Lueg Denkmal & Heimiswil Eibe Journal

September 13. Monday

Cathy

Our goal for today was to walk to the Lueg Denkmal and possibly back, although there is a bus for the return trip if we choose to do that. We first need to buy a sandwich at Volg for our lunch, and while there as well might buy some rolls for dinner to go with the pouch of oxtail soup. I had noticed on the porch of the house by the Heimiswil bus stop a book exchange (a few shelves with books for donating and/or taking). Yay! So I put my Mary Higgins Clark book translated into German on top of Gary's backpack for my exchange.

We found a wonderful ham sandwich and a couple of rolls, but I just added my book to the collection, as we were eager to hike back up to the beginning of the trail about 1/2 kilometer from town. The path begins at the side of someone's house, and if it hadn't had signs indicating that it was the trail, I wouldn't have dared to be there! It feels like trespassing.

The trail was magical! Anina told us later that this trail used to be a road out of town and is quite old! It was about six feet wide and solid rock! It would make an amazing sledding path in the winter. The climb was steady. After leaving the stone trough, we spent a short time at the top side of the pasture. From here we can see from Spycher Lodge and the field where the black and white cow spends a lot of her time. Soon it enters the woods and we are climbing again, and once again there is smooth rock underlying a lot of the path. It is in a trough again, but wider now, with tall earthen embankments on either side, with a maze of tree roots providing some support and stability.

This was our trail for quite awhile. Some odd bird we never could see was making a lot of noise. When we reached the top of this section of the trail, before it leveled and followed the side of a large field, our odd bird changed its call to something that sounded more urgent, more alarmed. It soon quit and we never learned what made these funny calls.

We soon came to our first house, but were greeted by free range chickens right away, while we were admiring the 1000-year old Yew Tree of Heimiswil. It was really worth the walk to see it and read about it on the official sign posted nearby.

The houses we passed on their way to Lueg were spectacular. I never tire of seeing Swiss houses, especially there in the countryside. They are often quite old, are extremely functional and they often have a garden that would be fascinating in its own right. There are many variations in the styles. I would like to find a book that explains the various styles used in the Emmental especially, and would want to read about the purpose of some of the unique features.

The other feature of our walk was the farm animals. The cows are so fun to see. They are curious creatures and somewhat used to people wandering by. One of the cows we saw today looked like she might be pregnant. Sometimes we see a flock of sheep, more rarely a flock of goats.

Back to our hike. We got up to a main road, which acted as our trail until we reached the conference hotel. We took a small break before starting on the road, and ate our apple and some cookies. The road was busier than I would have liked, but Swiss drivers are careful and we are used to avoiding hikers and bicyclists. Nonetheless, it makes me nervous.

It was a hot, sunny day and the last stretch to the top of the hill to see the monument was steep. The monument listed the 54 names of the Calvary men who defended the borders during World War I and thus caught the Spanish flu and died. There were two young men with the last name of Siegenthaler - wonder if they are related to a friend of ours with that name?

I was hiking faster than Gary and spotted two men near the monument carrying alphorn cases on their backs! I quickly walked back down to Gary and quietly told him about it. When he got to the top, he casually walked up to them and asked in German, "Will there be a concert today?" The reply: "Vielleicht. Mal sehen" ("Maybe. We'll see"). They chuckled and walked away, but a little later we heard them warming up together. Soon they played their two Swiss songs several times! And it sounded nice.

We opted to take the bus back but had a longish wait and we wanted to find a WC. The hotel restaurant there (Landgasthof und Seminarhotel Lueg) had a sign stating they would be back on Wednesday! Gary said they must be open at least for their guests, so he was going to find someone he could ask about the WC. Sure enough, we could use their toilets and if all we wanted was a cup of coffee, they could do that, too. We just needed to put whatever we wanted to into a small Sparschwein (piggy bank) the waiter put on the table. That was so nice and informal. Gary put a 5 CHF coin in the Sparschwein for a cappucino, about the regular price at a restaurant.

When the bus arrived, a nicely dressed older woman was the lone passenger. She talked with the bus driver for a while, then exited the bus. We were waiting politely for her to exit before we got on, and then the driver closed the doors and began to leave! We ran after him, he stopped, and we asked about riding to Heimiswil. He acted surprised that we didn't realize he had to turn the bus around and wasn't due to be at the stop until 12:20 in about 10 minutes. We relaxed, he returned, we got on, and he told us we really needed to have called first to let them know we needed a ride. If the woman hadn't been on the bus, he might not have been there. He doesn't normally go all the way to Lueg if there is no stop request. That seemed strange, but we didn't quite figure it out or understand the system.

Gary

On the bus ride from the restaurant to Heimiswil, we drove right by the Hirschen Kaltacker, where this trip's journey into the Emmental began 26 years ago (see the "Backstory" page). The bus went too quickly past the Hirschen, so I was unable to catch good photos of it. Unfortunately, the Hirschen was on a summer break while we were in Heimiswil, so we didn't get a chance to eat there. That will have to wait until our next visit :)