HOW do you get eight fiftysomethings (three soon to be 60), with different
tastes, lifestyles, spending power and fitness levels, to agree on a holiday
destination? Answer: book an independent walking holiday in the Swiss Alps.
Switzerland may be a middle-aged cliché, but so what? We are all past clubbing
in Ibiza. David, my husband, and I are keen walkers and live in
flat-as-a-Frisbee East Anglia — hence the pull of the mountains. I suffer
from vertigo and was anxious to overcome my fear of cable cars and chair
lifts.
Our friends are a disparate bunch, with jobs ranging from music critic to
garden designer. Two of them, one with dodgy knees, are not good at walking
and the others can take it or leave it. Still, some were looking to
recapture a little lost youth from their skiing years, the gardener was here
for the wild flowers, and the critic wanted to view the landscape that had
apparently inspired Mahler.
We chose to stay at the unpretentious Hotel Alfa Soleil, run by Peter and
Agnes Seller in Kandersteg, a pretty town with 25 hotels, but fewer than
1,000 inhabitants, in the Bernese Oberland. In the winter it’s a big Alpine
sports centre and in the summer it caters for people with picnics, walking
maps and cold beers — people like us, in other words.
Peter met us at the station, loaded our bags and suggested a stroll to the
hotel. We thought we had arrived in a Swiss theme park. Snow-topped
mountains surrounding emerald-green slopes sparkled under a periwinkle sky.
All the houses were like folksy wooden music boxes heaving with
pelargoniums. The shop windows were full of chocolate, Swiss Army knives and
carved wooden cows with bells.
Our first day was sunny and clear, so we agreed to tackle a mountain. All
eight of us were in good spirits, and I’m embarrassed to say that some of us
were singing, as we marched crocodile-style to the cable car for our ascent
to the Allmen- alp (1,725m/5,670ft). With jelly legs I had to sit down and
stare straight ahead.
I arrived, feeling rather wobbly and nauseous, but the others were shrieking
about some free climbers (without ropes) that they had seen on the rock face
on the way up. This is one of the world’s most dangerous sports, and it made
my cable-car phobia seem pathetic. Time to get over it.
The view helped. Below us there was a blue ribbon of a river and Kandersteg
was downsized to a doll’s-house village. Behind us were a dozen mountain
peaks, all above 3,000m, and meadows thick with the flowers of childhood —
big ox-eye daisies, campion, vetch, buttercups and clover.
On the way down we crossed a river with a troop of llamas, met cows the colour
of butter with bells like oriental wind chimes, and spotted Swiss flowers,
such as the intense blue gentian and the iconic edelweiss. We oohed and
aahed together, but the group began to splinter as the steep path played
havoc with sore knees.
Soon we were in two groups of four — walkers and strollers — which set the
pattern for the rest of the week. At first it seemed sad to split up, but
the best thing about Switzerland is that the astounding views can be admired
from a recumbent position — you don’t have to walk at all. Some of the
strollers took advantage of the excellent rail service (obviously the trains
ran on time), or took a paddle-steamer ride on the lake at Interlaken near
by.
I was one of the walkers and ready to head uphill every day. With 217 miles
(350km) of well-marked paths, Kandersteg is hiking heaven — all the walks
are different. One day we took the bus to the top of the Gasterntal valley
and walked a gentle eight miles back to the hotel by the River Kander which
has scoured out ravines and artfully tossed giant boulders among the rapids.
Another day we took the Sunnbüel cable car up almost 2,000m to the
Schwarenbach valley. Here we saw a marmot, cute and otter-like, scraping out
a burrow on the banks of a glacial lake, and spotted deer on the higher
slopes.
In the evenings we came together with our tales of the day for drinks and
dinner. Eight people of any age can raise the sound levels, and as the wine
flowed we became noisier. Our two waitresses, the tall blonde Anya and
diminutively dark Susie, were tolerant of our demands and had an instinct
for who needed tea, and who couldn’t exist much longer without a beer.
There were many highlights, but our best day was when we all took the
chairlift (this time I loved it) to Oeschinensee, regarded as the most
beautiful alpine lake in Switzerland. Nothing can prepare you for the cobalt
blue of the water surrounded by razor-edged peaks. We sat at a café in awed
silence, soaking up the view.
In a day of stupendous views the walkers among our group found a picnic spot
under a waterfall, with the lake 200m below. We lunched on fresh rolls from
the local baker’s, plus fat juicy cherries, and toasted our luck with a
bottle of red. After a tough, uphill hike we rounded a corner to see the
Underbargli Café perched high on the hillside.
Here we enjoyed cold drinks on a pretty wooden terrace with one of the best
views in the world. Around us were friendly cows with saucer eyes who came
to have their heads tickled. “All we need now,” I said, “is Heidi to come
round the corner.”
NEED TO KNOW
Jill Hartley travelled with Headwater (0870 0662650, www.headwater.com). An
eight-day Classic Swiss Alps independent walking package costs from £689pp.
The price includes half-board at the Hotel Alfa Soleil, return flights from
Heathrow to Zurich, transfers, maps and detailed walking notes.
PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD
Follow in Hannibal’s footsteps on a seven-night Heart of the Alps self-
guided, hotel-to-hotel walk in Queyras Regional Park, France. Half board,
picnics and flights cost £778pp. Depart until August 28.
Inntravel (01653 617906, www.inntravel.co.uk).
Across The Alps is a three-night walking trip from Switzerland over
the border to Italy with ATG Oxford. The trip begins on
October 5 from Orsières in Switzerland and continues to Italy via the Great
St Bernard Pass. The price is £495pp, including two and three-star
accommodation in mountain-chalet hotels. Flights are not included.
Details: 01865 315678, www.atg-oxford.co.uk.
Peak Retreats is running independent walking trips around Chamonix, France,
from September 2 until October 14. The cost of a week’s trip is £310pp,
including breakfast and ferry crossings. Accommodation is at the three-star
Hotel Le Morgane.
Details: 0870 7700408, www.peakretreats.co.uk.
PEAK PRACTICE: GLIDE, BIKE OR CLIMB
by Caroline Hendrie
Cycling in the Austrian Tyrol: Pedal through Alpine meadows
on a ten-day guided tour, leaving on August 5 or 17. The cost of £869pp
includes B&B, bike hire and flights.
Bents Bicycle and Walking Tours (01568 780800, www.bentstours.com).
Summer skiing in Les Deux Alpes, France: Ski in August, one
week £375pp, for six days’ ski pass, white-water sports and mountain biking,
self-catering apartment and ferry crossing.
Peak Retreats (0870 7700408, www.peakretreats.co.uk).
Watersports in the Julian Alps, Slovenia: Kayak, raft and
windsurf on Lake Bohinj or just swim. Take a cable car up Mount Vogel or go
canyoning and paragliding. From £521pp, including one week’s half board in a
four-star hotel, flights and car hire.
Lakes and Mountains (01243 792442, www.lakes-mountains.co.uk).
Alpine training in Chamonix, France: Learn to use ropes and
crampons, then climb a mountain. One-week courses start on August 5 and
September 2; £1,195pp, including half board and tuition.
KE Adventure (01768 773966, www.keadventure.co.uk).
Extreme sports: Alp Active has rooms left at Chalet Bluebell
in Les Gets in France. Departures are from September 2 and 9. The £345pp
cost includes half-board and return ferry crossing. Activities include
paragliding and white-water rafting (for an extra charge).
Alp Active (0845 1209872, www.alpactive.com).
