Against all odds, I have been able to reinstate routine into my life!

Ok, that's not exactly true... Every day is different on the road and neither of us ever really know what to expect. Nevertheless, our days have - over the past few weeks at least - taken on a routine appearance. We have three generic days to choose from:

1- Travel days

Get up, have some breakfast and pilfer some lunch for ourselves from the Hostel breakfast buffet if possible. Finish packing our bags (incredibly efficient these days), and head to the nearest train station. Board. Sit and read, chat or zone out. Disembark. Repeat as many times as necessary until at our next destination. Check in and stroll around our new surroundings with whatever time we have left in the day.

2- Exploration days

Get up early, stuff down some breakfast and nick some lunch again if possible. Pack a daypack with whatever we think we might need, and hit the trails. What follows is essentially binge-exercising. We will be out all day (8+ hours), walk anywhere between 15 and 25km, and stop for lunch wherever seems nice when we're hungry. Sjane used to incessantly offer to carry the day pack for me, so we now share the duties (30 minutes on, 30 minutes off - this is reduced to 15 minute intervals when the going gets tough). Hobble back into the dorm room exhausted. Insist on Day 3 tomorrow.

3- Down days

These days are often scheduled before or after Exploration days (both if I can convince the Energiser Bunny to chill out). The recipe is simple: sleep in, pack a lunch and set off for the best picnic spot we can find. Lay the sarong down, and lounge around for the remainder of the day, enjoying wherever it is we are. Eat, read or stretch as necessary. Dip into the water occasionally if we're near a lake. Sjane will generally begin a spontaneous workout at some point in the day. I'll pretend I didnt hear her invitation to join.

You get the general idea. While the planned itinerary follows one of the three generic days, it's the unique moments from the Bernese Oberland that define our memories of the place. Lying in rocking chairs on the back deck of our hostel after a long travel day. Straining our ears to listen to the unsynchronised jingles and clangs of the apline cow orchestra in the distance. Spotting a new variety of wildflower as we walk past; and then looking up to appreciate the contrast between Mother Nature's bright and delicate little amuse-bouche and the gargantuan presence of the Alps. Seeing Sjane's face light up every time another carved timber water-trough came into view ("Oh, thank God! We can fill up our water bottles!"). Dozing contentedly under a tree next to Lake Brienz after completing a visual assessment of the nameless village as the ferry glided into the dock. ("Yeah there's a nice grassy patch over there and some trees. This looks nice!"). The uninterrupted 360° views of the region from atop the Männlichen peak.

Lovely stuff. Switzerland really deserves all the hype it gets: a place that can only be described as stunning.

See, who says a bit of routine in your life is a bad thing!