Sunday Above Adelboden : 8 miles, 850 feet of ascent.

A short stroll into the town brought us to theTschenten gondola lift which elevated us about a thousand feet and we soon found ourselves in the clouds at the top. What should have been glorious views were either lost to us entirely or partially revealed in occasional tantalising peeps. However, a common interest for at least half of our party was the wild flowers which existed in profusion if we could have seen them, but ignoring the by then steady precipitation, some individual plants were photographed enthusiastically and identified by our leader. We eventually arrived at the Horeli Alpine Gardens where in the lessening rain we inspected a nicely laid out sloping area of specimens. After that we followed a slowly descending contouring route during which the rain ceased. After coming across and inspecting a remote mountain hut which turned out to be a labour ward for cows, we found we were in a delightful sun lit valley which led back via the wooded river bank to Adelboden.

Monday Engstligen Valley & Waterfall : 7.5 miles, 740 feet of ascent

We started off in cloudy sunshine by descending through a residential part of the town until we encountered the Engstligen river whereupon we turned right and followed its course upstream. We passed fields of wild flowers and this unusual multi bee hive. Glimpses of the distant waterfall had been in sight from the outset and eventually we reached it. Having a fall of nearly 2000 feet it is the second longest in Switzerland.

The picture shows the two Canadian members of our party at its bottom. We then walked to the lower station of the Engstilgenalp gondola lift and this took us up to a large plateau area of that name above. From here the views of our valley were breathtakingly magnificent. After walking around part of the plateau we descended in the same manner and were able to return from the gondola station by service bus to Adelboden.

Tuesday Kandersteg & Oeschinensee : 6 miles , 790 feet of descent

This time we set off in a coach but before reaching Frutigen the coach halted for us to test our nerve by crossing an extremely long metal grid suspension foot bridge over the river 130 feet below. Its 500 feet length inevitably allows a degree of bounce and a sign suggested walkers were required to be 10 metres apart to minimise this, but we only realised the significance of the warning after the first crossing, so its navigation, although considered great fun by some, was somewhat scary for the more sensible but cautious remainder.

In Frutigen the coach in effect carried out a U turn taking us down the Kander valley parallel to Adelboden's valley but separated from it by mountains. Eventually the coach reached Kandersteg where we transferred to a gondola lift. After rising the usual 1000 feet or so, a short walk through woods brought us the Oeschinsee, a large cuprous-green lake reportedly having a mountainous wall on its far side, but of course that was not discernable through the inevitable low cloud. We set about traversing a reasonable path, which was only loose shale in a very few places, several hundred feet above the near shore and as the cloud slowly cleared we were rewarded with increasingly better views of the craggy wall opposite.

Our path led us to a large elevated open area high above the lake and there was the Unterbergli hut (cafe) awaiting our custom. During our lunch the cabaret was provided by a small group of lively goats led by this evil looking Billy. Suitably refreshed we returned along the same elevated path to a second rather more elaborate commercial cafe and then undertook the long walk down what appeared to be a dry river bed of loose stones (although there was a road) to return to the coach rendezvous.