Harder Kulm

Harder Kulm 1,322m above sea level overlooks Interlaken's two lakes (Brienz and Thun) and has views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains.  So having had an early dinner we decided to catch the funicular up and, with luck as the earlier rain had cleared through, watch the sunset over the mountains.

We caught the shuttle train back to Interlaken Ost, passing the funicular station on our way.

A couple of views on the way up.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly good and we didn't know whether or not we'd get a sunset but we decided to hang around anyway on the basis "we're only here once" and see what happens.

Looking down on Lake Brienz.

And towards the mountain peaks.

There is a 10 minute walk from the station up to the viewing platform and restaurant which is lined with these rather grotesque characters (not the middle one obvs!)

Maybe we'll be lucky and the sun will break through.

We had a good view of Interlaken town down below and the red arrow points to the route we think our train takes up to Jungfraujoch tomorrow, slap bang between the mountains. 

And this map shows the mountains we'd be able to see if the cloud cover wasn't so dense (Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau highlighted).

Looking towards the other lake (Thun) there is a viewing platform which juts out over the valley.

I didn't think for one moment Ian would be able to stand at the end of it, but he had no qualms whatsoever - maybe the many flights in tiny aircraft in Kenya have cured him of his phobia.

Not entirely sure that it needs a painted cow statue though.

Hidden beneath the cloud is the top of the Eiger.

We decided that with this level of cloud there wasn't any hope of a decent sunset and, knowing we had a long day tomorrow, we headed back to catch an earlier funicular that we'd originally intended.

We only had a few minutes to get back to I. Ost to catch the shuttle train back to I. West otherwise we'd be faced with an hour's wait or walking it, which wasn't really an option given Ian's lack of energy.  When we got off the funicular we walked as fast as he could but unfortunately the level crossing closed to let the inbound train in so we were pretty much sure we didn't have any hope of catching the shuttle.

Without any degree of confidence we carried on as quickly as possible and to our delight we suddenly realised that the platform was accessible from the end, without us having to go all the way into the station.  The only problem was the train was about to leave and the guard was standing there, whistle in hand.  I ran ahead, shouting for him to wait for us, I got to the doors and turned to look for Ian expecting him to be way behind but he was actually right behind me - goodness knows how he'd managed to find the energy but really pleased we caught the train.