Murren to Griesalp to Kandersteg

Looking towards Reichenbach at the bottom of the valley

This is going to be two walks in one, since the two walks were actually quite similar.  The first, from Murren to Griesalp was an early start, since there was a lot of travel ahead of us before we could even start walking.  We had to take the train from Murren back to the cable car, where we had come up the day before, then down the cable car to Lauterbrunnen, then a train to Interlaken then another train to Reichenbach.  The train to Reichenbach unfortunately got delayed.  The first and only hiccup on our whole trip.  I think someone had got hit somewhere, so fair enough really that their trains were a bit out of whack.

Marshy lake near Griesalp

We were meant to have walked directly from Murren to the next night at Griesalp, but a 2600m pass which was incredibly steep and covered in metres of snow didn't really sound too enticing.  It was too bad though, since that high pass walk would have been one of the best of the holiday I think.

The guest house at Griesalp

Instead it was a much lower down walk along a valley.  I kind of got the feeling if that we couldn't have done the high pass, that we should have spent a night somewhere other than Griesalp, since the walking was definitely not as good as the first few days.

Walking back along the valley towards Kandersteg

It was more of a Heidi feeling with this days walk, lower down, much less steep hills and a lot greener.  This was also the day where my feet really peaked in their pain levels.  I was seriously worried today that we would have to take drastic action, meaning more of a train holiday, rather than amputations.  That's probably why there are hardly any photos of this leg, since I was just in constant pain.  Every step was like walking on lava, and you have to make the decision, do I walk slower, and take more steps, but then each step hurts less, or do I walk faster, so take fewer steps, but they all hurt more.  It was a hard one to decide.  Again there were no blisters, so I'm not sure what was causing it, I don't know if I should get different boots or what.

Looking back towards the mountains, I think our pass is off to the left

We probably had the worst weather of the whole trip on this day, apart from the hail storm on the way to Wengen we had been pretty lucky.  Here the rain came in just after lunch and we basically walked through clouds for the rest of the day.  This was also the only day where we had to carry an overnight pack, since there was no train station at Griesalp.  It was more of a guest house than a hotel, no locks on the door and shared bathrooms.  But since there was only one other woman there, who arrived late, it was more of a private bathroom for myself.  This was by far the most isolated place we stayed at, which had it's own pluses, but then the owners were also the most strange of all we had met, so that was a bit of a negative.

We did speak to some people who had come over the pass we had avoided that day, and they said it was pretty tough and that the snow was metres deep.  And they were Swiss, so I didn't feel so bad about skipping that walk.  It was overnight at this guest house that my feet then mysteriously stopped hurting.  I mean they still got a bit sore at the end of the day, but they no longer kept me up at night with their aching.  Maybe I have permanently damaged some nerve endings or something.  But hey, why look a gift horse in the mouth really.

The next day was also meant to be a high pass, but again the owners at the guest house just said no way, don't even think about it.  So there wasn't much discussion around doing that one in the end.  Again it would have been nice to have been able to do these high passes.  I'm thinking there's going to have to be a mountaineering course somewhere in our future, just because there is so much snow and the mountains are so high, and I don't want to keep missing them.

Valley river

I think we should also go a bit later in the season next time.  Early July is too early to be sure of clear passes.  Of course the advantage with early July was that it was still cool when you got down lower in the valleys.  I have a feeling August could be too hot when you are down low.  Perhaps early September instead is the best time.  Best of both worlds.

The next day was our final hotel-to-hotel walk, to Kandersteg, where we were going to spend a few days.  Since there was no train station in Griesalp, it was back along the same valley for us.  At least the weather was nicer.  And it was here, at a restaurant in the mountains, that we finally came across someone who couldn't speak English.  We had to do the whole pointing at the menu to get something to eat.  There's something so nice about walking hard in the morning, but then stopping for some iced tea and a massive rosti for lunch, before finishing off the afternoon.  It really was so luxurious.

One slightly cool thing here was we were walking along a valley which was known for it's cuckoos.  And we actually got to hear one.  We didn't really see much fauna on our whole trip, I'm not sure why that is, I think you have to camp if you really want to see wildlife.  Maybe next time.

Valley of the cuckoos

Mountain Views to Murren

The Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau in a line

This was a much shorter day, after two massive days my feet were killing me.  It's weird, I didn't get any blisters but the soles of my feet got so sore over the first 4 days, and then suddenly on the 5th day it was like they suddenly realised that this wasn't going to end, and then they were fine again.  I'm just glad they eventually fixed themselves up, otherwise it could have been a very long, painful holiday.

The town of Lauterbrunnen, Murren was on the plateau above

Whilst the day's walk was much shorter, it still started with a killer of a downhill.  We had to drop from Wengen down to Lauterbrunnen, a 500m drop in maybe 3km.  Punishing on the knees.  Though I guess at least we were going downhill.  At Lauterbrunnen we had two choices, we could have either walked along the valley before climbing up to Murren, or catch another cable car and then walk along the plateau before dropping down to Murren.  Since the second option was titled "The Mountain View trail" I didn't think we could go wrong.  Plus it would have saved us from an 800m climb at the end of the day.

This cable car was even more impressive than the one to First on the first day.  It was huge, you could fit maybe 60-80 people inside, plus dogs and bikes.  Incredible!  Though still had the freaky pole feel along the way.

If we were feeling really lazy we could have actually caught the train from the cable car all the way to Murren, that would have been a super easy day.  Even though my feet were really complaining we were on a walking holiday, and it feels better to get to your hotel after walking most of the way, rather than just catching trains.

The village of Wengen, we had approached from the right at the base of the ridge

More flowers

They weren't lying when they said it was the mountain view trail, almost the whole way along you could see the Jungfrau and Monch.  It was time to really soak up the views since we knew this would be our last day in this valley.  It was fun being able to see your route from yesterday, where you came over the ridge.  And even further back to our walk on the first day, that ridgeline was still visible for a bit in the morning.

This was the busiest of all the walks we did, we actually saw other people on the route for a start.  The village of Murren basically has no cars, mainly golf buggies if they have anything.  So everyone has to arrive by either walking or catching the train.  It was definitely my most favourite village of all the ones we stayed at.

It had a really hippy feel to it, and it felt like if you were a vegetarian this would probably have been the only place where you might have been able to get a proper meal.

Cows with the Monch and Jungfrau

Our next days walk was to Griesalp and there were going to be 2 routes.  Either via Sefinenfurke, a 2612m pass, or with a train, cable car, train, train then walk from Reichenbach.  At the hotel that night they were fairly positive that it could be done, but then we don't have the same snow experience that other people in Switzerland have.  I had checked out some of the photos of this pass before heading to Switzerland, and it looked pretty scary, even without any snow.  Basically vertical scree slopes, with chains hanging from walls.  We bought some poles, and then we made the mistake of going to speak to the national parks officer.  This guy was the furthest from positive you could hope to be without explicitly stating don't do it.  Apparently there were only 3 or 4 people going over the pass at that time.  I would have done it if there were lots of people going, then the path would have been stamped in, but with so few going, and it had only been "open" 3 days at that point, I didn't want to risk it.  That would have been a nightmare, walking all the way up there, only to be confronted with a sea of ice and snow, really slick and almost vertical, and having to keep going to get to the next hotel.  We were still on holiday after all.

The poles though were one of my best decisions, I can't believe how good they were.  I'm going to use them on every walk from now on.  Now when I see people climbing up hills without them, I want to stop them and say, what are you doing? Go out right now and buy some poles.  My favourite piece of gear by far.