Sunshack

Hymn Of The Big Wheel

2011-07-19T14:36:00.002+01:00

Way back in 2005 my car got written off with me in it. It was, what I have to come to think of as the, "Granny on a Mission" event. She'd driven out of a car park and onto the road, and I was the 2nd and final car she'd run into on her 400metre drive home from the shops. I recall the noise of her engine, the impact and the noise it made, my car being up in the air and then my head ringing like a bell.

I'd called the emergency services from within my now wrecked car. I could see daylight through the passenger door frame and I was across the middle of the road with one side of the car front tilting downwards, some distance from where I'd been driving. I had no air bags fitted.
The Police Emergency Call Centre declined to send anyone out on my request, though the Police did attend later along with a Fire Crew to clean up the mess in the road. I'm not sure who else called and managed to convince them to turn out, but I eventually gave a statement, and there were several witnesses. The other driver had been whisked away by her family before the Police arrived.

I was not too badly injured, the Whiplash injury I'd suffered which occurred when my head hit the driver's side window, eased around two years later.

My car went to the Breakers Yard and I still miss it.

So, where is this little stroll down Memory Lane heading? .....

Fast forward to 2011, and someone who seems to have a long term grudge against me, made an attempt to use existing UK Legislation to try and drive me off the Internet. Last week I had the Police at my UK door regarding this Blog and my Twitter Page, following their receipt of a formal complaint about the content.

Quite interesting to view these two events side by side and speculate about what priorities exist for local policing today.

Thankfully common sense has prevailed and there is still a right to free speech where I'm domiciled. After all, this is not a commercial Blog or Website, it earns the owner no income, (especially true since my Google Adsense Account was attacked recently) and contains my personal views, thoughts and experiences in life.

If you don't like what I write, then the solution is simple, don't read it.

With thanks to Massive Attack for providing me with Title inspiration and keeping me sane.

Anatomy Of An Adsense Attack

2011-07-13T20:34:00.000+01:00

As you my have read in this Blog, my Google Adsense Account has been killed off by an external attack. I really don't care about the Adsense revenue I've lost, and I can't speculate if this was a random Bot attack or a deliberate act by a vindictive person.

Behind every Bot there is a person writing the program. Sending in an Appeal to Google would be futile, I've read that no-one ever gets their revenue or account reinstated. I've also read that the person who organised this has done me a favour in the longer term, though I really doubt that my attacker had my best interests at heart.

I've been reading up on the antics on "Click Bombers" and "Click Bots" in an effort to understand how the attack was carried out whilst looking like it came from me. I was oblivious to the damage as I never saw the Ads, or paid attention to the income, as I never received any.

I'd made a Blog entry on the 21st June 2011, received no Blog visits on the 21st, and on the 22nd June my Blog received 52 visits from an address in Horsham, Pennyslvania.

All the Charts and analysis are by Google Analytics and belong to them.

Oh dear, I seem to be relocated in Horsham, Pensylvannia

As I use Google Analytics it's possible to view the emerging patterns. It's not possible to get the exact location pinned down as far as I can tell.

Level 3 Communications provided the service

Much as I'd like to think my Blog is an interesting read, it's a little OTT for someone using Level 3 Communications services, to then click on my Adsense Ad boxes 69 times on the 22nd June. Not only that, they were superfast at arriving, clicking the Ads and departing too.

Out of 80 Direct Traffic visits for June 2011, 44 occurred on the 22nd.

Direct traffic sources show a big spike on the 22nd

Another blip in Switzerland, the data shows that from Fribourg and Montreux areas, there were 27 visits, resulting in a Bounce Rate of 75%. The pattern for the rest of Switzerland is in single figures, as expected.

Apparently I'm popular in Switzerland

Of course I have no idea how the attack was carried out. Perhaps my Google account was hacked to gain access. Naturally I've changed passwords everywhere, just in case. I'll see what the next batch of Google Analytics data shows before taking any further action.

Life's Little Surprises

2011-07-05T14:52:00.001+01:00

I've just seen my Google Analytics results for the month of June 2011 for this Blog. Rather a lot of traffic from one particular part of Switzerland. It's produced a big red blob on my traffic map. In a 14 day period, there were 16 visits from the Fribourg region of Switzerland.

Maybe my Blog is worth reading after all.

Warfare

2011-06-29T13:01:00.001+01:00

I've just had notification from Google Adsense that they have pulled my Adsense boxes and refunded the money I had earned over several years to their Advertisers. This they said was down to invalid click activity. It's not my activity, so this Blog page has likely come under attack from another party. I have a good idea who as well, but as it's so petty I can't be bothered to counter it, or launch a formal appeal with Google.

Well, I really don't care about Adsense, I never received a penny from their Advertising, so I've removed their poxy boxes from this Blog. As far as I'm concerned Adsense sucks, I've run the Ad boxes for years, and got nothing for it.

BTW Google, I don't see these Adverts I'm supposed to have clicked on as I've used Adblock Plus for years :)

Onwards and upwards, free of horrid little adverts!

Marjal Peniscola

2011-06-28T21:08:00.000+01:00

In Peniscola there is a freshwater Marsh directly behind the hotels on the seafront, and it is a protected conservation area. The Marsh is fed by groundwater springs which form small lakes known as Ullals.

When these overflow, it forms the marsh. The area is managed by the building of drainage ditches which channel the excess water through the lower part of the town and out to sea via South Beach. The largest is the "acequia templera" or Templars Channel. Keeping the channel free needs a special sort of boat.

The Marsh is home to the Valencian Samaruc which looks like a Goldfish, and is in danger of extinction. It's also home to another rare fish, the Spanish Toothcarp, known locally as the Fartet.

The heart of the marsh is now accessible on foot via a boardwalk. Visitors are urged to remain quiet while walking across and not disturb the many resident birds. There is a "hide" for birdwatching.

There is visitor information posted in several languages along the route. I'm guessing that the No Moped sign on the main map is aimed at local teenagers!

Fruitcake and Frenemies

2011-06-21T21:11:00.000+01:00

2 years ago I felt moved to Blog about an experience I'd had on Facebook, when someone I thought highly of, acted out of character, leaving me with a profile view consisting of 1 line of text. I'd thought it was an error, at the time.

Since then, I have been fending off angry emails from this man, raging at me for seemingly most innocuous comments made by me on a variety of public online forums. all of which he perceived to be about him. I have been driven off one skiers forum by him. His attacks are exclusively by email or forum message. Lately he'd resorted to threats, the "change that or I'll do this to you" sort of stuff. The threats had no effect on me, for example, I really don't care if he tells everybody that I'm rubbish at skiing.

All of this had left me a bit bewildered, as I'd no idea what I'd done to upset him in the 1st place, or why he was still really angry with me. I'd been concerned about the use of some photos of me on his website, which I'd downloaded a long time ago, and used on my Blog. They were used by me in accordance with the non commercial use copyright terms quoted on his Blog. The photos and links were on my main email address, until they disappeared, along with my ability to see his website to see what was wrong. I kept seeing "Not Found" messages.

My Blog now had holes in it and looked awful.

I thought it was maintenance, but then found my IP address had been blocked, a divert appeared to a BBC recipe for Fruitcake. Not good, even if it was a really nice recipe, which I tweeted. It got worse when a page of threats appeared, police, legal action, some data act or other, they were changing each day while I was still trying to find the images to repair my Blog.

I've archived the threats online using a Web Archiving service. Seems he was cross about me using proxy services to recover the photos of me that appear on his pages, which are now part of his commercial venture.
He's not asked my permission to use the images of me, but having seen where they are on his site, I did what I needed to and I'm not bothered about them. What else could I do, he'd blocked my IP address, and the last time I phoned him, he called me back and told me he wasn't going to talk to me.

I'd had enough of being silent about the continuing email abuse I've received so went public, as the page of threats had now accused me of being a stalker and downloading his photo a zillion times. It was this that tipped me over. It would appear that he has been stalking me online as I travelled around Europe this spring, well, whatever floats his boat I suppose. Personally I have better things to do with my time, but we are all different.

In case you are wondering no, it's not my style, and neither is he. It's possibly (so I've been advised) a Firefox Accelerator thing affecting his website every time I log on to my email. I've also been advised that there may be a Google Mail issue with the way their package treats his links as well. Maybe he's placed tracking cookies in mails to me, he's certainly been closely following my online activity, which must be a bit time consuming.

I now have a new email address, so hopefully he won't be foaming at the mouth every time I answer mails from friends and family. In the meantime I've been busy removing all evidence of his mails, and all contact details from all my online places. There are many years worth to be gone through and destroyed.

One of his friends has now told me via my Facebook Profile that he'd wanted nothing to do with me, no friendship, no contact, nada, and this had been the case for a number of years.

The man who gave me the news was one of the folks I'd trusted when I'd asked for help to clear up the problem 2 years ago. He said he'd not known then. He did know how upset I was though, so just how long has he known, and allowed this to continue?

I'm left wondering just how far back this hatred of me went. Was it there when he gave me a Christmas card for my household 6 months before he did the FB thing. When he led me skiing off piste? Did I mistakenly place my trust in a man who did, and still does hate me?

It would certainly explain the tone of the emails. My last comment in reply to one of his nasty mails in November 2010 asked the question "I really don't know why you hate me so much?"

Now I know at last, I can look forward to opening my email package without trepidation.

Finding this out is actually really good news for me. It's his problem not mine, and now I know that it's nothing I did in the first instance to start the sequence of events. If he ever sends me any more hate mail, I now feel liberated to respond in the way I feel to be appropriate for the time and situation.

Mostly Warm....

2011-06-17T17:05:00.000+01:00

Skiing in April is always fun. It's often powdery, usually warm and quite social. It's about long lunches after powder filled mornings, peeling off the layers and sitting on restaurant terraces. Not every day is sunny, which is good, because that empties the slopes and covers the hills with powder!

Getting a table at the Buvette was not a problem that day

The cook at the Buvette having to work hard on his cigarette break!

The Salomons demonstrating just how soft they are!

Spooky sky

The L'Omen Rosso Avalanche from our lounge. This slide skilled 3 ski tourers.

Wishing he'd ridden his Thunders that day, and not some soft skinny Salomons

The Powder Virus

Plenty of fresh snow to play in off piste

Action in the 6Park Snowpark in Grimentz during April

Off piste with some friends. Lots of fresh snow and more low clouds!

Crossing a stream is a larger problem if you have short legs!

Getting onto the spring powder at just the right time of day


Late season small slab Avalanche high up the system

Enjoying a coffee break in the sunshine

The Learning Curve

2011-05-29T15:38:00.003+01:00

Last month I took some ski tuition. It's been a while, so I chose a ski teacher that I've worked with before. A couple of people I know had recently been rude to me about my skiing skills, so I'd outlined what I wanted to work on prior to arriving for private coaching. A quick hop over the Col de Forclaz and down into Chamonix, where it was very, very warm.

Managed to check into my hotel thanks to a visiting postman wanting a signature and being keen to find some staff. My room had a view too!

Made contact with my teacher, Chris Fecher boss of Tinderbox Ski School who kindly offered to collect me from my Hotel next morning. I headed into Chamonix to see the sights.

Next morning and after an overpriced and rather basic breakfast, Chris collected me and we headed up to Grand Montets, so he could see what I needed to work on. It's been a while since I was there, and I initially could not get my bearings. The snow was pretty firm 1st thing so we stopped for a coffee to allow the surface to melt, and my teeth to quit humming.

After spending the morning on drills we skied down to Argentiere. It was little soupy bit skiable. I spent the afternoon sightseeing in Chamonix again. It's been a while since I was here, and the town is looking smarter.

Next morning and in search of some quiet slopes for videoing we headed up to Le Tour. The conditions were deteriorating fast but there was still plenty of snow for carving exercises! Chris is a very supportive teacher and makes skiing seem so straightforward.

Apparently I can carve, and I'm not so bad a skier as some folks have been saying. I'd like to suggest that my detractors take that feedback and put it where the sun does not shine, however as they are already so far up themselves there is unlikely to be any room.

Onwards and Upwards!

A Little Off Piste

2011-02-23T16:25:00.000Z

Fairly recently, someone who used to be in my circle of friends made a comment to me about my skiing (or lack of it in their opinion) that has prompted me into a bit of a retrospective Blog entry. So, I've looked back over my photos over 5 winters and pulled out the best off piste skiing photos of me. Just two of them definitely do not have me in them, as I was taking the photo, you get the idea!

Rocket Science

2011-02-13T20:41:00.000Z

After doing damage to my Stockli's last month and getting bad news from my dealers I faced the challenge of finding some new skis head on. It should be really straightforward to buy new skis, walk into a ski shop, point at a pair and wave a credit card. Many retailers now only offer skis and bindings as a package, not much use if you need a flat ski, and a toe lift plate.

