15th - 20th Apr 2019
Left: A very user-friendly gimmick on these trains is a map printed onto the small table in front of you showing all the routes. Most useful. An idea for UK? You must be joking!
Back late to Chur and the next morning on another similar train called the Glacier Express over similarly impressive terrain to Brig, in the south of the country. It is dubbed the slowest Express train in the world. It is normally about a six hour journey but this day it took longer because we were stopped by an avalanche which covered the tracks ahead (not a particularly big one we were told; I wish it had been and then something to write home about!). The Swiss take lots of anti-avalanche precautions and put fencing in place, but they are not infallible. So we had to wait for a snowplow train to arrive and clear it. All credit, it only took an hour from blockage to clearance and they dished out free 'soft' drinks to keep us happy. Can you imagine the furore if something like that happened in UK? There would be panic all round, the whole train system would be shut down for the day, passengers would be offered 'councelling' and it would feature as headlines in the newspapers.
There was a luxury (v expensive) dining service to your table, but I had brought my own rations. Also on this train they had plug-in headsets which gave you a commentary on points of interest en route. You could also switch to a channel which played yodelling songs. Very jolly...if you like yodelling songs. From Brig to the charming town of Kandersteg where I was to stay a couple of nights in the Belle Epoque Victoria Hotel which, due to being 'out of season' was, by Swiss standards, relatively cheap.
Left: Another snowy scene from the train. I won't bother you with too many more snowy train scenery pics as one bit of snow covered mountain looks much like another.
Next day off, via Brig again, to Zermatt. A renowned skiing resort in the shadow of the Matterhorn. There were still plenty of skiers, snowboarders and even tobogganists in action. I was not one of them. A train, with much assistance from 'rack and pinion', went up the hill, the Gornegrat, to the top of the ski slopes, and I took it. Good views from up there and an excellent lunch in a fine restaurant.
Right: The Matterhorn in the distance. Actually it is closer than it appears in this photo. The pic on my previous blog was taken from here. The far side of it is in Italy where it is known as Il Cervino.
Did you know that the first team to reach the summit of the Matterhorn (Alt. 14,692ft) was led by an Englishman called Edwyn Whimper in 1865. You know, in cloth cap, tweed breeches, sensible shoes and probably smoking a pipe. There were six of them, 5 Brits and one Swiss, possibly including his personal valet. Us Brits did a lot of pioneer mountaineering in those days. Their expedition ended in tragedy when on the descent four of the party fell to their deaths; a rope snapped. Whimper was one of the survivors.
Left: Another useful gismo on the trains here, and I wish we had something like this in UK, is a screen at both ends of each carriage which displays where you have just left and the times of arrival at the following stations. Of course our trains would never dare to predict arrival times.
A day spent idling around back in Kandersteg included a healthy wander around the local area.
Right: Another picturesque village nearby.
I mentioned how manicured everything is here. Even their shit-heaps are perfectly arranged.
Left: This pile of manure was outside a stable block and there wasn't a loose pice of straw to be seen. Immaculate!
Right: A house in Kandersteg. They take their Easter decorations seriously.
Left:: A typical Swiss house on the edge of town with a waterfall in the background. All very 'twee'.
 |
| The Landwasser Viaduct. Chur to St Moritz. I nearly lost my hat here. |
From Strasbourg via Basel to Chur in the south-east of Switzerland. As with just about every Swiss town, Chur is immaculate. As I'm sure many of you will have experienced, Switzerland appears to be manicured. The countryside is like a fairytale film set with charming neat little villages set in verdant valleys, cows with ting-a-ling bells in the fields, edelweiss, picturesque chapels perched impossibly on cliff faces or towering rocks, all surrounded by dramatic vertiginous snow capped Alpine peaks. You are half expecting Julie Andrews as the nun to prance into view singing "The Hills are Alive" etc. (although I think she did that in Austria). You just don't seem to witness any scruffy suburbia or, indeed, scruffy people or sprawling ugly industrial estates. There is no litter and certanly no graffiti! I don't know how they do it. It can't just be money. I suspect it is inherent in their nature to keep "alles in ordnung" and they are proud of it.
The downside; it is bloody expensive! Things are at least twice the price of neighbouring countries. It compares almost on a par with Bermuda, but not quite so (see Bermuda blog).
Left: Post Strasse in Chur. You could eat you food off the streets they are so clean. Everything seems to work like clockwork, and clocks, of course, are one of the things they are famous for. Cuckoo!
Trains (and presumably all public transport) are on time to the minute, or second (I amused myself to check), and depart from the same platforms with the same schedule day in day out. Never, as at UK main stations, is there a crowd of passengers peering up expectantly, like meerkats, at electronic sign-boards to be informed at the last minute where to board and then having to dash frantically off to a distant platform. I know, for example, that a train leaves Chur for St Moritz, on the dot, from platform 8 at 11.58am and has done since at least 1982. They usually (because there are always unforeseen things like avalanches) manage these schedules through weather and terrain which would prove unthinkable in most other countries.
Right: A typical little village, forgotten where. No mess, no sprawl. Just missing the cows (with bells) and Julie Andrews.
From Chur to St Moritz is a spectacular 2 hour rail journey on the Bernina Express (actually it goes relatively slowly). It usually has a lovely old-fashioned restaurant car which, even if you are travelling 2nd Class, allows you to sit in great comfort at a table, with lamps, and a real chair plus a delicious menu. Sadly I was here this time 'out of season', i.e. between the winter sports and the summer walkers (or whatever they do). So, no restaurant car until May...what a bore.
