After breakfast and a few hours of sunshine, I went down to the van to see how the battery charge was faring, and saw that it had increased slightly to 11.7v. So I tried to start the engine, and to my surprise it started first go! Which left me with a dilemma; should I keep it running and get Rita to pack everything and try to drive back to Auxonne in one go today (since I thought we had enough diesel in the tank to get there without refuelling), or should I turn it off and allow another day of solar charging and hope it would start again tomorrow when we could go to the campervan repair mechanic in Halse? We couldn't go there today because it was a public holiday for the Feast of the Assumption! I love how the Europeans love religious holidays, even if they're not particularly religious (just like Australians love the Queens Birthday holiday even if they're not monarchists!). If we had been in the Canton of Bern I could have gone to the mechanic today, since Bern is a Prodestant area, whereas Luzern is a Catholic area. Anyway, we decided to play safe and stay another day.

And, surprise, surprise, Beatrice asked if we wanted to go for another walk today, and we said yes. So, in the late morning we headed across the valley, and drove up the hillside. The view of the valley, and the mountains in the background to the east, was very different from the view to the west from Beatrice's house.

We were soon walking along the ridgeline between two valleys. The next mountains to the west are known as the Napf, and are the location where an interesting film (Die Kinder vom Napf) was made about the life of children raised in such an isolated natural environment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz79Z2PCwDU). Because the walk was mostly along paths cut into the hillside, we were able to stroll along without much effort, and simply enjoy the natural environment (or in the case of Rita and Beatrice, have a nice long chat).

At one point, we encountered another couple walking in the opposite direction with their dog. Given Kibo's varying reaction to others, and remembering his encounter with the small dog on our walk on Saturday, Beatrice took a good hold on his leash as they approached. But Kibo was on his best behaviour and showed no reaction at all, as we stopped and had a long chat with these youngish farmers who lived down the hill near Schüpfheim. The dogs simply stood and looked at each other, occasionally showing some irritation with how long their owners were talking.

As we continued our walk, I noticed one feature that I'd seen often in France and Switzerland, but rarely in Australia; a well-organised stack of community firewood. In Australia, such a stack would be quickly diminished by firewood scavengers. I don't know who owns this wood, but you rarely see them disturbed over here. The other difference is that the firewood is usually cut into 1 metre lengths, for wood-fired boilers, as opposed to the shorter lengths in Australia for domestic fireplaces.

When we got back to Beatrice's, Rita and I adjourned to the downstairs office while Beatrice went to her bedroom office upstairs to do some preparations for a course she is presenting later this week. After a late afternoon thunderstorm, we watched the sun set over the western hills; unlike last night, tonight was a golden sunset. After dinner, we got a phone call from Mr. Portmann from Hasle, saying that his friend could not attend to our electrician needs tomorrow. However, after we explained that the battery had drained overnight on Friday and then recharged itself via solar on Saturday and Sunday and that it was now able to start the van, he was somewhat relieved. We also mentioned that we had thought we'd identified the problem as the fridge running on battery power all the time, instead of switching to gas or mains power when the engine is not started. Therefore it was probably not a problem with the alternator, as he first thought, and therefore we may not need the auto electrician anyway. So he advised us to try starting it again in the morning and, if successful, bring it to his workshop in Hasle for him to have another look, and decide what our courses of action might best be.