Alpine Adventures

Wednesday morning was pretty mixed. We woke to sunshine and glorious mountain views from our hotel balcony after a blissful night's sleep in the comfiest bed of the holiday thus far. Eleanor and I missed out on a pre-breakfast swim, owing to the lateness of the hour, but we had thoroughly sampled all the hotel had to offer by way of watery amusement last night and, dare I say it, I have pretty much had enough of swimming! Breakfast was served in the fading grandeur of the Hotel Belle Epoch Victoria's lavish dining room.  Like much if this hotel, it showed signs of having once been luxurious, but it's gentility was now somewhat shabby. Breakfast (or possibly a surfeit of pool water last night) Did not sit well with Eleanor and whilst I was at the self service egg station boiling some eggs  (the point of the mid holiday night in a hotel was that someone cooks my meals for me!) Eleanor was sick! Since Daddy was in charge, they headed, not for the open do...

Today was check out day at Bella Tola, as we headed into the Bernese Oberland. First stop Kandersteg for one night, the on to Interlaken on Wednesday. The day began, therefore, with packing, rather than swimming, as we loaded up the car and set off, quite literally through the mountains, via the Goppenstein - Kandersteg Car transporter , to Kandersteg. On arrival, we were able to check into our hotel early and then get the cable car up to the  Oeschinensee.  This was a definite hit, particularly since the first thing Eleanor spotted as we left the gondola was the summer tobbagan track. Gaz and El had to have a go, of course. Then we walked the mile and a half up to the Oeschinensee, a high mountain lake of almost tropical blueness, ringed round with snow topped mountains. Eleanor scrambled through the surrounding woodland with enthusiasm, stopping to summit every passing boulder.  Our reward, once we arrived lakeside, was a picnic lun...

Our first couple of days in Valais saw us mainly poolside. The next two days saw us venture mountain side. Gaz is very mindful of the Robin Hood half marathon looming, so packed his running kit and set off on Sunday morning for a run. Whilst Gaz ran 6 slow, steep miles, Eleanor and I went for a cold swim. After lunch, we headed up the mountain road to Leukerbad from where we got the cable car up to the Gemmi Pass. On a clear day you have a view of about a dozen c.4000m peaks. It wasn't a clear day (well, it seemed ok in the valley, when we set off, but the clouds had drawn in by the time we got to the mountain top). Our drizzle-y view is below, but the Gemmi  Webcam gives you a much better view. On our return to the valley bottom, we coaxed Eleanor into walking a little way up the road from our campsite to the Butan Bridge, which crosses a deep gorge across a huge riverbed, currently hosting a tiny stream. Then it was back to the campsite for more freezing s...

The first couple of days of our holiday in beautiful Valais has seen us mainly swimming. Yesterday I made good on my pinky promise to join Eleanor in the glacial Bella Tolla campsite pool. It took me some time to build up to going in, and once fully submerged, I found you did need to keep moving, as the water was bracing! Eleanor and I had a morning swim on our own. Gaz excused himself on the feeble grounds of having forgot to pack his swimming gear. (We are staying on a campsite with a pool - I did tell him!). However, after lunch and a quick trip to Susten to stock up on essentials at the supermarket  (which didn't sell swimming trunks) we coaxed him into the pool (clad in running shorts). In addition to the slide, our pool has a diving board. Eleanor is desperate to have a go but didn't feel brave enough. She requires a rubber ring to do it. Since she can swim, I didn't think to pack her, long discarded, rubber ring. The supermarket in Susten doesn't sel...

It was a pretty epic journey, we are a mouse down, but we have made it to  Bella  Tolla Campsite in one piece. We managed a two stop strategy. Pausing at a rest stop near Dijon for a picnic. We over ruled the sat nav shortly afterward that and spurned the long road to Switzerland via Geneva (and continuous motorway) in favour of the direct route to Lausanne is the Jura Alps. It was much more scenic, much shorter and definitely a little more hair raising. The slow bits were very slow (particularly when we got stuck behind the tractor and camper van combo), but the cumulative frustration for the driver meant he put his foot down with some purpose when slow traffic was finally by-passed.  The drive alongside lake Geneva, from Lausanne to Montreux, was breath taking. The lake is framed by a ring of 3500m+ peaks. From  Montreux we headed up the Valley to Sustens where, we took only one wrong turning before finding our Campsite. Eleanor lost no time in...

As I write this we are c.200 miles south if Calais, about a third of the way through today's road trip.  We have just stopped to refuel, take on more coffee (for Gaz) and make use of the, surprisingly nice, service station loos. We haven't yet decided if we are on a 2 or 3 stop strategy. My bladder is the weakest link, so I am on a reduced fluid intake in the hope we can minimise our time off road. In the back we have a sleeping girl.  I am sorry to report, she cried herself to sleep when, after creating a snuggly nest for herself in the duvet, she prepared to snuggle up with Small and go to sleep. But there is no Small, Small is lost! Mummy didn't put Small in the bag this morning, Ellie didn't bring Small with her, Daddy was asked, in faint hope, rather then expectation, if he had picked up Small this morning; he hadn't. Daddy's negative was couched in such terms as to make it absolutely clear that remembering to retrieve a precious snuggly mouse fr...