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We hadn’t planned anything for today, as I had another appointment at the eye clinic. Unfortunately my doctor is sick, so that was cancelled. It’s dry and a bit chilly, so we set off for Grindelwald. Spookily quiet when we got there.

We had a very nice lunch while we waited for the shops to reopen for the afternoon. We’re sort of between seasons at the moment, and they don’t seem to know whether to stock summer stuff or winter wear. We left empty handed.

We usually get home by going ‘over the top’, which involves getting the gondola up to Männlichen and the cable car back down to Wengen. Today however, it would have been far too cold up there, so we got the train. One of our fellow passengers certainly likes flowers.

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Angela has gone to the U.K. for a few days, so last night Aneta was running things in Rocks. Our party grew as the night wore on, as Michael’s friend Laurie arrived from Heidelberg. Later on Laurie’s friend Sam arrived from Vienna, and Emily popped in on her way home from football in Interlaken. A few snaps.

It’s raining today, but that’s ok as our only plans were getting shopping in the village.

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It’s a sunny Saturday, and the village and all the public transport will be crammed with day trippers. We can avoid all that by hiking on our local trails high above the village. We got the ski lift up to Allmend and paused to see the racers on their way down. It’s the Inferno Triathlon today, and the guys and girls who do it are the toughest of the tough.

Here’s the programme for this crazy race:

Swim in lake Thun: 3.1 kilometres,

Road bike: Oberhöfen to Grindelwald, 97 kilometres,

Mountain bike: Grindelwald to Stechelberg via Kleine Scheidegg and Wengen, 30 kilometres,

Run: Stechelberg to the summit of the Schilthorn, 25 kilometres.

So that’s 155 kilometres, or almost 100 miles. Here they go.

We watched for a while and climbed towards Männlichen, stopping at a bench for our lunch.

Inspired by the triathletes, we continued to climb and we got a good deal higher than we’ve ever managed before. Eventually we turned for home.

Here’s an airborne view of the triathlon course. Press play.

The winner was Samuel Hürzeler from nearby Wilderswil. He completed the course in 8 hours and 47 minutes.

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The village band was playing while we were sitting in Rocks last night.

A little later, along came the Trychlers (bell ringers).

We were up early today, as I have a morning appointment at the optician. The clinic is in a great spot by the river. View from the waiting room.

A tribute to the Queen in the English garden.

One advantage of having a morning appointment is that it means we can have lunch at the Cafe de Paris. It was delicious as always.

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We had a very nice dinner at the Victoria Lauberhorn for Val’s birthday last night.

Val had some lovely lamb.

Colin, meanwhile, has gone to his house in France. It’s in a sleepy little village in the middle of nowhere, and guess what? It’s really busy!

Today has been bright but a bit chilly, and now that the kids have all gone back to school the village is quiet once more.

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We had a nice quiet day today, with lunch at Cafe Waldschluecht and a walk around the village. Edelweiss on the Sunstar terrace.

This afternoon Val is at the hairdresser, and later on we’re having dinner at the Victoria Lauberhorn.

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The weather’s better today, not exactly warm but at least it’s dry. We caught the train down to Interlaken and had a stroll down the Lombach river.

It takes about an hour to get to Neuhaus on the lake. It’s a nice spot.

We sat and had a beer. It’s quite windy, and there are half a dozen kite surfers on the lake. They fly along.

We hear the hoot of a steam whistle. The steamer is pulling in.

Neuhaus is quite a distance from Wengen, but by getting 2 busses and 2 trains we were amazed to find we were back within an hour.