1986 Lenk

Tue 1986-08-12 {11810}
Up at 0535, leave at 0625, and get to Heathrow in good time in Sierra. Long queue for check in, and the usual lots of hanging about before boarding DC-9 for Basel. It's raining in Switzerland. Coach to railway station, then short wait before getting into first train, with only a small part of the Swiss Travel party, those to the more obscure places. We are the only two to Lenk! But it's easy, just say name of station, and they point to train or indicate platform # with fingers! 2 standard gauge SBB trains, one posh IC type Basle -> Spiez, then a scruffy suburban all-stations type to Zwiesimmen, then a metre-gauge EMU to Lenk (MOB Montreux Oberland Bernois). The last train has a request stop button, and stations are just a hut by the rail-side. Eventually arrive (1630) at Lenk and porter pushes cases (which have arrived by themselves from the airport at Basel) up to posh **** Hotel Kreuz. Excellent scenery, railway going thro' deep mountain valley and Lenk nestles among mountains. Settle in, go for walk (almost all round Lenk), quick beer, then excellent dinner. Expensive booze (2F for cheap beer, 26F for bottle of wine, at 2.5F = 1L), but excellent service, & receptionist & restaurant manager speak English well enough. After dinner, mostly sleep!
Wed 1986-08-13 {11811}
Breakfast, then walk to Bergbahnen Lenk-Betelberg - a 2-stage cable car up from 1km to 2km up, and take short walk along mountain path. Spectacular, so quiet except for a few cow-bells in the distance (and sometimes close!) and fresh air. Sunny and warm. Wander around a bit, have a beer, then descend again, buy and despatch postcards, as it clouds over for the afternoon. The behaviour of clouds on the mountains is strange, with fluffy bits forming over the highest bit in the morning. Expensive still, paperback 6.30/2.5L map 15/2.5L, yesterday's Telegraph is over a pound! Afternoon mostly in until dinner (cold buffet), a couple of beers in the bar (ask for "zwei bier stange") then read in bed. Try taking 2 pics of lights on mountain side at f2.8, 1s & 10s exposure.
Thu 1986-08-14 {11812}
Fail to meet Swiss Travel representative (apparently he/she does not visit at the times stated), so venture out into hot sunshine at about 1030 and hire 2 bicycles for 1 day (22F total & no deposit). Good bikes, Swiss, German dynamo, French pump, & Sturmey-Archer 3-speed gear! Brakes are reversed side-side. Visit Zimmerfalls, then explore routes out of Lenk. Road to Iffigenfalls too steep, so head off on cycle route to Zwiesimmen, and stop at convenient shady spot for picnic. Then return to look at mountain & lake, 'cos our legs were giving out. Collapse in hotel room for an hour or so, then have a beer or two before dinner. After dinner visit "Andy's Pub" which has authentic London Pub lamps on brass brackets, red flock paper, and Bass & Guinness in bottles. Almost a pub atmosphere, drinking on stools at the bar, but apparently populated mostly by the local youngsters, as being more lively than the cafes (although still dull by the standard of the rest of Europe).
Fri 1986-08-15 {11813}
Into Zwiesimmen on train, only F4.80 each. Bigger than Lenk, but if possible fewer tourist-type shops. Very hot. Ascend Rinderbahn, another 2-stage cable car, with tiny 2-person cars. Goes along over 5km and up 1km. Excellent view from the top + inevitable cafe at the top. See Jungfrau (in distance) and others, almost a ring of mountains above 3km (against our altitude of 2km above SL). At top is hot, but there is a cool breeze. Come down - have an ice-cream and decide to go back to hotel to rest from heat till later in the afternoon. Back to Lenk about 1400, and get another F200 from bank with Eurocheque. It's clouding over but still hot. Later shopping trip for presents - but find nothing suitable. Evening - clouds over & impressive thunderstorm comes up valley, completely hiding mountains. Dinner, evening in reading (mostly - apart from visit to bar).
Sat 1986-08-16 {11814}
Breakfast as usual, then by bus up to Iffigenfalls, up narrow twisty mountain road. Sections are one way, alternating every 15 minutes (a fact apparently not known to a BX driver who was stopped, facing the wrong way, on one of the hairpin bends). Faced with a choice of returning in 20 min or 200 min, decide to do neither, and waste the return tickets by walking down, about 5km, at first pretty alongside river, later precipitous down a zig-zag mountain path, steep drop to the edge of the path, and difficult to ensure a good grip! Falls themselves pretty, but difficult to photograph with the sun just at the top. Discover that you can buy a six-pack of the F2.40 beer in the minibar for F5.40, so buy one. (The Co-op seems to be the only place selling booze for consumption elsewhere.) Rest in hotel for a bit, then read by the lake until it cools off a bit. Dinner, then consume a few bottles in room.
Sun 1986-08-17 {11815}
We're suffering. Cath has heat blotches + itches + bites. I have a bite + worn-out legs + blisters - so we decide to do nothing. Sit and read in shade by lake for a bit (very hot again), have lunch there (rolls, cheese + beer) & watch ducks, swans and jumping fish. Finally succumb to the heat & return to hotel, where I fall asleep and \theta reads till dinner time. Then a couple (perhaps) in the bar. It was only one, 'cos we waited 15 mins to be served, then put the cash on the table & left.
Mon 1986-08-18 {11816}
Last full day. Buy (very expensive) presents + some lunch for today in Co-op. Go up Betelberg again, to cool off a bit, lovely at 2000m until it clouded over about 1/2 hr later. Have a couple of beers at the cafe until it started to rain, and then descend again. This cable-car system is very elaborate, with chain-driver + wire-rope system for moving cars around stations, with complicated point systems, and a system to accelerate cars smoothly to the cable speed, so that the shock of joining the cable is not as great as some (ie Rinderberg one). Naturally it stops raining when we've got down, so we sit near the Bahnhof for a while watching the world go by, then return to the hotel in time to witness an impressive thunder-storm, with almost continuous lightning for about 30 min, the mountains invisible, and wind capable of driving the rain horizontally. Meet Swiss Travel rep (a Scot) at last in the bar. Have last dinner, & meet a party from Dunstable, of all places. Drink a whole bottle of (25SF) Swiss white wine with dinner.
Tue 1986-08-19 {11817}
Wake up early dreaming of missing connection & wandering lost on Swiss railways. Breakfast, pack, then pay extras bill (Amex for 128.80SF), then wait watching rain & reading until about 1230, when porter takes bags to station and register bags to London. Catch 1309 (earlier than itinerary) & wait at Zwiesimmen (rain stopped for a while). Rolls for lunch. \theta worried when Spiez train sets off the wrong way - but it's just shunting around the van it had brought up. We were supposed to have 6 mins to change at Spiez, but in practice we got about one - the trains were cross-platform & it just waited until everyone was on - fortunately \theta spotted the Basel coach as we drew in. Not as good a train as on the way out - a blue & white one, don't remember the company. More shunting back & forth at Bern, deposit on one platform, then out of the wrong end of the station while front part is removed & changed, and back in again on a different platform. Train 5 min late leaving Bern - the first time we haven't been on time - because a connection was late. Get to Basel via Olten, leaving mountains behind, and the country looking more normal European & not so cute. Meet rep OK at Basel, bus to airport - bags are still with us! Flight back on 737, excellent view of London on way in, Tower Bridge & Houses of Parliament etc &.