Snow, Sherlock and scenery

Ok so I've held true to my promise in the last blog not to leave it too long before the next one - this one isn't even a week after the last being on Sunday. Should make it easier to digest hopefully, and not send too many of you to sleep - well, here's hoping anyway!

This should also be a more relaxed read as I write on full on electric hook up for the first time in over 2 weeks! I will need to make an apology though - there are loads of pictures this time. Partly because I've got a bit more time, but mainly because the weather and the scenery has really spoiled us this week. As I've said before, my favourite landscape is definitely clear blue skies with snow topped mountains, and in this, Switzerland did not disappoint!

So this blog finds us in the Vosges, about mid France trying to find the last bits of the good weather before the autumn and winter takes hold, but more on that later.

The last blog saw us in a very rainy small free Aire in Giswil, Switzerland, having left the worlds in Innsbruck. We hadn't expected to be able to find any free nights in Switzerland at all, and we pretty scared by how much our time may cost us, so to find this first night was a real bonus. When we pulled up it didn't look like anything too special, just 3 parking spots marked out for motorhomes opposite a few houses and a church. A church that happened to dong every quarter all day and all night as it goes, with an epic at 6am! We started doing a bit of research on the weather - my Met Office app was suggesting heavy snow and -11 overnight! We tucked down hoping the reference point was a ski station somewhere way higher than we were and had a reasonably quiet night.

Tuesday morning and an altogether brighter affair - we even spotted where the snow had fallen the night before, literally the mountain in front of our layby which was totally out of view in the dismal weather.

We drove up the village a short way and found a well appointed motorhome service point, then picked up some cash from the most space age ATM I've ever seen, followed by a brave dip into a supermarket for some bread! Luckily we'd stocked up on everything else before we left Austria, knowing that Switzerland is mega expensive, and even worse now with the weakened pound.

The aim of our trip around Switzerland was to try and see some new bits - we'd done Interlaken before, and as stunning as it is, we wanted to try and strike further afield and hopefully see the Matterhorn in Zermatt.

Our first stop though was some 30mins up the road in Meiringen to see the Reichenbach Falls made famous by Sherlock Holmes. The short journey was stunning though and it took us more like an hour to get there, with plenty of stops for the glorious lake (Lungerer See) and mountain views. The earlier cloud had lifted somewhat to give us a great view of the Eiger.

Now, as some of you may not be aware, Jase and I love a murder mystery, and none more so than the finest, Sherlock Holmes! We've spent many a rainy Sunday afternoon with a pot of tea watching Jeremy Brett's adaptation and have the whole DVD collection along with an audiobook with us on the trip. So being so close to the place where Holmes and his arch enemy Moriarty had their final battle, seemed well worth a visit.

Having scored the free night, we decided to pay and take the Funicular railway up to the base of the 120m waterfall. From there we were able to walk around the sides and over bridges getting better and better view points. The clouds were also lifting around the valley, giving us glimpses of snow covered peaks. It was a real highlight.

After a brief lunch back in the van, with a couple of F18's flying overhead, we drove a short way up the valley to the Aare Gorge. This is another breath taking spectacular sight - 1.4km in length, 1m wide at its narrowest, 40m wide at the widest, cliff sides of 180m and the river runs at 2m per second. The walkways along it's entirety made for some great views (and a fair amount of brave points for Jase too!).

At the end of such an epic day, we decided to take another punt on a parking spot on Park4Night - this was simply a parking spot opposite a picnic and BBQ area, with views down across Brienz and the Brienzersee - just stunning, and a real treat.

The night passed without any issues, save the rumble of the bus every 1/2 hr from 6am plus a couple of F18's coming in to land!

We'd since discovered that in Switzerland parking is pretty much tolerated anywhere (unless signed otherwise) for 15hrs max. It was here a challenge appeared - could we do our time in Switzerland without paying for an overnight stay?

The morning was a bit cloudier than the day before, but bidding a farewell to one of the most picturesque nights, we headed down alongside both the Brienzersee and the Thuner See past Interlaken, around the side of Lac Leman and passed Montreax. We had a brief stop at Martigney to plan our next step and Park4Night had suggested another stunning looking car park up in the mountains near Grimentz. We looked at the sat nav and decided to have a go - we knew we were in for a mountain pass, about 30km was to take about 90 mins, but Jase was up for it, so we hit the road. The first section was hairpin after hairpin and we gained height pretty quick - the road was wide though, and we could see it was a bus route, so all good. We took it fairly steady, especially through the narrower sections, and Jase was very glad to not be sat roadside as the drops were pretty sheer at times.

