Surviving on the Autoroutes finest fodder of strangely coloured sparkling drinks, Pringles and Nutella for the 15 hours of driving we finally arrived to find glorious sunshine although it had apparently been raining solid for the last few days – could this be a change in our luck we hoped?

The next week was a blur of monster climbing and equally monster descending whilst trying to take in the jaw-dropping views pretty much everywhere you looked. The meadow flowers were in full bloom and the snowmelt was pounding down the rivers in torrents, by far the best time to be in the Alps if you are lucky enough to have the weather hold.

You know that you have hit some serious altitude when you get part way up a major climb and you have a nosebleed. A major panic for me on this particular occasion as I had my new Nalini outfit on so I didn’t exactly want it trashed on its first outing! Funny what strange looks you get from people when you are chugging up a mountain on a bike with tissue stuffed up your nose!

I have never before packed in so many hours of riding in a week and this appeared to be mostly fuelled by Interlaken’s finest brew (Rugenbrau) and mountaintop stops for Movenpick ice cream (usually a double MapleWalnut and Caramellita). It’s amazing how enthusiastically you can pedal up to the foot of the Eiger if you know there’s a double Movenpick with your name on it at the top.

Back to reality now and with another race on the cards at the weekend it seems that yet again the weather forecast is for rain. What with a hosing down on the lawn, scrubbing in the bath with Vanish and two machine washes, I’ve only just managed to get the muck out of my clothes from Sherwood so I guess they’re in for another pasting at Margam – must remember to dig out some old black socks this time…...

Your typical Swiss meadow in full bloom…..

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The locals were a little non-plussed with my Alp climbing prowess…….

And finally some shots of the gorgeous Nalini stuff with Alpine backdrops