Our summer holiday in the Jura, France has been and gone - and pretty wonderful it was as well. Our second grandson George is now walking and last weekend I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks with a group from church. On the house front we have taken our house off the market and have started doing this one up with a view to living in it forever and ever and ever.
So a busy month - but now a little more detail.
Our holiday in France was absolutely brilliant. Beautiful lakeside campsite, Lac St Point being surrounded by Swiss chalets; and warm sunshine for the whole of our stay. Wherever we went the scenery on the journey was even better than the destinations !! High mountains, deep valleys, tumbling waterfalls and lots of forests. At one point, in the distance, we saw a snow topped Mont Blanc from the summit of Mont D'Or and the mountains surrounding us were magnificent. We had a few half days walking round the trails which would have been used as cross country ski trails during the winter. There was just so much to see and go to and do and hardly any tourists, apart from a few Germans. I hired a bicycle for a morning and had a good ride around the area, going off the main roads into the hills and around lac Romeray. We ate simply at the campsite; baguettes for breakfast, picnic style lunch and something cooked in the evening - everything, especially the evening meal tasted fabulous, even though it was often very basic food. Maybe it had something to do with eating outside. The red wine and the cheese was as delicious as ever, one or two bottles of red finding their way back to the UK.
The day before we left the UK for our holiday George started to walk unaided. He's been plodding along holding someone hand for weeks but didn't quite have the confidence to take off on his own. By the time we came back from France he was really on the move and talkng his own little language as did his mother many years ago.
Whilst we were away we had arranged for our hearth and stone fire surround to be removed and for the fireplace to be opened up in readiness for a wood burner stove to be installed. However there have been a few minor hitches which have slowed everything down, but we should have everything in place and working in a weeks time. The plan is to have a wood burner (actually it is a multi - fuel stove) installed and plumbed into the hot water tank so that we get free hot water throughout the winter. Our gas and electricity bills are crazy so I thought this would help reduce the bills especially if I could get my hands on plenty of free scrap wood. I am trying to be a bit more green in my thinking so a few weeks ago I replaced all the light bulbs with low energy / long life bulbs. Anyway, back to the stove. I have already started to collect wood for the winter and over a few weeks have managed to get hold of some suberb stuff which should keep us going for a few months at least - and so far its all free! Roll on the cold winter months!
And then there's the Yorkshire Three Peaks. About 7 of us from church decided a few months ago that we would take up the challenge. You have to complete the walk, which involves climbing Pen Y Ghynt, Whernside and Inglborough and walking the distance between the mountains which comes to about 25 miles, within 12 hours. We set of at 7.45am and got back to Horton in Ribblesdale at 6.30pm, so we got our certificates which included an invitation to join the Yorkshire Three Peaks Club. I think it was the hardest walk I have ever done especially as I was struggling with my achilles tendon which I injured a few weeks back and hasn't healed up properly yet. I was a bit annoyed with myself that I wasn't walking as well as I would normally have done and its strange how an achilles problem can knock everything else out of synch, but I'm quite pleased with the achievement I think the hardest part of the walk, at least psychologically, was the 8 mile walk between the first peak, Pen Y Ghynt and the second, Whernside. It seemed never ending, it was very boggy, muddy and wet and at that point I wasn't sure if my achilles would hold out. I'm not sure if it was harder than the Snowdon Horseshoe that I did last year - quite different - but harder ?
Any other news? I bought a second hand road / racing bike a few months back but haven't really managed to go too far on it yet. It seems to involve an entirely different technique than the one developed with my mountain bike - the gear shift is on the down tube insted of on the handle bars and of course with drop handle bars the riding position is different. I need to get out on it for a really long ride into the Dales - maybe this Saturday - weather permitting. Since getting back from France I have been so busy in work that I haven't managed a decent ride on my Kawasaki. I am still hoping to go to S. Wales to see my Mum and will use the bike then - but finding a few days for that is proving difficult. I would also like to ride the bike over to Snowdonia again and climb something there as well.
Family wise all seems to be OK. Owen and Kim are working hard in the business, Dan, Kim and Dom came over last Thursday for lunch - lovely to see them. Dominic is now running around and kicking a football around the garden. Bethan is pregnant again - due in January. Lucy's results from University have been good - on target for a 2.1. And that's enough for tonight! I really will try to keep my blog up to date in future and not leave such long time gaps between entries.
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