Monday, May 30, 2005
Wine tasting…
We had some more wine to pick up for guests today, and decided to take the opportunity to actually do a visit ourselves! We went to Vouvray and were shown inside a “cave” which goes 3 km into the hillside, having had the limestone dug out of it in the 15th century to be used to construct the chateaux, and now remains at a constant 12°: perfect temperature for storing wine! We were shown around the cave and they explained how they make sparkling wine (can’t call it Champagne as we’re not in that region!) – basically they have to ferment the wine for a second time, and then have to slowly rotate the bottles over a period of time to get the yeast to settle and then get the top off to remove the yeast deposit and then put a cork in – but without losing the bubbles or wine!! It was a good visit and we got to try several wines and bubbly – all for free!! We bought a couple of bottles of red (not Vouvray after all that!! Chinon Red - further west of Tours), and some kiwi jam that is laced with Vouvray wine – sounds odd, but very nice!!
We had some more wine to pick up for guests today, and decided to take the opportunity to actually do a visit ourselves! We went to Vouvray and were shown inside a “cave” which goes 3 km into the hillside, having had the limestone dug out of it in the 15th century to be used to construct the chateaux, and now remains at a constant 12°: perfect temperature for storing wine! We were shown around the cave and they explained how they make sparkling wine (can’t call it Champagne as we’re not in that region!) – basically they have to ferment the wine for a second time, and then have to slowly rotate the bottles over a period of time to get the yeast to settle and then get the top off to remove the yeast deposit and then put a cork in – but without losing the bubbles or wine!! It was a good visit and we got to try several wines and bubbly – all for free!! We bought a couple of bottles of red (not Vouvray after all that!! Chinon Red - further west of Tours), and some kiwi jam that is laced with Vouvray wine – sounds odd, but very nice!!
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Strange German Laws…
We were just sitting outside, enjoying a brunch of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon (belated birthday breakfast for G), having had a lie in then gone for a short bike ride, when Judith’s mobile beeped a text message – Her "other half" had been in Salzburg, seeing the rep there, and was en route to Alsace but had been stopped by the German police for driving with a trailer on Sunday!!! Yes, that’s right; it’s illegal to drive with a trailer on Sunday in Germany before 10pm!! Apparently, in France, it is illegal to drive a lorry on a Sunday! At least it means the roads are quieter and the (French) lorry drivers get a break…foreign lorry drivers can get away with it though!!.... But back in Germany somewhere, poor Keith and another rep are stuck in a van, with the illegally towed trailer, unable to go anywhere for roughly 10 hours!!!
We were just sitting outside, enjoying a brunch of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon (belated birthday breakfast for G), having had a lie in then gone for a short bike ride, when Judith’s mobile beeped a text message – Her "other half" had been in Salzburg, seeing the rep there, and was en route to Alsace but had been stopped by the German police for driving with a trailer on Sunday!!! Yes, that’s right; it’s illegal to drive with a trailer on Sunday in Germany before 10pm!! Apparently, in France, it is illegal to drive a lorry on a Sunday! At least it means the roads are quieter and the (French) lorry drivers get a break…foreign lorry drivers can get away with it though!!.... But back in Germany somewhere, poor Keith and another rep are stuck in a van, with the illegally towed trailer, unable to go anywhere for roughly 10 hours!!!
Gerwyn’s birthday and some visitors….
It was Gerwyn’s birthday on Saturday. Our regional manager Judith arrived on Friday afternoon to stay with us til Monday, to see how we are doing, and before going on to see the reps in Brittany. Unfortunately for Gerwyn, Saturday was rather busy with welcome briefings, a bags-run, and a de-briefing… but in the end it has turned into a pleasant weekend…. The weather has been boiling, with a couple of the walking guests giving up and getting a taxi or calling us for a lift! But Friday evening we ate outside for the first time, as it was still incredibly warm at 8pm. It was lovely to sit outside til 11pm, eating and enjoying nice wine! On Saturday lunchtime, Judith treated us to a takeaway pizza from a local boulangerie, which was overloaded with yummy topping, and we sat outside and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Judith and I did the evening de-brief in Montlouis, and it just happened to be their village fair this weekend, so we were sat out in the main square with the guests, watching all the activities: baton twirling, or as the French have imaginatively called it “le twirling”, and various other dance routines, a 4 man band on stilts!, clowns, etc – unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the moules frites to be served in the late evening! By the time we got back home, Paul, who worked with Gerwyn in chalet Bon Coin in La Plagne had arrived – on his way back to La Plagne to help out with some DIY in the chalets over the summer. We had a lovely evening – bubbly to start with, and Judith cooked for us, and we managed to be very French and have a white wine with our starter and main (both fish dishes), then a nice red wine with some cheese, and then a sweet dessert wine with a lovely patisserie that Judith bought earlier. So in the traditional manner, dinner stretched on and on, and it was about midnight by the time we’d finished!! A truly magnificient feast!
