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Sunday 27 January 2013

Sweet Dreams are Made of Cheese

I am amazed, stunned in fact, that my dreams have actually been so normal of late. From what I hear, my first night in Courchevel involved me sleep chattering about what a lovely building we were in, how I didn't understand what was going on and shelf stacking. But this was all before the vast cheese consumption!

However, we didn't go to France just for cheese...

Most of the crew I work with in Scotland during the summer work in Courchevel, in the French Alps, for the winter and it was an ideal excuse for a relatively affordable ski trip. Easyjet very nearly put our plans in peril but we did manage to get to Courchevel, and dove headfirst straight into a very strong Vin Chaud.

The skiing throughout the week was brilliant. It snowed on the first night and all day the next day, but after that it was blue skies all the way. The temperature had us skiing in every layer we could find and most days involved agonising hot aches in our hands and feet but the conditions were Perfect for a week away. Sadly i didn't trust myself skiing with my bigger camera and there were very few occasions where I was willing to de-glove and snap much on my little camera but if anyone would like to see some very good photos, check Ali's blog over the next wee while.


Here are the few photos I took


I dream of being this lady when I'm older

Bit random for a french ski resort... resident American-Indians keen to dress us up!

Possibly the highlight of the week was our food on the third night. We were all out for dinner because Lady M's trip had come to an end and our farewell feast took us to La Taiga in La Tania. Ali and I chose the Raclette and managed a 2 kilo block of cheese between us, plus bread, potatoes, cold meat and salad. Aside from raclette, we had cheese every day for lunch in big baguette sandwiches and still we didn't have mad dreams!

"Time and Ali Rose wait for no one" was particularly true this week. We absolutely made the most of our ski passes and got some serious mileage. The Three Valleys are an incredible ski resort and we stuck mainly to the pistes, with no end of good options to explore. Ali's skiing is superb and it was great for me to find my speed and give my legs a really good run after a mostly sat-down winter! I am still feeling the burn now I'm home and it feels GREAT! We managed to ski with Iona and Stu, Ailsa, Tom Kenny, Justin and Sara, all of whom were very good. 

Oh, I could say so much about this week. Another highlight was a much drunken apres-ski session mainly conducted by a half-naked Ben Brierley and acted out by very many naked seasonnaires. I should imagine facebook has some photo horrors in store but the duo playing guitars were amazing, the dancing was sweaty but hilarious and hiding under the table was only a necessity for short periods of the night! We have many thankyou's to make for this trip. What amazing friends we have. I am now all the more excited for adventures back on Ru'a Fiola this summer.

Next adventure... moving to Mull!

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Resolutions

I have some thoughts. I don't entirely mean for these thoughts to be read my many so I won't advertise this post but I needed to write these thoughts down and I would quite like to look back over them in times to come. I think of this blog as a diary, only one that I can't loose or spill anything over. It entertains me that people read it because although I do like to share my experiences, I genuinely mean for this to be just my own record of what I get up to. I hope my blog is enjoyed but like I say, this post is for me mostly. Also, I don't normally go in for writing soppy mush, or trying to write inspirational words. This winter is an exception! When life gets back to normal in a few weeks time, blog posts will revert back to silly, springer spaniel type exuberance and photos of pretty mountains.

It has been a roller-coaster ride of a year. In a jumbled attempt to sort it out in my head I am going to start at the end and conclude the saga of my Dad because these last few months, my life has very much revolved around his. Cancer has topped off a pretty crap sort of year for him. As we stand now, after trials and tribulations at school, he has quit his entire teaching career to start a new business on the remote Isle of Mull, his ex-wife (who he sadly half regrets leaving) is getting married and he is recovering from prostate cancer leaving him leaky and with little hope of a satisfactory sex life. Now, as a daughter, this has all been a lot to take in. Quite apart from having to consider the sex life of my father, I cannot begin to describe how it felt to have him diagnosed suddenly with cancer. I have missed work this winter but it has been amazing to spend time with Dad as he constantly gets better and better after surgery to remove said prostate. The support he has had is humbling and I'm so glad that he made it through with such relatively little trauma. Dad's excitement for going to Mull is infectious but it is nerve-wracking and I have every finger crossed that it will work out for him, that he will know what he is doing, and that it will make him happy. On top of that, it breaks my heart at the thought of him being lonely. It has been such a tough time for him and I love to think that he'll find a nice lady-friend up in Scotland and that he will be nothing but happy about my Mum getting married to someone else in April (because actually I think it is brilliant news!). So, this is why I am so jumbled, because parallel to all this anxiety, I have been in a very happy little bubble, all wrapped up in an extraordinary boyfriend and incredible worldwide adventures. I LOVE my job and I have lots more fun lined up. Trying to keep my head screwed on in any useful direction this winter has been interesting.

