Switzerland - Day 6

Very heavy rain again overnight but we woke this morning to a rather brighter picture though the skies are still far from clear. Quite a difficult day to read as we are very reluctant to spend a significant amount of money heading up into the mountains on a cable car only to find that when we get to the top there is little to be seen because of low cloud or even rain.

After much deliberation we decided to head in the direction of the cable car at Undere Allme with a view to going up the cable car and then ascending to the summit of a local peak called First. Unfortunately persistent cloud around the peak caused us to decide to stick to the valleys, there seems to be little point in going to significant expense and effort only to find that we were unable to see anything when we did reach the top.

We spent a very pleasant few hours wandering around the valley paths taking photographs, video clips and just generally enjoying being scenery. The Kandersteg International Scouting Centre was very busy with lots of young people from the UK staying who seemed to be generally having a good time. Checked out the Sunnbuel cable car station during the walk, these things are pretty expensive, the return cable car trip for the 2 of us would be approximately £40 which makes a day out walking quite an expensive affair and certainly something that needs to be planned for when the weather is ideal.

About lunchtime the clouds started to thicken up again but by this time we were well on our way back and once again we managed to arrive back at the camp just before the rain started again. Once the weather had broken the remainder of the day was a mixture of heavy showers and drizzle but again we had a perfectly nice time pottering about, relaxing and reading.

Later in the day we got into conversation with a very nice Dutch couple talking about past experiences that they had had. They both have an interest in photography and film making so it was nice to spend a little time chatting to them about our common interests.

The days soon pass with an enjoyable routine of generally keeping things going around the camp, keeping ourselves fed, getting out and about and of course plenty of the inevitable sleep. It's starting to look as if because of the weather and probably won't manage to see all the places we had hoped, if this does prove to be the case that's just one of the things that will have to be accepted and we will just have to make a return visit.

Constantly thinking about how the camping experience can be improved even though it has proved to be surprisingly comfortable so far. Also been considering whether it would be more cost-effective to make the long drive south to the Channel ports to cross over to mainland Europe rather than using the North Sea ferry. In the end it's all a balance between cost and convenience but as time goes by and work commitments reduce making the drive south and making these camping trips longer may be the better option in the long term.

All that is for another day, in the meantime I'll sign off and head for another night of thrills and spills on the AeroBed!