Holding one's nerve

The invitation was just too hard to resist. Winding passes, soaring mountains, remote alpine villages - the time had come - we were going to head for the hills!

Montreux, at the far eastern end of Lake Geneva was our last stop before the climbing began. Perhaps more time would have allowed the town a chance to offer up the delights that had so attracted its illustrious list of past visitors (Bryon, Shelley, Hemmingway). For us, however the stunning Castle Chillon was well worth the stop - with a setting as close to perfection as one could imagine and complemented by regular visits from the beautiful paddle boats that steam up and down the lake - all a memorable sight.

Our next destination was Interlarken via the 'high road'. A dramatically rising engine oil gauge, a protesting engine and smoke pouring out of Tilly's air ducts didn't need any reference to the Haynes manual to tell us we had the beginnings of a long, slow and anxious journey ahead. A tense conversation, perhaps not helped by my insistence that we plan an evacuation drill just in case (fire extinguisher at the ready, doors unlocked, bags packed - I had heard too many traumatic stories of campers going up in flames to take any chances!) and agreement reached that we would proceed with caution. And so we did and many stops later (and wonderful pauses to soak up the stunning beauty, breath in the freshness of the air and capture those evocative cow bells) we arrived at Saanen - and not before we jumped fleering from the van as cars flashed and burning smells intruded - only to realise, with relief that it wasn't us! Although well short of our hoped for night stop Saanen was a serene place to spend the night. We were later to hear that Gstaad, its next door neighbour has been the chosen retreat for many a celebrity and this week was holding the Beach Volley Ball World Champions. It does seem incongruous that a land locked country should hold such an event and clearly be so enthusiastic about the sport - stranger things have happened.