All the time in the world

Monday 1st February.

        Yesterday should just be consigned to the dustbin for us at least.The locals were convinced we had brought the Scottish weather with us.At least we didn't bring the Scottish people with us.

          Today was totally different with the gorgeous sunny weather beaming down on this beautiful part of the world.Definitly not Scottish weather.

           We decided to head for the sunny heights of the Piz Gloria perched on top of the Schilthorn mountain and this involved a trip and a half.We kept to our usual mode of transport which involved 2 train journeys supplemented by 3 cable car rides.

Lady Watson looking with trepidation(scared) about going up the mountain

          As most of you know I'm a James Bond fan and since reading the book about 40 years ago and then watching the film have always wanted to come and see the area.The film was actually filmed over much of the area.Bond's arrival at the snowbound railway station was filmed at Lauterbrunnen station with his departure with the bad guys filmed on the station ramp now used by railway lorries.The stock car race on ice was filmed outside the village.The piece de resistance was of course the Piz Gloria on the Schilthorn mountain complete with its 360 degree revolving restaurant.
                           

Still a long way to go

In order to get there we went on our first cable car trip of the day.I find it less scary to travel in these things than to stand and watch them.That cable car trip was followed by another mountain train trip to the village of Murren perched on some mountain cliffs.

This place amazed me as there were vehicles moving about the village when there is no visible road up.We proceeded to walk through the village to embark on the second cable car trip to a place called Birg.This was the last point that skiers could get off that day as the routes from the Schilthorn were closed to the public.This place has the Skyline walk which is basically a clear platform attached to the side of the mountain-not for the fainthearted.I believe they are in the process of building a Thrill walk around the mountain-definitely need a couple of Hobgoblins before I went round that one.
                 

         Then it was onwards and upwards to one of the places that is on my bucket list.Once you arrive into the buildings you are immediately transported into the sets and the world of her majesty's secret service with interactive exhibitions and glimpses into the world of James Bond featuring George Lazenby.I'm going to get on my soapbox and state that Mr Lazenby did a pretty good job in the part especially as some other people had disappeared and thought they were  responsible for the success.Aye right and yes I'm talking about the man who wants independence for his country but doesn't want to live there.James Bond is a government thug and that's why George was good for the part.A man who is not scared to get down and dirty and that is why Daniel Craig is excellent in the part also.Off soapbox now.

                       

  We headed for the restaurant for some sustenance before continuing the tour and it was amazing to eat lunch on the revolving restaurant-albeit very slowly.If you really wanted to get into the mood you could've been served up a James Bond brunch with Prosseco-nuff said!
                           

 After lunch we spent a couple of hours going round the various exhibitions including sitting in a model of Allouette helicopter flying up a cinematic mountain or hurtling down a cgi bobsled run shooting at various cgi badguys.All filmed ready for you to pick up in the shop.

Lady Watson following in Diana Rigg's footsteps

There are other exhibits including where lucky females could have their face superimposed onto Diana Rigg's wedding dress and have herself pictured being snogged by George Lazenby.

                            We then proceeded outside to where the curling rink was layed on top of the Piz Glorias helicopter landing pad.This has cutout characters of Bond which I had seen previously on the webcam.http://schilthorn.ch/en/Info/Schilthorn_Live/Livecams.
                        Another part of the complex is the Walk of Fame which involves walking(very carefully) out to a small looking point out on the end of a rock.The path was icy but after  saying a few hail Marys I made it.The problem is that you can't see the ice so you have to be very careful or you will be skydiving without a parachute.

After a couple of hours we headed back down the cablecars to the village of Murren to visit the Bond world souvenir shop to do my usual and spend too much money on Bond souvenirs -again!I'm sure my kids will have it all itemised when I go to that big beachparty in the sky.

             We traveled back along the mountain railway at dusk,observing some beautiful scenery along the way especially the lights of Wengen twinkling in the distance.
                  The evening was finished of with a visit to a local pizzeria and the consumption of a delicious anchovy and black olive pizza washed down by a weissebeer dunkel(dark beer)which I didn't know existed.That set the seal on a perfect day'
                        Speak to you soon as I'm just planning how to escape Blofeld's last bastion of a scoundrel.

What a difference a night makes!

Sat 30th January.

         What a contrast to our arrival last night.Dawn broke about 7.30 with the sun creeping over the mountains giving as chocolate box view of the mountains and the village, so after a late breakfast we headed up the hill to Wengen village with its swarms of skiers and skateboarders heading for trains and cable cars to take them to their intended slopes.

         We decided after perusing Wengen (all of 15 mins) to head down the mountain railway.These trains are fantastic and British health and safety is replaced by Swiss common sense.Our first stop was Lauterbrunnen nestled in the valley and the terminus for our train and then  we switched trains for Interlaken which is so named as its on a piece of land situated between Thunnersee and Breiner see.

