Day 12 - Thursday 3rd September 2015 – Gruben to St Niklaus

Total distance walked:	15.3 km	9.51 miles
Total hours walked including stops	8 hrs 23 mins
Total hours walked excluding stops	7 hrs 10 mins
Height at start	1822 metres	5978 feet
Height at finish	1127 metres	3698 feet
Total Height Gain	1186 metres	3891 feet
Total Height Loss	1886 metres	6188 feet
Maximum Height	2891 metres	9484 feet
Average speed excluding stops	2.13 km/hr	1.33 miles/hr

Up at 6.00 am, dressed, washed and packed and down to breakfast at 6.30 am.  Orange juice, muesli, yoghurt, bread, butter, jam and café au lait.  I also took a piece of bread and some cheese and salami to eat for my lunch – strictly against the rules. 

The day was dull and cloudy but dry.  I set off uphill immediately in front of the hotel at about 7.15 am.  I stopped for 5 minutes at 08.15 am and again at about 9.45 am.  It was a steady climb up through the forest and then areas of Juniper and Alpenrose before reaching the final rocky but not too steep ascent to the Augstbord Pass (2894m) which I reached at 10.15 am.  I didn’t stop long on the col as it was cold with cloud but luckily no wind.  I descended quite quickly before an uphill section and didn’t stop until reaching the turn down to Jungen and St Niklaus just beyond the viewpoint.  The walk hadn’t been easy and was frequently on boulders and large rocks.   I stopped to eat my bread, cheese and salami and the Mars bar that I had bought at the hotel (CHF 1.50).  I saw and photographed some Chamois.  Apparently there were quite a number in the immediate vicinity according to a Spaniard that I met walking in the other direction.  The group of four English, Paddy, Andrew, Chris and Sarah together with Chandresh and Himan appeared just as I was about to leave   I had left Patrick and Veronique behind sometime after 9.15 am.

I continued down a nice steady slope zigzagging through the forest to Jungen (1955m) where I stopped and met up with Paddy, Andrew, Chris and Sarah.  We went to the small bar and had a beer (CHF 3.60) and sat for about half an hour.  We set off again at about 14.15 pm and continued down long sloping zigzags through the forest and eventually came to pasture land and St Niklaus (1127m) where I arrived at about 3.30 pm.  It had started raining a little after leaving Jungen and I had put on my waterproof rucksack cover although I continued walking in my tee shirt.  I met the New Zealander (married to a Czech lady) by the Post office and then walked down the hill to the Walliserkeller.  Chandresh, Himan and Sarah (one of the two American girls – the other had not walked because of her cold) were on the patio of a bar opposite and I joined them for a beer (CHF 3.70) sitting under a large awning in the rain.  The four English also arrived shortly afterwards.  They were all meant to be walking the Europa Weg on Friday but were having second thoughts because of the weather forecast.  They were in any case staying at Gasenreid and they all took the 4.54 bus as it was still raining quite hard.

I went across the road to the Walliserkeller and found my room – very nice with a table at which I wrote my diary, a shower, basin and even towels.  I had a shower, shaved and changed and then finished writing my diary.  I went out at 6 o’clock and found Patrick and Veronique outside and we had a beer together at the bar opposite the zimmer.  I also phoned Pam to let her know that I was safe.

There was no restaurant at the Walliserkeller so we wandered through St Niklaus looking for a restaurant and were eventually directed to La Reserve on the outskirts of town and a good ten minutes’ walk.  We could have had a pizza at the bar opposite the Walliserkeler but as it was to be our last night, we thought that we wanted something better.  We arrived and found the American party (i.e. John who I had walked with the previous day and his friends) were staying there and having dinner.  I had a mixed salad, spaghetti al mare followed by ice cream with a 50 cl bottle of red wine.  The total price was CHF 64.00 and I left a CHF 6.00 tip for the three of us.  There was a man eating at the next table and as we finished dinner, he introduced himself as a Columbian tax consultant who had come to St Niklaus having just attended a conference in Basle.  He was with his 96 year old father who was neither eating nor drinking.  He had just drunk a 50 cl bottle of red wine and ordered another offering the three of us a glass.  It seemed impolite to refuse.  He also offered to drive us back to our zimmer which we did refuse, not least as he had drunk at least one bottle of wine.  He appeared exactly like what one would expect of a Columbian drug baron although I am sure he wasn’t.

We walked back to the Walliserkeller and went to the bar for an aperitif.  They didn’t have any Genepi and the one that I chose tasted of liquorice and wasn’t the best choice.  So to bed and read for a short while before going to sleep at about 10 o’clock – I hadn’t been to bed so late since leaving the UK, twelve days earlier.  Total price for bed and breakfast was CHF 55.00.