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It rained all day yesterday, so today we were determined to get out of the house for some fresh air. We met Ali and popped over to Mürren. The new trains are very nice.

The system of cable cars that get us up to the Schilthorn above the village is being completely rebuilt. The new cabins are already being tested on the section that comes up from Stechelberg in the valley.

Here is the departure point for the middle section that goes up to Birg. The old cable car station (right of picture) are is still in use at the moment.

Despite the cold weather and the fog, it was a nice day out. Three cows have appeared in the little meadow by our house.

They’ll only be here until they’ve eaten all the grass.

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Val had her German class this morning, so I popped down to Interlaken for shopping. We planned to go up to Männlichen for the walk around to Scheidegg after lunch, though the weather looked a bit dodgy. We went up anyway. Views down to Grindelwald from the top.

Sure enough, not long after we started our hike, the rain arrived. It takes about an hour to complete the walk, and we were grateful to arrive at Scheidegg for some shelter.

Luckily we had timed our arrival just right to catch the train back down to Wengen. Colin arrived today, so there will doubtless be a few drinks later on.

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It’s a pleasant day in Wengen, and over the mountains the clouds are gathering from the south. This usually means mild weather.

We headed for the lake at Bönigen. The steamers are still running, at least for a few more days.

Another boat, and some ducks.

Cattle enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Another steamer at Interlaken West. We enjoyed an ice cream on the quayside as we watched it depart.

It’s been a lovely warm afternoon, and later we headed for the Brasserie where we met Wil for ribs and chicken. Super day.

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It was raining this morning, but we wanted to get out to escape the racket that the builders were making. The scaffolding people are coming to remove it all tomorrow, so if the roof isn’t finished by close of play today there’ll be problems. We headed down to Lauterbrunnen, and called in at the Gemeinde (local council) where we had some paperwork to deal with. We had a stroll along the valley. The overcast sky makes the waterfall look quite dramatic.

We had lunch at home while the builders had their break, and wandered up to the village. The sun came out, and it was suddenly quite warm. A train was standing at the station so we hopped aboard and headed up to Allmend above the village. By now it was warm enough to sit outside.

Great views of Wengen (if you ignore all the construction) from the restaurant. (Remember you can click the pics to make them full screen).

We decided to walk back down. It’s mushroom season, and fungi of all descriptions grows in abundance under the trees.

Eventually we got home, and look at this; the builders have finished the roof!

Tomorrow’s going to be even noisier than today, as the scaffolding people will be aiming to remove all the metalwork as fast as possible. We need to get out early again.

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The weather can’t seem to make its mind up today. One minute the sun’s out, the next it looks like it’s going to pour with rain. We ventured out for a walk down to Wengwald. A few snaps of the little hamlet and of the stupendous valley views that you get from there.

If you hadn’t already guessed, my new phone arrived yesterday. Work on the house continues apace. The roof is almost finished, and we have a working laundry and a doorbell!

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Today we have a beauty contest for the Wengen cows. They are all washed and brushed. This is taken very seriously by the farmers, and it attracts quite an audience. I’m not sure what the cows think of it though, but I guess it’s a nice day out in the sunshine.

Needless to say, Central Sport have a nice souvenir of the event.

Tonight we had a lovely dinner at the Eiger, followed by cocktails at the Crystal. A good night out.

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For the first day since we arrived in Wengen, it isn’t raining. We head out towards Innerwengen.

There’s snow above about 2000 metres, but down here it’s quite nice. We arrive at the farm, to find all the goats, ducks and horses absent. There are still a few chickens though.

We continued our walk up the hill, and spotted some creatures that we’ve not seen before here.

We weren’t sure whether they were Llamas or Alpacas, but Google says they’re Llamas. Either way, they’re friendly and curious animals, and they seemed to look forward to seeing passing walkers.

Back at Chalet Iltis we have almost completed our work to move back into the house. The internal renovations are absolutely lovely. Our heating is now supplied by an eco-friendly air-source heat pump which will apparently save the planet all on its own. It certainly works well – our biggest challenge is keeping the temperature down to a comfortable level. The new solar roof is almost complete, and we have an oven and dishwasher that are connected to the internet and can be operated from anywhere in the world (why, you might justifiably ask). There’s still absolutely tons of work to do on the exterior of the house, and we can only hope that it will be completed before winter arrives.