2013/3 Fini le Ski

It’s the 18th April and the temperature outside is in the 20s, inside Stan 30 degrees.  This sudden change we are finding hard to cope with, wrong clothes, open the hatches not batten them down, use the fridge to keep things cold, not just as the only place things inside Stan that didn’t freeze. We exaggerate a little as we had become adept at keeping warm (cardboard under the carpet, blankets to isolate the cab with its big windows etc., and things were never as bad as the first week at Val Thorens. The snow this year has been exceptional, but also the bad weather – a succession of ‘perturbations’ (as the French call them, it’s a good word) instead of the normal anticyclone. So only 16 days skiing in the 5 weeks in the mountains but such good days with fresh snow – it snowed every time we went to a new ski station (yes every time). Anyway we are definitely fair weather skiers these days and happy to sit out the bad days.

Last blog ended in La Plagne where we could ski in ski out, ski back to to Stan for lunch – top spot. Another day at Les Arcs followed (because we can stay at a campsite with showers, washing machine etc). Last ski field in the Isere valley (La Tarentaise) was a smaller resort Valmorel. The memorable moments here were when we skied up and over into the neighbouring valley with the Col de la Madelaine.  The road was metres deep in snow – just the sign showing, BUT the cafe/bar alongside was the exact same spot we parked Stan after the Tour de France passed by  in 2009.  To confirm our memories we had an excellent lunch at the cafe.

We then dashed back to near Grenoble to have a lunch with David’s old climbing friends – what an excellent spread, many courses, many drinks over a 5 hour afternoon session rendering David unfit to drive and Joanna fatigued with an overdose of French listening.  There we hatched a new plan as we had heard friends Max and Lucy ( owners of the canal boat  we spent a week with last year) were skiing at Champoluc in Italy and we wanted to end up skiing in Les Deux Alps which we enjoyed so much in 2010.   Why not go via Chamonix and the Mont Blanc tunnel to Champoluc (in a valley running North from Aosta towards the Matterhorn) and then return via Turin and the Col de Montgeneve to Les Deux Alpes.

So we set off, and of course it was snowing as we went through the gorges of Ugine.  Note this dirty town is typical of many steel works sited in these beautiful valleys where the iron ore of the Alpes was transformed into steel, initially using the abundant forest and later the hydroelectric power stations  all along the valleys.  David remembers the Ugine rugby team as the roughest in the league.  Let’s move on, snow through Megeve, snow at either end of the tunnel and snow when we arrived at Champoluc. We did not have Max or Lucy’s phone numbers and had not contacted them to say we would join them, but figured that we could find Max in one of the bars late afternoon. However Max went one better, sitting in a bar he saw Stan drive past and despatched a runner to greet us in the car park.  A great day skiing with them on the long trails going over to the next valley and the next to see all 3 valleys forming part of this ski complex One bad thing re Italian skiing is that the ski free age is now 80 !!! so David has to pay, BUT it was Lady’s Day so Joanna was half price. An Italian plus was the excellent espresso coffee for only one euro even up high. Next day the weather went overcast again = time to move on.  South to Turin, then West to stop the night at the ski station of Sestriere (yes it snowed overnight).  The town was rather dead = end of season and so we moved on over the border into France past the stations we had skied at 2 years ago and up to Les Deux Alpes.   Our old favourite did not disappoint, same overnight cost of 7 euro, free electricity, ski lifts a 50m walk and even the ‘crazy hour half price beer on the return trail, and of course some new snow the first night.  So three days of great skiing with lifts up to 3,400m altitude and lifts in every direction, plus cafes where we could sit and eat our packed lunch etc, plus a day wandering in the town buying some end of season bargain ski gear.

We are now on our way to pick up Katie as she finished work a few days ago and all her friends are breaking up and scattering aver the world as they do. In the last week or so they have been celebrating doing lots of crazy things on ski including skiing as fast as possible over some of the shallow lakes hoping they don't go through (better not to know too many details) but she, and the friends have survived it seems. She is with us for 2 or 3 weeks before heading home via Cambodia where she is meeting friends for a couple of weeks.

