the youngest catches up

Esmée has made her debut as a mountain biker - watch out!  On Sunday, we lunched with the Lee family on the sun drenched patio of the Hotel Alpenland in Lauenen.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful autumn day and hard to believe that we were moments away from November.  We sat in t-shirts, noshing on rösti and schnitzel, gazing up at the Wildhorn which sits impressively at the end of the Lauenen Valley.  It was so nice, in fact, that almost every square meter of the patio was occupied and there wasn't a single person sitting inside.

The mid-day feast was followed by a family bike ride through the forested trails that loop around the area.   It was fairly flat and not too difficult, but bumpy - more like a mountain bike trail than a rail trail.  This was really Esmée's first foray into the world outside of driveway or asphalt biking.  She has never been an overly keen bike rider and had only first ridden her bike to school on the previous Friday (a slightly terrifying adventure for Jeff and I to witness as it's mostly downhill).

However, throw in another family who happen to have an older daughter who Esmée hugely admires and it changes everything.  She dressed in her biking shorts, biking shirt and biking gloves.  She was bound and determined to bike with the group and keep up.  It was a wonderful ride.  Esmée did remarkably well and we feel like we're now off to the races, so to speak.


Photos courtesy of Rob + Tina Lee - we were too busy riding beside Esmée and shouting instructions to take pics!