Weston Super Mud and More Babies.

Last Wednesday we all went to Weston Super Mare to the beach. The weather was still good and it would be great for the kids to have a day at the beach.

The tide was very low once we got there, and the beach is very shallow. Not quite the white sandy beaches of Sydney but as good as it gets in the South West of England.

Aimee and Elise both had a donkey ride on the beach. Elise's donkey even managed a quick trot at the end as well. We all had a good time by the beach and even had fish and chips for lunch too. We did find a really nice restaurant where the food looked great but unfortunately it was fully packed, so we had to go to the place across the road. The food here wasn't so great, even Elise mentioned that the restaurant across the road looked much better.

Last weekend I took the chance to catch up with my friends up north. I went to see Anne, Dave and their daughter Jennifer on Friday night in Manchester. Here's Jen studying Dave's position in a game of ASL that we were playing.

On Saturday I went further north to Preston to see Claire, Jeff and their new arrival Bethany. She was only four weeks old when I saw her. Here she is in my arms, probably wondering whom this strange guy was holding her very tentatively.

A Couple of Snakes...

Here are a couple more photos that were taken by my sister from the Longleat Safari day.

This is Elise holding a real live python snake. It was very brave of her to hold the snake! There was also a big tarantula that you could hold as well. I chickened out of that one.

There was a place that also contained absolutely loads of snakes. I was being very brave to enter the snake pit and play with them, despite taking a few bites.

Safari Time!

My parents, sister and two nieces are visiting me for a few days in Bristol. It does mean that I have a very full house but it makes a welcome change for a while.

Here the two worst offenders are in my house, one distracting me while the other stuffs 'surprises' down the side of the sofa for me to find later on.

The little terrors are taking over my house, leaving a mess wherever they go. It's even worse at dinnertime when all the rice that doesn't make it into their mouth goes on the floor. I think I'll be cleaning up after them in the weeks to come.

They're taking over my car too!
No doubt putting dirty shoes on the seats and half chewed sweets under the seats.

We went to Longleat Safari park on Tuesday. I was wise enough not to visit the monkey enclosure. Even without a car aerial there's still plenty of room for them to scratch the car and take bites out of it.

A very strangely named Bongo! I thought Elise was making it up initially but they are called that.

A close up of one of the cool rhinos that they had in the park.

There were also some deer in the park which if you wanted to you could buy a cup of food for them to feed from your car. You can see one of the deer making a secret drugs score in the background.

When we got to the tigers and lions they were all lying down. It was quite warm in the midday sun so they all looked like they were playing dead. A word of advice, unless you have air con in your car don't visit the park in a warm summer.

Overall I wouldn't really rate it as an experience to remember. It was quite expensive per person and didn't feel right to see the animals from inside your car. I'm sure it must have been a good revolutionary idea to see animals in their natural habitat (the UK!) from your car. I think visiting a large zoo is much better really.

More Llanwrtyd Wells Biking.

Last weekend I went to Llanwrtyd Wells with Leslie and Steve to get in a couple of days mountain biking. We set off on Friday night to make sure that we got a full days cycling on Saturday. We planned to stay at the Neuadd Arms which is right in the very centre of Llanwrtyd Wells.

I was quite pleased to be able to fit all three bikes and three people with luggage into my car. It was a tight squeeze but it all did fit, even if I couldn't see out the back of my car.

On Saturday morning we set off at around 10 am on the Esgair Dafydd off-road circuit route, which started and finished in Llanwrtyd Wells and according to the guide should only take 3-4 hours and go for 26km. With Leslie and Steve being beginner bikers and also my ability to get lost I figured it would take the better part of six to seven hours, i.e. a full day to complete.

Initially there was a very steep climb up some rocky single track, which was quickly followed by a tricky descent over a similar rocky track. Then we encountered the first of three fords, which we would have to cross during the day.

I went first and as I cycled across the ford my bike started to get deeper and deeper into the water till I could cycle no more and half my bike was in the water! I had to put a foot down and dismount from my bike to walk the rest of the way.

Leslie and Steve didn't do much better, unfortunately Leslie put more than a foot in the river as well.

After this we had some great downhill single track, which was a little muddy as well and slippery on the grass too. In fact most of the ride all day was quite muddy and wet thanks to plenty of short showers throughout the day.

Next we had a fantastic (for me) 2km climb up the side of a hill. I started out cycling up to see how far I could get, but at about 3/4 of the way up I decided not to stop and continue till I got to the top. I was very pleased to be able to make it to the top without stopping, however it was quite a level stone track and none of it very steep either. It probably took me around twenty minutes to get to the top.

Leslie and Steve however took a little longer as they had to walk up most of the track. Once we got to the top there was an immediate rapid descent down the other side which was just as much fun!

Once we got to the bottom there was a great view in between the hills. We all had to stop to admire the view and marvel at the fact that we couldn't hear anything else but each other and the sounds of birds, sheep and the stream that we followed.

We eventually had to cross another ford of which neither of us was successful in crossing without putting a foot down.

By this time it was getting close to lunch and we saw an abandoned farm by the river. The farm was on the other side of the river, there was a narrow bridge that we could have walked over or there was another ford to try to cross as well! Leslie went first and put the usual foot down, then I went and you can see my effort here:

Steve decided not to get wet feet again and walked across the bridge instead. Of course the only reason he did this was to protect my camera from the water.

We decided to stop here for lunch. It did hail a little bit while we were sheltered under some trees and eating our packed lunches! Lucky for us that we arranged packed lunches or we would have to rely on my hunting skills and would end up with cold nettle soup.

After lunch we did manage to get a little lost, as the directions weren't very clear. We had to cycle down a very steep rocky track and then realise we couldn't cross the river and cycle, read walk back up the steep track.

Eventually we found the correct path again after asking for some directions from a local farmer with a home counties accent. Are there any welsh farmers out here?

Now we had another long steady climb up to the top of another hill. Although this climb wasn't as high as the first one it did feel worse as we were all a little tired.

The effort was worth it though as there were some fantastic views from the top.

Here's Steve sitting down near the top of the hill where we decided to stop for a water break.

You can get an idea of how steep the drop was by the trees on the side, which were pointing directly upwards.

We stopped here for a while to admire the view and we also saw a red kite flying around the trees as well.

We were all agreed that even though our legs ached from either walking for cycling up here, the view was fantastic and worth the effort.





Here you can see the view directly down the steep hill onto the river that we were mostly following.

The hill kept going up and up around each bend. At one point you could see what you thought was the top of the hill till you came around the bend only to find out that the hill went even further up. I still felt quite energetic by the time we reached the top of the hill but Steve and Leslie were flagging a little bit.

Eventually we ended up climbing to the top of Esgair Dafydd forest at around 500m from sea level according to my OS map.

Here I am near the top of the hill enjoying a break while waiting for Leslie to catch up.

We all finally made it to the top and then came down the other side of the hill.

It was an exhilarating descent down the other side. Probably about a 1km descent zig zagging down a wide track. I got up to some hairy speeds but enjoyed it all and had a big smile on my face by the time we reached the main road at the bottom.

Finally there was a 4km ride back on tarmac roads, we all got to ride even faster because of the smooth downhill surface. Everyone enjoyed the days riding despite some tired legs.

Sunday's cycle started a little later and unfortunately staying in bed got the better of Leslie so she didn’t come out.

Steve did make it out with me though. We decided to do half a days riding today so we could get back home in plenty of time.

We only did a short blue run near the bike lodge from the Real Ale Wobble. I knew the run as I had done it before the last time I was here. Initially there was a 6 mile cycle along tarmac to the cycling lodge.

Then there was another great ascent up the hill to the top. I didn't think that I was going to ride it all because legs felt a little tired, but ended up doing it all anyhow. I always 'lie' to myself when trying to do something that will really push me. I tell myself that once I'm around the next bend I'll stop. Then once I get there I convince myself to go around the next bend and so on, till I reach the top! A little crazy I know, but it works for me.

Once we were at the top we had a fun descent down the side of the hill on a very muddy and watery single track though the forest trees. We both ended up covered in mud but with big smiles on our faces.

Here's Steve coming down the track slippering and sliding on the mud:

I had yet another great weekend cycling out in Llanwrtyd Wells. I'd love to take some more of my friends out there and sample some more of the routes over the summer.

Biking, Eyes, Birthdays and Snow!

I went down to my sister's place in Farnham last weekend. It was my dad's 65th birthday on Friday so we planned a trip to London for the entire family.

On Saturday morning I had a quick ride around Caesar's Camp near to where my sister lives. I hadn't done much exercise for the past ten days because of illness so I was eager to get out on my bike again.

Here's the view from the top of a hill at Caesar's Camp. It was very quiet because it was early Saturday morning and I only saw a few dog walkers around the place.

Because the place is only a few miles from Helen's house I decided to cycle there and back as well.

For some reason there were some cows at the army training camp as well and as usual they were in the way of my cycling path! You can get a good idea of most of the terrain around the camp from this picture as well. While it's not an ideal off roading site it is certainly better than nothing.

Unfortunately on my way back from the camp I fell off my bike again! I was waiting at some traffic lights to turn left and I didn't realise that I had a front puncture from some glass on the road. As I pushed off to turn left the front wheel just slid from under me as the metal rim made contact with the tarmac. I bruised and grazed my left knee quite badly from falling on the road but other than that only my pride was damaged. The poor woman behind me in her car looked quite shocked at my fall, but I smiled and waved at her to say that I was ok.

It was quite typical for me to survive the off roading without any problems and then fall over on the simple bit on the way back home.

Later on in the day we caught the train to London for a spot of Chinese lunch and to take a trip on the London Eye at 3pm.

The train trip into Waterloo station was a nightmare as the usual 40 minute ride ended up taking around three hours! At first there were some engineering works which meant we had to take an alternative route into London and then there was a fire on some signals which caused all trains into Waterloo station to be cancelled.

At one point we were all packed like sardines on a train for about 90 minutes. What made it worse was my bad cough. At least most people on the train were quite friendly and also very understanding.

We finally made it into London and didn't miss our allotted time for the London Eye. I remember coming here when it first opened and came to the conclusion that it was ok but probably not worth the £14. I came to the same conclusion again today!

At least this time it was during the day so I could see more of London but all the same for a thirty minute ride it wasn't that great.

Even my nieces Aimee and Elise didn't think it was that great. What didn't help was that just as we got off the Eye it started to rain quite heavily so we had to run for shelter and decided to head back to the underground instead of hanging around outside around the Eye.

For the rest of the afternoon we visited a great Italian ice-cream parlour which serves ice-cream in the shape of Italian food. You could get pizza or spaghetti shaped ice-cream which even tasted great.

Elise ordered some spaghetti ice-cream while I stuck to some mint choc chip which had way too much cream for my tastes. I even had a banana milk shake to complement my gluttony.

After this we went for some shopping around Covent Garden. I had planned to look for some new shoes, but just ended up with a couple of new tops from Muji and Icebreaker.

In the evening we had a great Chinese meal in China Town. While the main courses weren't that great the two starters of roast duck and lobster more than made up for it.

On Sunday morning it snowed quite heavily for a couple of hours. Most of it settled as well and we had a great time playing out in the snow while it lasted.

Elise couldn't wait to get out in the snow with all her skiing clothes on.

Even my mum and dad joined in the fun. Here you can see my Dad, Aimee, Elise and my mum in my sister's back garden. You would never think that this photo was taken in the start of April rather than the middle of winter.

We had a funny snowball fight as well around the back garden. At one point my dad was chasing and being chased by Aimee and Elise trying to throw snow at each other.

I helped Aimee and Elise build a snowman in the back garden. Even with both the girls trying to sabotage the snowman by passing a large branch through its middle for arms and also knocking half its head off in an effort to shape the head. It was one of the best snowmen that I've ever built. With the help of Helen it had all the trimmings as well.

At one point the carrot nose of the snowman fell off and Elise innocently put it back on the snowman's waist!

Surprisingly enough most of the snow had melted by lunch time, mainly because it was April and the daytime temperatures were quite high in the sun.

As you can see Aimee was quite taken by the snowman!

Molly is a Monkey!

I spent Easter weekend with my Sister's family and my folks who are back from Hong Kong for a good few weeks.

Here's a picture of Molly, a purple monkey that I bought for Aimee quite a while back. It's quite satisfying to know that she still likes Molly and by the looks of her, has been cuddled so much that she's almost worn out.

For Saturday lunch I went out with my parents, Aimee and Elise for Yum Cha in Southampton. I think the last time I went for Chinese lunch was with Allen out in Sydney. It was really satisfying to have Dim Sum lunch again.

On the way back from Southampton we stopped off at a Chinese supermarket for some supplies. Aimee and Elise were both given a fortune cookie. On the way home they asked whether they could open the cookies in the back of my car. Not really thinking I said yes. Unfortunately this meant lots of crumbs in the back of my car. Never mind, live and learn.

Here are the two little blighters on their Christmas scooters when out for a walk.

On Saturday night I went out with Helen and Aran for a few beers. It was good to get out with my Sister for some drinks. It was one of Aran's friends 40th birthday party. We all got quite merry and had a good time. However we all suffered a bit on Sunday morning.

I went out for a mountain bike ride on Tuesday over the Mendips. The planned route was a 24 km ride over the Mendips, starting at Cheddar.

I packed my bike into my car and was quite surprised at how much space the bike took in the back. I guess my choice of estate wasn't totally driven totally by practicality. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a more sensible Volvo or A4 estate car. I see so many of them on the roads and really didn't want to join everyone else.

I got to Cheddar just after ten and the Cliff street car park was very empty when I arrived. Following a route in a book that I have and also an OS map was quite easy.

However it does mean that I do have to stop every few minutes to check that I'm heading in the right direction.

My route started with a very steep 2.5 km climb, so steep and muddy that I had to walk about half of it. I was quite disappointed with myself at having to walk so much of the climb. I think I'll have to work out harder this summer to get much fitter.

Once I got to the top of the climb there were some spectacular views of Cheddar and the Cheddar reservoir.

At the very top of the hills there is a marker at Beacon Batch. I was quite pleased to be able to make it to the top and there were some great views of the surrounding countryside.

There are some great single track routes leading to and from Beacon Batch which I really enjoyed. Some of the routes had some very red dirt along them, which really reminded me of the dirt in Australia.

On my way down I took a slight detour though Rowberrow Warren. Just past the warren there was a strange set of settlements, and this bird was carved out of a tree on the settlements.

It felt a little unsettling to be there on my own and images of me coming across some hostile locals encouraged me to move along rather than hang around and take more photos.

Unfortunately all these photos were taken with my phone camera as I couldn't take my proper camera along. It was a simple choice between my lunchtime sandwiches or the camera.

On the way back down to Cheddar there is a great 1.6km downhill ride though very rocky single track. I decided to not go too slowly on this track to have the most 'fun'. I did almost come off my bike a couple of times. Once when I rapidly came up to a gate along the path and almost went over my handlebars trying to stop quickly.

At times the downhill route was quite steep but I figured that my momentum and a bit of luck/skill would carry me over the rocks.

At the bottom of the long downhill, just before entering Cheddar there were a few cows! I thought I had taken a wrong turn, but it turned out that I was in the right place and the cows were just there to congratulate me for not falling off my bike and arriving in one piece.

Once I got back to my car the car park was full of tourists and I was attracting a bit of attention. More so probably because I was covered in mud and had a massive smile on my face too.

It was an excellent ride and I really enjoyed it. The only down side was that I managed to lose my bike trip computer somewhere on the downhill section. I was also very lucky with the weather as it was raining the week before and the week after this day. Roll on the summer and even more adventurous bike rides. I can't wait!

Other misc photos...

Here are some photos that I've taken recently and didn't post and thought you'd like to see.

On our way back from the slopes, Elise forgot to take her skiing helmet off. It looks like she didn't trust Aran's driving in Les Gets.

On the way back to Geneva airport we drove though Geneva and I managed to get a photo of the UN building. Not sure what the three legged chair is about.

My best mate Dave who I go out mountain biking with in his wife's new ball gown! Just don't ask, I didn't want to. Each to their own, as long as he's happy, which it looks like he is. Anne's mum took the photo for me.

Did you know...

That there are cars with more than two seats?

Well I found this out the other day, and I even went out and bought one today. I'm amazed that there are cars with such a big boot space as well. I was always under the impression that cars only had two seats, but this one has five! Now my mountain bike and snowboard can be moved around inside my car rather than on the outside. I can even stop riding my bike to Bath and back on Sunday mornings, as I can drive there and back with it now. :-)

I went to a car Supermarket (Motorhouse) to look at an Alfa Romeo 159 estate. It was a 200 mile round trip from Bristol. The car turned out to be a real lemon of a car. The interior had been stamped all over by kids, the bonnet didn't close properly and it had a dead flat battery. Even after connecting an external battery it still wouldn't start. All this from a car that was only 18 months old. Even worse was that Motorhouse wouldn't negotiate the price and offered me a rock bottom price for my car. I was quite disappointed with them and wouldn't go to one again for a car.

I eventually agreed a price on a 159 estate from Black & White near Newbury. They were all very helpful and gave me a good price for my car and the new car.

I think I'm going to miss my S2000, it has been the best car that I've ever owned. After three years of ownership there has never been anything to go wrong with it. I wonder if I'll be able to say the same of this new car? I'm convinced that when I drive it around the corner the wheels will fall off and the steering wheel come off in my hands. I'll have to get the RAC coverage where one of their vans follows you everywhere you go. I'm also going to have to take some lessons on reversing it as well, given that my cars for the past ten years have only had a small boot over my shoulder.

Mind you I do like the look of the 159, even for an estate.


Now how do I lower the top on this thing?

Les Gets Snowboarding.

Sunday and Monday,

Les Gets by night view from a walk into town. On our walk into town we saw a long line of skiers going down the mountain carrying lights. It was a great sight and we were lucky to see it.

Finally got out to the slopes again at Les Gets with my Sister, brother inlaw, two nieces and my sisters friends, Andree, Neil and Soli for a weeks snowboarding. Despite them all being skiers, any chance for me to go boarding was welcome.

We had an unfortunate 3am start for the 6.45 flight, on Sunday morning. Once we were up an in the car everything was fine though.


Aran playing games in our chalet on Sunday afternoon.

After a short flight and 90 minute drive we finally got to our destination Les Gets by 12.30. We had arranged a chalet for the eight of us with Andree’s brother who owns it. The snow wasn’t quite as abundant as I had hoped as it hadn’t snowed since the 4th February, but on the runs there was plenty of snow to play with, even if it was a little icy on some runs.

On Monday I was finally out on the slopes after dropping the kids off to Ski school. Because Andree and I had just dropped Aimee and Elise off at Ski School there was the mother of long waits for the bubble lift to the top, as all the ski schools and hundreds of kids were queuing for them as well! Finally by midday I was on the piste and ready to go.

Aran and Aimee at the base of the green piste.

Unfortunately I had a bad start on my first run down the piste. Much to my embarrassment, I fell down four times on the way down the relatively simple blue run. It’s really just not the same going down the indoor Manchester ski slope compared to the conditions on a real run. There are a lot more bumps and inconsistent gradients on the real mountains compared to the artificial indoor slope. The indoor slopes are very smooth and a more or less constant gradient down hill, while the real pistes are quite bumpy and range from steep drops to very flat plains.

Helen pulling along Aimee on the flats.

On my second run I was much better and made it down the same slope without falling down once. After that, things went much smoother for me, I still had a few falls but they were on much steeper gradients and something that I expected while I was pushing myself. I was surprised at how difficult it was to get back into the groove of snowboarding after such a long break of a few years.

My final run down to the town I caught a mogul while turning from heal to toe on my snowboard. After falling down with some force onto my front, I continued sliding down the mountain on my front with snow flying everywhere and my arms crossed. I eventually slid round with my feet pointing downhill, put on the brakes with my snowboard. Got up brushed off snow and carried on with a big smile on my face!

Elise having fun.

I have a one on one three-hour lesson tomorrow afternoon with a snowboard instructor. I’m looking forward to some tuition on how to come down the slopes with a little more control. Sometimes when flying down the steeper slopes I do feel a little out of control and would like to know how to control my turns while avoiding picking up too much speed! Most of the time I can just run with it and stop at the bottom but occasionally I do have a big out of control fall.

Tuesday.

Tuesday night out meal. From left to right, Neil, Aimee, Elise, Soli, Andree, Helen and Aran.

Slow start to the day today as everyone had a lie in this morning. I finally got back on the slopes at 11.30, had a few runs on the blue slopes around Let Gets before heading off for my one on one three hour lesson with Mint Snowboarding. The meeting point was in the next set of slopes at the top of the Pleney bubble lift. I was a bit concerned on my route to the Pleney site as Neil said he followed part way along my route and said there was a really steep horrible slope at the end, which he’d never go down again! Even his instructor told him not to go down the blue run when they were learning.

The Viking hotel where I met Tammy from Mint snowboarding.

When I finally got to the steep part I thought it was really easy and nowhere near as bad as he described. In fact I thought it was very easy to board down. I got to my meeting point half an hour before I needed to because of the easier than expected run.

Tammy.

My teacher was called Tammy and she was the founder of the Mint snowboarding school a couple of years ago. She was very friendly and we got on very well throughout the lesson. She helped me correct all my bad habits, and there were plenty! We had to almost go back to basics to correct my habit of crouching to balance rather than standing up straight. Three hours later she had me standing up straight and leaning down the slope on my turns to turn quicker and have much more control. I did fall over a few times but each time was followed by a laugh.

I was very happy with my lesson and despite the expensive rate it was very well worth every minute. Tammy took me around all the other blue runs in the neighbourhood and also pointed out some other areas, which were well worth visiting later on. Tomorrow I’ll put into practice all my new skills and also be in a good position to explore the rest of the red and blue runs in the area.

