markers. Things started to get ugly as i rolled into Gstaad - there was a sprinkle of rain, and it was hinting at more. Seached around a little bit, found the campground I was looking for, but the office was closed until 6pm. I decided to wait there in the beginnings of harder rain, and see how the weather turned out as I pondered exactly how much I wanted to set my tent up while it was raining. It's one thing to endure a rainy night with a tent that was set up in dry weather, but to set your tent up in the rain? Bleah. It's the type of thing that encourages me to replace my current tent with a newer model, one of the ones that you can set up the rainfly, and then set the tent up from within.
The weather got worse - pouring rain, lightning, the whole shebang - so I rode up the road a little ways from the hotel, and asked about rates at the little hotel up the way. They wanted sFr 60- for a room i wasn't terribly impressed by, and I wasn't quite willing to pay that, even when they lowered it to 40- as I was heading out the door. There was a gap in the rain now, and I decided to make a run for Lauenen - if I was going to pay 60- for a hotel room, it was going to be back up in the valley, not here in Gstaad.
This turned out to be a delightful "mistake" - I spent the 6 km ride to Lauenen getting completely soaked, pounded by marble-size hail, and scared out of my mind my lightning striking the ground within vision., all in the pitch-blackness. My new jacket that I got in Zurich held up great, though - the Roach wouldve left my upper body soaked to the bone. I arrived in town to find 2 or 3 hotels, and ended up choosing the one that had been the first one I rode past, the Hotel Wildhorn. The price? 60-. Nicer room, view of the Wildhorn, Arpelistock and Sanetschild from a small balcony, and staff who let me use the hotel dryer to dry out my soaked clothing. Missed dinner, but I had food on me from Les Mosses, and anyhow, there was breakfast in the morning. Thunder crashed all evening seemingly right above the hotel, shaking the very room I sat in, writing my journal for the day as I watched the clouds raise and lower themselves on the Alps out my window.
At 6 am the next day, it was still raining, though, and things weren't looking good for Trutlisbergpass, which I knew was going to be a lot of rough-stuff. I planned to pack everything up and be ready to leave around 8 or 9, depending on what the weather looked like, and at around 7 things started to break, and the full majesty of the Alpine panorama came into view. The stream below my window burbled past, and birds started to sing in the warmth of the sun. This, my first real view from inside the Berner Alps, was breathtaking, If it was any indication of what was to come, I was in for a real treat in the coming weeks. I was so glad I'd made the choice to risk the soaking and make the ride up here instead of staying in Gstaad.
After breakfast downstairs in the hotel, I pack my things under a mostly clear sky, and head across the street to the road next to the post office, which leads up to the head of the road/trail over Trutlisberg. The path is marked 5h15m to Lenk, but somehow I think that even pushing the bike I'll be able to beat that time, if for no other reason than being able to roll downhill quickly on the other side. Climbing up the jeep track and then hiking trail that leads over the pass, I take detailed mileage/altitude/condition notes for submission to the Rough-Stuff Society's Alpine guides, so as to update the data on this pass contained there, which has been most helpful, but is of unknown age.
After about an hour and a half, including a final half hour or so of wandering an unmarked area as I made a mistake in my routing, I finally reach the summit, having struggled through some rather boggy conditions, but nothing over a simple carry on the way up. I've ridden maybe 5% of the last 3.75 km of the climb, half the distance from Lauenen. The view from the summit must be amazing on a day unlike today, where the clouds hover lower over my surroundings, and it threatens rain. As I roll up, I encountered an English couple, sitting at the summit, looking at me somewhat strangely as I push my bike towards them - quite possibly the last thing they expected to see up here. I pause for a short bit to chat with them, have some bread and cheese, and move on down the other side.
The descent into Adelboden is mostly shale and loose dirt/gravel, but goes by fairly quickly. I'm quite glad I have brakes that work well in the wet, as the ground is a mess, soaked with water - but most of the trail is still rideable, except for a few of the shale spots, which are guaranteed falls, simple because wet, loose shale is impossibly slippery. after nearly 5 km of descending, the jeep track turns to bona fide gravel road, hard-packed and fast, though I need to watch out for the troughs carved for water-clearing purposes. From there, It's down into Lenk, and back up again to Hahnenmoos, in my attempt to make Adelboden by the end of the day.
