Kew Christmas Lights

Just about worth braving the torrential rain to wander through the illuminations in Kew Gardens.

Cuba Day 14 – Exploring Havana

Cuba Day 13 – Las Terrazas then Havana

Cuba Day 12 – Rancho La Guabina and Vega Robaina

Cuba Day 11 - Grande Caverne Santo Tomas and Rancho La Guabina

Cuba Day 10 - Cayo Levisa

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from Cayo Levisa

Cuba Day 9 - Vinales

from Vinales

Cuba Day 8 - Soroa to Vinales

from Vinales

Cuba Day 7 - Santa Clara to Soroa

from Soroa

Cuba Day 6 - Topes de Collantes to Santa Clara

Cuba Day 5 - Trinidad to Topes de Collantes

Cuba Day 4 - Valle de los Ingenios and Trinidad

Cuba Day 3 - Havana to Trinidad

Cuba Day 1 - Havana

Placeholder  text.  Full post to follow.

Cycle Cuba - Introduction

This year's big holiday was a cycling tour of Cuba, organised by Cycleactive.  The next few posts document the main points on our itinerary, which covered much of the central and western parts of the island.

Koh Samet Revisited

To round off my trip, I staid a couple of days with Mike and Lek, who live in Rayong, which is on the gulf coast about 2 hours south of Bangkok.  We decided to pop over to the nearby island of Koh Samet for a day trip to take advantage of the fine weather after a couple of days of heavy rain.  I had last been to Samet about 6 years ago for an abortive scuba diving trip and had been taken by its relatively peaceful character compared to some Thai resorts.  A couple of years ago it had suffered a major environmental catastrophe due to a massive oil spill, which had decimate the tourist industry there for a whole season.  I was pleased to find that the island had totally recovered from this incident and was a attractive and tranquil as ever.   A good place to chill out for the day.

The Cactus Lobster Challenge

I was fortunate that my return to Bangkok coincided with the Cactus Bar's bi-monthly lobster feast - thanks to Vince for getting me a ticket to this fairly exclusive event.  This meal consists of 5 seafood starter courses, followed by a whole Atlantic lobster for each diner, flown in to Thailand especially for this event and prepared by the bar's manager, John.  All this washed down with a selection of the finest Belgian beers.  Quite a challenge.  I have to admit to getting some help to finish the lobster, which was truly massive (see below).  An excellent night out!

Return to KL

I took the opportunity of being in SE Asia to drop in to Kuala Lumpur to revisit a few old haunts and catch up with various friends over there.  Great to dine out on Chinese street food in Jalan Alor - a feast for less than £3.
On the Saturday I met up with John and Chu, who took me to the Petaling Hash way out in the Malasian jungle.  
Not being acclimatised to the temperature and humidity, I was totally drained by the end of the run, but a few beers soon sorted that out.  Good to meet some old buddies, but also disappointed that many of them had moved on in the 5 years or so since I was last there.  Not surprising perhaps - that's the expat way of life.

Bangkok 2015

Back in Bangkok again for a customer meeting.  All pretty much same-same.  No obvious impact from the Erawan Shrine bomb a few weeks ago.  My work colleague, Vincent, was nearby when that happened and suffered aural concussion.  Luckily all OK now.

CERN

As Morzine is not far from Geneva, it would have been a pity to miss the opportunity to pay a visit to CERN, and its world-famous Large Hadron Collider.   So we did.
The CERN site, which is near Geneva Airport, is a rather sad looking collection of '60s style buildings and some very dodgy landscaping.  Clearly all the $billions that have been spent on the institution are well hidden underground.  Nevertheless, the two hour tour was interesting and well put together, and did a good job of explaining how CERN came into being and some of its historical achievements, as well as a look at some of the latest experiments associated with the LHC, such as ATLAS (see pic below).

So: been there, done that, and I did get the tee shirt!

Lac Leman

Today a trip to Thonon on the shores of Lac Leman.  Although the town itself is nothing special, the marina area is certainly charming enough.  After an excellent fish lunch by the quay, we took a short boat tour around the local area, though not a lot to see apart from a few chateaux and a naturist beach.

Last Ski of the Season

Today was the final day of the ski season in Morzine, although we chose to ski in Avoriaz, which still has two weeks to go.  The snow was still in surprisingly good condition considering the ambient temperature of 12deg+ and the sunny weather, helped by the fact that there are not too many skiers to churn things up at this late stage in the season.  Some good skiing still to be had in the Chatel sector, followed by a sunny lunch in Plaine Dranse.

PS  This turned out to be our final ski of the season too, as work commitments prevented me from returning to the slopes  this week.

