Holiday
Archived posts from this Category
Tuesday, 3rd August 2010
Posted by Judith on 06 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday
We’ve been waiting to go on a short holiday for ages, but the weather hasn’t allowed for successive non-rainy days this summer, but we finally saw our opportunity this week. Strong winds and sunshine and showers. Perfect going away weather. We headed for Snowdonia first thing this morning with no real plan as to where to go. We decided to go to Porthmadog and find out in the tourist information what there was on offer and then decide our travel itinerary from there. Porthmadog itself wasn’t that much to write home about and I remember now why we drove through it without stopping last time. We did have a nice picnic by the marina though.
Next stop was Criccieth and the castle. Nice little village too. Since we were on the Llyn peninsula we decided to head along it (bypassing Phwelli completely) and on to Abersoch for a snooze on the beach and a walk. We ended the night in Aberdaron at the end of the peninsula in a lovely campsite right on the edge of the headland, with a sheer drop to the beach just outside the van.
Sunday, 13th June 2010 (Slovenia)
Posted by Judith on 14 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday
We decided to see a bit more of Slovenia on our last day, because we flew the same places everyday, so in reality we got to see very little of the country. In order to get to Lake Bohinj, we had to get up at the usual time of 7.30am to pack and get on the car train at Most na Soci. We said our goodbyes to Andy, who was flying home via Ljubljana, at 9.30am. It’s a winding 68km road to the lake up by the Julian Alps, and it is often closed due to snow, so you can drive your car onto a flatbed carriage and then sit there while you are bussed up through long tunnels through the mountains. It was a little odd to be in the car, chugging and bouncing along until we got to the lake. Chris, Ian and Tony had joined us and when we got there, we had a lovely lake side lunch and a paddle and then it was time to set off back down the road towards the airport.
Slovenia is packed with trees, so there were no views and I was so exhausted that I nodded off and didn’t see any of the countryside on the 68km drive. So much for me seeing a bit more of the country. Very pathetic!
The airport was full of tired pilots and we all said goodbye in Birmingham, where Geoff was waiting to pick us up.
Absolutely brilliant holiday. I enjoyed nearly every minute. A fuller write up of the comp later…
Saturday, 5th June 2010 (Slovenia)
Posted by Judith on 06 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Flying, Holiday
The weather was looking good from the word go, and there was just a minor matter of removing a tick I acquired on the walk yesterday before we could head up the mountain. We were going to get the parabus, but at 12 euros a head, we decided to hook up with Richard Worley and Ian Smith and use their car to retrieve. Brendan had used XC Planner to sort out a load of turn points, so we practiced programming routes and set a 94km task to Italy, Tolmin and back.
Cloud base was only sitting marginally above our heads, so we waited a little and then launched when the sky got better. I headed straight to the west and soared along the ridge/clouds, while David and Richard Bungay headed out into the valley. It was as everyone has told me. You don’t thermal – you just surf the crest, topping up occasionally with lift. I flew into Italy, but then got a bit low. Until that point, I hadn’t really paid any attention to what was below me, I was looking ahead and above, just gliding. When I got lower, I looked out into the valley and realised there was nowhere to land. The entire valley was packed with trees at that point. I decided I would save some excitement for tomorrow and turned back, some kilometers from our intended first turn point. Not getting up wasn’t an option, so I worked and worked a little lift, but was too close to turn. So I was slowly sinking. Luckily for me, Alex Colbeck came cruising past me on his way back and he just treated the ridge like a British one, he just hugged it and soared up. So I did the same. Safely back above the ridge, I carried on back to launch and then to Kobarid. I topped up and got to cloud base before crossing the gap. A few little cumulus were forming in the gap, but as I started my transition, they dissipated and I only just scratched onto the next ridge. Lots of us got there at a bad time and had to land shortly after.
Stunning place, this. David got into Italy, then Tolmin and back to Kobarid, but Brendan did the whole task, including top landing to get the car. Unfortunately, I had blagged a lift up and got there to find the keys missing. Eventually we met up and drove down together.
Our fourth house mate, Andy, arrived this evening and we went to register for the comp before having a massive pizza meal, with glow worms to keep us entertained. Task one tomorrow and I will start doing live twitter updates from the comp.
Friday, 4th June 2010 (Slovenia)
Posted by Geoff on 04 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday, Walking
Judith writes: We woke up late after a late night. Despite lots of wave, the sun was shining and we decided to have a look at the Stol take-off, which is where the comp is supposed to be based mainly. The drive up was spectacular. The photos don’t do the place justice. The rock faces are near vertical, the ridges straight and the tops of the proper mountains are still covered in snow. The wind was over the back at take-off, but in the distance we could see lots of pilots doing long, long top-to-bottoms from a ridge facing us. Brendan and I decided to walk back down to Kobarid, while David drove down. We had anticipated it to be a walk of about one and a half hours.
The walk took us along the spine of the ridge, past lots of great thermal triggers and circling groups of vultures. Once we started the descent, it took a lot longer than anticipated. My crappy knees were making me take it really easy and we took nearly three and a half hours in the end. With the high humidity, we were sweating buckets and there were no streams or springs on the way, so I arrived back pretty hot and dehydrated; and certainly in need of a siesta.
