Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Big One

Settle in, this could take a while.

So I last left you in the French Alps. We were doing a 2 week workaway in a little village called St-Jean de Sixt. As per normal, we would work the mornings and go wandering off into the alps in the afternoons. Long, hot Summer days and some pretty spectacular scenery made this place pretty good. We didn't always go up and had a few afternoons swimming or kayaking on Lake Annecy. Again we did a great overnight hike and spent the night in a grassy valley whilst staring at Mont Blanc, and only some sheep for company. This was great hiking country. The hills were literally alive. Green, green grass. Wild flowers. Cows mowing and sheep bleating. Cow bells ringing. It really is alive.
From there it was to Montreux Jazz Festival. We didn't see any of the big names in the concert halls, but there is plenty of free stuff going on. Highlight was probably being a few metres from Quincy Jones who was adjudicating a vocal competition.
Then onto some more hiking near Zermatt and the iconic Matterhorn. There are no cars in Zermatt, so we were camping at one train stop down the mountain called Tasch. We did a day hike and got nice and close to the horn. There is glacier skiing here 300 days of the year, so when you get to the snow line you see people strutting down in ski boots, a bit weird after you've been slogging it uphill for 3 hours. We walked right next to some of the glaciers up there, which was great as you get a much better appreciation of size and power as they carve down the mountain.
The next day the bad weather set in. We drove through rain all day and then set up camp in the rain. Luckily this was one of the few campsites where we had a little sheltered kitchen to cook in. We stayed in Lauterbrunnen, just beneath the Eiger, however I didn't get to see it due to cloud. Not bad seeing two out of my list of three big mountains. We then headed up to Aarau, near Zurich to catch up with Viv. A great few days with a familiar face.
From there it was up to the Black Forest. We again had some pretty cloudy, rainy weather so did a bit of driving around and checked out a few waterfalls. The highlight was picking wild strawberries and raspberries. Tiny little things that really packed a punch.
Then onto the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein. A great setting and free to walk around and explore all angles of the castles. We actually forked out for some tickets to have a look inside. A fairly new castle from the 19th century. The guy was a little crazy and a fan of Wagner opera, so all the rooms are decorated accordingly. He even had a cave built inside.
We then headed down to Austria to get one final dose of mountains. We headed to Umhausen, near Innsbruck. We got OK kind-of weather and went for a day hike, but the snow line was dropping down to about 2000m and we were camping at 1200m. So it was getting a little cold.
We had had enough of rubbish weather so threw in our plans and decided to head up to Munich early. However, we also encountered some car problems. It also happened to be Bella's birthday. The clutch was feeling dodgy but I didn't say anything and was just hoping to make it to Munich. However, it started slipping and we literally nearly stopped going up a hill. Luckily we managed to turn around and gently take it back to a little town called Zirl. We found a garage who could repair it, got a quote for half the value of the car, but swallowed and decided we had no choice. The bad news, apart from being Bella's birthday, was it was Friday and probably wouldn't get the parts until Monday. So we waited 3 or 4 hours in a tiny park on a traffic island, and headed back expecting bad news. A weekend, in bad weather, without a car. Miracles do happen however and the car was ready to go. So a quick swipe of the credit card and we were off only a few hours later then planned.

The bad news was the bad weather followed us. We expected a bustling, exciting Summery city. We got a wet and quiet version. We did get a few hours of sunshine one day, and managed to find a beer garden to have a litre of beer and a big pretzel.
I then did a bit of family history, searching out the town where Fuss's lived 150 years ago. It's a small village called Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It's in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The house is long gone, but I stood on the street where my great-great-great-grandfather walked out of the family home in 1847 and sailed to Australia.
We then headed down to Cologne, mainly to see Prince (a musician). We lived in London for nearly two years and didn't get that many acts we wanted to see. This was close enough, so we made it work. Pretty cool to see a big show in a foreign country.
Then down to the Mosel valley, where we based ourselves in Cochem. A winding river, with vineyards covering the steep slopes on each side of the river. A pretty setting, even with the rubbish weather we continued to have.
Relief came when we headed down to Frankfurt to visit Karin, a friend from Fiji days. A luxury to have four walls and a roof over our head. We stayed 3 nights and even got a bit of sunshine, so we enjoyed a few apfel-weins on the banks of the Main and a few cruisy bike rides too.

