A very domestic start to the week, as we’ve now got this Ski bus timetable sorted, we went shopping in Samoens, whilst waiting for the return bus we went to a small café /deli for hot chocolate and coffee, they had blueberry muffins and raspberry & almond tart on the menu so it would be rude not to try them!
On the back of the toilet door was a sign, only in English, which read “If you get locked in, take the key out, slide it under the door, then knock”, the mind boggled – we can only presume that lots of English have been locked in the toilet. So maybe the French do not lock the door?
By the time we got back to the flat the weather had turned, so there was no putting off the housework which needed doing! ….Our interesting life, please keep reading hopefully it will liven up!
On Monday night it snowed!
We had a vague plan on Tuesday to attempt a ski bus ride to Sixt, a village further up the valley, despite it being only one change at the Grand Massif Express Lift, on the current bus timetables there was no easy connection! So we went up the Sameons Cable Car again to see the newly arrived snow, the place is starting to look like a ski resort.
We started walking towards Sixt, but after 1km or so the path turned into a bit of a bog, so we turned around, and walked all the way back to Morillon.
The local Ski Area Authorities announced that some more runs and lifts should be opened on Thursday, so that gave us hope that we could be skiing by the end of the week.
On Wednesday morning we took the Morillon cable car up to “Morillon 1100” to collect our skis, thankfully the same very nice chap, who gave us the seasonal deal was there, so that made it easier. He didn’t want any money today, just a swipe of a credit card, and we pay when we return the skis. Result!
Thursday, we took to the slopes! We had to get the ski bus to the Vercland cable car, as there were no ski runs open up Morillon. It has been 7 years since we last skied, so after a very tentative start, we did a nice long blue run called “Dahu”, we then called it a day – for any non-skiing readers, runs increase in difficulty from Green (easy/novice), Blue (nice, our usual choice of runs), Red (only occasionally have we done these), Black (only ever done one small section and never again!).
So back down the cable car to wait for a ski bus, more drama, the ski bus didn’t arrive, then someone arrived at the bus stop letting people know that the bus had been in an accident! Our French is not good enough to understand any more detail, however the only option was to wait for another ski bus. Eventually a ski bus did arrive with a driver that was clearly trying to make up lost time! En route back to Morillon we did pass the unfortunate bus at a 45 degree angle in a small ditch, it looked as if it had gracefully slipped of the road. We were thankful not to have been on it at the time.
Friday, a few runs had been opened in Morillon, it is only 500m from the flat to the cable car, which is a long way to walk in ski boots carrying skis – so we got the ski bus from nearly outside our door.
At the Telecabine/Cable car stations, the staff were keen to let us know about the limited runs available, as everyone else was heading for the Samoens area to ski more widely. Only the runs at the very top of Morillon 1100 were open, so after getting the chairlift up, and doing the top half of a really quiet ski run a couple of times, we called it a day and had to get the chairlift back down, which was a new experience for us!
Our skiing is currently very tentative, occasionally terrifying and exhausting, hopefully only until we find our ski legs again. After the first scary run, Nic christened herself Captain Snowplough, as this is the default position to adopt on skis in order to limit speed and stop. The second run was better with more parallel turns and less snow ploughing. Note for non skiers, snowplough is very tiring on the legs!!
We decided not to ski on Saturday, we went to find the International Ice Swimming Association World Championship happening in a lake in Sameons, (we hadn’t seen it advertised locally, Nic’s mum saw it on UK TV and told us about it). A 25m pool had been created in the lake, We only managed to see one relay race, before the break for lunch. So we had some “Vin Chaud” mulled wine, a couple of potato donuts (we decided they were more like potato pakoras) very tasty, then walked home again.
That evening we had drinks in the bar closest to the flat, two doors down from the Bakery, it was a very local bar, there was nobody in the place apart from a table of 4 playing cards, it turned out that one of the 4 was in fact the barman. So he broke off his game to serve us. Then all the locals arrived, there was some form of bingo/lottery happening on the TV, and everybody appeared to buy at least one scratch card, and someone even won something??. We were then slightly confused when a woman entered the bar to a round of applause, it was actually the bar maid, who appeared to be late for her shift. So we were never quite sure who the first guy was who served us, he went back to playing cards. This bar was 2/3 of the price of the one last week, and twice as entertaining!
After a couple of drinks, we moved next door to the closest restaurant to the flat, serving local fare, we had a traditional Raclette, which is basically cheese, melted at the table by a heated contraption served with cold meats, potatoes and salad. It was fabulous!, followed by a chocolate and blueberry fondant for Rog and Mango sorbet for Nic, again both fabulous.
Only a short stagger home!
Sunday, the weather is not good down in the village, lots of rain/sleet so had a lazy day at the flat, Hopefully it will be falling as snow on higher ground.
Travurple 