Our Travels and Blog beginnings.

Thursday 6th July 2023 Linlithgow to Hull 280 miles approx. Its been 4 years since we last took Bessie our van abroad on our fantastic extended trip up through northern Europe...Since then the world stopped due to covid in 2020 and it has taken a while for us to finally plan and embark upon a new overseas adventure...but it had to happen and 2023 was to be the year. Life is busy for myself and Joyce now, Callum and Logan are well into their primary school years and obviously any long trip has to take place during the school summer holidays which combined with our ability to take time of work without it being a sabbatical means that a 3 week(ish) trip is easier to organise than a 3 month trip...but that is normal and we are fortunate to have the fantastic memories of our previous adventure. So.... Where to go...and what to do? Well, this question presented us with the biggest dilemma.....we loved Norway so much that we are desperate to return, but the logistics of getting there made me ...

Heading home. Well, what a fantastic holiday that was, and what a surreal ending. The weather was gorgeous when we woke on Saturday morning, our departure day. I had sat up a bit too late to polish off the few beers I had in the fridge, I had bought a couple extra at the Spar shop, that was before we got delayed in the restaurant. One thing was for sure-they were not getting left and it was nice sitting up drinking them while I had written yesterdays blog. I have to admit to feeling a little jaded this morning however.  There was no rush this morning as most of our packing was already done (by Joyce I might add) so it was a relaxed breakfast time. We had until 10am to be out our room. We sat about and chatted about what had been and relaxed on our balcony in the warm sun, it was definitely feeling very spring like in Alp d'Huez.  At 10am the lady came to check that we had not wrecked our room and all was good, so we went for a seat in reception, we had a little time to...

Day 6. The last day of any holiday is never good, but for me I feel its even worse on a ski holiday. You just always wish you had skied a bit further and faster in the preceding days, this holiday felt no different to previous ski holidays, but there's no point on dwelling on what could have been. In reality we have had a fantastic time, I really felt that the demise of the ski group holiday was tragic, and I wondered if it was the end our skiing holidays, but why on earth would it have been....the ski group will be back in one form or another in the future, of that I am sure, I will do my level best to see to that lads, you would love Alp d'Huez!! Yesterday, the French prime minister Emmanuel Macron had announced that all schools, nursery's and universities would close in an attempt to prevent the spread of Corona virus, Alp d'Huez had a huge music festival called Tomorrowland planned next week which has also been cancelled, so when I went to talk to the ladies at ...

Day 5. Today was another nice day, we woke to blue skies but the forecast was for light rain in the afternoon so it was a good idea to get up and get on the slopes after breakfast. This wasn't particularly early but we can't burn the boys out before their PM lessons. Callum was desperate to get into the pool again, but we are here to ski, and if the sun is shining skiing is what we will do. So after some school work we went down to get our ski gear. Joyce was feeling a little concerned today, we suspect nerves about her upcoming ski lesson, she now knows exactly what she has embarked upon, its far from easy and sometimes that knowledge can make continuing worse than the initial attempt. However, she took the brave pill and grabbed her ski's out the locker . We had a slight delay getting out the locker room as two men were up on the apartment roof shovelling off mountains of snow and the area below was cordoned off. With the mild temperatures there was a high risk that t...

Day 4. Miracles can happen!! Today was a belter, a proper "big smile on the face day in the mountains" type of day. The weather was glorious, in fact if there was one thing wrong today it was simply too warm. We got up just after 8am, our later night out meant the boys slept a little longer which was fine. Today was going to be an interesting day. Joyce was already up, she had had a rather restless night for one reason or another. After breakfast it was time for me and Callum to head out for a few morning runs, nothing too serious or strenuous as I am well aware he needs to save his energy for his lesson later on. Morning lessons would be better and we will most likely do that in the future although the PM ones have worked out well, its just too easy to burn the boys out too early. So, we said goodbye to Joyce and Logan. It was really roasting hot. Part of the problem is the ski locker room must operate at about 35'C so by there time we have our boots on we ar...

Day 3. Callum was first up this morning at his usual time of 7.30, which is just a wee bit early for the rest of us. If the ski lessons were in the morning it would be fine, but they are not so he was sent back to bed till 8am....10 minutes later he was back. So it was time too get up then. Lol. After breakfast it was school time again and then into the pool at 10am for well over an hour, its amazing how much progress can be made with something like swimming when time can be spent at it day after day. They are both now almost able to swim to a degree. Swimming is tiring work for them however and they were both in need of a power nap afterwards so I went out and got some supplies while Joyce prepared lunch. A right pair of sleepy heads woke up at the back of 12 but they were refreshed and refuelled at lunch time. There had been no rush to head to the slopes early again today as yesterdays snowy weather had continued throughout the night, but now the freezings level had also drasti...

Day 2. Through the night the forecasted snow had started and a good few inches had landed and was still falling when we woke. So a relaxed morning ensued. We have some school work for Callum who is taken out of school for this week, his teacher is more than happy for him to be here, even though the school and authorities can't (officially) approve such a trip....at least in Scotland we don't get fined for being such irresponsible parents ;-)).....so the first hour was spent on some reading and sums which he really enjoys, Logan also a got some schooling, next year it will be double trouble for Mum and Dad, but this is an educational(ish) trip in our eyes, no lying on a loungers in the sun, we have put a lot of effort into both their skiing lessons before this trip and we are not prepared to pay the premium required to bring them here during school holidays, that's how we justify it to ourselves for the time being anyway. After lesson time Callum, who has harped on as muc...