Don’t believe the forecast (sometimes)

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Mike

The weather forecast for today wasn’t looking good, with lots of cloud and wind predicted by Swiss Meteo. We decided to go up the hill anyway, on the basis that we could always come straight back down if the weather was awful. In the event it turned out to be a perfectly nice day, and we had a good ski. The grand old hotel ‘Bellevue Des Alpes’ dominates Kleine Scheidegg, with the Eiger lurking in the background.

Slopes, trains and restaurants were all quiet too. I guess if you were contemplating a day out from the lowlands the forecast would have been off putting. We treated ourselves to a late lunch of sausage rolls from the bakery – yum!

Live at the Braunbaer

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Mike

There’s still renovation work going on at the Braunbaer hotel, but I think it must be almost finished. There are some nice features like this wall of books in reception.

Colin and Nev had a guest singer last night, a girl called Zoe. She sings like an angel.

This morning the valley was full of fog, which is a shame, as I needed to go down to Interlaken while Val did her German class.

It’s always cold when it’s foggy, so I wrapped up warmly and headed down to Lidl with the shopping trolley. I bought 30 cans of my favourite beer, as well as nuts, chocolate and some nice looking fish for dinner. The whole lot cost 27 francs. That’s about a third of what I would have paid in the Co-op, so the journey was well worthwhile.

Warm, very busy

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Mike

Val was teaching again this morning, and I went up for a ski before meeting her for lunch. The weather’s absolutely beautiful, and the slopes were busy.

For the first time in ages I had to queue for the lift at Arven. It looks like the busy period might have started already. We had a nice lunch at Allmend before we returned to the village. Temperatures this afternoon were very high. It’s more like April than February.

Lots of live music, and a 100th anniversary

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Mike

Uptown Lights put on their usual great show at the Braunbaer last night.

Val was up early for work this morning. In the village a banner hangs over the street.

The Downhill Only Club is 100 years old this week. We’ve been members for a mere 34 years (more than half our lives!), and during that time we’ve done lots of good stuff like racing on the Lauberhorn with the club. Val has her name on several of these trophies for racing.

I’ve done a few things for the club over the years, and when I retired from work they very generously gave me honorary membership for life. Our racing days are over, but there’s still no escape from the DHO!

Our buddy Michael gave Val a super jigsaw puzzle for Christmas which she finished this afternoon. It’s a scene of Heidelberg where Michael lives. Heidelberg is our favourite German city, and the completed puzzle looks splendid.

More live music tonight, with Colin and Nev at the Anonym bar.

There was a good crowd, all locals and no tourists at all as the school holidays haven’t started yet. The kids will soon be here though, and it feels like the calm before the storm.

The sun returns

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Mike

We’ve had 2 days of stubborn fog, and there’s been nothing to do but attend to household chores and stock up with shopping. This morning however the fog had gone, which was nice as Val starts work up at Scheidegg today.

The fog has meant that a lot of visitors have missed out on skiing, so this morning a large queue formed for the Männlichen cable car.

Each cable car can shift 70 people, and as the trip up the mountain only takes 5 minutes, the skiers won’t have to wait long. Tonight we’ll be off to the Braunbaer for some music with Beves and Ibe.

Gloomy Scheidegg

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Mike

Hayley left us yesterday and we were sad to see her go as, no doubt, were all the bar owners and restaurateurs in the area. Scheidegg was beneath a cloud for most of the day, while the surrounding mountains were enjoying some sunshine.