Report 2 from Maggie

Report part 2
Change in weather forecast for Thurs.– still raining in Zermatt! – so change of plan. Went to Brienz and took little red train up to Brienzer Rothorn – it was so busy they had to put on an extra train. We have been on this trip a few times but love the views you get on way up so always worth repeating – we did ring changes a bit by going by gondola down to Sörenberg, taking bus to Schüpfheim from where we could have returned via Bern but decided to go long way round by taking train to Lucerne then to Interlaken via Brüniig line. On Friday I had a lazy day while my husband went off on his own to do some hiking on the Lötschberg Hohenweg between Fafleralp and Lauchernalp. Saturday was exceptionally hot so we took advantage of hosts’ kind offer to use their washing machine, laze in their garden then join them for an evening meal with lovely food and lively conversation in two languages! On Saturday we went up to Männlichen to watch their Trachtenfest which involved Swiss folk-dancing to piano accordions, alphorn duet, yodelling and flag throwing – it was all very great fun to watch and listen to and the group who performed were obviously enjoying themselves as well as entertaining us for nearly 4 hours. Their costumes were lovely but they must been uncomfortably hot as the temperature was still pretty high even so high up. We had gone up via Wengen so returned via Grindelwald. We had our first bad weather day Monday – poured with rain nearly all day so only ventured out to have lunch! Today (Tues) we went to Martigny to visit St. Bernard Dog Museum and kennels – very informative and the dogs were entertaining too, especially the younger ones. For such big dogs they seem so gentle and placid. We also saw some Roman remains and plan to go back to Martigny sometime to explore more. As we had travelled down the quick way via base-tunnel and Visp we took scenic route back via Brig and Goppenstein. So we are still doing lots of new things and all my forward planning and research is proving very useful. Just over half-way through holiday and more delights to come.
Maggie

Hi Maggie!

Thank you for your report. It's a bit like travelling with you, it all sounds great. I really hope you'll enjoy the rest of your vacation. And keep writing!

:-)

Lovely to sit here on holiday in Spiez and read of Maggie's adventures and enjoy the same weather. Yesterday on Swiss Day we had the best and clearrest views ever from Neiderhorn. (Boat to Beatenbucht then funicular and gondola/cable car to the top)

Maggie mentions taking the cable car down from Breinzer Rothorn to Sörenberg. From Sörenberg it’s a good idea to take the postal bus down to Giswil on the Brünig Line. There is a small extra charge for this scenic route which is payable even if you have a pass.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, hope you're still enjoying yourself over there in Spiez, Thanks for the tip about the post bus ride - will bear it in mind for future. We are great fans of post bus routes. We took the one from Meiringen to Oberwald on way to Andermatt on Friday - spectacular ride! We are also planning to go to Griesalp soon. Have you tried the trip to Axalp from Brienz? Another scenic ride and there's a lovely hiking trail with wood carvings all along the route. It's easy to find as there's a signpost and a big carving to mark the beginning of the trail near the bus stop at Axalp.
Maggie