It was Gerwyn’s birthday on Saturday. Our regional manager Judith arrived on Friday afternoon to stay with us til Monday, to see how we are doing, and before going on to see the reps in Brittany. Unfortunately for Gerwyn, Saturday was rather busy with welcome briefings, a bags-run, and a de-briefing… but in the end it has turned into a pleasant weekend…. The weather has been boiling, with a couple of the walking guests giving up and getting a taxi or calling us for a lift! But Friday evening we ate outside for the first time, as it was still incredibly warm at 8pm. It was lovely to sit outside til 11pm, eating and enjoying nice wine! On Saturday lunchtime, Judith treated us to a takeaway pizza from a local boulangerie, which was overloaded with yummy topping, and we sat outside and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Judith and I did the evening de-brief in Montlouis, and it just happened to be their village fair this weekend, so we were sat out in the main square with the guests, watching all the activities: baton twirling, or as the French have imaginatively called it “le twirling”, and various other dance routines, a 4 man band on stilts!, clowns, etc – unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the moules frites to be served in the late evening! By the time we got back home, Paul, who worked with Gerwyn in chalet Bon Coin in La Plagne had arrived – on his way back to La Plagne to help out with some DIY in the chalets over the summer. We had a lovely evening – bubbly to start with, and Judith cooked for us, and we managed to be very French and have a white wine with our starter and main (both fish dishes), then a nice red wine with some cheese, and then a sweet dessert wine with a lovely patisserie that Judith bought earlier. So in the traditional manner, dinner stretched on and on, and it was about midnight by the time we’d finished!! A truly magnificient feast!
Friday, May 27, 2005
Missent to Iran!!!
I received a very well travelled birthday card today – Malcolm & Margaret had sent me a birthday card, which was date stamped in Addlestone on 3rd May….. despite the perfectly clear address stating France, it arrived 24 days later, with the words “missent to Iran” stamped on the front, and a franking mark of Tehran on the back!!!
I received a very well travelled birthday card today – Malcolm & Margaret had sent me a birthday card, which was date stamped in Addlestone on 3rd May….. despite the perfectly clear address stating France, it arrived 24 days later, with the words “missent to Iran” stamped on the front, and a franking mark of Tehran on the back!!!
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Phew! What a scorcher!!
Well, summer has finally arrived in the Loire - after an unseasonally cool start, we are now getting temperatures of over 30 C, and so had our first dip in the neighbouring hotel pool - unfortunately our little gite does not have it's own pool, but it's not far to the hotel and we can use theirs whenever we want! I have to say, about 3.30pm, once our morning work is done and we've got an hour or so to while away before thinking about late afternoon tasks, it's the perfect time for a dip!! This weather is set to last for a few days at least - the humidity may then set off some thunder storms!!
Reading Corner...
I've been using spare moments to catch up on some reading, although Gerwyn is devouring books at an alarming rate!! So far, I've read "Blindness" by Jose Saramago - Portuguese Nobel Prize winner (but translated into English!)- this book was courtesy of Laura at Christmas, and I never got round to starting it during the winter! It's about a sudden highly contagious blindness that sweeps through an entire country, and those initially infected are sent to a dis-used mental hospital in an attempt to contain the spread of the blindness - this fails, and the book tells the story of the first few sufferers, and how they deal with the enforced confinement in the hospital, and the impact of the blindess on the whole of society. It's written in an unusual but gripping style, and was very thought provoking. Thanks Laura - a really good read, and I'd never of picked it up otherwise!
I'm now racing my way through Dan Brown's "Deception Point"; I never got round to reading The Da Vinci Code over the winter, although I think most of the staff and a substantial number of the guests did!! This one is a pretty gripping read, regardless of how much truth there is behind it!!
Well, summer has finally arrived in the Loire - after an unseasonally cool start, we are now getting temperatures of over 30 C, and so had our first dip in the neighbouring hotel pool - unfortunately our little gite does not have it's own pool, but it's not far to the hotel and we can use theirs whenever we want! I have to say, about 3.30pm, once our morning work is done and we've got an hour or so to while away before thinking about late afternoon tasks, it's the perfect time for a dip!! This weather is set to last for a few days at least - the humidity may then set off some thunder storms!!
Reading Corner...
I've been using spare moments to catch up on some reading, although Gerwyn is devouring books at an alarming rate!! So far, I've read "Blindness" by Jose Saramago - Portuguese Nobel Prize winner (but translated into English!)- this book was courtesy of Laura at Christmas, and I never got round to starting it during the winter! It's about a sudden highly contagious blindness that sweeps through an entire country, and those initially infected are sent to a dis-used mental hospital in an attempt to contain the spread of the blindness - this fails, and the book tells the story of the first few sufferers, and how they deal with the enforced confinement in the hospital, and the impact of the blindess on the whole of society. It's written in an unusual but gripping style, and was very thought provoking. Thanks Laura - a really good read, and I'd never of picked it up otherwise!