Our days on the continent were quickly coming to an end but as it is with Europe, there is always something new. We went to Ypres in Western Belgium, which was the site of the western front for 4 years during WW1. A great learning experience and now Flanders fields will have a much more specific meaning to me. They play the last post every day at one of the city gates of Ypres, where most of the allied soldiers marched through on the way to the front. The area now is littered with cemeteries. Most were created as the war progressed, although countless cemeteries were lost due to shelling with the front moving back and forth. We went to Tyne Cot cemetery which is the largest allied war cemetery in the world. There are 12,000 graves, of which 8,000 are marked as unknown. We also visited small cemeteries which were created during the war. They now sit in the middle potato and corn farms. Far different from the boggy quagmire that was a battlefield less then 100 years ago.
We then headed up to the rainy French coast for a quick overnight before catching the ferry the next morning. We had a great sunny day on the ride back and a great white cliff welcome as we approached the Isles.
It was then straight up to Oxford to hang out with Pete for a few days. Before heading for Scotland. We did an overnight at York on the way up and also a quick trip through the Yorkshire Dales and over to see Hadrian's Wall. A wall that the Hadrian, the Roman Emporer, built in the 2nd century AD to keep the Scots out and the English in.
We spent our first night in Scotland on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. Wild Camping is allowed in Scotland, although this was a very loose version of wild, as we were in a park, next to a busy road.
We then headed up to near Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK at 1300m). It was a nice sunny day and we found out the weather was turning so we made a late start but headed up. It was one of the busiest trails we have ever walked on with a constant stream of people going up and down. All shapes and sizes, super ready and those that looked like they were going shopping on the high street and ended up climbing a mountain. We made it to the top in about 2 and half hours. As is mostly the case, the top was still covered in cloud and we were still sharing with 50-100 other people. A wee bit windy too, so we headed down soon enough. See the photos for the cloud line (looking up and looking down).
They were right about the weather and the next day it bucketed down and came in sideways. Great scottish weather. We went for scenic drive along the coast, which would be lovely about 2 days of the year. And then headed back inland for Loch Ness.
Another night wild camping on the shores of Loch Ness, we awoke to a more calm and maybe even sunny day. We then headed to the Highland area for Scotch which is mostly around a town called Dufftown. We did a tour of Glenfiddich and Macallan. Glenfiddich was great and free. About an hour, completely through the whole manufacturing process and then trying 3 types of whisky at the end, including an 18yo.
We were then on the downhill run, heading south towards London. We spent one final night wild camping in the Cairngorn National Park. It really was the final one, as we got eaten alive by midges in the morning as we were packing up. There was a breeze in the evening to keep them at bay, but it was still in the morning. Unfortunately it was a brilliant day and it would have been nice to linger, but we hiked it back to the car quick fast.
We then headed down to Stirling and checked out the William Wallace monument. It was reassuring to know he was well famous before Hollywood got hold of him. Unlike the film though, they wouldn't be fighting on nice grassy fields with blue skies. Fighting through muck and heather in the boggy depths next to the River Forth.
After a week in Scotland we headed down to Lakes District and we spent 3 nights in the one place, after a week of moving too much. The Lakes District has had tourists since the 17th century and you can see why. It is a great place of natural beauty and of little English villages too. Some are over-run with tourists, but plenty that are not.
It was then down to Bath and Stonehenge for our final stop before London. We went to the ancient Roman Baths in Bath which are sourced from a natural hot spring. A pretty amazing place not just in Roman Britain, but in the whole Empire. The baths went into disarray after the Romans left in the 4th century, but the uncovered some great stuff and continue to do so.
We have now been in London since Saturday. Besides the boring things like selling the car and packing our stuff, we've made sure we enjoy ourselves too. We went to see Wynton Marsalis (trumpeter) at Ronnie Scot's. A welcome shot of sophistication after 6 months camping. And saw one final West End show, Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom of the Opera). We board a plane tomorrow for Kuala Lumpur, where we spend a week, including 2 days catching up with Ben (Bella's brother) and Nan. And then we'll be in Oz on 5th September. From there, it's time to set up shop. Find some jobs and somewhere to live. But first we have a week on Fraser Island with Bella's family.

