As I type this I am sitting on my own in Harrison in the stunning glacial valley of Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. It’s somewhere that I remember being taught about in GCSE Geography as an archetypal U-shaped valley, and it certainly lives up to expectations. In order to avoid having to pay for a vignette I have been avoiding using any motorways while in Switzerland, and it has meant that I’ve been spending a lot of time in places as stunningly scenic as anywhere I’ve been on this journey.
Vard and Myke both flew off over two weeks ago, leaving me to get the car back to England. I’ve decided to take a detour down through the Alps- it seemed like more fun than just heading straight home. I’ve travelled down through Germany, stopping off to spend a weekend with my good friends Jani and Martin in Hamburg, to explore Berlin, and to climb up to the Bastei rock formation and castle near Dresden. From there I drove down to Salzburg and then across Austria into Switzerland, with an overnight stop in Leichtenstein. I’ve also somehow managed to visit a lot of castles en route; Hamlet’s Helsingor, Neurathen, Neuschwanstein, Hohensalzburg, Colditz.
Despite all of this, I can’t help but feel that in many ways the trip ended when we all parted ways back in Scandinavia. It has been quite a different feeling trip since they left. Some bits are definitely harder – navigation, particularly through cities, is hard without a map reader. My phone has decided that now is a good time to die as well, so I can’t even use that. Overtaking is trickier without someone to look around the traffic ahead for me. Every time I enter or leave a car park or toll road with barriers I either have to climb into the passenger seat or just get out of the car and walk around to the machine. And I’ve been feeling decidedly as though something vital is missing every time ‘Hey Ya‘ comes on. Which is usually a couple of times a day.
I’ve been missing not having the others to share things with too. Which I guess is a sign that they were good companions for the rest of the trip. I found some beer called ‘Gambrinus‘ in Berlin, which had been a running joke for the past few weeks, and I was disappointed not to be able to share it with the guys. Gambrinous (with the extra o) is a slightly archaic word that means to be full of beer (as in “I can’t come in to work today, I’m feeling under the weather. I’m gambrinous”).
Not that it’s been all bad. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve been taking longer to get places, taking a few days per city and taking the decidedly scenic route between them. I’m not sure if I have, but it feels like I’ve been meeting and spending time with more new people as well. Without people I knew, I’ve had to make new friends to explore the continent with, which has been hugely fun; I’ve been invited to watch a local match of American Football in Denmark, been to the early morning fish market in Hamburg, and hiked up a mountainside in Interlaken, all with people I met there.
From here, it’s just a few days’ worth of driving to get back to England. And then the adventure will truly be at an end. But for now, I’m going to go and walk behind a nearby waterfall and then have some lunch while I sit and read my book in this amazing place. Life is good.
Three Unwise Men 