Having got Vanumbra back last night, we wanted to put it to good use in order to escape the high temperatures forecast for Auxonne over the coming week. So Rita contacted some friends in Switzerland to confirm that we would be welcome visitors for a couple of days. In mid-morning we set off in the van, following the same route we took to go to Lac Remoray last week, but continuing on to Bern. While we had paid 1.94euro/litre for diesel before we left France, we found the price around Bern to be about 2.33 SwissFrancs/litre. That converts to about AUD3.65 dollars/litre in Australia, and puts the current fuel prices in Australia into better perspective.

Rita's first visit was to see an old school friend Else (pr. Elsa) in Bern. While she went to visit her, I parked the van in a residential side-street. As in many Bern areas, parking is by permit only, so I mostly stayed in the van, ready to leave if need be. But all seemed quiet with no parking checks happening that day. The only excitement was that we were parked near an Embassy/Consulate area and the police had barricaded some of the road, with signs advising people that the police guarding the area were armed and would not hestitate to use their arms if provoked!  After reading the sign I walked away and went back to the van. And had my second bit of excitement for the morning when Melbourne Storm beat the reigning NRL premiers Penrith 16-0. After a mediocre mid-season, they appear to be regaining form towards the end of the season.

After Rita returned to the van, we headed off to the east of Bern to the town of Schüpfheim, where Rita's other friend Beatrice lived, and where we intended to spend a couple of days. Beatrice lives in the community of Schwandli, which is perched on the hillside to the east of Schüpfheim. This community was originally developed by one family as a retirement village for German citizens, but over the years these retirees have sold or died, and the current population is highly diversified by age, nationality and employment status.

Beatrice's house (at the right of the above photo) has great views down to other Schüpfheim communities below and the hills on the other side of the valley. All this area is included within the Entlebuch UNESCO Biosphere region.

When we got to Beatrice's place, which is at the end of a cul-de-sac surrounded by parking garages, we were faced with the problem of where to park Vanumbra. But the neighbours were very cooperative, letting us know who was away for the week and who absolutely needed access to their garage. We ended up tucked away in a corner out of everyone's way, but the nearest neighbour was only too happy to let us plug the van's electricity lead into a socket in his garage.

Since we had arrived in mid-afternoon, Beatrice invited us to go with her and her dog (Kibo, a BIG black poodle) for their afternoon walk. We agreed, and expected it to just be a walk around the neighbourhood for Kibo to "do his business". We got an inkling that this was not to be the case, when Beatrice loaded Kibo into the back of her car and invited us aboard. We then drove for about 20 minutes up the mountain behind Schwandli, and then over the top into the next valley. As we alighted from the car, the scenery was breathtaking.

But the full beauty of the place could not be fully appreciated without the sights AND sounds of this location (turn the volume up to get the full effect of the video below!).

We then proceeded to stroll leisurely up the hillside, and then down the hillside. It was not an arduous walk but it sure was scenic, with the views continually changing as we climbed higher. We had to be careful not to cross into paddocks with cows in them, because Kibo and cows don't get along too well together. We also found out that Kibo does not get along too well with boys on mountain bikes, and Beatrice had to keep a tight reign on him as they passed (I suspect she has years of experience with this!). But apart from that, he's a very nice dog, who got used to us very quickly.

When we got back to  the car, we found that Beatrice had handed over the driving duties to Benny Hill for the trip down the mountain, as you will see below (for those who turned up the volume for the previous video, you can turn it down a bit now for the next video!)

When we got back home, Rita and Beatrice chatted and caught up with each other's news over apero drinks, and then we had dinner. To spare Beatrice any work with beds etc, we told her we would be sleeping in the van, and so after dinner we retired relatively early, since it had been a busy day with all the driving from Auxonne and then the mountain walk after we arrived. But when we got back to the van and did the usual checks on the display screen, we discovered we had a problem with the starter battery, which was down to 7.4v (which is very depleted and effectively dead!). But rather than spoil a good day now, we decided to  turn the lights out and go to sleep, and worry about the battery in the morning.