I’m running out of words to describe “stunning views”, and today’s blog entry is going to test it even further!

We ate breakfast overlooking Walensee, with incredibly helpful waitresses, who were mortified when I just wanted hot water instead of coffee (I’ve brought my own tea bags with me!) and desperate to get us a parasol, even though we were just happy to be sitting in the sun.

By shortly after 10, we were on the motorway.  Tom had accidentally dropped his camera last night while watching a beautiful sunset, and it had died a death.  He’d done some research online and found a place just west of Zurich where they had the new model in stock at a good price.  The drive today wasn’t long, and the shop wasn’t too far out of our way, so we made a detour.  I think we were both slightly concerned when we pulled up, as it just seemed to be a big warehouse on an industrial estate, but it turned out to be a bit like an Argos, and Tom was soon back in the car, with a brand new camera putting a smile on his face.  It made life easier for me too, as taking photos out of the car window with my SLR is a bit cumbersome!

We headed back south, deciding to have lunch once we arrived in Lauterbrunnen.  The landscape around Zurich was much more rolling hills than the towering mountains we’d become accustomed to, but beautiful, green and luscious all the same.  The drive was then a lot of motorway, so I took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep while I had the chance; the bells at the local church in Walensee were ridiculously loud and rang every 15 minutes from 6am (including continuous ringing for about 5 minutes when they first began!), so I was a bit tired.

It didn’t take long for the motorways to revert back into typically smooth Swiss A-roads, winding their way past unbelievably turquoise lakes and over rocky mountains.  Eventually, we turned down the Lauterbrunnen valley and the views of Jungfrau wowed us right from the beginning.  The view down the valley is dominated by this rocky monster of a mountain, as well as the famous Eiger.

We parked up in Lauterbrunnen and headed first for the impressive waterfall that was flinging itself off the cliff.  We found a route that promised to take us up to the waterfall itself, and climbed the steep path, scary steps and rocky tunnels with excitement (despite my fear of heights).  Unfortunately, when we reached the end, the falls were nowhere to be found!  We presume that in the spring, autumn and winter months, the water tumbles in front of the viewing spot, which must be quite some sight, but with the warm summer, there was just not enough water for it to come close enough.  Luckily, the views back down into the valley were worth the hike and it was nice to stretch our legs after a morning in the car.

Next we wandered up into the town in search of ice cream, forgetting the place is more famous and busy as a ski village than a summer holiday destination (some of the cafes had animal fur drapes over their seats – most amusing in temperatures close to 30^o!).  We did find a lovely wine and cheese shop though, where we bought Swiss wine and cheese, and even a couple of almond Magnums 🙂

Walking back to the car, we enjoyed the atmosphere of the town, which was especially buoyant today due to a half marathon that was running through it.  More about this later.

With the MR2 safely parked up in the multi-storey at the railway station, we gathered our newly packed bags (we knew we’d need to be selective about what to take to tonight’s hotel, which will make sense shortly) and headed for the cable car that would take us some of the way to Mürren!

Neither Tom nor I are particularly good with heights, but apart from the odd moment when the cable car swayed quite violently, the journey up the mountain was really rather spectacular, if over all too quickly.  Typical Swiss accuracy meant that the train to Mürren met us at the top, and we set off on the most thrilling train ride of our lives, climbing along the edge of the mountain and affording amazing views both up and down the mountains across the valley.

Our hotel was just a short walk from the station in Mürren and was just as astounding as we’d hoped.  It was a bit of a find and a bargain, as the hotel administrator had accidentally missed a one off the beginning of the price when he submitted it to booking.com, meaning that we are paying 100 CHF less than we should be!  I suspect that we were lucky enough to be the first people of book it as this price, and that the mistake was then corrected, as our luck was mentioned to us both in an email and yet again when we checked in!  The hotel has rooms both facing out across the valley and into the town, so we’d had our fingers crossed for one with a view.  As soon as we opened the door to our bedroom, we knew we’d been lucky again!  The balcony offers the most unbelievably stunning, jaw-dropping, astounding, beautiful views of anywhere either of us have ever stayed.  We just cannot believe how epic this holiday is and feel so fortunate to be experiencing it.

