Last night we had a huge storm. As it approached the village was in darkness while the glacier above remained in the sunshine.

Despite the rain, we wanted to get up to the village to see the August 1st parade. We dashed up to the Avocado bar in a drier moment. The parade was excellent despite the awful weather.

It was still raining this morning, but there’s a hike we fancy doing so we headed up the hill on the little cable car. By the time we got to the top it was dry.

There’s a summer toboggan run up here. It’s very popular with the kids.

No tobogganing for us though, we’re going to hike to the top of the valley where the glaciers emerge. At one point we need to cross the path of a glacier which has long since retreated up the mountain. The ice has left behind a steep, smooth section of rock.

The polished rock would be difficult to cross, particularly when it’s wet. The Swiss have therefore built a tunnel underneath it.

The tunnel was dark and wet, but it got us safely across the slippery rock. A little further along we got a nice view of the mountain station of the Wetterhorn cable car.

This cable car was the first of its kind in Switzerland, and it opened in 1908. Unfortunately it was repeatedly damaged by avalanches, and it eventually closed in 1915.

We’re almost at the end of our walk, and we arrive at the point which used to be the base of the Upper Grindelwald glacier. There’s no ice here anymore, but there’s still a lot of meltwater coming down.

We had a late lunch at the Hotel Wetterhorn, before catching the bus back to Grindelwald.