We woke to a beautiful day in Les Diablerets. The sun has been glorious and not a cloud in sight all day. It was cold when I went off for a walk this morning though, the frost sparkling white on the branches of trees making them look almost like ghost trees.

It was such a pretty walk and I’ve discovered one of the great things about walking on icy snow is that you have to slow down and not rush, which on holiday is a very good thing indeed.

I went back to the salon de the for morning coffee.

When I saw they had Galette des Rois, a special frangipane-filled pastry cake for Twelfth Night, I couldn’t resist buying one for this evening.

My family was introduced to these delicious pies by a French au pair years ago. Whoever finds the small trinket in their slice is ‘king’ for the day. Often they come with a paper crown to go on the lucky person’s head. I buy them for the delicious buttery pastry filled with sweet almond paste because it’s so tasty but it’s also a fun dessert.

The plan for lunch was to take the chair lift from the centre of Les Diablerets up to Les Mazots, at 1717 metres. In the photo below you can see the straight line in centre-left where the chair lift goes up.

The three of us sat on one 4-person chair. The journey up was about 15 mins. It was a perfect day for me to take the trip up (the skiers are doing it regularly) as the clear skies meant magnificent views. At one point we saw a hang glider floating past in the distance.

Annie and Jerry had booked a table on the terrace of the restaurant. What a fabulous setting for lunch.

We ordered a bottle of local rosé wine which felt right in the hot sun.

Annie ordered a risotto for her meal but I joined Jerry in a local favourite for lunch: croute au fromage, jambon et oeufs.

Basically this was posh cheese on toast! Rich and delicious Swiss cheese on a great hunk of bread with ham, toasted with an egg on top. It was really good, especially the crunchy cheese edges. It was also, though, rich and filling and while I enjoyed it, I couldn’t finish it and ate only about half. Coffee in Switzerland is good and always involves a chocolate served on the side!

We had a look at the start of the toboggan run before heading back to the chair lift.

Then we headed back, walking carefully to avoid the skiers rushing by.

The journey back down was even more spectacular.

Soon we were back down and crunched our way across the snow towards the apartment.

Then, to our delight we passed the huskies we’d heard earlier but not seen close to.

We wandered over to see them properly and talk to one of the handlers.

We did a bit of shopping on the way home and the oldest house – chalet – in Les Diablerets was pointed out to me. The date is was built is written on it: 1649.

The sun goes down quickly. Popping out again a little later the village was lit up.

There were a few stalls still open by the church selling local goods. Two benches face each other and a fire burns in the middle to keep people warm. I’d seen this the other day and thought it a delightful way to encourage locals to stop and talk in the snow. Tonight two men stood talking.

Back home we opened champagne and Eli made lovely pizzas from scratch for supper with the galette des rois for dessert. A perfect way to end a lovely day.