Guess what? This is the final instalment in a series of posts featuring Swiss scenery at the end of last December/beginning of January. My friend M.B.'s last full day visiting was to take us by train to Schwarzenburg and from there by postbus to Gurnigel via Schwefelbergbad. It was a less than perfect morning, but beautiful enough. And up at Gurnigel the sky streaked with foehn cirrus and contrails actually provided some spectacular views without completely obstructing the peaks nearby and in the distance.
M. and I were kitted out for the weather and the snowy ground: good boots, warm windproof jackets, warm gloves and caps; walking poles; good quality goggles to protect the eyes from the glare (too much exposure and you can get snow blind, even at this rather moderate altitude; too many episodes of snowblindness may lead to cataracts in later life). I'd brought some food and water for a picknick.
The plan was to take a leisurely walk in the snow, one of those many "Granny hikes" one can take in the Gurnigel area; have a bite to eat in the sun; and come back down to the Gurnigel restaurant in time for dessert and coffee before catching a postbus down to Thurnen, where we would have a fairly good connection to the train back to Bern. And that's how we did it. Perfect!
Brilliant! We're enjoying a lovely, even almost warm day in the sun, while the Mittelland and Lakes Thun/Brienz languish beneath a thick layer of cloud, the Nebelmeer (sea of fog).
The sun produced a bit of a halo or mini-rainbow in the cirrus above the Nuenenen. To the left, the aptly named Krummfadenfluh (the Crag of the Twisted Twine).
The white peak below and in front of the Nuenenen is the Bire, very popular with "skinny skiers", ski hikers out for a quick run up and down that easy mountain.
Stierenberg. Time for our lunch break.
View from Stierenberg, ca. 1650 m asl. (There's a fantastic photo from the same area, but taken a little over a year earlier, at http://www.fotouristen.de/foto/21162/ist=date&cf=Lw==&bl_save=1 -- well worth a visit!)
It's a very popular area, with tracks prepared for traditional cross-country skiing and ski skating. Kids and dogs don't have a lot of respect for the tracks, though. Not sure I want to go there on a Sunday to do any serious cross-country skiing.
The sun is almost gone.
Gantrisch (left), Nuenenen (centre), Ochsen (dark peak, right).
Further west, some of the Fribourg Alps; I'm not very familiar with that range, or with the names of individual peaks.
We're heading back to Gurnigel Berghaus, but take a quick detour into the woodland below, where a surprise awaits us:
It's the teepee set up by Berg-Event, the local snowshoeing guides I featured in my post of December 22, 2007 (see also http://www.berg-event.ch/html/sch-tage_w_gantrisch.html). A few steps ...
... to enjoy one last look at one of my favourite mountain ranges anywhere.
And then it's back to the Berghaus for that dessert:
Ah, yes, that was exactly what we had planned: a huge meringue and coffee. We shared this one...
The sun dips down beyond the Fribourg Alps as we stand waiting for the postbus to take us down into the "normal" world:
It just so happened that on the bus we sat next to a young father with his very young baby. We were deeply impressed by the way he soothed and pacified the infant during a fairly long drive downhill and with many bends in the road. The baby's Mum must have had a good, long break -- good for her!
And on the train back into town, I chanced to meet a friend from college, the leftwing political activist Ron Ganzfried of the Grünes Bündnis Bern, whose example encouraged and inspired me all those years ago to become politically active, albeit in a much more modest way than he. It was good to chat and catch up, Ron!
The next day, M. bought her last bus ticket at the stop near my house.
Farewell, my friend, travel safely. Here's hoping we'll meet again very soon!
And may you, dear Reader of this blog, come back soon to enjoy some more photo souvenirs of Switzerland, Bern, and Scotland. :)
