The last warm day

We’ve had more than a fortnight of warm, sunny weather, but that’ll change tonight with an incoming storm. To make the most of our last sunny afternoon we plan to hike along the valley, so while Val was teaching this morning, I was making sandwiches.

The valley floor doesn’t get nearly as much sun as the mountains, so it’s still snowbound.

Paths are kept clear, but the melting snow means puddles to avoid.

No such problems on the tarmac path as we get closer to Lauterbrunnen.

Still enough snow down here for the cross country skiers to do their thing.

A nice walk of just over 5 kilometres.

I think summer’s here

It’s Wednesday, and that’s a day off for many people – let’s go skiing. The weather is warmer than ever. Val went up early for her lesson, Ali and I followed a little later, and Colin didn’t make it at all. What a day to be in the mountains.

We did a circuit around Scheidegg and headed down to Brandegg for a bite to eat. The train took us back to the top and we surfed through the slush back to Wengen. Beers at the Figeller bar.

It’s hard to believe it’s still February.

The party

It’s just a normal Monday evening at the Sunstar, except it’s my birthday, and that’s the worst-kept secret in the village. Ali has baked a lovely chocolate cake. Blowing out the candles.

A chat with Emily via FaceTime.

The kids have put sugar pigs on the caps of my beer bottles.

Larina is always very excited to see her mum perform – I couldn’t get her to slow down sufficiently to get a good photo.

And a short video.

This morning was a slow one for me, but Val got off to work early as usual. The run home was a bit busy.

Six Oh

It’s that time of year again when my birthday rolls around, and it’s a significant one. Val had a couple of hours work this morning and I treated myself to a lazy day. I’ve had a good selection of cards, and of course some tasty looking chocolate and bottles, not to mention a very nice (Polo) polo shirt, and an old sixpence from my year of birth!

It’s Monday, which means Duo Centrale at the Sunstar tonight, so happily I don’t need to organise a party.

Sunny Sunday

We enjoyed our day off yesterday, but this morning we’re off up the hill again – Val to work at Scheidegg, and Adrian and I to Männlichen for a ski. We tore up and down for the first hour or so while everyone else was still having breakfast, before working our way round to Scheidegg via Honegg. After coffee we did a circuit around the area. A pause on Salzegg.

We met Val at lunchtime and skied home, while Adrian popped back up to Männlichen for a last few runs.

Rugby

Val had her first day off for ages today, so we did some much needed shopping and cleaned the flat. Later on we waved goodbye to the Barrs and headed to Rocks for the biggest rugby match of the year – Wales vs England at the Millennium stadium.

England led for most of the game. The bar was packed with England fans, I think there was one other Welshman in the place apart from me. Wales had a great second half and eventually ran out winners by 21 points to 13. I had no fingernails left by the final whistle.

Lift traumas

Nice evening out at the Grillkota behind the Sunstar last night.

Inside it’s very cosy, and chef Jean-Luc cooked a lovely barbecue for us. Steve looks on, expectantly. The food never stops coming, it was absolutely delicious.

This morning the sun has deserted us. It’s pretty gloomy at Männlichen.

Both the gondola and the Läger chairlift were having technical issues, so we skied round to Scheidegg on deserted pistes. We had a few glorious runs before the light faded. No matter, we can retreat to the tipi for some warming drinks.