Alpenpanoramaweg - A very special cemetery

Everything repeats the older you get.

Some clever soul has put this wisdom into the world, understandable, but also quite trivial. It resembles the famous saying of Bette Davis (or Mae West, depending): Getting old is not for sissies.

Of course, one could argue that hiking is also a repetition of the same old thing.

The mountains are similar, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes snow-covered, sometimes overgrown with green. The paths are either narrow or wide or steep or flat, covered with stones or gravel or asphalted. The meadows green or brown, withered by the sun or covered with waist-high grass, with cows or sheep or goats or donkeys. You walk relaxed or gasping and cursing and longing for a break.

However - even if the stones on the path, the dirt under the shoes, the hills on the horizon, even the blue or gray or black sky are the same as a thousand before, every day, every hour, every minute on the path is a new experience.

And so it will be today, we hope.

The guidebook says a few nice words about today's stage:

From the lovely Schwarzsee to the Breccaschlund and into the sharp limestone landscape of the Gruyères Alps, over the flat, glacier-carved Euschelspass to Jaun, the only German-speaking village in the Gruyères district.

 

After the flood

The storm has passed, the Schwarzsee is still gloomy and threatening, but not as black as last night, the sky is blue as it should be, the few clouds are at worst a bit of decoration.

 

The path follows the lake for a while, you can hear the screeching and squawking of birds competing for the feeding place, but otherwise the already silent village has punished itself with an extra hour of silence.

The mountains in front of us are shrouded in a white blanket of fog, we hope that they are not a harbinger of future freak weather. But of course we, as burnt children, know that the forecast for this afternoon, which is not exactly positive, will definitely come true.

 

 

And again shredded plants on the way

We have reached some altitude, the lake stays behind below us. Under the eyes of curious cows, the path now leads steadily uphill, mostly through dense forest. The map shows that further up there is a funny bend to take, again towards the lake, before the path finally branches off to the south, Jaun.

And again the miserable remains of the evening thunderstorm cover the path, not quite as bad as the day before, but still impressive.

 

It's just the kind of trail that's fun: it leads along creeks rushing by, still somewhat agitated by yesterday's precipitation. Then again through dense forest, flanked by wise old and gnarled spruces and birches and beeches and maples.

Our old companion, the 3 signpost, trustworthy and reliable, shows the direction.

 

 

And then an alpine tavern

As already mentioned, the merits of Catholic customs or culture become visible after about an hour in the way of an alpine tavern.

We can't resist the temptations of Hubel Rippa, as the property is called, and so we don't have a glass of white wine like some other, apparently local guests, but at least a coffee, while other hikers, according to the language from the north, greet us and tell us about their own hiking adventures.

And of course, even though the cottage is high up and quite remote, a road is leading directly to the front of the establishment. Walk? Why should you, when you can just as well drive.

 

Over the Euschel Pass

The hike leads into the Breccaschlund formed by glaciers. The limestone slopes are crisscrossed with sinkholes.

The valley, framed by the Pointe de Balachaux to the west, the Schopfenspitz to the south and the Chörblispitz to the east, offers an impressive view of the Schwarzsee. The landscape is characterized by old dry stone walls. Sycamores grow here and with a little luck one can observe a pair of eagles, chamois or marmots.

 

We now leave the valley of the Sense and reach the Gruyère region. We are slowly approaching the Euschel Pass, permanently followed by curious cow eyes. The sky has - no surprise - once again covered with a black robe, so the weather prophets are probably right. Apparently a weather fate that now follows us daily. Blue sky in the morning, thunderstorms towards evening.

But then, the low point of the day, the loud whir of a helicopter breaks the silence. A cow is hanging from a rope, oddly tied by one leg. We immediately realize that the animal is dead, because no one would ever transport a living animal in this undignified way.

The cadaver is set down not far from the path and loaded onto a truck. A short time later, the helicopter brings a second cow. Apparently they both fell over a rock face, possibly frightened by the thunderstorm.

Further up we meet other cows on the pasture and hope for a better fate for them. One can only wish these gentle eyes the best.

 

 

Downwards

Of course, Hubel Rippa is not the only alpine tavern. All of them are somehow called Rippa, no idea what that means. We resist the temptation most of the time, but shortly after the top of the pass we become weak.

The alpine taverns now become proper restaurants with everything that goes with it. The exclusively French-speaking waitress indicates that we will have to retrieve our best French in the foreseeable future (the best? Probably rather the still existing one).

But then, refreshed with coffee and cake, we follow the path zigzaging downwards towards the day's destination, Jaun.

 

Sometimes we have the impression of walking through a garden landscape. On both sides of the path, the meadows are in full bloom, yellow, purple, red flowers rise up from the knee-high grass, we stop, looking, admiring, they seem to have made themselves beautiful especially for us. The only thing missing is the sun for the perfection of the scene, but it has once again sulkily disappeared behind clouds.

 

 

Jaun - the last German-speaking village

You have to go far back in history to understand that this village is the last bastion of the German language. That Jaun is not French-speaking, as one might suspect, is related to the history of the settlement.

Apparently, the area around Jaun was settled via the Jaun Pass from the Simmental and not from Bulle. In this context, one speaks of the medieval colonization, when the pioneers of settlement advanced far more frequently over open Alpine passes than through gorges and narrow valleys.

The village of Jaun has two churches. The older church originally dates from the 11th and 12th Century, was later rebuilt and extended several times, the present nave dates from 1808 to 1811. Since 1910 this church is no longer used as a place of worship, but serves as a "Cantorama" (house of singing) with a concert hall. The organ built 1786 by Johann Dreher has been restored 2011 and rededicated. (Wiki)

 

 

A very special graveyard

Jaun is not only known for its particular role as the last German-speaking village and its gushing waterfall, but above all for the graveyard with wooden grave crosses and carvings.

When one speaks of the Jaun cemetery, one is referring to an authentic treasure. All the grave memorials are hand-carved crosses with bas-reliefs showing the profession or hobby of the deceased. Thus, the cemetery has become a unique cultural asset also attracting tourists.

There were painful circumstances that led to the discovery of the artistic talent of Walter Cottier, who founded the tradition of wood-carved funerary monuments. It was the death of his grandfather in the year 1948. Due to extreme poverty, the family at that time was not able to pay for a cross or a funerary monument for the grandfather.

For this reason, the then 27-year-old Walter Cottier created a wooden sculpture with his knife: a cross with a figure of Christ on the front, a bas-relief on the back. One side of the relief commemorated the life or activities of the deceased person, the other showed a symbolic element for a particular thing the deceased was fond of. The grave monument is protected by a small shingle roof.

For example, one can see on the reliefs a music-loving shoemaker under a music-making angel. A locomotive, construction site vehicles, a lady with glasses stroking her cat, a cheese maker at work, a hiker with climbing skins, or a sewing machine, as well as the most diverse animals and plants.

 

As is often the case in these small communities, the graves bear the names of the few dominant families in the village. There are the Schuweys, the Moosers, the Buchs, the Raubers ...

We are accommodated in the Hotel La Cascade, naturally opposite the waterfall, move into a large 6 bed room and dine in the hotel restaurant. And a real surprise - the two guests at the next table, a couple from Wolhusen, are indeed on the Alpine Panorama Trail. Only a few stages to Vevey, but nevertheless.

 

Matching Song:   Traffic - Graveyard People

And here the trip continues ... to Broc