Lautenbrunnen - Tues

Tues 30th Sept 2014

Camping Rutti in Stechelberg was closing for the winter so after chatting to the owner (he too had had a back operation so much in common and he was missing his mountaineering snow patrolling and paragliding ) we packed up and checked in at the Campsite Breithorn in Sandbach just down the road and still in The Lautenbrunnen Valley. No blue skies today so a very good move going up the mountain yesterday! Walked into Lautenbrunnen to the Horner Pub again to use the wifi and today a lovely Spanish girl called Inma was serving. It was great to talk to her about Spain ( and our love for it) and all the places we had visited. After quite a few beers and lunch we then went to the 2 hairdressers in the village but no luck as both were fully booked all week! We then saw a couple of Base Jumpers walking down the road (u can tell by the shape of their packs) so we asked "not jumping today?" (Very low clouds) and they were from The Gold Coast in Australia! Steve and Liam, really nice guys as all of them have been that we've met. People think they are all reckless idiots but much training planning and research goes into what they do. Vast experience in paragliding and skydiving. They are new to the sport (5months) and have already completed over 150 jumps! We asked if their parents worried? We agreed with them when they said that they could be doing drugs to get their adrenaline fix and are not harming anyone and are very fit and healthy. David and I want to be Base Jump Groupies!!!! Ha Ha!!!! Walked a bit further on and came to a farmer with his cows - we followed him into his barn and met all his family (shame the battery had died on my phone so no pics). 

Walked back then along the river to Priscilla and got chatting (again!) to a Dutch couple in a caravan on our site (have been coming here for 38 years! ) they have recommended a good walk from here which we may do on Thursday. Tomorrow think we will get the train to Wengen then walk back. Did a load of washing in the smallest washing machine ever (2kg!) cooked dinner then watched another episode of Orange is the new Black. 

Up The Schilthorn - Mon

Mon. 29th Sept. 2014

Set the alarm and walked to the Stechelberg cable car station by 8.30am had our thermals on but was surprisingly warm (needed them at the top). Paid $165 for the two (return) of us to go up three levels on cable cars to the top of the Schilthorn where the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service was made in 1968. As we went up we saw the sun come up over The Jungfrau which was what we were hoping for going this early. Arrived at the top with hardly any tourists and had brilliant clear blue skies to view over 200 mountain peaks. This included The Jungfrau The Eiger And even Mt Blanc in the distance. Cannot describe this in words but we did spend 3 hours on this level taking it all in and going in Bond World 007 where they had interactive display and clips of the movie showing etc. was very good. Clouds started rising which created again a stunning ever changing panorama. Took the cable car down to the 2nd level station at Birg where there was a new Skyline Walk over a vertical precipice. After asking hikers that had just walked up their advice we decided to walk down the 1000m 3.5hr descent to Murren. Wow what a walk!! Very steep and loose under foot in places good job we had our walking sticks. Absolutely stunning views of the mountains that changed continually. Could not believe how some people walking up made it look so easy - even one lady had a toddler strapped to her back! Think we could have done it but it certainly would not have been enjoyable. Had our picnic lunch half way down. Arrived in the very pretty village of Murren (car free) and watched paraglider's take off. Went then to look through the village and all of a sudden we saw guys who looked like they were on a mission  - so we followed. OMG! They were BASE JUMPERS!!!! We went to edge of the mountain with them and asked if they wouldn't mind us watching - they said yes but don't follow us!!!! We have never experienced anything like it! We were shitting ourselves just standing there!!!! In all we watched 6 jump (one had a flying suit on) I managed to capture on video 3 going at once (can't stop watching it)!!! They all seemed very nonchalant about what they were doing and were joking with us. We suppose after having done over 600 jumps you would be like this. Took the cable car then down to the first level where we watched from below more BASE JUMPERS and saw them land. Walked back to Camping Rutti and Priscilla at about 7pm. Cooked chicken and vegetables for dinner then fell into bed totally exhilarated and exhausted. Didn't think our days could get any better!!!

Arrived in Stechelberg - Sun

Sun 28th Sept 2014

Left Frutigen and drove towards Interlaken via Spiez and along the huge lake Thunersee. Past through Wilderswil where my sister went on a school trip 44 years ago! Headed then for Lautenbrunnen and drive through the valley with its sheer rock face mountains either side. Found our campsite (Rutti) in Stechelberg at the end of the valley. Packed up a quick picnic as it was still early and wanted to make the most of the sunny day. We walked to Lautenbrunnen (11km round trip) and stopped to watch the many paraglide r's  coming into land- Our Jess & Edward have done this here when they were here last together. Got chatting to a guy who gave us all sorts of info about the area and Switerland in general. He was also an adrenaline junkie and has completed a thousand Base Jumps!!!! And went on to do the flying with the wing suit!!! But sold it as he realised the statistics were against him as he said each jump he always wanted to get closer to the rock face! Down the road a bit further we decided that this BASE jumping is unhealthy for us as after 20mins looking up watching out for them our necks were killing us!!!! Next minute whoosh - 2 came down close to us ( one certainly left it until the last minute to open his chute!!!) it was unbelievable. Walked then up a steep path to a lookout behind a waterfall which had great views across to Wengen. Arrived in Lautenbrunnen and called into a pub to use the wifi and have a beer of course. A young couple from Lancashire were working behind the bar and explained about the photo gallery on the wall of Base Jumpers hoe had died in the area!! At one stage there was 4 in one week!!!!!! The next picture is of a Base Jumper can u see him at about 2 O'clock? Started to head back then to Priscilla and stopped at Trummelbach Glacial Falls. Glad we did they were amazing. We took a funicular lift up to the top which went inside the mountain. The falls were deafening. The power and sight of this water and the rock formations were breathtaking. After this we came down and finally had our picnic lunch which turned into our dinner as it was nearly 6pm!!!! Another wonderful day in Switzerland.