Our baby Albert, now two months old, is tucked into his sling inside Tim's coat, and is murmuring as if in appreciation of the setting we find ourselves in. A brilliant blue sky casts a sharp canvas for jagged white summits that top out beyond lush green meadows. Birds sing and buds are blooming, heralding spring.
We are in Matt near Elm in Canton Glarus. It is only our second Alpine outing with Albie, so ease is the order of the day. After gliding up 400 metres of sheer rocky flank in the Weissenberg cable car, we find ourselves at 1,258 metres above sea level on a sun-drenched shelf.
The Weissenberge mountains are skirted by the magnificent Glarner Alps, and our one-hour circular route keeps the panorama in view as we climb first uphill to a sheltered hut used for barbecuing in the summer, then along the south-facing plateau back to the cable car station.
We gaze upon long valleys that cut between mighty mountains, and meadows studded with gingerbread-like houses, all wood and colourful shutters. The air is sharp and fresh, but the sun is as warm as on a summer's day. The locals are friendly and the ambiance, like being on holiday. Families march up snowy folds in snowshoes, while the mountain restaurants are bustling with chatter.
Albie smiles when we take him out of his sling, as if in appreciation, and enjoys a feed while we lunch in the shaded barbecue hut. Later, gliding back down to the valley, we feel sun-warmed, well exercised and completely invigorated. Albie squawks in the cable car, as if he doesn't want to descend!
But it's my 32nd birthday and we're on our way home for birthday cake - gooey and chocolatey, made by Will - so it really isn't so bad to be heading back to Zurich...
