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Emily cooked us a lovely dinner last night, and we had lots of fun with a game of yahtzee afterwards.

This morning it’s a nice day again, and we’re off towards Innerwengen. Dandelions and blossom.

The path into the forest has been blocked by fallen trees since the November storms, but following lots of clearance work we can now just about get through.

Waterfall at the end of the path.

We could continue up the mountain from the waterfall, but there’s still a lot of snow up there, so we retrace our steps. We’ve still not seen the ibex that live around here, but we keep looking.

And there they are. 3 adults emerging from the forest below us.

As soon as we got home it was time for me to put on my running shoes and head out again.

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It’s been very dry for the past month or so, and this is becoming a problem for the farmers, as the grass in the meadows isn’t growing quickly enough to sustain livestock. Last night we had a thunderstorm, which should be a big help.

We watched the One World concert on YouTube, along with a sizeable proportion of the world’s population, apparently.

I really enjoyed it.

I was poking around in a cupboard today, and I found a mysterious looking case. Here’s what was inside.

It’s an old German telescope from the 1970s.

Emily is on her way as she’s cooking tonight.

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Up above Wengen at about 1500 metres is a spot called Allmend. There’s a restaurant here, and a railway halt.

Of course the restaurant is closed, and the trains aren’t running, so the only way to get here is on foot.

It’s noticeably colder up here, with snow still on the ground in places. The flowers in the meadow are a few weeks behind the ones in the village.

We amble back through the forest. It’s a nice walk of about 8 kilometres.

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We’ve now had 5 weeks of social distancing here in Switzerland, and it’s working. New cases of Covid-19 are well down, and the government have announced that some of the lockdown measures can be eased from a week on Monday. This means most of the kids can go back to school, and Val will be able to get her hair done. She’s already booked in.

Today we cleared all the garden furniture out from under the stairs and had a good look at it on the terrace.

There’s lots of nice stuff, so we should be okay this summer. Even warmer today – I had a very sweaty run this afternoon.

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We’re off to Stechelberg, home of the tadpoles. A single frog can lay 4000 eggs, so a few females can give rise to an enormous amount of tadpoles. Press play.

The first cows are out of their barn.

The Mürrenbach waterfall. 430 metres high.

And, almost back at Lauterbrunnen, the Staubach fall, at 297 metres.

It’s a nice walk, on a lovely day.

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Our cable car hasn’t turned a wheel for over a month, but the ski season was supposed to last until the week after Easter. It’s time therefore for its annual maintenance. The cabins slowly move up and down their cables while everything is checked and, if necessary, adjusted or repaired.

The crazy golf course is complete. It is a triumph of hope over expectation.

It’s dry and warm again, and the canton have issued a ban on fires outdoors. It seems strange to be worrying about forest fires, when we would usually be worrying about avalanches.

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The forecast wasn’t good for today, and sure enough we had a shower of rain overnight. It didn’t take long for the sun to return though, and by coffee time this was the view from Chalet Iltis.

It’s the end of the bank holiday, and the official end of the ski season. Building work can start now. This crane is being driven by remote control to its destination.

And in the hope of salvaging something of the summer season, the mini-golf is being prepared.

Later on Val joined her German class via Skype, while I fiddled with the plumbing in the cellar, trying (and succeeding) to get all the outside taps working.