On the Roof of Europe

Some days are just about perfect in every respect. Today was one of "those" days. In fact the tone of the day was set the previous evening. After the two noisy nights I had endured in Lucerne, I was really dreading another repeat. To my sheer delight, the only sound I heard all night was the occasional tinkling of a distant cow bell. It doesn't get any more peaceful (or more Swiss) than that.

Today was the day that we had planned to ride an assortment of railways to the famous Jungfraujoch. At 3500 metres above sea level this is the highest railway station in Europe and it was intended to the high point of our entire trip.

Regardless of how much detail you put into your planning, there is one aspect that is always completely out of anyone's control. In alpine regions the weather can be very unpredictable and many people travel all the way to the summit, only to find that there is almost zero visibility. Although Allan and I had tried to pretend that we would accept whatever weather we were presented with, you can imagine our utter delight when we found that daybreak revealed a completely cloudless sky. Not only were there no clouds, it was easily the clearest skies we had seen since arriving in Switzerland.

Our day began with a train ride from Interlaken to Lauterbrennan. Although the train appeared to be a "normal"electric train, I am sure that the gradients were at least up to 10% or more. As we climbed higher and higher, the vistas became more and more spectacular. It was hard to resist taking photos every few seconds. From time to time we caught glimpses of the line snaking ever upwards in front of us.

At Lauterbrennan we changed to a cog railway for the next section of the climb to Kleine Scheidegg. If we thought the gradients in the first section were challenging, they jumped to a whole new level. At times I found myself struggling to stay on the seat, the carriage was titling so sharply.

At Kleine Scheidegg we transferred to the final cog railway (The Jungfrau Railway). This incredible feat of engineering was completed in 1912 and consists of a steeply sloping tunnel cut straight through the Eiger and the Monch to reach the saddle known as the Jungfraujoch. At one point in the journey the train stops to allow the passengers to peer out of a series of glass windows cut into the famous north face of the Eiger.

In 1936 five climbers tragically died while attempting to climb the north face of the Eiger. Their situation was made more macabre by the fact that the railway tunnel allowed railway staff to communicate with the stranded climbers, but they were unable to reach them, even though they were only a few metres away from safety.

When our train reached the Jungfraujoch Station we were very conscious of the fact that we had quickly gained a lot of altitude. Both of us felt light headed and somewhat weak, especially when we had to climb the final staircase. There is now quite a tourist complex at the summit, with restaurants, viewing platforms and even an ice cave to be explored.

Fortunately the skies remained perfectly clear all day and we were able to enjoy uninterrupted views in every direction. About 100 metres vertically above the station is the high altitude weather centre. This can be reached by a high speed lift which rises the 100 metres in only 6 seconds.

When we emerged onto the highest platform, the temperature gauge indicated that it was 0 degrees, but fortunately there was no wind, so it did not feel too unpleasant at all. By far the biggest danger was from the plethora of selfie sticks that were being swung in all directions.Allan was immediately fearful that he would lose his one remaining eye on the end of someone's protruding selfie pole. If the selfie takers were not bad enough, someone had even taken a drone up to the summit, just to annoy everyone by flying it back and forth over our heads.

After a couple of hours enjoying the views at the top,, we retreated indoors for lunch. It was while we were sitting at the lunch table that the day nearly took a serious turn for the worse. I felt in my pocket for my wallet. It wasn't there. I started to search every pocket and then searched my backpack. The wallet had gone. It had all my cards, ID and money in it. My heart started to thump - and it wasn't because of the thin air. It was my worst nightmare come true. Up to that point I had been so careful in looking after all my gear, but in an instant it had all hit the fan.

I started frantically looking about the restaurant to see if I had dropped it somewhere, wondering what would be the chances of anyone actually handing it back in. It was only when I looked under my seat that I saw my precious little wallet just sitting there. It had obviously slipped out of my pocket and out of sight. If I had not chosen that moment to feel for the wallet in my pocket, the day would have been memorable for all the wrong reasons.

With my wallet restored and my heart rate slowly returning to normal, it was time to start retracing our steps to Interlaken. This time we took the route via Grindalwald, rather than Lauterbrennan. I could not say which route was better as both were glorious.

We arrived back at Interlaken at 5 pm and both agreed that it had been one of the very best days of our lives. It doesn't really matter what happens after today as we have already enjoyed our time in Switzerland so much. When we collected our room keys from the lady at the hotel desk she told us that it had been the best weather they had experienced for weeks. How's that for timing ?

After dinner Allan and I had a bit of fun playing pool on the hotel's billiard table. The table surface was so uneven that it made the game quite hysterical. It was a great finish to a 10/10 day.Read more