7. Sep, 2022

7. Sep, 2022

7. Sep, 2022

WEDNESDAY 07-09-22

Oh dear another bad decision. The weather forecasts had changed a lot overnight and by this morning it looked as if we'd only have a four hour window to do what we wanted, and so decided that we'd stay around the village today (to be honest, I think we're still feeling the effects of all the walking), catch a train somewhere tomorrow and come hell or high water go up to Mannlichen Friday.

We didn't hurry to get out such was our disappointment, but we needed to fill the day. On the way to the village we passed the local cemetery and so I thought I'd take a few pictures as it is so colourful and well maintained. It looks a lovely place to have a final lie down. Within the cemetery is a monument to the casualties who decided to die in the fast lane within the valley. The death toll thus far is: Basejumping 5, Paragliding 1, Speedflying 1. Basejumping therefore appears to be the most effective way for young studs wanting an adrenaline rush to kill themselves. As always it wasn't the falling that killed them, it was the sudden stop at the bottom. Two of the deaths were last year and there have been two so far this year.

It was market day in the village such as it was, but it was nice to see the stalls laid out with such care and pride by their proprietors. The railways station is at the other end of the village and so we thought we'd enquire about trains to Bern, which is north of here and quite away. We've done it before but I don't remember it costing us around £65 a ticket. We'll file it in the 'pending' tray.

After wandering around for a while we started making our way back, but before we did so The Chef popped in to the Air Glaciers office www.air-glaciers.ch/lauterbrunnen and picked up a leaflet. I have to say the flights weren't cheap, and I didn't expect them to be, but they weren't as expensive as I had imagined, given the price of everything else here.

On the way back we ummed and ahhh'd. I knew The Chef didn't like heights, even though we'd made a similar helicopter trip over New York many moons ago. She said she wouldn't mind if I went and had a flight, but I told her I wouldn't do the flight without her. She eventually said she'd do it, to which I replied "Only if you want to, if you don't I'm happy not to".

Well after returning 'home' for a coffee and a sit down in the sunshine (where the hell was the rain and thunderstorms?), I suggested we walk over to the heliport and have a chat with them, which we did, with a view to flying on Friday. The pricing per helicopter was based on a minimum of three people onboard and the flights were priced at CHF195 for thirteen minutes, CHF260 for twenty minutes (the one we fancied @ £231), and CHF390 for thirty minutes. Unless we could find a third person we'd have to pay for the third seat ourselves which would have made it very expensive.

On the way back we popped to the campsite reception to ask if they had requests from guests looking to couple up with others for a flight. The answer of course was no, but they took our details and maybe, just maybe we'll get a result but I don't really expect it.

This evening we have finally had thunderstorms and heavy rain AT LAST! We've been expecting it for three days now, so maybe we'll finally get a bit of stability with the weather. Of the three weather forecast websites we've been referring to since we've been here, I have to say it's been the BBC website that has been by far the most accurate, and if we'd followed that we would have been able to get everything done that we wanted.

This evening I'm reflecting on the fact that come Friday it will cost us CHF58 each for the cable car alone up to Mannlichen and then there's the train fare on top of that, so I think it will cost us about CHF85 each, and we've been up there before, and very nice it is too, but for that money I could get a part-ride on a helicopter, so as I sit here this evening I'm thinking 'to hell with it, we won't be coming back, so it's now or never'. There are no pockets in shrouds, you can't take it with you, and all this saving up for a rainy day - well sad though it is, this is our rainy day, in fact its peeing down, so why not do it? I can't expect The Chef to dig deeper, as given half a chance she wouldn't bother, but I'm thinking I'll pay for two seats and we'll, as I understand it, have a helicopter to ourselves. I'll share my thought with her in the morning - I'll let her get a good night's sleep first.

.................Watch this space.