On the home front Joanna is having a cooking ball with duck, endives, local mushrooms (no English word except toadstools) and all the other foods.  David faithful to the French bread either fresh daily or the Traditional loaves with last a couple of days, and the cheap beer from the Lidl supermarkets, of course we are sampling the local wine wine and the range of liqueurs that the Europeans are so good at..  David has had some success with our minimum price satellite dish bought at the last minute except that it has to be mounted each time on the roof and manually adjusted (not a great job in the freezing weather of the mountains) but can capture the French programs only so far. Hoping the warmer weather will allow more experimenting, however we are  watching a fantastic BBC DVD of a series programme called Spiral (Engrenages in French), is in French with subtitles.  Is incredibly intertwined with characters from police, gangs and drug world, politicians etc.

On to see David’s ex Engineering friend in Grenoble, another friend in the Drome then South then East ………….

2013/2 Snowed in Yet Again.(And Again, and Again!)

Had several great days skiing in Val Thorens, the highlight being the trip through the Trois Vallees to Meribel and Courcheval and back. Brilliant weather, fantastic skiing, the snow squeaky and crunchy, tired legs. We really enjoy touring around new skifields, sort of makes an adventure of it. We seem to go for miles. I need to get one of those apps where you can track where you have been, how far, how fast, how high etc.

 Snow, snow and more snow seems to be the story of this ski trip. Great for when you can ski, but being fair weather skiers these days there have been a lot more non-ski days than ski days. Everywhere we go we get another new dump of snow  and spend lots of time digging out, keeping pipes unfrozen,  engine responding etc. All very pretty, but starts to wear thin after a while. Even staying in the valley at Bourg St Maurice it snowed. Stan is warm and cosy and we get out and about, the odd Plat du Jour in a cosy restaurant. We seem to fill in the days quite happily. Have covered a few resorts now, Val Thorens, Meribel, Courcheval, Les Arcs, La Plagne with some epic skiing in-between the snow dumps. Hope to do a few more if it stops snowing!

Saturday is changeover day in ski resorts. A great day to ski –if the weather is fine – because people are either coming or going, but not skiing. The streets and supermarkets are thronged with confused tourists, tour buses blocking the way, baggage everywhere. We have also learned not to travel on changeover day – taking over 3 hours to cover 30kms between Bourg St Maurice and Moutiers after fetching Katie from Tignes where we delivered her earlier in the week to watch the X Games (all that impossible stuff in the air). Everyone was full of advice after the event –“Mais bien sur Madame, on voyage jamais le  Samadi!”

Sunday night is the big night out at Val Thorens (according to our young informers), because by then the new punters know their way around and hit the night clubs. Again the streets are thronged, not that we know much about it, it starts late and you really shouldn’t partake if you are over 30. The nightclubs are often underground and we wouldn’t even know they existed if we didn’t have young people to inform us. Kind of like a whole other world going on. Our apres ski consists of the odd drink in a bar and tucked up inside before dark.

One unlikely advantage of all this snow is that we don’t have to set the alarm any more as we regularly get awakened by the boom of avalanche detonations. Sometimes big enough to make the van shake. Avalanche risk is huge at the moment, someone died at Les Arcs yesterday, the next resort to us. Not much risk for us as we haven’t skied for 3 days.

We are in a great park at La Plagne right now. A good place to be marooned again! Great view, ski in, ski out to our door, fireworks right outside. Hope to report more skiing, less snow next time. At least David’s new shovel is earning its keep.

By the way our phone contact in Europe is +447799740394

2013/1 Off Again but snowed in.

Mid March and here we are snowed in at Val Thorens 2300m altitude.  Why are we here – to ski but especially Val Thorens, as Katie is working in the ski shop of the 5 star Altapura hotel.   So we have been here few days and met Katie, seen her apartment where 5 of them share the less than 30 square metres – luckily they (Norwegian, Aussi and a Kiwi friend Elli), all get on well and together with the other apartment dwellers seem to lead a very full social life in the middle of the night. However it’s the skiing that marks Val Thorens out, highest resort in the Alps, great snow and links the other stations in the valley and links to the ‘Trois Vallees’.  So far we have only skied a couple of days since arriving 4 days ago, but what skiing – yesterday up in a 150 person telepherique to 3,200m to ski down and then in the afternoon again to 3,230m and down and into another valley to the South – great day, sore muscles.