Left: Just another view from the train. There was still plenty of snow around higher up and the journey displays the incredible engineering feats by those who built this railway. It was all done at the turn of the 19th/20th century. With no present-day state of the art machinery or computers they managed to dig enormous tunnels accurately and negotiate the severe terrain. The planning, skill, work-load, man-power and determination, not least danger, beggars belief. The extraordinary Landwasser Viaduct and tunnel (see top) is a prime example. We are, nowadays, wimps in comparison.
On to St Moritz where I visited an old Swiss chum who owns a hotel there (useful contact). He was an expert Cresta Run rider before his knees gave out. I rode the run for several years but was pathetically and cowardly useless. In fact his hotel was closed but fortunately he was there to greet me and offer considerable hospitality. This is the 'quiet' time of year before the summer tourists arrive and the town was remarkably deserted. I suppose they use this period to do all their repairs and maintenance. A quick wander around town and a coffee and cake at the famous Hanselmann's emporium for old times' sake before back to the railway station and return to Chur.
Just to be boring I repeated the trip the next day but this time missed out on St Moritz and went on over the Bernina Pass at 7,638ft (the peaks either side go up to over 12,000ft) to the town of Tirano, in Italy, for lunch. It is a lovely journey and the scenery spectacular. There are hundreds of tunnels and viaducts which reinforces one's admiration for those brave and determined souls who designed and built the system. The train has to navigate serious climbs (70% in places I was told, whatever that means) and uses a 'rack and pinion' system underneath the engine to pull itself up and, presumably, to help it brake on the way down. The excellent lunch was about a third of the price one would pay in Switzerland!
Left: Looking down from the station at the top of the pass towards Italy.
Right: At some point before the Italian border the rail track does a 360ยบ turn to lose/gain altitude in a short space. Another bit of extraordinary engineering. It's called the Brusio Viaduct.
On to St Moritz where I visited an old Swiss chum who owns a hotel there (useful contact). He was an expert Cresta Run rider before his knees gave out. I rode the run for several years but was pathetically and cowardly useless. In fact his hotel was closed but fortunately he was there to greet me and offer considerable hospitality. This is the 'quiet' time of year before the summer tourists arrive and the town was remarkably deserted. I suppose they use this period to do all their repairs and maintenance. A quick wander around town and a coffee and cake at the famous Hanselmann's emporium for old times' sake before back to the railway station and return to Chur.
Just to be boring I repeated the trip the next day but this time missed out on St Moritz and went on over the Bernina Pass at 7,638ft (the peaks either side go up to over 12,000ft) to the town of Tirano, in Italy, for lunch. It is a lovely journey and the scenery spectacular. There are hundreds of tunnels and viaducts which reinforces one's admiration for those brave and determined souls who designed and built the system. The train has to navigate serious climbs (70% in places I was told, whatever that means) and uses a 'rack and pinion' system underneath the engine to pull itself up and, presumably, to help it brake on the way down. The excellent lunch was about a third of the price one would pay in Switzerland!
Left: Looking down from the station at the top of the pass towards Italy.
Right: At some point before the Italian border the rail track does a 360ยบ turn to lose/gain altitude in a short space. Another bit of extraordinary engineering. It's called the Brusio Viaduct.
Left: A very user-friendly gimmick on these trains is a map printed onto the small table in front of you showing all the routes. Most useful. An idea for UK? You must be joking!
There was a luxury (v expensive) dining service to your table, but I had brought my own rations. Also on this train they had plug-in headsets which gave you a commentary on points of interest en route. You could also switch to a channel which played yodelling songs. Very jolly...if you like yodelling songs. From Brig to the charming town of Kandersteg where I was to stay a couple of nights in the Belle Epoque Victoria Hotel which, due to being 'out of season' was, by Swiss standards, relatively cheap.
Left: Another snowy scene from the train. I won't bother you with too many more snowy train scenery pics as one bit of snow covered mountain looks much like another.
Next day off, via Brig again, to Zermatt. A renowned skiing resort in the shadow of the Matterhorn. There were still plenty of skiers, snowboarders and even tobogganists in action. I was not one of them. A train, with much assistance from 'rack and pinion', went up the hill, the Gornegrat, to the top of the ski slopes, and I took it. Good views from up there and an excellent lunch in a fine restaurant.Right: The Matterhorn in the distance. Actually it is closer than it appears in this photo. The pic on my previous blog was taken from here. The far side of it is in Italy where it is known as Il Cervino.
Did you know that the first team to reach the summit of the Matterhorn (Alt. 14,692ft) was led by an Englishman called Edwyn Whimper in 1865. You know, in cloth cap, tweed breeches, sensible shoes and probably smoking a pipe. There were six of them, 5 Brits and one Swiss, possibly including his personal valet. Us Brits did a lot of pioneer mountaineering in those days. Their expedition ended in tragedy when on the descent four of the party fell to their deaths; a rope snapped. Whimper was one of the survivors.
Left: Another useful gismo on the trains here, and I wish we had something like this in UK, is a screen at both ends of each carriage which displays where you have just left and the times of arrival at the following stations. Of course our trains would never dare to predict arrival times.
A day spent idling around back in Kandersteg included a healthy wander around the local area.
Right: Another picturesque village nearby.
I mentioned how manicured everything is here. Even their shit-heaps are perfectly arranged.
Left: This pile of manure was outside a stable block and there wasn't a loose pice of straw to be seen. Immaculate!
Right: A house in Kandersteg. They take their Easter decorations seriously.
Left:: A typical Swiss house on the edge of town with a waterfall in the background. All very 'twee'.
OK, just another snowy pic to finish off with. The following day it was back on the train and via Brig, passing through Montreux to Lausanne, Paris and then Eurostar to St Pancras, London and home. A pleasant little journey....and I'm now saving up for the next.
PS. FYI I've been using an Interrail Pass which makes things like these rail journeys remarkably affordable. If you are interested go to; interrail.eu for info.
No comments:
Post a Comment