P2. Adelboden 14 Oct

Yea! I didn't have to be tour guide today - with my printed version of the day's SBB timetable ever at the ready. Today we were invited to go for a hike in Adelboden with a couple we met in 2014 and have stayed in contact with through Facebook. We met at Thun station and caught the train to Frutigen. Then transferred to the bus to Abelboden where we took the gondola up to a higher point to start our walk at Tschenten.  

 This is the way we are going - first up uphill!

 

Brilliant vistas even on an overcast day and still the odd wildflower among the grass

 

Someone is ready for lunch and it was delicious - carrot soup and then steak with vegetables and chips.

After a leisurely lunch we had a rainy walk back to Adelboden but I still managed to take a few more pictures!

 

 

When enlarged you can see the row of bells under the eaves and I like the little cubbie house out to the left.

Bussed and trained to Thun and up to Heiligenschwendi. Once again the walk home was delightful with the cows coming in, the fog rapidly changing and the beautiful Autumn colours on our neighbours woodshed.

 

 

 Home sweet home - for a little while anyway

 

 

P1. Over the hills and far away 13 Oct

Having had a late night we gave ourselves a well deserved morning off. That said I peeped out the window early and saw the mountains on display so I crept out with my camera for a little walk. Then I made my way around under the eaves and past the chimney to get to the little balcony to check the view from there. Rather nice I think. 

Because the mountains were visible we walked to Haltenegg to catch the late morning bus. This walk offers great views over the lake and our part of Heiligenschwendi below the fields.

In Thun we caught bus 51 to Wattenwil and immediately transferred to the minibus 56 to Riggisberg. This gave us an even wider perspective on the local mountain ranges. The farmers who were yesterday busy spraying natural fertiliser on all the fields (that's how we knew it would rain today!), today they were cutting the maize, ploughing fields and generally being busy every where went.

Someone's carefully planted vegetable garden and the erica plants which are available in all supermarkets.   

After 25 minutes here we boarded bus 611 to Schwarzenberg and when we got to the station we got off and looked for bus 612. In front of our eyes our bus changed to bus 612 so we got back on! This bus does a circular trip to Guggisburg and back to the station. Despite the rain showers we got off at Guggisburg for an hour of wandering around. One of the songs the Canberra Swiss Choir sings is the Guggisburg Lied (with 14 verses - we don't sing them all). It was interesting to visit the place of its origin. 

Home via train to Bern and on to Thun for a quick tour of the local Aldi to restock the cupboard. The road from the bus stop to our Spycher always invites a picture no matter what the weather!

 

O2. Nufenen pass 12 Oct

Took the oportunity to cross one of the high mountain passes before it closes this weekend for the winter season. Took the train from Thun through to Visp and were surprised to find it full to over flowing. At Visp we changed to a regio train stopping at all stations to Göschenen. The photo is of the table in the train shows a map of the journey rising ever upward in the valley.     

 

We got off at Ulrichen and swapped to the Postbus which goes over the pass. Thanks to the recent snow it was an awesome trip. The bus stops at the top of the pass for about 40 minutes - plenty of time for photos. 

 

 

 

We then continued down the winding road to Airolo in Canton Ticino. We had another 40 minutes here so we wandered through the town and had our picnic lunch.  

We the took the train through the tunnel to Göschenen and the transferred to the regio-train again. The first stop was Andermatt. Managed to capture photos of the layers of bridges. Lots of modern development happening there. The train at this stage was fairly empty and therefore easy to swing from side to side taking photos.

 

 

 Not sure I would like to be crossing the swing bridge below.

Back in Thun we caught bus 25 to Sigriswil catching the view over the lake on the way. 

After relaxing over a drink at the Baren Hotel with our friend we crossed the road to Sigriwil church for a marvellous concert performed by an international group of young opera singers. They were outstanding - every single one of them.  What an amazing oportunity and a very thoughtful gift from a very special person! 

O1. Hünibach 11 Oct

Another relaxing morning and then a quick walk down to the bus stop at 10:30 In Thun we filled in some time at the station shop. I photographed the covers of the Autumn magazines and I was fascinated by the black coloured carbone gipfeli. I though Geoff should try one and report to me on the flavour but he did not seem impressed with the idea!  