So I did some web surfing and thought I'd found a decent ski and binding pairing from Telemark-Pyrenees in France and placed an order. A few days later an email arrived to say that they were out of stock of both the ski and the binding. It would seem that their web store is not linked to their stock levels, which is a shame.

I can't find any other supplier that can get me the ski I want at other than daft prices, so my 2nd choice ski came from Sport-Conrad in Germany and the bindings from an Ebay trader, Winter Shack, in Scotland. Everything arrives, and it's all fine!

I'd already been in contact with a guy who mounts skis and does servicing, advised him what I'd got lined up, and as he'd done the mounting for my Black Roses I anticipated no problems with a straightforward mounting of some Dynastar Bindings on Dynastar Skis. That's where everything started to go pear shaped.

I sent him some photos of the skis and bindings and read his response with a certain amount of dismay. Apparently I'd need some Driller Killer Inserts, a Custom Made Toe Shim, Machine Screws, because my heel piece screws would be too long, toe piece screws too short and he can't make them shorter/longer, and he'd need the skis for a week as the glue for the inserts needs 48 hours to go off. Most ski shops do this work in an hour, how hard can it be?

Hmmm, not good. I offered to get shorter screws, no response. These are only screws after all.

Time for Plan B which involves a second opinion. Luckily my bootfitter carries all the Dynastar binding spares nationally, and is very familiar with the bindings I want to fit, so I send him the photos. I then take in the skis and bindings, and he puts them in position, they will fit straight onto the ski. He can't see what the need would be for all the inserts and custom made stuff I'd been told about.

He finds a slightly shorter screw for the heel pieces because I'm not using the Heel Lifter Plate, and confirms that I don't need longer screws for the toe pieces, the ones Dynastar provide will do nicely. He was even able to offer me alternative Race Plates for the toe pieces. They would fit straight on as well.

So, now, all I have to do is cart the skis to Switzerland and ask my local ski shop to do the mounting. What could be simpler.........

Frustration

2011-02-13T19:49:00.000Z

I was given an old sewing machine at least 25 years ago, and up until today I got by. It's a very old machine, and only really did 1 sort of stitch, until today. So, I'd decided that today would be a good day to replace the main zip in my favourite ski trousers. I did all the unpicking, pinning, and tacking up yesterday, and was ready for the big sewing machine session.

1 slight problem, I now can't get the Bobbin to work, the cotton is pulling from the wrong place and after an hour, I admit defeat. It's an old machine, and the parts are very worn, nothing I did made any improvement. My trousers remain tacked up and I've now spent a shed load of money at Amazon buying a machine to replace it.

Of course, the price for a new pair of ski trousers, and a sewing machine is about the same. I'm justifying the purchase based on other repairs I might be obliged to make in the next (n) years.

Never mind, as it dates from 1917, I expect I can sell it to a collector, it must be worth a few quid. Apparently not more than £10, delivery charges exceed the value. I will be spending more as I'm now obliged to drive it to the tip since our garbage collectors won't take anything heavier than a Larks tongue these days.

Downhill All The Way

2011-02-11T21:19:00.000Z

January came around, and I packed away my skins to make the best of the pistes and easy to grab off piste that is all around the Anniviers. Had a great drive down across the Jura on the way out, stopping briefly in Kent to give a lift to a pal who was staying in Zinal for a week.

We got stuck in to the unpisted areas within the resort boundary and had a blast. The conditions varied widely, some slopes had breakable crust, though anywhere in the shade stayed powdery.

It was cold again, so I was back wearing lots of layers, only this time I found myself having to say to Andy, no, wear more! We still saw skiers with no hats or goggles though, they must be more hardy.

Having been cruising in the back seat, Andy finds some Breakable Crust and decides to take a rest, and why not, he's on holiday!

My friend came round from Zinal, and brought all his friends with him, we had quite a crowd. We took them onto the same slopes we'd been skiing, smiles all round.

Most days we took a picnic and stopped at one of the Mountain Huts as the sunshine was glorious.On one occasion we had a visit from a confident local bird!

Spent a day in Zinal where there was still plenty of good skiing, though the bottom of the Freeride area was a little thin with a couple of streams showing through. Easy to avoid though. The main part of the resort had some Paragliders practicing for the Mauler Cup, which is a pretty big competition, so standards were very high.

The air was so clear that we were able to see the Cabane Becs des Bossons from the Corne du Sorebois in Zinal.

A day in Vercorin offered us this great view across to Chandolin and the Illhorn drag lift, which is quite steep, and not just from this distance.

Back in Grimentz we'd been watching television and web reports on how bad the snow conditions were in France and Switzerland, um okay, if you say so.

There was a Skier and Boardercross competition in Grimentz, which also brought in the Freestyle skiers to the 6Park. Standards were quite high. You won't catch me doing this stuff!

I took my Stockli's into the local ski shop for a service, and needed to sit down when the technician told me that the edges were so thin, the shop could do only 1 more service before they were scrap. I love my Stockli's so this is bad news. They also now seem to attract stones, and I spent several evenings with a P-Tex candle repairing the day's dings and holes.

I've not been counting my days on skis this winter, but in case you are wondering, it's 24 so far, more to come, hopefully.

Bring It On

2011-01-05T08:05:00.000Z

Santa came to Grimentz a little early and brought some snow with him. I made full use of this early and very welcome gift. One of the village hotels looked really pretty in the snowfall.

A nice fresh fall of snow meant that the Snowpark kickers could be built.

New snow of course, meant new risks, so some places were unsafe to ski. As not every day was sunny, the flat light also caused problems.

As it's so dull, it's not possible to see the how this slope falls fairly steeply towards the skidoo. It's a red graded run and the bottom is often icy at the junction. I don't know if the helicopter was called out to a fall or a collision. This was someone's ruined Christmas.

My New Years' Resolution should be : I must set my alarm clock earlier and make the best of the new snow more often. On the day I did make the lift opening, it broke down, and did not start up for 35 minutes!

There were a few really stormy nights while I was there. I heard none of it, but could see the snow had drifted at the top of the Orzival lift.

All that wind was bad news for the new snow, which turned to breakable crust!

In between skiing days, I managed to order a new mattress for our bed, which arrived just as I was leaving for the UK. I became aware of the delivery with the sound of a revving engine and skidding tyre noises as the van tried to get up the footpath behind the apartment. The car park and entrance path would have been so much easier.

When I left for the airport, my flight was listed as on time. On my arrival it was listed as at least 2 hours late, so I headed for the information desk to try for an earlier departure. To my surprise I was successful, and my rearranged flight (now late also) left at the time my later flight was originally supposed to leave. I have my suspicions!

The check in hall was overflowing with passengers trying to check in and looking at all those unhappy faces really saps my willpower. I had needed to ask where the information desk was, I could not see it, there were so many people in the check in hall plus a long queue for "something" snaking back into the main part of the airport. Flying with budget airlines seems to bring with it a whole new level of travel misery.

A Little On The Chilly Side

2011-01-02T11:53:00.002Z

Because the lifts were currently closed weekdays in Grimentz and Zinal, I hopped on the bus, caught the train and headed round to Zermatt for a few days. I would have been on the slopes by about 10am, but was delayed slightly trying to find a working locker for my bags in the basement of the station in Zermatt.

I made it up to Trockener Steg and met up with friends Steve and Nina for a quick ski down the Black run from Furgg to Furi. The run was in great condition, but it's a little dark in the afternoons so early in the season.

Zermatt had it's best party frock on for Christmas, but there was no escaping the really cold weather!

Yes, I'm wearing a Balaclava and a Buff. What you can't see, is the 2 pairs of thermal underwear as well!
I've not skied in consistently cold weather like this before, this was day after day in temperatures past -20c plus wind chill. I got chatting to some guys from Zurich in a gondola, one of them had Frostbite on his face, skiing in shades with no scarf, not nice!

I caught the Gornergrat Railway one day, to ski a little lower down, it was just as cold! Lovely views though.

I was very pleased with my Hotel choice. If I tell you where it is, then it will be full next time I want to visit! Lets just say, economical, traditional, friendly, superb buffet, warm and central. My room had a balcony with this view. The hotel was pretty full, and each morning I said Guten Morgen to a woman on an adjoining table. Turned out she was French and from Paris!

A txt one night saw me meeting up with another friend Tino, in the Brown Cow bar, for a quick beer. Several beers, much talking and 3 hours later......
It was great to chat and catch up on news, though I did feel a bit guilty as he had to get up at 5am next day!
The slope conditions during my stay were firm. The pisteurs had done an excellent job in keeping the snow cover, and were topping up with snow cannons during the day. This was the first visit on which I'd been able to ski to Zermatt village, because of good snow cover, and the first time I'd never skied from the top lift, which was closed to skiers because of stormy weather. The off piste was all windblown and crusty, horrible!.

On the way back down to Visp, I passed this.

In the village of St Nicklas of course!

The Slow Way Up At Least On Weekdays

2010-12-30T16:08:00.000Z

Before Christmas when the lift was shut in Grimentz, it was the only way to get some skiing in locally. In earlier years nearby Zinal has opened during the week, and I've caught the bus over there, but for some reason this year they decided to shut. With Grimentz only open at the weekends, ascent on skins was where it was at.

I'd wanted to try out my new Fritschi Crampons, and my Salomon boots for ascent anyway, and both worked really well, though I did initially have a small problem getting the crampon off my binding rail due to ice, but I hammered it with a ski pole handle until it gave up!

I quite enjoy skinning up occasionally, as it's nice to hear the sounds of nature all around. I think I see so much more at a slower pace too.
The weekend arrived, the lifts started and there was powder to be had. I was a little late on the scene, but there seemed to be plenty to go around. I did end up falling into a Bisse at one point, but managed to dig myself out without too much trouble.

With the prospect of the lifts closed for 5 whole days, I packed a bag and headed for Zermatt!

Plan B

2010-12-03T21:39:00.000Z

The last time I was out in Spain, our nearest neighbour was kind enough to connect me to his internet router. This we achieved by dangling a cable across 3 houses. Fine in summer, but not so clever in winter, as his router was perched on an exterior spiral staircase, 2 floors up.

So our neighbour kindly offered to ask a good friend of his to call by and connect me via their secure system, to his Wifi. We'd decided to take an alternative solution with us, just in case there were problems! Computing wizz pal, arrives, does not speak a word of English, so dialogue is a bit patchy. So he takes my Netbook and is unable to connect me, something to do with the password length.

Never mind, after a suitable length of time, we walk up the street to our neighbours place, stand in the middle of the road, and make like locals by shouting his name! When his head appears, closely followed by his pal's, we shout PLAN B, and hold up a long roll of computer cable.
We now know that PLAN B needs no translation and is immediately understood in Spanish, as connection follows swiftly.

I'm supposed to be decorating, but the weather is just too wonderful to miss, so we take plenty of trips to the beach and seafront to soak up the views.

It was fairly unusual to be able to walk around the Old Town and see much more of the place. No matter how many times we walk over to the Castle there is something we've not seen before.

We'd assumed that we were there just between seasons, right up until we saw one of the Tourist Trains go past along the seafront, full. A little while later, another one passed by, also full. The town as usual, has carried on with it's cultural events, and the Notice Board is beside the Tourist Office which is open for business.

The town roundabout on the seafront was remarkably quiet, most unusual!

While at the supermarket I spotted the hugely confident local Geese, one decided to have a go at me. I grew up in the country, and I have yet to be intimidated by a Goose. Still, I have to admire them, strutting their stuff outside a supermarket, just a month before Christmas!

As for the decorating, once I'd started there was a little bit more renovation that I'd been expecting. Scraping and filling holes to be done before any decorating could be started.

Time to retire to a deckchair, with a glass of something decent!

La Cena

2010-11-29T20:20:00.000Z

I make a pretty outstanding Tortilla de Patatas for a foreigner, and they turn out even better when I make them with an authentic view. I put the changes down to the local cooking oil, having a proper Tortilla plate, different potatoes and more time. The big shops do sell bags of potatoes specially selected for Tortilla making, and they do make a difference.

Having stuffed half of this Tortilla these two adults were like well fed Pythons, content and pretty well unable to move. The following day, we ate the left overs in a baguette and were so full we could barely walk. Seemed criminal to waste it!

Ben Nevis

2010-10-02T21:19:00.000+01:00

One thing that I adore about mountain hiking is the peaceful environment. It's not just about the solitude, and it's more than being at one with nature. There is much pleasure to be had from sitting on top of a peak and seeing the terrain all around, with no other people in sight.....

It took us 8 hours to drive to Fort William, and it made us realise that the UK is a long thin island! Overnight in a hotel then an early start to beat the crowds, well that was the general plan!

We had chosen the timing of our hike to avoid the summer midges, and still enjoy warm weather. the volume of charity hikers were an unknown variable!

Most of the route is now laid with stones, the exception being the area around Halfway Lake.