             The trip was amazing especially as this railway doesn't let a little thing like snow get in the way.The way down from Lauterbrunnen was dotted with chalets and winter barns for the cattle.

              For the military history bods like me we passed an old military airfield just outside Interlaken which flew F5s before it was decommissioned a few years ago leaving it for the model aeroplane fliers.Before that it flew Hunters.

            On arrival into Interlaken I thought I had arrived into back into Hong Kong as it was full of orientals.At least I'll know where to come back for dinner later on in the week.

This was a  Japanese garden in the mainstreet

            We had a daunder between its two stations looking at shops along the way as Lady Watson had decided it was a good idea to break the zip on her anorak so we were now on a mission.We succeed in the last shop (as you do).
                               

Another Japanese garden pic

 Our plan after shopping and sightseeing was to head back to Wengen for dinner before the hungry skiers had came back from their endeavours.When we arrived at Lauterbrunnen station they were just in the process of hitching a snow plough to the front of the train and this was done in about 3 minutes without any huing and puffing I woud expect from British railway workers

.It is a thing I'll repeat again this week no doubt.So once again after 3 train trips back up the mountain we ended up in a restaurant which served up a delicious goulash soup followed one of the most unusual main courses I have seen-Swiss military noodles-They even  came served on a solid fuel camping cooker.Put it this way even I was struggling to finish it.

Just the thing to keep these Swiss squaddies warm

                                   We waddled back to the hotel looking forward to the promised snow of the following day.Speak to you later.

Switzerland or bust

Saturday 30th January

        Lady Watson likes to get away for her birthday and this year was no exception but this year I was a bit self indulgent as we headed for Switzerland and the Jungfrau region.Which just so happens to contain the Schilthorn mountain which is topped by the Piz Gloria made famous when it was used in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.Now you know where my self indulgence comes from.

             We decided to come by train as it gave us the opportunity to see a bit more of France and Switzerland.This involved six trains of varying styles from high speeds to the mountain rack railways of Switzerland.We started off from Edinburgh on Thursday afternoon,stayed in London overnight so we could catch the first Eurostar to Paris which was nice and quiet.

The taxi trip was the usual Paris taxi trip driven by the usual one time racing driver.

A brief respite in Gare de Lyon was followed by a pleasant trip through the French countryside courtesy of a Tgv calling at Dijon(and not a jar of mustard in sight) and then on to Basle where we caught a connection to Interlaken.

By this time darkness had fallen and the rest of the train journey seemed uneventful apart from the mode of transport which was a rack railway all the way to the mountain village of Wengen where our base of operations where to be found-Hotel Edelweiss.This hotel was just as I imagined it would be with the large chalet look from the outside and the minimalistic interior look that I love about Central Europe.

            Since we had been traveling all day it was just a matter of dinner and the turning in for a good night's sleep in anticipation of the morning view from our south facing bedroom.

                Gute Nacht Von Wengen

Scottish Battlefield Wargame show 2016

              A new one for the calender!

Boudicca's babes and more Belgians!

Wednesday 20th January


          Our trio of Garvald visits culminated in a VBCW game with four of us fighting over a coal mine in the outskirts of Berwick.Scremerston to be precise.Bill Gilchrist,Mr Ray Neal and myself met up with Colin Jack making for an adventurous evening.

                          Bill took his usual pride of place with the socialists who had aligned themselves with Mr Ray's Anglicans.Colin and myself took the part of the B.u.F with a mission to take the mine back into proper private ownership.

                           Mr Ray's miners had holed up in the mine and were prepared to sell their coal and their lives dearly.My forces approached the mine en masse with my artillery piece for support.This gun lasted for a whole turn before the crew were decimated by Ray's gun embedded on the back of a lorry. Not bad considering I had taken about six months to build and base it for it to be wiped out within five minutes of coming on the field.

                             The fate of my civilian militia went the same way after a few turns from fire from the revolting miners.

                               By this time Colin was moving his cavalry around the side of the mine only to be caught in a crossfire between the miners and Ray's newly arrived George Washington legion.

                                   

Colin's armoured car then moved to engage the red's armoured car that was heading along the road towards the beleaguered miners but being inexperienced kept to form by continually missing its target.No such luck when the target returned fire as it hit and kept on hitting the armoured car rendering it pretty useless.

My forces were facing stalemate against the well dug in miners so Colin moved up the ubiquitous Belgians.Maybe we should have a twin town in Belgium for Garvald.Colin left the room for a moment so I changed tack with his Belgians and had them engage Ray's fellow Americans which started off okay but brought into the line of fire of Bill's armoured car.Oops!This was the beginning of the Belgian end.

Ray then moved up a machine gun team crewed by females(welcome to a Colin Jack engineered game) which began a duel with Colin's female B.u.f squad-Boudicca's babes.This duel ended after a few salvos with the babes assaulting the machine gun crew resulting in a chick fight with the babes coming out on top albeit with only one of them left standing,a bit of a hollow victory.

