Chasing waterfalls…

Long overdue this post, no worries, am still alive and had promised you another glance on wonderful Lenk in Swiss Bernese Oberland and its lovely peaceful surroundings. To us no stay is complete without a trip to the local waterfalls. Photos include shots taken on the recent trip and some represent a little trip down memory lane with our son still being the smallest one in the house…now that’s me!

Our daily evening routine and only a short hike leads us to Simmefälle as close by to our rental accomodation.


From Simmefälle the rather steep walking path brings you up to Barbarabrücke: with the water spraying over the bridge it is a most welcome cool-down! The bridge is named after a female hotel manager who initiated development of the waterfall and local dam for tourists. A windy path through forests will leed you further up to Rezliberg Alp, birthplace of Simme river with seven springs crashing from a limestone wall…Siebe Brünne…pretty spectacular, though my current back condition doesn’t allow me anymore to go all the way up there, it would take me too long and backfire the next days with too much pain. For those who can, up you go!


Another great local Waterfall to explore is the Iffigfall and according hike! An easy, not strenuous hike, following the stream and leading you up to the waterfall charging down with high speed!


One of my personal favourites is the Wallbachschlucht hike: gorge and waterfall combined, easy walk, though some stairclimbing to do once you reach the waterfall and want to go further up. The force of the falling water has carved out wonderful cylinders and patterns in the limestone, could watch this wonder of nature for hours, very peaceful! There’s a picnic area too if you want to spend more time there.


Well there you have it, we have been chasing these in the past, in not too distant past and hope to be able to do so many, many times more!

As always, hope you enjoyed, feel free to comment!

Ingrid

xxx

Swiss rivièra…

Though our recent Swiss break was mainly used to recharge those inner batteries and we mostly stayed close to our base of operations and relaxation for the week, Lenk, we did squeeze in a trip to nearby Spiez to get some rivièra vibes!

Spiez Switzerland

Spiez is ideally located at the magnificent lake Thun in Bernese Oberland and offers a wide variety of activities and highlights. It is dominated by its medieval castle and the romanesque church that must have been built somewhere in 8th century.

Spiez Switzerland

After exploring the castle, the gardens and admiring the outstanding view a walking trail leads to the surrounding vineyards…

Spiez Switzerland

Morning walks and breathtaking views makes hungry, so heading down again for a lakeside lunch, which really means ‘lakeside’ and guarantees you a marvellous view at Hotel-Restaurant Riviera by Elio…

The ferry services and cruises on Lake Thun are a fun means of transport to discover neighbouring lake villages or the larger cities like Thun and Interlaken where you can connect onto lake Brienz for even more water cruising fun. We hopped off at the next village and used the walking path to make our way back to Spiez.

Next time more on our little hike to Wallbachschlucht in Lenk and the Simme Waterfall, hope this post gave you a lovely view on versatile Switzerland, land of mountains and glaciers, yes of course…but do not forget to catch some rivièra vibes!

Ingrid

xxx

 

Lake Thun Switzerland

Thuner See info

Lenk Simmental

myswitzerland.com Lake Thun region

What if travelling to is coming home?

As much as I like to travel, in mind and in actual distance, I always like returning home, bringing back a heart and mind full of memories…but what if the place you travel to feels like coming home? No destressing or acclimatisation needed…I just need to open, in this case, the car door, breathe in the fresh mountain air and rest my eyes on ‘our’ mountain to know we’re home again…Leaving this place again, and the people we know there, until our next visit always leaves me in a bit of melancholic state of mind and heavy hearted. For us, that ‘second home’ is Lenk in Simmental region, part of Swiss Bernese Oberland.

Simme Waterfall Oberried/Lenk

My husband used to visit this picturesque little village every year in his childhood years, this tradition must have started somewhere early seventies. His siblings and him, having their own families, kept tradition going and still visit with their own children, though not every year. We ourselves went about eight times, usually end of May and this was the first time just the two of us, son Nick guarding the house, feeding our cat and a probably very limited amount of studying.

In the posts still coming up in the following weeks I’ll take you along on some of the excursions we made, today’s post however is all about getting that fresh Swiss mountain air vibe, filling your head with Spring alpine flower meadows, cow bells replacing the alarm clock and the welcome sound and refreshing touch of the Simme stream, always close companion on our walks to town or up to the Waterfall.

So just sit back, relax and welcome to Lenk!

home sweet home

Our home during our Swiss breaks lies in one of Lenk’s quieter hamlets called ‘Oberried’ giving clear mountain view and direct access to walking trail path up to the waterfall and town. Weather gods have always been kind to us when choosing end of May as holiday period and this time was no exception, by far thé best weather we ever had!

Lenk is a popular health and spa facility destination and known in Winter as top ski destination, making a link with the Adelboden region and facilities, however not being a fan of snow and cold we ourselves prefer the Spring up to Autumn season. The village lies 1068 metres above sea level at the foot of the Wildstrubel massif.

mountain view

Curious where ‘Lenk’ got its name? It’s composed of two German words meaning ‘long nook’, and that’s exactly the shape and function the town has at the top of the long, Simme River valley. Nestled up against the might of the Wilstrubel’s steep face, the locals simply state that they are ‘in the nook’ (an der Lenk)!

Meadows means cows, means milk, means cheese, means yummy!
you won’t starve with these local delicacies!

 

Golden Pass Train

chop chop 😉

Swiss knives

Don’t these colours let you board a train with a big smile?!

More next time on our strolls through Lenk and surroundings!

Liebe Grüsse,

Ingrid

xxx