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Until recently, the way to get to Grindelwald was on the train via Scheidegg or Zweilütschinen. Not any more. With the new gondola from Männlichen down to Grindelwald it’s much quicker to get the cable car up from Wengen and go ‘over the top’. It was a bit gloomy at Männlichen.

The new gondolas are very comfortable, and the lift is fast.

We had a lovely lunch at the Memory bar, and a good mooch around the shops. Final shopping score was Val 0 – Mike 2 (hiking shorts and trousers). Now we’re off back to Wengen to meet Emily for a beer.

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Wherever you go in the mountains, you’re never far from running water. The mountain streams need to be managed as they pass through the village in order to avoid paths and buildings being damaged. This morning we’re woken by a helicopter delivering pipes to the field at the bottom of our garden.

The pipes will be used to drain water from the old railway track bed that runs past our house. A trench has been dug to take the water into the Brunnibach stream.

Having been woken up we may as well head down to the valley for some exercise. It’s a nice morning, but rain is forecast. I head off in the direction of Stechelberg.

On my way back I wave at Clive and Alison, aka the idleskiers, who are on their way to Trummelbach. I arrive back in Lauterbrunnen a sweaty mess, and we catch the train back up to Wengen. The storm rolled in just before we got to the village, and we got pretty wet just dashing the 30 metres or so across to the Co-op. When we finished our shopping the rain was even worse, and we sheltered under the entrance to the Hotel Silberhorn for a while until it eased off.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel so bad about being woken up by the guys building the drain.

Every August we have a music event to celebrate composer Mendelssohn’s link with the village. For this we need a grand piano, and it was delivered today.

The flying piano for the Mendelssohn Music Week in Wengen. #piano #helicopters #Switzerland #wengen pic.twitter.com/vkfYCA8LFA

— Wengen Switzerland (@WengenSwiss) August 11, 2020

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It’s going to rain today, but we don’t know when. A good walk on days like this is Mürren to Grütschalp, as we can bail out at Winteregg if it really pours. It’s good to have a plan B. Views back to Wengen in the last of the sunshine.

Approaching Grütschalp, the rain is almost upon us.

We just made it. The rain began while we were waiting for the cable car to take us back down to the valley.

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Not much to say today – we popped up to the village this morning for shopping and to collect our eggs. Even then it was super hot – the Panama hat that I bought for walking is proving very useful. The gardener turned up just after lunch, I didn’t envy him one bit. Val did her long-distance German lesson with her buddies in Shropshire this afternoon. We’ve just had dinner and a thunderstorm is rolling around the Jungfrau, though we’ve had no rain yet. Fingers crossed it stays dry enough for a walk to the pub later.

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It’s very warm again, and today the forecast is for afternoon thunderstorms. We grab our things and dash up to the Männlichen cable car which takes 5 minutes to get us to the top. There’s a nice walk up here called the Lieselotte path. Lieselotte is a cow who spends the summer on Männlichen, and this family oriented walk is themed for her. Kids get a checklist of things to spot along the way. Cowbells to ring at the start.

Here’s Lieselotte boating on the reservoir.

The path follows the ski and toboggan tracks down the mountain. Towards the end of the walk we amble down everyone’s favourite ski piste – the cruise down to Holenstein.

The gondola whisks us back to the top, and under darkening skies we head back to Wengen. The rain started 5 minutes after we got home. Timing.

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We popped into the village for a couple of beers after dinner last night, and the village band were playing by the tennis courts. They had a big audience.

Wengen is pretty busy at the moment, mostly with Swiss visitors. That’s all about to change however, as the school holidays are over now and everyone will be back at work tomorrow.

We had a quiet day today. Well, it was quiet until 2 alphorn players started performing outside Ali’s house just along the path from ours. How very Swiss.

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We had a lovely dinner at the hotel last night, but the real star of the evening was the sunset over the lake. We took lots of photos – Val got this one which we adjudged the best.

Afterwards, the mountains are painted orange in the alpenglow.

This morning we were up early for our hike to First. It begins easily enough, with a wander through meadows beneath the Oberberghorn.

Next, we have to climb the Loucherhorn. There’s no way to avoid this. The track is steep and rocky.

A lake above a lake. We pass Sägistalsee, and there’s a glimpse of lake Brienz far below.

The path gets even steeper, and we climb through snow patches to the Männdlenen hut. There’s a network of these alpine huts all over Switzerland, and you can stay the night. They sell basic food like bread, cheese, cakes and dried sausages. We buy our lunch and enjoy a brief rest, before we start climbing again.

The summit of our walk comes about an hour after lunch at 2620 metres, or about 8500 feet. After that we begin the long descent to First. We pass the lake at Bachalpsee on the way.

Eventually we reach the restaurant at First. I had the best beer I’ve ever tasted, and we caught the gondola down to Grindelwald. All in all the walk was almost 17 kilometres, and we’ll certainly sleep well tonight.

Here’s our GPS trace for the day.