Week #97 Family time together skiing in the snowy French Alps

What a fantastic couple of weeks we have had since I last posted a blog! We set off in Nelson the campervan on the Tuesday after New Year for a few weeks skiing in the French Alps. In true Jackie and Richard style we left the Dales for Dover, but had a few jobs we needed to do along the way.

First stop was to pick up some Euro's as we had forgot we didn't have any! Then we visited Richard’s mum in the care home as we wouldn’t be seeing her for a few weeks. It is always lovely popping into visit as it is a small home with lovely residents and staff and there is always plenty to chat about. We have got to know many of the residents over the past months and it feels like we are paying them all a visit!! Next we called in at Richard’s mums house to check all was ok.

When going through all the paperwork for the trip we realised that we had not got a paper copy of the van insurance as we had recently changed company – it is a requirement to have the documents with you when travelling in France, so our final stop off was at my mums house to use her printer. All jobs completed, we were finally on our way.

The drive down to Dover is never the most pleasant of journeys, but this was particularly vile as another storm, Henk, raged in the south of England. The roads were pretty treacherous with a constant spray from the lorries and the surrounding fields were like lakes. Expecting the worst, we bunkered down for the night in our favourite, scenic Dover carpark. Unexpectedly, it was a really warm, calm night and we awoke to a sunny day and a great channel crossing.

All was good for about 10 miles into Calais when there was the loudest emergency siren emanating from our phones! At first we couldn’t work out what on earth was going on and Richard was lucky not to crash the van, it was that alarming! Turns out after a little google translation, it was a French national storm alert for the north of the country for stormy weather and flooding which could be a danger to life, particularly in the Calais region as one of the major rivers had burst its banks. We then descended into the depths of hell as the sky turned black, the winds picked up and the heavens opened. We had at least 2 hours of some of the most awful driving conditions we have ever encountered, luckily the roads were pretty quiet and there were not too many lorries.

Our first night in France was spent in a small Hamlet just south of Troyes that we found on the Park4night app. It was really pretty and very deserted! We did have concerns about the river flooding as the aire was right next to it, however a friendly local assured us it would be fine and that the rain was due to finally subside.

The rest of the journey to the Alps was less eventful and we arrived in Bourg Saint Maurice in good time after a picnic stop on the shores of Lake Annecy. We had 2 nights on the Huttopia campsite to get ourselves sorted before the children arrived on Saturday.

Friday was an exciting day as we had decided that we were going to finally invest in buying our own skis and boots. Up until now, we have always hired them as it was easier than flying with them. We weighed up the costs and financially if we want to do a few extended ski trips over the next few years in the van it was better to buy them. It was also quite scary as it is a big investment out of our savings!

We had a fantastic week skiing with the kids. We had all chipped into to rent an apartment in Arc 1950 and we were stunned at how amazing the apartment was, one of the most luxurious we have aver had! The resort is purpose built and beautiful, with views across to Mont Blanc.

It is not often we get all 6 of us together for extended periods of quality time and we had an absolute blast. The snow conditions were awesome and we made the most of our time on the slopes.

There was much Apres Ski done, lots of dancing on the tables and many pints drunk. We cooked in most nights as we quite like just chilling and chatting in the evenings, Luke and Richard are  amazing chefs, it was almost like having chalet hosts – I was good at keeping the wine topped up!

Tuesday was a special day. Luke asked his girlfriend Charlotte to marry him! A very romantic proposal on the top of a mountain with Mont Blanc in the background. He had sneaked off with her and it was a huge surprise to all of us, I don’t know how he kept it a secret! We are really pleased for them both, Charlotte already feels a part of our family and it will be fab to welcome her officially. No pressure on Georgia and Mollie to be next…

Wednesday was Mollies birthday, of course we had to celebrate with more Apres Skiing at the Folie Douce and we had the most amazing meal out which involved all the cheeses!

The week went far too quickly and it was really sad waving the kids off on Saturday morning. It was also quite sad leaving the rather spacious, luxurious apartment on the mountain top for our small VW campervan in the valley. We decided to stay up in 1950 and ski from there as the weather forecast was for 10 degrees and a blue sky day. Being a Saturday and transfer day it was really quiet and we had the slopes to ourselves for most of the afternoon.

The rest of the day however was quite chaotic! We had hired ski lockers for the next few weeks up in Arc 1600 so we could walk to the funicular in the morning from the campsite and not have to carry any kit. So after we drove down to the valley from 1950, we got the funicular back up to Arc 1600 to drop our skis and boots off.

We had not looked at the weather forecast for the valley and it came as a shock when the temperature plummeted to -10 degrees by 6pm. Probably the coldest we have stayed out in the van. I’m not going to lie, it was freezing having to go out to the toilet but once we were tucked up in bed, after a quick blast of the heater, we were toasty warm for the night. We woke up this morning to the most glorious sunrise across the mountains and a heavy hoar frost in the trees. We also had a thick layer of ice on the inside of the van windows!

So that’s it. We are set up on the campsite in the valley for the next couple of weeks and looking forward to a more leisurely pace of skiing and a few coffee stops. The budget is back in force now the children have left us, so it will be a flask of hot chocolate and a picnic on the mountain side from now on and we are up for the challenge of eating more healthily, drinking less alcohol and spending very little money!!

We will leave you with a few last photos of the 2 campsite cats who are absolutely gorgeous.

Have a great week,

Jackie and Richard