Saturday, March 16, 2013

Biel to Sonceboz

Our plan was to take advantage of the nice weather and do a longish snowshoe tour.

We started in Biel and headed up through the green (no snow in sight), along the tracks of the funicular, to Magglingen. From here we enjoy the excellent Alp views, then head to the big sports facility at End der Welt (!!) and down through the forest on the other side to Jorat. Now it's up, up again the next ridge. At this point our bellies are starting to grumble and, fortuitously, there's a restaurant open at La Bragarde. We have a very satisfying lunch (pea soup with smoked ham hocks... mmmmm) and then head onwards and upwards, still with amazing Alp views, until we reach the Jurahaus (we've been here before).

That's it for the climbing for the day; now we head down the other side of the ridge until we hit the cross-country skiing trails on the other side (plenty of snow on this side of the ridge, but we still don't need the snowshoes). Across the lovely open field and towards the Pont des Anabaptistes and the Combe du Bex. Towards the bottom of the mostly snow-covered road to the gorge, we get passed by a dogsled (!!!).

Through the gorge, then along the side of the hill, descending the whole way until we're above Sonceboz. At this point we see a train coming from the other side of the valley, so we pick up our pace dramatically and end up getting to the station just as the train pulls in. Whew!

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