Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

section, walking through and past some of the most famous names in the Swiss
Alps: the resort towns of Engelberg, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, and
mountains such as Titlis, Eiger and Jungfrau.
© Jon Sparks | Alamy
meadows and mountains
I’ve started in Engelberg, climbing first into clouds and then suddenly above
clouds as I near 7241ft (2207m) Jochpass. Though it’s late summer, fresh snow
covers the slopes, and an archipelago of peaks rises from the clouds now beneath
me.
The APR has no official status as a hiking route across Switzerland, leaving the
way open to individual interpretation. Past Jochpass, paths fray and fray again,
and I gravitate towards those that lead higher into the mountains, heading past
lakes so still they look painted on to the landscape. At times I’m far from any
traditional APR lines, but so long as my feet are pointing west, it doesn’t matter
because in the town of Meiringen all paths come together again.
It’s here, in the town that was the scene of Sherlock Holmes’ fictional death, that
I’m about to enter one of the most dramatic mountain areas in Europe, rising up
past the Wetterhorn, tiptoeing across the waist of the Eiger and plunging into the
narrow abyss of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.