20. Jun, 2016

18. Jun, 2016

SATURDAY 18-06-16

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning, probably catching up on a few disturbed hours over the past couple of nights due to the noise of rain hitting the roof.

After scrubbing up I did some hand washing and hung it in the drying room which is provided here, they seem to have thought of everything.

The weather has been unsettled to say the least, it started off cloudy then the sun came through eventually becoming really quite hot, but that didn't last. Light showers followed, during which we decided we just had to go out for a walk. I wanted to get a few video shots of the trains coming down the mountain from Wengen station (pronounced Vengen, because these people speak German and can't pronounce a 'W',for example 'Vee haff vays off making you talk'. So why use 'W's in their language?) and a few photographs, so Mac's on and off we trotted, me with the cameras in my backpack to try and keep them dry.

I took just one photograph, that was of the church before the SLR died - flat battery. I'm usually very careful about recharging batteries immediately after use, ready for the next time, so either I forgot, or I have a duff battery. I carry three, so when we got back I swapped naughty number 3 battery with number 1, so we'll see how it goes.

Not long after we returned from the not too successful photographic mission it started to rain heavily. Oh how grateful I was that we were warm and snug inside 'Freddie Fendt'. Those poor souls on the lower level in tents have my sympathy.

I've had an aching back today and I think it's due to sitting around so much in this crappy weather. To think that only days ago we were enjoying bright sunshine and temperatures of about 30°C. Next time - Provence!

This evenings culinary delight was a slow-cooked beef casserole which was very nice indeed and fitted the weather we are having.

Just before the meal was to be served I remembered I had left my clothes in the drying room and so I had to put my Mac on, and take a plastic carrier bag with me (no point in getting dry clothes wet again bringing them back) and retrieve them. They are currently stowed in the rear garage locker and I'll iron them tomorrow.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be very wet indeed, with things starting to improve markedly on Monday, which means that's the first day of our holiday here proper, and I hope we'll have better tales and pictures to share with you from that day forward.

If it's going to be that wet and miserable tomorrow I just might have time to turn my thoughts to the EU referendum.

Due to the embarrassingly poor output of photographs produced today I may just share one or two with you which I took yesterday.

18. Jun, 2016

18. Jun, 2016

18. Jun, 2016

FRIDAY 17-06-16

It rained heavily during the night, in fact for most of the night. Never mind, we've woken to a cloudy, warm day.

After scrubbing up in the fabulous shower/toilet block which is only a short distance from us and where we can enjoy piped music whilst having a very powerful shower, we got ready for a walk down to Lauterbrunnen village.

The sun was warming things up through the breaks in the cloud, much better weather than we had anticipated, given the conversation we had on our arrival here regarding the huge amount of rainfall expected. I'd been waiting for the order to fasten lifejackets and make towards the lifeboats.

The village hadn't changed much at all since our last visit about 12 years ago, though the prices have certainly changed, it's never been cheap here but now it's just got silly. I would have expected there to have been lots more tourists and hikers around than we saw, but it was fairly quiet. Perhaps the Swiss have got just a little too greedy.

On our walk back to the campsite Rosina looked at a few prices displayed outside the tourists restaurants. One example was a straightforward burger and chips 20SF, so that's 40SF for two, and at a tourist exchange rate of something like 1.25 Swiss Francs to the Pound it would work out about £16 a head, then there would be a drink, plus possibly a service charge, plus a tip. It made the burger and chip lunch we had back in Nice seem cheap. So that's our justification for arriving here with so much food. We may need to supplement it with some fresh fruit and vegetables bought locally but otherwise we should be ok.

By now the sun was out and it was gloriously warm, and so we had our lunch sat outside, having moved the vehicle twice within our pitch to try and get the best of the sunshine whilst at the same time respecting other people's privacy. Today it was toast, something we have occasionally when we have some bread that's getting a bit firm, and it only takes a day or so for that to happen.

This afternoon we went for a lovely walk along the valley in which our campsite, Camping Jungfrau sits. As I was taking a backpack with the Macs in, plus the video camera, I chose to be lazy and just carry the small pocket camera. The definition of the picture is not as good as the SLR but it is so much lighter. Next time it will have to be the SLR.

One thing that spoils the ambiance of the place these days are Base Jumper's. Just down the road there is a heliport, and from there these loons are delivered up to the top of the valley from where they jump off before opening their parachutes and then playing silly begger's swirling around and stuff. This activity makes it more difficult to get a decent photograph without them in it. If these people want to get a buzz from danger they should go and join the Army as a Bomb Disposal expert, there are similarities to their hobby as they only get to make one mistake.

Before enjoying The Chef's special this evening - Chilli Con Carne we listened to very, very loud, almost continuous thunder moving slowly towards us, fortunately it passed us by, but whoever finished up underneath that storm got a good soaking.

Tomorrow we will decide what activities we will do during our stay. We have decided that this will be our last visit here given the prices and unpredictability of summer weather in Northern Europe. We'd rather spend far less money and get a much better chance of sunshine down in somewhere like Provence.

This evening's entertainment was a DVD - 'The Pink Panther' starring Peter Sellers, which The Chef chose. As a consequence it's unlikely she'll get another choice this trip. Thankfully the sequels were much funnier, but this one was rather hard work.