Brrrrmmmm brrrmmmm

We were travelling back home from Ariege on the day of my birthday, Sherri gave me my present - but the bag seemed rather small! In fact it contained a Subaru World Rally team cap - and a voucher for driving an Ariel Atom at Elvinton air base near York.
Suffice to say the expereince was both breathtaking and exhausting! The cockpit was a tight fit for a 6' 3" hulk and apparently the pedals are set for size 8 feet. That is my excuse for over-cooking a couple of the bends and flattening several of the marker cones!

Later I did some extra laps in an Impreza STI - though a lot less of a beast than the Atom it was also a lot more driveable. On my final lap I overtook two Lamborghinis and a Ferrari - Italian supercars - pah!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

What a pleasant week - and that makes a change. We have done some climbing, both granite and limestone, some hill-walking (up to '5550) and a enjoyed a bit of down-time in the sun. 

It sounds like it has been OK in the UK too, but at least being over here in the Pyrenees has given me a good reason for not going up Kinder again!

Mind you, we'll be back home on Wednesday - a week to unpack, launder, repack and then head for Kalymnos - that should be somewhere a little different - can't wait! Oh - and I might have to nip up the big 'K' in the mean time!

That's Better!

Six hours from home to Ariege where it was cool and cloudy, so not that different from home really - hey ho! We checked in at Graham and Christine's place, and had a walk round the neighbourhood to shake out the Kinder cramps and collect some berries for breakfast - all very rural!

Monday was better though, sunshine, blue skies and off to the gorgeous granite at Auzat, a great change from grizzly, drizzly Peak gritstone. 

The crag was nice and quiet so myself and Graham did five routes that I hadn't done before doing a bit of exploration/checking up and down the valley. Then it was shopping and home for tea - a great start!

Enough is enough!

Attempting to get the last few crag shots for Western Grit has become a bit off a war of attrition and the weather has finally won. It is the first summer we have spent in the UK for 20 years and I am not sure we will be doing it again! We have made steady progress by picking our days carefully, but the weather has turned from unsettled to just plain crap! The final straw was driving over to Hayfield on the promise of a better day, and sitting the car, in the rain, for 30 minutes before we turned round and came back home. It is less than a month till we go to Kalymnos, but we have decided to nip out to Ariege for 10 days - we need some sunshine!