last weekend of summer

Although we're not, of course, gearing up for the Rentrée that looms large for all families in France at this time of year, this weekend was more than just the last hike of the season: after leaving our house tonight with Juan, I won't be back until mid November.

We chose an area of the Oisans we hardly know - one of the valleys north of the mythic Meije peak, walking up to the Lac de Goléon refuge built relatively recently - for the views back towards the Ecrins...

looking back down the Maurian valley towards the Ecrins skyline

the refuge, perched above the Lac de Goléon

Once at the refuge we took it easy, exploring the area just above the refuge, sun and cloud creating the illusion of a Scottish or Irish landscape...

- until you looked the other way, and then you thought you were in Patagonia:

The following morning the Meije rose dramatically above the clouds...

... and we had last-minute doubts about descending so soon. But I needed some time at home to pack and unpack for the zillionth time, and to "put the garden to bed", so we sauntered down and out...

one of the hamlets in the impossibly cute Valfroid valley

... stopping briefly at the cattle market at Le Chazelet.

"no extreme looks nor dresses as it flightens neighbours"

Japan prep is hotting up and, as I trawl the internet, I've had a few surprises. Check out the beard rule, and the dictate re smoking at one hostel I won't be going to:
This place has many house rules / local rules. If you are not comfortable following them, the place may not be for you; may be better you just book a regular hotel instead. The rest of people who are OK with local house rules, you are very welcome!
No drug, non-smoker only. 
No noticeable big tatoos, no thick beard, no extreme looks nor dresses as it flightens neighbors. It is VERY IMPORTANT to KEEP A GOOD RELATIONAHIP WITH NEIGHBORS at this place.

- DO NOT TALK IN THE HALL WAY nor in the ELEVATOR AREA.  
- If you are a smoker, DO NOT SMOKE not only inside the building but also NOT ON BALCONY, NOT EVEN IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING. Do so away from the building where neighbors cannot see, even if it's raining or snowing.

And then I found this wonderful BBC video of the packed-lunch rat-race. Watch it, at least until the Michael Jackson face! Juan asked me, "Are you sure you're going to the right country?!" But of course - it will be everything I am not.

I have to confess that progress in learning Japanese is err not very fast. After one lesson with an ex-Berlitz colleague I'm falling back on random Youtube videos. Click here for a taste - which you might think characteristic of the Berlitz style of teaching. But believe me this takes parrot repetition to new heights. And I still can't get it! After a zillion repeats I can just about get out a few basic greetings.

And finally, a French friend has wished me bon voyage with this cute and insightful image:
Il faut parfois faire le tour du monde - pour se trouver soi-même. Indeed...

scene of Marmot attack revisited

Juan has been wanting to return to this dour spot, first visited 2 years ago (see here) for some while. So here we were again. Only this time we opted for the refuge (was being crammed with 20 people in 2 layers in a 5m x 4m room really an improvement on toughing it out with the marmots?)

We did the same walk, up to Lac des Rouies. But miscalculated the timing (because of our snail's pace up) and only had a few minutes at the moraine above the lake...

... before being compelled to leave, to be back in time for the 6.30 refuge supper. We ended up literally running down the hill, to arrive just quarter of an hour late for a delicious, Nepal-inspired rabbit curry followed by a hazel-nut creme profiterole. Yum yum. But I'm not sure how many more steamy, gung-ho, large-group refuge events I'm good for.

After a particularly noise-some and claustrophobic night (I couldn't even bend my leg without hitting the wall!) we idled back down the valley, enjoying the bumper crop of blueberries and raspberries produced by the cold, wet summer. It was an antidote to the previous day's push. And our early start gave us several views of chamois - a rare sight.

view up the Muande valley towards the CAF refuge

Lower down the Venéon valley we had lunch beside the wonderful Cascade de la Pisse, for the first time actually sitting down and enjoying the place, rather than storming on up the track on our way somewhere else...

And so another weekend has flashed by. I'm going to try to get my act together this week - getting the house and packing in order - so that we can enjoy just one more mountain jaunt before I depart on my travels.

Ferrand valley

I think Roisin (Katrina's sister, over here for 5 weeks) is convinced my whole life is one long series of walks. Well this week it certainly was. Here we are back at the Ferrand valley, an old favourite, with the glacier backdrop to Lac de Quirlies looking particularly lovely after recent snow. But boy are we tired! Early beds for at least two of the group. Back to copy-editing next week...

sheepish at Lac Achard

Roisin and I managed a few lungfuls of air, taking the cable car up to the Croix de Chamrousse and idling back down to the Recoin. She had forgotten her walking boots and I had forgotten my windbreak. At 8 degrees, this was not clever. But between us we had one complete set of kit!

I'm going to Japan!

I have tagged this post "Travel". How exciting is that. The first non-holiday, extended, beneath-the-surface exploration since... Uganda over 20 years ago. How has it taken so long? After Australia, in my twenties, I assumed that I'd be taking off at regular intervals. Mais non. Instead, I have been living in a to-die-for part of Europe, having lots and lots of mountain fun; looking after our lovely house and garden; riding the ups and downs of Juan's career while navigating the administrative hassles of living in France; and trying to maintain my own path with shiatsu.