The weather was superb for a long day hike, warm, not hot, and as we climbed higher we could see for miles.

It's always nice to be nearing the summit of a mountain, and this was no exception, but just look at all the people in front, heading to the same point! The thought of my Chicken Curry for lunch kept me going!

The views from the summit are great, and there was a small amount of snow at the top, which you can see settled between the rocks.

After spending several hours climbing the path, we started the long descent to Glen Nevis. Going down is harder on the knees! We passed quite a few walkers who were finding their footwear uncomfortable, and saw one man attempting to walk down in white sports socks, carrying his shoes. Several miles later he would be crossing this area.

The footbridge which crosses the river and leads back to the car parking area, is limited to 6 people at one time, and is really bouncy. Just the job for tired legs!

Relax

2010-09-22T20:30:00.000+01:00

It's Fiesta time, so a great opportunity to kick back and relax. Time to enjoy the late summer sun and soak up the views. There was one small technical hitch with the plan.

Never mind, normal service was soon restored and we headed to a bar beside the Bufador in the old town. When the sea swell comes up a hole in the rocks, it sounds like a bull snorting - honest!

Next morning, sunrise was pretty spectacular, but there was clearly something stuck on my camera lens, just on the horizon out at sea. I checked with my neighbour and it's apparently a gas rig, spoiling the view.

Doing nothing is an art form, and I do need to practise. Pool time, followed by long periods of staring out to sea, more eating, drinking and snoozing.

I had made a vow to stay away from Chufi as it's easy to drink lots and quite fattening. However on spotting a new blend in the supermarket, I soon convinced myself that I really should try some. It's wonderful, very creamy and I'm doomed!

We settled down into our Fiesta fortnight routine, with evenings spent on the seafront, or in the old town, soaking up the vibes.

Spain is in recession, and unemployment is high, though folks are still coming to the town in big numbers for Fiesta, with South Beach being turned into an impromptu carpark on Saturday night.

More Stumbing Around The Anniviers

2010-08-29T17:19:00.000+01:00

After my slightly snowy and muddy trip to Zinal, the next day normal summer resumed, and I was up and ready for the 1st bus to the Moiry Barrage, with a plan to walk back to Bendolla on the Sotier footpath. It was very warm, and I was soon across the Barrage and heading along the side of the ridge above the road.

This path runs parallel to the off piste route, but at a higher level. In winter it's an area that is avalanche prone, in summer it should be stable. It felt a little uncomfortable on a very narrow path on the side of a steeply sided ridge looking at the rocks above and the road way down below. Pretty impressive scenery though.
This path was blocked by rockfall later in August, and enough rocks fell closing the road for several days as well, and a helicopter was used to clear the route in preparation for the Grand Raid Verbier to Grimentz Race.

As I started to climb towards Bendolla I got a really good view of the road, and Grimentz in the distance. My route got narrower and steeper, and I had to cross several areas strewn with boulders which were loose, plus areas where the path had eroded or tress had fallen across it.

Yes, this is the path, look there is a marker! I appreciated the chain to hold onto as I crossed the rocks. I'm not sure who did the timings for this route, but I took a lot longer than was suggested by the signpost, and by the time I reached Bendolla, I was pretty tired!

This should have been a fairly straightforward hike, but it turned out to be quite tiring and pretty physical. The hike up to Becs des Bossons was easier. I earned my Tarte au Mytilles today!

Stumbling Around The Anniviers

2010-08-28T20:35:00.000+01:00

The weather had turned a little cold and I decided it would be a good day to hike from the Moiry Barrage over the Col du Sorebois and down towards Zinal. There was snow on the top of the Col, but I put some of my ski thermals on, and caught the early Postbus up to the Barrage. The bus was pretty full, but as usual, most of the crowd melted away in other directions, and I was soon alone in making my way up through the cow meadow. I've skied down this slope in winter, it seems so much easier in the other direction.

On crossing the Col, it was snowing on me, and the cloud was pretty low, I paused to reflect on this being high summer. The views were quite limited.

With a view of the Sorebois Cable Car station within sight, I set off in search of a good cup of coffee. In winter the restaurant at the top of the Cable Car is self service. In summer there are a few tables set out, it's waiter service and not much use for anyone who needs a pit stop. Sitting outside was not practical as the weather was quite wet, so I decided to head down the Cable Car, and snack at the bottom. These scooters are for rent at the Cable Car Station, I stood on one, it felt pretty unstable!

It's a pretty steep ride down to Zinal village, but at least I was out of the rain. I caught the Postbus back to Grimentz, but along the road, the bus was flagged down by a farmer, who wanted to load a piece of metal fencing and have it taken to the village. The driver was happy to help, and as it didn't quite fit, the last part of the journey was completed with the side door of the Postbus open!

Zinal and the sound of running water

2010-08-26T17:08:00.000+01:00

As it was another wonderful sunny day, we decided to head up the Cabane du Petit Mountet for lunch. We had only a few hours before Andy was due to depart, so a local hike amidst wonderful scenery would fit the bill nicely. We set off along the Navisense, which gets a lot more lively as we begin the ascent.

It's a fairly easy hike and we were soon within sight of our destination, just hiding in the trees on top of the next rise. Once we reach the terrace, it's time to soak up the view, slap on yet more sunscreen, and decipher the Menu! The Zinal Glacier is below us, as the Cabane is on the side of the hill.

I wonder what it all means!

We've agreed to return to this area, as we want to hike over on the side of the mountain where we saw the waterfall. I expect that will be next year, as summer is drawing to a close.

The Swiss Pudding Testers on Tour

2010-08-24T20:33:00.000+01:00

After a fairly heroic yomp to the Cabane Becs des Bossons, it seemed sensible to have an easier day taking in the sights above St Luc. We drove to Chandolin and took the Tsape chairlift, then set off for St Luc which was round the ridge. It's a fairly level walk giving good opportunities for taking photos.

Looking up towards the Moiry branch of the Anniviers. Becs des Bossons is the peak far right.

Looking right across the Rhone Valley to the Plein Morte Glacier above Crans Montana.

This is the top of Cret du Midi in Vercorin, another Anniviers ski station which is open in summer.

After an hour or so, we were feeling the need for Tarte au Myrtille, so consulted the nearest signpost and headed for the Cabane Bella Tola.

It's a very pleasant venue, and I was eyeing up the potential of spending the afternoon in a deckchair. They even have a portable swimming pool set up. The Tarte was well up to expectations, and fully refreshed we set off to find a pleasant place for a picnic. With some surprise we found a purpose built picnic table with roof. Okay, it seemed to have been built for tall people, but it was a lovely spot, on a beautiful sunny day.

Swiss Critters

2010-08-23T20:09:00.001+01:00

Perhaps it was all down to me hiking later in the summer, but this year I have seen rather a lot of the local wildlife, close up. Yes, there was a bit of string between us, but not for long, as that's the way I'm headed! Some of the wildlife was a lot smaller and care was needed to avoid stepping on them. I suppose Frogs find enough to do in the mountains? Perhaps it was on vacation?

I came across a whole gang of butterflies on a path in St Luc. I have no idea what the collective term is, but they were apparently very busy doing stuff!

The local Herens cows fight quite naturally, it's rather like Sumo for cows. They like to push each other, and like most cows seem to be naturally quite inquisitive. The young cows, do seem to want to practice their fighting skills. So when I saw this, there seemed to be only one of two outcomes possible!

Over in Zinal, a plump cat was definitely in charge of photo opportunities, though a local Marmotte put in a strong showing.

Up on Tsarva in Grimentz, some animals have to work for a living. This was a surprising sight at the Buvette Orzival. I believe this is a proper Mule, loaded down with baggage. Looks quite like a horse, but the head shape is different. The owners of the bags were about 200 metres behind, looking tired and hot.

I'd wondered which way up the party had come, and when hiking up to Bendolla a couple of days later, I saw hoof prints of an animal wearing metal shoes on the "Chemin Rapide" which is the steepest route!

Market Day in Grimentz

2010-08-23T17:17:00.000+01:00

Throughout the summer months Grimentz has many themed Markets. It's mostly traditional crafts and local produce, though you can't buy a St Bernard!

Local schoolboys making Hanging Baskets for the Geraniums which adorn the village.

The local Baker always has a Stall, and the produce is pretty tempting. Business seemed quite brisk with tourists and locals stopping by. Perhaps the Baker was specially busy as the Mill was grinding the wheat for the A.O.C flour. My photos don't do the little mill justice, but it's the first time I've seen this running.

There was also a display of traditional Wool spinning, and a pair of sheep in a pen in the old village.

I got the feeling that the sheep had done this before, as they quite liked having their ears tickled! As there was no price tag, I guess that the sheep were not for sale either. I imagine it would be a bit tough getting them through Customs!

The building on the right, directly behind the tiered seating is where the wheat is being milled, it's a water driven mill.

Sunshine and Cow Pats

2010-08-10T19:36:00.053+01:00

I've been hiking again, in and around Grimentz. Made my journey a little later this year, to avoid too much mud and snow on the paths. When the snows melt, the cows move in, to get the tasty grass. They bring their own portable milking parlour. The resort is really busy, but as usual, it's easy to avoid the crowds.

It was a very warm 1st day, and I was really surprised that my boots rubbed my heels. Compeed to the rescue!. I have no idea why this happened, and it's not happened since.

Andy arrives on an early flight the next day, so we take a gentle hike around the Naviscence in Zinal. I put a hand in the water to test the temperature, incredibly cold. The cows in Zinal seem much bigger, what do you think?

We walked past the remains of a small avalanche. Andy decides to poke a stick into it, and fails, as it's rock solid.

The cloud is starting to drop, so we head for a coffee and cake!
The next morning is fine and sunny, so we set off for the Cabane Becs des Bossons from Grimentz.

This is a walk that I failed to complete last summer, when there was just too much snow on the path. Soon we reached the snowline, and headed up to the Col.

After we cleared to Col, we spied our lunch stop, and on arrival the clouds descended!

Lunch over, we set off to return to Grimentz, stopping to observe that it's hours to everywhere from here!
The terrain in this area is quite different to what we experience in Grimentz. Far more rolling hills with more gentle paths.

As soon as we are back among the rocks heading for the Pas de Lona we see that we are being watched!

Looking back up to where we crossed the Col, at the end of a fairly long hike.

Tick Tock

2010-06-22T21:17:00.015+01:00

It's been 2 months since I had some skis on. I have my boots with me, but my skis are out in Switzerland right now, well, except for a really old pair! Usually I get the urge to go skiing in midsummer, and I have the time, so take a morning drive to Hemel Snow Centre, and call in to the Ski shop underneath the snow slope to see if they have any Demo skis available.

The good news is that they have a few pairs of next winters' stock. The bad news is that they want £15 to demo a pair. The hook for this is that the store will refund the charge, but only against a full priced pair of skis or boots. A minor flaw in their strategy is that they have no stock yet, most stores won't get their stock until September and the "Voucher" issued against the charge is only valid for 3 months! They also want photo ID, which I think is a bit excessive.

Oh well, it is nice to ski on new kit, so I pay up. I was slightly concerned that the member of staff who served me didn't know what the ramp angle was on the Demo bindings, but decided it would make no difference if he did know. The ramp angle would not be zero which is what I need, and it would feel like skiing in high heels!

The skis were okay. but not exceptional, I suppose some of that is my fault as I'm out of practice, and not particularly comfortable on them. The snow slope was in an okay condition, though the "Slow" nets were about a third of the way up the slope, so it cut down the skiing area.

I decided to head down to the store to swap these skis for another pair, and had a real problem getting the electric exit doors from the snow slope to open. Usual arrangement, walk towards door, and doors open. Er...well about 12 cm, and there they stopped. I put my shoulder into the gap and pushed hard to escape!

Down to the store where all the staff seemed to be unpacking store stock and there were plastic bags spread all over the floor, Health and Safety anyone? I ask for assistance, and I'm directed towards the back of the store, where no-one is serving. I wait, and wait.....until my patience evaporates, cross back over the packing materials and resume using the remainder of my paid time slot on the snow slope.

My time's up on the snow, so I rugby tackle the reluctant door again, and make my way to the changing area. One of the Snow Centre's ski teachers stops to chat to me. Tells me that he's not really got used to these wider skis yet. The skis in question are 84mm at the waist, really not very wide, at all.

I should get my £1 coin returned by the changing room locker, but I have no idea where my money went, except to say I don't have it, as it did not drop into the coin return, oh well! Down to the shop to retrieve my hostage credit card, and collect the Voucher, which I have no intention of using! If anyone wants it, please get in touch.

Five Months of Skiing

2010-05-26T16:37:00.058+01:00

Well, not 5 months in total, but last winter I managed to ski in 5 different months. Some months were definitely better than others. March and April were rather warm for skiing, but I did my best!I'd like to think that my skiing has improved a little, but it's difficult to judge. Perhaps I'm now on the right equipment for my needs. I did fall over a few times, the most memorable falls were when I had no skis on! Ski boots are not made for walking on ice!