  We took bus 21 to Hünibach Chatreuse and changed to the minibus 22 which wandered around the streets high above the lake. After a failed attempt to communicate with the driver a kind English speaking person pointed out where we should get off the bus for the short walk to our friend's house for lunch. A wonderful lunch it was! Lasted around 5 hours with lots of chatting and photo sharing between courses of delicious Swiss food.

  We abandoned our planned walk together as the sun struggled to break through the clouds today. We could however see some of the snow on the mountains across the lake from her house and from the return walk to the bus. 

N2. Burgdorf 10 Oct

Decided to give our selves a slower start today so we didn't leave until 10:38 bus and then spent an hour in Thun before catching aan all stations train to Burgdorf via Bern. We were excited to see that the over night rain in Heiligenschwendi had fallen as snow down to 1300 meters. Difficult to photograph because of cloud and definitely colder air today. We had lunch on arrival in Burgdorf then climbed up to the church on the hill with its interesting red clock face. The photo of the coloured pencils shows the fence of the stationery shop. Another shows the varieties of erica flowers on display at the florist. 

After looking around the old town we continued up hill to the Schloss (castle). There are two museums in the castle which opened at 2 pm so we spent an hour there and learned some interesting things about Switzerland the we did not know before. There was also a view over the town from the windows of the castle. 

 

 

The Helvetica Gold museum features the search for and mining of gold in Switzerland. The last mine has now closed but there is still an active gold panning club.

Then there is my fascination with the Swiss wood stacks!

And a quick stop for Geoff at the chestnut roasting stand - how very Autumn

When we returned to Thun we took the bus to Goldiwil and spent a delightful evening with a friend from choir and her husband. Neither spoke English so I was very grateful for all those hours I had devoted to Duolingo app learning German! The photo is of our hostess pointing out the mushrooms they had gathered for the soup which was really yummy.

 

N1. Lac Gruyere 9 Oct

No use crying over spilt milk or on missing out on fresh milk each morning for that matter. Today as we walked to the bus stop we met a lady whom we often chatted to on the way to the bus in 2014. As we passed the Schalleberg farm she pointed out that they are now offering a Ferienwohnung (holiday apartment) for rent so we could have potentially stayed with the lovely Reusser family last week instead of being elsewhere. So be it.       

We stopped at Aperto at the station and selected bread rolls for lunch.   

We then caught the regio train to Friboug and into the French speaking part of Switzerland. When one is concentrating so hard on speaking German it is hard to switch the mature age brain over to French but we improved as the day progressed. We caught bus 336 from Friboug stationed and enjoyed the fairly extended journey through lots of villages heading in the direction of Bulle. Orange seems to be a popular colour here! Certainly fits well with Autumn.  

 

We got off at Le Bry and after a couple of false starts found the road leading down under the impressive freeway overpass high above. This overpass was even more imposing when seen a bit further on around the lake where you can see the massive pylon actually in the lake.

 At the lake we could see Isle d'Ogoz with its ruins and tiny chapel which was our intended destination. It was closer to the shore than I had anticipated. Since it was not particularly warm we decided to keep walking around the lake rather than wait around for an hour a half for the barge boat that takes you there on Sunday afternoon for CHF 18. 

We really enjoyed the hike along beside the lake, most of it through lightly timbered forest and a path littered with fallen leaves. We passed a few Km sign posts and fiqured out in the end that we had done about six kilometres. We stopped for a picnic lunch an watched some people go past on their paddle boards.

Since this walk was unplanned we really had no idea where we were going but trusted that one is never far from a village in Switzerland. We ended up at Gumefens where we waited 4 minutes for the next bus back to Friboug then trains to Bern and Thun and bus to Heiligenschwendi all with just a few minutes in between even on Sunday afternoon.  It is so easy to travel with the amazing transport system of Switzerland. As we walked the road home for the first time on this trip we were treated to a surprise of the goats and cows coming past on their way in for the night. They were curious to see us beside the road and one cow even licked my jacket sleeve while I was videoing!