Friday 17 January 2014 - Last Tango in La Clusaz

Overnight snow deteriorated to rain whilst we enjoyed our croissants at the start of a leisurely morning.

Our bag (there is only one for this short trip) was packed and the apartment cleaned and progress made with our current reading matter and Sue's Facebook adventures, as well as a walk up to a local viewpoont, during which the above picture was taken, before Yolaine appeared at 12 o'clock. 

Lunch at La Trace was excellent (thank you Chantal) and was followed by a trip to Col des Aravis, passing on the way a large information board advertising a local Via Ferrata route and featuring a picture of a youthful Yolaine; she has been looking down on passing motorists at this point for the past fifteen years. The pass is a high spot, with good views towards Mont Blanc. 

Snowshoes were duly donned and the five of us made our way to La Tête, from where we enjoyed a fine view of the Aiguille du Midi and other high points, but sadly the summit of Mont Blanc remained cloud bound.

Hot chocolate at La Trace and a lift from Yolaine back down to La Clusaz saw us waving goodbye to the last of our Bueso/Collomb-Patton hosts before being picked up a few minutes later by cousin Alistair for a lovely, if somewhat indulgent, evening near Geneva with him and Laurence and the ever playful Lyra.

Sent from Timperley after an easy journey home - more photos will follow

Thursday 16 January 2014 - Gollet and Bellavarde

Gollet and Bellavarde are the highlights of the Nordic ski pistes on the Plateau des Confins, to which the number 2 skibus delivers us efficiently from a bus stop very close to our front door. 

Despite heavy cloud and wandering sleet showers, we enjoyed our final romp in the snow that the French have allegedly stolen from Austria, covering around 20 kilometres on the above pistes. The trail took us from about 1410 metres to 1650 metres, where we lunched behind a barn in the company of a group of jolly snowshoers.

The descent was lovely, though we'll be pleased to replace the waxless skis with some that have a better glide for our next adventure. 

The 14.43 bus was again utilised to return us to the comforts of La Clusaz,  where five and a half days of ski hire amounted to only €65 for the two of us.

We have secured a huge round of Reblochon de Savoie Fermier cheese, so it's a proper Tartiflette for Mike when he calls for his dinner on Sunday. 

What does tomorrow, our last day on this little trip, hold in store? We have no idea, Chantal and Yolaine have been left in charge of that, and it'll depend on what greets them when they draw their curtains in the morning....

Today's pictures show the view that we have when we draw our curtains on a sunny day in Pierre and Yolaine's studio apartment, and the sad state today of a picnic bench that was so accommodating on Monday. 

Sent from La Clusaz after the pleasure of a visit from Chantal and Joël for afternoon tea

Wednesday 15 January 2014 - Plateau des Glières

Overnight snow (pictured as we left the restaurant last night) and colder temperatures left the commuters to this Alpine village with icy roads to negotiate this morning.

Meanwhile, Joël would have been in his office by 5.30 am to orchestrate the safety of today's skiers by detonating avalanches on some of the pistes in order to make them safe for people on this initially sunny day. 

We, of course, enjoyed our now customary lie in whilst waiting for Yolaine to fight her way up the road from Annecy. Having introduced only two newcomers to the world the previous night, she couldn't offer the 'tiredness' excuse. Anyway, she arrived bang on time and whisked us away to the Plateau des Glières for another 17 kilometres of Nordic skiing. 

The weather was fine, albeit the sky slowly clouded over, hence the rather dull image of Yolaine and Sue in front of the memorial to French resistance forces who grouped together on this plateau in early 1944 and contributed greatly to the liberation of this part of France before the Allies arrived. 

The Dran and Frêtes pistes gave us a nice varied route before our excellent lunch at Chez Constance, where some ten years ago Pierre and Yolaine enjoyed a gathering to celebrate their marriage. So the place holds good memories for Yolaine. 

We were last to leave, at around 3 pm (did I say we enjoyed a superb lunch), and after repeatedly tangling with a large group of children who were faster than us but kept stopping, we left the Les Rennes piste in favour of the day's highlight, Les Mouilles piste.

The conditions were excellent even though the snow was a bit sticky for our waxless skis, and there was a fine sweeping descent to end the day's exertions at around 4.30pm.

A day of icy roads, superb skiing on both open ground and amongst beautiful snow laden trees, Yolaine's excellent company and chauffeuring, afternoon tea in the studio, and an early night after a light supper. 

Wonderful! 

Tuesday 14 January 2014 - A Walk from La Croix Fry

Wet, light snow continued to fall until after 10am, allowing us the luxury of another lie in before catching the eleven o'clock bus up to La Croix Fry. 

