Saturday 12th July 2008

We've been here since Thursday night. We set off on Wednesday at 8pm after Graham arrived home from work. I was also working and managed to pack on Monday when not working.

We drove to Cheriton and stayed in a Holiday Inn Express which was reasonably good value. We had two rooms and breakfast was included which cost £98.

Our Eurotunnel crossing was at 9.50am so we had some time to browse the shops. It is the first time we've ever been early for our crossing. We either just arrive and board straight away or miss the crossing completely and have to catch the next train.

We drove all day through rain to begin with and then just south of Reims the weather became really hot and sunny with temperatures of 30 degrees. We arrived at the campsite at 9pm. Our mobile home is very spacious and much nicer than the one we have stayed in with Canvas Holidays the previous two years. We have three bedrooms and a dining area. I did have a bit of a blip, however, as I forgot to pack the bedding! The Eurocamp rep gave us some sheets and pillowcases and there are blankets here, so we should be ok.

We unpacked and then walked to the lake. We couldn't believe it as we saw Richard and Margaret who we have met several times over the last few years. It was their last night and they were sat outside their caravan admiring the view. They told us the weather had been gloriously hot and sunny for the last couple of weeks.

We then walked to the pub and had a quick drink before coming back to the caravan. The children went to bed and then Graham and I shared most of the bottle of wine courtesy of Eurocamp.

Yesterday we woke up early. The weather was stunning so we ate breakfast outside. Harry and Rosie went to the shop for bread and jam.

We then drove to Grindlewald Grund and parked our car at the Mannlichen bahn. We decided not to buy a train pass this year as not sure whether it is financially viable this time. The children still have their passes from last year. We caught the Gondola which is the longest cable car ride in Europe up to the top of Mannlichen. The children played on the rope hammock and had ice creams whilst we had a coffee and enjoyed the views of both valleys. The weather was still hot and sunny so we rested for some time before setting off on our walk. We have done the walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Sheidegg many times and the views never cease to amaze me. What we noticed this year were the beautiful flowers. The fields are full of tiny yellow and white flowers and bushes resplendent with small red flowers adorn the hillsides. We normally come here at the end of August and I guess that these flowers are not around by then.

We stopped at the restaurant before we reached Kleine Sheidegg and had a late lunch. The children had frites and we had rustic brown bread and salami, ham and pickles.

We then caught the train to Grund and drove to Interlaken swimming pool. We discovered this year that if we stay on the campsite we get a free entrance into the pool. When I think about how much money we could have saved over the yearsf we had known that! It costs about £20 each time for the family.

Anyway Graham and I swam 50 lengths whilst the children played/fought on the huge tyres. Graham then took them to the adjacent outdoor pool with a huge slide whilst I drove to the Co-Op and stocked up on provisions for the planned barbeque.

I then collected the others and drove back to the campsite. Graham assembled our new gas grill and we started to barbeque the chicken, sausages and veg kebabs. It ended up being a bit of a disaster though as the weather suddenly changed so i had to finish off the cooking in a frying pan on the indoor stove. We ate inside listening to the rain and thunder. Rosie became really frightened and kept counting, ' one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi' etc after each bout of lightening. At one point she counted up to two and there was an enormous noise making the caravan shake.

We resumed monopoly and played for the rest of the evening. It looks like Harry might win. I'm almost out of the game which we will continue tonight. Went to bed late and I was too tired to read. I have hardly read at all so far this holiday. I'm reading Voice in the Wind which is an epic novel by Francine Rivers.

Woke up at 8am to the sound of rain on the caravan. Looks like the bad weather has put a stop to our plans to climb up Harder Kulm today. Instead we will go into Interlaken and visit the Tourist Office. We want to find out where we can go to church tomorrow as the we are not sure the English speaking church we usually attend in August is on.