Today was a very busy day for the 259th Glasgow Guides. After our usual breakfast of cereals and bread (this time with added Nutella -yum!) we headed off to Adelboden to visit Our Chalet and the famous Woodcarvers. Luckily it was a pretty easy trip today - only 1 train & 2 busses!

As we neared our final bus stop we all began to dread what lay ahead of us - we had frequently been warned that this was the kind of walk that may well kill us: long, windy and very much uphill. Much to our surprise (and relief) we reached Our Chalet in a little over 20 minutes with only minor sweating and no real difficulty at all - if only we'd known this was the easiest walk of the day!

After a thoroughly enjoyable tour of Our Chalet we realised we had some free time before heading off to the woodcarvers. Not wanting to waste a second, this time was spent rehearsing the Guacamole song (if I ever see an avocado again it will be too soon!!) and attempting to take selfies whilst jumping in mid-air. This was followed up by Daisy's shout of 'OMG a butterfly just touched me!!!' leaving everyone in fits of giggles. Just as we recovered Nairne somehow managed to tangle her sunglasses in her hair (photos to follow!) and once again we descended into giggles.

Lunch (which included plenty of cheese, salami & crisp sandwiches today) was followed up by the walk into Adelboden town, and this is where things began to go downhill (quite literally at first) with the walk. After a pleasant 20 minute stroll down the hill we'd climbed earlier in the day, we once again found ourselves faced with a rather steep hill. Unfortunately for us this one just kept going...and going...and going. We're going to have some serious calf muscles by the time we come home! After an eternity of walking uphill, we finally hit the final stretch into town but by this point it was so hot that the Tarmac was actually beginning to melt and stick to our shoes! On the plus side, the stickyness made the road pretty grippy so at least none of us fell over!

After a short wander around town we headed off to the woodcarvers, optimistic that the worst of the walk was over. After much walking up & down hill we finally reached the woodcarvers, much to everyone's relief (though where the middle 20 mins of our walk went we will never know. One minute there was 45 mins but then 10 mins later it was only 15!). Upon arrival we had our most interesting first yet - our first encounter with a traditional Swiss toilet. It consisted of a wooden shed, inside which was a wooden shelf with a hole in it. Needless to say the Guides were much alarmed, especially once they'd had a good whiff (the hot sun really did not help matters in there!) although most of us did manage to use the toilet. This was in spite of the over friendly wasp who resided in the toilet and seemed to have a slight affinity for bums (I've genuinely never pee'd quite so quickly in my life - I'm sure I broke a world record!)

Our efforts were rewarded as we got to shop in the woodcarvers, which contained such beautiful items that many of us struggled to choose what we wanted! But we eventually managed to pick (or just bought everything!) and off we headed towards home. Fortunately this was almost entirely downhill, but we quickly discovered the steepness of this downward slope and found ourselves wishing we were back on the uphill (there's no pleasing some folk!) About half away down Daisy declared that her feet were agonising, a sentiment many of us agreed with! As we reached the bus stop a number of people who'd refused to use the previous toilet confessed their need and were swiftly escorted to a nearby bush - again a first for most of them!

After arriving home and eating a yummy meal of paprika chicken we were given down time to relax and mentally prepare for tomorrow's hike. The girls are slowly getting more confident around the site & are enjoying meeting lots of people from all over the world. Both Hannah W & Nairne declared today to be the best day yet & Hannah admitted she didn't even mind walking anymore, it's fun to explore places!

Here's hoping the hills are kind to us tomorrow. At least we get the bus up the worst of the hills!