I'm now racing my way through Dan Brown's "Deception Point"; I never got round to reading The Da Vinci Code over the winter, although I think most of the staff and a substantial number of the guests did!! This one is a pretty gripping read, regardless of how much truth there is behind it!!
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Douze points for...... Greece!!
Yes, it's that time of year again - Eurovision! And how bizarre to miss out on Terry's commentary. We saw the last few songs and then stayed up for the voting - rather tedious as we'd not realised that so many countries were now voting - I presume about half having had their songs knocked out in the semi-finals (thank god for small mercies - otherwise Eurovision might have to extend to a whole week!!!). At one point we started making our own Terry commentary up, trying to work out what he'd think about the bizarre Norwegian entry (French commentators made some remarks about the lead singer being a Freddy Mercury look-a-like, but there were hints of Alice Cooper there too!), or the two boys from Norway (I think) singing a lovely ballad and then abandoning their guitars half way through! In actual fact, I think the French commentators had been taking a few lessons from Terry, as their sense of humour and general view of the contest was much the same as ours, and comments over political voting were fairly sarcastic. Or perhaps the fact that the French song got about as many votes as the British entry meant that our "entente cordiale" extends to a healthy cinicism towards what many countries bizarrly see as a fantastic insititution!!
Oh well, Congratulations to Greece on an admirably traditional eurovision winning entry, and whoever wrote Cheryl Baker's script, please fire him before next year's competition!!
Yes, it's that time of year again - Eurovision! And how bizarre to miss out on Terry's commentary. We saw the last few songs and then stayed up for the voting - rather tedious as we'd not realised that so many countries were now voting - I presume about half having had their songs knocked out in the semi-finals (thank god for small mercies - otherwise Eurovision might have to extend to a whole week!!!). At one point we started making our own Terry commentary up, trying to work out what he'd think about the bizarre Norwegian entry (French commentators made some remarks about the lead singer being a Freddy Mercury look-a-like, but there were hints of Alice Cooper there too!), or the two boys from Norway (I think) singing a lovely ballad and then abandoning their guitars half way through! In actual fact, I think the French commentators had been taking a few lessons from Terry, as their sense of humour and general view of the contest was much the same as ours, and comments over political voting were fairly sarcastic. Or perhaps the fact that the French song got about as many votes as the British entry meant that our "entente cordiale" extends to a healthy cinicism towards what many countries bizarrly see as a fantastic insititution!!
Oh well, Congratulations to Greece on an admirably traditional eurovision winning entry, and whoever wrote Cheryl Baker's script, please fire him before next year's competition!!
A Tour of Tours!
We had a free day on Saturday, having done bike prep and only having to take departing guests to the station at 9.15am, so we decided to take advantage of this and head into Tours….having checked the Rough Guide, there wasn’t much we really wanted to see – didn’t fancy the museums – so we decided just to enjoy the “day out” and wander. We headed for the cathedral, only to find a communion/baptism for teenagers taking place, so we continued on our wander, up to the Loire (not very spectacular!) and then down the little streets. One seemed to offer any cuisine you could think of: Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Kebabs, etc – pretty cosmopolitan considering the rest of the city! We then headed towards the Place Plumereau (the trendy place to hang out!) but stopped for a coffee and croissant en route, as is de rigueur for a late morning caffeine and sugar hit! Place Plum’ was nice, full of restaurants, and much older buildings with interesting facades, and we continued to wander round the narrow streets. We found a flea market, selling anything people had dug out of their attics (stuffed animals, gas masks, furniture, crockery…), an open air fruit & veg market, with huge grapes, loads of white asparagus, and sumptious looking produce, then there was “Les Halles” – an indoor market with fixed stalls, selling fruit & veg, fish, cheeses, bread & meats – a fascinating display of fresh, delicious looking food, and would be lovely to have as your local shops! Then a general market (something along the lines of Blackbush market, but somehow more interesting for being in France!) which then turned into a flower market. We then made our way back to the Cathedral, just in time to see the communion/baptism service end and empty onto the streets, allowing us to get in and admire the very impressive stained glass windows. We sat out in Place Plum’ for lunch, deciding to be true tourists! And then headed for the Museum of “Compagnonnage” – master craftsmen: ironmongers, blacksmiths, carpenters, cake decorators, breadmakers – and a display of some of their work. Bizarre, but at the same time, quite impressive, for example someone who’d made a model of a building out of pasta!! It was a shame there wasn’t much info in English as my knowledge of French vocabulary of these specialist subjects is somewhat lacking! But we got the jist!!
