Flaky pastry queen??

A very tricky puzzle (thank you Rich & Tamsin!)

Heading to the end of week 3 of lock down …

If this continues, I will need to re-name my travel blog ‘stay at home’ blog … I am resisting the urge, ever optimistic that the lock down will pass and at some stage, I will be travelling again. First stop will be UK to see family and friends! Amazingly, like many of you, I’ve been in good touch with everyone but in spite of that, still feel far away. So … my track to domestic goddess continues with sewing, upholstery, cooking and cleaning like a maniac. I have succumbed to 30 minutes of video gaming in return for some games of scrabble with my beloved! I am rubbish at the gaming – no surprise when up against a games expert. This week the goal was to start on virtual French lessons again – need to exercise my brain sooner than later. Failed in this task so far this week but know there is plenty of time to put this right! Hoping you and yours are safe and well.

Week 2 of lock down …

Well … we’re definitely all in this together where ever we are in the world. France has properly closed down – here in Seytroux, there is silence. I walk each day up the valley – I am on my own. If I’m lucky, I spot someone in a garden and wave. The mountains are still beautiful, the weather fine but cold, the animals more in evidence – a dozen deer had the temerity to walk across the top of our garden today; the birds are having a fine time eating the bird seed we put out for them; Chris has a night time camera attached to the chalet and has captured evidence of deer eating my apple tree, foxes and ermine darting across the garden as well as the next door nieghbor’s dog! I am becoming a domestic goddess … I’m cleaning obsessively, cooking, exercising and doing my upholstery … oh, and drinking gin, calling friends, and watching Madam Secretary on Netflix … thank goodness for Netflix! Chris’s routine is very different – random exercise, tech updates and video games – he is trying to persuade me to explore the auto bot world – resisted so far but can feel the will power weakening since he is so addicted! SO very lovely to hear from you on the blog or on the phone …. huge thank you to all who have read my ramblings! Love to all. Stay home, stay safe and stay in touch!

Mistletoe in bloom!

Latest upholstery project!

Lock down in Morzine …

We drove home from Valencia on Thursday last week – a straightforward but long 12 hour drive. We had a lovely day skiing on Saturday with our neighbors – Callum, Ceri and their 3 girls – all fab skiers and only available because ski club had been cancelled!

Mia and Tilly – oh so cool!

Sadly, Switzerland was no longer accessible (closed due to virus) and restaurants attempting social distancing by severely restricting numbers able to enter and sit down – most people were on the terraces and in the open air. Things got worse by midnight – the resort closed along with all non essential services … so no ski lifts, restaurants, bars, shops other than pharmacies, food shops and banks; schools closed. Today, we popped out to get some food supplies – restricted access into Carrefour, queues to get in, queues for petrol and some empty shelves. All feeling surreal.

Some upside … I was able to skin up the mountain on my touring skis – silent mountain and all the pistes empty – glorious!

Top of Mont Chéry

So … we’re hunkering down, calling friends and family to catch up and drinking gin … spirits high, not panicking and will stay in touch!

En route back to Valencia … finally!

We set sail for Ibiza at 6am yesterday … more than a week later than plan. The electricians finally completed their work on Thursday – 2 days later than expected. We’ve learned a lot about the way the boat works this week! Friday and Saturday saw gale force winds forecast with sea swells of 4-6m. Discretion being the better part of valour, we made the decision to delay our departure (again), enjoy a bit more tapas, play more scrabble and wait it out. I baked my first loaf of bread, spent a day in a spa and have done more boat polishing and cleaning than I thought possible! Sod’s law of course, we finally left Palma in relatively still waters and no wind. After a full day motoring. we anchored overnight in a bay on the northwest corner of Ibiza and left at 5am this morning for the final sail home. A special couple of hours sailing under a full moon before the sun rose behind us. The adventure continues …

Bread rising!

We love our Brompton bikes

Leaving Palma

Cap P snoozing – 4am was an early start!

Palma update …

We had a wonderful weekend of tourism – Chris deserved a break after passing the exam for his celestial navigation (not that I ever doubted that he would!)

We hired a car and got to see Valldemossa, Deia, Port Soller on Saturday – heading north from Palma to the north west coast. Olive groves, lemon and orange trees and lots of almond blossom everywhere in between medieval villages all beautifully maintained and lovely to wander around. Sunday’s travel was to the south west of the island – very windy … was glad we were not out at sea.

Here we are on Tuesday. Batteries all fixed. Bow thrusters serviced. Last job for the time being (we hope) is to get all the wifi equipment we bought at the boat show to work. Given very high winds and the fact that we had to be here for the batteries and bow thrusters, we decided to get this job done too. This involves someone going up the mast to pull cables through. Of course, should be straight forward but inevitably, it’s not. Hey ho … maybe one more day??