After a walk through the interior of the Stockalper Palace courtyard and a quick trip to Vögele to buy some hiking boots, it was time to head off and discover some of Switzerland. Rita had some ideas of what she wanted to show the girls but, as on the barge, we would just go with the flow and see what happened.

Our first destination for the day was Zermatt, the closest town to the Matterhorn. Rita and I had been there many years ago during winter and thoroughly enjoyed the place. So we were interested to see what it would be like in summer. And for the girls it would be a chance to see an iconic Swiss landmark. So we jumped in the car and headed off towards Visp, were we promptly got lost in some new road works, but eventually found the valley road that would take us up to Zermatt. But we could only drive as far as Tasch, where we had to change to the cog railway which takes everyone up the valley for the last section of the route into Zermatt.

When we arrived in Zermatt, it was just the same as we remembered it (minus the snow!), with lots of summer tourists this time around.

We went for a walk around the village, found a sandwich shop, and settled down to have lunch near the church with a beautiful view of the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones with that idea, and soon we were surrounded by tourists taking photos of the Matterhorn from that exact spot. Good news spreads fast!

After lunch, we took the cog railway from Zermatt up to Rotenboden, with the intention of walking back down to Riffelberg, and then taking the railway back down to Zermatt.

Along the way, our adventurous plans were put into stark relief when we met three young guys who planned a 2-day hike to the top of a glacier on the other side of the valley and then to ski down.

But undaunted and unintimidated, we set off in my new hiking boots and a variety of other footwear.

Along the way, we stopped at the Riffelsee to do some promotional shots for the 2013 Steelband Festival in Marysville, while Emma and Rhianna also got in on the act (shame the sun was coming from behind us, but we couldn't move the mountain!).

There was still a little bit of snow lying around, so they couldn't stop themselves from picking on the poor photographer.

However, the clean air, peace and quiet, wildflowers and the scenery soon had everyone in a contemplative mood.

But it wasn't too long before the hills were alive to the sound of music, and Rhi was showing us how much she'd grown!

Too soon, however, we had to come down the mountain again on the cog railway to Zermatt, then head off to Anzere on the other side of the Rhone Valley, where we were going to spend the night with our barging friends Peter Vizzard and Judy Lynne. Peter and Judy had recently sold their barge "Zee Otter" after many years, so it would be interesting to see how they were coping "sans bateaux".