Route:
Wengen-Lauterbrunnen-Stechelberg-
Ober Steinberg-Gimmelwald-Murren.

My original walk took all day over this slightly eccentric route. However, it is well worth doing this way for the views, unless you want an easy day, because the next two days are quite tough, the second being about the toughest (with no easy option) on the entire tour, in which case, just walk down to Lauterbrunnen from Wengen (35-40 mins), walk up to Mürren & put your feet up. I also did this Mürren-Lauterbrunnen path direct, the 'wrong way'. These stages were done in the 'wrong' order.

This map is copied from the Official Map of the Automobil-Club der Schweiz, (with their permission) which is on this link but not to scale.

Sunday 17th July 1988 (Lauterbrunnen to) Wengen to Lauterbrunnen

This was to be a lighter day and it was, compared to the vertical mile of yesterday. I walked to the Trümmelbach falls, going wrong twice. Then you can't go wrong, as the path is cut precariously into the sheer rock walls of the valley at first. After becoming more civilised, you drop into the Trümmeltal gorge and up the other side. This path is not the one marked on the 1968 LK. It meets up with that one above the gorge and I went round to the Stafelalp. It picks up the blue ski run at the bottom of the Bumps lift and so to Wengen 1274m. I talked to some Americans as we looked at cows with their posh bells on and went with them down into Wengen.

They went on and I had a snack in the Crystal Café (now defunct - try the Café Gruebi instead), from where I watched the Wengen Carnival (DorfSonntag - Village Sunday) procession go by. It was not as good as the Zermatt one but an unexpected pleasure all the same. It only takes about 40 minutes to go down to Lauterbrunnen at 786m on an easy footpath through the woods. I picked up my rucksack from the hotel and caught the 1508 train to Interlaken and on to Zürich as this was part of a bona-fide business trip that year, honest!

Photo right: M=Mürren further up the hill, W = Wengen,
L = Lauterbrunnen. The path South goes along the river to Stechelberg.

Cloud was floating about. I bought some supplies in the Co-op and caught the bus (South Effricans and a Korean) to Stechelberg 910m to walk up to Ober Steinberg 1774m. The first part to Trachsellauenen was more uppish than I had thought. The Breithorn and the Grosshorn occasionally came out of the clouds. Going up the Ammerten Cliff path was bit like the Undercliff at Lyme Regis but a lot longer. It was still cloudy when I got to Ober Steinberg, so I had a beer and turned north up the path across the Tschingelgrat to the point where it crossed over into the Sefinental. The hills came out occasionally, making it all worth while. A track was marked up to the 'Tanzbödli' (dance floor) and I took it. Steep and nasty, it came out on a flat bit of ridge below the first crag (c2100m). I had a good view of the Jungfrau. The path down was nasty mud at first, then steep gravel down for ever to the brook at 1250m.