By the time we disembarked the cloud had lifted sufficient for occasional beams of sunlight to sear into the fresh white deposits. The trees responded by dunking their overnight burdens on any passing shadow. 

For a while we enjoyed fine views of the crète leading towards La Grande Balmaz (2616 metres). The ridge is pictured behind Sue. It has no footpaths. 

The Mont Blanc massif poked its head out of the clouds for a short while, but soon mist descended again to around 2500 metres, with swathes of cloud lower down at various levels. 

We left our skis at home today, in deference to some slightly irritated and rarely used muscles. Nor were the snowshoes borrowed from Chantal and Joël deployed. It's debatable as to whether these would have made our walking tour of the Beauregard Plateau any easier, but we managed fine without them so long as we kept to the piste reserved for walkers,  where the 30 cm or so of snow that had fallen overnight had been nicely tamped down.

There was hardly anyone about, just some sweet singing birds to keep us company - a huge contrast to the hordes of folk we saw up here on Sunday.  But with no picnic bench to be found, and with picnickers not welcome at the mountain huts, we were obliged to lunch on the piste. Very nice it was too, until the last bite of chocolate removed one of my front teeth!  Just a razor sharp stump remains, but at least my sympathetic dentist can see me at 9am on Monday. 

From the plateau, we took the easy path down to La Clusaz, on which snowshoes would have been a hindrance. Two children on skis flew past, giving us quite a fright - we saw very few others on today's trails.

Back at base by 3.30pm, after our 13 km stroll, resulted in plenty of 'down' time, during which I was pleased to be able to move on from the Hunger Games trilogy.

Tonight we are treating our hosts to a meal at La Cordée. I hope no more of my teeth go awol!

Sent from France

Monday 13 January 2014 - Plateau des Confins

Today's excursion with our skis involved a short bus ride past a gigantic English rose to the chapel at Confins.

We'd enjoyed a lovely evening at La Trace, where Sue correctly guessed Pierre's Vanoise loppet time as being three hours for the 42 kilometres. He made it to dinner in plenty of time though, whereas Yolaine was delayed by five babies, a long sleep (having babies is tiring for all involved) and a car crash blocking the narrow road to La Clusaz.

At around 1400 metres, Plateau des Confins is over 200 metres lower than the Beauregard Plateau we enjoyed yesterday. Today was warm and overcast, with the cloud slowly thickening to produce light snow that rapidly turned to slush down in La Clusaz. 

We skied all the green and blue runs, totting up another 17 kilometres before adjourning for hot chocolate and the bus home. There were not so many people skiing today, and some of those we encountered on the easy trails made us feel positively expert. This plateau is obviously a favourite place for beginners to Nordic skiing. 

An afternoon in the apartment has seen me scything through Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games whilst Sue is meandering along with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

For dessert: Rummikub.

Sent from La Clusaz

Sunday 12 January 2014 - Beauregard Plateau

A blue sky day saw us on a gondola heading up to the plateau by 11am, after a long lie in and a productive visit to the chocolate croissant shop.

Our waxless hired skis worked fine over the zigzaggy course of 17km we enjoyed today. The Mont Blanc massif was visible for much of the day,  seen in the centre of the above picture taken from near La Croix Fry, where we enjoyed an al fresco lunch on a picnic table in a temperature of about 15C and no wind. Quite a contrast to our lunch stops in Gatineau Park!

Once we got our 'ski legs' the blue trails we covered proved quite easy, the only wipe out being due to Sue installing her skis before actually reaching the Nordic Skiing trails that had clearly been groomed overnight.

Hot chocolate in La Caleche, on the ground floor of our apartment block that used to be a hotel, gave us a wi-fi opportunity. Sue is now the proud owner of an ipad and joined Facebook a few days ago, so she was drooling over her Facebook activity whilst slurping her drink. 

Our hosts, Chantal, Joël, Pierre and Yolaine entertained us tonight at La Trace, where we enjoyed a fine raclette meal. Thanks everyone - it was great.

As perfect a day as they come. 

Goodnight.

Sent from La Trace

Saturday 11 January 2014 - La Clusaz

La Clusaz is apparently one of the most popular ski resorts in the French Alps. It's more a bustling alpine village than a purpose built ski resort, situated in the heart of the Aravis in the Haute Savoie region, a dynamic yet laid back destination. Or so we are told. 

Chantal and Joël, and Pierre and Yolaine, are numbered amongst these dynamic yet laid back residents. They have welcomed us into their homes. 

We woke this morning in Geneva with rather fuzzy heads. Nothing to do with yesterday's EasyJet 1953 from Manchester that arrived 30 minutes early, though I suppose that did give us more time to down a few bottles with Alistair, Laurence and Lyra. Though Lyra didn't help much. She was too sensible, apart from being preoccupied with teasing us with a rubber pig.

The boulangerie soon sorted us out, and by lunchtime the five of us had made our way to join Chantal's team in a nice restaurant in La Clusaz. I think Lyra would have preferred to play in the snow with the other children, but she soon settled down to licking a few shoes.

Then the Geneva team then went to Annecy, where Lyra enjoys a swim in the lake. Thank you, team, for your hospitality and transport service.

Joël went back to work as La Clusaz's mountain rescue service manager, on what seemed to be a busy day. Yolaine had to deliver some babies in Annecy, and Pierre left to prepare his skis for a 42 kilometre loppet (ski race) that he's booked on tomorrow. 

We've hired some skis, collected some passes from La Trace - Chantal and Joël's HQ - and are now happily installed in Pierre and Yolaine's lovely studio apartment in the centre of the village.

All very sociable - let's now see how the rented waxless skis perform tomorrow. 

Sent from a lovely studio apartment in the Alps

First Trip of 2014

Despite our frailties, Sue and I are bravely embarking on our first trip of the year. It's the only way to prevent her from working! 

We know that the company will be good, and we hope the weather is likewise. 

Sue is currently shopping for a third pair of sunglasses. That's a bit optimistic perhaps as I would think the cost of reaching some sunshine should be rather higher than our outlay of £30 a head for this journey.

Still, even if injury prevents much exercise, we should get some nice views....

Sent from a random UK airport

Wednesday 1 January 2014 – Around Silverdale

Silverdale is a favourite place, and suitable for days that promise to be wet, like this one. We much prefer to halt in the Silverdale/Arnside area on days when the higher Lake District hills may be less than pleasant.

After an easy journey from our overnight accommodation in Adlington (thanks, Robert, Lyn and Louise, for seeing the New Year in with us), we demolished some coffee in the company of some cyclists and set off at 10.50 from Leighton Moss RSPB Visitor's Centre.

Rain didn't dampen our enthusiasm as we wandered through the reed beds pictured above. Visitors to the public hide were enjoying the sight of otters frolicking in the distance amidst the many varieties of duck.

We passed a muddy area near Grisedale Farm, where sediment is being removed from the pools and ditches of the reserve. The organically rich sediment will be dried then used as compost/fertiliser to be ploughed into the fields, and the pools and ditches will attract more wildlife than when they were clogged with sediment.

Our route nudged the private grounds of Leighton Hall before taking a footpath up the hill towards Yealand Conyers.

It really was quite wet. These sheep near Yealand Conyers looked pretty miserable.

It's limestone country. There are some 36 lime kilns, in various states of repair, in the Silverdale/Arnside area.  Perhaps I should organise a ‘Kilns of Silverdale’ walk to complement the ‘Wells of Silverdale’ excursion. We now came across the Peter Lane Lime Kiln, before heading directly west on a good path to Crag Foot, and sloshing across soggy ground on the Lancashire Coastal footpath to Jenny Brown's Point, and another kiln.

It wasn’t the brightest of days, and given the continuing rain and our lack of provisions, the Wolfhouse Gallery proved an ideal spot for lunch.

From here, a pleasant woodland path leads to Wood Well, which used to be Silverdale's principal source of water, and on through leafy ginnels (even in winter) through the back streets of Silverdale village.

Beyond Silverdale, a couple of fields saw us at the Cove, enjoying views across the Kent Channel to Grange-over-Sands.

There's a small cave to explore, but we headed away from the beach, past some alpaca, across the caravan park to Far Arnside, and on up the gentle slopes of Arnside Knott.

The rain had stopped. The sun came out. We enjoyed our first summit of the year, albeit at only 159 metres above sea level..

Then we descended by a direct and vaguely steep path towards Arnside Tower, which is just beyond a farm where the tenant certainly knows how to look after his vehicles.

The farmyard is in a similar condition, so it’s a muddier walker that emerges to the delights of the crumbling remains of Arnside Tower, a five storey Pele tower built in the 15th century and used as a house until the 17th century.

The light was fading as we headed past Middlebarrow Quarry on the way to Hawes Water and then the RSPB Visitor's Centre, but at least we’d enjoyed a couple of hours’ respite from the rain and an excellent dose of fresh air to start the year.

Here’s our route: 21 km, 400 metres ascent, in about 5.5 hours.

There’s a fuller slideshow, with 34 images, here.

Sunday 29 December 2013 – A Walk from Rivington

This final entry relating to 2013 returns to familiar ground for me and Sue, but Phil and Sue hadn’t been here before. Andrew and Ruth live locally, so they certainly should be familiar…

From Rivington Hall Barn we took the direct path up to the Pigeon Tower. Built in 1910, and with Lady Leverhulme's sewing room on the top floor, it was renovated in 1974 and re-roofed in 2005.

After a pause for breath, and a bystander’s photo (see top of this posting), we continued on along the busy path to Rivington Pike Tower, 363 metres, a hunting lodge built in 1733. Unfortunately, access to the lodge and its spacious cellar is not available to the unwashed.

There are good views back to the Tower from the slightly damp path up to the mast laden summit of Winter Hill.

The main mast is 315 metres high – quite difficult to squeeze into one picture!

The summit trig point is nearby, beyond the site of a hideous murder in 1838.  Blackpool Tower gleamed in the distance.

The steep, direct descent to Hordern Stoops is always very boggy, so we took a gentler north western path that eventually led us into some winter sunshine for lunch on a grassy bank near a bumpy track where mountain bikers are glad of their suspension.

Beyond Hordern Stoops, our route headed briefly north before descending to the north of the River Yarrow, continuing along the route of the White Bear Way that we’d joined before the summit of Winter Hill.

Beyond the ruins of Higher Hempshaws, we turned right onto a good track that wound its way slowly around to eventually descend to Lead Mines Clough. There were signs of re-wetting of the moorland to encourage wild life – sponsored by a wind farm whose turbines will no doubt decimate some of that wildlife!

There were excellent views back to the thin spike of the mast on Winter Hill that has been there since 1956, albeit the height of the mast was more than doubled in 1966.  Imagine the furore if such a mast was erected these days.

Down at Lead Mines Clough Sue laboured at length to obtain an acceptable image of the waterfall.  It’s in the short slideshow.

By the time we reached Alance Bridge, the sun had left the track but not the trees.

From here, we ambled back for a pot of tea at the barn, where despite the sun having gone down it was warm enough to enjoy our beverages outside – the weather seems unseasonably warm for the time of year, when we may normally expect to be slithering on ice. 

Here’s our route, a classic circuit – 15 km, 400 metres ascent, taking us about 4 hours.

Click on this text for another link to the slideshow (23 images).

'Stretford Reach', a sculpture by Paul Bearman and Stephen Hitchin

I pass through Stretford frequently these days, as the good surface of the Bridgewater Way provides an ideal venue for an off-road bike ride in times when it can be quite muddy elsewhere.  I don’t mind the mud, but it does result in a lot of faffing cleaning both bike and clothes after each muddy ride.

I usually whizz past this sculpture with the following SW wind whooshing me along.  On the way back, my head is down – battling against that same wind.  But it’s a warm wind and doesn’t have the debilitating effect of early 2013’s unrelenting freezing easterlies. The weather between the wet periods can be lovely, as it was last Saturday when these pictures were taken.

The sculpture was installed in 2003, on a very solid base. I wonder how many residents notice it?

More recently, the Bridgewater Way upgrade to the canal towpath has been accompanied by numerous information boards, like this one next to the sculpture.  It has recently been cleaned and looks new, thanks to the surface being easily purged of graffiti.

A little to the south, Watch House Cruising Club generally has a few barges outside, taking advantage of the Club’s facilities. I try to slow down here, as even if the path is deserted the locals have a tendency to jump out and reprimand speeding mountain bikers!

France Beckons

Happy New Year, everyone, although the next two postings will revert back to last year’s unfinished business.

Sue and I are looking forward to being back in France by this time next week, though we won’t be taking the red rope that connected me to Donovan and Andy back on 9 August 2011.

Can anyone spot the deliberate error in this ‘France’ posting, as we head across the Plateau du Trient, skilfully dodging the crevasses?

PS Nobody entered my France Competition, but I’ve inserted the answers at the foot of the competition posting if anyone is interested in knowing the locations of the 17 pictures.

Postscript, courtesy of Conrad (aka ‘Sir Hugh’)

The comments include reference to ‘Rayner’s Glacier’ which is pictured below:

Christmas 2013

Here are Jacob and Jessica with mum and dad, Uncle Mike, and three Grandmas (above), plus two more Grandmas and a Granddad below.

On reflection, I should have got a picture of all five Grandmas together. Hopefully we will reconvene again soon.

As you can see from the above images, my portrait photography is abysmal, so no more of it will be inflicted upon readers just now. Suffice to say that we enjoyed a family Christmas and New Year with friends and relatives, in a variety of locations and weather.  All very enjoyable and sociable.

