an unusual Thursday

So, there we were - not enjoying non-doing in a sunny campsite, as planned. Having returned at midnight last night because the mud fest was more than we could cope with, we had a mini existential crisis and then...
1. washed the living-room curtains - yes, I kid you not; after only 9 years they were submitted to a thorough thrash in the machine
2. listened to Best of Deep Purple on Youtube - more thrashing
3. Juan finished scraping the carbonised rhubarb off the saucepan I incinerated mid June - what a hero
4. booked into a hotel for tomorrow night at Bourg d'Arud in the Ecrins - in an area we know well from day-tripping and refuge-sleeping perspective but not as deluxe tourists.
5. had several apéros and half a bottle of Corbières...

All deeply unusual activities. For us. Over and out.

a sunny, green and pleasant land

Just back from 2 glorious weeks in the UK. A truly Best of British experience...

Highlights included storming around Dhyrum Park gardens with Mum and Dad...

... the Kaffe Fassett expo near Bath...

... a walking tour organised by my friend Brian, singing tudor anthems in five Oxfordshire churches; an exceptional treat...

Daylesford Church

picnicking at Adlestrop churchyard

... strolls around Oxford with friends who've known me for over 30 years...

Alison at the Isis pub

Mad and Susie at South Hinksey

... lounging time chez les parents in their beautiful garden...

... seeing family at Buff and Colin's stunning new house...

sorry, Poppy, I did indeed catch you gob full...!

... and some ravishing views across the south of England...

All this, and then 3 days in good company at a shiatsu training weekend.

Meanwhile, back in the sodden Alps it's beginning to feel like a dream. But tomorrow the sun returns and Juan and I will be heading south for a non-walking-lounging-around couple of days at a river-based campsite. Can we do it? Watch this space.

Update We managed one whole, perfect day (swims in campsite pool, picnicking in the comfort of having - for the first time - a table and two comfy chairs) before a cracking storm created such a mud bath that we had to decamp back to Vaulnaveys, even before the end of the day. A bitter-sweet "holiday".

goodbye Berlitz

In my excitement about reaching the top of the Taillefer last weekend I "forgot" this milestone on 3 July. Piggybacking on the annual summer apéro I bid farewell to the teaching team, a nice bunch of people - who tolerate better than me the vagaries of being a Berlitz trainer. A civilised ending.

up high... (the Taillefer)

Luring Juan with rumours of interesting flora, we agreed we'd see how far up the  (2587m) Taillefer massif we could go. This huge lump of a mountain is an iconic landmark in the Grenoble area.  (A propos of nothing, Wikipedia claims that "At the Battle of Hastings, Taillefer recited the Chanson de Roland to the Norman troops while juggling with his sword." Love the thought of that.) 

Starting from the Combe de l'Oursière, just NE of the ski-resort village of La Morte, we walked through mosquito-laden azaleas (see here for the utterly different winter version of this scene).

... then up and along the Crête du Brouffier, up the Pas de la Mine and the Arête de Brouffier - an interesting knife-edge...

... to get to the summit. Yes, we made it. Yippee! These photos don't do justice to the exceptional views.

view SE towards Ecrins

My favourite: bird's eye view of Lac Fourchu ("forked lake"). The clouds came and went and it didn't feel particularly hot. Damn chilly, in fact. Classic conditions for major sunburn. I am now sporting beacon-red legs. How can that happen to someone my age?!

Looking SE down the Malsanne valley towards La Mure

Looking from the Arête de Brouffier to Beauregard and the Vercors

 After 10 years of procrastinating, we were very chuffed, and grateful, to have made the 1200m climb without being anything other than completely shattered. Awesome.

Juan at the SEA (Sociedad Española de Astronomía)!

On behalf of Schott, this is what Juan is going to present in Teruel in September. (I want to know what's lucky about the Lucky Imager...?)

Col du Lauzon

The day I didn't pack enough lunch and we were hungry... randonnée minceuse, as Juan put it...

The 930m climb felt like 9300m (there were tears at the top) but it was worth it for peerless views down the Haut Buëch valley. Love that place...

spices, caves and sheep

Just back from an amazing 2 weeks in Turkey with a zillion photos that need to be edited into a book. Here's a short-and-sweet preview: some shots that capture the essence of our Istanbul - Cappadocia - Taurus itinerary.

At Istanbul airport you get in training for queuing - an hour to get through passport control. We aren't used to this! So, alongside visits to key and unbelievably fabulous sites...

one of the many lavishly decorated rooms in Topkaki Palace

...we went off-piste, beyond the mounds of spice, to find truly ordinary - but to us extraordinary - shops that don't exist anymore in Europe. In this one you could buy every kind of brush under the sun...

In Cappadocia our B & B hosts gave us walking directions to an early Christian church so far off the beaten track it felt as though we were the first people to discover it. Getting lost amongst the weird rock formations was half the pleasure.

Throughout this time we had rain most days - the kind of freak weather that is becoming the new normal. We knew that, in the Taurus mountains, it would be snowing. But we weren't expecting the whole itinerary to be reconfigured to day walks from two base camps at well below the altitude the botanist half of the couple was hoping it. But, overall, the routes were varied, giving a good taste of the jagged limestone Aladaglar National Park that lies smack in the middle of the country. And the sense of "unfinished business" is a good feeling to take away. A wonderful trip...

Snazzy new jacket, Rebecca? Well, er, no - borrowed from our guide when I realised my ancient goretex wasn't
up to the conditions...

We take a break with a semi-nomadic shepherd. Our guide, Adem, knows him, as he does everyone in the area, having done the job himself as a kid.

At base camp 2, on our one "normal" evening, warm enough to relax in the sun at the end of the day.

Mini marmots (squirrel size) were very at home in base camp 2.