We treated ourselves to a beer on the terrace of the hotel (we did consider buying dinner here too, until we saw the prices – 16 CHF for spaghetti and tomato sauce!), before a potter round town.  It was at this point that we realised that we’d been too busy gawping to remember to eat lunch!  Ah well, we’d just have to make up for it at dinner time.

We were amazed to see the runners we’d seen down in the valley finishing their half marathon up here!  Now that’s a run!  There was plenty of encouragement from the people on the streets, with many of them clanging cowbells like they do at the ski races.  It all made for another lovely atmosphere.  Tom also wandered down a path to watch crazy base jumpers fling themselves off the side of the mountain and down into the valley – apparently they get 10 – 15 seconds of free fall before they have to release their parachutes.  I think they’re mad.

We’ve just finished dinner on the balcony outside our room.  Leaving the peaceful town and the views behind tomorrow is going to be hard, but I’m looking forward to introducing Tom to the joys of Alsace next.  Mmmm – Gewürztraminer 🙂

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We started this morning off with a breakfast in a lovely, light room with glimpses of the fantastic views out into the valley below Stelvio.  We’re not sure if we arrived a little late (it was only just past 9am) or they had just ran out, but there were no croissants and no bread, until someone brought some buns out.  However, we fed on what we could and I uploaded the blog (WiFi was only available in public areas) whilst Lois went and finished packing.

After checking out, we re-packed the car, much to the amusement and astonishment of some people that were waiting for a bus, right by the hotel… yes… you heard me… bus… a bus that goes up the Stelvio Pass!  After we’d tactically put everything in its place, we set off down the road once more.

The route started off with more amazing alpine pass style roads and then opened out to more sweeping roads, again, with jaw dropping back drops.  With Lois occasionally clenching the nearest grab handle to let me know she’d rather me drop off a few km’s per hour, we made good and smooth progress.  We passed through the Swiss border without a problem and took advantage of the ~40p per litre cheaper fuel prices by topping up straight away.  In Italy the prices varied from 1 EUR 90 to 2 EUR 5 per litre and in Switzerland, even in the mountains, the price was around 1 EUR 40 equivalent in Swiss Francs.  It’s just a shame the MR2’s fuel tank only holds around 8-9 gallons!

We ventured on through great surroundings in Switzerland, carefully winding our way past cyclists and other motorists, where the road conditions permitted.  There was some sort of road race event on, so there were lots of support vehicles and cyclists on the roads, but the motorists drove well around them on the whole.

When we dropped into one small town, we flashed past a group of classic cars and so quickly pulled over to have a quick look.  They included about 30 concourse condition cars with Austin Healeys, Mercedes, a Lancia and even a few MG B’s.

We left the town, but then soon stopped again when we realised there was a stunning river flowing by the side of the road.  We were taking photos and taking in the scenery for a good 15-20 minutes before we set off again.

As we carried on back up and down more mountains, we came upon a beautiful spot sided by two lakes, which we decided would be a good place for lunch!  Out came the, by now perfectly executed, lunch stop kit, including plates, food and drinks.  We spent a leisurely half hour eating lunch and watching the fish play in the fresh water lake and again, taking in the views and Lois dabbling her feet in the icy cold water, before setting off once more.

Shortly after we left the lunch spot, we descended down a great series of bends, but got caught up behind a small van and a motorbike that seemed to have a bad misfire.  We were still making progress at 30-40mph, but I realised that a cyclist was approaching in my rear view mirror.  Several bends later and he was upon us… on his bicycle!  A few more turns and he overtook us, going around us on a hairpin bend, before filing in between us and the motorbike.  We carried on in this humorous procession for the next 5 minutes, with the cyclist easily reaching 50mph in places!  Eventually the road levelled out and horse power won out, but it was quite impressive to witness.

