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| 09:15 - Joined the other guess for breakfast |
| 10:10 - Left the hotel by car to visit Wilderswill, the location where the original trips hotel was based. |
| 10:20 - Petrol stop, 16.20 litres. |
| 10:25ish - Reach Wilderswill which is southeast of Interlaken and much closer than I remembered. I think I have located the original hotel, but as Wilderswill has also increased in tourism, we could not find a place to park, so we continued up the valley. |
| 10:45 - Reached the Trummelbach Felle (Falls). These are a series of waterfalls cutting into the mountain side. There is an electric lift which will take you to the topmost falls, but you will still need to climb further steps and past through walkways into the mountain to see the 6 highest. The walkway between the lift start and end provide access to falls 1 to 5. I don’t remember using the lift on the original trip, but I do remember some of the falls. They are impressive, but not as powerfully as I remembered. Earlier into the year these winter snow would turbo charge the falls, causing a roar load enough to prevent any conversation within the falls facility, as well as making your ears ring in the same fashion as a night in a load nightclub (which back then I would not have had as a reference). |
| 12:09 - Left Trummelbach Felle to return up the valley to Lauterbrunnen. |
| 12:21 - Parked in Lauterbrunnen. This is the town which has the large waterfall and church seen on the cover of the Upbury Manor school guide for the trip. Brian and we managed to find the exact spot the original picture was taken and both tried to re-create the same shot. Afterwards we stayed for a meal (cheese burgers). |
| 14:09 - Left for Blausee (Blue Lake) |
| 15:14 - Arrived at Blausee(Blue Lake), which is located near the town Kandersteg. The Blue lake was a fond part of the original trip, as this was time which we were unsupervised while we explored the area. I recognised the routes and the lake, but the front of the hotel/restaurant had changed and the lake appears less shallow (but still as blue). The Trout farm seemed better than I remember. I know it’s cliché, but the entire complete seems smaller than I remembered. A couple of things I do remember is that we received titles to go on the row boat trip around the lake and that the little shed facing the wooden pier also served as a sweet shop, which I use to buy lemon flavoured Wriggles chewing gum. Now the little shed is open fronted (no door or shelf), is unmanned, no tickets are required for the boat trip and the pier is now a concrete section leading to the boat moorings. How things have changed. |
| 16:35 - Left Blausee |
| 16:40ish - Parked at Kandersteg, near the chair lift. This is the chair lift which take you up to the Oeschinensee, a lake at 5,230 feet. I have always had a fear of heights, so this was kind of a uncomfortable outing for me. It took a few minutes for me to confirm that these were the same chair I used 28 years ago. They do not face forward like a normal lift, but rather outwards, so you travel to the left while going up. The chairs consist of two seats, either side of the arm linked to the cable and like most chair lift, do not stop for load of disembarking. The worst park was not the height, but was the nasty swinging and shaking that happened when passing each pylon. The only means of staying in the seat is a little wooden bar which hooks across your lap and click around the metal tube of the seat. I rode this lift as part of the original trip due to peer pressure, but as an adult I can firmly say stuff that! On this trip. Fortunetaly, the up trips stop at 16:45, so I could not go up if I wanted to. A thing I was shocked as is the absents of the slope next to the chair lift. This was where we had our packed lunches before going up. The slope is gone and has been replaced by a café and several houses and road! I have strong memories of that slope, as this was where a fellow student found a small white spider on his shoulder and when it climb onto the back of his next, he have it a slap to squash it. Unfortunately, the slap killed the spider, but also caused it to break his skin, leaving his complaining about a small swelling and sore next for the next few days. |
| 17:02 - Left Kandersteg |
| 18:11 - Arrived back at hotel, after a little detour around Interlaken West as market stalls had been opened across all the normal roads leading to Obere Goldey. The town officials did not see fit to post a detour route and the locals had as much of a problem as us foreigners. |
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