This day I was in exceptionally high spirits - according to the map, the day would consist of walking downhill, through more beautiful scenery. Our path would lead along a stunning natural pool along the lake where surely we would be able to refresh ourselves before arriving in the buzzing town of Interlaken.
Well, the map was wrong. Where we expected a gradual downward slope, we encountered more up and down - surprisingly, even though I didn't enjoy it, I found that my muscles didn't ache and my feet were coping just fine. Thank you, squats, apologies for the bad press I gave you. I now love you.
We did eventually get back down to sea level and enjoyed the gentle breeze that had picked up late afternoon. Turning to look back over the lake, I saw the most stunning display of colours - the turquoise of the lake, the green of the nature reserve surrounding us, the dark navy of the clouds... I thought Matthew was responding to my request for the camera when he started to undo his backpack, only to find him shoving a black "bin bag" poncho towards me. We managed to pull them over our heads just before the first fat rain drops splattered across our heads.
The cooling rain felt amazing, and I had to laugh at myself for putting in the effort of doing something with my hair that day. But the rain become more intense, the thunder louder and lightning seemed to be striking left and right. Within minutes a guy with a chain saw appeared to start clearing away the trees that wouldn't survive the battering. In the meantime we had found ourselves a little wooden hut from where we could observe the fast flowing river carrying branches and roots.
After a while the dense of adventure made way to cold feet and dreaded knowledge that we were still far away form the hostel we had booked for the night. As soon as it was save we crossed the metal bridge and made our way... or at least a way. Our watered down brains forgot that our hostel was some way off the path that we had been blindly following...
... arriving at the hostel dripping and freezing, I could have hugged the guy at the reception who suggested Take-Away Pizza to avoid going back out into the rain. And who quietly slipped us the code to the ski shoe room, so that our shoes could dry over night. (And who handed us a free voucher for the outdoor pool... irony?)
Here's to hoping for a sunnier Day 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment