Time to Head East

Autumn in the Ariege - always a pleasure

 Eight weeks sice we left the UK, it has been the usual pleasant mix of wandering, climbing and just taking it easy. We have visited Austria, Italy and the Briançon area and then the Ariege for the past two weeks. If all goes well we should be in Kalymnos in a couple of days, in time for the autumn coolness and the clearing out of the crowds who pack the place in October.

We have been asked if we fancy three weeks cat sitting - in a château near Foix, over Christmas - can't really think of a reason not to, so it looks like we will be back!

Oldest Rocker in Town

Puntering at Sollieres

We had a week in Arco, which was pleasant enough but it was a bit too hat and busy for our tastes. The house was huge and had recently fitted aircon, but it struggled to cool the place below 24C which is a bit warm for sleeping. 

Nougat getting used to his cat bed :-)

Then onwards to Ausssois in the Maurienne via an horrendous 90 minute traffic jam at the bottom of Lake Garda - it was grim, we wondered if it would ever end. We had almost two weeks there - at 4,800' we were puffing a bit but the nights were gorgeously cool and I got a goodly amount of climbing done. I also had my 76 birthday whilst we were there, which was a bit depressing - but hey-ho, onwards and upwards.

Then we nipped through the Frejus Tunnel (€56!!!!) for a week and a half in one of our favourite pads - in Argentiere. The house came with a semi-feral cat - Nougat - which was a bonus - he loved the little cat bed we bought him. Oh - we had a look at the devastation caused by the August flahfloods up at Ailefroide, and I quite a bit of easy climbing too. Onwards to Kalymnos via Ariege next.

The end of the road - Ailefroide