Follow

It’s the last hot day. A change of weather is due tomorrow, and it sounds like autumn will be upon us. A day up is the mountains will be good. We walk from Männlichen towards Kleine Scheidegg. The ski season will soon be here, and maintenance is taking place on the lifts.

The path passes above the slopes that we’ll soon be skiing down.

It takes about an hour to walk to Scheidegg, and when we got there we hopped on the train up to Eigergletscher. Great views of the glacier.

We had hoped to get lunch, but the restaurant was full with tour groups, so we caught the train back to Scheidegg where there is never any shortage of eating opportunities. We continued our walk towards Wengernalp. Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

There are still livestock up here, but they’ll soon be heading down to the valley.

It was very hot when we eventually got back to the village. Definitely time for an ice cream.

Follow

It’s an early start for the runners this morning – the marathon starts down in Interlaken at 8.30am. Here’s the course they’ll have to tackle.

The fastest runners get to Wengen around 10am. Here’s the leader, Ukrainian Vitaliy Shafar, running down the Dorfstrasse.

As the minutes tick by, more runners arrive.

Wengen is packed with spectators.

Drinks station outside the Alpine Hotel. There are 4000 runners, so they need a lot of paper cups.

Runners pass the timing equipment. All the runners carry timing chips, and as well as recording time, they identify the runners to the commentator so he can give them a shout by name.

There weren’t many runners from Wengen this year, but here’s our mate Steve.

We had a wander home for lunch. From our terrace we can still see lines of runners coming up the mountain.

And here’s the winner. It’s Vitaliy from Ukraine. Having passed through Wengen in the lead, he was never caught.

And the ladies winner, Theres Laboeuf, from Aigle, Switzerland.

A fantastic event, held on a beautiful day.

Follow

It’s the annual Jungfrau marathon tomorrow, and as usual there is a series of races on the preceding evening to ensure that everyone can get involved, even if the full marathon distance is perhaps beyond them. The first race is a short 4.5 kilometres, but after a brief run along the road, it’s straight up a mountain. These guys look like they know what they’re doing though.

Next it’s the turn of the tiny tots. They run 200 metres. Here they come.

My event is the mini marathon. It’s one tenth of the marathon distance, just over 4 kilometres. This is by far the most popular Friday race, and it’s basically a huge party. Val got some great photos.

Fancy dress is encouraged.

Here I come, straight into a barrage of water pistols.

The soaking is actually very welcome – it’s about 30 degrees and very humid.

Will is a crack shot with his water pistol, and shows no mercy.

High fives from the kids as I approach the finishing line.

So that’s that for another year. It’s a joyous event, and it never fails to make the preceding months of training worthwhile. There were about 500 competitors from 32 countries, as well as an estimated 5000 spectators. Although we all carry timing chips, no results are published for this race, so nobody knows (or cares) who won. Afterwards we went to a local pub with Will and his parents Amanda and Stuart. Dinner and beer were very welcome.

Follow

It’s another very hot day. The higher we go, the cooler it will be, so we head for Männlichen, which is about 1000 metres above our house. Temperatures up here are 6 or 7 degrees cooler. It’s comfortable for the cows, and it’s a lot more comfortable for us too.

We had a very nice lunch at the restaurant. The kids playground outside is popular.

Views down to Wengen and Lauterbrunnen.

If we zoom in, we can see our house (you can click, or tap the picture to make it bigger).

A little mountain art, and a view down to Grindelwald.

We caught the cable car back to the village and did some shopping. A train crossed our path just above our house, and it’s pushing a snowplough. Do they know something we don’t?

Follow

It’s warmer still today, but with the Jungfrau Mini Marathon coming up on Friday, I need one more training run. We’ll repeat the mountain trail that we followed on Friday. Here I come, running in a sunbeam.

Trail running isn’t like running on the road. There are ups and downs, and twists and turns, not to mention hikers and mountain bikers to avoid. Cattle are grazing in the meadows alongside the path, which means that gates have to be opened and closed. In the end I completed the run a minute faster than I managed on Friday. A minute is a lot, so I’m happy with that. Val did even better, knocking 2 minutes off her Friday time.

The Staubach waterfall at Lauterbrunnen is spectacular at the moment, but to get the best photo the sun needs to be shining through the water as it cascades down the cliff. Val was in the right place at the right time today, and got this lovely shot of the waterfall and the village.

A nice morning’s exercise, but we were glad to get home out of the sun.

Follow

It’s sure to be busy everywhere today, so to avoid the crowds we got the train up to Wengernalp. There’s nothing to do here in summer, so it will be quiet. Tremendous views though.

The Hotel Jungfrau at Wengernalp. The hotel dates from 1865. Prior to that it was a simple inn providing food and drink to travellers heading up to the mountain pass at Kleine Scheidegg.

The Eiger and Mönch, and a cow who was happy to pose.

The Jungfrau. This is the mountain that towers over Wengen.

Views across the valley to nearby Mürren.

Huge glacier beneath the Breithorn.

A nice walk, and we were back in the village in time to get lunch from the bakery.

Val has finished another jigsaw. This time it’s the Elbphilharmonie building that we visited in Hamburg.

Follow

Owing to a combination of holidays and poor weather I haven’t been running for a month. We head across to Mürren, where we will find the most picturesque hiking trail in the area. As usual, Val set off first while I did my warm-up routine. Even running quite quickly it took me a couple of kilometres to catch her. Here I go.

The restaurant at Winteregg. This marks the half-way point of the trail. View of Wengen on the opposite side of the valley.

The trail ends at the top of a cable car which will take us back to Lauterbrunnen. Stunning views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

A nice morning out, and we were home in time for lunch. We’ll have a night out later; time will tell where we end up for dinner.