We take a two-week trip to the Valais for a 'Kull' family festival in Ernen, enjoy a few days in Zermatt and spend a week in Saas-Grund, which seems to be firmly in the hands of the Orthodox Jews.
In Zermatt we stay for 2 nights at the 'Backstage Hotel Vernissage'. The large rooms are furnished in a cool Julen style and have a large balcony with a view of the Matterhorn.
We enjoy the 5-lake hike, always with the Matterhorn in view, in beautiful weather, which is really worth mentioning this summer.
In Saas-Grund we cycle with our e-bikes 700 meters up to the Mattmark dam and around the lake. One side is paved, but on the other side we have to push our bikes more often. But the tour around the lake is definitely worth it.
A short but rather steep hike along the Kapellenweg with 15 small chapels takes us from Saas Grund to Saas Fee.
There we have lunch in the restaurant Schäferstube. The restaurant is absolutely recommendable, but belongs to the higher price category.
Then up by cable car to Längfluh to admire the glacier in rather cloudy weather.
We hike part of the Allmagell high trail from the middle station 'Kreuzboden' in the direction of Saas Almagell, but do without the steep 700-meter descent. Before the hike, we go up to the Hohsaas to enjoy the view.
In Ernen we are again drawn to the impressive Aletsch Glacier. This time we drive from Betten to the Moosfluh. There is a well-maintained high trail to Riederalp with a magnificent view of the glacier.
We say goodbye to Valais for this year and drive via Aarau, where we do the theoretical boat exam (and of course pass 😊), to Romanshorn. Here we spend a good 2 weeks with the intention to do the practical boat exam. In the first week we spend every day 4 hours on the lake and practice 'man over board' and forward/backward steering board/backboard, etc. mooring. After 5 days we are completely exhausted and decide to postpone the boat exam until next year.
On the weekend there is still time for a trip to the annual sand sculpture festival in Rorschach. Eight international teams of two each create a huge sculpture during one week. Absolutely impressive and unfortunately quickly perishable.
And this is the winning sculpture
We will spend the next months in the Azores, Lanzarote and Argentina including Antarctica. (so we think)
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