The Bienne Funicular

Due to the "Premier Mars" holiday, Walter had Thursday and Friday off a couple of weeks ago. The canton of Neuchatel was closed for business on Thursday, but not so the neighbouring canton of Berne. We took a trip to the 'giant' Jumbo hardware store in Bienne (Biel) since it would be nice and quiet (it was, but the staff were 'quiet' too). On the way back ,we thought we'd stop at the funicular. It was a nice 10 minute ride to the top, where we could see Lac de Bienne, the town itself and some Alps. At the top is the town of Malcolin (Magglingen), which must be a little removed from the station. All we could see was an office building and a farm so we decided to walk down the trail for a fun hike. Switzerland is a big 'walking' country, with a great network of trails. They're marked with a yellow diamond (usually painted on a tree) and yellow signs, and one can buy all kinds of maps. I rather wish we'd brought ours.

The lovely view on the way up the Bienne Funicular.


Let's hike back down to the bottom. A 2 hour hike downhill can't be that bad, can it?


Still happy, looking at the view.


Plenty of interesting flora.


Toby starts to get somewhat miffed. By this time, the trail is a little more like a gulley for water to flow down when it rains. Maybe it is, as the yellow diamonds have disappeared.


Walter casts his magic, gets his knife out and crafts some niffty hiking sticks. we now have them sequestered in the car and on the porch.


Why would the signs have the same names on them as when we started? At every fork in the road, we looked for Biel Bahnhof (station). All of a sudden... it was gone, but some new places had appeared. Actually, we should have known that thsi sign was pointing to a 'stop', as haltestelle is German for train stop and we're always hearing it on the train.



Even if this is the right road, we're not going down it.


A miraculous site- the only stop on the funicular. We were actually heading towards it (without knowing) when we accosted a poor jogger and tried to find out where we were, in Frenglish.


A view of the 'up' funi while we wait for the much needed 'down' funi.


"Look mummy, I can see the ground". "Grunt"


We were in high spirits at the bottom, and feeling rather proud of ourselves. Not much whining, arguing or crying happened, and we had an interesting couple of hours. This is all preparation for the Matterhorn.