Simply Majestic Murren

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Day 3 started with fog still filling the valley below and often dancing up through Murren.
Our plan today was to walk along the escarpment towards Grutschalp, as far as Winteregg. At Winteregg we would turn right onto the steeply winding road down to Lauterbrunnen. Our walk would then take us along the valley to the Schilthornbahn, to take the cable car up to Gimmelwald, so we could then walk back up to Murren. Selecting photos for the magnificence of this day has been a nightmare. Beware, there will be too many. Route 3 on the map.

As we set off up through Murren, the sun and fog played games with us. Eventually the sun won, which delighted us immeasurably.

               The descent has begun.

We plunged into autumn and spied lofty peaks across the valley.

 The road was never ending and the colours and views unbelievable.

Finally we entered Lauterbrunnen village with its towering Staubbach Falls. [Lauterbrunnen means many springs]

The options for eating were few in Lauterbrunnen now that the summer season was over. We did manage to find hot chocolate and quiche, to replenish our energy for the afternoon walk - 5 km along the valley floor to the cable car and then the steep climb up to Murren.  

The morning had had us gasping at the beauty of the valley. Now we were overwhelmed by the sheer dominance of the towering, craggy, snow capped peaks. We felt incredibly small in this spectacular valley, yet for the locals, their daily life continued as if this was normality. Washing had been put out to dry. The postman delivered mail. Women were seen preparing their gardens for winter.  The cows grazed, bells echoing. The crystal, clear stream gurgled its way to the next waterfall. The farmer spread the manure on the fields. My neck ached from constantly looking up. 

   

Left hand side of valley.

This one is of the right hand side of the valley. Our morning walk would have been somewhere just above the cliff line.

         

         

These are the falls which begin to cascade down into the valley, a short distance below our chalet.

There are 2 cable cars rising from the valley from this station below. The first one [in photo above] rises steeply to the left of this photo, [below] almost above the waterfall and arrives just above our chalet. We opted for the shorter cable car to Gimmelwald, as our legs weren't yet spent and we wanted to experience the views lost to us yesterday. Lauterbrunnen is at the far end of this valley.

At Gimmelwald we could also have taken the quite short cable car ride across to Murren, seen here perching on the cliffs of the valley. On our previous visits we have used it and at one point you overlook a swinging bridge across a ravine. I had imagined that I would like to walk across it, until Frank found this U-tube of a hike hugging the cliffs below Murren and concluding after crossing the bridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQACn3ONUAA

I so wish I was a gifted writer to enable me to describe the sheer beauty of the views as we climbed back up to Murren. Best to let the photos tell the story.

The autumn leaves covering these steps yesterday, disappeared overnight.

23 kms completed - Here Frank is taking his boots off in front of Chalet Boebs.

Sitting at the dining room table, relaxing with a glass of wine after a sensational day of walking, the view kept on thrilling us.

How fortunate were we with today's suburb weather? I would love to read your comment.