And to end our afternoon, we headed for the Vitiloire festival…and now you will find our ulterior motive for going to Tours – Vitiloire is a wine festival taking place in the city this weekend!! Basically the main street and central square has been taken over by tents with wine producers of the area, and for 3€ you buy a wine glass, and then can go round tasting as many as you can!! Having done similar at Vinopolis in London, and the Sunday Times Wine Club wine tasting day, I have to say I was slightly disappointed… the wines were all very similar tasting, e.g. all the dry white wines were still what I describe as creamy – just what I hate!! But we did find a few reds that were very nice and have made note in the hope we can get them in the local supermarkets! We managed about an hour and a half of sipping and swigging, before we had to escape to a café to have a sobering coffee and pastry!
All in all, a very pleasant day!
We had a free day on Saturday, having done bike prep and only having to take departing guests to the station at 9.15am, so we decided to take advantage of this and head into Tours….having checked the Rough Guide, there wasn’t much we really wanted to see – didn’t fancy the museums – so we decided just to enjoy the “day out” and wander. We headed for the cathedral, only to find a communion/baptism for teenagers taking place, so we continued on our wander, up to the Loire (not very spectacular!) and then down the little streets. One seemed to offer any cuisine you could think of: Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Kebabs, etc – pretty cosmopolitan considering the rest of the city! We then headed towards the Place Plumereau (the trendy place to hang out!) but stopped for a coffee and croissant en route, as is de rigueur for a late morning caffeine and sugar hit! Place Plum’ was nice, full of restaurants, and much older buildings with interesting facades, and we continued to wander round the narrow streets. We found a flea market, selling anything people had dug out of their attics (stuffed animals, gas masks, furniture, crockery…), an open air fruit & veg market, with huge grapes, loads of white asparagus, and sumptious looking produce, then there was “Les Halles” – an indoor market with fixed stalls, selling fruit & veg, fish, cheeses, bread & meats – a fascinating display of fresh, delicious looking food, and would be lovely to have as your local shops! Then a general market (something along the lines of Blackbush market, but somehow more interesting for being in France!) which then turned into a flower market. We then made our way back to the Cathedral, just in time to see the communion/baptism service end and empty onto the streets, allowing us to get in and admire the very impressive stained glass windows. We sat out in Place Plum’ for lunch, deciding to be true tourists! And then headed for the Museum of “Compagnonnage” – master craftsmen: ironmongers, blacksmiths, carpenters, cake decorators, breadmakers – and a display of some of their work. Bizarre, but at the same time, quite impressive, for example someone who’d made a model of a building out of pasta!! It was a shame there wasn’t much info in English as my knowledge of French vocabulary of these specialist subjects is somewhat lacking! But we got the jist!!
And to end our afternoon, we headed for the Vitiloire festival…and now you will find our ulterior motive for going to Tours – Vitiloire is a wine festival taking place in the city this weekend!! Basically the main street and central square has been taken over by tents with wine producers of the area, and for 3€ you buy a wine glass, and then can go round tasting as many as you can!! Having done similar at Vinopolis in London, and the Sunday Times Wine Club wine tasting day, I have to say I was slightly disappointed… the wines were all very similar tasting, e.g. all the dry white wines were still what I describe as creamy – just what I hate!! But we did find a few reds that were very nice and have made note in the hope we can get them in the local supermarkets! We managed about an hour and a half of sipping and swigging, before we had to escape to a café to have a sobering coffee and pastry!
All in all, a very pleasant day!
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Paul Ross has got engaged!!
Paul Ross, best man at my wedding, has got engaged to Maria - congratulations!! Paul has been across the pond for a wee while now, and has probably replaced his scottish accent for a dodgy yank one!! Hopefully this lass will keep him on the straight and narrow!!
Paul Ross, best man at my wedding, has got engaged to Maria - congratulations!! Paul has been across the pond for a wee while now, and has probably replaced his scottish accent for a dodgy yank one!! Hopefully this lass will keep him on the straight and narrow!!
Balloon-tastic!!
Having forgot about rescheduling the balloon flight, we kept seeing them, and the other night as we were sat indoors having just finished dinner, I heard this noise, and thought - a balloon! - as I looked out of the window it came right over the top of the house! We knew it was going to be a nice morning the following day, so jumped on our bikes and tried to follow it to the landing spot, in the hope of speaking to the pilots, but it had a destinct speed advantage on us, despite looking like it was about to land! So instead we did the conventional thing and phoned them the next day - and we arranged our flight for yesterday evening, Wed 18th May. We took off a few kms from our house, and flew above Chenonceaux Chateau, a very impressive sight indeed. The wind was quite light, so our hour long trip didn't take us too far, but it was a lovely evening, with a light haze, and we floated up and down, eventually landing in a small field, much to the delight of the young children playing in their back garden only feet away from us! I would email out photos, but I took rather a lot, and I think it would overload my email and yours, but at some point when I in the Uk, if you want to be bored by the photos, please ask!!
