Climbing the Kampenwand

Well I've been meaning to press 'publish' on this for ages but have had zero time (as per usual), due to a combination of dresses to be made, approximately 1000 maths workbooks to drag T through and preparing for a drive to Italy. The norm.

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Yesterday I climbed a mountain. Not a psychological mountain, an actual literal mountain. It's not a mountain you'll have heard of; by Alp standards it's nothing special but at 1669m it is considerably higher than anything Great Britain has to offer... did I mention that it's the one I live next to?!

And so the hike to the top of the Kampenwand begin. It was lovely an sunny, not stupidly busy and the rest of the family were all out and about doing their own thing. The path sets off in open fields with views of Hohenaschau Castle, then winds into woodland. It's steep in places but nothing to worry about. Emerging, 2 hours later, on to the plateau there are stunning views of the Chiemsee and quite a quantity of cowbell-wearing-cows. There were places to stop and get food or drink en route but with a supply of water and cereal bars what more did I need?!

I decided to walk to the Eastern summit. Walk being a slightly inaccurate description. I'll go with scramble in future. The path was steep and rocky, with far too much loose rock for my liking but I continued, after all there were plenty of other people scrambling. The paths wove through the rocky outcrop, including sections with staples and hand rails so you didn't fall.

This would be the path

The view from the summit was amazing. The Chiemsee in one direction and the Central Alps in the other.

Chiemsee

Alps

On the way down I took a wrong turn. Actually it was the person in front of me who took a wrong turn and I stupidly followed. The path was very very steep, not really I path anymore. It was becoming more and more like rock climbing, only without a rope. Hmm. At last I was down the rocky section and onto a steep gravel path... which suddenly stopped. There was no sign of the person who had been in front of me. Deep breath. Check phone: no signal. Great. My options were either to walk straight through the vegetation and hope that a path appeared or climb back up.

It was just as steep as it looks.

I climbed back up. I was at full reach, desperately clinging on, but determined to get to the top. And then I saw the wonderful sight of other people: I was back on the main path. 

East summit

After all that excitement I got the cable car down, happily walking in through the exit and skipping the queue... it helps when you live with the owners!

The last month and a bit

This is me attempting to summarise what I have done over the last few weeks. It doesn't go into much detail but hopefully it fills in all the gaps so I can return to more regular blogging. Warning: there's a bit of a photo overload (and I was really selective and everything).

In amongst the normal routine of homework helping, English tutoring and German learning the family and I went on holiday to Lucerne. The drive itself was exciting, through the Alps, through Liechtenstein and into Switzerland (incidentally country 22 of my year abroad!). Our first full day in Lucerne was spent at the Stanserhorn, a mountain which five of us climbed. The path was very steep, zigzagging under the cable car. There were not a lot of other people walking, but there were plenty of cows. In any case, the view from the top was pretty impressive: mountains and Lake Lucerne. The German for Lake Lucerne is Vierwaldstättersee which really confused me. We got the cable car back down the mountain (the family have a bit of a thing for cable cars) but this was no ordinary cable car, this was an open top cable car.

After an evening watching Germany v. Portugal in an Irish bar in Switzerland (okay) we had a relaxed day wandering in Lucerne. Such a pretty place.

The Sonnenalm (family owned restaurant up the Kampenwand) had a big event for the Summer solstice which happened to coincide with Germany v. Ghana. We decorated the cable cars in preparation and then headed up the mountain to help out. I ended up in charge of the bar (!!!) which was interesting, exhausting and entertaining in equal measures.

I went to a McBusted concert. Enough said.

At the beginning of July the family (and by that I mean my actual, real, British family) and I went to California. There were spectacular vistas aplenty, some memorable meals and a bear spotting! It was wonderful to spend two full weeks with my family, having not seen them for that long since last August.

I had a couple more weeks aupairing, which included the end of term for C, V and T. Then on Friday evening I flew back to London. So it was actually Saturday by the time I arrived so there was very little sleep before setting of to Chris and Rachel's wedding. I lived with Rachel for first and second year of university, and was determined to attend her wedding despite being in the wrong country as per usual. The day was wonderful and beautiful and perfect. I am so so happy that I was able to be a part of it.

And now we're back to the present. This week is youth week at the Chiemsee Yacht Club so C, V and T are sailing all week. When the weather is good I go along too for a swim and a read (although the water is freezing) and when the weather is not so good I stay at home.