A very late update

A much belated addition to the blog, so I apologise for the late sentiment! More to come soon!!!

Happy New Year! We wish you health, wealth and happiness for 2009.

Our new year was a lot better than Christmas! For a start, Amanda wasn’t in hospital and was getting better daily. We were going to a big dinner dance in Seefeld to see the new year in, but Amanda wasn’t quite up to that so we stayed in and cooked for ourselves, watching two movies between courses. What a life!

At the stroke of midnight, Seefeld erupted in a barrage of fireworks. We reckon every hotel in the town had some, and it was a great display. We joined our fellow campers outside and watched for a good half hour. Pooch, of course, was not amused and worked himself up into a frenzy poor lad. Funny though, if we waved a treat infront of his face, all went quiet. He is an inveterate cupboard lover!

On the Sunday after the New Year, our good friends Giles and Jilly flew out and joined us in Seefeld for a few days. As always their company was easy and entertaining, which is one of the reasons we love them so much. Determined to spend as much time as possible on the slopes, they did the Rosshutte and the, oh heck, can’t remember what it’s called now! And the bit opposite our van. We enjoyed lunches together at the Birkenlift café and restaurant in the warm sunshine.

OLYMPIC BOBSLEIGH CHAMPIONS

Giles had not been in town long before his eye alighted on the opportunity to go on the Olympic bobsleigh run in Innsbruck. Needless to say I didn’t need any persuasion on the idea and the girls were adamant that no amount would have them getting into one. So, clutching our tickets in hand, we went to where the bobs came to a halt at the end of their run where we were loaded, together with a bobsleigh, into a truck, which hurtled us up an icy track to the start. It turned out to be the scariest part of the whole experience as we stood, holding tightly to whatever part of the truck we could for support!

At the start of the run, five of us were packed into the bobsleigh, Giles at the back and me in the middle. I managed to cause havoc (as usual) when I decided to take my glasses off as they were steaming up – just as they were preparing to shove us off down the track. It was so tight in there I couldn’t find a safe place to put them! Anyway, after a short delay, we were off. It’s 1.2 km long, the run. It took 43.23 seconds to complete. That’s about 80mph. On ice. With lots of curves! The sensations were amazing; the speed and the closeness of the ice, the G-force as we hit the corners and especially as we went through the chicane. It was quite brutal and truly exhillerating. And over all too soon, sadly. I could have gone up again, but at €30 a pop, decided against it. I did however decide that it was one of those, been there, got the T-shirt times, so promptly bought one. I’m proudly wearing it as I write. Giles was as entranced by the run as I was, although at the end he felt himself trying to duck as we raced under the tarpaulins. He’s a very tall bloke and suck out a bit more than most from the top of the bobsleigh. Unfortunately, we don’t have any photographic evidence of our achievement. The organisers don’t do any official pictures and not only did the girls not want to venture out in the bob, they didn’t want to venture out into the cold to take photographs. So we only have our memories of this little adventure.

Five days went by all too quickly and soon were were saying our goodbyes. We always feel down for a while when we part company from G&J and this time was no different.

A SMALL DETOUR

We planned to leave Seefeld on the 14th January but two days before we got a call from Hans-Peter and Uli. We’re staying on a campsite close by, would you like to join us? So we did, in a place called Grän. Still in Austria it was Floozie2 two-hour drive away. Lovely to see H-P and Uli again and as usual, Pooch was spoiled rotten! The area is quite lovely. It’s sort of a plateau region, with steep, twist roads on all approaches. Grän is a largish village with some downhill skiing and a lot of cross-country. The site was nice with a terrific swimming pool and sanitation block. Best I’ve seen yet. Unfortunately, the owners were a bit sour-faced and not really suited to hospitality. Apparently when Uli book us on, they weren’t too keen on such a big motorhome and made the fact known. As it happens, the pitch size was more than adequate although access was trick – a bit of shunting back and forth was called for. I drew quite a crowd whilst negotiating 16m of home and trailer onto pitch in the snow! It wasn’t too much trouble getting on and no trouble getting back off again, so we would have considered going back. If it wasn’t for the owner’s attitude. From what I could see, it didn’t just extend to us. They were po faced with everyone. I tried to engage them but gave up in the end. They don’t deserve their loyal clientele.

