A light low ceiling of cloud barely kept the sun hidden as it attempted to break free at any time. The cloud kept its cool and hovered over us as we climbed – very long but gently sloped. I never thought I would call hills like this gentle but it’s all relative. Walking up here above sharp drops and looking back with a view of the glistening green lake makes the climb even more gentle.
The white mountains were a perfect backdrop to the lake, as they hovered in a misty haze. We murmured with excitement as we looked back from path corners, through trees and yes, from welcome benches. A woman goat herder told us as we passed that she was repairing the fences to keep the goats in because they had been finding a gap in the plastic fence, lifting it up and then walking on to the road.
As we talked her two beautiful dogs treated us as their own, sitting on our feet and leaning against us. These were the herders of the goats, helping her keep them confined to a certain area. She pointed to the snowy peaks on the other side of the valley and said that she would take them there to make cheese.
Along more roller coaster paths, we snuggled past the tall smooth timber of this light green leafy forest. We walked past a waterfall that crossed over the road which we then crossed
over with a plank of wood – it continued as a half metre flow across the road before falling off the road’s edge and plummeting 100 metres below.
Our next encounter was with a young Taiwanese couple. They were full of questions about our walking exploits, wanted a picture, didn’t want China, and much preferred Switzerland. We farewelled them on their day’s walk, they buen camino’d us on our longer walk as we shook their strong hands. Down at lake level we passed a huge set of two storey units that were housing Indian families only, while further along the lake they had very basic construction worker type no window sheds where we saw mainly Chinese. There is a large casino in town which may be part of the Asian attraction but haven’t yet been able to find out.
A final encounter at our lodgings with author Herman, who was sitting quietly after his last walking day. We shook hands with our German friend and went to try the gastronomic international fare of Interlaken.
