V1. Kloten & Kyburg 24 Oct

Our bags are packed and we are ready to fly but not before we enjoy our last full day in Switzerland. The next door neighbour offered us a ride to the bus stop as our hosts were away in Lucerne. Having farewelled him others turned up at the bus stop and bid us adieu so we left with a good feeling of camaraderie.

 

In Thun we were able to catch a train going right through to Zurich Airport and from there we had a free shuttle bus to our hotel - the Welcome Inn. After booking in and depositing our luggage we walked up to Kloten train station which is quite close by. We went by train to Effretikon and then bus 655 to Kyburg. We knew that the castle would not be open today but it was interesting to wander around the village which has lots of interesting old buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the village church and looked at the graves for a friend in Canberra who loved to visit this village as a child and had relatives buried here.

 

 

 

 

We walked to the outer village past the school and on through the farming land. As we often do we walked several bus stops back along the road till the returning bus caught up with us.

We returned by train to Kloten where I ceremoniously dumped my final printed SBB timetable for the day's outing. I started out with about 42 of them for each different destination!

We had afternoon tea at a local patisserie and later had dinner at an Indian restaurant before a final shut down of the cases ready for an 8:30 start in the morning - this time destination Australia.   The Welcome Inn is a comfortable place and the reception staff are very friendly.

U2. Giessbach, Isenfluh & Sulwald 23 Oct

There were two more places we wanted to visit in the Berner Oberland before we completed this Autumn Adventure. The first was to travel across lake Brienz to revisit the beautiful waterfalls at Giessbach. We saw them in spring time now we wanted to see the colours of a different season. We were not disappointed. Even without the stunning blue sky of yesterday they were just as good as we imagined.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We returned by boat to Brienz and train to Interlaken Ost and from there we continued to Lauterbrunnen. There we took the smaller Postbus 142 up a steep road with a long tunnel to the small village of Isenfluh. We were the only ones on the bus - our private coach you might say!

We had always planned to go on up to Sulwald and maybe Trottie bike back down however when we looked at the relatively small red gondola, and the cables disappearing over the cliffs above, we were a little daunted. Well, a lot really, but we went anyway! The guy showed us where to press the button to open the door at the top and we understood that he also wanted us to close it once we got out. Which of course we did, but as  I set off on our ever upward walk, I was certainly wondering how the going back down bit was going to happen!  

 

 

 

We walked up to the lookout and were rewarded with a view going in all directions - left to right and up & down.   

 

Such a lovel peaceful place to wander.

 

  We had decided against walking back to Isenfluh because of time constraints. We had to get home and pack our cases. So after about 3/4 hour we went back to the Gondela. We were standing on the deck near it when a voice from a speaker above us said "Press the white button" so I did but nothing happened - then I realised I was the one to open the door. We got in and closed the door. A bell rang and away we went back down over the cliff with stunning views of the village way below.

We had a few minutes to spare before the 15:15 bus so we had time to look around Isenfluh and take a couple more photos!

At 15:18 the bus had not arrived so we went back to the timetable board which sure enough it had a little (A) above the time. In the legend below we discovered that that bus only runs on reservation with at least 90 minutes notice required!  In German - but clear enough for us to understand! What to do? Well nothing for it but to cross the road to the little resturant buzzing with locals and join them. Wir mussen auch Kaffee und Kuchen mit Raum haben!

The scheduled bus for 16:15 arrived and we reversed the journey down to Lauterbrunnen and on to Interlaken and Thun. With now some time to wait for the bus up the hill we decided to walk through town one more time. That meant I could photograph some great leaves I had seen from the bus yesterday. 

 

U1. Wolhusen & Thun 22 Oct

On another super Autumn day we took trains to Konolfingen, Langnau and arrived at Wolhusen mid morning after enjoying the Emmental valley once again. At Wolhusen we spent several hours with friends who were our neighbours in Heiligenschwendi in 2014. It was great to see them settled in their new location and to share news and photos from the past two years. The views from their home encompass local rural scenes.

Their church has been decorated for their special Autumn service tomorrow.

And a few scenes from the Emmental valley including the Emmental river.

The crane below has three motor bikes dangling from it - maybe advertising the business?

 

 

On return to Thun we caught the bus half way to Heiligenschwendi then got off and walked back to Thun! No we did not forget something we were taking advantage of the afternoon sun to walk down the Cholerenschlute pathway. We had been leaving this till the end of our holiday to let the leaves turn to Autumn colours.   

When we wound our way down into Hilterfingen and down to the lake and walked back along the waters edge to Thun. The scenery really is captivating.

 

On the way home we decided to get off the bus early and climb the local hill called Vesuv. Great opportunity to say farewell to our favourite mountains