Our first glimpse of our reward was the stunning vista of Lac Moiry, then through a tunnel and up a little bit more and we found our car park - words won't do this place justice, so I'll let the photos do the talking.

After a nerve settling lunch, we headed out for a short explore - now although the sun was shining, we were about 2,200m up, so it was pretty fresh. Still the views were amazing.

As the day drew to a close, the car park emptied out with day trippers and we were left for a short while on our own. Just as darkness was falling, a group of climbers turned up, presumably for a long day out the following day.

The night sky was unbelievable. So many stars, planets and the best view of the Milky Way we've ever experienced. Simply stunning.

Next morning, and heating on as it was a cool 0.5 degrees outside, but toasty in the van. We'd had a quiet night's sleep and decided to wrap up warm and head out further towards the glacier. There was a clearly defined path towards it, and with some scrambling across streams and rock boulders, but the rewards were so worth it. Again, I don't think I can do the scenery justice, so will let the pictures do the talking.

Back at the van for a warming cuppa, and the sun was now at full strength making it feel nearer 20+ degrees. We decided to head out for a valley walk towards Lac de Moiry and the barrage at the end.

By the end of the day we'd walked 9.5miles, with a lot of climbing. We were tired but awed by what we'd seen. We'd also decided to stay another night and had great views again of the Milky Way plus the space station too. This time though we were all alone - we did wonder if they'd closed the gates on the tunnel for possible risk of snow, but we felt truly humbled to have spent a wonderful couple of days in such scenery, and to be stood underneath such a big sky all alone.

Next morning, and another cold frosty one, but thankfully no snow! We'd decided to head back down off the mountain as this was the last forecasted good day. Our initial drive was to the Aire at Grimentz which had electric hook up - we'd done almost two weeks without electricity by now, so the camera and laptop needed a charge, plus we used the time to have a mains hot shower while we waited.

The rest of the trip down the mountain went well, Jase did a sterling job as driver. The plan for the day was to head towards Zermatt and those all important views of the Matterhorn. We drove up the valley, but soon realised that with cloud coming in, it wasn't to be. I don't think either of us were that disappointed really, with the days we'd had, how could we be?

We had a brief lunch stop, and headed back towards Lac Leman. We'd spotted a couple of possibilities for our final overnight stop in the area, and went to check out the first in Saillon - less picturesque than previous nights, but in the car park of the thermal baths, it would be fine. However, it was only mid afternoon, so we headed up the hill to a small village called Chamoson with stunning views around the valley. We parked up the van, and Jase set about checking the van over after the challenging miles we'd done. Just as he was checking around the wheels and brakes (purely precautionary) a couple of chaps came over to see if we were ok, or needed any help. Turned out they had been picking the grapes in the valley just below, and after seeing that we were ok, handed us a bunch of grapes and a bottle of their local wine - how cool. We spent a while chatting with them, learning about the local area.

As the sun went down, we headed back to the overnight spot at the baths.

Saturday morning and after a lovely quiet night we packed up and headed away from Switzerland. The forecast for the coming days was not favourable at all, with cloud and snow being forecast. It didn't look at all good for the air show at Axalp, and with the weather set very changeable for Provence as well, we pooled our intel and headed for the Vosges which is forecast reasonable weather for the coming week.

The journey up was lovely, with glimpses of the snow covered Jungfrau range around Interlaken. Once we got back into France we headed into Aldi for a quick stock up and then onto our site at Bussang. We'd managed 5 free nights in Switzerland and had survived on just CHF60 (about €50) for the week - and the bulk of that was spent on the Reichenbach Falls and fuel. We'd also done 14 nights straight off grid so it was time to head into a campsite - not such much for the creature comforts, I'd really enjoyed this spell off grid, but we do need to get some washing done and put our feet down for a few days. We chose the campsite on the location (very near to loads of mountain biking routes) and also it's indoor pool and spa facilities. The showers are lovely - heated which is a bonus now the weather is cooling down, although only 4.5/5 as no shelf!

This morning (Sunday) has been a bit overcast, although the sun is starting to show as I write. Jase is out checking out the trails, although has just informed me there is some sort of MTB event going on in the local village! We plan to stay here for most of the week, and then hopefully head south when the weather picks up.

As far as weeks go, this has been one of the very best on #Jexit so far, and has been the very reason we wanted to do this. To have the time to take on a mountain pass and be able to stay there for a couple of nights is something really special and memories we will treasure forever. The photos probably don't do it justice, but believe me, it was out of this world.

Til next time all, stay safe

J&J x