If Felix ever asks you if you want to bike from Ruinettes to Attelas, feel free to say no. It’s really rather steep up there. Anyway, after a lot of sweating and occasionally pushing the bikes up steeper bits we made it – a great (if exhausting) way to spend an afternoon. And it does provide an even better excuse than normal to have a beer in Chez Dany…

Yup, whilst we’re pretending it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere (in spite of all the rain) Sanna and Oli have headed south for more snow. Now, whilst it’s not been a stunning winter for snow down there, it’s been OK and Sanna sent us some pictures to give us all a little dose of winter…

“Had the most horrible snowstorm today in al long time but the nasty weather hasn’t stopped the kids from going out in the snow and skiing for the entire day until 4.30pm. It’s been windy and arctic here but at least we’ve got some fresh snow – exactly what we need right now (the grass has been sticking out on some of the wind exposed slopes so the new snow was very welcome). I even got some fresh tracks today – skiing backwards in a snowplow, but hey! It was still powder …”

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Meanwhile the rains been lashing down in Verbier and there should be snow up top – if anyone’s brave enough to head up there and get a picture we’ll let you know here…

…SNOW UPDATE….

The lovely Louise has just been up to Mont Fort (3330 meters) and whilst the views are “limited” there is a lot of snow up there (the official Louise estimate is eight inches) and it’s absolutely freezing.

Having just cycled down from Coix de Couer (2173 meters) I can confirm it’s chilly there too. Anyway here’s a snap of Louise’s Mum wishing she’d got warmer shoes on…

Yes, I think we’ve all watched Pinsent and Redgrave powering along in their little boats and thought “That’s very impressive” or “I wonder if I could do that” or perhaps “I’m off down the gym to have a go on the rowing machine” and then probably dismissed the idea as less interesting than going to the pub.

But not Neil at CK. No, Neil is a bit obsessed with it all and after making a rather daft bet with Gareth at The Lodge he’s preparing to row the length of Lake Geneva. Yes, that’s about 76 km. So on 15th of August 2010 (weather permitting) he’ll row the length of it in one day – it’s about 35 times further than they row in the Olympics, like rowing from Brighton to London (but only if there was a lake than went from one to the other).

Now, crucially this is going to be racing against Gareth who is also a bit of a fitness maniac (when he’s not dancing around Rockbah with his shirt off – yes G, we all saw) and Gareth will be on his road bike trying to do a lap around the lake (about 175km) in the time it takes Neil to row the length.

This too is a pretty hefty undertaking…

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And the reason for all this exercise? Well, charity – St Mungos, the homeless charity. So if you want to help out and make a donation please go to:

www.justgiving.com/Neil-Aherne

The whole slightly insane challenge also has a big thank you to say to Zac Purchase, the British Olympic Gold Medalist at Beijing, who donated a boat which Neil might actually be a little bit in love with. Unhealthy perhaps but it is – apparently – the Ferrari Enzo of boats. A sleek nine feet of carbon fibre that weighs just 10 kilos.

Anyway, a great cause, two great lads and we’ll keep you posted… The event is planned for August 15th although we’ll see what the weather does. And you’ll be delighted to hear the Verbier based members of Performance are busy trying to get seats on the support boats, partly because we want to be there to cheer on Neil, and partly because one is designated as the ‘Party Boat’ so should be quite entertaining…

Meanwhile if you ever wondered what all the fuss was about Lake Geneva, these snaps should answer your questions – a stunning place to spend Monday evening…

I might have mentioned before the Swiss propensity to celebrate things with cheese and alcohol, and on 26 September 1993 they voted to have another one. Swiss National Day. So every year on 1st August. That’s how it works here – you just ask everyone if they want another bank holiday and, amazingly, everyone said yes…

Now, despite the fact that the weather went from stunning blue skies to cloudy to rumbles of thunder to complete monsoon, the Swiss didn’t let that stop them from having a proper party. And a parade. And – as is the custom here – a full marching brass band.

So we went and helped them out – fortuitously taking cover underneath the canopy of The Pub Mont Fort’s bar. And despite the weather it all went rather well and looked a bit like this…

Kat and Don doing model poses:                   The rain arrives:                                             The band carries on regardless:

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They even seem to enjoy it:                            Finally a load of local kids with lanterns swim past:

…that you see something like this when you are walking the dog…

It turns out it was a Toyota from the Verbier Festival in the stream of the Moulin..! Couple of beers mi’ thinks..! T