Sunday 8th September : Weather: 15°C in Kandersteg: 5°C Anenhutte: 14°C Kandersteg: Cloudy misty rain
Kandersteg: 11.3k walk: Circuit from Fafleralp to Anenhutte
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 635m, Descent 613m
Time: 8.40 to 9.30 Train/Bus to Fafleralp: Walk 9.45am to 3.15pm: 4h 30m + 1hr stop: 3.20 to 4.10 train/bus
Accommodation: Hotel Pension Spycher, Kandersteg
Jan and Ian on way to Anenhutte
Luca Jand and Ian near Anenhutte
Cloudy misty day
Anenhutte 2,358 metres
Ian and Luca
Jan and Luca
A wonderful day meeting up with Luca on the train from Kandersteg to Gottenstein then taking the bus to Fafleralp. From there, we walked 5k and 635metres up to the Anenhutte for lunch, and returned 6k and 613m down to take the bus/train back to Kandersteg. It was overcast and misty rain but such a wonderful day.
We’re awake at 6.45am, almost a sleep in, and hurry to shower ahd get ready to meet Luca on the 8.40am train. No early morning cuppa, then down to breakfast of cereal and fresh bread, cheese and ham with two hot cups of tea before rushing off to the station to buy 2 tickets on the train/bus to Falferalp. We meet Luca coming from Bern in the 3rd carriage and immediately it’s like old times when he was an exchange student with us in 2000.
The train goes through the Lötschberg Tunnel, a 14.612 km long railway tunnel on the Lötschberg Line, which connects Spiez and Brig at the northern end of the Simplon Tunnel cutting through the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. It takes 15 minutes to pass through the tunnel into Goppenstein where we alight to meet the 291 bus to Fafleralp. At 9.36am we’re at Fafleralp the start of our walk, and surprisingliy there’s a lot of hikers around including a group older than us, a families with kids. We take the right hand track up the gorge. It’s not raining but its overcast and looks like it could at any time. It’s a gentle climb at first, giving us time to chat, and then a steep final ascent to the Anenhutte perched on a rocky outcrop. We’re there at 12.15pm for a wonderful chat and lunch of macaroni and apple sauce (Luca and Ian) and I have a chocolate cake and cream with a hot chocolate.
It’s starting to rain and get cold when we leave and the temperature has dropped to about 5°C. We continue the circuit down and take the opposite side of the gorge chatting to Luca the whole way. We walk quickly at the end to meet the 3.18pm bus to take us back to Goppenstein station for the train back to Kandersteg. Arriving at 4.10pm, there’s time for a drink at the local restaurant and another chat before Luca catches the next train back to Bern. We pick up one beer from the VOIG supermarket to go with a few nuts back in our room. No need for dinner after a big lunch.
A hot shower and a quick tidy up before bed at 830am.