For the first time on this trip, we had to stop at the border between Germany & Switzerland. After a few questions, one being did we have a vignette (of course the answer was yes) we were on our way. First stop Lucerne. We parked up & wasted no time getting the bus to Lucerne. As per our usual luck, it rained. We had a wander round the city, stopped for a drink, took some photo’s then unfortunately rain stopped play. We headed back at the right time as within a couple of hours there was torrential rain & a thunderstorm. The next morning we wandered up to the local town of Howr, as we’d spotted a barbers from the bus. G was in desperate need of a haircut, 25 Swiss Francs later he was done! Headed back, got the bikes out & went for a cycle around Lake Lucerne. The road was definitely “Millionaires Row” with beautiful, big houses both traditional & modern. We almost made it to Lucerne before turning back. We had spotted a beach bar on the way through, so decided to stop for a beverage, G was sat in the shade by the bar & I was sat on the wall by the edge of the lake to take advantage of the sun! Out of the wall, slithered a massive snake. Never ever ever seen one in the wild before & not sure we want to see one again. It was heading for a duck just bobbing about on the lake & I hoped it wouldn’t “get it”. G came over ready to tackle the situation, however the snake just slithered under another rock. We made a fast exit.
Next stop “Lazy Rancho” Unterseen near Interlaken – ready for our mountain adventures. Lovely clean family run site with views of the Eiger, Monch & Jungfrau. Not that we saw much on arrival as it was raining! We did a bit of forward planning due to the rain situation, to sit it out. Early night, we needed to be up early the next morning.
The reason for the stay here was another “Bucket List” item – to go to the top of Europe. We splashed out on a 3 day Jungfrau pass to enable us to travel on all modes of transport in the region for the time we were staying. We were going to make the most of it.
Day 1 – Jungfrau – confused over which travel option we had chosen as we had booked it on the road & not read the email. We were soon back on track & at the right station to catch the train up to the top. The trains were absolutely jam packed full, however you had to book a seat on the cog wheel train from Eigergletscher to Jungfrau. We were early, so allowed to catch the earlier train as there was space. WOW! What an experience, it was a balmy -4 degrees & a really weird experience that you are stood on snow in June. It was slightly hazy/cloudy so not the best views but who cares! As we were ahead of schedule, we decided to do the First Cliff Walk on the way back through Grindelwald. It was busy but soon we were winging our way up the mountain, to do the cliff walk & stand on the viewpoint. We were now ahead of schedule
Day 2 – Due to the organisation skills of yesterday, we had a more relaxed morning then went off to Interlaken to pick up a cruise down the Lake to Brienz. With an hour & half cruise each way & then a 2 hour stop over, it filled the afternoon. It was slightly hazy but didn’t detract from the cruise. We found a shady garden by the lake & enjoyed a drink & an ice cream sundae. Took a wander along the lakefront & then back up through the town, it was picture postcard beautiful. After arriving back in Interlaken, we headed for funicular railway to take us up to “Harder Kulm” – Top of Interlaken. Unfortunately the queue was massive, we didn’t want to get stranded up there to walk back down, both tired we agreed to come back first thing in the morning.
Day 3 – It was our intention to go back up the mountain to Lauterbrunnen then onwards to Murren. But first on the list was HK that we didn’t do yesterday. Out early & we were up there by 10am, it wasn’t the best view as it was hazy again. We enjoyed a cup of coffee, took some photo’s then made our way back down. The train station was only a 5 minute walk away, so we were soon on the train, the wrong train. Instead of taking the easy route, we opted to use as many forms of transport to cross back the mountain to Lauterbrunnen, instead of a 12 minute train ride it took us 2 hours. That said, it was much more pleasant & we got to see more of the mountains & big views. Eventually made it to Murren, which was OK but we could say we’ve been there. Headed back down for our onward journey to Wilderswil & then Unterseen. We had to be back at a reasonable time, as we were going OUT OUT! Not just out to a restaurant but a FONDUE restaurant! On arrival at the restaurant, the lady informed us that we had the best table with the best view. We were like, yeah OK but she wasn’t wrong. We dined on Cheese Fondue with bread, potato, pickled onions, gherkins, pineapple, peppers, cucumber, all washed down with a local white wine. Not content with that, we then chose to have the Chocolate Fondue. Luckily we had a 25 minute walk back, however we were still full to bursting when we got back. However it was totally worth it.
We have now been on the road for 84 days, so now heading to France & saving 6 days of our “Schengen Allowance” in case we want to drift in to Andorra! Lake Annecy, here we come.
