| Journal Archive January 2007: Andrew graduates, just enough snow for skiing, Kasia gets a new bike! We would like to wish all our friends and family a HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2007 and if we didn't get to call in and see you all when we were over in the UK at the end of November for our youngest son Andrew's Graduation Ceremony we are sorry! We did try to fit in as many visits as we could during the many miles of driving we had to do from arriving in at Newhaven on the 22nd to leaving from Dover on the 29th November. Everyone knows where we live and if you haven't been to this part of France, as we hadn't before we came to look at properly here, it is a lovely part of France and well worth a visit.  Andrew at his Graduation Ceremony Andrew came out for 6 days just before Christmas and had hoped to get some snowboarding in but for the first time since we have lived here there wasn't enough snow. He is coming back during the February half term. So fingers crossed. Steve and I did manage to ski on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day but haven't been since.  Steve on Christmas Day at La Mongie  Kasia on Christmas day I have just had a delivery of a new GARY FISHER Tassajara Disc GS 2007 women's specific mountain bike as an early birthday present (March 24th). For any of you women who are looking for a new bike but not pay too much money it feels great. My bike is a 13". As you all know as I am only 4ft 10ins tall getting a mountain bike to fit me has always been a problem but with this one being women specific and with only a little tweaking it fits perfectly and is a lovely shade of blue as well. The only thing is my BOB clothing doesn't co-ordinate very well. Oh well you can't have everything can you. This will be my 4th GARY FISHER bike, the first 3 where sponsored bikes through MOUNTAIN TRAX when we used to compete in all the GORRICK and Southern Area mountain bike races. Steve has also converted my old GARY FISHER HOO KOO E KOO for road riding and I am very happy with it. I look forward to seeing some of you who haven't been to see us yet visit the Pyrenees in 2007. Lots of love to you all Kasia & Steve October 2006: Steve breaks his ankle, we try Paragliding, it's time to ski again The summer is just about over but autumn is the best time of year here. The trees and ferns are just beginning to turn to the wonderful gold and burnt orange that covers the lower slopes of the mountains in the fall. The first snows have been settling on the peaks, which contrast with the deep blue of the sky and the dark green of the pine forests. We've had a busy summer, which has now eased to mostly weekend guests but the building services business is as busy as ever to the point that I am not taking on any new work until July 2007. Kasia, a few friends, Fiona, Kirsty & Terry and I had our first paragliding (parapente in French) experience in September. Trepidation set in for all of us just before taking to the air but once aloft we quickly settled in to enjoy our flights. I am hooked and will be taking lessons as soon as I'm fit. Unfortunately I broke my ankle last month which has put pay to work and play until tomorrow (17th October) when, hopefully, the plaster comes off.   Above is a pic of Steve coming in to land after his parapente and also one of Steve on his crutches with leg in plaster. He is ok now but he has still to see the consultant for the all clear. Those of our friends who know Steve well will not be surprised to here that he is already out riding his bike again. I have just booked our ferry crossings as we are returning to the UK on the 22nd November, for a week, for our son Andrew's Graduation. We are looking forward to the ski season. The lifts open during the first week of December. The pistes are usually ski-able through to Easter, January being the best month as it's not as busy. We are 25 minutes from the twin resorts of La Mongie and Bareges and go up 3-4 times a week during the season. I am going to ask Paul our web designer if I can log on and update our journal directly, so we can update our journal with current news on a more regular basis. We have been meaning to finish this update and add it to our web site for months now, so sorry to all our friends and family who keep logging on to our web site expecting to find out what we have been getting up to. Andrew and his girlfriend Ellie came over for a few days during half term and Andrew will be back just before Christmas for 6 days snowboarding. We have been busy getting our ski equipment ready for the start of the ski season next month. Steve is down in the garage getting the ski/drying room ready, which will be a great asset. Steve has been on e-bay buying some boots and skis for friends and family to use when they come skiing and we have now got a good selection of boots and skis available. I have started helping our friend Kristy to exercise her horses. I have only been riding a couple of times since I took up mountain biking about 13 years ago and am enjoying riding again. It can be a bit difficult fitting in the horse riding with the biking, oh and not forgetting working in the 'Chambres d'Hotes' looking after the guests. Luv, Kasia & Steve February to July 2006: Tales of Skiing and Kasia's epic mountain rides I can't believe that is so long