A railway at its peak

CRUNCH. The vintage bus creaked its way through a prehistoric gear box as it ground its way up to the hotel above Lake Maggiore. It was a neat idea of Alberto Amstutz, owner of the Hotel Orselina in Locarno, to send the pre-war charabanc to collect us from the station. It fitted nicely with our Switzerland-by-rail trip, as something from a bygone era when travel was more leisurely. But it wasn't quite as quick, comfortable or efficient as the trains.

Many of the lines run through the most breathtaking scenery with natural wonders to the left and right. Going slow is not only permissible, but almost compulsory on the grounds of being allowed to view the awesome mountains.

We took the Fart train (yes, really. It stands for the Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi) up the Centovalli (Hundred Valleys) line, to view some of this high-class scenery.

Unfortunately the natural wonders were on strike.

Rain clouds hung over the track, obscuring most of the goodies. I guess even the Swiss can't fix the weather.

Our Swiss Rail Pass meant we could get off the train wherever we chose as it wound its way up the line. This makes it easy to hike along the valley through the energy-charging scenery - pastures of wild flowers and air so fresh you feel like slicing off a chunk and taking it home.

We got off near Rasa, a car-free village reached by cable car, but as it was raining hard we vetoed hiking and lunched on risotto at the Grotto Ghiridone, which is not a cave but a warm and welcoming cafe.

Back on the train, we chugged up the pineclad valley with the river racing below before changing to the gleaming Glacier Express, a train that provides running commentary in three languages, up to Zermatt.

Our mission was a glimpse of the Matterhorn. The weather was no better but two more cable car rides did the trick and we broke through the clouds to see it in dazzling sunlight. At this altitude, the air is so thin it makes breathing nigh-on impossible.

The next day we rattled up to Kandersteg, still hoping for sun and scenery but the gloom was back. After a night at the wonderfully peaceful Waldhotel Doldenhorn, we sailed up through the misty sheep pastures on the ski lift for a walk around Lake Oeschinen and were rewarded by another brief glimpse of the mountains before we were on the train again (a gloriously comfortable doubledecker), this time to Zurich and thence back to South Central and all the wonders of the night sleeper to Oxted.

Come to think of it, I'll take Switzerland, even without the scenery, any day.

Way to go

Graham Jones travelled to Switzerland with Swiss Travel Service (0870 191 7280, www.bridgetravel.co.uk). A seven-night holiday (Locarno/Zermatt/Kandersteg) costs Pounds 768pp, including flights to Zurich, BB, and all rail travel.

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