Once again we fail with friends. This time I was much too ambitious, trying to squeeze a long hike with complicated ferry connections into a short autumn afternoon. I had arranged to hike with new friends along the Walensee, excited to show them one of my favorite spots in Switzerland. Pretty, right?
However, I chose a longer trail that I hadn’t done before (red flag #1) and it relied on infrequent ferry service at the start and end of the trail (red flag #2). (Full trail details here with a reasonable timeline.)
For various reasons, we couldn’t meet until the afternoon, so we were getting a late start. But I calculated that if we caught the 13:37 ferry and hiked very slow (25 mins/km), the 7.5 km hike would take us at most 3 hours. We would still arrive in plenty of time to catch the last ferry home.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Our kids walked so slow, chatting away like old friends even though they had just met, stopping at every interesting thing to investigate and play.
I hated to hurry them or complain because they were having such a good time. But I was in a panic, constantly checking my watch. I hated telling them: no exploring the teepee! No building a fire!
Long story short, we missed the last ferry by over an hour, taking over 5 hours to walk the 7.5 km. It was now 18:00 in October, with the sun already set, twilight waning, and another hour of walking on a road until we reached the nearest bus stop. Plus we had only paid for parking until 18:00, so there was a chance we’d both have parking tickets when we got back.
We finally reached the bus stop and luckily I still had a thermos full of hot chocolate to make the long wait for the bus a little more bearable. Then a bus ride, then a train ride back to our starting point. By the time we reached our car, it was well after 20:00 and pitch black and everyone was exhausted and grumpy.
Plus, my new friend had to drive 2 hours home, then wake up early the next day and drive to 4 hrs Legoland. I’m so thankful she rolled with it and we laughed and bonded over our misadventure, remaining close friends afterwards.
Moral of the story: double your expected walking time with kids!
Now forget all that and plan your trip to visit the Walensee, getting there early and following my detailed timeline so this doesn’t have to you. You can choose the shorter hike with a treasure hunt or the long hike from Quinten. Both lead to the beautiful waterfalls.
3 responses
Let’s do it again! You were such a good sport last time.
I love that hike but every time I stress out about the boat times (and the tiny parking lot at Murg)!
So true! I wish they had better connections with the boats. The boat times are terrible, especially outside summer.