Tuesday 15th July 2008

At last, a lovely hot sunny morning without a cloud in the sky! The last two days and nights have been reminiscent of the Great Flood of '05! On Saturday we walked around Interlaken in the rain and then went swimming again. I did 50 lengths and then we walked to McDonald's for our evening meal. At night we walked down to the lake ( still raining) and then came back to the caravan for a game of Monopoly ( Graham won).

On Sunday we went to a lovely church service on the Hohweg. It was a C of E service with communion, and despite its formality the vicar was very good and the focus remained on Jesus.

We then went to the Victoria Jungfrau for coffee. David had texted me to say that the Liverpool football squad were in Interlaken for pre-season training. We deduced that they would be staying in the nicest hotel in town, and they are. The kindly waiter told us they are here for 10 days. However we didn't see them, but I wouldn't know who they are anyway!

We then walked up Heimwehfluh and had lunch. I walked down and the others got the rodelbahn back down. We then drove to Gunten and had an ice cream in our favourite hotel overlooking the lake.

Still raining and we drove back to the caravan and played another game of Monopoly ( Graham won again).

Yesterday was another good day despite the rain. We all woke up after a chilly night. We were all cold due to a lack of bedding with only a sheet and two thin blankets to keep us warm. We lounged around playing Monopoly and then drove to Grindlewald. We went straight to the pool and I swam 80 lengths and then read my book by the poolside, The boys eventually got thrown out of the pool by the badmeister for blocking up the slide so we got dressed and listened to the Fakenham High School band who were playing outside the sports centre. They were very good. By now it had stopped raining, but was cold and cloudy (12 degrees). However, despite the bad weather conditions, sat opposite the north face of the Eiger encircled by a ring of cloud half way up, the scenery remains stunning and beautiful.

We then walked to Hotel Spienne and had a huge meal. We hadn't eaten all day so were hungry. We had garlic and parma ham pizza bread to start followed by gigantic pizzas- I had tuna, onion and olives with a lovely glass of house red.

We drove back to Interlaken and resumed our Monopoly. Graham won again! No chance of him discreetly letting one of the children win.

I finished my book ( Engleby- Sebastian Faulkes) which was ok. As the majority of it was set in Cambridge I could relate to the places and settings that were described. However, I did not like the overarching theme of the book ( the life of a dysfunctional, psychotic student). I have read all of the author's novels( except Human Traces)and have really enjoyed all of them. This was very different although well constructed and well written.

Anyway I am sat outside sunning myself waiting for the others to return from feeding the ducks. I have done two huge loads of washing and it is perfect drying weather so we can have clean clothes. We are planning to go up the Niederhorn today, walk down to Vorsass and then get the trotti bikes down to Beatenberg. If the weather remains hot we will take a pedalo out onto the lake this afternoon. Tomorrow all being well we will do our six hour walk across the mountain peaks.

Later on... We've had a lovely day and are all gently toasted from the sun. The Niederhorn was superb. The views from the top were second to none and the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau were majestic. I took some fab photos of cloud free views of Lake Thun and mountains which were covered in snow. After lunch we walked down to Vorsass and got the trotti bikes down. The experience of going downhill so fast with the warm wind blowing gently around and the smell of freshly cut grass is amazing. At the bottom we bought a drink and ice creams from a cafe and then drove back to the campsite.

We then walked to Neuhaus and hired a pedalo. Our pedalo leaked but we managed to manoeuvre it around to the beach and back. We then walked back to the beach and sunbathed for a while. Everybody but me swam in the lake! It looked far too cold and I was too engrossed in my new book ( Notes on an Exhibition- Patrick Gale). Stopped off at the camp shop to stock up on food for the BBQ.

After we had eaten we walked back to the lake to watch the sunset. We wandered around the campsite and then came back to the caravan and got our things ready for tomorrow's hike.