Wednesday.

Some of the spectacular views of the pistes.

Got an early start today to get down to the piste by 9.00. My legs were starting to ache a bit this morning, however not as much as they would at the end of a full days boarding.










We took the route straight on in this picture, the drop to the left was a great red run!

I took Neil and Soli to some of the slopes that I went around yesterday. We had quite a good time exploring the western Pleney side of Les Gets. It was really good to put to practice some of the new techniques that Tammy had taught me yesterday.







The same position as the previous photo, but looking right at the drop we had just come down from.

Just before lunch I went down the main blue runs with my Sister, Helen. It was good fun to initially follow her and then fly past here with a big whoosh! Then Aran and I did the same things. We also did a small slalom run with banked edges, which we all managed without falling over.

I also tried one of the button lifts without much success. It was so difficult to get onto the lift as a snowboarder. I must have looked like a right idiot in front of everyone coming off the lift at the beginning. After lunch Helen tried the same lift and came off as well. Fortunately I was able to capture it on camera!

In the afternoon I went off on my own as everyone else was a little too tired to carry on. I went back to some new pistes that were in the vicinity as this morning. Lots of fun but my thighs were really starting to ache quite a bit on my last run down to Les Gets. I really enjoyed the freedom of going wherever I wanted to and managed not to fall over as well.

Thursday.

There was some low cloud cover on Wednesday and Thursday, you can't see the top of this mountain because of it.

For me today started feeling like a zombie, because of a cold that I had caught. I was so bunged up and had such a sore throat that I was tempted to just stay indoors. I managed to get out onto the slopes and I was really glad that I did.

Andree, Soli, Neil and I went out on some more runs on the west of the resort. We all had an excellent time and discovered some great runs, which we could all manage with ease.

After lunch we all got together to do some green runs. The eight of us had a good time following each other down the runs. After a couple of runs we then attempted the blue run down to Les Gets. It was a run that the Kids had done at ski school and Helen was a little apprehensive about doing as she wasn’t a confident skier yet.

Me, looking like I'm standing in front of a picture rather than really being at the top of a mountain.

In the end everyone got down fine and I was the only one to have a fall! I was on my heel edge on the flat snow and looking at the kids come down and didn’t think for a second and then caught a toe edge landing with a big whumpf on my chest. I have some bruised ribs but otherwise feel fine. Neil and Aran saw me fall and I think I’ve put them off snowboarding for now.

At the end of the day my legs didn’t feel tired at all, so I think I’ve mastered being able to snowboard without much effort or tension in my legs.

Friday.

Aran and Neil about to head down from the top.

We started another morning at 10.30 on the piste. This time we took Aran along with us to show him some of the other runs outside of the starter ones. The clear nights sky did mean that the slopes were quite icy in the shade. We went on some of the runs on the backside of the mountain and parts of the runs were very hard and icy.

After this we decided to get back on some new runs down from the top. We went down one new run and then followed some familiar routes from the previous few days.

In the afternoon we went out on another blue run that went all the way down to the next village in Morzine. We all went along with Aimee and Elise too, I was generally following the kids and helping out whenever any of them fell over.

Aimee did fly past me at one point and all I could hear her say was “I’m going through a forest.” A few seconds later she had fallen over after going a little too fast. When I quickly boarded down to her, fortunately she was laughing with some snow on the helmet and face.

Once we got to Morzine Neil, Soli and I took the last chair lift to the top and then made our way back to Les Gets. Meanwhile Helen, Aran, Aimee and Elise took a taxi back to Les Gets because they were a little tired.

My last chair lift view on my last run.

I had a really nice final run back down to Les Gets, mainly on my own and any other people around me too.

It was a real shame that I had to finish the holiday as I was really enjoying all the runs. From Tuesday onwards I was generally getting better and better at my boarding. It may be a while before I get out on the slopes again, but I’ll really look forward to the next time.




A Friday afternoon to remember.

After getting back to the UK, even after a day I’m really missing the snowboarding on the piste. I could have quite happily carried on snowboarding for another week. I think that visiting Tescos today made me even more depressed, as everything else seems so mundane and boring in comparison.

Elise doing the unintentional splits!

More great views of the pistes.

Aimee coming down and doing some jumps which proved to be very funny.

Elise and Aimee skiing. They're in the red outfits. Aran and Neil are in front of them and Helen and Andree behind them.

Elise and Aimee doing their funny mini jumps.

Me snowboarding.

Elise and Aimee having some fun.