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On the other side of the valley is a hamlet called Gimmelwald. It is home to about 100 people, and amongst them are our buddies the Zwicky family. We popped over for dinner.

The restaurant is part of a mountain hostel. There’s live music tonight, with a guy who seemed more keen on getting a free ride on the cable car than actually playing music.

Appreciative audience. It’s getting cold in the evenings now, so many were wrapped up in blankets.

We had a good night out, with lovely pizza. The singer though, who’s name was Dave something, was rubbish. By the time we got home the wind was howling and it looks like a storm is coming.

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Steve and Colin have a gig tonight at Frankie’s bar in Interlaken.

Frankie’s is a nice venue alongside the river.

Will fell off his bike a few weeks ago and is still on crutches, but he made himself comfortable.

The music was good.

The disadvantage of nightlife in Interlaken is that we have to make sure we catch the last train back at 10pm, but it was still a good night out.

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It was Val’s birthday while we were away, and unfortunately we spent most of it travelling on the train between Hamburg and Soest. Today she opened her cards.

The weather’s been very hot in Switzerland for the past few days, and even up here in the mountains it’s too warm to do anything strenuous. Apparently things should cool down at the weekend. It’s thunderstorm season though, so we must be careful what we wish for.

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One more shot of the old bridge at Heidelberg last night.

We had an uneventful trip back to Wengen, which took about 6 hours. All the trains were on time, and I popped up to the village for supplies before dinner. Normal service is resumed.

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We had a good night out with Michael yesterday, Ozzie is starting one of his epic German bike rides tomorrow, so he joined us for the evening.

Heidelberg has a mountain called the Königstuhl (King’s seat) high above the river. We get to the top on an old funicular railway.

Great views of the town and the river from the summit.

There’s a restaurant at the top. We had beer and lunch.

There’s a children’s playground with a Königstuhl.

Although we seem to be quite high here, the actual altitude is a little less than that of Interlaken back at home. And talking of home, it’s time to get back to our hotel to pack, as we’re heading back to Switzerland tomorrow morning.

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Today we’re travelling south again. We go through Cologne and Koblenz where we cross the Moselle, and then the railway follows the Rhine. The river barges are huge.

Hilltop castles are everywhere.

These hotel ships are very popular.

Eventually, after a journey of about 6 hours, we arrived at Heidelberg. A taxi takes us from the station to our hotel by the old bridge. We have a lovely room with a great view.

The river is the Neckar. A mate of our lives in Heidelberg, so we’ll have a good night out tonight.

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Soest is a walled town in the North Rhine Westphalia region of western Germany. The old centre is very attractive.

Despite all this architectural goodness, there are no concessions to tourism at all here. No souvenir shops, no tourist office, it’s just an ordinary provincial German town. We had assumed that our hotel must be one of the town’s oldest buildings, but then we came across the Monchshof.

This dates from 1232, which puts it right in the middle of the 6th and 7th Crusades.

We went for a wander around the town with Val’s family and the kids in the afternoon. It’s hot, about 31 degrees. Ice cream time.

Heidelberg tomorrow.