A great day was had by all. Sadly the Internet access has been poor so it has not been easy for me to update the blog. I think all the guests at Hotel Hillary are hammering the wifi and so it is very slow. I will try to update this blog when I can.
Today, Jane and Fred went off for their lesson and Liz had a day off as her knee is still a bit sore. Charlie and I hit Meribel and he loved it up Mont Vallon.
Charlie’s skiing is coming on a treat and he is skiing faster and in control.
In the afternoon Fred, Charlie and I went off in a trip to Orelle to find the zip wire. We had lunch in the Orelle restaurant but it took 45 minutes to get served. It was a joke but we had to eat as we were all famished. Then it was on the way up to near certain death!
Once we got to the zip we paid our €50 and signed a disclaimer! I think it just said that up we die that’s our look out!! Then the staff fitted us with harnesses and strapped our skis to our backs. Then we made the slow walk up to the platform where you are attached to a wire across a massive drop. You reach speeds of 65 mph!
Pic of Fred and Charlie kitted up
Fred decided that idiot should got first – me! I jumped on the scales and it showed me as extra large (there was obviously a fault!) and the staff member selected a red attachment from which I would dangle over the abyss! Then she asked Charlie to get on the scales and he turned out to be a bit more “extra large” than I was. Ha ha.
The joke was on me though as the lady explained she only had one extra heavy red attachment and as I was a bit lighter that Charlie I would have one that appeared to be fit only for a small child!! Fred was laughing.
The lady then hung me from the child harness (not really but it didn’t look as substantial as fatboys did!).
She said “You will go very fast with this one – is that OK?”
“Yes of course” I said whilst wondering if I really had the right harness.
Then she said “Byeeee” and I was launched off at great speed.
It was very fast and when in the middle the wind was really high and I was being blown left and right. I could not help but look up to check the baby harness I was hanging off!!
Anyway we all survived and here is Fred coming in to land
http://youtu.be/GihOtRPAcqQ
Then we skied home and here are the stats:
Gilles et Laurance were coming round to cook local specialities from where they live and we had the most amazing meal. A massive thank you to them. They even joined in the fun taking the mickey out of my new selfie stick! They weren’t laughing once they saw the result if this photo though!
As we waited for them to arrive I must tell you that we had a visit from Mr Moulin who I think is the caretaker. He spoke no English whatsoever and I speak very little French. He did not look too pleased and all I could make out were the words “Cave, proprietor, cave, familie, cave”.
Before we came away Andy told us that he had hired a small cellar like cupboard for an extra place to put stuff between their visits and told us we can use it and can we also out some stuff in there that we brought to France with us for Andy and Tracy! Well on our first day I worked out it was a cupboard located with many other cupboards all with their own door inside a main locked door. I went in and saw that all the cupboards inside had padlocks on them but one didn’t. Andy hadn’t mentioned padlocks or told us which inner cupboard so I tried the key in the door without the padlock. It worked. We put all our stuff in there and noticed pairs of skis and poles in there (as would be the case).
During the weeks we have used the cupboard for all our stuff, my training gear, my guitar etc etc. when Liz first hurt her leg Tracy said to look in the cupboard and help herself to a knee support which she found easily.
Whilst we have been here we have found out that cave in French means cellar type cupboard. You might be seeing where this is going as I realised that Mr Moulin was saying something about the extra cupboard and took me by the hand and said something which meant “You should be using this cupboard” which wasn’t the one we had been using. I tried to explain that Andy had not mentioned a padlock and in particular a padlock with a combination on it! I helpfully showed him that I had the key to the other room and he was not impressed. I opened the door to see that all “Andy’s” stuff had gone. The room only containing our stuff.
Mr Moulin did the international sign for “Get on the phone now and speak to the proprietor and find out the combination”. I rang Andy whilst still telling him he was wrong as we had the key. Andy and Tracy were both not answering the phone and then Tracy rang Liz back. Tracy described where their cave was and guess what! Yes it was the one with the combination padlock on it, the padlock Andy forgot to tell us about. Worse still Tracy didn’t know the combo but took a guess and – thank God – it worked. As we entered we saw Andy’s skis and other stuff.
We had been using someone else’s room!
I apologised to Mr Moulin and he smiled then could see our distress and said “Tranquil – Tranquil”. He shook my hand and all was well.
Of course, Liz has been using a stranger’s knee brace for two weeks ago!!!
It was stressful for a bit but I think all is ok now.
Ian
reberty2015 