switzerland

Switzerland

Thursday 25th October 2007

It is so easy changing countries with a RED passport. Just flashed them and got waved through.

We drove down via Zurich, to Luzern where we stopped briefly to take a few pictures of the lake and the old bridge. With Duzi2 being so big, there was a bit of a problem finding somewhere suitable for us to park, seeing as most of the parking areas seemed to be underground.

Heading towards the Berner Oberland region, we climbed up to a new height of 1022m testing Duzi2's climbing skills to the max. At the top we were treated to our first breathtaking glimpse of the snow-covered Swiss Alps. SO beautiful!! and VERY cold. Ross and Duzi2 were challenged with the steep descent, learning to use the gears to brake rather than burn out the brakes themselves, with Duzi2 still being so overweight.

Arriving in Interlaken, we stopped briefly to fill up with diesel with the mountains around us beginning to take on a pink glow. We headed on up the road a short way to Lauterbrunnen, to see the last of the sun's rays catching the tops of the snow covered mountains around us.

We checked into the Jungfrau Campsite and decided to put up both the tent and the awning for warmth and space to try and do a big de-clutter, to lose some weight. Had a dinner of tinned soup and bread, before climbing into a freezing bed of duvet and two down sleeping bags. This was by far our coldest night yet.

Friday 26th October 2007: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland GPS Info: N46°35'17.4" E07°54'67.9"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 865

We both just about froze last night and decided that tonight we sleep in out sleeping bags with the duvet over the top, rather than try to balance duvet and individual sleeping bags over both us, as the idea of sharing bedding with Heidi doesn't always work out for the best.

With the sun up now, we could get a good view from the tent window of who our CLONKING neighbours were. We had a prime spot with a crisp, fast flowing, clear river just over the fence from the ladder and a field of happily munching Swiss cows with cow-bells in the field next to us, all in front of a backdrop of snow covered mountains. Typically Swiss!

The church bells could be heard donging in the distance too.

Lauterbrunnen is a picturesque village set between steep parallel cliffs, with high waterfalls spraying down. There is a little train that can be caught up to Wengen and a cable-car up to Murren, where Mom, Dad, Caron and Mark had stayed just a few weeks before us. On a clear day you can look from the village onto the snow-covered Jungfrau and Silberhorn. Due to the steep cliffs, there is very limited sunlight that reaches into the valley, so it gets cool from very early afternoon.

At last we had lovely warm showers and a change of clothing which felt so good. Today was our BIG unpack and de-clutter! Ross got busy replacing the front speakers with some new more powerful 130W Pioneer speakers to replace the little original Landy ones, for better sounds later on. We went for a stroll to explore Lauterbrunnen only to find a ghost town as the whole village closes between 12h00 and 14h00. After walking along and taking many photos, the shops opened and we were able to get some fresh supplies and of course the all important Swiss chocolate! Who said we'd lose weight doing the Africa trip??? On the way back to the campsite we spotted some Lauterbrunnen lamas and some very new pronking lambs wobbling around very comically.

Back at the campsite we did some washing and Ross sorted through 'the yellow bag' of bits and pieces and tools, and managed to lighten it a bit. Heidz cooked a stir-fry for dinner and then we settled in for a warmer nights sleep in sleeping bags.

Saturday 27th October 2007: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland GPS Info: N46°35'17.4" E07°54'67.9"

Miles Today: 181 Total Miles: 1046

After a MUCH warmer nights sleep we were both in better spirits to repack Duzi2 in a more organised way. We checked out of Camping Jungfrau (SF90 or 50 Euros, for 2 nights) and started our long drive to Geneva. On leaving Lauterbrunnen, we were treated to perfectly clear views of the Jungfrau and the Silberhorn.

We decided to go via Grindelwald, Mom's favourite place, so Heidi could see what it looks like. Grindelwald has grown a lot over the years and is now more of a town than a village, with a ski resort vibe. We drove up to the Obere Gletscher, the area you can see the glacier from. Ross was quite shocked at how much the glacier has melted over the last decade, since he was last there. It's scary how real climate change is when you see evidence of it like this. Heidz got a perfect pic of Daisy the cow posing with her bell and flower in mouth, and of a Swiss goat.

We then headed on into Interlaken and got more perfect views of the Jungfrau. Interlaken has milky, turquiose glacial water flowing through it. We drove past the Balmers Youth Hostel, where Ross worked for a night many years ago. This whole area is so beautiful.

With the sun setting over the pink Swiss Alps we descended into Vevey, on Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), and continued on in the night to a campsite Ross had stayed at years ago. We drove past many old illuminated chateaus and hills lined with vineyards. We eventually found the 'campsite' near Versoix, but sadly it's deteriorated to a car park and restaurant, with camping as an after thought. After driving past College Du Leman, where Ross was a bordermaster in 1992/3, we headed back along the lakeshore away from Geneva in search of a camping sign we'd seen earlier. We eventually found it near the village of Rolle, only to find it was officially closed and had no ablutions. Luckily for us the boom over the front gate was open and we were tired so didn't care. We parked right on the lake shore all alone in an idyllic spot for free. We parked Duzi2 and nervously headed across the road to the Il Pulcinella Pizzeria for a yummy hot pizza dinner. They had an amazingly sophisticated self-cleaning toilet seat that automatically swivelled around completely after flushing.

