Bodmi Grindelwald

... the snow. I was lucky enough to see a couple of Golden Eagles hat flew over me. They were massive. As I climbed up another point of the mountain I bypassed a couple of blokes climbing up to the path after taking the wrong direction (there was a fork in the path, luckily I chose the right one). It was very difficult for them but they said they would make it. I hope they were ok. At some points there is only a rope while you balance yourself on the edge of a cliff and ...

We let the girls sleep in and then broke the news that we were going to have a quiet day in the hostel because it was raining and that they had to do a few hours of homework. Looking at the screen in the hostel, you could see that it was snowing heavily on the mountains.

By afternoon, the rain had turned to drizzle, so we ...

... went up to the Phoenix which is the weather station. While there, it started snowing and the weather started to close in so we decided to head back down to the bottom of the mountain so that we had views on the way down. By the time we left on the train and had got through the tunnel, all we could see was cloud or mist and it had started to rain.

When we got to Grindlewald we got warm in a restaurant (although ...

... were full of Japanese buying label goods, with Swiss watches being popular. We also came across 2 chocolate shops but decided to look for a cafe to have coffee and icecream.

Interlaken is a very pretty town and the river running through it is a glacial blue colour. I decided that as I had not been able to find my gloves (not sure if I had lost them or just left them at home), maybe I should buy some at a sports store. I ended up buying ...

... be a rest. Then I went up the opposite side of the valley to get a good overview of the marathon hike from the first day, see picture included. The views on this side were possibly even more spectacular than on the first day. I was elated.

On my last day I walked around Interlaken for a bit, only convincing myself that I made the right choice by not staying there.

Being from western ...

Saturday 16th Cote de Azure - Berner Oberland Today was a big driving day mainly north through Italy, 600 odd k. We started out by taking a wrong toll lane on the autoroute and found ourselves on a backroad looking down on Monaco, beaut views from up high. We had to back track a couple of hundred k back along the coast ( the scenery is probably better in this direction) as far as Genova and then ...

... because they didn't have any single rooms left. Joy of Joys ... I had a bathtub! But I would get to that later ... first I had to go and search out some bubble bath! In addition to that, I went to confirm my ski lesson for the next day and pick up my rental equipment. GOt all that done, couldn't find any bubble bath, was thoroughly chilled and hungry ... so I had an early dinner, then went and sat in the ...

... seekers dream. Skydiving, rafting, paragliding, glacier trekking, canyoning, rock climbing, ropes course...shoot whatever you want! So I kind of decided my one adventure would be canyoning, since that's not something you can do everywhere. I had to convince Laura into this one, and even though she didn't have to do it, I decided to do the half day which would be better for both of us (and maybe more our level). The full day is ...

... normally have. I tried writing in my travel journal, but I couldn't muster the effort to move the pen. Maybe altitude sickness was kicking in...whatever the reason for my slugishness, I determined it was time to head back down. I tried "sleeping" as much as I could on the way downhill. I tried blocking out as much noise and I could with my iPod. However, I could not help but be annoyed by one very large family group on the train from Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken Ost who could ...

... Apart from that the journey was fine!!! I must leave this entry there as time is a ticking on the most expensive internet clock. However, I will leave you with this snippet for the next instalment, which includes February half-term and the madness it brings, the trip to where they filmed the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and a whole lots more. Until next time campers, stay fresh and funny, Sheff