I did try the high traverse on this slope, so some of these tracks are mine. I found it quite steep though.

There was plenty of spring powder to be had, close to the pistes. Once the resort had closed for the season, I headed for Zermatt, staying in a little B&B, and walking up to the Klein Matterhorn lift.

This was a bit of luxury. The new gondola was operating between the base station, all the way to Trockner Steg. A seat all the way!
Last time I was in Zermatt the lift company were building a restaurant at the top of the Klein Matterhorn. It's now complete, and to reach the cafe or toilets, it's necessary to walk through the gift shop, just in case I should feel the need to buy a T shirt or mug! Coffee is good, and the view is wonderful. Much more comfortable than the Portacabin that was here on my last visit.

The glacier slopes were in great condition, but I'd never seen so much of the glacier exposed on earlier visits.

I was summarily fleeced at Trockner Steg. I'd forgotten to put my water bottle in my sack, so paid 6Sfr for a small bottle which was priced up at 80 cents in the supermarkets in the village.

Seeking a better value alternative, I followed an "Open" sign for the Gandegghutte. The piste runs underneath the KM cable car, and some of it is uphill. When I arrived, the staff out laying the tables, went inside and locked the door. One to avoid!

Though the glacier was in great shape, some of the lower runs were a little thin. This slope leads down to Furi from Furgg. Rocks, grass and mud with some wet snow, with a walk out at the end! This is not the village, it's well above it.

I decided to catch the gondola over to Riffelberg and then the train up to Gornergrat. Wonderful views, and it was fun to be on a train as a skier. I raced the train back down to the gondola.

On my way back down to the village one day, the lift company were running the old cable cars, so I was treated to the view of old and new together. Underneath it's possible to see the piste running down to the village. Based on how thin the piste was higher up, I didn't try the ski down.

Dear British Airways

2010-05-16T15:09:00.005+01:00

I was caught up in the latest BA industrial dispute. Come to think of it, I was caught up in the last one, and the one before that, but I digress. A couple of days ago, my nerve failed me. I would be 1500km from home with no access to a laptop and only a PAYG mobile phone, before I'd find out if BA were going to run a plane to get me home. Not a good situation, and with potentially limitless costs ahead, and with BA's new reputation for not paying stranded travellers' expenses hitting the tabloids, I've bottled out.

Discussed my options with my OH and we agreed I should get on the phone and move my flights away from BA's ongoing problems. He would have to manage alone, and I would not be arriving by plane/train.

So, after looking through the latest strike list of options from the BA website, observe that they have blocked DIY changes, I'm obliged to phone a call centre.

Problem #1, I'm gullible. The operator can't offer me the dates I want, because the computer says no. She offers me 2 earlier dates, which are no good to me, and I tell her this. I am reassured that it's okay, I can go into the system later and change them. So, having been duly reassured, I agree, and await the email I'd requested to confirm the changes.

Problem #2, I'm trusting. When the email arrives, not only are the dates no good, the return flight is now only 2 days after the outward one, which is utterly useless. I decide to test what the operator has told me the day before and swap them.

Problem #3, As BA appears to have still disabled part of it's website, customers cannot change their travel, you have to keep phoning them.

I'm an Executive Club member, so they are the people who I phone. Up to now, I thought I'd had a few problems, but really that was just chicken feed.

Problem #4
The operator tells me:
That "to change your flight will cost be £60, plus any additional fare costs."
That "you are only allowed 1 change"
That "I'd entered into a new contract"
That "if you cancel you won't get a refund"

So, by now I'd really had just about enough of British Airways. I've naturally done nothing about the flights, they are still a crock.

It's pretty interesting that the rights of passenger seems to be pretty poor with this company. I made a booking in good faith to meet a tight timetable with a scheduled train service which is advance reservation only, and realistically 1 train a day.
Like most of the public, I cast my eye over the booking conditions, but fail to read into any of the weasel words in the sub clauses because it generally takes me into a closed loop, and I have a life.

Why does the schedule play no part in the booking contract ?

When a BA passenger books and pays the money, the company does not have any obligation to deliver to meet the schedule. It's in the small print.

So, for a fair and balanced contract, I should be able to turn up and get on any plane to my destination, yes?

Well no. The airline takes my money, and I enter into a one sided contract. It then runs the plane to it's timetable if I'm really lucky. If not, then I won't get a refund.

As a passenger, it's become a matter of (if) not when I'll arrive.

I'll be searching the web for a decent priced airfare for my return trip.

As for not getting a refund, from reading I've done it seems that like most of the plane companies, BA charge disproportionate sums to refund the Taxes and APD charges paid by travellers that they hold until after we have travelled.

Disabling the website from offering this function, DOUBLES the charge they make on the hapless punter, because the only way to make the cancellation is by phone. Nice little earner, and no wonder the operator in the Executive Club sounded happy.

As for my reservation only onward rail travel with Spain's national rail operator RENFE, I simply cancelled the booking online, paid a single figure admin fee and the money was back in my credit card account in 2 working days. Excellent service. British Airways should take note.

In December 2009, I flew with BA, I had no idea how I would get home, but a judge intervened and declared the strike ballot unlawful.

In March 2010, I flew with BA, well actually I flew with Jet2 and Air Finland. My outward flight was cancelled and it took me an hour and 20 minutes on hold to BA to get a seat on a later flight. I had no real indication of how I'd get back when I left the country, but as long distance public transport at my destination, is plentiful and most requires no advance reservation it's not such an issue.

Of course BA were supposed to email/txt me with details of any cancellations, and I received nothing at all, so have little confidence in their service.

I do not feel that British Airways has any right to expect any loyalty from me or any of the other victims of this fiasco. I have lost a small amount of money in comparison to many travellers. We should have all lost nothing, as it's not our problem.

Patrouille des Glaciers

2010-05-14T20:13:00.018+01:00

Whilst in Zermatt recently I was fortunate to see the start of the mountain race between Zermatt and Verbier. This only takes place every 2 years and it's pretty tough. There were hundreds of soldiers in Zermatt to manage the start and the preparations. I was quite surprised at the large numbers of the media there, but when lots of exotic looking skis filled up the ski room in my hotel, I realised it was a pretty big event.

During the afternoon the army band officially opened the event by marching through the village.

The start on this, the first night, was outside the main railway station in the centre of the village, and the main street was fenced and roped off by nightfall.

I bagged a position along the fence near to the start and was in place to see the tape go down and a row of soldiers hold back the racers until the official count down is over. The soldiers make a run for the fence and the competitors surge forwards.

Most of them were wearing trainers, and had their ski boots fixed into their bindings on their skis, strapped onto their packs. As I walked back to the comfort of my (now) quiet hotel, I imagined that I would be having a much better nights sleep than any of the racers (who skied and climbed all night).

Mountain Bite

2010-05-11T19:31:00.014+01:00

This is a friends Giro helmet. He was wearing it when he lost a ski and somersaulted onto some rocks last month, while we were skiing together. He had a bruised arm and sore knee as well.

In fact all his focus was on his sore arm. I went over and picked up his kit and he skied back onto the piste to take stock, and only then did I see the rock sticking out of his helmet. I really thought that it was a piece of rock stuck onto the snow,which was stuck on his helmet. I was pretty surprised when I pulled it out of a hole.

It had gone right through, and he had a graze on his hairline, the helmet stopped the rock going further.

He's going to buy a new helmet.

Beep

2010-05-04T21:39:00.012+01:00

This winter I'd promised myself that I'd get some snow time practice in with my Transceiver. I've practised in two dimensions, but I really wanted to have a try in the local Avalanche Training Centre in Zinal.

I have an Analogue Transceiver, an Ortovox F1 Focus, and I had the perfect opportunity to spend a sunny afternoon at the free facility in Zinal. The snow was warm and soft, and not too good for skiing, but perfect to practice in the warm sunshine.

The facility is really easy to use, with instructions available in several languages, and once I'd set the timer and number of "victims" to search for I began to discover just how tiring it is to clamber around wearing ski boots in hilly conditions using a probe and Transceiver.

The facility has buried several responders around the site, and searchers have to find them and touch them with their probe to switch them off. I had good success at getting close in using my Transceiver, but failed to get a pinpoint location every time I tried. I don't know if my machine is faulty, my skills are deficient, the facility has a fault, or it really only works with 2 Transceivers. My machine kept losing it's direction signal when I switched to close range, new batteries too!

The experience made me understand just how exhausting it is to going to be to search for a buried person under Avalanche debris.

I'm sad to report that my 2 "buried victims" would have died as I failed to find them in the search time I'd set.

Pass The Soap

2010-05-03T08:51:00.011+01:00

Lots of new visitors to the Anniviers Valley are a little overwhelmed by the narrow steep road from Sierre. Well, there is some good news and bad news. The good news is that this road is closed during the daytime until mid June. There are roadworks in progress.

The bad news is that all traffic must travel up via Vercorin to Mayoux, which is quite a lot narrower.
I had my doubts that the Postbus would even try to run a service using full size vehicles, would they borrow some minibuses? Make that a no!
Even delivery vans fill the road, and remember, this is 2 way.

I had been idly wondering what would happen if the Postbus I was on met something bigger, and on cue along came a really large lorry. It really does not matter how many air horns you have and which tunes they play, both these vehicles are too big for the road they are on.

In Switzerland the Postbus should have right of way, but as the the lorry had a tail of cars and vans behind it, reversing was impractical. Impasse!

The solution was found! The Postbus reversed a small way, crossed onto the opposite side of the road, allowing the lorry to pass alongside, now also on the "wrong" side.

We did this once again before we arrived in Sierre!

I know all my photos are sideways and I apologise, but it's something that Blogger does, I don't have my laptop tipped on it's edge, honestly.

Powder Daze

2010-02-14T15:44:00.039Z

We are often asked if we are lucky with our snow when we visit the Val d'Anniviers. This is how it is most of the time, we respond. I guess it's just as well that we like skiing off piste and in powder.

An opportunity to revisit classic runs that we enjoy, which seem to change just slightly each winter. Once the Itineraries are declared open, there is a rush to ski them, which left us with chopped up powder, still fun though.

One morning we headed over to Zinal to watch some Parapente competitors in a local competition. The objective seems to be to touch down in a marked box on the snow and fly on to the next checkpoint. It's good to have some entertainment with lunch and this checkpoint was just outside a cafe.

Andy has some new skis, and was busy getting the feel of them. After a day or so, he declared that he liked them. Just as well really!

Crossing the valley to St Luc and Chandolin we decided to try an Itinerary down to one of the base lifts. The top was glorious, the bottom was icy moguls, refrozen snow, rocks and trees!

We headed up a little higher to find some softer snow!

Over in Grimentz, we kept missing meeting up with a member of the Anniviers Facebook Group. Maybe next time, we will be more organised. We did bump into a group of friends off piste, not literally, but they were skiing the same pitch, it was quite surreal!
Grimentz was starting to get busy. We got the picnic habit again!

Headed over to Zinal again, in the hope of a quiet day. We had some good snow in the Combe Durand area, and then skied down to Zinal, which was a bit mogully.

We made a tactical error in skiing down, as we saw hundreds of children queueing for the cable car. It took perhaps 20 minutes for the line to go down. Whilst waiting we bumped into another member of the Anniviers Facebook Group, quite unexpectedly, took the chance to catch up with news and then we went for a welcome coffee at the top.

Back to Grimentz to have a look at the Skier Cross and Freestyle competition. The competitors in the park were getting some serious height.

Our last day was pretty snowy, it's just possible to see the sun in this photo.

Our journey home was quite snowy too. We crossed the Jura in a snowstorm and saw our last snowplough around 30 miles from Calais. Here's the view through the windscreen just south of Reims.

Chilly

2010-01-03T13:36:00.019Z

A quick getaway to the Val d'Anniviers before Christmas. It seemed really easy. Hop on a plane to Geneva, and then the train and Postbus. Of course I had not bargained on British Airways staff voting to strike, and declaring their intent to strike before I travelled back. Oh well, if I had to travel home on the train, it would be no hardship.

I had a walk around Sierre on the way up the valley and saw locals playing outdoor Bingo, accompanied by some guys on a Karaoke machine. All in -2c.

The weather and a judge then intervened in my travel plans, which was just as well. The weather in the UK was awful and lots of folks were stranded, then Eurostar suffered from the wrong type of snow and upset thousands of travellers plans. The judge conveniently (for me) declared the BA strike vote unlawful, which meant that my flight home was running again!

