The days were beginning to blend into one as I woke in yet another different location. It was Thursday the 27th of May. After the morning training session I sat for a bagel and a coffee basking in the gorgeous sunshine. It was nice to sit for a moment to take in the scenery and let it sink in. I had a few hours to kill before training again at 4pm so I followed the road leading out of town into the outlaying forest. As I came closer to the edge of the village the view across the valley to the mountain beyond was awe-inspiring. I felt like I was standing in the front row of an IMAX theatre exploring around the scene as it was too big to merely stand back and look at. I kept walking until I reached the end of the sealed road which turned to a dirt trail leading into the forest. I looked at my watch and thought I’d better get back to avoiding missing training. I decided to wake up early the next morning and explore further beyond the edge of town.
Training was a cold affair and I had to keep on moving around to keep my blood pumping around to warm my extremities. After sitting in beautiful sunshine at lunch the drizzle seemed colder and more annoying. I was feeling a little cold and miserable after the session so decided what better way to warm my soul than to get stuck into a burger!! I had seen a menu outside a restaurant on the way to the field which had a well penned description of what seemed to be a flavoursome delight so I mentally booked myself a table. I was happy to get some pressing tasks out of the way at the hotel and started the walk up the street to the Hotel Dom restaurant. The village was very quiet and devoid of the many Japanese faces I was used to seeing but I didn’t think much of it – I was on a mission to destroy a burger!!
The friendly waitress smiled a pretty smile and took my order of a tap water and a burger with pom fritters. She returned with a basket of bread and cravat of water and I waited patiently. My patience was rewarded as she returned extremely large tower burger and a large side of fries. I hadn’t actually seen a doctor, but if I had, this is exactly what they would have ordered!! I ate my fill and there was actually food left over which I think pays homage to the stature of the meal!! Either that or my stomach had shrunk due to the altitude?
I walked the meal off and explored the gorge area of town before doing a small loop to the point we first arrived in Saas-Fee and down to the hotel. I was again surprised that I saw so few of my Japanese friends. It all became clear the next day when I found out there was a large welcome dinner for the Japanese media put on by the Saas-Fee tourist office with free dinner and drinks. I guess that is the downside of not understanding a word of written or spoken Japanese!! Not to worry maybe next time I’m in Switzerland as part of a foreign media delegate I will get the details.
I was inspired by the views and the promise of what lay beyond the town boundaries so I woke at 6:45am did a few exercises and stretches in my room before heading down to breakfast. The morning training session had been cancelled so I could have slept in and still had time to do some exploring, but I was up and inspired.
Heading into the forest was such a peaceful experience as the fir trees seem to dampen all sounds into a muffled whisper. I followed the trail up the hill as it zigged and zagged up the side of the mountain.
I would have been walking/jogging for about 45 minutes before I saw anyone. Apart from that 5 minutes surrounding passing the two older ladies walking their small dogs – one of which really wanted to eat me – I felt like I had the mountain path to myself. I stopped along the way to take pictures as well to really soak up the splendour of the environment engulfing me.
It was pretty hard going heading higher and higher uphill but the ever changing views opening up below me made every step worthwhile.
After climbing for around an hour and half the path dropped away and it was downhill back into town on the loop being followed. The path was fairly step but I was happy to be heading downward!
I jogged carefully down the path and quickly reached the grass covered clearings created for the winter sports. There was still patches of snow on the ground in various places so I had my first experience of snow. It’s a little colder and wetter than I would like!!
I kept moving to warm up again and as I jogged along something up ahead moved quickly across the path and bounded up the hillside. I stopped at the sudden burst of movement and watched as a mountain goat loped effortless away to safety.
The path was drawing closer to town when I saw a group of five people about 400 metres away taking pictures of the path ahead. I veered towards them to see what had attracted their attention and was surprised to see a group of marmots holding the audience. The group were offering the marmots food which they were taking without a great deal of caution. They seemed comfortable with human contact which became glaringly apparent when a small boy of about 3 or 4 who had arrived shortly after I did, walked right up to the nearest marmot which took the offered food directly from the boy’s hand. I decided to get in for a close look and a bit of chat with these furry little friend and find out a little more about them. They were nice enough and after a few pictures and stifled conversations due to the language barrier I moved on and headed back towards town.
I sat and had lunch in a restaurant to put some fuel back in the tank after a long walk/jog that ended up taking a few hours. As I was walking back to the hotel I bumped into a bunch of people from the media group walking up the hill with the local tourism office guides. They told me they we heading up to Hannig above Saas-Fee on the cable cars so I decided to join them. I raced back to the hotel grabbed my gear and caught up with them lining up the cable cars. I paid my fare and waited for my car to take me up to the lofty heights above. The speed and steep angle of the ride made the ground below drop away alarmingly.
The view seemed to open up more and more as I climbed higher to the top station and alighted. The air was crisp as I breathed it deeply and surveyed the majestic spectacle below. At first most people stopped to look in awe but soon after shutters clicked all around as the group tried to capture the surrounds making sure they had photographic evidence of them being in such a wonderful place. The group posed with the village far below them...
...and I posed in many different locations which all screamed to be photographed!!
The trip down was almost a disappointment as the view seemed to diminish each metre we descended into town. I was a one happy wombat thankful I had bumped in the group on the way up!! I plodded off to the 5pm afternoon training session which ended up being closed after the first 30 minutes as they were getting close to their upcoming game against England and obviously didn’t want any distractions.
I shuffled back to the hotel feeling a little weary as I’d had a rather big day and knew I had another couple ahead as we were headed for Graz in Austria the next morning for the Japan v England match. I bought myself a few things to have for dinner from the market and ate it as I set about packing for the “two day” trip to Graz. The bus was leaving at 2am from the car park at the top of town so I knew I needed to get to sleep as soon as I could to maximize precious sleep time. I got into bed at 10:20 pm with the last thing I did before switching off the light being to set my alarm for 1:20am. I hit set on the alarm and cringed. I like sleep too much to be satisfied with just three hours!!
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