Val Thorens being a recent ‘designer’ resort makes it easy to ‘ski out-ski in’ from all the hotels etc.  The resort is built on a hillside and it seems like a 1,000 m climb to go from our parking up to Katie’s apartment but through covered passages, past the maximum of shops and cafes, especially when you are over 2,000m up (and not as fit as we had hoped).

Departure from NZ in the middle of the night and arrival in Hong Kong was all normal except for manoeuvring the bags which has set David’s shoulder tendon healing back a month or two. The drive from the now remote airport is pleasant enough before arriving amongst the wall to wall sky scrapers and settled into the 28 th floor of our hotel at North Point.  One of the challenges is getting the public transport – the tickets on the metro, the pay as you leave on the trams.  We took a fancy to the trams to and from the centre to our hotel you can see the world and pay only NZ$50c for Joanna and a half that for the old man David.  English being a official language helps navigation and all the traditional British names for roads and arrears.  Most of the sightseeing was via Big Bus ‘Hop on, Hop off’ system over two days. We saw most of the sights on the island including the floating village at Aberdeen Harbour and the forgettable Stanley Market.  However the weather did not help with mist and light rain all the time – the visit up the steep tram to the Peak to see the harbour spread out below only revealed the tops of the buildings.  Of course we had to sample the cuisine and one memorable lunch was in a back street very close the commercial centre with it’s big flash buildings (not sure in hindsight we would choose to eat at so dirty a table/environment – but it was tasty, cheap and there were no nasty consequences. Otherwise we chose a recommended restaurant for a dinner and again for a Yum Cha lunch, crowded, animated and tasty. Some time in the markets on Kowloon, can’t believe how so many people can live in such a small space with tall apartment blocks old and new.  Did not try Macao as weather no good and we decided better things to see in HK.  Overall the impression of so many people, rich and poor in such a small space.

And so to England and down to Hastings to stay with Maureen. David managed his to take his traditional walk over the Firehills with Maureen and her dogs, visit Joanna’s old friend Pauline, see Max and Lucy to talk of their Canal boat plans over a pint down town, take a look at John’s Southerly 100 yacht and of course set up Stan with water and provisions and in 5 days we were away. The Channel crossing was special – calm sea but thick fog with fog horns blasting every minute.  In order to meet Katie on her days off we drove straight down to the Alps but avoiding the French toll roads by passing through Belgium and Luxemburg to take advantage of their free motorways.

And so this is where we find ourselves snowed in.  The parking at Val Thorens is right in town and hence expensive although with great views BUT no electricity. The temperature is minus 21 degrees C with a wind chill factor of –30.  All the water systems are frozen up, we use water collected in a container.  Luckily we have gas heating but Stan is far from airtight.  The engine was hard to start yesterday and we need it to charge the house battery for lighting etc, neighbours have portable generators, but we are ill prepared.  Everything around is frozen, has Stan got the right anti freeze for this weather, is the diesel filled up in Luxembourg OK for these low temperatures.  The sun is not far away we will have to borrow a shovel to move, in mid March two years ago it was sunshine and snow. Can  we start the engine charge the batteries !!!!

  Ho hum watch this space.

!!!!!!

2012/4 France North + canal boats and home.

(You can see what the photos are of by scrolling over and a label will come up.)

Heading north was more difficult than we anticipated. 1000 kms! We had got used to 60 or 70 on a trip and many days of no driving. To start with we couldn’t make half an hour without a distraction- McDonalds to download stuff. Although this year we have the French dongle and internet at our fingertips – we have to be careful about data usage, so big stuff happens at McDonalds or other Wifi. Anyway, moving on, we gradually got in the swing of it, planned an interesting route and got going.

France is such a beautiful country. Even on long, cross country trips it is easy to find charming places to stop and break the journey. We managed to add a bit of excitement to the trip in Bordeaux, by taking a wrong turn and heading off down a tram track, much to the consternation of the locals. There was no turning back, so we had to continue until we could break out of it, praying that a tram wouldn’t turn up. Heart attack stuff.

