Val D'lsere - Snow Report

I met up with Jason in Feltham the night before we left as we had arranged a coach to pick us up and take us to Gatwick.

I met some of the team of 10 at the "club" in Feltham that night and the rest the next morning on the bus. We arrived at Gatwick and snubbed the check in queues as we headed straight to our VIP check in agent. Once through security the whole team headed straight to the pub! It was 7:00am! I headed to "Eat" instead and had a sandwich and smoothie.

We were sitting in first class on the plane and the beer was still flowing! The team started to get rowdy....

Sitting on the transfer bus some of the guys pulled out the duty free Vodka and JD! They all started drinking.... the coach trip to Val D'Isere is 3.5 hours long... it felt like 7. By the time we pulled in to our hotel everybody on the coach hated us. I had not even taken a sip of alcohol but I was tarnished with the same brush. A lot of the guys the next morning could not even remember arriving at the hotel....

Things improved from here.

The much promised snow started falling and would not stop for three days. The first morning we met up with the guides in a huge group - they took us all to a slope and we had to go down one by one to be rated. There were four groups: Beginner, Advanced, Expert, Insane.

I was classified as insane as were three of my team making a total of 8 boarders in our group. A few of the guys didn't make the cut and were a little gutted - good thing though as our group was hard and you had to be quick! I was absolutely exhausted at the end of every day. Our guide was amazing and our time on the piste was almost non-existent. All day every day he would find untracked powder! I had some of the most incredible runs I have ever experienced in waist deep powder!

This hotel was amazing! Board-in, board-out and all drinks were free - Spirits, Wine, Cocktails, Beer, Coffee, Espresso. All food was free - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Bar Snacks - and we are talking gourmet here! The selection was incredible!

I somehow broke my ski pass and it cost me 5 Euros to replace. I paid 29 euros for a wax and edge for my board. All up - the only money I spent on the holiday (Apart from the inclusive package) was 34 Euros. If I was staying in the UK next year I would definitely never ever go independently ever again! Club Med all the way - you just cannot beat the value for money.

The last three days of the holiday was intense blue sky with no clouds and deep untracked powder (Although getting harder to find towards the end of the week).

One of the guys had a camcorder in his bag which was hooked up to a bullet cam attached to his goggles. We have about 3 hours of footage - once I get a hold of the DVD I will post some footage on facebook.

It was a fantastic way to say goodbye (for now) to the European Alps. The next time I board will no doubt be in New Zealand - something I am quite excited about...

Check out the photos here...

Val D'lsere

I am off to Val D'lsere on Sunday with Club Med (All inclusive 5* Package) for one weeks snowboarding. Europe has had an awful February with virtually no snow falling at all! I can now hardly believe my luck when you look at what has just fallen and what is about to come…



Just look at those conditions - Piste: Excellent, Off Piste: Powder. With 41cms forecast in the first few days... looks like I might be in powder heaven.

New Forest

I had booked a weekend away and Titch did not know where until she got in the car. She was delighted to learn that we were heading to the New Forest. After making good time we arrived at our bed and breakfast - the room was fantastic and it had the most comfortable bed in the world.

The forecast was for sun all weekend which was brilliant especially after all the rain the area had experienced lately.

Of course I had planned a few forest walks and one of them started down the road near Brockenhurst station. It led us towards a church with a large graveyard which had a huge memorial to NZ soldiers who died in WW1. Looking at the gravestones showed a lot of the soldiers were from Wellington. After a little bit of internet research it turns out the New Zealand World War 1 hospital was located in Brockenhurst - which I guess explains why the kiwi dead were buried here.

Soon after the church we had to leave the paved road as we headed down a bridle way. Mud Galore. My white trainers were shrieking in terror. After some nimble jumping and clinging to fences we managed to get past the worst of it. Throughout the day the mud posed various challenges and eventually we had to call of the walk due to a huge mud lake for about 100 meters just before the "Farm" on the map.

After retracing our steps and taking a few detours we managed to find a nice pub near Sandy Down and managed to have a quiet pint and sandwich in the glorious sunshine. After inspectecing my white trainers I decided that I had done miraculously well in keeping them clean. Good thing too as I had booked a surprise dinner for Titch at the Michelin starred Le Poussin restaurant at Whitley Ridge - I am sure the welcome would be anything but warm if we had mud caked shoes...

Whitley Ridge is quite grand and old, secluded in an isolated spot in the heart of the New Forest. The place oozes excellence and we would not be disappointed.

After being greeted we were escorted to the lounge where we enjoyed some fantastic canapés. After a short while we were led to one of the two small dinning areas.

I started with the Feuillete Of Roasted Scallop And Cep With Water Cress Salad and a Light Butter Sauce. While Titch went for the Winter Salad of Marinated Butternut Squash, wild Mushrooms & Baby Vegetables with a Truffle Dressing.

We treated ourselves to a bottle of the delightful Martinborough Pinot Noir "Te Tara" 2004 - Titch could only have a small glass and I limited myself to two small glasses as I had to drive. Shame.

I went for the MeadowBrook Sirloin raised in The Forest On Rich Clover And Rye, Water Meadow And Barley Soaked In Beer. Titch went for the Venison which was cooked to perfection.

Desert was delicious - Titch went for the Coffee & Chocolate option consisting of Valrhona Chocolate Fondant, Tiramisu, Sweet Potato Bark & Espresso Ice Cream. Whereas I made a move towards the Hot Passion Fruit Souffle With Passion Fruit Sorbet And Passion Fruit Curd.

Once desert was done we retired to the den where I then ordered a fine port - Churchill’s Vintage 1991. Fantastic drop to end the night with.

The next day we started a walk (Taken from the book entitled "Short walks from good pubs in the New Forest") at a small village called "Bank". As we pulled up we had the bizarre sensation that we had been here before - it turns out that this is the very pub that we stopped at for lunch many years ago; when a big group of us hired bikes and went cycling through the forest.

The walk was a short 3 miles and once finished we had a light lunch and a pint of beer (Ringswood Bitter) at the reminiscing pub...

We thought we would drive through the new forest and head up towards Stonehenge. I have driven past it so many times with barely a glance so I thought it deserved a visit (Especially as it might be one of the last opportunities I get before I leave the UK). The drive through the new forest was stunning - it really made a nice change from the sometimes drab views of London.

Arriving at Stonehenge we pulled into the carpark , as we approached the ticket booth I was under no illusion about the £12.60 that I was about to waste. As we walked through the tunnel under the road and came up next to Stonehenge I was not surprised to find that the view was just as good from the side of the road (cost £0.00).

You walk around a large circle with some rocks in the middle and then you leave - I guess all I can say is "Tick"...

Battersea Beer Festival

Would you believe it! No sooner have I sent two of the rarest beers in the world to New Zealand for Sam and Stu... I then attend the Battersea Beer Festival and there in the corner is one crate of Westveleteren 8 & 12 !!!!

At £8 each it would be rude not to! They did have a limit of one per person and they even managed to say "Do you realise how rare this is?" - No shit sherlock!

Will let my Westveleteren 12 settle for a few days and might just crack it open to celebrate my new flat in two weeks time....

Homeward Bound

I wish I was...

Well, I am. Titch and I have booked our one-way tickets to Wellington and we leave on the 10th December. It's still quite far away but with the baby born in July I am sure this year is going to fly.

No doubt we will find it hard to do everything that we want to before we finally leave Old Blighty!

Looking forward to Wellington - I love it.