7th Sep 18
The travel passes given to us by the hotel, which gave us free bus travel in the Interlaken district had only seen the light of day once so far so we decided to change that. The good old Number 21 which had previously taken us to the Ost train station took us even further this time - along the banks of Lake Brienz as far as Ringgenberg.
A small village full of picture postcard chalet style cottages covered in flowering window boxes and various garden ornaments. We expected Heidi to come skipping down the lanes at any moment. The weather was once again fantastic with clouds weaving their way round the mountains as we started to make our way back on foot, but as usual it wasn’t long before we stopped for food and drink. Immediately after the cafe we discovered an old church overlooking the lake and went inside to investigate. Right next to the church is a ruined tower which we were able to climb and revealed spectacular views over the village, lake, and surrounding alps.
Lovely walk back towards Interlaken which eventually brought us out near a railway bridge crossing the river which had a footpath attached. Cue us waiting around on the bridge to get photos of a train crossing. Still the views were enough to keep us occupied.
Having crossed the river we headed across the valley floor to get closer to a large spherical structure which turned out to be a conference and reception venue on what was formerly a military airbase. Having made this detour we arrived in a new neighbourhood to discover a very Swiss looking bar which cried out for our custom on this hot sticky day. Suitably refreshed we carried on back towards town and a supermarket to get some supplies for the evening.
Apart from food and drink - a free day! Who said Switzerland was expensive?