We got up on Monday the 20th to a bit of a dull day so after getting the usual stuff out the way i.e. emails and bank stuff on the laptop we decided to get our walking gear on and do the woodland/stream walk down to Les Allues which is the next village down the valley. We set off following the signs and I must say it was lovely even though it was cloudy with light snow. We arrived in Les Allues in about 40 minutes had a quick walk around the village and then both looked at one another and said shall we do the trail right down to Brides-Les-Bains which it said would take about 1hr 40 mins, it was early afternoon so we said let’s do it.
The trail zig zags it way next to the river all the way down and you just can’t get away from the roar of all the water tumbling down the valley but it’s so beautiful. I spotted what I thought was a mountain goat watching us but it turned out to be a tree stump - should have gone to spec savers sprung to mind! When we got to the bottom it had taken us about 2hrs in total from Le Raffort so we jumped on the bubble lift back up to camp for a nice bowl of soup and french bread.
On Tuesday the local radio station said that the weather was going to be low cloud below 2000m so we decided to get our gear on and head for Val Thorens which at 2300m should be above the cloud. We went the quickest route to get high and at the summit we were well above cloud level, it was kind of spooky as there was a thick layer of cloud below us with just the mountain peaks poking through, Mont Blanc being the most prominent. Above the cloud there was plenty of sun so we stayed there all day and had our lunch perched on a rock on one of our favourite runs. We couldn’t believe how much building work and changes are going on over there but it was nice to see Val Thorens once again although its not as pretty as the other valleys due to lack of trees.
Wednesday saw the sun back in the Meribel valley once again and not a cloud in the sky
so we headed the other way to Courchevel and La-Tania to the lovely wide open runs over there and it was really quiet apart from the odd russian blinged up to the eyeballs with sparkly leather jackets, gold skis with matching poles and skin tight white leather trousers, OMG what a sight! We made our way down into La-Tania for lunch in a sunny corner which was nice, did a few more runs and then made our way home.
Thursday was dull again so Julie caught up with the washing and house work and I did all the blue jobs around the van then we went for a walk around town and a few beers. I tried something new for dinner, noodles with chicken, red & green peppers, garlic, bacon and chorizo with a splash of soy & chilli sauce, I think we were both surprised at how lush it was YUM YUM.
This morning Julie woke up all excited with an extra 8 inches ……. (of snow that is), so it was a leisurely breakfast as usual and out. Just as we reached the summit the cloud broke and the snow stopped to make way for the sun. The fresh dump of powder was amazing and hardly touched, we had such a laugh falling over and not being able to get up in places as it needs such a different style of riding. It was so much colder today and when the heavy snow started again we decided play time was over so did the La Raffort run back directly to the van had a quick cuppa then went back into town for more free Vin-Chaud.
Catch up next week.
J&J xx
Loving the snowboarding action shots.... it looks like you have the whole of the alps to yourself. We still have rain, wind, rain then more wind....hey ho. Hope the snow forecast is good for you........
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