After completing a minor repair to the leak in the rear hatch with some penetrating sealant we we off toward Interlaken via Thun and around the North coast of lake Thurnasee. Had lunch by the lake watching scuba divers and swans.
We stopped outside Interlaken for supplies after driving around Interlaken for a while we did not find a supermarket (or one we could park at).
We still had some food and were sure we would find somewhere, so we headed up into the the Lauterbrunnen Valley toward Stechelberg village.
The valley of Lauterbrunnen is one of the deepest in the Alpine chain. It is a true cleft, rarely more than one kilometre in width, between limestones precipices, extremely steep mostly cliff faces. It is named for the numerous waterfalls.
The streams descending from the adjoining mountains, on reaching the verge of the rocky walls of the valley, form cascades so high that they are almost lost in spray before they reach the valley floor.
We stopped at the Trummelbach Falls. The Trümmelbach Falls are one of the Lauterbrunnen Valley’s 72 waterfalls and the most spectacular. they are the world’s only glacier waterfalls that are accessible by underground by lift, galleries, tunnels, paths and platforms.
Trummelbach Falls |
The falls carry the meltwater of the glaciers from the Jungfrau down to the valley – up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The water carries with it over 20,000 tons of boulders and scree per year and causes the entire mountain to shudder and make a thundering noise.
From the elevator (more like a venicular railway) The paths and steps go upward and follow underground where the falls have sliced through the limestone cliff. Much like being in a cave however it is only a few feet wide and open at the top more like a twisted knife cut. Rather than take the elevator down we followed the falls via paths and steps to the bottom
Our camp for the night is where the road ends in the small village of Stechelberg.
After settling in – well building up the levelling blocks with wood and stones to stop them sinking into the soft grass we managed reduce the slope a little!
Our Home in Stechelberg |
We took our evening walk down to the local shop for some supplies and the cable car station to check out the prices for the ascent to the Schilthorn peak.
In the brochure we noticed that the return ticket was EUR 92.. There was a James Bond breakfast at Piz Gloria revolving restaurant for EUR 94 which included the 3 cable cars to the top. The latest cable car for this was at 08:50. So that was the plan for tomorrow morning.
We could also see the Staubbach Falls from here. The height of the cascade is between 800 and 900 feet (240 and 270 m), one of the highest in Europe formed of a single unbroken fall.
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