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6 May 2024 - Interlaken
I spent this past weekend hiking with Paula, during which we camped at a nice little place on the Thunersee called Alpenblick. Friday night after setting up camp we headed over to Ringgenberg to finish off the Brünigpass - Interlaken segment of the Via Jacobi. Near the Ringgenberg train station were castle ruins and we got our last panorama of the Brienzersee. Interlaken really is between two lakes, with the Aare flowing through town and into the Thunersee. The trail follows the riverside along rows of houses that get grander as one gets into the center of town. Unfortunately we got rained on rather heavily for the second half after we passed Interlaken walking through the woods to our campsite on the shore of the Thunersee. Fortunately there was a dryer in the washroom for my jacket, and the night wasn't super cold. Paula didn't even snuggle in our shelter from the rain.
As always I was awake with the sun so by 6 o'clock we walked out of the campsite and onto the Via Jacobi again. Saturday saw us complete the Interlaken - Spiez section and then go on to hike the whole Spiez - Wattenwil section. At first the trail went into the woods and climbed around on the cliffsides above the northern Thunersee shore, but then descended down to the lake at the little town of Sunderlaunen. Some of the houses along the lakeshore even had boathouses under them like garages. When the town ends at the edge of more cliffs there is a steep climb until the trail is several hundred meters above the lake and hewn directly out of the rock on the cliff face. It was a struggle to ignore the sheer drop to my left, but Paula couldn't care less. Eventually we found ourselves at the St. Beatus Höhle, where a river flows out of caves in the cliff. Sadly we where a couple hours too early for cave tours, but they probably wouldn't have let Paula in anyway. From there the trail is not on the cliffside and had plenty of woods for Paula to run around in. We passed the giant open pit mine which gave us a break in the trees to get views of the lake. Then we descended again down to Merligen on the lakeshore. This is one of a couple places along the Via Jacobi where one takes a ferry across the lake. We had to bus over Gaunten to take if from there though, because none were arriving in Merlingen until the afternoon. The ferry lands in Spiez below the castle. The trail goes up through the castle courtyard and then through the adjacent hillside vineyards and into the forest on the Spiezberg. The heat of the afternoon saw us in cowfields and small towns, including Einigen on the lakeshore which was having a children's festival. Going up into the forest again the trail crosses the Kander river canyon on one of those see through metal bridges even Paula doesn't like. Forest alternated with fields then until, exhausted, we finally arrived in Wattenwil. Then it was a long bus & train & bus ride back to the campsite. We spent the evening relaxing with our feet in the Thunersee.
Sunday in the early morning hours I decided to give up our plan to hike to hike to Schwarzenburg from Wattenwil. This allowed me to get some great hours of sleep and awake refreshed. After a hot shower I decided we could do it, so it was back to Wattenwil. From the town the trail climbs and climbs up the alpine foothills with stunning views. Once we stopped climbing we made a pit stop in Burgistein. Most of the day was again forests and fields and small towns. There was even a nice stretch along the Schwarzwasser river, which didn't appear black at all. Eventually by late afternoon Paula and I found ourselves at the Schwarzenburgtrain station where we'd being just over a year for a hike to Fribourg. I was good to finish our weekend by knocking out the Wattenwil - Schwarzenburg section, our last left to do in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Only three segments remain in the French part! We celebrated with beer and hotwings at Hooters, which surprisingly has a location in Interlaken. The tourists in Interlaken have mainly been Asian the times that I've been there, but there is a smattering of Americans as well.
