Country Diary: Adelboden

High summer in the high alps in Switzerland - and what a summer. One hot, sunlit day follows another to be punctuated on most afternoons by a heavy shower. Excellent conditions for the mountain flora.

On a recent morning we toiled up from the valley floor, through the silent coniferous forest under Bunderalp, to go up the stony wilderness that leads to the rock cleft that connects the Adelboden valley with the Kandersteg valley - the 2,385 metre Bunderchrinde. Though the ascent is stony, it is coloured brilliantly by the orange blooms of Arnica montana.

While the Bunderalp milking herd is in its shed through daylight hours, to avoid the cruel attentions of horseflies, the heifers range the high country below the rocky crest where arnica mixes with stemless gentian and blue columns of alpine larkspur. They have the freedom of the hills.

We now turned off, above the cattle, towards the top of the Bunderspitz, a total ascent of 1,286m. A cool breeze awaited us on the summit, and a prospect of grey cloud lying beyond the western peaks. Two lads stood with us and used a mobile phone to alert their family at their Bunderalp summer farm almost 800m below then waved their caps to the unseen folk below. Then they were off, making a bee-line for home.

On the way down grey cloud wrapped around the summits of the Albristhorn and Gsur and, as we left the foot of the scree, thunder heralded the usual afternoon breakdown. We took shelter as cooling rain hid all the rock faces around. In an hour it was time to continue as the sun broke through to dry the pastures.