I skied in both Grimentz and Zinal, both hills were pretty cold. The skiers bus does not run until high season, so the journey to Zinal each day was over an hour and two buses each way. It was also not free, unlike last year.
The cold was pretty invasive! I saw -20c at mid station in Grimentz and saw a reported -29c at the top of the lift system. The loos at Bendolla were full of screaming children and anxious parents, who had failed to read the weather forecast and dress their children to suit the conditions. I have never seen so many people who looked as though they had been slapped hard.

All this cold weather, meant very little new snow, it was just too cold. I did manage to find isolated pockets of fluff, but generally off piste cover was thin and rocky, so I stayed clear.

Meeting up with some old friends was a real bonus, and I enjoyed skiing with them again, though don't feel I did my skiing justice, as I went down with a really bad cold, which sapped my energy. I also slipped over crossing the road and tweaked a knee, so I'm guessing the cold left me a bit vulnerable to injury.
The cold is now going, and I can't wait to get back out there later this month. It's rather cold again right now, but I'm confident that will pass and lots of fresh snow will follow in it's wake!

Vertical Chill - Saab Ice Wall

2009-12-06T16:33:00.023Z

Ice Climbing has been on my "must do" list for a while. I grabbed the chance to take an hour's climbing on the Saab Ice Wall in London. It was huge fun, though quite tiring. I completed 2 straight ascents, then 2 with an overhang, and tried the most difficult face twice.

Although I'm in a fridge full of ice, it's hot work, and once I'd finished my session and changed, I headed into Covent Garden to act like a tourist, before meeting up for a Pastie with Tim who is a fellow member of Anniviers Ski. It's nearly Christmas, and I'm certain I've never seen a Reindeer this large! Santa's view December 24th....

Around and about in Covent Garden.

Chalk and Cheese

2009-11-01T17:09:00.016Z

I'm don't really go to many music events, but last month I went to two. It's been two years since I saw Massive Attack in Birmingham and as they are releasing a new album soon, it was a good opportunity to hear some of the new material played live.

Coincidentally, I'd discovered that ZZ Top were playing just 2 venues in the UK, they had not played here for 10 years, and we'd never seen them live. We managed to get seats at Wembley Arena, oh the luxury!

Massive Attack, played Swindon Oasis, which is run by Swindon Council. It's grubby and run down, needing modernisation. I really enjoy MA, and would have enjoyed seeing the band play, but as we were all standing in a sports hall, and being a bit short, I listened to most of the event. Some of the new stuff is really excellent, and they were superb musically as ever.

Wembley Arena by contrast is big and bright and well run. There are plenty of facilities. The staff are polite and helpful, and I was blessed with an uninterrupted view of the stage from my seat, at pretty close range!

ZZ Top have been playing together for 40 years, and are pretty slick, needing few few stage props to hook the audience. I do enjoy my clothes flapping to the bass, and my ears rang until the day after. A really memorable event, with plenty of feel good music.

Their support act were Steel Panther who parodied every heavy metal cliche that ever existed, but could also play really well, though I think I'll pass on buying any of their released material, there was just too much swearing for the sake of it.

Irony

2009-10-27T21:18:00.013Z

Today I learned the meaning of situational irony. I drove to see my ski bootfitter, to so he could adjust the fit on my wonderful new ski boots. I'd been experiencing some heel pain, and he was aiming to adjust the shells to remove a pressure point.

By the end of my appointment my Zipfit liners were being refunded, and I was back in the manufacturers stock liners. I was upset, so was my fitter, but hey, it's a really bad month for bills and I was now £190 up on expectations.

15 minutes later, as I'm driving home down a particularly busy dual carriageway, my battery warning light comes, on, and that is closely followed by engine failure. My car just stopped running. I managed to coast onto a slip road up ramp, then made the necessary phone calls to my assistance company, partner etc.

Recovery was fairly swift, we went straight to my local garage to drop off my car, and then I'm dropped off at home by the lorry.

The garage phone me, I need a new Alternator, and a Battery. I get a choice of Alternators, priced from £150-£700. I'm thinking £150 plus VAT sounds perfectly reasonable. I should get my car back in a couple of days.

C'est la vie.......

All Day in The Fridge

2009-10-16T19:41:00.022+01:00

I'd decided that my skiing technique needed some attention, so booked onto a 1 day course at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead. The event was run by Chris Fecher and Will Roberts. http://skiclinic.wordpress.com/

With 2 coaches and 5 students it was a pretty full on day, with little time for a rest and nowhere to hide! I'd never considered that skiing for a day on an indoor slope could possibly be tiring. Occasionally we were gathered round for a briefing, to find out what we would be doing next. Then it was back to the draglift for some more drills!

I'm being realistic in accepting that it will take some more practice time before I can make lasting changes to my technique, but I intend to get some more slope time before I head for the hills.

I have recently purchased some new ski boots. I was a little anxious about wearing them for a whole day, whilst the liners were settlling. I was pleasantly surprised that they were pretty comfortable. It's around 20 years since I've worn Salomon boots, and typing that makes me feel old!

It was pretty apparent that comfy though they were, I was a bit unbalanced. I felt as though I was skiing on the two inner edges. So I'd booked to have Skier Alignment undertaken by Andi McCann of Alpine McCannix, http://www.mccannix.com/2009.htm

It would have been ideal to have me and the boots balanced up before the Course. The best I could achieve was 3 days afterwards. I met up with Andi and he worked pretty hard to get me sorted out, the work took around 3 hours. The soles of my boots have been planed, and a protective sole plate has been fitted, internal heel lifts have been added, and heaps more technical stuff !

My new boots now look just a little different....

I can't wait to try them out!

I Am Not A Number

2009-10-09T16:38:00.028+01:00

While we were in Wales, we took the opportunity to go and visit the village of Portmeirion, which was the setting for the TV series The Prisoner back in the 1960's. The series starred Patrick McGoohan and there is still a cult following for the programme.

The village was designed by architect Clough Williams-Ellis, with rescued architectural follies, which makes for a real jumble of styles. It's a private village, but is open to the public for a fee.

We were both surprised at how compact the village is, but because it's a mix of styles, there is much to catch the eye, and some of the colour schemes are pretty vibrant.

Some statues looked quite ordinary, until you took a second (or even a third glance). This one looks like quite a straightforward lion statue, until you look at what the lion has under it's foot!

It's a pretty decent way to spend a couple of hours on an overcast afternoon, and we were happy to get in for half price as it was after 3.30pm!

Be seeing you......

Yr Wyddfa

2009-10-01T20:12:00.042+01:00

We had never hiked Snowdon, and with settled weather on the forecast we made an early start in anticipation of a few crowds on the routes and especially at the summit. We chose the Rhyd Ddu route and the sun was trying to break through as we set off.

We found we'd been a little optimistic with our weather forecast, as we were soon in cloud. At least it wasn't raining, or cold. Apparently we were hiking up an exposed ridge at this point!

We broke through the cloud layer to see beautiful sunshine and blue sky, about 200 metres below the summit.

The sunshine had brought out the big crowds and I needed to join a queue to get to the Summit marker.

Though later on, the crowds made the summit a little more crowded.

We stopped for a coffee at the visitor centre and headed down towards the Snowdon Ranger path, crossing the railway line and spotting the source of the crowds!

To access the Snowdon Ranger route we needed to walk part way down the Llanberis Path, and here you can see the crowds heading up, the summit marker, and the train heading up to the visitor centre.

We looked over towards the PYG and Miners routes, to see more crowds heading up, and it was a pleasure to regain the peace and quiet of the less popular side of Snowdon.

Our route led us off the Snowdon Ranger, through some bogs and across a slate quarry to get back to Rhyd Dhu, before crossing the Welsh Highland Railway line.

The Valencian Summer

2009-09-21T20:22:00.041+01:00

This week, I have read that Valencia had it's third hottest summer on record this year. The sunshine brought record numbers of tourists to the beaches, and Peniscola was declared Spain's 4th most popular resort. May was not especially warm, and we had rain, but I can confirm that July was a scorcher.

The tourists utilised every possible place to park, including traffic islands and roundabouts, and the town, opened South Beach for parking. I imagine that this tourist did not arrive on Ryanair.

Here are the cars on the beach in the evening. Also in the image is frame for the Beach Cinema, which generally starts at 10.30pm.

Here is a queue of folks waiting for a table at a popular restaurant. It's about 10.30pm and they are queueing around the cars which are parked on the roundabout. The road was also open for traffic!

I took the time to go and explore nearby Benicarlo, which is not a tourist destination and has some great buildings, and the centre is quite smart.

I did my best to try some local specialities, and eat like a local. Some foods promised much and delivered very little!

I managed to see the beach early one morning, freshly raked and almost empty, so strange for high season.

There are always street performers on the promenade in the evenings. Some are more sophisticated than others.

Each September as part of the Fiesta, young bulls are set loose to run up the beach. The view here is of the safety fencing set up on the beach with the old town in the background. This was a very still, warm evening and it's about 10pm when I took this photo.

The weather was more humid than usual, and I've heard that this was typical throughout the region. We were not too badly affected, as the estate is on a hill and we always get a breeze. I did suffer my first local mosquito bite ever! Typically the insects blow past at such a rapid pace, we need no screens or spray.

Summer ended with the usual Gota Fria downpour, and nearby Vinaros achieved 20 litres per square metre of rainfall one day.

The Battle of The Beers

2009-09-16T20:58:00.019+01:00

We were quite surprised to find our favourite Chimay beer in a supermarket 2 towns away. We made the decision to check out the flavour with the Med as a backdrop instead of the usual Swiss mountain. As it's 9.0% vol, it's potent stuff.

The next day our nearest Spanish neighbours called round and surprised us by presenting us with a case of a specialist Spanish beer called Ambar 1900, plus 4 Spanish wines.

These two beers were vastly different. The Chimay is a dark heavy beer, incredibly tangy and strong, when compared to the Ambar, which is exactly as described on the bottle, a Pale Ale! It's made only in Zaragoza, by one company, so is just as unique as the Chimay, with the exception of Chimay being made by Trappist monks!

The Chimay was a different beer to the one we'd been drinking earlier in the year, but brewed along the same lines. However it still does produce the same buzz. It's best not to even consider going out after a Chimay or two.

Ambar is a light refreshing drink, serve it chilled and it's perfect for a hot climate. Good job we were presented with a case!

El Noche del Fuego

2009-08-31T20:43:00.029+01:00

The town has quite a few festivals throughout the year. We'd missed a Jazz Festival by one day on our arrival and I was around, for the series of concerts of Baroque Classical Music taking place in the castle each evening, at 10.30pm. Each night a large brazier was lit on the roof of the castle at the start of each concert.

To announce the start of the concerts, a large Firework Display was set to music, organised by the local experts Pirotecnia Tomas. I'd seen the guys setting up the fireworks on the beach over a couple of days. Lots of folks drove in from other towns and villages as this was quite a spectacle.

Everything in a plastic bag is explosive!

I headed up to the castle ramparts for a good view, and as they began at midnight, stopped at a shop to buy some water. My diversion meant that I passed by one of the speakers, which was powered up, and I wondered if the folks sitting nearby really understood just how much sound would come out of the tower, as it was huge.

Think rock concert.

The local police kept chasing me from each ledge I sat on, for being too close, and I eventually sat on one of the walls within the citadel, along with quite a few others.

When the fireworks began, I practically fell off my ledge, which would have been a bit serious. I thought I was used to the level of explosives in Spain, but these were bigger and better than any I had seen before.

I never did hear any of the music, and covered in the remains of fireworks and soot, I cycled back through the town at 1am, to see the temperature on an outside digital thermometer showing 25c. Perhaps I should have made it an all-nighter, there were still folks heading into the old town, instead I wove through the large traffic jam and headed back. My ears were ringing and I'm really not surprised!

Pintura Plastico

2009-08-28T20:12:00.009+01:00

I'd headed out to Spain to get some much needed painting under way. I have to say, that it really didn't seem to be a big task, but as I took a first close look, the size of the job seemed a bit daunting. All I had to do was to paint a garden wall, which was on an incline, laid with membrane and covered with pebbles. The surface was the killer, it was so unstable, and the incline was 15 to 20 degrees, and the temperature was about 30-35 degrees!

Once I'd done some ground clearance, and found some really thick gardening gloves to push the neighbours ornamental palms aside I made a start.

Early starts were the key to success, as it became obvious why Spanish workmen down tools and head for the beach in July/August. I'd opted to try Spanish paint, and as I'd inherited a large can from the last workmen on the premises, I got stuck in, after buying a second can. The application method seems to be to load up the paintbrush and generally spread the paint out on the wall. To describe this paint as thick is quite an understatement. I would have confidently upturned the can over my head and looked up with my eyes open.

The gloves worked quite well, and I received only a few punctures in my hands, however it's really not nice to see a small army of ants marching up the glove heading for my arm, each time I disturb them.