Having forgot about rescheduling the balloon flight, we kept seeing them, and the other night as we were sat indoors having just finished dinner, I heard this noise, and thought - a balloon! - as I looked out of the window it came right over the top of the house! We knew it was going to be a nice morning the following day, so jumped on our bikes and tried to follow it to the landing spot, in the hope of speaking to the pilots, but it had a destinct speed advantage on us, despite looking like it was about to land! So instead we did the conventional thing and phoned them the next day - and we arranged our flight for yesterday evening, Wed 18th May. We took off a few kms from our house, and flew above Chenonceaux Chateau, a very impressive sight indeed. The wind was quite light, so our hour long trip didn't take us too far, but it was a lovely evening, with a light haze, and we floated up and down, eventually landing in a small field, much to the delight of the young children playing in their back garden only feet away from us! I would email out photos, but I took rather a lot, and I think it would overload my email and yours, but at some point when I in the Uk, if you want to be bored by the photos, please ask!!
Monday, May 16, 2005
Crikey - it's still here!!
Yes despite months and months of neglect, my blog is still here for the world to view. I was truely pathetic during my second ski season, and completly failed to update my blog, even once! So perhaps now that I am 30, and therefore mature and sensible (well, yes, I think that was always me really!), I will be true to my blog and update it regularly....
I'm going to start by cheating and filling in a few gaps with a mega blog!! (ok, so I've copied and pasted from the e-mail I've just sent!)
20th April 2005
We returned from La Plagne by coach on Thursday 21st April and were back in Addlestone shortly after 9am, somewhat lacking in sleep, but as coach journeys go, pretty good! It was then a bit of a whistle-stop tour to see people (and it was really good to see you!), and un-pack, pack, shop, etc! Then on Sunday mum kindly lent me her car and I drove to Swindon to get Gerwyn, and then we headed up to see Lisa, Cameron & Maggie and stay over night. Maggie was as gorgeous and smiley as she always is when I see her (although rather covered in raspberries when we arrived) and despite her best efforts to keep us awake all night, our untrained baby ears were not disturbed by her cries, and it was Lisa and Cameron who had the joy of sleep deprivation!!
Monday 25th April
Monday morning we made the short journey to Northwich and our Headwater training camp for the week – not that it was camping: bunk-beds in little chalets in a centre run by and for people with learning difficulties, who fed us huge amounts of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
The training was pretty good, and thorough, and there seemed a lot to take in. Unlike Silver Ski, once in the Loire we are on our own, so the training has to be done this way. But by the end of the week we’d got an idea of our guest bookings for May and what we’d have to do, and a pretty good notion of how to check a bike for serious problems, and how to fix the minor ones!! Time will tell how much we really know!!
Saturday 30th April
Saturday morning we got up to have a leisurely breakfast to find that one of the 4 minibuses had a slow puncture, so some of the boys set about changing the tyre whilst the rest of us sat back thinking how glad we were that that wasn’t our van! Gerwyn and I then set off for Addlestone, with another couple following us in a minibus, and the other 3 minibuses all taking various routes to Dover. We got to Addlestone around 3pm, and within 15 minutes Tony arrived in the van – great! we thought, until Tony got out and immediately lifted up the bonnet, and told us about the green radiator liquid he’d just left on the M25!!!! We found the hole in the radiator from which the fluid had leaked, and with our vehicle repair knowledge between the four of us still equalling about 0, we plugged the hole (thanks Dad for the tools!) and then gave the van a test drive to the motorway. It ran ok, but on a closure look under the bonnet, we know found what was meant to go in the hole – a tube! Previously we’d thought a cap had got loose and come off, but now realising we were stopping the flow of radiator fluid, we started to get concerned about carrying on…. At this point, Sue from next door came out and announced she’s a member of the AA, so she’d give them a call, pretending she was travelling with us! It was about 5.45pm by this point, with our ferry crossing booked for 6.30pm, and the AA said they may not be with us til 8! Should we risk it and drive anyway? None of us were sure, but we were getting pretty tempted to do so. Luckily the AA man turned up at 6.15pm and took one look and said we needed a complete new radiator!! Officially, we should not drive the van. Unofficially, we could drive the van for about 20 minutes and then we’d risk blowing up the entire engine!!! At this point we were all very glad we had not decided to chance driving to Dover, because we’d probably be broken down on the hard shoulder of the M25!!!
