After the first snows in October the weather turned bright and sunny again. We had to buy boot crampons but we were still able to do lots of wonderful walks in the mountains. We were joined, in early November, by Iain who was one of Jonathan’s colleagues in Antartica back in 1999. Ian was …
Snow arrives! What a change from last week, and from the same time last year. First came the rain (lots of it!), then the temperature fell and snow reached as low as our village at 1000m. Our first attempt to get outside for a walk ended when the road up to the Sassière lakes was …
Sitting indoors while the rain pours down outside, it is hard to believe that we had such beautiful weather for the first week of our return to the Alps. We made the most of it, with long walks every day and even an overnight trip to a mountain refuge. We started with a walk up …
Well, we certainly picked an interesting time for our trip to Ireland’s west coast! Hurricane Humberto barrelled across the North Atlantic at the beginning of October, morphed into Storm Amy, and hit Ireland on the 3rd of October, just as we arrived in County Galway. Our plans to enjoy bracing walks along the coast soon …
A holiday in England! We have flown back to England for a packed few weeks. Arriving in Hammersmith on a glorious evening, we started our UK trip with a party to celebrate our friend Ros’ 60th birthday party , held in a boat club on the river, and complete with a live band playing all …
The last ten days of August have been less settled and less warm so we’ve been slightly more restricted in our trips. Before, we were heading high into the mountains seeking cooler air, but now we are in search of sunshine. As soon as we saw a forecast for two consecutive days of good weather …
More walks, and more new routes! In the last couple of weeks we have left the guide books behind and ventured out to some lakes and cols that we have only seen on signposts before. The first of these was a trip to Val d’Isère where we walked to the Refuge du Prariond – so …
More walks, more cycling… although our cycling has been at a rather more sedate pace than the Tour de France cyclists, who passed through Bourg on the 25th of July, preceded by the bizarre caravan of fruit shaped cars that heralds the race! Inspired by the professional cyclists (or perhaps by the motorised fruit!), we …
The fabulous weather has held, so in the last few days before Cate returned from her trip to London, I have been outdoors – another cycling trip (this time a tough uphill slog to the Cormet de Roselend (a total ascent of over 1500m) and a new walking route. I drove to the Ville des …
Whilst Jonathan remained in Ste Foy looking after my garden, I returned to London to spend time with my mum and catch up with friends. Anita travelled from Australia to continue her 60th birthday celebrations and a big group of old friends joined her. Gill, Anita, Helen, Helen, Sally, Tom and myself all met more …