We had a lovely time with our favourite Swiss couple, altogether to short for a couple of reasons. First Amanda is still suffering from her Christmas illness and was on a second dose of antibiotics. The doctor told her the cold probably wasn’t doing it much good either. So she was desperate to start heading for warmer climes. Secondly, I wanted to get the oil in the gearbox changed. The stuff in there was burnt and possibly holding a bit of water from the burning process. Hans-Peter to the rescue. He arranged an appointment in Shaffhausen at a truck repair workshop to have it done for the Friday afternoon.

A JOURNEY FROM AUSTRIA TO SPAIN

We left on the Thursday and overnighted at a truck stop near Lake Constance before heading down for our appointment. Never let it be said a job should be simple. The manual states 10litres of oil for the gearbox. Nope, way too much. Drain some off. Whoops too much, top it up, whoops too much, drain some off. Ah! Done. A half hour job – 2 hours. And some sour faces again, from the boss man. Hmmmm.

At four in the afternoon we set off again. H-P suggested the Rheinfall car park just off the motorway as an overnight halt, which we did. For some reason I didn’t sleep well. Amanda was beginning to breathe easier with her new round of antibiotics so had a better night. We got off before none the following morning and were about an hour and a half into the journey when Rene (H-P and Uli’s son) rang. He was at the Rheinfall hoping to meet up with us and we weren’t early birds usually were we? No, we’re not and we were sad not to see him. Possibly the last opportunity for a while as he flies to Hong Kong to start a new job next month for four years.

We stopped at a motorway service station for breakfast. For all you operators in the UK (save Tebay on the M6) take note and learn! Everything but everything was freshly made. There were piles of fresh fruit and veg on display very much like market stalls, as well as cheeses, deli meats, bakery, coffee & tea. Fruit juice was freshly squeezed, omelettes, rosti, and lots of cheerful, friendly staff to help. We sat eating our delicious breakfast saying ‘this is just great’!
We drove on in alternating fog and sun until we popped out of Switzerland and into France. By four o’clock, we’d done enough and I’d found a nice little Aire at Nantua. Pulling off the motorway there was a nice motorway stop-over, so we decided to stop there instead – so much easier with Floozie and the trailer.

After a peaceful night we set off again, around Lyon and down the A7 toll motorway. The tolls are pretty hefty with a rig our size, but it all balances out on fuel consumption and the time (and stress) gained (lost!) on taking the N roads and missing out the towns. Before we knew it we were on the Aire at Leucate Plage. Now this is a secret OK, so no blabbing but Leucate Plage Aire is brilliant. It’s a huge area right by the beach with a motorhome service station and, if you want to pay for it, electricity. We arrived and immediately said, we’re staying two nights here! It was sunny and quite warm and we were surrounded by about two dozen other units, all of whom already knew the secret. That’s just enough, so keep it to yourself

A day of walking the beaches, a walk to Leucate village for a coffee and cake in a terrific little boulangerie and cleaning the van and the car was great for the soul. It wasn’t best warm but it was bright and sunny and gentle. Lovely!

From here we took two days to reach La Manga, driving steadily on the motorways. It was a good run and we had a nice stop-over at a very accommodating site half way down. It was fairly small and the overwintering folks were very friendly. We had a three course meal, including a bottle of wine for €8 each in the campsite bar/restaurant. If we’d had a smaller unit, we might have considered staying!

And so we arrived at La Manga and we’re here for two months of sun, sea and oh, what’s that other word beginning with ‘S’? Judging by the demographic of the winter snowbirds here, Sanatogen! More or La Manga soon.