since we have posted an update in the journal but time just flies. Both of our sons Andrew and Gary along with Gary's partner Eli came out for a week's skiing/snow boarding at the end of February and we had a good time. We couldn't believe how quickly Gary got back into skiing, he had only been skiing once before with the school about 11 years ago. We have had friends visiting this season to try skiing for the first time. Our old friends from Caddington; Jeanette & Ian. Steve's old school friend from Kingsbury Grammar; Ian and family, wife Debbie and daughters Belinda and Erika. Both sets of friends are really into hot beach holidays so skiing was quite a change for them all and they all got along really well except we couldn't get Ian on skies, he was blaming an old knee injury. Steve's cousin Colin and his wife Jane from Dunstable came over for a long weekend, we took them round to see all the places of interest in the local area. We took them to see a gorge about 50km away recommended to us by our postman and would you believe it when we finally found the place it was closed. I had just never thought about the possibility of a gorge being closed. Jan and Nick also stayed with us for four days at the end of April, just missing the skiing. Jan was the sister of another old school friend of Steve's from Kingsbury Grammar. I first met Nick when I worked at the Harrow Leisure Centre almost 30 years ago. Nick and Jan called in to visit as part of their way through Europe heading for Greece. They had their two seater sports car very well packed, every inch of space was utilised as their trip was going to last for 10 weeks and for part of that time they were going to camp. We have packed away our ski equipment for another season and are now out on our bikes. The Tour has been and gone. Radders was over with his friend Stewart (or should that be Stuart). Unfortunately Radders made a bit of a hash of his timings and retuned on the 13th July, the day the Tour passed locally over The Tourmalet and Aspin. For the Tour we had guests from South Africa, Germany and of course England. Unusually we had no trouble with the Brits even though it had only been a short time since our defeat by the Portuguese. Radders has lost a lot of weight since his last visit and is now edging me up the big climbs; need to do something about that!!!! I am surprised that Steve hasn't mentioned sending a search party out to find Kathy (SA) and I. Peter, Jens and Jeroen (SA) went out road riding up 3 Col's in the morning. I decided to go out with Kathy for a less strenuous ride, leaving at about 11.30am heading towards St Bertrand de Cumminges. We thought we would play it by ear or should I say leg and see how far I (because Kathy was much fitter than me) could get. We stopped at Barthe de Neste for a drink and decided we would just go a bit further, by the time we were thinking about turning for home we saw a sign to St Bertrand de Cumminges and it was only another 8kms. Well we had to go on didn't we, we were so close. By the time we arrived there we needed to have something to eat. By the time we were ready to leave I checked my watch and was surprised to see that it was 3.40pm. I checked my mobile to see if Steve had been trying to ring me and there was no message showing so off we went. The sky started to look quite threatening but we pedaled on. We went through a few wet patches and by the time we reached Mauvezin I felt that we were nearly home but had a long climb up past Escaladieu Abbey. It started to rain again and Radder's appeared in his car (part of the search party) and was quite relieved that we didn't want to get into his nice dry car. Radder's phoned Steve to tell him that we were OK if a bit on the wet side and were quite happy to continue riding home and after about 5 minutes left us to it. We were on the last climb into Bagneres when Steve appears, after a few choice words he bundled me into the car. I had to admit that I hadn't been on my bike for much over 3 hours for quite a few years. Steve was a bit worried especially when he couldn't reach me on my mobile. (It was fully charged but turned out to have insufficient credit, oops!). By this time it was about 7pm and I had forgotten that we were going out for dinner at 7.30pm and didn't think that our German guests arrival would be a problem as I wasn't expecting them till early evening. I had thought that Steve would be home by then. The guests had arrived early, but luckily Radder's came to the rescue and phoned Steve who arrived back to settle our guests into their room. When we arrived home I had about 10 minutes to have a quick bath and get changed and out again for dinner with friends. But I was quite chuffed that I had managed to reach St Bertrand de Cumminges. Kathy and I really enjoyed our ride and I would have really liked to have completed those last couple of km's and finished the ride. I think I might leave the house a bit earlier in the morning in future if there is any possibility I might end up doing a longer ride than intended. It was Bastille Day on the 14th July. Our town put on their usual celebrations including brass bands, a massive fireworks display and an excellent group playing in the main square with dancing going on until three in the morning. The weather here is brilliant at the moment and I'm