I’d been planning to go to Rigi or Titlis today, but when Peedee came in at about 6.30 to say she and Jemma weren’t coming, it was pouring down with rain and a mountaintop didn’t seem like such a good idea.
I did the orthographe exam, once we managed to get into Neuchatel and then decided from the Swiss map at the station that Kandersteg might be a good idea as I’d never been there.
Train to Bern, train to Spiez, train to Kandersteg. Easy.
It wasn’t quite as I expected. Of course, it was a misty gloomy day and I know people come here to ski rather than to spend time in the village, but everything seemed a bit dead.
The mountains around were very pretty, but I couldn’t see a lot of them because of the mist.
There were lots of rivers coming through the town and on the sides of mountains, a lot of Swiss flags.

I took Peedee’s camera with me and I’ve always known it’s a better one than mine, but I’d never fallen in love with it. The zoom is incredible. It can get in closer than I can actually see. I can use the thing as a telescope!
See flag?

See flag?
I did a circuit of the village, turning left, past the bottom of the Oechinsee chairlift, back down to the turning, along the main road, then back across the fields towards the railway. I wondered why there were so many trains full of lorries, and then I saw a couple of camper vans which were obviously being used. Dead or being-delivered ones do not usually have bikes attached to the back. Finally I figured it out. It’s the Lötschberg rail tunnel, the only way to get onto the main east-west road across Valais.
As I was wandering along the track back to the station, the clouds parted above me and the horn of whichever mountain it was appeared like Mount Olympus.
I got back on the train and intended to get off at Frutigen, since I’d be back pretty early otherwise. But I didn’t bother. And I didn’t stop at Spiez or Bern either. I’ve seen them both.