Sometimes, recently more often, I wake up in the morning and for a moment I don't know where I am. It happens whenever you find yourself in permanent changing overnight locations.

This morning is one of them: but it only takes a moment before I recognize the roaring of tractors and trucks. Obviously, Luthern, it's the steep road next to the hotel, where the traffic struggles up the hill. This kind of noise attack also assaulted me last night at dinner.

 

The mind, that disturbing fellow

The fact that this evening I'll be halfway through the trail, creates a strange feeling. In fact, I should be proud of what I have achieved so far, which has been a pretty easy-going affair so far. But well, the mind is sometimes a rather disturbing fellow. It already thinks about the end, the farewell, the end of the dream. The mantra is always the same: Enjoy! Savour! The end will come soon. It fits perfectly.

But that's just how we tick, unable to enjoy the moment, to dwell in the presence. We'd much rather think about what comes afterwards.

Oh God, so early in the morning and I'm already so philosophical.

But everything has its reason. It might be that I know deep in my subconscious that this adventure is impossible to repeat. The excitement, the pleasure, the feeling of happiness belongs to the first time. Every repetition is always an attempt to relive the feelings, to bring something past back to life. This is not possible.

And besides, my muscles and bones know much better than my haughty mind, as I grow older, one window closes after another.

That's the way it is. Traurig, aber wahr, Georg Danzer might sing.

 

Admittedly, it is a pleasure

A wonderful panoramic trail through the typical hilly landscapes of the unspoilt Emmental. In constant ups and downs, it runs along a mostly wide range of hills from Napf, past small farms, alps and through forests to Lüderenalp.

The path climbs and descends steadily. The companion on clear days: a magnificent view of the Alps, the Mittelland up to the Jura. About halfway along the route lies the well-known Oberlushütte. It invites you to take a break with a view of the snow-covered Wetterhörner. After a rest, the route continues via Geissgratflue to Lüderenalp, a popular excursion destination with a beautiful panoramic view in the direction of the Bernese Alps and the Jura. Here you can find the longest bench in the world, 38,03 meters, made of one piece. The Lüderen-Chilbi, which takes place at the beginning of August, is also well-known far and wide.

That's what the guidebook says, it sounds good, even if only part of it applies to me. Because today, willy-nilly, I have to do the second part of the unplanned excursion via Luthern instead of via Napf.

And this is what the daily schedule would have looked like:

 

From Napf to Lüdernalp

You can see the difference on the map below, recorded by my Polar device: the route from Luthern via Chrutzi up to the ridge, where it meets the Panoramaweg again, is considerably longer than the original one.

But I'm looking forward to an entertaining trip up the valley to Chrutzi before the path branches off.

Length: 16 km, Ascent | Descent: 1050 m | 640 m, Hiking time: 6 h 25 min

 

From Luthern to Lüdernalp

 

A friendly biker

Even on the first meters of today's route it becomes clear that the day will be again like yesterday, hot and strenuous.

The first kilometers up the valley lead in long curves along the country road. At least the traffic is thin, occasionally a farm vehicle rattles past, the farmer's gaze straight ahead, as if the lonely hiker deserved nothing more than to be ignored. But I don't care, I feel splendid, the air is cool, a light breeze is blowing. Perfect!

 

Church at Luthern
Even if a place doesn't offer much else, a beautiful church is always there

A biker, again an elderly gentleman, seems to have to be helpful to me, so at least he thinks, and addresses me. He appears to have a built-up need to communicate (I do know that), because I learn half his life story, and so it takes a while until I understand what he wants to tell me. Apparently there is indeed a hiking trail.

Indeed, at a farmhouse up the road something like a path passes through. Well, I'm not convinced that it will help much, but I do the gentleman the pleasure to have helped me and turn off. Always amazing how quickly you can make someone happy, he makes me happy by his hint, I make him happy by gratitude.

My concerns come true after a few hundred meters - the so-called hiking trail returns to the main road after half a kilometer.

 

The right, the middle, or the left

Chrutzi (another one of those strange sounding names, Hübeli, Chrutzi, who invents such things?) is the last village before the valley ends further away on the slopes of the Napf. Whether more than twenty people are living in the five and a half houses, I doubt, but if you are looking for solitude and tranquility, this is the place to be.

One might think that the turnoff in the direction of Ober Scheidegg should be clear, but there is no signpost, so I stand like the proverbial donkey in front of the mountain, as there are in fact three roads branching off. The map is somewhat inaccurate, and so the decision for the middle road, which makes a better impression than the other two, once again proves to be quite wrong.

The left path is the right one. It does not really make an attractive impression, steep, full of stones and ditches, and completely overgrown with all kinds of vegetation. Once again it is clear that this path has not been used for quite some time.

 

This is really a path

You really have to fight your way through high grass, the only thing missing is a machete. For a moment I feel like Livingstone in the jungle of Africa, maybe Mr. Stanley is expecting me. "Mr. Landolt, I presume? "

As expected, there are no benches on this godforsaken path, what for? And so I just sit down at the first best place, it's not really comfortable, but at least the view is great as usual. And the sky is almost cloudless, a few veils at the horizon. When angels travel ...

