On all our previous visits to Kandersteg we have visited Oeschinensee every time.  To complete the Kandersteg High Adventure Award, the Scouts, Explorers and Networkers have to swim in an alpine lake.  Oeschinensee is about the lowest and therefore, in theory the least cold.  On all our previous visits the water has been unbearably cold. Nobody stays in for more than 60 seconds.

This summer was Switzerland's hottest in 80 years and at Oeschinensee it showed.  Loads of people were sunning themselves on the alpine beach and the Scouts swam for nearly two hours!

The Scouts met the Explorers on the beach but once they spotted the ice cream man on the other side of the lake, they popped 10 Franc notes in their moths and swam across!