With full tummies we settled in to our first night of camping in the tent alone in the middle of nowhere, as previously we'd slept in the car.

Sunday 28th October 2007: Rolle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland GPS Info: N46°27'41.6" E06°20'48.9"

Miles Today: 57 Total Miles: 1103

After very little 'sleep' due to waking up at every little sound, we awoke to a perfect view over the lake. The water was teaming with every kind of bird life - swans, coots, ducks, cormorants, herons. We even saw a woodpecker in the tree next to the tent. Thought of you Clintie.

We then discovered we were parked near a rather busy lakeside walkway used by joggers, dog walkers and families, which passed through the campsite. We attracted stares and Swiss French mutterings of "I thought it was closed...". Ross found some loos in the marina next door as we discovered the campsite ablutions in ruins in daylight. To not attract more attention than necessary, we packed up the tent, had breakfast on our side table (mounted on the side of Duzi2) for the first time. We then settled into a warm sunny spot to sort through and transfer photo's to put onto the website, when we are next connected. We were amazed at the confidence of the curious little sparrows that came right under our chairs and onto our stuff in search of tit-bits. Before we knew it, it was getting cold and dark again as the day drew to a close.

We headed into Geneva for a traffic free tour of the city by night. It is a very grand city with spectacular hotels, smart shops and banks. Geneva has a huge fountain (Jet D'Eau) that sprays up high (about 50m up, we think) in the lake. It also has a clock made of flowers in the gardens nearby. It has an old and a new part of the city on opposite sides of the river flowing out from the lake. The old part being cobbled, charming and trammed and the new part being busy, glassed and modern.

It was REALLY cold and dewy. We tried to find another campsite closer to Geneva to stay in, but as we've found so far with others, it was closed for the winter! We had decided not to go back to our 'closed' campsite because it was likely construction work on the ablution block would start early in the morning and questions might be asked about us staying there. Eventually after lots of driving around to find a suitable camping spot, we settled on another truck stop on the Route Suisse near Gland. So up went the black-out curtains, and roll on another night of freezing conditions and contortionist positions, this time with no sleeping bags as they were packed away in the rooftop tent. Brrr.

Monday 29th October 2007: Route Suisse, Gland, Switzerland GPS Info: N46°24'42.8" E06°16'29.5"

Miles Today: 415 Total Miles: 1518

Don't know how we survived, but we did...Heidi stretched out shivering and Ross huddled over the steering wheel in the foetal position. No more of these please! Time for the Lloyds to head South to warmer temperatures. We headed off to where we thought there was a McDonalds to freshen up and warm up. We must be getting desperate. We didn't find the McDonalds, but stopped for a fresh chocolate donut at a boulangerie/bakery in quaint Coppet village instead.

We then went for a walk around College Du Leman in the hope of meeting someone Ross would've known from before. The school is very big with amazing facilities for the children. We went to the Villa Concha Blanca, where Ross stayed and saw its huge, beautiful gardens. On our way out back to Duzi2 Ross bumped into Abdel Bouanane, a fellow surveillant from 1992/3. He was rushing to teach so is still at the school, but teaching now. We arranged to meet later on, but had forgotten about daylight saving, so hadn't adjusted our watches so were an hour too early to meet him (something we only discovered much later that evening)...Sorry Abdel, we would have loved to spend some time catching up with you and hope you got our message we left for you at reception.

We drove into Geneva to the Manor (Placette) Dept store to try and find a Skype headset and strops for Ross. We discovered in Geneva you pay for your parking meter by entering in your car registration, which gets printed on your ticket, rather than a bay number. It's winter now, so no strops, but we do have a Skype headset to phone you from when we have internet connectivity. We are Skype registered, so try and register and get a headset Mom and Dad/Paps, especially as you now both have ADSL. We believe Skype to Skype calls are free, lets hope so.

Off on our long drive to Southern France. We eventually found the right road South, with all the road works and diversions, even with the GPS. We drove down through Annecy, winding up the beautiful mountain passes, even catching a spectacular glimpse of Mont Blanc. We stuck to the faster toll roads as we had a lot of ground to cover and didn't want to get to Port Leucate and Bene's parents too late. We were headed to the Mediterranean holiday home of Ted and Bene, our Twickenham neighbours. They had very kindly offered for us to stay there on our way through to Africa. We arrived just after 9pm after driving through very windy conditions along the Med coastline, and then got horribly lost in the little roads of Port Leucate, not even found on the GPS, and were eventually rescued by Bene's mom in her car. We arrived to AMAZING luxury. Warmth, showers, clean proper bed, space and lovely homely comforts. Heidz hasn't slept in a proper bed since our household shipped to SA at the end of August. Will definitely sleep well tonight! Thank you Ted and Bene you have no idea how much we appreciate this.