On the 3rd day of my visit to Switzerland, Brigitte decided to take me hiking in the mountains. Now I do have a fear of heights, so I was not expecting to go too high.

We boarded the train and headed  from Domat/Ems to the area of Disentisl. Normally the train would take you quite high up into the mountains, but as there were engineering works being carried out on the track, there was a bus replacement service in place for the last part of the journey.

Once on board the train I realised we had a stow away on board. Julius a sharp nosed early Gotz boy had joined for our mountain trip.

The views from the train as it wound its way up the mountain side were spectacular

The Autumn colours were beautiful and the weather was very sunny and mild for the time of year.

Switzerland has its own Grand Canyon.

The next part of trip was by bus up to The Oberalppasse

Just before we started our mountain hike i took a couple of photos of a little lighthouse and other  informative signage.

Brigitte and I commenced our walk. The plan had been to walk down the mountain to the train station. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up going up the mountain instead. The views were fantastic.

I could see snow on top of an opposite mountain.

Julius was having fun and taking in the views too.

As we made our way up the mountain the views became even more spectacular. As the path we were walking on was solid on one side I hadn’t really noticed how far up we were.

Along the way we spotted some red berries growing on the side of the mountain. Brigitte told me that they were used to make jam and were very tasty. So we had a little feast of tasty berries.

We also spotted  a wild star flower, which would have been a beautiful yellow when it bloomed.

And also a little blue mountain flower

more spectacular views

We came across an information point

Julius insisted on having his photo taken

We continued up the mountain.

It was around about this time that the mountain path changed to a goat track and as we approached the summit, my fear of heights kicked in. I had a bad panic attack. I literally sunk to the ground and told Brigitte that I did not think I could go any further, but with her encouragement I carried on. I did try to run up the mountain, but as the air was thin, this turned out to be a very bad idea. so shouting out “oh my God” all the way to the top  and Brigitte saying “Do not worry he is with you”we carried on.

When we reached the top I was ecstatic

I hugged the cross at the top of the mountain.

Julius reached the top safely too.

Brigitte had prepared a lunch for us and what better place to eat it than sitting on top of a mountain.

Whilst we were eating lunch the mountain rescue helicopter came past. At first I thought, blimey, I hope I wasn’t shouting that loudly, that someone had called for help. As it turned out it was rescuing someone on an opposite mountain.

After eating our lunch we made our way down the mountain, again taking in the scenery as we went.

The building below is used for storage

On the way down the mountain a man passed us on a buggy with his 2 children. They were checking a blue machine that I had not seen before. Brigitte told me that the blue machines, were in fact snow blowers. Their function is to create snow to get the skiing season started if there has not been a snow fall. Amazing !!

Safely back down the mountain we waited for the bus and then the train to take us home.

Tomorrow is another day.

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As you may or may not know. I travelled on my birthday. After I arrived a Brigitte’s home, I had a lovely meal followed by a surprise birthday cake and a glass of bubbly. It was wonderful.

This must have been a special candle a it would appear all my wishes came true.

On waking the next morning the view from my window was spectacular. I could see a beautiful little church and had heard the bells chiming.

Brigitte took me to visit the church, which was called The Church Of John The Baptist.

We walked through the village on the way to the church.

Some of the houses were older than others with arch ways where the horse and carriage would pass through before cars were available.  Brigitte explained to me that the Swiss houses in the village, did not have front gardens like those in England. The garages and gardens were at the back of the houses.

I love the metal chicken in the garden above.

We passed by a shop window with a very unusual  coat hook stand for sale

Some of the houses were very big and Brigitte explained that if a house had 3 floors then 1 family would occupy 1 floor, so if the house had 3 floors, then 3 families would live there.

We passed under an archway with cobbled floor and proceeded up the hill towards the church. the weather was beautiful and sunny.

Taking in the view on the way.

A wonderful wooden carved owl

You can see the bigger church down below that was built when the population of the village grew.

Beautiful biblical scenes adorn the wall on the way up to the church.

When we reached the top the view was spectacular.

The parish church of S. Gion Baptista/St John the Baptist was built on the Tuma Turera tower. This large guard tower was integrated into the church from the initial construction. In the early 16th Century it was rebuilt in a late gothic style  and the extensive wood carvings of the  altars were added at that time.