The Hahnenmoos road is mostly paved from Lenk, and only turns into jeep track about 2 km from the summit in Buelberg. 2 swtichbacks from there, I pass an organic farm advertising both massenlager and schlaf im stroh arrangements, which almost lures me in for the night there and then, but I resist. From Buelberg, there's a fantastic view fo the Wildstrubel, Rohrbachstern and the Glacier de la Plaine Morte. Glacier of the Plain of Death? How quaint. I push on, as rain begins to drip down a bit more heavily than the sprinkle which has followed me all day, and head for Hahnenmoos, 300 m higher than this point.
Almost exactly as I hit the summit, the rain starts to really come down. Visibility is low, but I decide to stop in the hotel for a coffee, and wait for a bit to see if it'll pass and I'll be able to make the descent to Lenk from here. After about 30 minutes inside the restaurant, drinking my cappucino and chatting with the staff - I was basically the only person there - I change my mind and figure that it's worth a overnight stay in an empty massenlager (for 22-), and take the chance of better weather (and a promised incredible view) tommorrow. As I sit down for dinner of spatzle with speck and cheese, the staff notices my bag and its covering of patches, and gives me a patch from the pass, which turns out to be quite a mecca for people flying r/c gliders! Should be a quite an interesting morning indeed if it clears up!
In the morning, I realize that rain once again has forced a fortuitous decision - the night before in Lauenen, it forced me into a beautiful hotel room - this time, I'm confronted with a beautiful, probably 240 degree panoramic view of the Alps. From Elsighorn through First, Bunderspitz, Gr. Lochner, Steghorn, Wildstrubel, Ammertenhorn, Gletscherhorn, Laufbodenhorn, Mittaghorn, Wildhorn, the Spitzhorn and more. It's simply amazing. there's no car access to Hahnenmoos except for those who live or work here - everyone else must come up by foot, bike, or gondola. There's a host of hiking and jeep tracks that head out in all directions from here. All there is to hear up here is the wind, birdsong and cowbells. I think for a short bit about leaving early and getting food in Adelboden, but I easily decide, talking with a younger Swiss guy, Patrick, at breakfast, that I'll stay for a while and watch him and whoever else comes up fly gliders for a while. After all, I am on vacation... Why hurry?
It looks like there's an alternate route down to Adelboden from here, different than the main paved road that's mentioned in the Rough-Stuff guide, and I begin to ponder this as my descent, just for the ske of exploration. It heads down to the south/right from the hotel, and around the back of the Regenboldshorn, and then down the next valley over until it hits the Geilsbuel-Adelboden main road. It's prime wildflower season now, and I'm surprised more people aren't up here yet! Not complaining, though... I spot some more of the beautiful purple orchids I found on Col des Mosses, and again on Trutlisbergpass, and decide I should get a field guide to Alpine wildflowers (which I never actually manage to do this trip... just lazy).
After breakfast, Patrick and I head out to the lower face of the Albristhorn, and I watch as he flies his glider there for several hours. I figured I didn't have to leave here until around 2pm to make Kandersteg, where I decided overnight that I'll make my next stop. At this point, I'm basically planning my route day by day, despite my original planned route, which has largely fallen by the wayside at this point. The glider is amazingly relaxing to watch - on par with a fishtank for sheer ability to absorb time in its path, weaving back and forth across the face of the mountain, catching lift from the warmed air over the scree patches as they heat up in the morning and ealy afternoon sun.
Early afternoon brings the need to leave, and I head out on my new alternate route from the hotel. The route marker says its 3 hours to Adelboden on the route I'm taking, and again I think it'll take me less than that, if for no other reason than my ability to roll when things get smooth. The path turns out to be quite rideable for a good part of the early sections, and then turns into a techincal mountain bike trail, which I just can;t manage to ride loaded, so it's back to walking, which is perfectly ok with me, cause the scenery is something else. Lower down, after I've dropped into the valley, it turns into a sort of rock garden, described my my host at the hotel as unique in this area, and although difficult to cross, it's quite stunning. At the halfway point, about 4 km into my descent, the path turns to gravel road, and then to pavement shortly thereafter, with an incredibly steep section which I beleive was marked at 20%, just before which, I encounter an old man herding 3 pigs around with his bicycle, perhaps hunting for truffles, or? Neat, though.
