Category Archives: Travel

Highlights from Les Gets

As usual I had a totally Fantastic time skiing in Les Gets, the snow was lovely and the sun fantastic 🙂

A few things made it extra special this year….

Kay

Firstly our friends Kay and Anthony are working over near Les Gets for the season, running Ski Wizards, not only did we go to the wizards castle for dinner but I also went out to ski with Kay on 2 afternoons, for many reasons this was fabulous for me 🙂

Sally, Gail and Louise

Secondly we caught up with our friends Gail and Thierry, its always great to see them, Gail and her daughter Louise managed an afternoon skiing with us and Thierry was brave enough to give me a ski lesson, trying to improve my technique as I tend to ski using my hips rather than my knees 🙁 . I learnt a great deal and will have to practise lots next year.

Finally I was treated to a fantastic 5 course evening meal at La Grande Ourse,which is a family run restaurant on Mont Chèry at an altitude of 1750metres (5742 feet)  overlooking the picturesque mountain village of Les Gets ,to get there was an experience in its self, About 15 diners had booked for the meal and transport was on the pisten bully straight up Mont Chery !

The menu was amazing,thankfully it was a clear night so the views were also amazing.

starter at La Grande Ourse

This evenings menu was slightly different, so for my main course I had an Ostrich fillet served on a homemade rosti with a butternut squash sauce, then for dessert Ross the Chef made me, my very own Creme Brulee, which was divine !

A totally wonderful evening with fantastic food and such a fabulous experience too 🙂

Then after all this fantastic fun I came home to discover that I had managed to loose 2lb in weight too, all thanks to my wonderful Fitbit , which I am sure I will blog about soon 🙂

It was really sad to leave everyone to come home But work was calling 🙁

 

 

 

Washed out in Maderia

Well today we were beaten by the rain and decided not to go out walking.

It was a good decision as it just poured and poured for most of the day 🙁

We spent the morning going round the Fish and Fruit market, funnily enough I loved seeing all the fish.

The flowers here in Madeira are something else too, I especially love the bird of Paradise flowers.

We also visited the Embroidery factory where I treated myself to the perfect souvenir, a hand embroidered Sunflower 🙂

We had a quick look round the Famous Madeira wine factory, Blandys ,but decided not to pay the entrance money.

We did find the Bottles of Madeira though that were made in my Birth year 1961 🙂

So now you know that this year is a big year for me and a big walk is being planned for October BUT we are having trouble deciding where to go …. any suggestions ????

Madeira ..Day 1

Well I arrived in Funchal in torrential rain 🙁

After a while it stopped enough for us to venture out for coffee.

Then later on the sun came out and Geoff took me on a tour of the city 🙂

We then went to a nice fish restaurant ,called Portao, recommended by trip advisor.

I had Tuna steak and Geoff had a fish from the turbot family both were delicious.

I then tried the Madeira cake which was not like I expected but also very nice.

We are now sat In Geoff’s favourite cafe drinking Madeira wine and blogging 🙂

Tomorrow It will not rain, and we intend to do the peninsular walk

Happy Days 🙂

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Longest day yet

Yesterday even in the low light conditions I managed to ski from the highest point allowed on the les Gets Ski pass.

At 6575 ft it was steep in places and with a drop of 2000 ft I found it quite tough but I managed it.

Although it left me feeling mentally and physically Tired.

Then that evening my friend T arrived with her son 🙂

We set our alarms so we could be out on the first chair lift this morning and much to our delight the sun was shinning.

We stayed out for an amazing 8 hours and the sun continued to shine all day 🙂

GPS says we covered 31 miles and my maximum speed was 34 MPH, its a good job I didn’t realize this at the time 🙂

Speed

The main thing about ski-ing which scares me is the Speed.

As my ski-ing has improved I have become more in control, which means I am better at controlling my speed,well most of the time 🙂

Today I took my GPS out with me to record my maximum speed.

Now I am not a fast skier by any means, my aim is always to get from top to bottom with no falling.

To my amazement my maximum speed was 25.9 mph.

Geoff is a snowboarder and his GPS recorded his maximum speed as 34.6 mph.

A good start

We may have been having lots of snow in England but here in Les Gets its not been quite as snowy as other years.

So this morning I found myself sitting on the chair lift,next to Geoff, feeling nervous about my first ski run of the year.

I had no reason to be nervous as I skied well although not always very elegantly.

Very little sun about today and by mid afternoon it was very cloudy and misty on the top.

Hoping for more  snow and sunshine in the following days.

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Mont de Grange

This was a walk we had never done before but due to a comment left on Geoff’s Everytrail…..

“dorothybowling – Aug 18, 2009 at 05:38:01 pm
I have looked at Roc D’Enfer from a distance many times and as I have no head for heights at all, in fact the very thought terrifies me I have no intention of ever attempting this! Walked along side it a couple of weeks ago. However, loved looking at you detailed photos, which only serve to confirm that I will never attempt this walk!! Friends wish us to try Mont de Grange which I am not certain about. You don’t have any pictures of this too by any chance?!”

we decided to give it a whirl 🙂

You could not compare this walk to the Roc D’Enfer walk at all,some lady actually died doing that walk just last week :-(.
Even so Mont de grange was a tough walk and all uphill from the moment we started off by Lac Plagnes .

Happy to be at the top…

From Les Gets Sept 2009

The Whole Ridge ….

From Les Gets Sept 2009

More great photos can be seen here ..