going out on my bike (Radders beating training) before it gets too hot. Tomorrow, Kasia and I are off on a few days break to Northern Spain (the first holiday we've had since we've been here). Kasia & Steve November 2005: Autumn colours and snow-capped mountains It's late Autumn now and the first snows have arrived on the mountains. The deciduous woodland through the lower valleys has turned to red, yellow, gold and copper, contrasting with the dark green of the pine forest and the crisp white of the fresh snow. The deep blue sky caps a beautiful vista all of which holds great expectations for the ski season which starts on the 26th November. Unfortunately Kasia will miss the start of the skiing as she is back in the UK trying to drum up some business amongst other things. I can't believe more of you haven't made it over here yet. The Tour de France was the usual spectacle. Adrian Raddenbury together with his Mum and Dad were over as well as Rob English, who dragged a bunch of Americans across from the 'Etape', to stay here for a week. They watched two stages live and many more on the TV here. They promised to be back. I'm getting into a bit of road riding myself, something that didn't do much for me back in the UK, but the challenging climbs, mental descents and the scenery somehow make road riding a bit more interesting. I occasionally go out with the local club on Sundays when around 20 of us ride 80 to 120k (with lots of climbing usually taking in the Col D'Aspin or the Col du Tourmalet). The house is nearly finished. Five bedrooms complete, five bathrooms complete, all our own accomodation is finished, just one letting bedroom and shower room to finish. The games room is up and running with the pool table, table tennis, darts and television providing evening distractions. My parents visited from Australia in the spring. They liked it so much that they sold up on The Gold Coast and moved to France. They now live just 400 metres up the road. Speaking of visitors, our BOB friends from the UK Martin, Marny, Zac, Emily and Martins parents were over at the begining of November. Also Jerry and wife Georgie were over for the rugby between Pau and London Irish who they support and a good weekend was had by all. Fortunately the riots in France haven't touched us here, in fact it seems quiet in town after the busy summer season, but then it's a good time to get out here especially with Ryan Air fares currently from 2p return. Best Wishes, Steve May 2005: Looking forward to a Summer season en Francais Hi there everyone, just to let you know if you haven't heard from us for some time that we are still alive and working hard on our property in the Pyrenees. The pool table (billards) & table tennis tables along with the darts board are all set up and ready to go. Steve and his father (on visit from OZ) are having nightly competitions and I am happy to say the score is even so far. We have had some typical April shower's and thunderstorms here from the beginning of the second week in April but over the last 4 day's the weather has just got better and better (short's & t-shirts) and today Friday 30th April the temperature was 30degC very pleasant. On the 5th of May we are going to take Steve's parents to the local horse race track at Laloubere which we have been meaning to go to for some time, when you have visitor's it give's you the excuse to do the thing's you keep meaning to do but never get round to. Our eldest son Gary and his partner Eli are arriving for their first visit on the 7th of May and that week the vintage Grand Prix street race in Pau is being held, so we intend taking them all to Pau for one of the day's, which we are really looking forward to and should be fun. If you haven't booked your holiday yet, why not book it with us, we are already taking booking's. There are lot's of things to do in and around Bagneres not just mountain biking and we will try to make your holiday an enjoyable one. Bye for now. Kasia and Steve December 2004: Merry Christmas Steve and I would like to wish all our friends and family who might log on over the festive period, A MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR from the French Pyrenees and hope you manage to come out and stay with us some time. Our son Andrew is visiting us for his 21st birthday and Christmas. We splashed out and bought season ski passes, as if you live in Bagneres they are just over half price. Steve and I have managed to go skiing and Andrew snow boarding 4/6 times over the last 10 days. The views up at La Mongie are to die for and are ever changing. I carry my digital camera in my pocket all the time and am getting quite good at taking pictures while going up on the button lift. The renovations are progressing well and we hope to be up and running by Easter. Bye for now hope to see you soon. Luv Kasia and Steve |
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January 2007: Andrew graduates, just enough snow for skiing, Kasia gets a new bike! October 2006: Steve breaks his ankle, we try Paragliding, it's time to ski again February to July 2006: Tales of Skiing and Kasia's epic mountain rides November 2005: Autumn colours and snow-capped mountains May 2005: Looking forward to a Summer season en Francais December 2004: Merry Christmas |
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