4 May – A great drive up a valley towards the mountains. Beautiful Swiss villages set on the hills and larger towns on the valley floor. We arrived at our camp in the town of Visp. This is a great base for our trip to Zermatt and time to relax and catch up on washing etc. The town and camp are on the banks of the Rhone River at the confluence of two valleys.

5 May – As the day was perfect with not a cloud in the sky and no wind, we walked into town and purchased 2 return tickets (60 euro quite expensive) to Zermatt. A train runs from Visp to Zermatt every ½ hour. The trip took 65 minutes. The train follows the valley and gorges of the Visp River. Most of the track is very steep and the engines use a third rail with cogs to prevent the trains slipping. There are villages scattered all along the route and chalets set on every possible vantage point. We arrived at Zermatt at 11:00am and walked thru the town which is a ski resort a bit like Queenstown but with nicer buildings and better mountains also no cars! Suddenly, there before us was the Matterhorn. It is a stunning site rising sheer into the sky. It was like a magnet so we followed the “Matterhorn trail” up a beautiful path climbing all the time to a point where we were so close to the mountain that it disappeared behind its foothills. There were chalets all along the route and several alpine villages. Unfortunately most of the restaurants were closed as we are between seasons but we found a beauty, with a great view and sat on the deck, had a beer and lunch, and enjoyed a spectacular view of the mountains and ski fields. In the ski season this spot would have been a lunch time stop as you can ski right into the town of Zermatt. We had climbed about 400 vertical metres from Zermatt to an altitude of 2000m. Following a loop track we returned to the outskirts of Zermatt and found a great Café with a spectacular view of the Matterhorn for cake & coffee before returning to the train and our camp at Visp at 6:00 pm exhausted. What a day!!!

6 May – Another beautiful day weather-wise. We spent a lazy morning catching up on cleaning and cycled into Visp town for a look around and to buy bread for lunch. In the afternoon we cycled down the Visp River to where it joined the Rhone and back up the other bank. The camp is beside the town’s outdoor swimming pool so we had a couple of nice swims in 25C water and a lie in the sun. Summer!

7 May – We had intended to go to Interlaken over the Grimsel Pass but our GPS would not let us. A nice Swiss bloke (with virtually no English) told us that it was not open yet but that we could take the camper on a train from Goppenstein to Kandersteg thru the Lotschberg tunnel. We bought a ticket from the camp office for the train (20 SF. Cheap) and set off on the short trip to the station. The train leaves every ½ hour for the 18 minute trip. We lined up and drove onto open flat deck carriages. You just sit in your vehicle for the trip thru the tunnel. A very weird sensation!! At the other end we had a relatively short drive to Interlaken. It is beautiful town set surprisingly between two lakes! Up a valley there are views of the Jungfrau Mountain area. We cycled, from our camp, into town and thru to the other lake. A cable car took us 800 vertical metres up to the Harder Kulm, a lookout and restaurant. What a view. The Jungfrau, Monch and the Eiger mountains and both lakes either side of Interlaken.

8 May – Woke up early to skype the rallies and the kids and then set off for the short (24km) drive up to the ski resort of Grindelwald. It is set with mountains all around but dominated by the Eiger. We cycled to the railway station and caught the train up to the Kleine Scheidegg. This is another “cog” railway and really steep!! Unfortunately the cloud obscured our view of the top of the Eiger and Jungfrau. We walked to a view point as the clouds swirled around the peaks however they never cleared. We had lunch at a small restaurant before returning, with a stop off at a station so that we could take a photo of the train. At sunset the skies cleared and we had a great view of all the mountains around us including the Eiger.