Up the alp to the hut

Today we walked up the alp (which presumably has a name but not one that I got to know) to the hut owned by Paul's cousin, bought from (if I've remembered all this correctly) an old shepherd and converted for living in. It's still very faithful to the original but a lot of the old wood has been replaced and new shutters and doors added. The photo isn't the hut we visited but is nearby. If it all looks a bit Heidi that's because it is. Just a little further up the mountain is the hut used in the original 1952 Heidi film.

Although we all walked up the hill, Paul passed us in his car carrying beer, which he set cooling in the water trough that runs constantly, fed by a stream running down the hill, and sausages that he would cook for us over an open fire. Don't know how high we'd climbed up to the hut but with Ellen on my back half of the way and the temperature somewhere around 30C it felt like a Munro's worth. After walking up the hill (with enviable ease) Inge made us a lovely salad in the hut's tiny kitchen. After lunch, I selflessly stayed behind so that Ellen could have a sleep in the cool attic of the hut while the others went up a wee bit further to Heidi's hut. Of course, I nodded off myself. Graeme tried to go further up and climb the Muchetta (2,623m) but sensibly turned back when thunder started rumbling from this sky.