Talking Heads wrote about a "Road to Nowhere"... very appropriate. Despite planning, some execution of the routes to the lakes to avoid bad weather had left a couple of lakes very isolated on either side of a large mountain range. The plan was to take a full day to go around the centre of Switzerland taking in Oeschinensee on the west side and Griessee on the east. If we had time, we would try to bike up to a third lake that was just south of the route.

Oeschinensee is the 55th largest lake situated in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, 4 kilometres east of Kandersteg in the Oeschinen valley. At an elevation of 1,578 metres it is a Unesco World Heritage Site and considered by many to be the most beautiful mountain lake in the Alps. (I will give my opinion, when I have completed the remainder of the lakes). It lies above Kandersteg and is an intact mountain lake fed by the glacial streams of the three-thousand-metre peaks Blüemlisalp, Oeschinenhorn, Fründenhorn and Doldenhorn. Griessee is one of the highest lakes in Switzerland at an altitude of 2386m located in Valais and numbered 74th on the largest list. The reservoir is located in the municipality of Ulrichen and can be reached by road from Nufenen Pass. The lake is fed by the Gries Glacier. Road bikes were decided upon to be as fast as possible up the respective valleys to ensure we were able to maximise our time. Simon was not only my domestique for the day but also the driver. Having loaded the bikes into the Land Rover, we set off just before 7am on a reasonably warm day with partly cloudy skies allowing sunshine through from time to time. We arrived at our first starting point in the very pretty mountain town of Kandersteg before the majority of people were up and about and, unloading the bikes, we set off up the road taking a right fork towards the path that would take us up to the lake at the top. Within 1km we had hit a set of roadworks that had piled a huge mountain of small stones that bridged one side of the road to the other. There was a deviation sign, which took us back almost to our starting place but then turned us left. This road took us up another kilometre to the large gondola which was obviously preparing for the Sunday hikers that would soon appear in large numbers. The map appeared to indicate that all roads up were blocked. Ignoring this information we carried on until the road turned into a very steep gravel path and then to a very narrow mud footpath. Maybe possible on a mountain bike (although later we realized that this would have been a real challenge for the best mountain bikers). Turning round, we headed back to our starting point again and retaking the first road, set off again, over the stone piled hillock (did not want to mention the p word (puncture)) and back onto the original road. It started very steep and wet from mud and water from the roadworks. Back wheel slipping, we were able to continue for about another kilometre before a very solid barrier across the road with a "falling rocks" sign by the side halted our progress. Back to the car, and reloading the bikes, we changed into hiking gear and headed up to the cable car. Simon had all the hiking gear; rucksack, walking shorts, spare shirt, water bottles and a pair of sailing deck shoes!!! Asking my shoe size, I lent him my trainers which had almost zero grip on the soles but gave more support around the ankle. (I had packed a pair of stout walking shoes but only cycle shorts and shirt). The gondola queue was still relatively short so, in no time, we had arrived at the top. It is a beautiful walk from the gondola station (just under two kilometres) downhill through woodland until the spectacular blue lake surrounded by snow capped peaks comes into view. It is a very popular place for hikers who are served by two large flower covered restaurant cafes that overlook the water. The lake is dotted with beach-like areas with large smooth boulders to allow people to sunbathe and even an area where you can rent paddle boats to tour the lake. The very clear water even had a temperature just above 10 degrees which made our swim very pleasant. After enjoying a coffee and gipfeli at the nearest cafe to the water, we set off, hiking back up the hill to the gondola and without any queue, we were quickly back at our starting point for the fourth time that morning! However, we had lost about an hour and therefore we were under pressure to get to, bike and swim in the second lake, let alone a third. The key now was to ensure we caught the earliest possible car-train that travels from a station about 5km south of Kandersteg through the mountain to Goppenstein. As we drove, we discussed whether to buy online tickets in advance but rejected that idea because of the paucity of traffic on the road.... that is until we reached the payment barriers ahead of the station, where there was not a single car going through the online ticket barrier but a long queue through the pay as you go route. As we crawled through the barrier, we realised that we had no chance to catch the next train and would have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. The only advantage was that it allowed us to dry our towels in the sunshine by draping them over the car. By now it was past one oclock and we still had at least another two hours of driving once we had got off the train. No lunch but Simon's bike snacks took a hammering. The BLS Autoverlad train is very efficient and leaves  exactly on time at 13.22. It was then a case of driving up through the valley past Visp and then Brig before arriving at the small town of Ulrichen which marks the start of the Nufenen Pass which we planned to cycle the 14km up and over 1000m to where the road turned off towards the top of the Griessee dam. It was already 4pm, the weather was deteriorating so we knew we really had to put the hammer down. Unloading the bikes we set off stopping after a couple of hundred metres to study a map to ensure we were on the right road. Unfortunately, there was a sign to the side of the map that stated that the road and most of the hike routes to the dam were blocked with snow and rockfall. We had to make a decision.. Ignore the sign and hope that we could get through the snow block, drive some way up the road and hike up the one and only path that was open or give up and come back another day. Whilst the sensible decision would have been the third option, I did not see another date in the calendar that I could get back to this particular lake. We decided to drive up to where the path started and reassess our other options. So biking back the 200 metres to the car, we loaded the bikes back into the rear of the car (only 5km completed today) and drove up to a layby next to the start of the path. We could now see the avalanche that had blocked the road about 500m above us. We changed into our hiking gear, Simon again wearing my trainers and set off. We took a slight short cut across heather, rocks and boggy ground before we hit the path that we could clearly see snaking up the mountain towards the right of the dam. We could not see where the path turned back towards the dam, but we were in a hurry so we set off at a very fast pace up and steady incline for about 2.5 kms before we stopped as we realised we were on the wrong path. It was clearly taking us in the wrong direction. Wearily, we turned around and set off back to almost where we had set off, where we found a very narrow path that looked very steep cutting round the side of a rocky cragg, but heading in the right direction. Simon found a stick which helped somewhat with grip with what turned out to be a very steep, slightly muddy path, which required one to scramble ensuring three points of contact. It was steep, but the steepness allowed us to gain height quickly. After about 400 metres of ascent the path levelled out to a more gentle incline through boulder fields which gave glimpses of huge turbine blades of that were installed on top of the dam. Finally we reached the summit of a grey concrete dam behind which sheltered a pretty grim looking lake, the view not being helped by low clouds and the onset of light rain. Fortunately, the boulder strewn sides of the lake were not very steep, which allowed us to quickly clamber down, change and plunge for a pretty short time into icy water. By now it was 5.45pm and we were up at over 2300m in rain and increasing wind and we still had the prospect of the steep descent. Slipping, sliding but managing to give the impression of a couple of old mountain goats, we descended at a reasonable pace, only stopping as we found ourselves surrounded by a small flock of creamy white and black curly haired sheep!! The male's curled horns and their lack of fear, persuaded us not to hang around but to press on until we reached the bottom and the safety of our car. It was now after 6.30pm, we had not eaten since this morning and we still had a three hour drive home. We decided to go back to the town of Ulrichen and stop for a quick dinner at one of the local restaurants close to where we had parked. Simon called home and was asked whether he was almost home, as his son had cooked a special Sunday dinner.... oops. However, despite almost zero biking, we had achieved the goal to swim in what turned out to be one of the most beautiful and one of the ugliest lakes in the whole challenge. I know to which one I will try to return.

Lessons Learned ... After severe long term weather, it is always worth checking which roads and paths are open before setting out on a long journey... it will only become much longer than expected.