Zitterauer Tisch, Austria

 COMING SOON ....

Zitterauer Tisch is 2463m high - 8000ft. My climb, however, was only 1000ft after taking the cable car from Bad Gastein!

A Nine Day 130km Circuit of the Lake District, England

COMING SOON ...........

A tour of Cumbria's lakes, fells and streams.

The Matterhorn: Zermatt, Switzerland

Wow, what a place. Photos have captions when viewed on the main page. They disappear when using the image overlay.

They are not exaggerating when they say that "the Gornergrat (3,089 m) is one of those places that everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime. The mountain panorama and the glorious view of the Matterhorn are unforgettable" - it was truly magical 💯

Zermatt is a fascinating place. Besides the Matterhorn creating one of the most unique Alpine landscapes in Europe, it also has a really interesting history and is completely car free by law.

The 500 custom-made electric vehicles (that look like the 1980s milk floats in England) give it a really relaxing vibe.

More information can be found from:

https://www.zermatt.ch/en/grand-tour/3/Top-10-Attractions

https://www.matterhornchalets.com/2021/03/30/the-history-of-electric-taxis-in-zermatt/

http://105orless.com/en/zermatt-the-only-town-on-earth-where-fumes-do-not-exist/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zermatt

"Zermatt is car-free. Therefore, it makes the most sense to travel there by train... the final destination: Bahnhofplatz Zermatt. The trip goes through the deepest cleft valley in Switzerland with the highest mountains in Switzerland either side. Change to the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn for Zermatt in Visp. The train climbs almost 1,000 m from Visp to Zermatt on a narrow-gauge and cog railway from Visp to Zermatt. Just before Zermatt, the tip of the Matterhorn can briefly be seen for the first time." (https://www.zermatt.ch/en/arrival/Arrival-by-train).

Onwards and upwards, passing the village of Täsch where cars must be left, this part takes takes over an hour to travel 31km's. What a superb train ride …

Our hostel room had the most ridiculously big private balcony facing the mountain (albeit hidden in cloud when we arrived).

Wow, Brig was picture perfect 💯 we loved it. Decided to spend some time here enjoying some Swiss food before getting the next train to Visp.

 

Changed trains here in Visp to head up to Zermatt

Awesome seeing all the custom-made electric vehicles

We purchased a 'Peak to Peak' pass which allowed us to take the highest cable car in Europe (Matterhorn Glacier Paradise) to an altitude of nearly 13,000ft, and then take a different cable car across to Gornagrat on the Gornergrat Bahn. This was the world’s first fully electrified cog railway but today it is a modern, eco-friendly railway, equipped with a regenerative braking system that generates electricity on the descent and so saves energy.

Got off the first cable car 🚠 at Trockener Steg to switch to another

At an altitude of 3883 metres, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is the highest mountain station in Europe, surrounded by 38 four-thousanders, and 14 glaciers in three countries. The end of the journey takes the cablecar inside a rocky peak, and then a short walk through a tunnel leads to an elevator which allows tourists to reach the viewing platform! Pretty epic!

After changing to the top cable car 🚠 with larger cabins, we made our way up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise area at 12,739 feet above sea level. I actually suffered a bit from altitude sickness - light headed/nauseous/headache/tight chest. It really annoyed me as I didn't think I would be someone that would be affected, but after sitting in the cafe for a while I felt a bit better. I didn't come right properly, though, until we got the cable car down to a lower station.

The Matterhorn summit was still hidden behind the clouds at this point!

Website image of the Matterhorn glacier Paradise high point, clearly showing why they installed a lift to take people to the platform on the top of the rock!!

With our Peak2Peak ticket we could now head over to the Gornergrat where, we were told, the views were even more impressive.

Photos are from Glacier Paradise to Riffelberg (where we catch the train to Gornergrat).

https://www.gornergrat.ch/en/products/peak2peak-ticket

We wandered around here at the Trockener Steg cable car terminal before getting the train up to Gornergrat.

Amazing mountain bike tracks

Riffelberg to Gornergrat on the train 🚂

I didn't feel the effects of altitude here so much and we just enjoyed spending time up in the sky surrounded by mountains and glaciers! We're at 3089m (10134ft) above sea level.