The paint pots rapidly emptied, and I faced the prospect of buying more, (easy) and transporting it by bicycle (more entertaining). I knew I would find that there was a downside to deciding to manage without a car. It is entirely possible to carry 8 litres of external plastic paint on the handlebars of a bicycle in Spanish holiday traffic (and not fall off).

Of course, I had the locals pass judgement on my work.

Beta Tester

Quality Control

12 Hours

2009-08-08T18:08:00.002+01:00

This is the time it took from the first phone call from my partner to say that our cat was seriously ill, to the second phone call he made in tears from the animal hospital car park. No need to speculate on the contents of the call. Of course we all know that our pets will likely die before us, but that does not stop us giving them a loving home.

There was no time for me to get home to say goodbye to our beautiful, spirited girl, and the vet was unable to take any action to save her. She died too young, but the odds were against her becoming an old cat, because of long term ill health. I will miss her, and right now I feel very sad. Once I get back to the UK, I will take the time to celebrate the good times she gave us over the last 11 years.

Natural High

2009-07-18T20:46:00.029+01:00

I set off from Bendolla to hike to the Roc D'Orzival. My route took me through the Abondance area, which in winter is my favourite ski itinerary. It's quite a sharp climb and the area looks so different in summer, with features that I don't get to see in the winter.

The usual skiers entry point is in the centre of this image.

Here is the view from the entry point. I had no idea there were so many rocks!

Once up onto the main ridge I headed for the top, but the air was not too clear so the views were not so good.

This is looking across into the Orzival area, which is another popular off piste destination, easily reached without skinning up. Beyond is the Rhone valley.

After this, I headed down to Tsarva, and then back to Bendolla, passing a drag lift on the way. The snowpark kickers still had some snow, I wonder if it will last until the season starts.

Here is a good example of why surface lifts can't run in summer!

I stopped for a sandwich, beside a stream which was in a very pretty setting. I really think that the nearby bridge could use fixing though.

Weather 1 - Hiker 0

2009-07-15T20:24:00.032+01:00

I set off to hike in Grimentz several days running, and turned back each day because the weather was not good. I was surprised at the amount of snow on the walking routes and as I was walking alone, I opted to turn around as the hills were very quiet.

Basset De Lona

I wanted to hike around Point De Lona across to Lac Lona and then onto the Basset De Lona, but was thwarted by the cloud descending. It was cold, and hard to see the route because of snow and cloud. In almost 5 hours of walking I saw no-one else. To add to my enjoyment, my boots leaked when I crossed a wide stream-twice. It's quite a rugged route and my guide book promised great views, which I completely missed due to the weather.

Cabane Becs des Bossons

I'd set off good and early, caught the first lift up to Bendolla and planned to reach the Cabane by 1pm latest. At about 11am it occured to me that I could not recall putting my sandwiches in my pack. Oh well, lunch would be an energy bar! I had a couple of hikers following me, perhaps they thought I knew where I was going, but for me, hills looks so different in summer. The path up to the top of the lift system, was quite snowy, and where I broke through the snow, there was shin deep orange mud underneath.

At the top, I set off towards the Cabane, but turned back after about 10 minutes, as the route was not visible under the snow, it's a traverse of a steep slope with much loose scree underfoot in parts. The folks that were following me, had not done the route either, but decided to keep going, planning to return via Pointe de Lona. I retreated back to my awaiting sandwiches and had lunch at 2pm having ascended 770m and descended 770m in 4 and a half hours. My boots leaked again, which was predictable given the conditions. These hills look so pristine in winter, early summer is very different.

Getting Down To Business

2009-07-13T14:11:00.012+01:00

My life is unfortunately not all skiing, hikes and Tarte au Myrtilles, so, having waved bye to Andy who was heading to the UK, the next day I started on the job in hand. As a warm up, I totally masked out the apartment, and then painting the ceiling twice. Thereafter I spent a portion of each day getting the apartment up to a reasonable standard of decor, planning to spend the remainder of the time on hiking.

One slight disadvantage of travelling light by air, is that I'm not able to carry my tools, so ended up buying some Swiss tools, plus paint, varnish, sandpaper etc. I have decided that I really prefer my own, and I have now developed a dislike of Swiss paint. The stuff for the ceiling was like glue, and I'm not happy with my work, and have decided to repaint it next winter, and use my favourite paint. The varnish for the exterior was also pretty thin and odd, and reacted with the existing covering, leaving a sticky mess, which needed more stripping back.

My best results were with the Wood Oil I'd purchased, which was French, and I'll seek out the brand again, as there is still plenty of interior woodwork to be restored. I refuse to worry about the labelling on the can. It was certainly not Hell to use!

It was good to be able to get out and about and enjoy the scenery, which helped me regain some perspective on what I was actually achieving each day.

Cabane de Bella Tolla

2009-07-12T17:02:00.021+01:00

A lovely sunny day, though a little cool to start with. My ankle was still not right, so we settled on an easy hike up to the Cabane. Heading over to St Luc and taking the Funicular to Tignousa, it's a leisurely 166 metres climb, though we did raise the pace in order to get a table in the sunshine ahead of a large tour group. The Cabane is a pretty place in summer and it's well patronised.

Interesting Menu though, 3rd Menu choice is worth a second glance.

So we stopped off for a coffee and very tasty Tarte au Myrtilles and then hiked over to Chalet Blanc and back along the Chemin des Planetes, passing lots of Herens cows, fresh from Inalpe, who were trimming the grass around the depictions of the Solar System.
No prizes for spotting the Cowherd lying in the grass!

Chilling

2009-07-10T14:28:00.017+01:00

As it was my Birthday, and I'd managed to sprain my ankle on the Schwarzhorn, we decided to have an easy day, as it was a Sunday after all. So we drive up to the Dam and have a good look round, It's pretty spectacular, and the view of the right side of the bank here, is skiable, well sort of. I have been down it, but a bit further across, and mostly on my back with my legs in the air as I recall.

This has to be the biggest overflow, I have ever seen!

It's hard to get a feel for the size of the structure, but there is a car down on the foreshore in the image. Yes, I know it's the wrong way up, but I've not managed to find out why this is happening, sorry!

It was a bit chilly for June, so we grabbed out coats and headed off for a long lunch in Zinal. When the sun came out, it was a whole lot warmer.

Interesting restaurant, with live entertainment!

Some Parapente guys gave us a free show while we had a coffee, and then we set off for a slow walk around the Naviscence for me to try and get my ankle freed up.

Hiking the Rostigraben

2009-07-07T17:54:00.022+01:00

Starting from Chandolin we took the Tsape chairlift up, which was not without a little drama, as the lift operator could not work the ticket machine. The chair only runs for 30 minutes every couple of hours and time was getting on, but he finally managed to issue a ticket.

We walked over to see the Illsee barrage, which is quite spectacular then passed Lac Noir, then carried on up the Schwarzhorn. The path is marked as difficult on the route, though the new Swiss Hiking grades only mark it a T2 Mountain Hike. It's certainly a hands on walk at times, with good eyesight needed to spot the marker paint.

After a walk around on the top, we had lunch at 2790m with our feet dangling into German speaking Switzerland and looking down on the lakes of Oberer and Unterer Meretschisee.
Andy had a little vertigo, and felt drawn to the edge, which was not good.

On the way back, we stopped at the Tsape restaurant, which has recently been demolished and rehoused in a tent behind the chairlift station.

"Have you ever visited a Harvester"...

We hiked down the piste back to the car park, as it was the most direct route. It's surprising how steep ski pistes are! The day 's height gain after the chair lift was 315m. Descent was 860 metres. It felt like more!

Cabane d'illhorn

2009-07-05T19:51:00.007+01:00

We had set off from Chandolin village aiming to get up high. The old village is very pretty and on sunny days gets great views of the valley.
The weather had other ideas, so we hiked through the woods to the Cabane d'illhorn for coffee and cake.

The weather set in for the day, and after hiking through the woods for a while, we decided to quit in favour of a long lunch at a local restaurant.It was good to visit the Cabane, as we have skied past it many times, and never called in. It's a charming place with a good menu and friendly staff. Next winter we will be back.

All New and Very Shiny

2009-07-04T19:55:00.003+01:00

Today is the official inauguration of the new Zinal Cable Car cabins. They will carry more people, offering a better view up to the existing destination Sorebois. The old cabins are looking elderly and a little forlorn in the car park.

Weapon Of Choice

2009-06-12T08:18:00.047+01:00

I have a listing on Facebook. I guess, that like a lot of Facebook users, my Friends list is made up of folks I associate with with face to face, folks I've met elsewhere on the internet who have similar interests and affiliations, and genuine long time friends.

Who knows what makes other folks tick, but I'd hoped I knew a bit about my long time friends. As it turns out I didn't know one of them very well at all.

Facebook has a large number of selectable restrictions with which a profile owner can modify who sees their profile, and what those folks can view. These are in addition to the Public Profile choices. I'd never used them as it made me feel a bit uncomfortable, if I didn't want some folks to read what I had written, why write it?

Logging on around the time of my Birthday, I was very surprised when clicking onto a long time friends profile, to see it looking very bare, with a minimal page of Wall information. So I emailed him to ask if he'd had a clear out, and he told me he'd been messing with the settings and the way blog posts appear, and he also said he'd look at it again sometime.

Now as he's a bit of an IT expert, I did wonder how this could have happened, but hey, maybe all of his listed friends were in the same puzzled situation as me, maybe it's Facebook at fault.

So, I contacted a couple of mutual friends at random, from very diverse backgrounds, and to my dismay, was told that they could see the full profile. So I'm starting to think that this was personal, and using the Facebook help section I now understand the fairly slow and painstaking process of blocking Profile access through entering an individual friends name, against different sections of your Profile. It was also a bit shocking to read in the dedicated chat areas that this particular tool is most often used by women to deter sex pests on Facebook.

You really could not do this by accident.

Never mind, I was sure he'd put it right soon, he's a good friend after all.

Except that didn't happen, because by the next day, a click on his profile, produced a 1 line entry only, for his Wall. So, he'd definitely looked at it again, and it would seem, reduced my access further.

Why do that, what's the point?

Enquiring of mutual friends has failed to identify my crime. They are at a loss to offer a reason or justification for his actions.

The next day I used a dummy registration to view his Public Profile and it looked pretty complete, so clicked on "Remove as Friend" to watch his Public Profile fill up, now the restrictions he'd placed against my name no longer held. At least I could read his Blog entries now. I emailed him to ask him to restore my Friend Status and remove the restrictions - no reply. So I sent a "Friend Request" - which he rejected, by clicking the ignore button. He then placed restrictions on his Public Profile, cutting my view of it to the minimum.

So, I waited a month, and then phoned him. It was Voicemail, so I rang off. My phone rings straightaway, and it's him, and he sounds upbeat and cheerful, but then I'm on a new number and once I tell him it's me, his voice tone changes, and despite phoning me, now he can't talk as he's in the car. In fact, that's all he said, over and over. I gave up.

As for me, I'm still pretty upset by this, but I'm determined to get out there and enjoy my life, as this will fade with time. Perhaps he will make the time to contact me one day and explain why he took the actions he did, but I'm not waiting in for his call.

I failed to see this coming, it seems things are never what we expect them to be. It appears that I was friends with him, but he saw me differently, disposable perhaps?

Thames Stroll

2009-05-31T20:14:00.011+01:00

We took a very pleasant 5 mile stroll along the Thames Path. There is always plenty of activity both on and off the river, and the town of Abingdon was equally busy. Of course, the sunshine brings the crowds, and many tourists want to either walk beside the river, or rent a boat, and get afloat. Either way, solitude is not something they will be experiencing.

There are some very large boats moored near Abingdon, and we wondered just how they manage to get underneath the bridges.

Chufi

2009-05-19T19:55:00.010+01:00

I should really start this entry with an apology, because I have no idea why some of my photos are on their sides, or how to fix it! Perhaps a quick fix of Chufi is needed in the system. It's my weak spot, I can't resist chilled Chufi and I was a lost cause when I spotted a large chilled display just full of Chufi in the supermarket.

Of course I need the full-on version, the low calorie one just does not taste right. So there I am swigging enough calories to keep me fed for a week in one glass (or so my waistline tells me).

I did make the effort to get some exercise, and we played tourist one afternoon and climbed the Peniscola castle ramparts, and visited the little exhibition in one dungeon. This was hanging from the ceiling BTW.

This is a view we have never seen before, from the castle roof, over the old town and we were left wondering why the port decided to paint the town name on the roof of the dock!

If you have ever been to Switzerland, you may have memories of a well ordered, polite society. Well, here's an example of how the Swiss park when they are abroad. It's probably a case of "when in Rome, do as the Romans". This is a Swiss registered Subaru Tribeca parked outside a local supermarket in Peniscola.

The weather was a little dull, but we escaped being rained upon, until we were heading for the airport, so that was fine by us. We managed to do a little DIY and gardening and most importantly relax, which is what a holiday is all about.