 

View from my picnic place

View down the valley

Eventually the forest thins out, the road improves, a farm appears, it must be Unterhumbel. I skip the comments about the strange names for once, but at Oberhumbel I can't help but grin.

"Where do you live?" "In Oberhumbel, that's near Chrutzi and not far from Hübeli." "Where?"

 

Back on the Panorama Trail

The mountain range from Ober Scheidegg to Oberänzi is one great pleasure after the strenuous ascent. Do I have to mention again the high blue sky hanging serenely above me? Or the light breeze whispering in the branches of the firs? The heat, sometimes tempered by a cool breeze beneath the trees?

I have to stop again and again, this panorama deserves attention. And so I look down and up, to the right and to the left, with an empty head and a full heart.

 

But there appears a signpost, I know from afar what it is, and hello old friend, there you are again, I have missed you dearly. From then on, the path is again clear and good and signposted.

Back on track!

 

Back on track!

 

Memories of smells and other things

While the Luzerner HInterland disappears behind and below me, I follow the fantastic ridge walk described in the guidebook. It feels a little like the long ago summer vacations in Ahornen in the Oberseetal.

The paths through the forest are similar, fir trees to the right and left, undergrowth and shrubs, the unmistakable scent of fir needles and resin caressing the nose. Long-forgotten images emerge, the nose is the most reliable memory detector. And already the smells from childhood are back, they are so far away from our present that the probability of being able to enjoy them again tends towards zero.

And there is, of course, first of all, my favorite smell, also lost in the mists of the past - the smell of salt stored in a specific box. In my childhood, the salt was still purchased in the so-called Salzwaage, a small store, which served exclusively for the sale of salt. And the small room was filled with the most wonderful smell.

I will never smell it again.

 

Small three-edged cloud in the sky
A triangular cloud greets from the distance, a silent little spot above the perfect painting

Path through forest

 

Stupidity and arrogance

Sometimes the path is as wide as a forest road, then again as a narrow ribbon along the steep slope. The guidebook is right - you have to be careful, put one foot in front of the other, even harmless looking slopes are treacherous. The many deaths of hikers, whose number in the meantime exceeds that of climbers, speaks volumes.

And here, of all places, at the silliest spot, a biker crosses me. I hardly know where to dodge, I nod at him, no desire for a conversation, this is just a mindless stupid adventure.

 

Sometimes a wide and pleasant path...

... sometimes a steep dangerous path

 

Perhaps the most beautiful section of all

Tomorrow I will depart this section across the foothills of the Alps and reach the Emmental. I don't know yet what the next stages will look like, but the map shows a different topology. But one thing I know for sure, this day gives me inexhaustible joy. I can not remember ever having hiked so many wonderful hours through such great landscapes as today.

The following pictures show what I mean.

 

Just fun along the path In between across a bridge... ....beneath trees... ...and other hills... ...across small houses...... and across strange round hills

 

The Oberlushütte

Beauty can be tiring, and so I can't resist the offer of the Oberlushütte. Except for a few moronic bikers, I have met very few people today. Here, however, half the Emmental seems to have gathered. Most have climbed up by bike, others with their high-tuned SUV. The well-fed bellies demand horsepower, not hiking boots.

A young gentleman joins me at the table, a biker of course, he relates from his point of view the beauty of the area and the wonderful paths. I refrain from any criticism, as always everything is a matter of view. There is, as already mentioned several times, no absolute truth. Everyone has his own.

 

The Lüdernalp, a holiday beer and a truly divine sunset for dessert

The Lüderenalp is a well-known destination in the Emmental with a panoramic view of the Jura and the Bernese Alps. The Kurhaus, which was built in 1141 and specialized in whey cures and tuberculosis patients at the time, is wonderfully situated at 1890 meters. In 1961 it burned down and was replaced by a hotel with a restaurant, which is popular with holidaymakers and day trippers.

After just under six and a half hours, Lüdernalp appears, for once a comparatively sophisticated accommodation for the humble hiker. It seems to be a congress hotel, young people have gathered in the garden restaurant and are listening rather bored to the decidedly important-sounding words of their boss.

Once again, it's been confirmed that the distance between me and business life, both in terms of time and above all internally, has increased rapidly in recent years. When I listen to the remarks brimming with Anglicisms, I can't help smiling. Oh God, how nice it is not to have to listen to this bullshit anymore ..

But today is a celebration day - half the distance has been covered. Every well-deserved beer in the evening I enjoy, but today's of course particularly.

 

A beer for a half-time celebration

And then, as if the heavens also contributed something to the celebration, the evening shows what it is capable of. A blood-red sun surrounded by a reddish-yellow veil, accompanied by the tinkling of the herd of cows under the hotel window, sets in breathtaking beauty. It reminds me of many other sunsets, in Vietnam in Laos. in Myanmar.

 

Cows beneath the fading evening

Each one more beautiful and kitschy than the other, and yet each one a moment for eternity.

 

 

Matching Song:   Al Green - Love and Happiness

And here the trip continues ... to Signau

 

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