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Val had her German class this morning, and while I was enjoying my coffee on the balcony the sun came out. Woohoo!

I popped into town and got a new woolly hat from the lifeboat station (despite the sun, it’s still chilly), and bought crab sandwiches for our lunch. This afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse, with a big storm from the southwest. We watched the ferryman struggling to get his boat across the estuary, until he eventually had to admit defeat at the hands of wind and waves. The rain stopped just in time for us to head out to the Fortescue, our favourite local pub, for drinks and a very nice dinner.

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The weather in Shropshire has been pretty awful lately, so this morning we headed south to Devon, hoping for an improvement. The journey to Salcombe takes a little under four hours. We have a nice flat overlooking the estuary and the pub next door.

We haven’t seen the sun yet, but at least it’s dry. There’s a cold wind from the west, so tomorrow morning I’ll be off to the lifeboat station to buy a woolly hat.

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Booked a few rooms at a pub out in the countryside, and got the family over for dinner. Lovely cozy dining room, and a good night out.

We polished things off with a very nice English breakfast this morning.

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We are in luck. Our trusty car has started at the first attempt after four months standing idle.

Here’s Val parking after her German class in nearby Horsehay.

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Wengen was looking like a picture postcard when we left yesterday morning.

We ordered coffee on the plane. Drinking coffee is complicated these days.

We got home in good time and enjoyed a curry from our local restaurant. Now all we have to do is start ticking jobs off the (long) list, before we can return next month.

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2nd of October and we have very warm weather again. Shorts and short sleeves are all we need for today’s walk. We start at the village of Merligen.

Merligen has a small harbour.

The path we’re following is called the Pilgerweg, which means ‘Pilgrim’s Way’. It is part of a network of European routes which lead to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain. The remains of the apostle James are said to be interred there.

We pass over a funicular railway. It takes passengers from the lakeside up to the village of Beatenberg.

The path is steep in places, and we have to climb to walk above a big quarry.

Eventually our destination is in sight.

The caves at St Beatushölen are a major tourist attraction. We walk down a series of zigzags to get to the bus stop.

A good walk in glorious weather.

That completes our walk around Lake Thun – we started our first leg at the caves. In total we walked 64 kilometres around the shoreline. Our walk around Lake Brienz amounted to another 38 kilometres. It’s nice to have done them both.

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Lake Thun is big, as we are discovering as we try to walk around it bit by bit. Today we’re starting at Gunten. As usual, the walk begins with a climb, giving us a great view of the pretty village and the lake.

A little further on we find ourselves opposite the town of Spiez, which is dominated by a mountain called Niesen. The steamer and some other boats are leaving the harbour.

This side of the lake gets a lot of sunshine, so it’s ideal for growing grapes for wine.

A Schloss is a castle, palace, or other grand house. This one is at a place called Ralligen, just north of our destination which is the village of Merligen.

A nice walk on a warm day.