Day 5 - Rafting & Float Trip

Here we are on day 5... Today was a wet day in many senses! We headed out at 7.30am and got the 8.13am train from Kandersteg. The 12+ Scouts with Josh, Ian and Matt, got off at Spiez and had to change for Boltigen but somehow they managed to get separated so Matt, with 4 of the Scouts, ended up on a train back towards Kandersteg. They still had fun, somehow! I'll try to get Josh and Matt to brief you on their side of the trip. The under 12s with me (Dave) and Helen stayed on the train to Thun and had to follow some very oblique instructions to find our raft guide Julien and his colleague. We got some jackets on plus buoyancy aids and were quite warm, to start with. We even had music playing. Gradually the temperature dropped and the wind got up. It then started drizzling and became ever more incessant as the trip progressed. The kids were getting cold so we tried to entertain them with games (swapping seats etc) and had them bouncing on their seats, paddling etc. The thunder and lightning didn't help their mood very much, although as soon as we got any sense of a storm Julien was on the phone to base to get a weather update - we would have pulled in to dock had it looked unsafe at any point. The trip should have lasted until mid afternoon but we powered down to Bern - the capital - and arrived about 12.30pm. We hauled the boat out and the kids then got out of their wet clothes and into dry, which was step one of their recovery. The guides kindly dropped us near the town centre and we then walked to McDonalds to get a hot chocolate inside them - step two achieved. And then we walked to the station - still in torrential rain - where we had lunch and completed step three. They were all much happier and fully recovered then. We got back to Kandersteg about 3.30pm and managed to get the bus up from town. We then had showers and chilled out in our chalet for the afternoon and evening, punctuated by another of Roger's culinary concoctions. Big day for the over 14s tomorrow so an early night, especially for them. Photos of today to follow...