I breeze through somewhat touristy Adelboden, but not before first discovering that i can't get any money from my ATM card, and that none of the internet connections are secure enough for me to get to my accounts in order to transfer money around... A quick call home solves the problem, and I have money in the machine a few hours later when I get to Kandersteg. I continue downhill, smooth and fast, to Frutigen, and then up the valley to Kandersteg, which wasn't originally on my itinerary, but I'm happy I made the change, cause it gave me an opportunity to take the train for a day trip to Lotschental, not to mention exploring the area around Kandersteg, which is beautiful in and of itself. The campground I find is a nice one, once again with the tent areas nicely up and away from the caravans, even if cars are allowed up where I am camped. There's a beautiful hanging valley across the valley, which I can see clearly from the door of my tent. Traffic up to Kandersteg is quite heavy, most likely due to the Kandersteg-Goppenstein tunnel, where cars are loaded onto the train for a quick journey straight through the heart of the Alps into Wallis. Bikes are actually prohibited on the part of the road just below the swtichbacks to Kandersteg, but the sidewalk is wide enough to be safe for both pedetrians and cyclists to use.
The next morning, I'm up early to catch the train to Lotschental for my day ride, out before the British hiking group from Bristol Uni who came in last night just after I did. They're planning to do Bunderspitz today, and maybe they'll have some information for me on the Bunderchrindli passage that, although extremely difficult, I've been pondering attempting if I decide to stay in Kandersteg a 3rd day. The alpenglow accompanying the sunrise is amazing, hitting Gr. Lohner and Bunderchrinde, and bringing my attention to the 2-step hanging waterfall pouring out of the hanging valley that is the latter - probably 50-100m drops in each step, first a cascade then a free fall.
I stop in town before catching the train, and pick up cheese and yogurt at the local Molkerei - I've never been a yogurt fan, it being too sour for my tastes in the states, but I figure I'll give it a try while I'm here in Switzerland, magical dairy wonderland that it is... This turns out to be a wise decision, as it's much different, sweeter and more flavorful here. Changes my mind about yogurt entirely. The trip through the tunnel to Gopperstein is quick and easy, and soon I'm riding up the gradual climb from there, through Kippel and on to just west of Fafleralp, where I reach the end of the paved road, a big parking lot and hotel, and plenty of tourists hiking the trail, so I decide to stop there for lunch, and skip any further exploring there. Kippel, the village around which John Friedl's classic of cultural anthropology, _Kippel, a changing village in the Alps_, is centered on has changed much in the 30 years since that book was written - the tourist industry, which was seen as a potential threat to the valley's way of life, has almost completely taken over, but in contrast, the farming community and at least some of the old way of life, has remained. There's still people haying with scythes, and plenty of older-style houses, but despite this, it's no longer the same, that's for certain. This doesn't subtract at all, though, from the sheer beauty of the valley itself, which i bask in for a good hour while slowly nibbling away at my lunch.
Kandersteg is a veritable paradise for paragliders, it seems - with the hanging valleys and sheer Alps, it's no real surprise - the upcurrents must be incredible. I think the most I saw on any one given day was near 20, all over the valley. That night, i spend time poring over maps, planning what exactly I'm doing with the next 6 days before I want to be in Bern, routing myself to take up the right amount of time. It's decided that I'll ride out tommorrow morning for Stechelberg, the next valley over, and then the day after that through Grindelwald, over Grosse Scheidegg and on to Rosenlaui. It's time to leave Kandersteg, as more and more campers are roling into the campground, and it's getting a bit to busy for my liking.
The next morning, I'm up early, and after breakfast, I pack up, and then take a quick trip up to Oeschinensee to check out the Rodelbahn there. Lots of pushing on the way up, though - at some points, the road becomes so steep that even unloaded it's near-impossible to ride, even if I had real gears... The alpine slide is worth it, though, even if I do get stuck behind legions of Irish girl scouts who just won't go fast on more than one run. After that brief bit of silliness, it's back to camp to load everything up, and down the road again...
On the way through to Stechelberg, heading up on Interlaken, I spot a smaller road that appears to cut off the corner through the city itself, so I decide to invetigate. I end up in Unspunnen, halfway along that road, after having ridden through a short bit of fantastic beech forests, perched on a wall near a tower ruin, eating a bit of a snack. Certainly a worthwhile alternate route! Virtually no traffic whatsoever, which is always nice, even with competent European drivers. Overhead, I hear the rumble of one of the lumbering old Swiss postal planes that I've seen on several occassions - I don't they actually still use them for the post, but I'm not sure what they do use them for - tourist flights, perhaps?