Being early evening on Saturday, and a bank holiday weekend, we’d not even be able to phone a garage before Tuesday morning, at which point we were all supposed to be happily settled into our new regions…. So we checked with the boss and he agreed to pay £250 to get the van towed to Dover!! So we finally made the ferry at 11pm, only needing the van to move a few hundred metres to get onto it! Once on the other side, we had a nervous 10 minute drive off the boat and to a motel, and we finally collapsed into bed at 2am!
Sunday 1st May
Sunday morning we abandoned the van at a local Citroen garage, along with a note in our bestest French that it needed fixing and we’d phone to explain and pay!! Then another one of the minibuses came and picked us and all our gear up, and we were again on our way! Today’s destination was Chamonix, French Alps (not actually that far from La Plagne!!) Headwater is part of the Thompson and Crystal group, so the vans we needed to pick up were kept in Chamonix! We made it by 6pm – a much easier journey!! And then finally, Sunday morning, Gerwyn and I got our van, and at about 10.30am left the others to head for our new home in the Loire!!
Monday 2nd May, 6pm
At last we arrived, and to a lovely little (well, quite big really) gite. Downstairs we’ve got a kitchen, dining room, lounge and toilet, and then upstairs 2 bedrooms, toilet and large bathroom. We’ve got a double garage where all our bikes are stored, and plenty of space on the driveway to park the van, and work on bikes. The gite is interestingly decorated with a variety (i.e. non-matching) of flowery wall paper, tiled floors, and coverings (e.g. throws over the sofas and protective plastic covers over table tops, sideboard tops which are all wooden). It takes some time for your eyes to get used to all of this, and despite repeated warnings about the décor from experienced Headwater staff, nothing quite prepares you for the real thing!!
Our time “pre-guests” was spent finding hotels and looking round them, checking out the best routes between hotels, checking route notes for ease of use, and accuracy, and just seemingly endless tasks, that just when you thought you were getting things in hand, you remembered something else you needed to do!! We had a few challenges along the way: 1 hotel that changed hands over the winter, with no sign of life from the new owners, and therefore had to be scrapped – so we are using another hotel (already used by Headwater), but this meant we had to update route notes quite significantly, as the 2 hotels are about 15km apart!! Similary with a restaurant being used on a Sunday night when a hotel restaurant is closed: the restaurant went bust 6 weeks ago, and no-one in Montlouis opens on a Sunday night! We eventually found a superb restaurant in Vouvray (as in the very nice wine!)… And then there was one section of a cycling route which is now being rudely interrupted by the construction of a new motorway!!! We didn’t think the guests would want to cycle through that, so again, a new route needed to be planned and written! It’s a good job we’re seasoned seasonnaires, and not phased by this sort of thing!!
Thursday 5th May
Tony Blair won the election
Sunday 8th May 2005
Then came the occasion of Sunday 8th May 2005 – my big 3-0!! We wanted to make it as non-work like as possible, so decided to test the walking route – but on bikes, so that we could complete all 3 stages in one day. Gerwyn had added up the km’s and reckoned 43…. About half way through he realised he’d added up wrong, and it was going to be more like 55km! Luckily, it was a sunny day, and it started well – however as time wore on, we came across parts of the route notes that weren’t very clear, and were mainly cycling on very bumpy tracks (that of course would be fine on foot!) and after a few detours, we eventually got home, after 8 hours on the bikes, and the best part of 60kms covered!! I should add at this point, that only a few kms from home, I still managed to get a wolf whistle from some blokes in a passing car – very satisfying under the circumstances!!!
We’d have been happy to collapse into bed at this point, but instead had a dinner date at the new restaurant we needed to “test” for Sunday nights – and it was superb!! We were wined and dined, and slightly spoilt by the owners, who of course wanted to make a good impression with the prospect of regular customers!
The next day, my thighs and back-side ached rather a lot, but hell, I’m 30 now and still managed to do all that!! Gerwyn bought us a ride in a hot air balloon too, but unfortunately it was too windy on Monday to go, and we are still waiting for another good slot in the weather that fits in with our work schedule…but we’ve got all summer, so will get to fly at some point!
Wednesday 11th May
Our first guests arrived on Wednesday 11th – and were journalists!! Actually, they’ve been no trouble at all, nor have any of our guests so far. It’s quite different to the ski season: we meet them on day 1, sometimes collecting them from the station, then brief them and that’s it; they do the tour on their own, and then we seem them on the last day. As people can arrive every other day, we soon get to see lots of faces. Occasionally we bump into them at a hotel, or out on their bikes if we pass them when moving bags between hotels. We spend a fair bit of time driving about – but the roads are relatively quiet. We are getting the hang of preparing bikes too – luckily for us they are all properly serviced during the winter, but then stacked up for storage, so for starters we check them and do a few tweaks and give them a clean – there may be a bit more maintenance to do once they’ve been ridden!
