Breithorn

The weather forecast today was pretty grim - and we couldn’t do the planned hike anyway due to the trail being closed for heavy snow. We decided to take the cable car up to the highest point in Europe that is accessible by cable car - it’s right on the Italian border and you can continue across into Italy if you so desire. The journey up consists of three cable cars increasing in gradient and we initially thought we’d made a mistake as it was snowing, with zero visibility. We spent some time looking at ice sculptures, watching some interesting films and drinking hot chocolate, and suddenly the clouds parted to reveal Breithorn - it was bizarre because we’d no idea it was so close. There were many hardy folk climbing it but we are armchair mountaineers ourselves so we watched from afar. The changing outlook was hypnotic - the Matterhorn teased us with its lower slopes for a while - and although we were at nearly 4,000m the sun was warm. At that altitude even climbing a flight of stairs is an effort but other than that we didn’t feel any ill effects.

Coming down we had the first couple of cable cars pretty much to ourselves and it was glorious. We stopped at the first station and enjoyed the sunshine - I’m like a lobster due to poor sunscreen application - then carried on down. A few extras to show the views - along with one of the Matterhorn from last night - we’ve been very lucky with the weather. Also in extras, John auditioning for a contract with a sportswear company…..

We’re currently watching Germany v Scotland (oh dear) which inconsiderately has German commentary - they’ve already mentioned “Braveheart” several times but they do keep talking about Englanders!!!

Onward to Grindelwald tomorrow.

PS the fondue was amazing - not sure my arteries approve though.