Arriving in Stechelberg, after following a great bike path along the Lutschine as its chalky water pours down the Lauterbrunnental, was a piece of cake. I had largely tailwinds the way up, and the views along the way are fantastic. Like every valley in the Alps, Lauterbrunnental is different from all preceding valley, but this time the valley is remarkably different. Sheer cliffs rise up dramatically on each side from the flat valley floor, in complete contrast to the valleys I've already been through, and to all the valleys I've yet to travel through. It's completely amazing, with waterfalls emerging at points in the cliff, so as to make the water seem to be emerging from the cliff itself. The campground I find, at the end of the valley, is a gem - the first campground, earlier on, was nice but not so hot, but this one... Definitely worth riding the extra few kilometers for. From here, there are practically straight-on views of the Gletscherhorn, Mittaghorn and Grosshorn. They're really quite impressive, but then, I'm less than 10km from their peaks, as the crow flies! The whole southern end of the valley is a natural reserve, bought back in the 50s in order to preserve it in it's natural state - basically everything that goes on here is traditional/organic farming.
The following day has me waking up to the sound of a helicopter ferrying things back and forth from somewhere deeper in the valley to up on top of the western side of the valley, up near Murren, I guess. The sun doesn't hit the valley floor for a while, simply because of the high cliff walls, so I stay fairly late before heading down to Lauterbrunnen to check out the possibility of taking the train up to Kleine Scheidegg. This turns out to be an impossibility, cause the train doesn't take bicycles as far as I want to go with it... So it's off to check email at the backpacker's hostel, and then head back down to Zweilutschinen to head up the other branch of the Lutschinen to Grindelwald and Grosse Scheidegg.
Grindelwald, unsurprisingly, is quite touristy, even in the early season, as it is now. It's kind of a drag, because the location is really quite beautiful, right at the foot of some of the most impressive of the Alps, notably the Eiger. I have lunch here, and wait around only for the cheese shop to reopen so I can restock on cheese and sausage for snacking. More Mutschli, of course - I've grown quite addicted to this stuff, and will be disappointed when I can no longer find it in the local cheeseshop...
After my short stay in Grindelwald, the climb of Grosse Scheidegg begins - it's completely paved, so it's not that difficult, and it's nice simply because there's no vehicle traffic except for the post busses, which loudly announce their presence with their distinctive horn every now and again. About halfway up the climb, there's a bird park, with examples of many of the larger regional birds, especially raptors. A nice surprise, and a good excuse for a break. I have to confess that I walked quite a bit more of this climb than I had intended to, but I figured it was the safer thing to do, considering how much my eyes were wandering away from the road in favor of the surroundings! Once I got to the summit, though, it was time for a pause for ice cream, a great view of the Wetterhorn, and some amusing antics by the choughs, once again with their silly tooting noises. Got another patch for the Carradice, but there was no summit marker that would be readable in a photo, alas...
From there, it's basically all downhill for just under 10 km to Rosenlaui. I'd read Jobst Brandt's ravings about this place in his journals of his Alps trips over the years, and was pretty well convinced that I shouldn't miss the hotel there. As it came into view, I was almost sure I was going to be stretching it a bit, but rates were remarkably reasonable! When you get a single room, with a balcony and view of the Alps, fully furnished in antiques, plus breakfast the next morning, and a 4-course dinner that night for sFr 96- ($55 at the time) - reasonable it is! No way could I have gotten such a room at that price in the States... Quite possibly the nicest place I've ever stayed, and I tried to make myself as nice as possible for dinner, but at this point, there's really only so much I can do to disguise my grubby cyclotourist-ness. Dinner is chicken Cordon Bleu, a risotto and soup and dessert, and I spent a good portion of that time trying to decide on which postcards were best to send out to friends so I could gloat about staying here...
That night, sitting out on the balcony, I decide that I'll head from here to Engstlenalp, where my friend Jan had recommended I visit, for there's some nice singletrack across from there to Tannenalp that's supposedly got an amazing view. But first, in the morning, I'll have to check out the Glescherschluct Rosenlaui across the way - a slot cut through the rock with a glacial stream crashing through it, which promised to be quite impressive.