Now that guests are here, and the “set-up” work is done, we are starting to get some free time – sometimes just an hour or 2 between jobs, other times a free morning if there are no arrivals or pick ups… Katy sent me out some good little cookery books for my birthday, and I’ve been making good use of those already. It’s actually really nice to experiment with a bit of cooking, and get some well needed practice in before the ski season!
Gerwyn has been preparing me for the imminent release of Star Wars III, by watching the others on DVD! However, he has now just discovered that even Tours cinema isn’t going to show it in English, so I’m not sure how far we are going to have to travel to watch it! Personally, I’d give the French version ago, but Gerwyn won’t understand much at all, and being a true Star Wars fan, that just won’t do….!!!!
Yes despite months and months of neglect, my blog is still here for the world to view. I was truely pathetic during my second ski season, and completly failed to update my blog, even once! So perhaps now that I am 30, and therefore mature and sensible (well, yes, I think that was always me really!), I will be true to my blog and update it regularly....
I'm going to start by cheating and filling in a few gaps with a mega blog!! (ok, so I've copied and pasted from the e-mail I've just sent!)
20th April 2005
We returned from La Plagne by coach on Thursday 21st April and were back in Addlestone shortly after 9am, somewhat lacking in sleep, but as coach journeys go, pretty good! It was then a bit of a whistle-stop tour to see people (and it was really good to see you!), and un-pack, pack, shop, etc! Then on Sunday mum kindly lent me her car and I drove to Swindon to get Gerwyn, and then we headed up to see Lisa, Cameron & Maggie and stay over night. Maggie was as gorgeous and smiley as she always is when I see her (although rather covered in raspberries when we arrived) and despite her best efforts to keep us awake all night, our untrained baby ears were not disturbed by her cries, and it was Lisa and Cameron who had the joy of sleep deprivation!!
Monday 25th April
Monday morning we made the short journey to Northwich and our Headwater training camp for the week – not that it was camping: bunk-beds in little chalets in a centre run by and for people with learning difficulties, who fed us huge amounts of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
The training was pretty good, and thorough, and there seemed a lot to take in. Unlike Silver Ski, once in the Loire we are on our own, so the training has to be done this way. But by the end of the week we’d got an idea of our guest bookings for May and what we’d have to do, and a pretty good notion of how to check a bike for serious problems, and how to fix the minor ones!! Time will tell how much we really know!!
Saturday 30th April
Saturday morning we got up to have a leisurely breakfast to find that one of the 4 minibuses had a slow puncture, so some of the boys set about changing the tyre whilst the rest of us sat back thinking how glad we were that that wasn’t our van! Gerwyn and I then set off for Addlestone, with another couple following us in a minibus, and the other 3 minibuses all taking various routes to Dover. We got to Addlestone around 3pm, and within 15 minutes Tony arrived in the van – great! we thought, until Tony got out and immediately lifted up the bonnet, and told us about the green radiator liquid he’d just left on the M25!!!! We found the hole in the radiator from which the fluid had leaked, and with our vehicle repair knowledge between the four of us still equalling about 0, we plugged the hole (thanks Dad for the tools!) and then gave the van a test drive to the motorway. It ran ok, but on a closure look under the bonnet, we know found what was meant to go in the hole – a tube! Previously we’d thought a cap had got loose and come off, but now realising we were stopping the flow of radiator fluid, we started to get concerned about carrying on…. At this point, Sue from next door came out and announced she’s a member of the AA, so she’d give them a call, pretending she was travelling with us! It was about 5.45pm by this point, with our ferry crossing booked for 6.30pm, and the AA said they may not be with us til 8! Should we risk it and drive anyway? None of us were sure, but we were getting pretty tempted to do so. Luckily the AA man turned up at 6.15pm and took one look and said we needed a complete new radiator!! Officially, we should not drive the van. Unofficially, we could drive the van for about 20 minutes and then we’d risk blowing up the entire engine!!! At this point we were all very glad we had not decided to chance driving to Dover, because we’d probably be broken down on the hard shoulder of the M25!!!
Being early evening on Saturday, and a bank holiday weekend, we’d not even be able to phone a garage before Tuesday morning, at which point we were all supposed to be happily settled into our new regions…. So we checked with the boss and he agreed to pay £250 to get the van towed to Dover!! So we finally made the ferry at 11pm, only needing the van to move a few hundred metres to get onto it! Once on the other side, we had a nervous 10 minute drive off the boat and to a motel, and we finally collapsed into bed at 2am!
Sunday 1st May
Sunday morning we abandoned the van at a local Citroen garage, along with a note in our bestest French that it needed fixing and we’d phone to explain and pay!! Then another one of the minibuses came and picked us and all our gear up, and we were again on our way! Today’s destination was Chamonix, French Alps (not actually that far from La Plagne!!) Headwater is part of the Thompson and Crystal group, so the vans we needed to pick up were kept in Chamonix! We made it by 6pm – a much easier journey!! And then finally, Sunday morning, Gerwyn and I got our van, and at about 10.30am left the others to head for our new home in the Loire!!
