After steadily raining all evening and night, we woke to a misty morning with thick clouds shape-shifting and swirling round the mountains. It’s just as fascinating to watch the clouds dance as it is to watch the sun and the shadows on the mountains when the sun is shining. The constant cloud swirling movement and dance in different layers. The tops of the mountains would be hidden behind thick dense grey clouds. Then a gap showing the green mountain layer – like showing your midriff! Then lower down, dense thick clouds sometimes moving in the opposite direction to the top layer of cloud. I found it fascinating watching the intricate cloud-dance.

A boat day today. We are going on a boat ride on the Lake. After breakfast, we all piled on to the big comfy Oak Hall bus travelling down the sharp switchback mountain road to the valley and then along to the little town of Unterterzen, at the end of Lake Walensee. This is the lake we can see glimpses of from our chalet up the mountain. This lake is nearly 25 square kilometres or nine and a half square miles.

There are little villages and stops dotted around the Lake, some of them inaccessible by car or foot. The only way in is by boat. We were given lots of options to hop on and off the boat during the day.

Or you could stay on the boat till it reached the other end of the Lake to the little town of Weesee and get off there for drinks or an explore. That’s what Philip did.

First stop was the little village of Au – pronounced “Ow”. I didn’t expect to see donkeys!

Next stop was Quinten.

I got off the boat there for an exploration of the town.

Philip got off for a hot chocolate drink at a cafe overlooking the lake. A big disappointment for Philip has been the Swiss hot chocolate drinks. They give you a mug of hot milk with a sachet of chocolate powder to add yourself and stir in. Very lacklustre, according to Philip – and others who’ve had it.

It is a tiny village on a steep rocky mountainside. Some of the steep cliffs rising vertically, straight up out of the lake go up as high as 1000 metres. Quinten is famous locally because of its almost Mediterranean climate. It’s well protected from the cold north winds, and they grow grapes, kiwi fruit, figs and bananas.

A little Catholic church that was open.

Inside the church – painting on the ceiling

And their Fire Station. It doesn’t look well used!

I appreciated the carvings of this house, its ripe pears in the garden and ruby bottles of wine or cordial sunning on the windowsill.

The lady watering her petunias.

Back on the boat to the next stop at Betlis. On the way to Betlis we saw more and more narrow waterfalls cascading down the sheer mountain sides.

One of them is Switzerland’s highest waterfall (below). I can’t remember its name. You can see it in three parts between the bushes.

No houses at Betlis – just a boat stop, like a “bus stop”. I opted to get off here and walk for an hour alongside the lake to the last town at the end of the lake, Weesen. Philip stayed on the boat.

Ripe Swiss blackberries to fuel the walk! Yummy!

Some of the track had to be hewn from the vertical rock. More waterfalls!

How many waterfalls are enough? Instead of too many flower photos, there’s too many waterfall photos in this post.

The brown coloured water is the outlet from the waterfall pouring down the mountain to the Lake.

Wild cyclamens.

Through two tunnels with little off passages looking out on the lake.

It rained a bit along the last bit of the track, as I walked and chatted to a young English lass from the north of England who’s on our Oak Hall tour. She’s going to visit friends in Australia later this year. Nearly every potential English tourist asks about Australia’s spiders and snakes and how dangerous they are. The number of times we’ve been asked that….. I told her she’d be lucky to see either. That it can be just as dangerous to cross a field of cows – people have been badly damaged or died by cows! She laughed, agreed with me and was greatly relieved.

At Weesee, another pretty lake town, Philip was finishing his second (disappointing) hot chocolate drink. We explored a few nearby streets of the town before getting back for the journey back down the lake to the bus.

In the 1800s Franz Liszt the composer and pianist stayed in this town for two days and the Lake inspired him to write some music.

Philip would be constantly banging his head on the doors here!

I sat on the top deck of the boat. It was a quiet boat – I even wondered if it was electric, but it wasn’t. Listening to the gentle splashing of the wash of the boat as it ploughed through the jade-green water, looking out at the majestic sheer cliffs, seeing more waterfalls and watching the swirling, swaying tattered cloud-scarves weaving around the tops of the mountains. Relaxing, soothing, calming balm for the senses and soul.

Another delightful and very different day.