Unseaonable?

Sherri in the woods at Orlu

Colin climbing at Genat

After Briançon we move down to Buis les Barronies for a week and from there back to Chez Arran in the Ariege. Colin rolled over from Spain the following day and up to now we have had five days climbing on various cliffs scattered around the area. Two months now since we left the UK and the weather has been almost consistently cool and unsettled - well apart from the first week which was steamy. Of course unsettled French weather isn't like unsettled UK weather so it hasn't really stopped us getting out and about on a regular basis - in fact it has all been rather pleasant.

Three Score and Ten plus Four

A cool blowy day above the Lauteret Pass

 Seventy fourth birthday - I was dreading it a bit but oddly I feel just the same as yesterday!! Five weeks in France now and it has been great - some mixed weather and seventy plus routes

The Maurienne

- I deffo wouldn't have done that back in Sheffield.

Accessible climbing

Eight months on and  recovery continues, but oh so slowly - walking uphill is hard work, though we have made significant progress in that direction. More importantly, I have discovered I can climb - just not very well - it will have to do for the moment. 

So far we have visited the Maurienne, Valloire and the Briançon areas and already pencilled in are Buis, the Ariege and a month or so in Kalymnos, that should see us up to the Christmas period - which hopefully will be back at Chez Arran where we have been for quite a few years now.

And Away......

The Cascade de St Benôit - a short walk from the pad

After ten long weeks in the UK we packed the car and had a steady ride down to Portsmouth through the usual heavy traffic, a super smooth crossing then two shortish days across France and we were back in the Maurienne - a part of the world we really like, high enough to be cool and never too busy. 

Me climbing!

Two weeks in and I can report it was worth the effort, stress and cost of the trip - the weather had been hot but bearable and I have climbed seven days out of nine actually doing thirty five route which would not have happened back in the UK. 

It is 1st September as I am writing this, everywhere has gone very quiet and the forecast is for a cooling trend - pretty much perfect - we have a lot of time to play with and aren't in a rush to be anywhere in particular, Ariege in October and Kalymnos in November are pencilled in for now - let's see what develops.

In the Starting Blocks

Higgar Tor in the sunshine - one of our regular destinations

It was ten weeks ago tomorrow (June 10th) that we landed back in the UK - it has been a bit of a haul but with any luck we should be sailing out of Portsmouth tomorrow evening. We have kept ourselves busy with walking almost every day somewhere local, or out in the Peak. We also had a a couple of short trips away, one to photo (drone) the Roaches area and one to Manchester to apply for our 180 day French visa - which was 'interesting'.

Ecclesall Woods - somewhere new

The first issue was that they had moved the TLS Contact office from Salford to Manchester city centre - we only found out the evening before our appointment.

The second issue was because we had so much time, we were quite late apply for the visas, while we waiting for the Embassy's decision and the return of our passports we booked a crossing. As time rolled by we began to panic as to whether the passports would be back on time - they were - but only just, the Friday morning before we were due to leave on the Monday - way too close for comfort!!

Being Back There

Redmires Reservoirs
- one of our regular haunts

 Five and a half weeks since we escaped from Kalymnos, and time spent in the UK is best described as being 'okay' though it isn't where we would choose to be. We have both had a stinking cold, the first for years - it has hit Sherri particularly badly, two weeks in and she is still suffering.

Summer - what summer?

Mercifully the weather has been largely cool and cloudy, everyone else is complaining about the lack of summer but it suites us just fine.

We have kept active having been for a walk almost every day - it looks like about another four weeks before we can make an escape - just need to sort our French 180 day visa and we will be good to go - but where to?

Back to the UK and 'summer'

Escape from Alcatraz

We had planned to stay in Kalymnos for another couple of weeks but day on day it got hotter and hotter, topping out at around 40C - way to hot for us. So we brought our flights/hotel/train/car hire forward and rolled up to the harbour to find the ferry was cancelled - oh, oh.

Sherri set about working her magic and after a few goes she found a guy who had a 'friend' - so off we went. Another guy turned up and we hopped into small inflatable for the eight mile journey to Kos. Luckily it was flat calm as there were no life jackets on offer. The rest of the journey went more normally!

Above the Roaches, bright and breezy

Back in the UK it was the same sketch as ever, cool, breezy and quite unsettled, but at least we weren't being roasting alive. A few days away in Leek gave me the chance to refresh the Staffordshire area cragshots, hopefully we will do the same for Lancashire sometime soon - if the weather ever improves!

Miracles Do Happen, Well Maybe?

Back to Kanlymnos - and breathe

A happy man up a rock 

Whilst at Dalyan in Turkey we walked up to a mountain top mast we had spotted - it wasn't far, but it was uphill and took me about forty minutes - the first real uphill hiking for about three months - there was the sudden realisation that I really was getting a little fitter. We also hiked into the Saklikent Gorge - about a two hour round trip with lots of wading, scrambling and slippery boulders - another pointer that things were moving in the right direction. After a hot and busy week in 'Tourist Central" - Turgutreis/Bodrum (more uphill walking) we made it back to the tranquillity of Kalymnos. And there I went climbing - not once but FOUR times in a week - yes, miracles can happen, but only if you keep the faith and work really, really hard!

Back in the dark times of January in Albir, I needed to poles to even get out of bed, walking more than about 50m was a real effort, and I was in constant pain, especially in my thighs. We bought a lightweight camping chair so I could sit down when needed - the 300m from the apartment to the sea had to be done in about five 'pitches'. The damage done from the month/six weeks that I was incapacitated has cast a long shadow - five months on and I continue to make incremental progress - it feels like the fitter I get, the  faster I improve - let's see how far it goes.