So that's that. Hope you've enjoyed the journey.

Lots and lots of Photos

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Beach Combing

We left our workaway in Moiano and spent the next few weeks wandering around Tuscany. We started with a couple of days exploring Chianti. Beautiful rolling hills, covered with vineyards and olive groves. Plenty of great food too. Fresh pasta and a bottle of wine makes for pretty gourmet camping. We also had our first taste of truffles at a restaurant in a tiny village among the vineyards.
After getting our wine fill we headed to Florence for a dose of city living and culture. We stayed in a campground in the city, up on a hill next to Piazza Michelangelo. It had a great view over the city and was particularly good at sunset. Like all tourists to Florence, we spent our time wandering around the amazing art galleries. The Uffizi was great, with such a vast collection. D'Academia was all about seeing David. Climbing the big red dome of the Duomo was also worth it. Walking between the structure of the dome's two walls and getting a close up view of the frescos was great. A view of Florence below.
After all the bustling and lines in Florence, it was time to head to the beach and take it easy. We headed straight out to near Livorno and found a nice little site right on a typical Med beach (below). All rocks and crystal clear yet still quite fresh water. After a few nights we crawled around to another beach a few hours up the road. Complete opposite with coastal pine forests leading up to the dunes on the beach. The exception is, that this is Italy, and it had a long stretch of private beaches, covered in sun lounges and umbrellas. Mostly completely empty, except on the weekend. We also squeezed in a quick trip to Pisa to see the Tower. There's not much else there.
We then headed to Cinque Terre National Park. This is where the mountains start coming down to the sea to create a stunning landscape. The area is famous for the 5 villages from Riomaggiore (below) to Monterosso. This area was great, and there is a 12km coastal walk linking them all together through the mountains, vineyards and olives. But there is also much more to the area, and many more stunning towns along the coast. We stayed near Deiva Marina which had a nice sandy beach.
We then went around to the Italian Riviera near the French border. A very scenic place with big white mountains coming down to the beach.

After nearly two weeks crawling along the coast, we headed straight up through the alps, taking two days to drive up to Geneva.
This is where we boarded a plane and headed to Dahab in Egypt for another week of beach combing, but more particularly diving. We did 10 dives and saw some great stuff. Plenty of corals, but not too many big fish. Anthias galore. Lionfish on every dive. Stone fish and scorpion fish. Nudibranchs. Popcorn shrimp. Spanish Dancer. Good to be blowing bubbles again. Found a great felafel place where we had lunch everyday for 50p, and plenty of BBQ meats. Really nice people too.
We are now back in France for a 2 week workaway in the French Alps. More on that later.

Photos

Monday, June 13, 2011

Italian goodness

We spent just under 3 weeks at our next workaway near Moiano, in central Italy. It's on the border between Umbria and Tuscany. This is the heartland of the Renaissance but has been home to people dating back to the Etruscans in the 4th century BC. A nearby city of Chiusi has a network of catacombs and wells tunneled underneath the city that date from this era. This is what this part of the world is like. There is a village every 5 kms and everyone has some amazing claim. Whether it is a fresco by a famous artist in a church or a tomb dating back 2,500 years. We spent our time going to both the well known and lesser known ones.
These towns are just made for exploring. Most are small and perched on a hill top with a myriad of alleys, arches and tunnels. There is always a church around the corner (probably covered in marble) and a stunning view over the countryside. Gelato stores are also common.
Highlights were Montipulciano and Della Pieve (hill-top position and arches everywhere), Assisi (for the frescos and tombs), the Brunello (wine) from Montecino and Arezzo (just a nice city).
Lowlights was Siena. It could have been the weather but I blame the Americans (which are everywhere in Tuscany).

Time flew in between a little bit of work and exploring the area. We were also staying as part of an estate so had to make use of the tennis court and swimming pool. Next up is a more relaxed approach with 3 weeks to explore a few more parts of Italy.

