Blog posts about Faulensee

Faulensee is a small village tucked into the curve of the shore of Lake Thun between Interlaken and Spiez. It’s a thirty minute walk from both the town centre and the harbour in Spiez. The village affords really spectacular views across the lake to the Niederhorn and to Interlaken.

Technical case study: simple, invisible language switching

Using a website visitor's browser settings to seamlessly display content in a language they can understand.

Published on 7th March 2019

Screenshot of Kipfer holiday apartment, Faulensee, Switzerland

A new perspective – Faulensee

Short sequence of aerial views of Faulensee in Switzerland.

Published on 9th July 2018

Using a church to tell the time

After so many years in Switzerland, we rely on the quarter-hourly chiming of the nearest church bell to know what the time is. Or, if we’re enjoying a summer evening, quickly looking across to the other side of the village.

Published on 27th June 2018

Using a drone subtly

Using a drone isn't all about “aerial photography”, but, for me, about the ability to get better angles for photos which are otherwise out of reach.

Published on 20th April 2018

Aerial photography with the Mavic Air

After a lot of deliberation, a few months' saving, and a lot of review videos and articles, I decided to buy a drone.

Published on 25th March 2018

Sundlauenen to Merligen

Catching the ship from Faulensee to Sundlauenen, hiking through the forest past St. Beatus Caves to Merligen, and then home by paddle steamer. Approaching Sundlauenen by ship St. Beatus Caves, Beatenberg Sundlauenen quarry The funicular from Beatenbucht to Beatenberg Traditional…

Published on 12th July 2017

A fresh eye

This year’s aim: see new places and try new things. Close to home, this means going out from home and documenting the village where I live as much as possible. Despite living here for nearly five years, the only parts…

Published on 21st March 2016

Changeable Sunday

Views from home across the lake to the Niederhorn on a winter Sunday.

Published on 6th March 2016

Below the water line

Low water levels in Lake Thun in winter reveal large expanses of foreshore.

Published on 25th January 2016

Lake Thun, Switzerland

Published on 21st July 2015

Blow-up boating on Lake Thun

Jo found that because we’d saved so many points on our supermarket card, that we could “afford” a kayak using points alone. A few days later, and a large and heavy cardboard box arrived on the post woman’s scooter trailer…

Published on 27th June 2015

Faulensee, Switzerland

It’s always good to be near water when there is a special sunset going on. Here, a partially cloudy day ended with a drawn-out bang as the sun poked beneath the clouds. Tthe misty glow to the left of the…

Published on 23rd June 2015

Niesen, Switzerland

The pyramidal peak of the Niesen, in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, towers over the surrounding countryside. It heads a range of mountains leading from Adelboden and Lenk and is the “Hausberg” (home mountain) of Spiez and the Lower Simmen…

Published on 1st June 2015

Faulensee, Switzerland

1st August is Switzerland’s national day, and fireworks and communal events are the norm. On Lake Thun, in the Bernese Oberland, the main ships of the local transport company parade around the lake and the surrounding villages time their…

Published on 17th May 2015

The swallows’ viewpoint

Our regular swallow visitors have a preferred perch above the area around our house. And it's just a few metres from our balcony.

Published on 30th April 2015

Faulensee to Meielisalp

In which we start the hiking season as early as we possibly can, with the longest route we've done to date.

Published on 9th April 2015

What the Swiss keep in their barns and cellars

A short film by Rick Steves about the unexpected artillery behind closed barn doors, and the overly-secure cellar bomb shelters beneath almost every Swiss home. The main installation featured is the Artilleriewerk Faulensee at the end of our…

Published on 18th May 2014

Filming from the air

Sitting at my computer this afternoon, I spot, out of the window, a yellow plane droning lazily around above the village. Not a full-sized plane but a metre-long radio-controlled model, with a GoPro camera attached, filming today’s glorious winter…

Published on 15th December 2013

Photos at Getty Images

I’m proud that international picture agency Getty Images invited me to submit photos for their Flickr Collection a couple of years ago. Since then, I get the occasional request to add more and my small set now numbers 52…

Published on 26th November 2013

And so it begins

Just as summer arrived in the Bernese Oberland late this year, so the first snow fall has arrived early. But that’s OK: the sun is shining and it looks beautiful.

Published on 12th October 2013

Lightning on the calendar

One of my landscape photos is chosen for a 2014 calendar, complied from submissions from the Swiss Twitter community.

Published on 1st October 2013

Twalender 2014

Here in Switzerland, a few active photographic members of social media website Twitter have decided to pool their resources and initiate a calendar of Swiss photos for 2014, featuring photos from a Flickr group entitled “Twalender 2014”. (Kalender being…

Published on 20th August 2013

Remember when…?

Sometimes I remember to take a photo just so that I can look at it one day in the future and say, “do you remember when we used to do this?” One day, this photo will be twenty years ago.

Published on 18th August 2013

Faulensee

I thought that it’s about time that I write a little bit about the village where we live, given that we moved a year a half ago and I’ve since had the chance to (intermittently) extend my…

Published on 2nd May 2013

Winter season on Lake Thun

Local lake shipping company BLS now runs a daily ship service in the winter months.

Published on 2nd December 2012

Upright and proud

The new, re-designed website is now online and is automatically optimized for visitors with iPads and smartphones. One of the aspects of the design is an improvement to how images in vertical format are displayed.

Published on 2nd December 2012

Thunersee below zero

When the temperature of the air is markedly lower than the temperature of the water in the lake, mist rises from the surface and creates a truly eerie effect. Such was the case today, when continued winter conditions in Switzerland…

Published on 5th February 2012

Keep Calm and Fit In

I was recently interviewed for the website expatarrivals.com and asked for my thoughts on life as a foreigner in Switzerland. Here's the transcript of the emailed interview.

Published on 27th October 2011

Moving on

I’ve been living in the area around Spiez since moving here eleven years ago and my home for the vast majority of my time here has been in an attic flat at the top of the road leading to the…

Published on 9th September 2011