At last, 50 minutes out of Zurich, we can see the edge of the fog. It's cobweb thin and teasingly looping around magnificent mountain shapes. We have driven to Sattel in Central Switzerland, between the lakes of Ägeri, Zug and Lucerne. The scene is a winter spectacle. We take a revolving gondola - the world's first, apparently - to Mostelberg at 1,200 metres above sea level, where glistening ski pistes are hectic with activity. Our route is the 1.5-hour, 5.4-km Engelstock LOOP trail, which circuits the 1,297-metre summit in a beautiful fashion.
Shady, frozen woodland soon opens onto a pristine scene - twinkling thick white meadows tumbling towards a serrated horizon in tones of ice blue. Rising like sharks' fins are the Grosser and Kleiner Mythen - such impressive hulks of rock. In between, a sea of fog is trapped in the valley. Up here, the sun is bright and we are warmed through by the time we stop for lunch of Christmas dinner leftovers on a panoramic bench at Mostelegg. The sun dazzles; we could sit here for hours.
Continuing, we pass quaint farms that look like gingerbread houses before descending to the Raiffeisen Skywalk - a 347-metre long suspension bridge strung 58 metres above a riotous gorge. So many people are crossing the bridge, it is swaying from side to side in a manner that makes me feel seasick!
We bid goodbye to the sunshine before descending, gently rotating, to the valley floor. But the fog has thinned, and we are unexpectedly treated to views of the Mythen duo, veiled in mysticism, like an etching in fine pencil, as we drive home.