The roads and views carried on and, besides a brief 15 minute stint on the motorway, we were nearing our destination of Quarten, beside Lake Walensee.  We were on the lookout for somewhere to buy some supplies for the evening, and thought we’d found somewhere when we pulled off into a Co-op, but it turned out to just be a Co-op Express with a big home and garden centre around the back.  A fruitless task, except for the fact that there was £500k+ worth of Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing sat in the car park – simply beautiful!  I wonder how many other people realised how special it was?  Further down the road however, we did manage to find a Lidl and an Aldi right next to each other, so stocked up on what we needed for tea – some lovely bread, more cheese, a meat selection for me and some nice chocolate pots for desert.

We got to our hotel, checked in, got all of our stuff into the room and then made our way back down to the lake to have a swim.  We spent a truly relaxing 2-3 hours in and out of the water with a spectacular back drop, with Lois even braving a jump off the end of the jetty.  Once back at the hotel, we set up out on the balcony and enjoyed another gorgeous evening of food, wine and views!

Tomorrow, we head to Mürren, a car-less village in the Lauterbrunnen valley, which should keep our jaws clearly on the ground once more.

Anyway, over to the photos as usual!

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I was just going to write, “WOW!” for today’s blog, and add the photos, but Tom assures me that you’ll want a little bit more detail that that!

We enjoyed another lovely breakfast in the sunshine in Milan this morning, before we packed up yet again and set off on probably our longest drive yet – not in distance, but in time.  We’d hoped to pick up some food for lunch and dinner from a local supermarket, but the friendly hotel receptionist told us that everywhere would be shut, as today was Ferragosto. Luckily, at the bottom of Lake Como, we came across quite a large, open shop, where we managed to pick up some delicious delicacies J

The road then wound round the edge of lake, in and out of tunnels.  The views were beautiful and the water looked so inviting, but we knew we had exciting roads ahead, so ploughed on.  North of the lake, the road turned east along a long valley, with mountains rising on either side.  Although the hills were beautiful, the road itself was dull, with 30 – 45 mph limits all the way along its straight route (we suspect this was because of the supercars and motorcycles heading to and from the passes) and boring, modern towns lining it.  However, at the end, we suddenly began to climb through more long tunnels, and eventually emerged high up in the Alps with beautiful sites all around.  We stopped for some lunch in what was probably a ski resort during the winter.  I can’t think of many picnic spots with better views!

This was the last proper civilisation before the epic accent up the Stelvio Pass.  Tom was a bit disappointed when we began behind two, slow camper vans, but it gave us ample opportunity to both gawp at the views and take plenty of photos (it’s taken us about 90 minutes to edit our snaps down to just over 50 tonight!).

We then reached the most famous section of the road, which many of you will have seen photos and film of.  It really is a thrilling drive, not just because of the corners and the drops, but because of the scenery it winds its way through.  We reached the top without realising, and had to turn around to find a parking spot for more happy snapping.

After this main section, the road then climbed a little more gently, before reaching its peak.  It was as we came over the top that we both became completely speechless.  Why the other side of the pass is less famous, I have no idea.  The panoramas from the top are absolutely and completely jaw-dropping.  I think I stood and just giggled with delight for at least a minute before I was capable of taking any shots!  In addition, the road that descends into Trafoi (where our hotel is situated) is equally, if not more, exciting, offering breathtaking views down the valley.  It was amazing watching cyclists attempt the climb up (they must have been unbelievably fit) and watching them come flying down (travelling faster than us at times).  We also had to stop at one point to let a strange, beaver-like creature cross the road (we saw another one later on – once we’ve got proper internet I’ll try and find out what it was).  The road was surprisingly quiet, with just the gentle ring of cow bells sounding when we stopped yet again for more photos.

We eventually pulled up at our hotel at about 7pm.  We’ve been once more very lucky with our choice of accommodation.  It’s high up in the Alps; the service was warm and welcoming and our room has a balcony that looks back up into the mountains.  I can’t wait for breakfast with that view in the morning!  The next couple of days promise similarly wonderful scenery.  I think my jaw is going to ache by the time we leave Switzerland!

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