Week #104 Mountains, Lakes and Highland Cows

2 years of Early Retirement Wanderlust blogs

So we are on week 104 - two whole years since we started our weekly blog to document our early retirement journey. Looking back on our first few blogs, it's hard to believe how much has happened since then.

It is also two years ago this week since we officially handed in our notice at both our schools, everything felt so final, there was no turning back. Up until recently, most of the people who read the blog were our friends and family who wanted to keep up with where we are on our travels and how the cottage renovations were going. So welcome to all the new followers over the last few months.

Making the most of a sunny day in the Dales

We had a great start to the week when we woke up on Monday morning to a blue sky day. We had a whole host of jobs that we wanted to get done before we departed to the Alps again and had ear marked Monday as the day to do it. That soon went out the window! One thing we have found living in the hills is that you make the most of the dry days as they have been few and far between this past few months!

We decided to get out hiking in Malham for a few hours which proved to be a great choice. We have walked around the cove several times and have hiked across to Gordale Scar which is beautiful, but with the weather being so nice we headed up through Watlows path and past Ing Scar which was absolutely stunning.

But more importantly.... The highlight of the trip was an encounter with a highland cow herd that roam on the moors between Settle and Malham. They were so fluffy and gorgeous.

I didn't quite hit my target of 300,000 steps for February but am working on the theory that I was way over in January so I am still up on average!

French Alps road trip

On Wednesday, we set off on the mammoth 1000 mile road trip back to the French Alps. We had invested in a season ski pass in January and enjoyed it that much living in the van for 3 weeks, we decided we would go back and get our moneys worth from our pass which is still valid.

The hardest part of the journey is definitely the 350 miles from Yorkshire to Dover. The traffic was pretty horrendous for most of that journey. But we arrived in Dover in one piece and spent the night on our favourite carpark behind the police station! It is not exactly Des' Res', but it is free and only a couple of minutes drive to the port and our ferry was at 7.40am.

Feeling revived and having caught an earlier ferry than earlier in the year, we made really good time driving south on the very clear French roads. We were intending on staying somewhere between Troyes and Dijon but we got there by 2pm so kept driving. We ended up staying at an Aire in the town of Bourg en Bresse that we have used before. It is next to a monastery that is a truly magnificent. Although in the heart of the town, and near quite a busy road, the Aire feels safe and there are always plenty of other vans around. The monastery and the carpark are well lit up at night and there are a few cafes and restaurants within walking distance.

No trip to the Alps is complete without a stop off in Annecy. Another one of our happy places! We have visited several times over the years and this is the first time it has been quiet. We were able to have a nice wander through all of the quaint, little streets and take photographs with out the usual hussle and bussle.

For any one who has seen our latest YouTube vlog, we visited the NEC motorhome show a couple of weeks ago as we are starting to think about what van we want next. Nelson is 7 years old and we are looking to maybe upgrade to a slighter bigger van with on-board facilities when we finally get access to our pensions. Richard got quite excited when we came back to the van in Annecy and this was parked next to us making Nelson look tiny! I said NO...can you imagine parking that!

It's good to be back in the mountains

We had a real feeling of calm wash over us as we approached the final part of the journey. We love seeing the snow capped mountains appear and returning to the campsite felt like we were coming home.

As much as we love skiing, it is the fresh air, beautiful scenery and lightness that the snow brings that also fill our hearts. We have had a great first couple of days skiing, it was supposed to snow heavily today, however it never arrived and we spent 4 wonderful hours skiing.

It is still half term for some French schools, so the slopes are still extremely busy- we thought we had avoided all the school holidays in the 4 weeks we were home!

We have some friends joining us for most of this ski trip which will be fab. As much as we love each others company, it will be great to have some other company.

Richards French picnic envy...

We thought we had picnics on the ski slopes sussed as we took out our French baguette, boursin cheese, French saucisson and tomatoes. That was until a French family came and sat with us and Sam, a 3 year French toddler who made friends with Richard, pulled out his lunch box. He had a fab looking rice salad packed with veg and herbs with cheese, sausages and a hard boiled egg on top. He tucked into it with gusto even offering Richard some to share!

Not to be out done, we sloped off to the Super U last night to buy lots of fresh ingredients and made a tabbouleh salad with some fresh meat and cheese. Richard did look for Sam at the picnic spot today to show him what he had for lunch but he wasn't there!

So we have a week of fun and skiing ahead of us and the weather forecast is looking good.

Hope you all have a great week.

Jackie and Richard