Not far from Leysin is Gruyere, a medieval walled town with no traffic famous for its cheese and well worth going to for the castle. Inside, there is that indefinable fustiness of very old wood. Twisted ageless vines grow from the courtyard and entwine themselves around pillars as they stretch upwards. There is a permanence about this castle which appears to have grown from the rock on which it is built.

Outside in the cobbled street, sit and relax at one of the discreet little cafes. And if you must buy a souvenir, buy a Swiss chalet music box or a Swiss Army knife with a multitude of accessories ... as I did for my son, who promptly sliced himself open with it.

Gruyere lies north-east of Leysin in the canton of Fribourg.

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Not too far away are Les Diablerets, the Little Devils, a range of peaks where even in high summer, snow obstinately refuses to melt. At ten thousand feet and reached by a chain of three cable cars, it is cold, and the sudden change in altitude can cause dizziness.

An interesting tunnel through a huge captive ice glacier leads to the restaurant (with exorbitant prices) from the cable car station. The ice here is so old that there are arrows pointing out different times in history. A very thin black line in the ice from the eighteen hundreds bears witness to the eruption and extinction of Krakatoa, the volcano which destroyed itself with the biggest explosion of recent times.

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