We started at the valley station of the Wannelen cable car in the hamlet of Ribi, first on foot in the direction of Alp Aesch to the valley station of the Aesch-Oberalp cable car. That's about 3km and 250 meters in altitude, always nice with the sound of the Vorder Schächen in your ear, which is also fed by the Stäubifall near Aesch.
Although we walked briskly, we didn't make it to the Aesch-Oberalp Bahn before the lunch break. Who would expect the lunch break in the Schächental to start at 20:00 before 12:00! 😎 The Gasthöfli Aesch, that's the name of the pub at the valley station, is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. So we had to wait half an hour, which is not a problem given the varied view of the Stäubifall and the mountains. You can also mentally prepare yourself for the ride on the cable car, if you can call it that.
And then it starts, the open-air ride with a view!
It is surprisingly easy and comfortable to go up to the Oberalp and the view is really an experience.
To sum up the exciting train journey, there is a cozy rest stop on the Oberalp. But we skipped this because we had already had a “forced break”. 🍺
From the Oberalp it's a leisurely hike towards the Wäspenseeli. A field path leads moderately steeply up to an alp. From then on it becomes more alpine and to our liking. Accompanied by a wonderful view, cowbells and the cows that belong to them, we climb up to the Wäspenseeli.
After we had a good look at the reflection of the mountains in the Wäspenseeli, we continued towards Wannelen. From now on partly steep, partly moderate, but always downhill.
Wannelen also has a cozy "Beizli" again and this time no one can persuade me to walk past it. After a Möstli 🍺 and a plate of the finest mountain cheese 🧀 of different varieties, we headed towards the train, but not before packing some mountain cheese from the friendly hosts in our backpack for home!
From now on it went steeply downhill. With the Wannelen-Ribi mountain railway we were in the valley in just under 10 minutes and, after another eventful day in the mountains, made our way home comfortably.