Niesen

What a great day. We used our free train tickets to get to Mülenen, then caught the Niesenbahn funicular railway up to the top of Niesen, at 2362m.

The funicular runs for 3.5km and has a maximum gradient of 68% which feels incredibly steep. It gets to a height of 2336m so we had to walk the last bit to the top of the mountain. There is a restaurant up there but it was very busy and we had already bought sandwiches.

The views of the Alps from the top are amazing, especially on a completely clear day like today.

There was some snow on the slopes below the peak but not very much. The paths are well maintained and well signed.

The walk down was 7.5 miles and took us about 4 and a quarter hours - the sign at the top said 4 hours but we had lunch on the way! The drop was about 5250ft. Our legs were just about knackered by the time we got to the bottom, i.e. to a bar in Frutigen. We definitely needed a beer… but we decided to stay for schnitzel and fries instead of cooking back at the van. Weirdly, the schnitzel came with sprouts, carrots and braised red cabbage (in addition to the fries) which seemed a bit odd but was very nice nonetheless.

Think we might have a slightly more relaxed day tomorrow.

[Btw… the service stairs for the Niesenbahn funicular are listed by Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest stairway, with 11,674 steps and a height of 1,669 m (5,476 ft). The stairs are usually employee-only, but there is a public run called "Niesenlauf" once a year. Run!! Can you imagine??!!]Leggi altro