People had been flying all afternoon, getting good heights, so Brendan drove David up to the launch at Kobala, near Tolmin. He had a nice flight, getting part way back to Kobarid and back to the landing near Tolmin. Forecast is looking good for tomorrow and the next few days.
Thursday, 18th March 2010
Posted by Judith on 19 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday, Skiing
We got up early to set off to the high Pyrenees to use up another free ski pass; this time at Boí Taüll. The drive from Ager to El Pont de Suert is spectacular. Not only to you get to see the backside of the Serra de Montsec (the ridge which dominates Ager), but the road takes you through narrow steep gorges, past lakes and hydro-electric plants with precipitous stair cases hewn into the rock.
Boí Taüll is at the end of the Vall de Boí, just on the edge of the Aigüestortes national park. It is without doubt the prettiest resort we have ever been to. The views were just breath-taking. So much so, that we did the skiing in a completely leisurely fashion. It took ages to get down the first few runs, we spent so much time stopping, gasping and taking photos. The resort is in a huge bowl and the highest point is 2750m. You get different views from the top of each lift and can see Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. An approaching weak warm front provided a spectacular backdrop, with whacky wave bars and greying skies.
Despite the approaching cloud, we seemed to be stuck in a blue hole and the sun was far too strong to keep the snow nice. By 2.30pm it was getting slushy even in the middle of the resort and the resistance in the skis was making my knees ache. We had been to all the sectors and to the top of all the lifts, so decided to call it a day and head back home in a leisurely fashion, taking a route through the Pyrenees we’ve never travelled before.
On our way we passed through Sort, a place I have always wanted to see, given the name means ‘luck’ in Catalan. The anticipation wasn’t rewarded… we didn’t even stop. We did have a coffee at the service station up the hill on the way out of town and the loos have the best views!
We stopped and had a look round La Seu d’Urgell. We’ve been past it loads of times, but always bypassed it on the way somewhere else. It’s a lovely place and you can see that it was once a massively important town. The old splendour of the buildings in still there, albeit a bit more cramped together than 600 years ago.
We got home late and are determined to have a day off (hopefully at the beach). Nine days of consecutive skiing/flying and we are exhausted!
Friday, 12th March 2010
Posted by Judith on 12 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday, Skiing
We left Andorra this morning and headed back into Spain to ski at Port del Comte. We drove there via Organyà and checked out the accommodation while there. The drive across the pass towards the ski resort was breath-taking. Razor sharp crags and steep valleys. I was so awed by the scenery I forgot to take any photos.
We’ve had a free pass for Port del Comte for the last few years, but never went. It always seemed too far, or we ran out of time, etc. What a mistake. It’s a brilliant place. Great facilities, nice runs, loads of chair lifts and very, very good piste grooming. Oh, and deserted. We had a really nice day, working our way from the furthest section of the resort back to the car, via every single red and blue run in the whole resort. Unfortunately, it was a little hazy and then clouded over a bit, so the views were not as good as they may have been, but no matter.
We’ll definitely go again. 8/10!
Thursday, 11th March 2010
Posted by Geoff on 12 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Holiday, Skiing
Geoff writes: after skiing at Puigmal, we drove up the road to stay in Andorra. We’d booked a hotel over the internet for the night, right in the centre. Nice hotel, cheap, and offered parking and internet access. What it didn’t say was that the internet access was one euro per 15 minutes; and the parking cost a staggering 19 euros. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much choice – the hotel was in the centre of Andorra La Vella, and there isn’t much parking there at all. Andorra is just steep mountains, with not much space for anything else – it’s amazing they manage to fit a whole country in there.
Anyway, the skiing there is excellent. Today we skied at Arinsal, which is apparently the Brit hangout in Andorra. The French go to a different part. Not sure where the Andorrans go. Even the woman selling the ski passes was a Brit. It was a beautiful day, nicely groomed pistes, good, fast skiing, and not too many people. We had a great time, and it was far better skiing than Puigmal. We did a lot of runs, but nowhere near covered the whole resort of Vallnord, which Arinsal is part of – you’d need a few days for that. There was one particular black run I spent some time contemplating – looking at it from a distance it seemed really easy; looking at it from higher up, it seemed really steep! I was also put off by a sign on the button lift leading up to it, saying that the button lift was difficult, and the piste was really difficult. But in the end, we went up and did it, and actually it was fine, no problem at all. Glad I didn’t wimp out.
Andorra seems to be one of the main destinations for Brits going skiing. Parking apart, it is much, much cheaper than France, as cheap as Spain (maybe cheaper for some things), and, in our limited experience, seems a really good ski area. Apparently there are also a lot of Brits who live there but don’t ski – presumably for tax reasons, though I don’t know what they do with themselves all day, since apart from the mountains, there doesn’t seem to be much else there. Maybe they just get drunk on the cheap alcohol, and count their money (actually, not necessarily a bad way to spend your retirement).
In the evening we met up with with our friends Jessica Love and Ivan Ripoll – both paraglider pilots, though Ivan is in Andorra teaching speed riding. A great evening, and we stayed that night in their flat. Really nice to see them both.