Climbing the mountains

We had been warned that the weather was not going to be very good for the four days in Grindalwald which was very disappointing as it is a most beautiful part of Switzerland and very picturesque. From each of our bedrooms in the chalet we have a beautiful view of the lower mountains dotted with Swiss chalets and the chairlift commencing it's journey up the mountain. On Wednesday morning we woke to blue sky and sunshine - a real bonus. Nicole had to go to school for an interview around 10 a.m. (she is a teacher at a local rural school and has eleven students across three levels in her class) and then had the rest of the day off. Along with Maggie (her friend from Upper Hutt) and Shaun (the new boyfriend from Adelaide), and Nicole's black lab called Kira which goes everywhere with her, we all caught the chairlift (which is apparently the longest chairlift in Europe) to the top of the mountain. At the top after a few attempts at a snow fight we had an early cuppa and bread and cheese with meat at the cafe and then headed off on a three hour walk across the mountain, following a track, to meet the train back down the mountain.

Peter now says he had no idea we were heading off on such a long walk, as he would have been more than happy to have caught the gondalier back down the mountain without walking! Ignorance is bliss and off we headed. The beginning of the track was quite difficult, particularly for me, as in parts it was very icy and thick snow. However it got better and we were able to amble along at a reasonable pace and enjoy the views. It is springtime and there were various flowers along the way and I enjoyed looking out for the different types and photographing them.

After about an hour the mist got quite low and then the rain started and got steadily heavier. There was no point in turning back, so after resting for a few minutes under a tree we continued on our way. At one point we had a choice of train stations to head too - about 30 minutes uphill or 40 minutes downhill so the decision was to head down hill. Boy were we all pleased to see the little cafe serving hot drinks to dripping wet cutomers when we arrived at the station. Even though we were all wet and cold it was a great experience, but I must say the muscles are still telling some of us that we did more exercise than normal.

We caught the train back down the balance of the mountain - it was very steep but because of the mist and the condensation we couldn't really see out the windows. There were heaps of Asian tourists on the train - their tour bus had dropped them at the station and they had caught the train up and back down and then on to the bus again. Even though we were very wet at least we did experience a little more of the Swiss mountains. Afterall you can't see the flowers from the train!

We decided that a quiet night in was just what was headed and Garey had thought he had caught up with his washing duties, but there was a lot more ahead of him as we were all soaked right through! Just as well we were staying in the chalet with their own washing machine and drier facilities. Oh well, the washing fairy has had it reasonably easy up until now.