Sue is back at the office today, having worked from home during the last week or so.  I’m left staring at a brilliant blue sky from our home office, which has today been allocated to completion of my tax return and Uncle Mike’s rather more complicated one.

A New Canon G16 Camera, and ‘Nerves of Steel’

In 2008 I replaced my broken Canon Powershot S70 with a G10, which entered these pages in a blaze of publicity, here, here, and here.

The G10’s lens sadly failed whilst on Leagag on 25 September 2011.

That was replaced with the G12, which expired recently after just a shade over two years’ hard use.

I’m a sucker for punishment, so I chose the devil I knew, and ordered a G16, the latest in this series, to replace the G12, in which the lens had disintegrated internally.

Meanwhile, Sue has gone through a G9 (still functional but she scratched the lens) and is now on the G15, which was an option for me, but it would be too confusing for us to have identical cameras.

The G16 has a new sensor, and Wi-fi, so the box contents have shrunk greatly from S70/G10 days – there are no CDs, all instructions being on-line, and no leads other than the battery charger’s, which unfortunately is rather bulky.

I ordered the camera from a company called Simply Electronics, for a remarkably good price.  They took my money but nothing happened.  Queries were acknowledged and received standard, unhelpful, replies. Internet research revealed that I wasn’t the only person having problems, and I regretted not doing this research before I placed the order.

‘You need nerves of steel to deal with this company’ seemed to be the consensus.

I’d paid by credit card, so referred the problem – failure to deliver in the time scale indicated – to my bank’s Retailer Disputes Team, who were helpful.

Then, unexpectedly, the camera arrived, three weeks later than the advertised delivery time.  A pleasant surprise!  Not quite the end of the story, though, as the box didn’t contain a warranty card.  However, I’m assured by Canon that this won’t be needed if the camera does fail within twelve months.  I hope I don’t have to test that assurance.

I haven’t used the camera yet, as I’m finding my waterproof Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT4 to be a good performer in the showery weather.

We are still waiting for our ‘Good Customers’ award from Canon!

Sunday 22 December 2013 – Knowle Locks

Whilst visiting Sue’s family in Solihull, we managed a short walk along the Grand Union Canal towpath with Helen and Jacob, on one of the lovely sunny mornings that have been interspersed between short bouts of wet and windy weather of late.

I have to say that the southerly wind is so much warmer than the cold easterlies that we suffered from at length earlier in the year, that in my book it’s well worth the occasional accompanying shower.

Here are a few images from the 5 km stroll past Knowle Locks to Bakers Lane and back.

Originally Knowle Locks were a series of six narrow locks, but one lock was removed and the remaining five were modernised into wide locks during the 1930 Grand Union Canal Improvement. The remains of the old narrow locks are still evident. Knowle Locks are the northernmost wide locks on the Grand Union Canal - from here going north into Birmingham, all of the Grand Union Canal Locks are narrow.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Sue and I hope you are enjoying a lovely day – or more likely, we hope that when you browse this brief message in due course you will be able to reflect on ‘Good Times’.

Have fun!

Saturday 21 December 2013 – Wythenshawe Parkrun (Christmas Edition)

Sue and I joined 158 others for Wythenshawe Parkrun number 118.  Parkruns have developed a tradition whereby on the Saturday before Christmas the finely honed athletes who take part week in, week out, dress up in the spirit of the occasion. 

Thus, on Saturday, I knew I was carrying an injury, hamstring I think, as well as not being recovered from my recent muscle problem, so I felt it appropriate to disguise myself as a slow moving Christmas tree.  Next year I’ll adorn it with lights and baubles … perhaps!  Anyway, despite worsening my injuries I managed to limp around the 5 kilometre course, encouraged by a vocal and supportive crowd. 

The fairy on the right of the above picture really did upset a few of the more serious runners by coming home in sixth place (not that it’s a race) in a very respectable 19.07.  Later, he proudly exclaimed that he thought that was a record for a fairy at Wythenshawe – a target for someone to beat next year!

Pictured below is our little group comprising me, Sue, Diana, Joe, Andrew and Alastair, after the rather muddy run.  My tree roots got quite badly trampled in the mud and nearly tripped me a few times.  And it’s hot in a tree costume.

Here’s another set of stalwarts of this event - The Barbers of Wythenshawe Parkrun - Greg, Paul, Jeanette and beautiful Isabella, posing briefly before we all adjourned for tea and bacon butties.  Heavily costumed Jeanette is to be congratulated on pushing Isabella around the course in a shade over 30 minutes.  Greg was one of those unable to match the pace of the flying fairy.

Great fun!

Good luck to Joe on Christmas Day, when he’ll be running his 50th Parkrun.  Sadly, injuries have forced me out of that one.