Pass The Suncream

2009-05-02T19:15:00.024+01:00

It's April, and I'm skiing the end of season weeks in incredibly hot weather. I suppose the term hot is relative, but for skiing, it felt way too warm. I had arrived by train and then Postbus, and Sierre was baking hot. I was beginning to understand why vineyards are big business in Valais.

My skiing experience was that of very hard surfaces in the mornings, followed by soft slushy snow after lunch. The resort was pretty busy over Easter, and I worked hard to avoid the queues for the lifts.

Andy arrived for a short break and we had a great time off piste over by the Lona black slope. We saw that there had been an avalanche which had damaged the pylons of the drag lift, and we watched a new pylon being helicoptered into place.

In the photo, you can see the extent of the avalanche, and the helicopter with the pylon underneath. The helicopter had a twin set of blades, which I've never seen before.

The lift company fixed the left very quickly, and cleared the track between the debris, so we could use the lift. Seeing the debris up close was quite scary.

We did manage to get away from the Easter crowds though, taking a picnic and enjoying the spring sunshine.

An unusual sunset brought with it the promise of a change in the weather, but unfortunately Andy had to go home.

As the morning after the snowfall dawned, I received a txt from friend Brian. Who says there are no friends on a powder day.

As he's a good skier, he leads me off piste to places, I wouldn't normally go by myself. As usual I'm playing catch up!

Some of these tracks are mine, and for me that's good!

I did drop my camera on the tarmac at the gondola station, so right now I'm wondering if I did some damage to the inside, apart from the dents on the body, as normally my photos are a bit sharper.
I started with a cold on the night after I took these photos, so I was feeling a bit low for the last few days. Of course, this cleared up, in time for my journey home.

The Swiss Calendar

2009-04-26T15:31:00.006+01:00

I have recently travelled on Swiss Trains. Not an exceptional activity by itself, though I did use a Swiss Transfer Ticket, available only to foreigners, and valid for two journeys in one month.

As my first journey was the 6th of April, I filled in the travel document on the day. The form is arranged vertically, so:
Day 6
Month 4

When my ticket was inspected, I usually get a stamp, but not this time. The inspector gets out her pen. She carefully inks a 0 (zero) in front of the 6. This I can understand, perhaps I might feel I wanted another outward journey on the 16th, or maybe the 26th of the month, thereby potentially cheating Swiss Rail of some income.

She does the same on the Month line in front of the 4 (April). How many other months can you name utilising 4 in the calendar? Take your time.......

Answers on a postcard :D

Big Snow

2009-02-07T21:00:00.037Z

An amazing two weeks, skiing more fresh snow than I have ever encountered before. Day after day the snow was topped up, and I hope I might just have improved my skiing!

As usual, I'm playing catch up, but I did get a good opportunity to try out my new Scott Punisher skis.

Another superb powder day saw us meeting up with friend JT from Snowheads and along with a group of his friends we found some very dry, light and wonderfully fluffy slopeside powder.
JT was using his new Movement Gladiators and says he likes them, though I did catch him digging a snow pit with his head!

In his defence, he says, that it's a nice straight line (as far as it goes).
Andy, who only likes skiing on groomed pistes, has discovered that it's fun to ski the fluffy stuff.

Of course, all this fresh snow has it's downside when you want to use the car to visit another village.

The digging took a while, but afterwards, we managed to get over to St Luc to meet and ski with another of the Anniviers Facebook group members, Rodney and his wife Pam. Rodney likes to ski quite fast, and is discussing with Andy how to get to the bottom of the Prilet piste in St Luc in sub 4 minutes. I let them go ahead, it's probably a man thing.

We made a couple of visits to Zinal during our stay, and the resort was quite busy with a Parapente competition. Here is one of the sponsors with a little airship.

The slopeside powder in Zinal was well worn, but I still enjoyed myself anyway!

Back over in Grimentz,I tried this shortcut on the run down to the village, I made good use of it, and so did lots of other folks.

We discovered a little chute after picnicking nearby, it was just waiting to be skied. Well actually others got there before me, and identified the rocks!

I did manage to lure Andy into Abondance, and we had a close up view of some avalanche debris. It was very close to the route, and it's easy to see why this Itinerary gets closed for days on end.

We made a day trip over to Vercorin, which was very quiet, and quite cold. There was a fog in the Rhone valley which looked quite spooky.

Zinal in the sunshine, provides a good counterpoint....

It's not often that powder is the predominant type of snow for a holiday. We feel very fortunate to have had a whole 2 weeks of the fluffy stuff.

What Goes Up.......

2008-12-21T19:53:00.039Z

A pre Christmas getaway to Grimentz saw me arriving by rail at Sierre to be met by the Postbus which was on chains. This was the first time I had seen a bus in the valley on chains, and on arrival in Grimentz it was easy to see why they were needed.

Of course, the path to the apartment had not been cleared, so I was soon knee deep in snow. Next day the snow continued, and once I had dealt with some admin matters, I decided that I would try snow shoes for the afternoon. Visibility was quite poor at times, but I was very pleased with my 1st attempt. I did realise whilst walking down the Bendolla piste, that it is quite steep.

The next day saw slightly improved visibility, and as the lifts were still closed I decided to try my skins on the same ascent to Bendolla.

I was very pleased with my climb times, which were double last years' attempts. Of course, as the lifts were closed, I got to make some lovely turns in untracked powder.

The next day was Bluebird skiing conditions!

I had wonderfully fluffy powder which lasted all day, although I really only got into turning properly mid afternoon, which was a shame, as the powder turned to overdone meringue overnight, robbing me of the chance to perfect my turns!

That evening saw the Grimentz Christmas Fair in full swing. This creation from the local bakers' really grabbed my interest.

The next day I skied Grimentz again, and tried the off piste, but it had frozen hard overnight and was just awful. I stayed on the piste, as the visibility was a bit poor as well.

Grimentz closed it's lift system again on the Monday, so I headed for Zinal. It was quite a long journey as there is no skiers bus linking Grimentz and Zinal until the 22nd December, so I had to travel via Vissoie, 2 buses each way. With delays at the cable car, it was really a 2 hour journey to the slopes, and it was a shame that the visibility was not so good, since the snow was quite nice.

The next day I made the same journey and was rewarded with better weather, though the off piste was as crusty as the Grimentz stuff, which is not too surprising really.

The snow began again next day, and I needed to pack, so I spent my time walking in and around Grimentz, which looks very pretty in it's winter coat.

It was lovely to get away from the overly commercial and tacky aspects of the run up to Christmas in the UK, and chance to get some great skiing done.

Weekend Warriors

2008-11-15T19:43:00.049Z

Making a late decision to head out to Zermatt and test some skis, I stopped off in Grimentz to collect my kit en-route and was on my skis for 11am on Friday morning. A beautiful sunny day, and perfect to settle down on my Stockli's, before testing some skis over the next two days. The ski area was quite busy, and the cable car up to Furi was quite a squeeze. I had left behind my Transceiver to ensure that I stayed away from the early season off-piste. That resolution lasted a whole one run before I headed under the rope and into the fresh powder.

After skiing I settled into my hotel, and took a walk around the resort, and thought my hotel room had a pretty good view.

The view was excellent, however the bathroom was not. The sign on the door was a bit of an omen.

No matter how I tried to fold my legs into the bath, there was no way in which I could soak my tired knees, and I'm only 164cm tall.

I made sure that I was up and ready for Saturday breakfast starting at 7.30, though I had not really considered that I would be late. On reaching the breakfast room it seemed that the breakfast buffet had been hit by a plague of locusts, and the room was pretty full. I settled down for some protein free left overs, and made a mental note to be earlier on Sunday.

Of course, I was now at the rear of the weekend warriors mass ascent of the Klein Matterhorn, and by the time I reached Trockner Steg, I had discovered that most of the crowd seemed to be participating in the Swiss Ski Test since the test centre seemed to be rather full of people and empty of skis. I briefly considered giving up and going down to get my Stockli's, then joined the scrum.

I was asked what sort of skis I wanted, and what type of skiing I like to do, and I offered up a list of likely models having done some research. So, I'd said I had wanted mid fat skis, 50% off piste profile, and what I was offered were narrow waisted carvers, suitable for piste use only and generally in cute colours. I decided to go for self selection!

Binding setting was quite funny, the ski tech yells what sounds like "sowlalanga" at me which I took to mean boot sole length, and then complains when I'm unable to step the heel piece down on a binding which is still set to the last user who weighed 100 kilos (so I'm told). I'm not 100kg BTW.

The first ski I tried was the Scott Neo. 166cm 122/82/111
I thought this was a really good piste ski, and it's pretty good in soft snow, though it got chucked around in crud. Quite easy to live with.

Next up I tried the Scott Crusade 169cm 139/90/118
This was a really surprising ski on groomed slopes. It turns really easily and is quite fun. Off piste, it seemed to need quite a bit of speed before starting to turn. It has a split personality and turns into a big mountain charger away from the groomed slopes.

I returned the Scotts to the rack and picked up a pair of Dynastar Legend 8000
165, 120/79/103, took a warm up run and headed for lunch. I had wanted to try some 8000's as Andy has some and is really fond of his, so straight after lunch headed up the Klein Matterhorn cable car for a decent blast down to Trockner Steg. So, I walk down the access tunnel and down to the start of the piste, pop the skis down on the snow, and one ski starts to slide rapidly, heading under the safety rope and off onto the crevassed area of the glacier.

I could not understand how the ski could do this, the snow was powdery and the brake should have stopped it sliding. There was no way I could have gone after it, and it was now out of sight, so I stood the other ski in the side of the slope, so that a searcher would know where to start looking and headed back down the cable car to the test centre. The test centre sent me back up to collect the single ski, and with amazing luck, the escaped ski had been spotted and was now beside it's mate in the snow.

On examining the ski, it was obvious what had happened, the binding heel piece was open, and the brake was up, not down. A faulty ski binding with no functional brake to stop the ski. I returned both skis to the test centre, and whilst I was there another skier returned his test pair, but carrying a detached ski brake. I wonder if I should use my own skis on Sunday.

Saturday night, saw the weekend drunks out in force, kicking the E-bus shelter outside at 10pm, shouting in the street at 3am and in my hotel corridor at 4am, so I had hopes that breakfast might be a little less popular, no such luck, even though I was a few minutes early.

I had decided to give the test centre another chance, so braved the scrum for the cable cars and then picked up the Movement Black Rose 175, 121/88/110. This is a women's specific ski and the top of the range for Movement women's skis, the target user group is expert. I took my Leatherman tool and did my own checks on the bindings, before I used the skis.

I enjoyed using these so much, I hung onto them all day. They are a wonderful ski, well balanced, great on piste, light and springy. Off piste they inspire confidence. I really wish that there had been a length suitable for me to really test properly. I'm not convinced that testing a ski 11cm over head height is all that accurate, but I did my best!

There is no way that I could be described as an expert skier, and I'm left wondering that Movement could sell lots more stock if they re-worded their target group in the catalogue.

Of course, as this was Sunday, all of the crowds were heading off the hill and I got a decent nights sleep! So, as I was skiing on Monday, naturally I headed down to breakfast just a few minutes early, to be told by my hotelier that breakfast started at 7.30. So I made do with yesterdays' bread, and grabbed some meat from the buffet. It was good to see what was supposed to be laid out.

I was back on my Stockli's and it was good to be on my own kit! A little windy though!

Wellies and an Umbrella

2008-10-25T20:18:00.015+01:00

I headed out to Spain for a week or so. I knew about the weather forecast before I set off, and it is Gota Fria season after all. Most folks understand the need to stay home when the rain comes, though, some of the locals decided to take their chances on local roads as the rainwater makes it's way to the sea. I turned on the local TV station to see some of the results.

This is on a local road, and it's between me and the supermarket, good job I had plenty of food in the fridge. Of course, when the road sign says, "Inundable" chances are that it will flood when the rains come.

The next day the rain stopped and the fire crews arrived in town to pump out homes and restaurants.
Some areas of the town were completely washed out, and I was surprised to see that this car had ended up as a part of a local water feature. Many hotels were flooded and coaches were unable to reach hotels as the roads were too deep in water.

If you have ever wondered what happens to all this rainwater when it reaches the beach, it does this.

Can I just Show You This

2008-10-15T16:55:00.009+01:00

Things were going so well. I just knew that when I heard those words shouted up the stairs by "the builder" that something had gone wrong, and it was going to cost. Well, this is part of my lounge wall, and it's not meant to look like that.

It is meant to look like the other side of the hole, because it was time to replace front and back doors on the house.
A visit to a handmade brick supplier was then organised to get the matching bricks and the wall was rebuilt. Just my luck, why was the house not built with ordinary bricks, which could be sourced from an ordinary builders merchant?