We did a diagonal crossing of France from South-West to North-East. First night in pretty little village of Nersac. Spent an afternoon in Bourges, sort of south of the Loire. All medieval with overhanging balconies, winding streets and an impressive cathedral. Stopped in an aire at Clamesy, in the Rue de L’Abbatoir. Didn’t sound too promising but turned out to be perched between a river and a network of canals, a few minutes from the town, which had a market the next morning. Kept us busy for the morning and topped up the larder with goodies.

A late start then onwards and upwards through the Champagne district. Mile upon mile of vinyards. Saw lots of famous brand names but no time for tasting. Stayed by the canal again near Epernay. All very picturesque

During our trip North we spent quite a few days parked beside canals and saw at first hand the amazing French canal fishing sport.  This requires a big spend on gear – fully adjustable folding seat, at least 5 ordinary rods, a rod rack, sound sensors to warn of a bite, net etc and and a long rod or two at least 5m long. One day we were on a tow path bike ride when we came across a fishing competition.  To avoid the long rods we had to push bikes through the undergrowth to get past, then also realised that talking was not on – silence is the rule as competitors concentrate on catching the biggest of most fish – and then throwing them back! Next time we will give up and turn back immediately when there is a competition.

		Cruising on Kiwi Rose VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We joined Max & Lucy Thompson on their 13m Kiwi Rose canal boat, at Charleville Mezieres on the 24th June. Last year they borrowed Stan to look at boats for sale in France, Belgium & Holland. Kiwi Rose was found in Holland and is very smart and suitable for all sorts of cruising complete with a separate guest cabin. They had a busy trip down through the Dutch and Belgium canals competing for space with big working barges. During the week we quickly learnt about lassoing bollards down the Canal des Ardennes, a much quieter canal passing through some beautiful countryside and almost all pleasure boating. One day was memorable with a passage down 28 locks (26 in a series where as one exits one lock the next one triggers automatically (no stopping for a beer or snack) however of course we made up for all that when we stopped. We did have some issues with over water height being just over the 3.5m max for the canal – approaching a bridge it would be – looks OK, oh not so sure, don’t think it will, NO get the canopy down – followed by lots of press fit poppers popping and the canopy down. A solution to lower the canopy by a few inches is in hand now they have no crew.  Beside the good eating and drinking we did manage a couple of decent bike rides to discover countryside away from the canal. A great week and thanks to Max & Lucy, ending as we left the boat at Rethel (just North of Reims) to catch the train back to find Stan.

Headed off north to Calais, but did one of our sudden deviations and turned east into Belgium to watch the end of the 2nd leg of the Tour de France. Very different from our last experience in the mountains where, the crowds made it hard to get anywhere. this time we parked about 200 metres away, sat on the kerbside watching the caravan go past, then in a 20 second burst all the riders – no mountain pass to spread the field. Was an impressive burst though – a blur of riders and a blast of air.

The last day in France was the usual visit to Carrefour for the ‘oh so cheap wine’ and some cheese and a liqueur or two, plus LIDL for some cheap beer. While David got a new basin & shower fitted, Joanna was let loose in Cite Europe mall to the benefit of Zara and Mango etc as it’s sale time in France. David not to be outdone paid his annual visit to Serge Blanco. The evening we moved out of the mall environment to go down to the wharves and a stroll in town ending with a fine dinner of ‘moules’ in a fine cream with garlic sauce, plus a rabbit casserole with prunes.

We settled into Maureen’s  familiar house, cleaned out the van, washed and  drained water etc ready for the winter.  Unfortunately the Albanian team at the ‘hand wash’ up the road used a chemical that left a mottled surface on all the fibreglass so we paid and then had to polish it all off, however now looks petty good to rival the flowers in Maureen’s garden. We did manage the last of our flat bike rides along the waterfront all the way to Bexhill.  David managed his whelks on the front, kipper for breakfast, dawn walk on the Firehills with Maureen and her two Border Terriers.  TV was a bit special with Wimbledon and the first British finalist since David was a year old (that’s a long time ago).

Uneventful flight back to NZ (first part on an  A380 on it’s third day of operation) to find the house and yard etc looking very spic and span, then two fine days for work in the garden. Mandy glad to see us and in good shape in her old age. Joe & Carina our house minders are off to Blenheim in a few days.   Joanna already doing a couple of days relieving and David into the office on the 17th.

What and where next year?