Can you believe it? This year, we’ve had 2 months snowboarding; a month mountain biking; and a fair amount of time wakeboarding, and pretty much we came away unscathed. But the seemingly harmless pursuit of swimming in the sea (ok – the waves were probably 2m tall, forceful, but fun), a big wave threw me and Mel together and I accidentally kicked her. So apart from the earache from the accidental kick, I damaged my little toe meaning I can hardly walk. Its all swollen and black. We went to casualty (okay, actually the first aid hut), where I simply got told the expected “nothing we can do, it’ll be fine in 3 weeks”. Great. All these manly sports where injuries are like trophies, and I get a knackered toe from doing pretty much nothing. Pah.

Lovely sunny day here today, so we went out early to get to the lift (2 min cycle ride). I was “giving way” as you should at a roundabout (with a van diddling), and some stupid French woman reversed out of a space into and onto me and the bike. I jumped clear unharmed but my bike was under the back wheel. Lets just say I used some choice French words, and after deciding not to slap her round the head, I made it clear she’d be getting it fixed. Fortunately, the wheel popped off the axle which meant the bike frame was undamaged, and the bike shop managed to get everything working again with the woman waiting and she paid the bill. Just needed some adjustment, and the derailleur fixed and the bracket bent back. Amazingly the wheel wasn’t damaged or buckled and the bike shop said it was all rather lucky. Did some good riding after that (best yet), and I even fell off on a narrow run and went down a bank with a few rolly-pollies. All unharmed. This lark is fun!

We are now in Valloire, and yesterday had a lovely hot day. The photo is from our wild camping position – beautiful and placed perfectly to watch the Tour de France come past on Friday. We went out on the bikes yesterday and had a good ride on a green run, but completely bottled it on a blue – it was mental! Not sure I’m brave enough… Today though, its cold and wet so not going out on the bikes today. Thought France was supposed to be warm and sunny in July!?!

Merry Christmas everyone! We’re still out having fun in the snow, though today it was hell! We had to buy some goggles but then wondered why the slopes were literally empty. Well – we found out snowboarding in maybe 5-6″ of fresh virgin power, in a blizzard, unable to see any contours or markings isn’t exactly fun when you have no concept of whether you are moving or not or if you are about to hit a bump or not. Needless to say we fell a lot then went back for a cuoppa. Maybe when we get good…. Loads of fresh snow so we’ll see tomorrow if we’re going to go boarding before our Christmas breakfast – the usual bottle of Champagne, Smoked Salmon etc followed by whatever chocolate we have wrapped up! Hence we need to go boarding first or not at all – I’m sure boarding semi-drunk is frowned upon. Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL! xx

Oh dear. -18′C last night.

Pipe from fresh tank to pump is frozen. Pipes behind cooker are frozen (which I can’t get to in order to insulate). Waste is frozen. Giving up with onboard water so drained everything I could down and we’ll just use fresh container and waste bucket. I’ve disabled the main pump so the toilet still works without making the main pump run. That said, inside the van is very warm – the floor is the coldest bit and considering there is loads of insulation there its a bit annoying. So thick socks and slippers needed. The small oil radiators are sufficient by themselves for a comfortable t-shirt inside (20+) so fan heater not yet needed.

Oh – my back box (which contained the hookup lead) froze solid and the key wouldn’t turn… Bit of a catch 22! Got it open eventually….

Had to move van to “our” slot this morning – and for the first time ever it really struggled to start – 5 or 6 times before it fired. Oh dear. At least the engine antifreeze is working well.

The site has wifi but only in a “room” near reception – which actually is a great warm room, nice seating, coffee, TV etc, but wifi is only a home spec router which the guy said only works in that room. Last night we were close to the building so could access it, but now we’re 100m away – but amazingly my aerial works well! Must be the lack of air molecules up here.

Got van set up now – boards and stuff are inside and fit as planned, so just need to tidy up and we’ll venture into town and explore.

Weather is currently glorious sunshine so hopefully some of the big clumps of ice will fall off the van!

R&M

Eek.

Have we bitten off more than we and the van can take?!

Last night was very cold outside, though inside we were snug as a bug! However, one of the cold water pipes to the kitchen tap froze overnight – and it froze “behind” the cooker. So I can’t get to it in order to add insulation.

Also the windscreen washers froze solid, and okay I forgot to turn on the heated jets thing (Good old transit!), but even so I was using neat screen wash for extreme winters. I’ll have to blame my dad as I nicked his…

According to our Northface Ski Resort app the resort we’re heading to is -10 (max) to -26 (min) tomorrow! Eek. I think that may be trouble ahead….

Only other problem is all our potential water/waste stops are frozen and/or closed for the winter – so not ideal aire/wild-camping season – something we didn’t consider.

Gas heating is working very well – need to fill up the gaslow tomorrow…..

After 7 and a bit weeks we are heading for home, and the total trip will be a record 8 weeks. Seems to be an age and also too short at the same time. Got a fun route planned back so won’t be rushing. Dairy update for w7 and w8 as well as trip review and costs will be posted on our return. Ready to plan next trip!

Sent from my iPod

Just down the road is badfart. No bottomfart or fanifart yet. In bar drinking beer at £7 each though they are 750 ml been to legoland today. For free. Knackered and will sleep well. Awainting nice waitress to bring us food and maybe more beer. Nice view over fjord so can’t complain. Hope all is well with everyone. Feel free to contact us as missing friends and family.

Sent from my iPod

Well trying out blogging from my iPod which if it works is really cool and will make my life a little easier.

Just arrived in Albasserdam to a new aire which is very rare in holland. So far so good with lovely views over the Marina and we will venture into the town and explore once the rain ceases!

Our german lessons are going ok and we now understand and can say “the dog is under the aeroplane”. Useful or what!? We have already mastered “two large cold beers please”.

Anyway as still in holland we’ll stick to English for a while!

Sent from my iPod

Hi

Just to let everyone know we’re away on our next trip – currently in Lier in Belgium looking for a good beer, but soon escaping to Holland.

Blog and details will be forthcoming as we continue the trip – watch this space!

(Also this is a test message to make sure I can email my website and it gets posted J)

Ryan & Mel