Lötschental valley
The Lötschental valley is not normally a scary place, but apparently that changes at the end of winter. A tradition called Tschäggättä happens at that time. The idea is that people dress up in fearsome wooden masks and a great deal of fur and leather, grab a giant stick, then roam the streets, perhaps jumping out of bushes to scare the living daylights out of anyone that comes past. Lötschental is an otherwise quiet place in the middle of Valais. If a guy in furs and a monster mask leaped out at me all of a sudden in the winter gloaming, I imagine you'd hear the resulting four letter word from Lausanne.
Tschäggättä masks on a hotel in Blatten.
According to this wikipedia page, the carnival was forbidden in 1865, then later gradually reintroduced in a less brutal form. Nowadays there are rules about when and where the monsters can appear, which is a relief that only lasts as long as you believe trouble-making mythical creatures actually follow the rules. But that's during carnival in March, and the rest of the time - like last weekend - the valley is quiet and friendly and the only clue that these masked creatures might be around are the troll-like and disfigured masks that hang from buildings and adorn sculptures on the street.
A Tschäggättä figure next to the road.
As I'm sure you can tell, I wasn't there to scare or be scared. Instead, Tanya and I were there with my Dad, who was in Europe for work and came past to visit. We walked from the small hamlet of Blatten, up the valley towards the Langgletscher (glacier) which sits at the head of the valley.
Walkers par excellence.
This grasshopper was giant. Sorry there's no pencil for scale.
This scene reminded me of NZ.
The path we followed rambled amiably past bubbling streams and cow-bell haunted paddocks, and landed us in Fafleralp.
The friendliest hotel in Fafleralp (it's the only one).
Post boxes in Fafleralp are of the outside variety.
Fluff in flower.
From Fafleralp we continued a short way up the valley to a lake called Grundsee, which was perfectly still and beautifully blue, and made amazing reflections of the mountains. I took a great many photos while Tanya loudly wished she could jump in - but didn't, for fear of wrecking the reflections and being blamed by any passing Tschäggättä.
So, in my books Lötschental gets four stars. Magic scenery, easy transport, and good walking. It just loses a star for the vague possibility that someone in a wooden mask might frighten you. I suppose that's like most places, really.