So what is driving me? I dunno. Ten years of push-push-pushing to get established, socially and professionally - and not quite there, in all honesty; a desire to break free from all constraint and expectation (leaving Berlitz was a step in the direction of autonomy); wanting to re-connect with the independent woman from way back. The one Juan chose to marry. And as I write that I am having a huge emotional reaction. So that is truly it, I think. And I want to have the experience before the accumulating minor physical issues undermine my confidence to get out there and do it. And - dare I say it - before curiosity and energy to see new places leaves me.

Most of the reactions to my decision to cut loose have been girlfriends, touchingly enthusiastic (Kelli's - "outstanding!" - my favourite). I dropped it into a PC chat session with Juan's brother and his reaction was "It's a little bit far". Well, yes. I have always been attracted to places far from home, and especially islands: university applications to Scotland and the north of England (I ended up at Newcastle); aforementioned Australia and New Zealand; Orkney with my cousin Cinda a few years ago. And there is a pattern in the way I travel. In the 80s I followed in Buff and Colin's footsteps through Indonesia; in Australia I was in Cinda's; in Costa Rica in Alice's. Do I need someone else as a motor? Looks like it: in February this year my shiatsu pal, Maryll, said "Come travelling to Japan" and I couldn't make it work. Now I am, but on my own. And I'm excited about that, as well as being completely terrified.

I've chosen to go as a WWOOFer to try to get below the veneer of tourism. (Click here for an interview with the WWOOF founder who Mum crosses paths with regularly in Bradford-on-Avon!) The plan is also to include some sight-seeing, and bits of freelance editing. Gritty though the latter is, it allows for working on the hoof, thanks to my new, portable laptop. Mobility is the "perk" of the job.

The itinerary is a work in progress. But 7 weeks is beginning to look very short indeed, given the incredible riches in terms of landscapes and culture... Here's the line-up so far. You can click on the links where highlighted - zooming out to see the geographical context. I will update this itinerary as plans develop - though I realise I am undermining my ability to attract you to future blog posts by giving away so much up front! Thus is the internet age, where I can literally walk the streets of my destination using Googlemaps. I have stopped short of doing this at the farms. Or else kill all possibility of spontaneity or surprise.

31 Aug - go to Juan's flat for 3 days
4 Sep - fly to Gatwick
11-14 Sep - shiatsu course in UK
17 Sep - fly to Tokyo; negotiate inner-city public transport and get myself to the mountain town of Matsumoto a few hours west of Tokyo, staying at a Matsumoto backpackers for one night
18 Sep - travel a couple of hours to first host, here. What I know about the place you can see here. The address to which all birthday cards should be sent (ha ha?): 2220 Kashimo, Nakatsugawa-city, Gifu pref. 508-0421 Japan, or 岐阜県 中津川市 加子母2220番地 (!!!).
Tel 0573-79-3268, masa@mori-no-ie.com
I'll be working around 6 hours a day doing light domestic work, kid care (!), and anything else that needs doing.
24-25 Sep - a couple of days away at Magomechaya ryokan; explore Magome and ancient 7km route to Tsumago
6 Oct - travel to hostel at Takayama and stay there for the autumn festival
11 Oct - travel to second host, Sakamoto Noujou, near Hiroshima
Tel 0848-66-3592 yasaiwa_sakamoto@yahoo.co.jp
I'll be cleaning eggs and ???

25-28 Oct - Kyoto
28-30 Oct - Kanazawa, and Kenrouken garden
30 Oct-6 Nov - woofing at a guest house on the Noto peninsula.
6-8 Nov - Tokyo, staying at Rimi Ryokan
9 Nov fly back to London

Just time to land, recover, do a particularly tricky freelance job, and then re-launch. Because this year is special in terms of Juan's Swiss holiday allowance. In recognition of his excessive overtime he has been granted an extra 2 weeks. So we're making a long Christmas break, flying to Chile on 6 December 'til 1 January. Yes, I know... a glut of exotic, carbon-footprint-busting travel. And, as holiday planning is part of my job description, plans to learn a bit of basic Japanese have had to be shelved while I go into a planning frenzy, switching from country to country. Lucky I'm such a calm and well grounded individual. Ha ha. Seriously, I'm aware that my addiction to soul-bearing, the antithesis of things Japanese, will be amongst behaviours I will have to curb, if I want to avoid giving offence.

the Jocou with Roisin

Impossible to capture the all-round-fab view earned from slogging up this hill from Col de la Croix Haute. Yet again, the pleasure of seeing well-known places and peaks from a slightly different angle. Including south towards the Hautes Alpes Juan and I had been walking in 10 days earlier:

Brian visits...

... and we return to the area Juan and I abandoned when the typhoon struck a couple of weeks earlier- This time taking no chances with the weather, and booking into a gîte just outside the village of Trescléoux in the Hautes Alpes.

Mr Sanchez in swimwear (rejected by Bourg d'Arud swimming pool; see here)

this scene - in the Méouge gorge - had transformed to Brighton Beach when we returned 2 hours later

the Roman bridge

A couple of days later Brian and I were at Lac Lauvitel, in the Ecrins. A parks guide pointed out chamois, high on the horizon. By midday the lake was a very popular spot. But we were the only ones to plunge into the joint-numbingly cold water.

It was lovely to have Brian staying and he tolerated the rainy interludes, and our absurdly quiet lifestyle, very well. (How many books did you say you read, Brian?!)