I was up and out of my accommodation before 8am. I quickly ducked down to the viewpoint to see what Lauterbrunnen looked like in the early morning light (beautiful), then walked to the station to wait for the cable car.
To get to my destination for the day, Mürren, I had to catch the cable car up to a place called Grütschalp, then catch a narrow mountain train to Mürren. For those who don't know, I will describe to you where Mürren actually is because I was so astounded while I was there.... So Lauterbrunnen is a little village right at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by huge cliffs. There wasn't a lot of snow in Lauterbrunnen because it mainly falls on these huge cliffs. The way up to Mürren was to go almost directly UP the cliff in what seemed a bit like an elevator car, then the little train took you along the edge of the cliff to the village, which was right on top! It blew my mind! It wasn't that there was a village in the valley and one on the mountain but it was the fact that one was perched on a sheer cliff, and the other one was WAY down below. Mürren was also a ski village (with no cars too), so the mountains just kept going up! Here is a video so you can see for yourself - that last drone shot where you can see the village and the valley is just insane!
Anyway so I got on the train with ALL the skiers and we went quietly along the edge of the cliff. The sun hadn't peaked over the top of the mountains on the other side of the valley so it was still quite dim. I got to Mürren and got out to walk around the little village.
I admit it, I can't ski or do anything snow-related to save my life. So my plan for today was to go to the information centre and get some information on a winter hike, which I did. The path started off nice and clear but, as you'll see, quickly became not as easy.
As you can see from the image above, the path quickly became not so reliable. More than once I ended up knee deep in snow as I took a wrong step. There was a path there somewhere for winter walkers, but it was hard to find and very tiring work. The sun had crested the mountain opposite, however, so the ski fields and huts nearby were covered in sunlight. It was truly glorious!
I decided that I would turn back and go along the more tended paths.
I kept walking along different paths to see where they went - one was a snow shoe path which I tried, and let me tell you... shoes are not the same as snow shoes. I turned back from that one when it became too hard. I finally ended up on a path back to the village, which was not where I was aiming but I couldn't see the way that I wanted to go. I contented myself with going back to Mürren and having lunch after all that hard work.
I ended up in a cafe that had a huge terrace at the back, but it was very busy so I managed to squeeze in to a small table inside. It would have been lovely on the terrace - with the sun out, it was warm enough to take coats and scarves off, and some people were even in short sleeves (!!) which was weird, because there was snow all around! For lunch, I ordered a Swiss kind of mac and cheese, and a green salad to go with it. Delicious!
After lunch, I walked from Mürren to Gimmelwald in order to catch the other cable car back down to the ground. This path was looked after, but was slightly downhill the whole time, meaning I spent the entire time trying not to slip and fall on my arse. I also had to dodge the people who were tobogganing down the path - they shot down the path so quickly!
I, gratefully, made it to the station and waited to catch the cable car.
Honestly, the experience of catching these was nothing I had ever experienced... The glass elevator box went horizontally along a cable before coming to a junction then just dropped down into the valley below to Stechelberg. It was just crazy. Pretty sure all the tourists with me in the glass box thought the same - there was a big gasp was we started dropping!
The walk from Stechelberg along the valley road to Lauterbrunnen was about 5km so I head off. It was shadowy again at 3pm, and I don't mind saying that after all my walking through snow earlier today, it was bloody hard work. I started dragging my feet and got really tired but finally made it. I celebrated by having a bath, hoping the warm water would soothe my tired muscles.