In the grounds of the church there is a Beinhaus which means bone house in English. I have never seen one of these before and it is where bones of old buriels are kept. after a number of years in Switzerland the bones are removed from the graves and moved to the Beinhaus.

As you can see it is beautifully decorated.

Also in the Beinhaus there is a statue of Jesus depicting the time after he was taken down from the cross and before the resurrection .

In another part of the grounds there is a tiny little chapel I believe is for baptism. Once again this was ornately decorated.

After  taking all the delights of the church in, we descended down the hill.

Passing more beautiful homes, some of which were decorated according to the region the owner had lived in.

I noticed that some of the houses had a little window at the top, which I presumed was an attic window. Brigitte informed me that in the older houses these little windows were known as soul windows. If someone were to die in the house the window would be opened enabling the soul to ascend to heaven.

Once we had made our way back fro the Church, we headed off to the train station for some retail therapy in Chur.

Whilst we waited for the train to arrive I spotted another couple of interesting houses.

The train arrived and off we went.

In Chur I spotted this unusual piece of art on a roundabout.

I love goats but this is a Stein bock and no ordinary goat.

The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), also known as the steinbock is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps It is a  species with larger males who carry larger, curved horns. The coat colour is typically brownish grey. Alpine ibex tend to live in steep, rough terrain above the snow line They are also social, although adult males and females segregate for most of the year, coming together only to mate. Four distinct groups exist; adult male groups, female-offspring groups, groups of young individuals, and mixed sex groups.

The water above gushes out of a disused mill.

At the end of our day out we headed home to relax and prepare for the next days adventures.

I started my journey from London St Pancras to Switzerland on the Eurostar train. The journey from London to Paris takes around 2hrs 16 minutes.

I arrived into  France on time at a station called Gare de Nord. The next part of my journey was to navigate the Paris metro, which is very much like the London underground, very busy and confusing. This was the part I least enjoyed and was glad that I only has to go two stops to catch my next connection from Paris at a station called Gare de Lyon.

As you can see from the photos below Gare De Lyon station is very big and busy. Unlike main stations in England where there is one main concourse that will display all train details. This station was split into different  concourses which are called Halls and are numbered Hall 1, Hall 2, ect.

I boarded my train from Gare de Lyon  to Mulhouse. It was a very busy train and when travelling on this train you need to have a seat reservation in order to travel. This is a very fast train reaching speeds of 198 miles per hour. On board the train was a restaurant and buffet car. This part of my journey took around 2 and half hours.

Below are a couple of photos taken on route to Mulhouse. Not sure what they were but very eye catching.

Below are from the scenic route.

After arriving in Mulhouse I change to another train. This time I travelled from Mulhouse to Basel with a journey time of 1 and half hours. This train was quite an older one but still plenty of leg room and reminded me of the trains I travelled on as a child.

I loved the fact that you could turn the thermostat up or down manually. Also that the litter bins ere placed just under the window shelves so easy to access.

I arrived into Basel station. As I alighted from the train there was a station attendant gesturing for us to go through a door, which I then realised was the customs, so I went through the door and walked around the invisible border between France and Switzerland and to my surprise there was no one there, so I carried on out the other side and boarded my next train  from Basel to Chur, a journey tine of 2hours and 10 minutes.

Photos below taken along the scenic route.

On route we stopped at Zurich which is a very large station and I was mesmerised by the trains with an upper floor.

From Zurich to Chur there  are breath taking views of the lake, but as the light was fading these are not the best.

More country scenes before my arrival into Chur

The last train I travelled on from Basel to Chur was a very pretty and modern train as you can see from the photos below.

My friend Brigitte met me at Chur station and we travelled the last part of my journey together.

It had been an amazing journey and just the start of my wonderful time in Switzerland, so there is more to come.

The Brownies and the Girl Guide are raising money for charity by holding a competition to guess the bears name.

Pippin and Ruth are discussing who should take a turn sitting in the chair.

Binky reminds them that she to has been standing on her feet all day too.

Mean while back at home Caleb tells Nuru he is just popping out for a while and he won’t be long.

Nuru wonders where on earth Caleb is going?

