Club Night, June 2015

The NOTMC Clubnight on 8th June was held at the Search and Rescue Rooms, Severn St. Past trips by Wednesday Walkers included Evansdale Glen, Shag Point and Kuriheka. The recent trips by the tramping club took in Mt Horrible and track clearing on Staircase Ridge. Our guest speaker was Bronwyn McCone, who travelled to Switzerland, Austria and Italy for a month long tour which included walking tracks above 3000 metres. All of the walks started with a gondola or cog train ride to where they start walking. The highlights were Mount Pilatus near Lucerne, Switzerland where bunkers built in the war were seen in the mountain due to being so close to the border. Tracks here were around the sides of sheer cliff faces. On to Grindelwald where work began building the Jungfrau railway in 1896. The cog trains carry thousands of people to the highest railway station in Europe. The walking track down to Grindelwald takes them through steep areas and eventually meadows of gentians, lily of the valley, and Rhododendrons which were only a metre high. The small farm meadows have grass which would be cut by small mowers, rolled downhill by hand and loosely stacked in sheds so very labour intensive. These meadows also become ski runs in winter. After taking in the Matterhorn, they travelled to Cinqueterry, Italy, where they walked through steep terraced vineyards. The trip ended with Pisa and Vienna.