Salerno, our first overnight stop, was a pretty little seaside town and we stayed in a gorgeous hotel. Sadly we saw little more than the restaurant and bedroom as we arrived at 6.30 pm on Saturday and left at 9.30 am on Sunday. Another long drive and we made Bologna. We had a great day exploring the town on Monday and buying shoes, lots of lovely shoes! The car is starting to look like a department store, full of big crisp carrier bags.
Bologna is the gastronomic capital of Italy and we dined on the most divine buttery yellow home-made tortellini stuffed with pumpkin, covered in bolognese sauce and nutty Parmesan shavings. My new slim-line figure seems to be going for a burton, too much pizza, pasta and wine methinks!
Our longest drive on Tuesday took us through northern Italy, past Milan - very slowly as every lorry in Italy seemed to be heading there, and finally across the border into Switzerland. It remained Italian as we admired Lake Maggiore at Locarno and Lugano. The temperature was warm and balmy and the skies were clear. We ploughed on up the Autostrada and realised that a calmness had descended, cars were being driven fast, but safely, drivers were polite, signalling thanks and using their indicators. We had left Italy far behind!
We came off the motorway at Wassen and began to ascend into the mountains. After about 6 miles snow appeared across the road along with rock falls. Another mile and it became apparent that the pass was closed.
Reluctantly we turned round, descended quickly back to Wassen and re-joined the motorway, heading this time for Interlaken.
Driving through Interlaken we headed up the valley, just spectacular - waterfalls, a crashing river alongside, huge mountains, green meadows, pretty chalets. Eventually we arrived in Grindelwald and cast our eyes on our home for the next seven days. Wow, it's beautiful, and only booked on Monday!!
From the balcony we overlook three mountains, the Wetterhorn, the Mettenberg and the Eiger, all dark, imposing, craggy, covered in snow and stunning.
We're here to walk so set off on Wednesday on a low level trail which took us over a gorge, along the river and up a few hundred metres. It got very hot but we felt better for stretching our legs after being cooped up in the car for so long over the weekend. Many high level trails and cable cars are closed because the snow is melting and avalanches occur daily. We can hear the rumble of the snow as it begins to slide and see it pouring over the edge of rocks high above us. It's fascinating to watch.
Jim commented on the woman Nordic walking - just as we were coming up to her! I know, it's mean!
Today we've been walking for about 5 hours, its been so hot. We went as high as the open trails go. Man, it's steep, I think I'm reasonably fit after all the exercise over these past 9 months but my heart was banging so hard in my neck it was painful.
We passed through gorgeous meadows, complete with flowers and cows with bells, into pine forests where the snow is thick on the ground, emerging above the tree line. Coming down was almost as painful, poor knees and toes!!
Tomorrow we're heading for the Lauterbrunnen Valley to walk up to some waterfalls, then hopefully, if it's open, taking a cable car to the top of the Schilthorn for great views.
Our thoughts, and discussions, keep turning to Great Ouseburn now - going home seems to be getting very close. We began talking about what we want to do in the house and garden. Maybe we're almost ready to sleep in our own bed again?! It'll certainly be a novelty.
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