Camp site: JungfrauCamp Self-Checkin, Interlaken - Plot No. 96 (11-14 August)

Day 1 - Tuesday 11 August

Lovely nights sleep, scrambled eggs with ham and mushrooms on toast and setup for the 2 hour drive to Interlaken. Decided to take the car train from Goppenstein to Kanderstag which was certainly an experience! This cost £28 and takes you through the heart of the Rinderhorn mountain. The only downside is the 4,000 drop on the other side for our poor brakes! This actually turned out fine using high revving gears instead and going significantly slower and much reduced MPG. First sight of Lake Thunersee revealed itself at around 2pm and what a beautiful lake! Straight to Lidl Interlaken to prepare for this 4 night stay, stocked up on beers (24 bottles of Sagres for £15), and plenty of meat, bread and essentials for £75. Arrived at Jungfrau Unterseen camp site at around 2:30PM and got to our plot - 96, a very nice, spacious plot overlooking the mountains. Weather now touching 38 in the van, got set up, awning out, and relaxed around the van with a few beers and olives etc..how cosmopolitan. Don’t think we really moved properly all day apart from toilet breaks. A lovely red Thai curry knocked up at night by Mel which was divine! We opened the box of white wine and listened to music, then as par for the course, the heavens opened, thunderstorms, scurrying round to close the awnings and grab everything and retired to the bosom of the van for safety and up the wooden hills.

Day 2 - Wednesday 12 August

Lazy lie in until around 9:30, Mel knocked up a wonderful scrambled eggs, gourmet sausages on toast, with mushrooms, mozzarella, vine tomatoes and Levi Roots mmm. Decided to walk to Lake Thun along the (dry) river bed, a gorgeous 2km walk. Had a cold coffee each at Laguna beach bar - £6 each. Then plonked our arses on a shady spot lake side. Tranquil is not the word - What a bloody spot! Sunbathed and then both went in Lake Thun for a swim. What an amazing Lake for a swim! Truly memorable! Lying on your back floating, surrounded by mountains in the crisp glacial waters was a bucket list entry. We spent about 3 hours floating and dossing. Then we utilised the free Swiss public transport to head to Interlaken. Had a good look around this pretty town and headed for a couple of beers at Brasserie 17 at the Happy Inn Lodge, a pint of a lager for Mel and a Dunkel for me - £7.50 each, not bad for here. Looked at prices for food - the cheapest salad anywhere is around £22. Each. Just not paying that for lunch. Headed for Aldi for a couple of spinach sticks for Mel and a sandwich and spinach nibble for me. Tried to catch the bus back but ended going in the wrong direction for 30 mins but eventually brought us back to within 200 metres of the camp site. Quick shower and change and caught the last 19:14 bus into town. Weather still high 30’s and sweating profusely. We wanted to catch the eclipse but the bloody mountains are in the way. Went to Bounty bar for a quick beer by the river, lovely spot, nothing on the menu and a crazy Russian owner who seemed a little deranged. Necked that and headed to Husi Bierhaus - cracking place with 16 ales on tap, picked a gorgeous local beer at 5.5% for £6.50 for a large and a couple of Aperols for Mel at £9 each. Was boiling inside so didn’t stay long. It was now around 10pm so we committed the cardinal sin. I can barely write it down. We went to McDonald’s. 3 plain cheeseburgers and chips for me. Big Mac meal for Mel. £32. Jesus. Ate it walking back, my order was wrong. Burger had onions and ketchup on. I projectile vomited it onto the pavement. Never again. Lovely walk back under the night sky, saw a massive shooting star that lit up the sky! Perseid meteor showers tonight. We got to the van, opened a cold beer and stared up at the skies. We saw about 10 shooting stars, I showed Mel the stars with binoculars - staggering how many more are visible - literally filled the sky. Slept with the skylight open looking out to the galaxies.

Day 3 - Thursday 13 August

Another lazy lie in until 10 and gorgeous scrambled eggs on toast created by the good chef Mel Anie. Temp already at 30 degrees, walked to Lake Thun and Laguna cafe for our cold coffee. Had booked the Boat trip to Spiez - £50 one way for us both and we can try and blag our way back for free. Boat arrived promptly at 12:24 and off we went, blagging our way into first class on the top deck in the best seats for a cracking view - within 2 minutes Mel was too hot so retreated to the safety of the steerage level. Trip was just over an hour - Spiez is absolutely beautiful! We wandered the ancient streets and visited the 10th century church, amazing architecture. We felt we were deserved of a beer so had a couple in the bar by the harbour then headed for the local beach - turns out that you need to pay £6 each to swim in their private area - no thanks, so we headed to a ramshackle area where people were jumping in. I stripped off ready and strolled down like David Hasselhoff, only to slip over, do a little powerslide and then fall into the water over the harbour edge and hope no one noticed, knowing full well that everyone was giggling away. Whilst swimming I also heard a massive shriek coming from the general direction of Mel. I turned around and she was fighting off a duck that had bit her. We are so cultured and have adapted well to this lifestyle. We moved on to the safety of the bar and then hustled our way back through 2 bus connections that we should have paid for but didn’t. Video called Ethan - happy birthday son! and got ready and headed to Fondue Villa for tea. This is basically where we dip bread in cheese for £100. It turned out to actually be rather lovely, it was all you can eat cheese and then chocolate. We barely touched the chocolate with Mel feeling really, really sick. Total bill was £145 including a litre of house white and a 10% tip. We walked the 1km back to the camp site and slept off the excess.

Day 4 - Friday 14 August

Very poor broken nights sleep with bizarre dreams - must have been the cheese excesses. Decided to have a really, really lazy day. Had the usual scrambled eggs and Mel had weetabix. Walked to Lake Thun down the dried up river bed and a couple of cold coffees at the Laguna Cafe. Parked our towels under a shady spot and read and swam. We did this for a couple of hours and caught the free bus to Interlaken West where we headed to Coop for our lunch - a small chicken baguette half price for £3.50 for me and a proper chicken baguette for Mel for £7.90. Went souvenir shopping for the grandkids and then headed for Brasserie 17 for a couple of dunkels for me and lager for Mel. Video called Harry and Louie who was having a bath - so lovely! A storm was brewing so we went to Helvetia sport bar for one whilst it hammered down. Then moved on to Hangar 32 bar - a very cool place with a chilled, laid back vibe. The old guys outside seemed to know everyone who passed, probably local celebrities. Sat talking to a Colombian guy who is a nurse here, and a Swiss German couple. We chatted for an hour or two and Mel sank many an Aperol. Slightly squiffy, we walked to our campsite and Mel knocked up a rather lovely creamy chicken and garlic orzo dish which tasted rather divine. Lights out.