Ray then brought on his command squad which consisted of a neat model T Ford with twin Lewis guns.

Bill meanwhile was slowly moving up his column of battle bus and steam lorry.His column was stopped by his armoured car which was now spewing steam from its engine as a result of a well placed antitank rifle shot.At last some luck, but this wasn't to last as my naval soldiers had decided to assault the well entrenched miners but ended up being wiped out.

Colin's forces were being whittled down with his Belgians cut down to a man,his Babes(sorry-babe)at a loose end and his armoured car about to be assaulted by the red coated squad from the steam lorry.

I went for one last hurrah with a last minute assault on the mine but my men weren't up for it mainly due to a combination of fire from both the socialists and the Anglicans so it was time to call it a night and head for the hills.

A very good game which brought me back into one of my favourite games and with the added bonus of finally fielding my own figures.Hopefully they'll improve with experience.

Participants for the evening-

Tim Watson-B.u.F

Colin Jack-B.u.F

Bill Gilchrist-Anglicans(but just a tad more socialist)

Mr Ray Neal-Anglicans(with American and French help)

Figures,scenario and scenery-Colin Jack

Figures-Tim Watson

To begin the evening we were served up a very nice Coq au Vin with a glass of crushed grapes to set the scene.Not a Belgian dish in sight!

Heading for La Suisse next week so I will be posting from foreign shores.Hopefully with some nice pics.Places on the agenda are the Reichenbach falls and Piz Gloria(hopefully I'll not need to escape from it on skis).See you when I see you.

If it's Wednesday this must be Belgium

Wed 13th Feb

         Nipped back out to Garvald this evening in spite of snow flurries and a wrong turning for a rerun of last weeks game but 26 years later.It involved another German invasion of Belgium but this time it involved German forces taking hold of Ursel airport and holding off the Belgians until reinforced.

               I reverted to the norm and took control of the Germans.Colin took the part of the Belgian defenders with the aid of some nifty Belgian armour.

               The plan as stated was for Germans to land by Ju 52 and to take and hold the airport building.

                I had at my disposal for the task an infantry squad backed up by a machine gun armed S.S assault squad. The "Tante Ju"(Ju 52) couldn't be put on the table but was replaced by a Henschel 123 for show purposes,so we had the assault squads coming from the edge of the table.They hurried towards the control tower.The defenders done some damage to my infantry but this just made them more determined to fire at and pin the defenders giving time for the assault squad to clear the building.

                Once this was done it left Colin with nothing to do until he could bring in some random reinforcements.This was be done as per last week with a roll of 5 or 6 but yet again they were nowhere to be found.

                       

This gave me a chance to bring on some reinforcements which consisted of infantry squads supported by a couple of Panzer 38s and an armoured car.

King Leopold inspecting Colin's forces

Finally Colin's reinforcements arrived with King Leopold in tow,in the form of a T15 tank with some infantry in the form of Chausser Ardennais.The tank proceeded to inflict damage on the defenders of the control tower before I could bring up a Pz38 to deal with this T15,which it did after a couple of shots.This gave time for Colin to bring in more reinforcements in the form of an anti-tank team which proceeded to immobilise my leading tank.The tank remained there for the rest o the game,firing at and finally destroying the T15.

                                   

The antitank rifle also took some damage and ended up as a one man team which basically meant it had become a sniper  albeit with a powerful rifle. 

                                      Colin's reinforcements eventually all appeared including another T15 and a Vickers 47mm light tank this time with a half decent gun and not machine guns like the previous two.

         

This went straight into action against the immobilised tank but couldn' land the killer punch to destroy it.Colin's other T15 tank came round to flank the airport and engage the forces in the airport in order to relieve the pinned down chaussers in a nearby wood.The Belgian light howitzer came into action but found it hard  to hit so it had to move nearer the enemy to do any reasonable damage.This partnered with a medium machine gun  helped to whittle down my airport garrison,but help was at hand in the form of two halftracks full of infantry which finally appeared and disembarked with one section engaging the depleted antitank rifle team with the other section relieving the depleted squad in the airport building.

                                  I then decided to commit fortune to the wind by moving an armoured car round the Belgian flank only to be met by accurate fire from the remaining T15 which proceeded to decimate the crew of the armoured car.I was about to exact revenge with the other Pz38 when once again full time was called.

                                   A good experimental game by Colin who intends to use it in the future maybe at a game show.We discussed differences in forces and setup to see what could be improved for a future run through of this game.Hopefully this time with the "Tante Ju" on the table.

                 Figures,scenery and scenario-Colin Jack

                  

                 Next week is back into VBCW territory wth hopefully my B.U.F and support getting a run out.See you when I see you.