A life is full of anniversaries of special times and momentous moments. Six years ago last December, Jo and I began exchanging emails. Five years ago last October, I travelled to Scotland to meet Jo for the first time in real life and in January of 2005 – five years ago this week – Jo visited me in Switzerland for the first time.

We enjoyed wonderful weather over an alpine winter weekend, beginning with a sledge run down the road from Bussalp back to Grindelwald, when frostbite in the shady woods was helped a little by some Glühwein half way down. We travelled by train through metre-deep snow on the Brünig pass to get to canton Obwalden, where we visited Jo’s childhood holiday destination of Melchsee Frutt and her godparents’ hotel, freezing Jo’s hair in the process and encountering temperatures as cold as I’ve ever experienced in the mountains.

As a last adventure out into the snow, we headed for the plateau at Männlichen by cable car and sledged back to Grindelwald via Holenstein, taking in a perfect, crisp winter day, glorious sunshine, superb views and a wealth of happy memories. It was this time together that truly cemented the early stages of our relationship and gave me the feeling that I had indeed found the woman I wanted to spend my life with.

2 responses to “A winter weekend”

  1. Graham MS avatar
    Graham MS

    I love the light in the fifth photo. A lot of great unseen images in this collection. I’d get married to live there! (if I wasn’t married to the perfect wife already :-) )

  2. Mark Howells-Mead avatar

    Thanks Graham! The light in that shot is a bit odd; while pretty much straight out of the camera (i.e. no HDR in post-processing), there’s a weird effect as it was shot through the double-glazed window of the train we were on.

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