It's been nice being home for the month of July, and it looks like most of August will go the same way. I ended up taking a couple of weeks off in the middle of the month for a "staycation". These are very enjoyable in the Switzerland when the weather is good, and in fairness for the first week when we were out and about the weather held up pretty well: the second week was a bit more miserable, and it's been a bit mixed since I've been back working.
The break kicked off with a trip to the Montreux Jazz Festival: we managed to get tickets to see Beth Gibbons - the former singer and lyricist from Portishead, one of my favorite bands in the 90s - who was supported by Blanco White.
The main stages at Montreux are still being renovated (to be re-opened next year) so for now the concerts are being held at the Lake and Casino stages. The night we went Lionel Ritchie was on the Lake stage, while our concert was at the Casino.
Both sets were absolutely outstanding. I was genuinely blown away.
It was lovely evening to be in Montreux - the weather was perfect.
Over the weekend I took two of my kids to Saint Ursanne for their biannual medieval festival.
We got there quite early on the Sunday morning, so managed to enjoy the period before it got really busy. I have very fond memories of us coming here with the kids, through the years, all of us in costume, and I love the fact that even as young adults they enjoy coming back.
Our big plan for this summer's break was to cycle across to Bern and then down to Thun - camping in both places - and then heading up to Adelboden for some time in the mountains (and proper beds and showers).
We'd assembled a group of 8 people for the trip: with the volume of camping equipment, etc., we decided that one of us should make the trip by car - a support vehicle, no less! - and that my wife and I could alternate between driving and cycling. I drew the short straw (did I, though?) and so drove with Daisy, our cocker spaniel, on the largest leg from our home to Bern.
It was nostalgic to be camping again - much of the equipment was used during our big round-the-world trip, back in 2017-18 - and in a lovely setting on the banks of the Aare.
On the second day of the trip we took the train down to Steffisburg - close to Thun - where we rented a large inflatable boat to float back down the Aare to the campsite.
This is something we first did a few years ago, and it was really nice to do again. Even Daisy seemed to enjoy herself!
The Aare is pretty fast-moving, so there isn't a great deal of paddling needed (although there are a few spots where you really need to be careful). It took us 3 hours to travel the 28 km or so back to Wabern. Conveniently the drop-off for the boat was right at our campsite, which made it really easy to settle into our evening plans.
The following day we'd be cycling back up to Thun along the Aare. It was may wife's turn to drive this leg, and my turn to cycle.
Despite being very slightly uphill, this leg as overall much flatter than the first leg, by all accounts.
And there were some stunning views along the way!
Our campsite was in Gwatt, which meant cycling through the beautiful city of Thun.
Lake Thun was a great place to cool off after an afternoon in the saddle.
And was simply gorgeous as the sun went down.
After Thun we headed to Adelboden. The cyclists did a tour of the lake, before leaving the bikes in Spiez - the road up to Adelboden isn't especially fun to take on a bike - and as the support driver I did some ferrying around of equipment.
In the evening we headed up to the village for an event - these are held very few weeks through the summer - where we could eat, drink and listen to some yodeling (which I love, I fully admit).
The weather was a bit mixed in our time up in the mountains, but we did manage to walk to a waterfall...
… and do our annual trip to Trottiland (where you can take scooters along several of the pistes used for skiing).
While the rest went down the slopes, I went for a walk with Daisy, who simply loves the mountains.
I did get to do a few runs towards the end of the day, though.
Despite the mixed weather, the summer has been a lot of fun, so far. I'm now about to take a few more days off over the Swiss National Day (August 1st), but will be back again fully from next week. I should even have some work-related topics to blog about!
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