Morning brought the usual breakfast assortment, and conversation with an older Swiss couple, about travel, the Rosenlaui are and more. One thing I always love about Europe in general is how willing people are to talk to you, regardless of what you look like. It's a really good way for people to discover they've got more in common with a wider range of people than they think they do. The gorge across the way turns out to be fantastic - a 30 minute walk up through the wter-cut gorge itself, all the while with the throbbing white noise of the crashing water surrounding you completely - yet another great argument for carrying a minidisc recorder, cause I could listen to this sound looped endlessly. The pulse of the noise is tactile, changing with the twists and turns of the gorge itself. Rosenlaui is one of the most fantastic places I've visited here in the Alps, and I owe it to myself to come back here for an extended trip at some point.
Once I leave Rosenlaui, it's mostly downhill almost to Innertkirken, and then a quick left and up the first little bit of the Susten road, until I get to the turnoff leading to the Gental and Engstlenalp. On this climb, I find my second species of alpine orchid - the first had a tighter spike, with wide lanceolate leaves blotched with maroon, and dark lilac flowers - this species has a looser spike, lighter green leaves, and bigger, pinkish-purple flowers. There's also an assortment of other wildflowers on the climb, including some rich purple columbines and yellow foxgloves. Much to my delight, I spend yet more time walking, picking alpine strawberries and blueberries along the way - the strawberries are some of my favorite, for despite being about as big as a fingernail, they pack a wallop of strawberry taste unmatched by anything a bigger farmed strawberry, even organic, has to offer. I should also mention the staggering variety of shiny iridescent beetles the Alps seem to possess.
At the top of this climb, at the entrance to the Gental, there's a toll booth where all motorized vehicles must buy a daily or yearly permit to enter - makes traffic virtually nonexistant! Nice. Past this, it's mostly flat territory along the valley until you get to Schwarzental. About halfway along this road, I stop at a local cheese co-op to buy fresh cheese, from the maker. I've done this on multiple occassions now, and I've never gone wrong. Always nice to have a small wheel of Berg-/Dorf-/Alpmutschli in your bag...There's a touristenlager in the hotel in Schwarzental, but I want to get to Engstelnalp to crash out.
I get to Engstlenalp around 430, and find they've got a nice, totally empty matrazenlager (matrazen-, touristen-, massen-, etc lager seem to be entirely interchangeable) - an older farm building with big windows that open to views of the valley. Once again, I've got it all to myself, and it's great. There's been crashes of what I assumed to be thunder all afternoon long, but later I discover them to be the result of a firing range just over the mountains from here. I think I would have preferred thunder. I spoil myself with a coupe Engstlenalp - vanilla ice cream with warm Heildelbeern (blueberries) - delicious! Whilst deciding on my dinner options, I spend time chatting with Karina, a nice Danish girl who's working up here as a waitress. In the end, after a short walk up to the lake to check out the view of Jochpass, I spend the evening chatting away over a nice bit of rosti, downing a nice dark Eichhof Hubertus in the process.
After dinner, it being still light out, I check out the base of the route over to Tannenalp, which turns out to be rideable to the point at which it's signed that cyclists must walk the next section due to it being a dangerous road - though it doesn't actually look that bad, despite the drop to the valley floor. The rest of the evening is spent drinking free beer with Karina, and chuckling about how nothing ever happens up here...
In the morning, I've decided to spend another night here, and spend the day hiking up to Jochpass, just for the sake of checking it out and noting stuff down for the Rough-Stuff guide. An interesting note about the lake here - It's known for it's fishing, as some 70-80 years ago, it was stocked with lake trout! Now, the lake trout have eaten all the native fish (doh!) and every once in a while, someone pulls out a real lunker from the depths... The walk up to Jochpass is nice - nothing too difficult - I see mountain bike tracks on several occassions, which surely is due to the fact that on the other side of the pass is a downhill course, complete with chairlifts... I cheat on the way back down, and take the lift, just for the sheer entertainment value of it all. Plenty of marmots along the trail, but still not a single edelweiss! What's up with that?
That evening, a second cyclist arrives in Engstlenalp, so I'm sharing the massenlager now - now I only have the whole top bunk to myself, oh no... I've begun to note that I'm using up journal books at an alarming rate - I started out with 4, and I'm pretty sure I'll run out before the trip is over, so I'll have to order more and have them delivered to Vienna or something. The evening, once again, gets spent drinking beer under the awnings after dinner, hanging out with Roland (the other cyclist), Karine and Kristen (the other, younger, Swiss waitress) and drinking beers, as the rain starts to fall, which I'm assured will be gone by the morning.
