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As I mentioned yesterday, it’s a bit chilly at the moment, and for the farmers this means that it’s time to bring the cattle down from their summer pastures. This is quite an event down in Lauterbrunnen, as there are a lot of cows and only one street for them to walk along. Here they come.

The cows are dressed up for the occasion. All traffic in the village comes to a halt.

Eventually they all arrive at a meadow beneath the waterfall. From here they’ll be taken back to their farms for the winter.

At Stechelberg the outdoor company North Face are having a mountain festival. All sorts of activities are on offer, but participants have to live in tents for the weekend and it’s really a bit cold for that.

These people have climbed onto the roof of the cable car to get photos of the festival. The cable car then departed with them on top so they could get a better shot!

The Sunstar has sponsored a parapente.

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We were woken by wind and rain this morning. The storm has brought down branches and painted the higher mountains white with snow. This afternoon it all calmed down and the sky cleared, but it feels really wintry. Warming curry for dinner tonight.

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Had a few drinks with Julie and James last night, and Val helped Angela set up her new Kindle. As a result we stayed in Rocks a bit longer than we intended, so today got off to a slow start. Cold and wet to begin with, but it brightened up late this afternoon and we had a walk in the meadows above the village.

Smile!

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It’s been raining on and off all day, so we’ve done some cleaning and had a tidy up. The village is getting much quieter now, and with fresh snow up high almost every day people are beginning to talk about winter.

With that in mind we need to consider the annual ski pass conundrum. In an attempt to attract more skiers the price of passes has been reduced by about 30% for the coming season. Despite this it’s still our biggest purchase of the year, so we try to buy at a time when the UK pound is a bit stronger than usual. Today is such a day – UK inflation figures have driven the pound up against the Swiss franc. 

So here are our winter passes. In addition to being a lot cheaper than last year they also cover the nearby resorts of Gstaad, Meiringen and Adelboden. 

Pray for snow.

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Yikes! Our heating came on last night for the first time. It’s cold up here, so we head down to Interlaken for our walk. We begin by heading for Unterseen down the river.

We leave the town and follow a smaller river for a couple of miles.

There’s a fish farm along here.

After a while we arrive at Neuhaus which is a steamer stop on lake Thun. These small boats are all steam powered too.

Here’s Val on the beach. It’s a bit cold for a paddle.

As we arrive back in Interlaken we hear a hooter and the steamer comes around the corner.

Just under 7 miles all told.

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It’s a cold day, so we won’t be going far. We get the train up to Allmend. 

Along the path are picture boards explaining the workings of the forest. This one is about photosynthesis. 

It works like this: Take 6 parts water and six parts carbon dioxide. Add some sunlight and the tree will convert this cocktail into six parts oxygen and one part carbohydrate. 

6CO2 + 6H2O + light → C6H12O6 + 6O2

The tree doesn’t need the oxygen so this is released back into the atmosphere, which is convenient for all the animal life on the planet (including us of course).

Trees get sick just like the rest of us. This one has succumbed to a fungus. The big bracket fungus on the trunk is an outward sign of the infection. 

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Today’s the big day. 5000 runners from 56 countries will run the toughest marathon in the world. The course starts down in Interlaken and finishes up at Kleine Scheidegg. 

It’s a cool, wet day, but the whole village will turn out to cheer on the runners. Athlete’s view of the main street.

Band playing.

Of course lots of locals take part. Here’s our neighbour Jana. She finished with an incredible time of 4 hours 34 minutes.

Beanie. 5 hours 38 minutes. 

Sandro. 6 hours 10 minutes.

Look at all the litter. An hour after the last runners go through it will all be gone.

And here’s the winner. Jose Cardona from Columbia, with a frankly unbelievable time of 2 hours 56 minutes.