Rest day, eh?

With slightly lower temperatures and a bit less food intake, we slept a bit better.  Just as well we hadn’t decided on an early night, though: Switzerland’s win against Serbia in some popular game or other resulted in loud cheers from the blocks of flats round about, then lots of car revving and horn sounding.  Switzerland is such a discreet and restrained country.  We were awakened around 04:30 by what can only have been the sounds of a herd of cattle being driven nearby.  The neighbourhood being known less for grazing than for motor car dealerships, this was somewhat puzzling.  As we waited for our bus this morning, two tractors passed by, towing trailers loaded with cattle. Our neighbour in the first train of the day didn’t know, she being from Zürich, but assumed that it had to do with the ceremonial drive to the alpine pastures.   Some 20 years ago, I encountered the reverse process, when cows came crashing through the hedges into the communal gardens in Dübendorf, where my outlook was at least over farm land.

We’d thought about taking the train up to Arosa today for a leisurely lunch, but forecasts of a midday temperature of around 10°C sent us in search of Plan D.  Bus to station, trains to Disentis/Mustér, Andermatt, Göschenen, Erstfeld and Flüelen, then a boat to Luzern.  Having hardened ourselves to Swiss prices we had a somewhat lacklustre lunch on board, though the accompanying Schwyz white wine was very palatable.  Rather than do touristy stuff in Luzern, we left the boat at the Verkehrshaus, where we caught a train we’d have struggled to catch at the main station, travelling back via changes in Uznach and Sargans, getting back to the hotel around 7:00 pm.

The day has taken us through a wonderful variety of scenery, starting with the gorge of the Vorderrhein, and continuing through the slopes and meadows that sum up everyone’s idea of rural Switzerland.  There were still a few patches of grubby snow by the side of the line here and there as we climbed towards Andermatt, and a lot at higher levels.  Next came the precipitate gorge of the Reuss between Andermatt and Erstfeld, though you only get fleeting glimpses of the river between the numerous tunnels and galleries.

But for me the charm of higher altitudes at this time of year is the profusion of wild flowers.  Towards the 2000m mark you start to find little azaleas in flower, and later in the journey a lot of alpine roses were flowering.  But everywhere there are daisies, scabious, campanulas and a plethora of yellow and pink flowers that I couldn’t identify.

From Andermatt to Flüelen, we followed the same route, roughly speaking, as we did on Thursday, but on the north ramp towards the old Gotthard tunnel, complete with its three views of the church at Wassen from above, alongside and below.  To gain and lose height, the engineers of the original tunnel used some ingenious loops and spiral tunnels, hence the multiple exposure of the Kirche Wassen.  The scenery is lovely, but the cut in the journey time through the new tunnel is worth having  if time matters.

A quiet evening back at the hotel sorting photographs and taking a modicum of nourishment: typically disappointing station kiosk sandwiches, tea and biscuits and a spot of not quite cool enough Listel Gris de Gris.