Alpine Panorama Trail – The Weather God as an Artist

It seems that the weather god has become an artist for once.

Looking through the window, you think you're standing in a landscape artist's painting. Steam rises from the wet meadows, condenses just above the hills into an elongated arm of cloud that hangs like a fluffy blanket over the trees and hills.

So just the right impressions to duly welcome this day. We bow before the surprising talent of the Lord over the weather and hope that he is gracious to us today.

 

From the Bernese farming village of Guggisberg down to the dreamy hamlet of Hirschmatt; over a wooded range of hills into the ancient Sensegraben near Zollhaus, across into the canton of Fribourg and along the Warme Sense to the Schwarzsee vacation center.

This is the opinion of our guidebook's author. Whether his poetic reflections about the way to the Schwarzsee will be confirmed, remains to be seen. In any case, we expect once again a pleasant hike.

 

All an illusion of the mind?

A last look back, Guggisberg and the Guggershörnli stay behind, disappear behind a hill. Other villages and hamlets shimmer in the warm light of the morning, in front of us and behind us, nameless, we would have to identify them using the map. But it seems unnecessary, forgetting it quickly would be a betrayal.

 

Sometimes we stop between the trees, looking out at the gently rounded hills. It seems as if they have always been there, as if they have a secret, but probably there is nothing. They are just there, without reason and without purpose.

"Everything is an illusion of the mind", Buddha might say. Sometimes I have to agree with him.

 

Postcard landscape

The fact that there are places in Switzerland described as postcard idylls is of course public relation, but also a reality.

Anyone who has ever stood on the hiking trail above the lakes in the Upper Engadine knows what I'm talking about. The same applies to Lake Lucerne, whose branching arms and bays in varying shades of blue delight the eye of any beholder.

 

You don't need to travel to the Engadine to discover unknown, almost hidden idylls. We walk all day long through regions that at first glance have nothing exciting to offer, and yet seem idyllic.

 

 

The raging storm

Watching the storm - behind safe windows and walls, of course - you imagine what the raging fury might wreak, but when you see it with your own eyes, the destruction comes as a surprise.

The path through the forest has become covered with a thick layer of shredded leaves and branches and twigs, you walk for once on soft terrain. The ground looks as if the sky has collapsed.

The idea of what it would have been like to be here if we had still been on the trail is unsettling. There is no longer any shelter under the trees, far and wide no refuge, no hut, no yard and no houses.

You would have to duck to the ground, protect your head with whatever you might find from the crashing waves of water and ice pebbles and shredded branches and twigs.

 

Hardly out of the injured forest, we stand in the middle of a meadow, where the tall grass has been crushed to the ground by wind and water and hail. One simply cannot imagine the destructiveness of the elements. We have long since become accustomed to being in safety.

 

 

Along the "Warme Sense"

At the village Zollhaus (I'm not even sure if it's a village at all) the Kalte Sense. and the Warme Sense meet. We now follow the Warme Sense, which is fed by the Schwarzsee. Many kilometers later, it is absorbed by the Saane at Laupen, as if it had never existed.

We follow it up the valley to today's destination, the Schwarzsee. And quite casually, somewhere we have crossed the border to the canton of Fribourg.

Now we are in another cultural sphere, and above all, from here on, Catholic joie de vivre reigns again. The difference between Bern (Protestant) and Fribourg (Catholic) is exemplified by the fact that in Bern you will find numerous benches along the way, while in Fribourg they are completely absent. On the other hand, every few kilometers, alpine inns invite you for a coffee or a glass of white wine. And quite clearly - access for cars is guaranteed in any case.

 

 

Schwarzsee

The Schwarzsee is on the one hand a lake, but also a popular tourist region. You can go hiking in summer, skiing in winter, or try at ice skating on the frozen lake. It is interesting that the lake is also an official airfield and is used in winter when the ice is more than 30 cm thick.

Upon our arrival, however, the lake has not put on its friendliest face. It seems to be rather convinced that it has to give off the image of an eerie, gloomy body of water according to its name.

We already noticed the darkening of the sky shortly after Zollhaus and accordingly pushed on. At least the threatening thunderstorm is merciful to us and we reach the village before the downpour begins.

 

The dark clouds fit perfectly to the black lake, which lives up to its name (or is the effect just addressed to the tourists?).

And then, after arriving at the B&B, after a shower and a change of clothes, the thunderstorm hits. There are those moments when it is imperative to be in the right place at the right time. The opposite would be very very wet ...

 

 

Matching Song:   Wanda Jackson - Thunder on the Mountain

And here the trail continues ... to Jaun