Monday 2nd May, 6pm
At last we arrived, and to a lovely little (well, quite big really) gite. Downstairs we’ve got a kitchen, dining room, lounge and toilet, and then upstairs 2 bedrooms, toilet and large bathroom. We’ve got a double garage where all our bikes are stored, and plenty of space on the driveway to park the van, and work on bikes. The gite is interestingly decorated with a variety (i.e. non-matching) of flowery wall paper, tiled floors, and coverings (e.g. throws over the sofas and protective plastic covers over table tops, sideboard tops which are all wooden). It takes some time for your eyes to get used to all of this, and despite repeated warnings about the décor from experienced Headwater staff, nothing quite prepares you for the real thing!!
Our time “pre-guests” was spent finding hotels and looking round them, checking out the best routes between hotels, checking route notes for ease of use, and accuracy, and just seemingly endless tasks, that just when you thought you were getting things in hand, you remembered something else you needed to do!! We had a few challenges along the way: 1 hotel that changed hands over the winter, with no sign of life from the new owners, and therefore had to be scrapped – so we are using another hotel (already used by Headwater), but this meant we had to update route notes quite significantly, as the 2 hotels are about 15km apart!! Similary with a restaurant being used on a Sunday night when a hotel restaurant is closed: the restaurant went bust 6 weeks ago, and no-one in Montlouis opens on a Sunday night! We eventually found a superb restaurant in Vouvray (as in the very nice wine!)… And then there was one section of a cycling route which is now being rudely interrupted by the construction of a new motorway!!! We didn’t think the guests would want to cycle through that, so again, a new route needed to be planned and written! It’s a good job we’re seasoned seasonnaires, and not phased by this sort of thing!!
Thursday 5th May
Tony Blair won the election
Sunday 8th May 2005
Then came the occasion of Sunday 8th May 2005 – my big 3-0!! We wanted to make it as non-work like as possible, so decided to test the walking route – but on bikes, so that we could complete all 3 stages in one day. Gerwyn had added up the km’s and reckoned 43…. About half way through he realised he’d added up wrong, and it was going to be more like 55km! Luckily, it was a sunny day, and it started well – however as time wore on, we came across parts of the route notes that weren’t very clear, and were mainly cycling on very bumpy tracks (that of course would be fine on foot!) and after a few detours, we eventually got home, after 8 hours on the bikes, and the best part of 60kms covered!! I should add at this point, that only a few kms from home, I still managed to get a wolf whistle from some blokes in a passing car – very satisfying under the circumstances!!!
We’d have been happy to collapse into bed at this point, but instead had a dinner date at the new restaurant we needed to “test” for Sunday nights – and it was superb!! We were wined and dined, and slightly spoilt by the owners, who of course wanted to make a good impression with the prospect of regular customers!
The next day, my thighs and back-side ached rather a lot, but hell, I’m 30 now and still managed to do all that!! Gerwyn bought us a ride in a hot air balloon too, but unfortunately it was too windy on Monday to go, and we are still waiting for another good slot in the weather that fits in with our work schedule…but we’ve got all summer, so will get to fly at some point!
Wednesday 11th May
Our first guests arrived on Wednesday 11th – and were journalists!! Actually, they’ve been no trouble at all, nor have any of our guests so far. It’s quite different to the ski season: we meet them on day 1, sometimes collecting them from the station, then brief them and that’s it; they do the tour on their own, and then we seem them on the last day. As people can arrive every other day, we soon get to see lots of faces. Occasionally we bump into them at a hotel, or out on their bikes if we pass them when moving bags between hotels. We spend a fair bit of time driving about – but the roads are relatively quiet. We are getting the hang of preparing bikes too – luckily for us they are all properly serviced during the winter, but then stacked up for storage, so for starters we check them and do a few tweaks and give them a clean – there may be a bit more maintenance to do once they’ve been ridden!
Now that guests are here, and the “set-up” work is done, we are starting to get some free time – sometimes just an hour or 2 between jobs, other times a free morning if there are no arrivals or pick ups… Katy sent me out some good little cookery books for my birthday, and I’ve been making good use of those already. It’s actually really nice to experiment with a bit of cooking, and get some well needed practice in before the ski season!
Gerwyn has been preparing me for the imminent release of Star Wars III, by watching the others on DVD! However, he has now just discovered that even Tours cinema isn’t going to show it in English, so I’m not sure how far we are going to have to travel to watch it! Personally, I’d give the French version ago, but Gerwyn won’t understand much at all, and being a true Star Wars fan, that just won’t do….!!!!
