I’ve just go back from a few days in Switzerland, and will do a full flight (and train journey) report later.
In the meantime, I guess I am having one of those “Q moments”, which I guess is justified, as this does relate to somewhere just round the corner from Blofeld’s Alpine hideout.
This was my 5th trip to Switzerland, and the fourth time I have visited the Jungfrau region. For those who aren’t complete geeks like myself, this area is famous for its stunning mountain scenery, which has been tamed by a plethora of cable cars and mountain railways.
Of course, I’ll admit that my first interest in the Bernese Oberland was from the Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, but I was amazed at the time to find out about Jungfraujoch, which is also accessible from Interlaken. Quite how I hadn’t previously heard of this excursion, which takes visitors to the highest station in Europe, is beyond me, but this was back in December 2001.
Despite making various repeat visits, one particular spot which had elluded me was Bachalpsee, a lake above the village of Grindelwald, which offers a stunning backdrop of the trio of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.
This location, perhaps together with the view of the Matterhorn from the Gornergrat railway, should create that picture perfect “mountains reflected in a lake” image, like the one on the right.
I tend to book Switzerland trips at the last minute, which isn’t always the best option for a country which has a reputation for being pricey. However, as Switzerland tends to be an escape from office mayhem, these trips tend to get called at rather short noticed, rather than get planned meticulously in advance.
So my weather forecast check last Thursday, when I decided to make the trip, was decidedly optimistic. Yes, at the time, Interlaken was expected to have a reasonable dose of sun, but this had changed for the worse by the time I got there on Sunday evening. Having decided to give up, and head south to Lugano (with a Swiss rail pass, plans can be changed quite easily), I got up on Wednesday morning to bright sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky. So, was there a possbility of making it up to Bachalpsee?
I left the hotel just before 11am (I’m never one for early starts), by which time a few clouds were peppering the sky. In my haphazard mode, I asked in Interlaken Ost (East) station if the cable car up to First was open. I was told it wasn’t, but that the walk to Bachalpsee would take “just about 2 hours”. As I’ll explain later, never rely on local advice - both of these answers were wrong - the cable car (fortunately) was open, but the walk from Grindelwald would have taken 3 hours 10 minutes, according to the signposts. Normally, I would work on a time of around 2/3rds of this, but this would have been very ambitious on the day in question.
Mountain walking in Switzerland can be very deceptive - most of the paths are extremely well signposted, and many of the difficult bits can be skipped by jumping into a cable car. However, it is still only mid May, and the snowline was well below the cable car station at First. From here, the 2/3rds rule worked - the guide suggests a one hour walk to Bachalpsee, and it took me 40 minutes.
On the way, I passed a couple of other walkers who had decided to turn back, but I wasn’t going to give up on my pursuit of this spot. Reaching Bachalpsee initially seemed like a bit of an anticlimax - of course, the lake was frozen, so none of the reflections I had envisaged from the postcard photos. Another group of walkers were looking down on the bleak bowl which contained the frozen lake, with underwhelmed expressions on their faces.
I decided to at least walk round to the other side of the lake. The clouds looked ominous, but visibility was still good. I took a few photos of the view across the frozen lake, with mountains behind, not really expecting anything too impressive. The images were taking using a wide angle lens, and a polarizing filter. As with any trip, I’ve got several folders worth to go through, but as Q would say, this one I am particularly proud of:
And yes, this is a colour picture!
