Mountain hut, muddy hike and cow bells
Long ago, I had a habit of lingering around gift shops and staring at the cover of fancy Swiss chocolate: vast, alpine slopes covered with lush greens and dense pine forest, with a village perched on its shoulder half hidden in the cloud. Are they real?
Years later, I found that place in Lungern, Switzerland. Small and unassuming, the village is within easy commute from tourist hot spots Interlaken and Lauternbrunnen. We rented an alpine hut for 5 days from a friendly B&B in the town.
At 1400 meters, the hut is peacefully hidden alone in the pine woods on the mountainside (see map). Intimidated by 2.5 hours of steep hike up the mountain with supplies on our backs*, we opted instead for half an hour nerve-wracking drive up on a single-lane gravel road looking over the cliffs a few feet away.
In the following days, we cooked meals on the open pit fireplace in the hut, collecting firewood nonstop. The kids made good use of a machete to split the firewood. We relaxed on the wooden bench in the parlor watching the fire dance. We huddled around an old-school oil lamp drinking lot of hot coffee and tea. We watched the dumb flies keep crashing on the lamp in Kamekazi style. The fresh air, the serenity, the ice-cold water from the mountain creek in the summer, we were carefree. However, one had to summon up enough courage to take the lukewarm or sometimes cold shower in a candle lit bathroom, all in a hut with a huge loft that can have 10 kids running around in hide and seek. The hut must be a conversion from a cow shed, I reckoned.
We did fair amount of hiking and wandering in the surrounding area. One day, we hiked in the rain on a muddy shepherd's path over the mountain opposite the hut. Now I could not remember how many slips I had but I do remember the sensation when spotting a country cafe in a distant village over the other side of the mountain. We wolfed down a plate of spaghetti in tomato sauce that never tasted so good.
With lots of hissing and moaning, none of us could forget the last 10 minute uphill struggle at the end of each hike to reach the hut. It has a long, long, steep slope (drive way). It was so close, yet so far away.
Another day, we went down the road (shown in picture) to visit our neighbor, a teenage boy in charge of a small diary farm. We bought fresh milk and butter there. But we had to make the 45 minutes trip twice since we took for granted that milk came in containers. The milk boy did not have any disposable containers and we had to bring our own bottle. But the walk was pleasant, the milk was freshly squeezed (literally) and the the butter tasted fabulous.
On other days, we simply roamed around the valley with mountains on all sides, listening to the echos of the cow bells. Anywhere you go, you can't miss the ding-dongs of the cow bells. It really sounded delightful for the first couple of days, but I wondered how things could be different if the sound was with me day after day after day........ I guess I had to own some animals for a trade-off...
Of course, we did all the other fun things. We roamed around InterLaken and Lauternbrunnen. We visited Alpine garden, Mürren, and Wengen; and we took the cogwheel train... But no need for me to repeat, plenty of travelogues out there on these popular spots.
* I had not been much of an outdoors person for long at all. Not long ago, hiking up a mountain with 30-lb load sounded quite daunting to me. I do much better nowadays.