Follow

It was freezing cold this morning, but the sun was out so I wrapped up warmly and we headed for the Schilthornbahn. Val was meeting Beanie for a walk, and I was going for a run. Beanie brought Mik (border collie) with her, and the three of them set off for Lauterbrunnen. I headed up the valley in the opposite direction towards Stechelberg, before turning around to try to catch Mik and the girls. I eventually caught them about halfway along the path. Mik likes a run, so he ran along with me for a bit.

We had coffee in Lauterbrunnen, where Sandro joined us. We hatched a plan to go to the mountain hostel in Gimmelwald for beer and pizzas next weekend, which will be nice.

Follow

The weather this week has been truly awful. We’ve had wind, rain, cold temperatures and snow up at the top. Today it’s still cold but we are assured by the forecast that it won’t rain. We set off for a walk by the river from Lauterbrunnen.

All that rain means that there’s a lot of water in the river. It’s hard to have a conversation over the roar as the water cascades down the valley.

A bit further down, with an arty long exposure.

Furnace for smelting iron ore. There’s a lot of iron in the mountains further up the valley.

As we get closer to the railway halt at Zweilütschinen the valley narrows. We have to wait while a train passes by on its way up to Lauterbrunnen.

Eventually we reached Zweilütschinen. The forecasters didn’t let us down, and we remained dry.

Follow

Not much to report recently, the weather’s been a bit mixed, and we got absolutely soaked on the way to Rocks the other night. Val went down to Bönigen to see her boss, and she came across this pair doing their best to spoil the tranquility by the lake.

We had a good walk around the village this afternoon. There’s a spot just below our house where all the Korean visitors go to get a good photo of the valley for their Instagram pages. I have to admit that the view is extremely good.

Lots of these blue flowers near to the railway halt at Wengwald.

Hello.

Cows are very social creatures. No idea what the conversation was about.

This afternoon we tuned in to watch the Formula One on telly, and it was actually quite a good race for a change. Later on we’ll have a stroll up to the Braunbaer for some music with Beves & Ibe.

Follow

I’m due another run this morning, so I head down to the valley. The weather’s perfect; not too hot, and not too cold. I catch the bus to the Schilthornbahn stop and pause on a bench to sort out my headphones and wait for my watch pick up my GPS position. I set off up the valley towards Stechelberg before I turned around for home. It’s impossible not to pause and admire the Mürrenbach waterfall. This thing is more than a quarter of a mile high, in fact the highest waterfall in Switzerland.

I had a nice run along the valley, thankfully unworried by the tourists in their rental cars who sometimes get in the way. As always I enjoyed the simple pleasure of a relaxing sit on a bench at Lauterbrunnen station while I waited for the train back up to Wengen.

Back at home, the sunshine has encouraged our Wysteria to bloom.

Tomorrow is a big day in Wengen, as Rocks bar opens for the summer season. We’ll be there.

Follow

The farmer who lives below our house keeps sheep. They all have bells, and they make quite a racket.

The sheep eat grass at a prodigious rate, so the farmer moves them from field to field every few days, and by the time they get back to their first field the grass has grown again. Lamb is very expensive here in Switzerland, so the animals are precious. Anyhow, after a day of torrential rain yesterday, it’s nice to see the livestock and the mountains again. There’s been snow up at the top.

Better weather is forecast for the next few days. Fingers crossed.

Follow

It’s another nice day, so it must be time for a run down in the valley. Here I go.

The Lauterbrunnen valley always looks a picture at this time of year. Cows grazing in lush pastures, and waterfalls in spate owing to the melting snow higher up.

A very nice run on a super day. Uptown Lights at the Braunbaer this evening.

Follow

We travelled back to Switzerland yesterday and, as luck would have it, our buddies Beves and Ibe were on the same flight.

This was really good as they have a car, meaning we didn’t need to get the train from Geneva. Ibe dropped us off at Lauterbrunnen and we got to Wengen in record time – just 8 and a half hours door to door.

The weather was a bit gloomy and cold when we arrived in Wengen last night, but this morning the sun was out and we enjoyed some lovely views on our walk up to the Co-op.

Everything is very green, and Wengen is in fine fettle. There’s very little open in the village, but we got what we needed from the Co-op and the bakery. We had a stroll back up this evening for a drink and were rewarded with a fantastic evening view of the Jungfrau when we got home.

I started my running programme while we were in the UK, so I’m looking forward to a run down in the valley tomorrow.