Back at the Charity event the girls are still discussing the chair issue, when Ruth says, “look here comes a customer.”

Hi says Caleb, “what are you up to?

Binky explains to Caleb that if he pays 10p, he can guess the bears name and if he gets it correct, he can take the bear home.

Caleb pays his 10p and writes down a name for the bear. Binky is stunned Caleb has guessed the correct name “Fred bear”.

Caleb collects his prize and returns home.

Nuru asks Caleb, where have you been? Caleb says, its a surprise.

What kind of surprise says, Nuru.

Close you eyes and put out your hands, says, Caleb.

Nuru is very happy with her new bear.

Nuru says, thank you Caleb you are the best brother in the world.

rAnother amazing Chat’n’Snap arranged by Dee.

The theme this year was Girl Guides, Brownies and Cub Scouts and we were not to be disappointed.

At the rear of the village hall Dee had set out a lovely camp display for all participating, Sasha’s and  Gregor’s to take part , there was even a course doll and Studio doll Brownie.

There was a camp site with a brownie ring and a wonderful tent. My girls who consisted of Ruth ,a blonde centre part and Pippin, a wider faced brunette and Binky my 1968 fringe girl in Girl Guide uniform, were trying to encourage the others to join in there competition  to guess the bears name, which they thoroughly seemed to enjoy.

There were some lovely raffle prizes, A blonde Sasha which was won by Janet Myhill-dabbs,a blonde Gregor with painted eyes by Shelly, which came with his own trousseau , which was won by Jane Woodward and then Jane’s Mum Iris won the Brunette Gregor.

A photo of Jane Woodward with her Blonde Gregor raffle prize

And the moment she won him

A photo of Iris with her lovely Brunette Gregor

(Above Janet with her raffle prize a lovely blonde gingham Sasha Doll)

The raffle raised over £500

There were sales tables galore with everything you could possibly want to snap up  for your Sasha or Gregor.

(Above Fanny at Ruth and Lisa Hartley’s sales table)

(Above Janet at her sales table)

(Above Brenda and Fred Walton)

Then there was the Chatting of course

(Above Janet and Toni Marsh)

Above Dee, James and the lovely Rebecca

Above Jane Woodbridge and Fiona

Above Callie looking very pleased with herself and her new baby

Above Dawn Law and Chris Meatyard

Above Michelle

Above Ginny’s daughter of a Passion for Sasha

Above Dee and Ronnie

Above Linda Simpson

(Above a photo of Lee)

I took photos around the room of all the visiting dolls

(Above I believe are the only two pairs of Trendon Toddlers in existence )

(Above is a beautiful Green Doucet pram , which has been customised with a pram bag. which belongs to Dawn Law)

(Above is a photo of a Mexican fake Sasha doll)

(Above a beautiful customised Cora belonging to Gayle and a new-born softy by Janet Myhill-Dabbs)

(Above are some of Sarah Prices lovely dolls)

(Above is a beautiful studio owned by Diane Duke)

This little studio toddler belongs to dawn Law and is exquisite

(Above I just love this photo of these two that belong to Janet Marsh, move over James Dean)

Below we were visited by this little band of cuties whose name i cannot recall. So if you own one could you please give me some information on them.

The last photo is of a doll made by me using a plaster course dolls head and the body pattern from the Just like Sasha Doll pattern and she is cuddling my little baby that I re-rooted the hair on  and Janet created her for me.

I would just like to say a big thank you to Dee for once again taking the time to organise this event for us to enjoy xx

P.S

If I have any of the information wrong and you would like me to change it, just let me know and if you would like me to add the names of your dolls I will be happy to do that too.

Some of you met my Grand daughter Ruth at the Sasha Celebration Weekend, which she thoroughly enjoyed .

On the day of the raffle she had fallen in love with the blonde girl and had high hopes of winning her. Although she won some lovely items the blonde doll eluded her.

A little while after the Sasha Celebration Weekend I received an email from a lovely Sasha friend saying that she had a blonde doll that she would like Ruth to have as an extra Birthday gift.

Today is Ruth Birthday but, during the week I went to visit Ruth to deliver her extra Birthday gift and as you can see she loves her.

Thank you Rosie Shortell you made a little girl very happy indeed xxx