On a more positive note, looking back at my year is actually great fun. I started with a family ski trip which involved more hospital trips and snowmen than skiing but was somewhat fun nonetheless. I left my job at Kendal Climbing Wall for a hitch-hike to Sweden and granite crack climbing and then for a surreal week in the Bahamas celebrating my Uncle's wedding. Work started back up at Ru'a Fiola (which really deserves a whole blog post of it's own, one sentence does nothing to describe this place) and I worked up until September with a week off in the middle for gallivanting round the Dolomites on metal wires in wild thunderstorms. After Ru'a Fiola, a week in Turkey helped me not to miss Ali who disappeared back to Hong Kong where he had another autumn season to work, but three months later, there I was with him up in China on limestone pillars wearing lycra! The year ended in a remote bothy in Scotland with a rowdy bunch of mad-heads and a double-rainbow.

Looking forward now, the near future holds... a hotel. On Mull, 2 miles south of Bunessan, lies this hotel that is now officially owned by my father. He has very ambitious aspirations for it but it certainly has endless potential. It is right on an amazing beach and everywhere it is close to would make an outdoor enthusiast drool. I am still trying to justify this place in my head though. Its a mad undertaking for a nearly-60 year old but I can't help but wonder if he is exactly right. Anyway, I'm going to move his furniture in and house sit for him for the next few months and I hope to be getting lots of visitors and having all sorts of fun exploring.

In terms of my resolutions, I don't really have any in particular. I have never been much good at looking very far forward and I am not usually one for over-thinking feelings and expectations. It made my relationship with Ali much easier and kept me open minded about all the developments with my Dad  this winter. Although I feel like I lack ambition, I do seem to get by very well indeed and I do have various loose ideas for the coming few years. But who knows what time will really bring and a wise person once told me that money is just fun tokens. So after an emotional 5 months and still being the wonderful young and carefree age that I am, I shall just try and make the most of everything!

Oh, and heer are some photos of Miles and Bob climbing at Limekilns, near Edinburgh, recently




Friday 4 January 2013

Happy New Year!

What a way to bring in 2013!

A long drive covering the most of the length of the UK had us holed up in a remote Scottish bothy dining on a 5 course feast in a very well furnished bothy with a vast quantity of alcohol, a guitar, a fiddle and a small dog. The stove was quite literally glowing (Ben thinks we may even have got it up to 600degrees) and the drink was very much flowing. In the words of Giles - "You know you're for a good new years when you find yourself snorting whisky liqueur out of an empty wine bladder at 9 o'clock in the evening in a remote scottish bothy.." Here's some photos and a short account of our shenanigans. Many more photos on facebook if anyone is interested.


VERY heavy bags, ready to walk the 4km into the bothy
Coulags/Coire Fionnaraich Bothy

We did have a good half day out, despite the reluctance to make a move out into the cold wind. Up the path from the bothy, past a small loch we clambered up to a small summit from which we could see the big ridges of Torridon, Liathach and and the rest. The weather was not entirely civilised, but the bursts of sunshine made for some surreal views and the burst of snow allowed us the odd snowball fight. It actually felt wonderful to be out and red cheeked and wet through for the first time in a while. However, high winds put us off much more time out and the festivites began back in the bothy.

Whisky at the summit

Looking back down towards the Loch and the bothy


There were twelve of us in all and I have to say, I'm glad no one else showed up to share our space. We would have been an intimidating rowdy crowd to have met! Our pot luck style dinner took us on a culinary world tour through Scotland, Mexico, India and America and those who carried coal up for the stove deserve a HUGE thankyou, because it made a fantastic pizza oven! We had an outrageous game of Better-Than-Charades and celebrated the New Year just a few minutes late. Scott and Ali hoovered up the last of the whisky, wine, cider, ale, drambuie and port and after a quick new years dip in the stream, the night was done.

For some reason we were all a little more subdued the next morning... except Olga who punctuated the morning with "DOUBLE RAINBOW!"



I had one last day in Scotland climbing at Dunkeld above the clouds in the sun and enjoying the waterfalls at Rumbling Bridge before heading back south. Ali's family were incredibly kind looking after us and I hope to be seeing them all again soon!

Ali on "The Rut" at Dunkeld
Next adventure, skiing in Courchevel in a few weeks time!! YEEAAH!

Happy New Year!