Tuesday July 26: Engstlenalp to Meiringen
Today was supposed to be one of the most glorious stages of the whole Via Alpina, a ridge walk with views ahead to the main event Bernese Oberland. Alas, we awoke to full cloud coverage and a determined drizzle. There was absolutely nothing to see.
Given the invisibility of the Planplatten ridge, we decided to take the valley route instead, mainly for safety. The marathon runners all had to head up to the ridge; that was the last time we saw most of them, their finish time being notably faster than ours.
The weather cleared shortly after noon, and it got hot.
The day’s walking was easy except for a two-hour section we brought on ourselves. Instead of following our route cards, we chose to follow signs pointing to Meiringen. As it happened, the trail we followed is an apparently little-used balcony trail that went around the rocky mountainside about 1000 feet above the valley. It was narrow, slippery, and full of rocks and roots placed there to trip us. That was a real disappointment after skipping our glorious ridge walk, which had the added advantage of cable cars at the end to facilitate the descent into town.
Meiringen seemed nice enough, what we saw of it. All the servers at our restaurant were either Portuguese or Croatian; they didn’t really speak German.
After the fact, I read more about the Planplatten hike, and decided that it’s something I’d really like to do if the opportunity ever comes my way. On a clear day, there’s nothing like high alpine scenery.