Indeed, the next morning, the threatening clouds are gone, and it looks like a nice day for my ride over to Tannenalp and on from there. The single track traverse turns out to not really be that bad, except for some cattle gates and rocky sections, but nothing major. After that, it's downhill for miles and miles, past lakes, and then down the super-twisty and steep Stockalpweg, which suffers from some severely bumpy pavement at times, making me thankful that it's a one-way road on a 30-minute cycle. I'm leaving the Alps soon enough here, and I'm already beginning to head out of the major peaks... My last real challenge lies ahead in the Panoramastrasse, which turns out to be a decent climb, but nothing quite like the major passes I was doing not 2 weeks ago. Along the way, I spot 4 more species of orchid, including one with green flowers, and wish once again for a field guide. At the summit of the Panoramastrasse, there's a vending machine with local cheese and yogurt, and I treat myself to some of the latter. There's an organic farm that produces it down the road to Glaubenbielen, but it's not my route down, so I decide to skip it.
From there, I head down to Sorenberg, and, after a quick stop to ride the bob-bahn there (longest in Switzerland! 1000m!), it's up the climb to Salwidili, to follow the track from Sorenberg to Schangnau that's mentioned in the Roguh-Stuff guides. This turns out to be an easy enough route, and fairly plain, but still worth the extra little bit of climbing just for what is basically a nice mountain bike track. I end up not bothering to ride all the way to Schangnau, opting instead to stop for the night in Bumbach, at the farmhouse of the Oberli family for a night sleeping in the straw, just for the variety of it all.
It was a nice way to spend my last day before I got to Bern, staying in a farmhouse with a family that only spoke the most fragmentary English - I finally had to attempt to pull my rusty German out from my brain. Here, at the bank of the Emmental, the last bits of the Alps are in view, 2 ridges on eiher side of the valley - Schrattenflue on one side, Hohgant on the other. My German, now much-disused since high school 13 years ago, proves to be better than I thought - it's largely a vocabulary problem rather than not being able to structure sentences, which is reassuring. The Oberlis are dairy farmers - they've got 24 cows up on the Alp now, and one of the highlights of staying there is fresh, warm milk, straight from the cow - there's simply nothing like it. They express complete disbelief as i describe to them some of the gigantic feedlots in the States, almost refusing to believe that cows could stink, and baffled over how someone could make a cow live like that. The house is covered in trophies their cattle, carriage horses, and son (who is a Swiss-style wrestler) have won.
After an early breakfast, I'm off down the road, waving goodbye to my guests, and heading for Bern. The Schallenberger Strasse ends up being mostly downhill until near Thun, where the bike paths and roads become a bit confusing, and traffic gets a bit irritating, so, in a move symbolic (I guess) of my departure from the Alps, I stop in Kiesen and catch the train into Bern.
Thanks to my friend Anja, The guys at Velokurier Berne had been notified of my imminent arrival, so they weren't totally surprised when I rolled up at their office. Michel, the boss, gave me crash space at his place, and I even scored some free lunch that had been prepared at the office. Nice. Someone makes lunch for them every day. Jealousy sets in... After wandering around town a bit, including checking out the company bike shop, which is pretty cool, it was back to Velokurier to hook up with the crew to spend the late afternoon swimming in the Aare. That's one thing I always miss after leaving Switzerland - nice, clean, freshwater swimming. I wish I had a river running through my city... Oh yeah, and before I got back to the office, I checked out this place, Luna LLena, a cafe that makes its own organic ice cream. Yow. Delicious.
Beyond swimming, didn't really end up doing much - it was nice to just sit around and be knackered while the rain picked up a bit. Bern has a number of larger legalized squats, the biggest of which is the Reithalle, which has been around for nearly 20 years at this point. They hold theater performances, concerts, movies, all sorts of things - stuff like this never happens in the states - a squat of this size would get shut down so fast it's head would spin. But here, and all over Europe, things are different, and the squat scene has so much more vitality, it seems to me. Bern goes on my list of places I've not had enough time to explore this trip, and that I'll have to come back for another time. There's always another time...
I load myself on a train for the trip back to Zurich, through Cham and Zug, which is basically uneventful. It's looking like good weather over that way though, as the train pulls closer.
Maps used:
Bundesamt fur Landestopographie 1:100000 #s 101, 104, 105
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