Adelboden, Switzerland 2005 - Travelogue

Friday, 19th August

Today was our last full day, and as todays activities had been postponed from Monday because of the rain, we were hoping for good weather. Luckily the outlook for the morning at least was good so we boarded the coach once more, this time heading for Kandersteg in the next valley.

Once at Kandersteg, we all boarded the chair lift to take us up to the toboggan run. Luckily those who did not like heights had got more used to cable cars by this time! The toboggan run consisted of a metal half-pipe track in which you rode on a plastic toboggan, thankfully equipped with a brake! A lift dragged you to the top of the run before you hurtled down the run, trying to keep control around the sharp, banked curves. There where a few who lost it on the bends! Luckily there were no serious injuries, except someones packed lunch that fell out of their pocket during the run and got mangled on the track by the following toboggans!

Most people had at least one run, including Howard our coach driver, although some were a little slower than others with at one time an almost stationary queue of about eight toboggans behind them!

The descent down the chair lifts proved eventful as one of the Explorers dropped her bag out of the chair, halfway down the mountain. Luckily the chair lift staff were prepared for this obviously quite common occurrence as they sent a man up on a flatbed service chair who, having located the bag, stopped the chair lift and climbed down to retrieve it. Once reunited with the bag we reboarded the coach.

No Scout trip to this region would be complete without a trip to the Kandersteg International Scout Centre and ours was no exception. On arriving, we all stood on the steps of the centre for the oft seen photograph with the National flags of all the countries fluttering behind. Photographs complete, we were given a guided tour of The Chalet by Emmi, one of the short term staff (or Pinkies as their called) from Finland. The Centre was founded in 1923 and contains scarves (or neckers) from many of the Scout Groups from all over the World that have visited since that time. The Centre truly is International with over 21 different countries represented on the current staff.

On returning to Adelboden, we managed to squeeze in an hours shopping to buy some of those last minute presents and souvenirs before returning to the chalet for dinner. As this was our last evening in our chalet, after dinner a number of presentations were made.