Travel in the Bernese Oberland

“in body and soul more active.” — “Indeed,” he continues — “foot travel is tiring, only with the certain difference that it is by no means as strenuous in a mountain country as it is in a flat one. The constant change of the path, on which one is soon climbing up or down, soon walking straight, ensures that now these, now those muscles are set into livelier activity, and that those which were most strained shortly before can enjoy some rest through their lesser participation in the current movement. Furthermore, on a flat path, the feet are always moved and placed in the same way, the same parts are always pressed and rubbed; if this continues for a whole day, blisters easily form, which not only cause pain but sometimes make walking impossible for a time. This great inconvenience also does not need to be feared by one who climbs mountains.”

But quite especially, besides the healthy movement and the relieving perspiration, it is the purer atmosphere of the heights from whose enjoyment the wanderer will feel strengthened and renewed. We know how powerful the layer of air is that surrounds the entire globe. It is estimated at 9 or 10 geographical miles. So wherever we stand or walk, we carry a mighty column of air above us, and from the sides, too, the sea of air presses against us. We are like divers in a tremendous ocean, and the more we dwell on low plains, the deeper we are in the abyss of the water.