Photos

Friday, May 20, 2011

Summer begins

We finished up in the Ariege in much the same way as we started. Still sanding and painting various parts of the house and still doing lots of hiking. We did managed to explore some of the castles in the area and also had a nice Easter brunch with the family. Some of the castles were piles of rocks and others were straight out of a fairy tale. Below is Mont Segur, it took them a while to sack this one.
We finished hiking with an overnight stay in the mountains in a cabin. There are cabins all over the mountains that are free to use throughout the year. They are basic but normally have a fireplace and a bed. We were running out of time, so opted to give it a go in not the best weather. We started in dense cloud, with high winds and a bit of rain. Awesome idea to go walking for 2 days.
But with enormous faith, it actually turned out pretty good. We got out of the cloud after an hour or so, and had some pretty reasonable weather. It didn't take long to start seeing patches of snow. The snow gradually increased and eventually we strapped on the snoeshoes for the last 3 hours to reach the cabin. 2 hours up one side of a pass, and one hour down the other side. No idea on the path and taking the most direct route.
It also had some great easy walking too. This is half way through day 2.
We ended up spending 4 weeks at this workaway. We had been on the continent for over 11 weeks and excluding the trip from London to southern Spain, we have paid for 2 nights accomodation. But the time had come for us to actually start travelling. We took 10 days to travel from the French Pyrenees to central Italy.
On the first day we stopped in on medieval Carcasonne (above), a massive Roman aquaduct (below) called Pont du Gard and made it to Avignon. A papal city during the pope's short transition from the Vatican to France. There really is a lot of history to see.
and Avignon. The view from outside our campsite.
We then went to see some French flamingoes in the Carmargue. The area is also famous for white horses and black bulls, although both of these are now just tourist attractions for pony rides and bull fights. We are in Provence in France, and they have a bull ring and try to sell Paella everywhere, go figure.
Next up Aix-en-Provence, via St Remy, where Van Gough was in hospital and painted a lot. Aix was a nice change from all the tourism. It's just a pretty city that has it's own character and isn't overrun with tourists running around by the busload. From there it was a couple of days crawling along the Cote d'Azur and soaking up the Med vibe (below). We stopped in St Tropez and did drive-bys through Nice and Monaco. We then headed up to Piedmonte in Italy to catch up with Bella's auntie for a night in an Italian villa, before making a B-line on the Italian toll roads to reach our next workaway near Chiusi, on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. A fantastic part of the world.
It took a while for this part of the world to grow on me. It wasn't what I was expecting for some reason. Plenty of farming with ploughed fields and fields of pasture. Not too many vineyards or olive grows but definitely plenty of rolling hills. Plenty of churches too. This is the heart of Renaissance art and there are definitely amazing churches in every two-bit town with some masterpiece lurking in a corner.

Our workaway here is going well. We are at another farm house that is being renovated. It is a UK/US family with 2 daughters. Bella has been gardenning and sewing while I have been hands on with the reno chipping away at stone walls and then slapping cement back on them.

More photos:

Monday, April 18, 2011

More walking, less wine

We've been in France just over 2 weeks and my hiking shoes have had a fair workout. We are in a fairly remote area from everything apart from walking trails. We wake up in the morning to the below view of snow capped mountains, work for a few hours, then go exploring in the afternoon. We even have a delightful dog to provide amusement on the walks.
We are staying with a family of 5, with 3 daughters aged 9, 11 and 13. We are in a hamlet called Pinsou, which is a collection of 4 houses. 10 minutes away is the nearest village called Aleu (below). It has at least 10 houses but no shops or services.
20 minutes away is Castet D'Aleu, another group of houses, a restaurant and a post office. And 30 minutes away is our closest town of St Girons (below), complete with supermarkets.
Spring has sprung since we have been here. The trees have literally come to life in the last 2 weeks. The walking trails are also really well marked here, as opposed to Spain, where everything had about 3 names and pointed you in all sorts of directions. The snow is melting more and more each week, meaning we can head higher and higher into the mountains. Our hosts are also great sources of information about where to head.
Virtually every building in the area is constructed of stones with slate roofs. There are also barns in various states of dis-repair all over the hill sides. Some of them are lived in, some are for weekend accommodation and some are still barns.
Cheese. Cheese is also good. So good in fact. Each week our hosts head to the Saturday markets in St Girons where they stock up on at least 5 different varieties that we slowly consume over the week. This helps to balance out the walking.

More Photos