Thursday 20th August: Cool morning, blue skies: 10°C to 18°C.
Lenk to Adelboden: 17K: 9.15am to 4.15pm: 7hrs
Accommodation: BnB Bernahof Adelboden
Morning sorting at Waldrund Hotel
The highlight of the day was waking up to blue skies, after such a wet muddy day yesterday. At 17k, and only 1000m up to the Hahnenmoos Pass then 700 down, it wasn't a terribly difficult day from Lenk to Adelboden and the blue skies and dry tracks made for a wonderful day hiking in the Alps.
Ian and I are awake before 6am and time to catch up on blogging after being too tired last night to sort photos and type blog. Our Jet Boil was handy to have an early morning cup of tea set up on the tiled bathroom floor in our room. At 7am, Jenny and Graham are already downstairs and we join them for a magnificent breakfast with the usual full spread of cheeses, meats, fruits and meusli, and especially the freshly baked hot bread. A really nice breakfast at the Hotel Waldrand made up for the dodgy internet last night.
Ready to leave Waldrund Hotel
Lenk set in Green Valley
Stepping up and up
Coffee with a view half way up
Blue skies, white clouds green alps
The girls lag behind the boys
Lunch at the Hahnenmoos Pass
View from BnB Bernnahoff across to the Engstligenfalle
Salmon, cheese wine and washing
At 9am we're out the door of Hotel Waldrand but it's another 15 minutes of fluffing around before we leave and head downtown to the local bakery to buy a fresh loaf of bread which, together with last night's left overs, is enough to make do for a nice lunch.
We're no sooner leaving the village before we start a steep uphill climb with magical views down to the valley below and across to the alps which had been shrouded in cloud when we crossed them the day before. Today's weather is perfect at 10ºC and with blue skies. The sign at the bottom indicated it would be a 3hr uphill climb to the Hahnenmoos Pass and it's a steady slog up through the pine forests and green meadows with views at every turn. After one and a half hours, we think we're half way up - time for a coffee on the steps of someone's deserted winter chalet. "Time for a coffee" means coffee with powdered milk plus a snack of nuts, chocolate and a 20 minute rest.
The track is still very steep until we reach the Hahnenmoos cable car where many locals and tourists have parked to climb to the Hahnenmoos Pass where we are headed. The track is less steep and more of a gravel road than a track as we climb the last section which is sign posted to take 1hr. There's dozens of mostly locals out for a day's stroll - but no through hikers. Right on queue, we reach the top in an hour and find a picnic table and chairs in the sun with views all round. It's too good to pass, so we drag out all our edibles and have lunch of really fresh bread, cheese and tomatoes, washed down with another cup of Jet Boiled coffee.
The sign says 2hrs 25mins down to Adelboden, but with a few stops, it takes us closer to 3hrs 30 mins. It's an easy walk down a mixture of road and wide gravel track then along the river to Adelboden, a pretty ski village perched above the valley. Our map indicates we have an uphill walk to our BnB Bernahof which appears after 10 minutes at the top of the road. We are warmly welcomed by our Swiss host, and given keys to our rooms on the 3rd floor, both rooms with a magnificent view across the valley to the Engstligenfalle (a famous waterfall in Switzerland).
Time to shower, wash some clothes before strolling down the one street village to the local Coop where we buy our standard picnic dinner of cheese, smoked salmon, bread, Mache (small lettuce leaves that look like clover), cold beer and Graham's pick of our wine - he won't be picking tomorrow night - say no more.
All four of us enjoyed dinner in our room –a magnificent spread from our Coop haul complete with valley glimpses through our washing hanging on the curtain rail. A wonderful day with lots of memories. We’re all in bed before 9pm, ready for a long 19k day to Kandersteg tomorrow.