It's a most disruptive experience, and I took refuge upstairs along with my laptop, whilst the house was pulled apart.
Our cat took flight and went missing for 3 days. We put leaflets with a photo round the neighbourhood and she returned the same evening. She now has her very own Loc8tor tag!

These workmen consumed lots of tea and coffee and huge quantities of biscuits, but they did work hard and the job is now completed, mostly.
The finished doors and windows are in oak and I hope they will last a very long time.

Having Fun With My Clothes On

2008-09-17T18:42:00.013+01:00

I purchased some new skis back in the spring. It was a bit of guesswork, not sure if I would like them, or if I had purchased the correct length. I was over in Milton Keynes Snozone to meet up with a couple of friends, so took the chance to get some bindings mounted on them, and give them a try out. The staff in the nearby branch of Ellis Brigham were most helpful as ever and had the skis ready in around an hour.

One minor flaw in the game plan was that my ski boots are out in Switzerland. Time for Plan B. "Can I borrow your ski boots dear?". It was a little like skiing in wellies, but well worth the effort as I really like the skis. I would go as far as saying it's the best time I've had at MK, the skis are huge fun.

I was joined for my session by JT and Snowball from Snowheads, who were on their way to Wales. JT was trying out some new skis as well, though I'm not convinced he was quite as happy with his choice, though guys both look happy enough here!

The Spanish Builders (again)

2008-09-16T20:34:00.011+01:00

After paying lots of Euros for our place to be renovated, we headed out to Spain in order to get the electricity supply working properly. The problem seems to have been with the supply to the new power sockets. It should have been 220v, but was actually 120.

2 electricians arrived and dug a hole in the (new) wall sighed quite a lot, and announced that it was a big problem! They rose to the challenge and rewired the new wiring! Once they departed the builders' son arrived and introduced a plasterer who fixed the hole (s)!

Naturally we are out in Spain to relax, so it's time to get in a little painting and take in the scenery.

It's a long way down, and it's quite hard to paint a wire mesh!

It's a good job that we managed to get some proper relaxation done. some of it involved catching up with emails of course.

Of course, some builders in Spain, work harder than others, but it's quite a short season!

Golden Opportunities

2008-07-27T19:30:00.006+01:00

It has been unusually hot and sunny, so we decided to head the nearest high spot, White Horse Hill to cool down. We have been visiting for 9 years, and the hill, with it's chalk horse draws locals and tourists to The Ridgeway, which is an ancient road. Imagine our surprise to see an almost empty car park with a couple of these installed. I would not mind paying a charge, if there were facilities, though it does seem a real coincidence that this gets installed just as everyone is trying to save money by taking days out closer to home.

There is little option, but to pay up or drive away, as the roads are really narrow, so we fed the machine and set off on a walk described by the local council as "strenuous" and steep.

It was a really pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, marred only by worrying about being back at the car before the ticket ran out.

Hotel Weisshorn-The Foodies on Tour

2008-07-13T20:02:00.004+01:00

It's Sunday, and the weather forecast was not promising, so we decided to head over to St Luc for an easy walk up to the Hotel Weisshorn for Sunday lunch.
The sun was shining as we left Grimentz, it looked fine but hazy as we entered the Funicular, the 1st few raindrops were hitting the windows on the ascent, but there was a large crowd of hikers waiting to go down as we reached the exit.

It was raining so hard that we made straight for the Tignousa cafe to wait for the clouds to pass. The cafe staff were having fun by telling us that we should be happy as we had "english" weather to hike in!

Soon enough, the rain passed over, and we set off down the Chemin des Planetes, which is an easy trail laid out with depictions of the planets at various intervals.

The last part of the footpath is a little steeper, and the cloud rolled in, but we reached the Hotel without getting wet.

Lunch was great, and it was tempting to stay all afternoon, but the weather was looking increasingly gloomy so we set off in a thunderstorm to walk back to Tignousa. It's July after all, reasonably warm, the rain passed, and we were nicely drying out as we reached the cafe and Funicular station. Our boots suffered the most and took a full day to dry out. Wet feet are not fun, even in July.

Earning My Lunch... Cabane du Petit Mountet

2008-07-10T17:13:00.014+01:00

Another sunny Swiss day, and we decided to make the hike to this popular mountain Cabane outside Zinal. The route up to the Cabane is a trail, but there are variations, so as the main trail was quite busy we turned off onto a narrow path through the trees.

The scenery is quite amazing with plenty to draw they eye, which, of course, adds to the hike time.

The trail we chose was quite steep in places, with chains to grab on the steepest rocky parts. Of course, we had wondered about all the waterfalls lower down, where did they flow, were there bridges etc...

Yes, there were bridges, if a little narrow and wet. They did serve to improve my concentration on the task. It was imperative to avoid falling in!

With the Cabane in sight, and the promise of a long cool drink at the top of that hill, I almost broke into a trot...

Then Andy decides that he wants to admire the scenery....

The Cabane is a very sunny spot and their sun umbrellas were fully engaged in keeping us cool whilst we decided on what to eat. The flowers on the windowsill don't seem to need any shade though....

The Cabane is quite smart and fairly new, since the old one burnt down a few years ago. The food was excellent, and we were reluctant to get started towards Zinal.

We took the easy path down, and the stream crossings were much, much easier...

Cabane de Moiry

2008-07-09T09:13:00.008+01:00

As we were out in Switzerland for a few days and the weather looked settled, we decided to do the short hike up to the Cabane de Moiry. The walk up is quite steep and rocky in places, and we had to cross several small patches of snow, which some folks found easier than others.

Yes, this is definitely the path, identified by the yellow paint on one of the rocks in the centre of the image!

We were a little surprised to see some hikers arriving at the Cabane by helicopter. The walk up took us 1 hour 50 including stops,

The views of the glacier from the Cabane are stunning, though there is building work being undertaken at the Cabane, so there is a lot of disruption and noise. Once back on the trail, the quiet and vistas of the Moiry Glacier are amazing.

Once back on fairly level ground, we could look back up to where we had lunch!

When in Doubt, Try the Freezer

2008-06-09T21:13:00.005+01:00

My laptop has been misbehaving over the past few days. Initially, it would not start up, so Andy dismantled it, and did "something" (not too sure what though), but it started again.

All was well until the time came to shut down, nothing we did would make it switch off. We left the battery to go flat.

Today, it was misbehaving again, so Andy put it in the freezer for half an hour, and hey presto it started up straightaway.

We have no idea what occured, and could not possibly recommend this route to anyone else, but it worked this time!

What can I say, it's a warm day, and there's nothing better than a cool pc.

Heading out to Switzerland for a visit soon, hopefully life will be more straightforward. Received a message from our agent today, the renovations have begun, and we have a new interior wall...to pay for!

Flaming June

2008-06-03T20:32:00.004+01:00

Apparently, the expected rainfall for the month of June has fallen in 8 hours. Never mind, after last years' flooding, the council and landowners put in many hours work opening up drainage channels and clearing ditches, so the village would not get flooded in the future. Observe the results of their efforts.

More Grey Hair and a few Chubasco's

2008-05-17T14:22:00.012+01:00

We have had the builders at work on our house in Spain doing some alterations. They are local, so exchange of information has been quite tough as we don't share much language. For months they have been telling us in emails that there was no water on at the house, and most recently that there was no meter. This could not be correct, since we have had a water connection and a metered supply paid by standing order, for over 3 years. We thought that they must be looking in the wrong meter cupboard.

So when we arrive to view the finished works, we open up the meter cupboard, and find that the meter is gone. No water supply and no meter. The house is also deep in concrete dust, all over the hard and soft surfaces. Lets just say I was a little unhappy!

After a bit of digging around in official offices in town we end up in the office of a local developer. This company are responsible for supplying the water to the estate, we show the woman at the desk the photo above, explain the situation and show her my bank statement indicating that we have paid for a water supply.

Her expression was priceless. She clearly knew what was going on, got on the phone straightaway, and we were sent back to our house to meet the meter man. A short debate followed as, for some reason he was not keen on fitting our meter, however we pointed out that from our perspective the meter had been stolen and we had paid for a meter and supply. His response was that the meter had not been stolen, so....... he knew too!

Our new meter was fitted early that same evening, and just in case the company is thinking of doing the same again, here it is, image captured for the whole world to see.

We were pretty relieved to get the water on, but that was a bit short lived when we soon had a water outage lasting 15 hours. This was followed by a pretty serious rainstorm, and it was then that we discovered that our builder had failed to consider the need for a doorstep downstairs in the conversion. Our new room was flooded.

After lots of mopping up we headed to the DIY store where Andy purchased a doorstep and some concrete to fit it with. This concrete powder has a setting time of 3-6 minutes, so he had to work quite quickly!

He also discovered that the electrical work that had been undertaken was, well, really odd. Along the lines of, the electrical plugs being wired through the ceiling light fittings.

Still, the builder is coming back to fix that, he called round to give us back our house keys, so we were able to show him the problem. I got the impression that he's seen it before!

The weather continued to be pretty cold and dismal, but it gave us chance to clean the place up and visit the Town Hall to get the Council Tax put on direct debit. The official says "si automatico!" we shall see what happens when it's due for payment.

Here we are driving past the famous Floating Orange Groves of Valencia. Well, the irrigation was afloat, as was the main road. Don't blame us if your oranges are full of muddy water.

Here's the beach view, the Med is normally like a millpond, we have never seen it like this in May.

The stormy weather meant that I could take longer in the shops and try out some different food. Found these tomatoes, called Cebra, very tasty. They don't photograph too well, but are mainly black and red stripes.

The local supermarket seem to have realised that women can never have too many hambags, as these were all over the store.

I have to say that we are both pretty tired after our trip. Hopefully the next time we are there will be much more tranquil.

Rattle and Hum

2008-05-02T16:02:00.007+01:00

I have to say, that I think my car is pretty reliable. It's really good at doing what it's supposed to. I'm just back from a long drive to Switzerland, fully laden on the outward journey, and on my own. I pulled up to pay a road toll just outside Geneva, and had to get out of my car, since my steering wheel is on the opposite side to the toll window. I became aware of a really loud rattling noise. Imagine ball bearings being shaken in a bean tin, so I looked around to see which vehicle could be making so much noise.

With a sinking feeling, I realised that I was the only vehicle at the toll, it was my car making the noise! I looked underneath, and saw nothing hanging down, the exhaust was still attached, and the engine seemed quite happy, so I drove on to the next service area.

Still the noise persisted, and drew some attention from folks in the car park. Dilemma, I can't call the breakdown service, because "its making a rattling noise" just would'nt be a valid reason for the callout. No sign of overheating or any other engine nasties, so I kept going to my destination in the mountains of Canton Valais.

On Friday when Andy arrives, he disappears down to the car park, without any tools and returns within 5 minutes, carrying the aluminium plate in the image above. Apparently it's a heat shield from somewhere underneath, and the fastenings had corroded, allowing it to drop down and get wedged somewhere. I must have driven 300 kilometres or more with this thing rattling loose.

It travelled back to my point of origin with me, in the car, not under it!

With thanks to U2 for inspiration on the title.

We Finally Made It

2008-04-29T20:10:00.005+01:00

After 2 years and 2 months, we finally got our permit to purchase, so we were able to complete and pay for our apartment. I have to say it felt quite stressful as an experience as the Canton went through several regulation changes whilst we waited. With the last and biggest change, we wondered if we would ever complete.

We had a 3 year cancellation clause in our contract, and we spent plenty of time discussing, just how long we would be prepared to wait. With nothing to lose, we emailed the Canton administration directly and were quite surprised to receive a response advising of the issue of our permit the next week.

So, now we have a large bunch of keys, some dodgy worn out furniture to replace and some bills from the Commune, which was when the realisation finally hit, hey we seem to be the er...owners.

An end of season ski trip gave us chance to decide which furniture to throw out immediately, though I was whacked on the head by a shelving unit which we were dismantling. I had an lump on my head for a week. Undeterred, I headed down to the valley and set my credit card on fire in the department store, buying electrical goods and replacing some of the kitchenwares. Also I've organised internet connection starting in the winter season, so I won't be spending too much more time and money in the Tourist Office in their web corner.

Of course, once the lifts closed, the weather turned really snowy, which was a bit galling, still, it gave me time to sew together the main mattress zip on our click-clack in the lounge. Note to IKEA, plastic zips joining separate mattresses, just don't last. The mattress is fine, the base is great, just ditch the plastic zips.

So, after meeting with a tiler, a carpenter, the Tourist Office (give us money) and a couple of local agencies, we've agreed some alterations. This will leave us penniless for the rest of the year, and some.

As it's a Swiss warm bed, we've also experienced our first cancellation for next winter. This is quite annoying as we re-arranged our stay to accommodate the folks who have now cancelled. I'm just hoping that this is an unusual occurence, we shall wait and see. The learning curve continues to climb steeper and steeper.