Lac du Montriond

More non-skiing activities as the season in Morzine draws to a close.  Today a walk around the Lac du Montriond, which is only 10 minutes drive from our apartment.  Impressive scenery with the still frozen lake slotted in a gorge between two steep mountainsides.

Mont Blanc

With the ski season in Morzine drawing to a close and the last of our guest departed, a chance to explore some of the other scenic offerings to be had in the Alps.  Today we drove to Chamonix and took the cable car up to Aiguille du Midi for a stunning close up view of Mont Blanc and the rest of the Alps. One day, perhaps, I will get around to skiing the Vallee Blanch glacier that begins at this peak and winds its way back into Chamonix.  Until then, a chance to watch the intrepid skiers setting off on their journey down this route. Unfortunately the cable car over the Vallee Blanche was closed for the winter, as was the lift to the top viewing gallery, so we missed that part of the Mont Blanc experience. Nevertheless, an excellent day's outing in some amazing scenery.

Fresh Snow in Morzine

Even at this late stage in the season, we have had more snowfalls to top up the pistes.  So lucky Claire and Rudvica, who joined us on Saturday for a great week's skiing on fresh snow.  Today (Easter Sunday) we went over to Les Gets for some relaxing introductory runs.

Les Contamines

Today we continued with our exploration of some of the ski areas outside the Portes du Soleil, thanks to our 'discovery' pass.  On this occasion we elected to visit Les Contamines, which is in the same general area as Megeve, and only 80 minutes away via the autoroute.

Good snow conditions up top and sunny in the morning, although the sky clouded over somewhat in the afternoon. 

In general, a great location for an unchallenging day's skiing.

Mont Chery - Final Call

Today Alison and I joined Jessica for a ski/ride over to Mont Chery.  The snow conditions there turned out to be as good as we had hoped with a few cm of fresh snow from the previous night on on top of a good base.  So we all had a great morning on the various pistes that Chery has to offer, before enjoying an excellent lunch at our favourite slopeside restaurant, the Grande Ourse.  
Sadly that will be our last visit to Mont Chery and the Grande Ourse for this season as the ski area closes for the season on 6 April.

Portes du Soleil Tour - the Other Way Around

Today I accompanied Jessica and Izzy on what started out as an expedition to Switzerland.  However, after an early lunch in Marmmottes,  one of my favourite restaurants in Les Crosets, we decided to carry on and attempt a complete tour of the Portes du Soleil. A few weeks back I had done this tour with Peter, going round in a clockwise direction.  That option was no longer possible due to lack of snow in the Morgins area.  However, it looked as if it would work in the anticlockwise direction.  This turned out to be the case, although it was still touch and go getting to Chatel, with at least one chairlift taking us over some very green hillsides.  The final part of the journey back into Avoriaz was not an altogether pleasant experience, with a mixture of rain and horizontal snow, but we made it back eventually, in a somewhat soggy state but satisfied with a good day's skiing.

More Booths in Morzine

Over the course of the season, we have been delighted to welcome much of the Booth/Evans family to come and visit us in our Morzine hideaway.
This week it was the turn of Nick and Katrina to sample some of the skiing and culinary delights to be had in the Hautes Savoie.   We got of to a flying start with a visit to the local Dixie Bar to watch England beating France in the Six Nations, but failing to win the tournament.
On the whole, the weather was relatively kind to us, with skiing possible on most days, and we had a relaxed tour around some of Morzine and Avoriaz's more gentle pistes.   Not forgetting to stop off in the Ice Bar (see pic) for some apres ski refreshment in the sun.

Rock Les Pistes

Rock les Pistes is a week long event hosted by the Portes du Soleil tourist board, or some such body, and featuring various entertainers that you have never heard of performing at various locations around the Portes do Soleil region .
Today we were treated to Selah Sue (no, I've never heard of her either) and her band performing at a temporary stage erected next to one of our favourite slopeside restaurants, Le Vaffieu, at the confluence of three chairlifts.   So quite hard to miss if one is returning from Les Gets, as we were.  Worth an hour or so listening with a beer in hand, particularly as it was free.

Speed Riding

OK, so this may not actually be me in the picture, BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN, if I had had a photographer in tow to record my speed riding adventure.  Thanks to a speed riding lesson as birthday present from Jessica, I had the opportunity to experience this activity, a cross between skiing and paragliding, for the first time here in Morzine.
It turns out that previous paragliding experience was not necessarily a great advantage as the main aim of the lesson was to learn how to come down the slope relatively slowly, remaining on the ground most of the time until the final section, where one could get into the air.  So my first run was mainly flying, which was great, but not what my instructor was after  By the end of the three hour session I was just about mastering the technique for steering down the slope without going too fast and taking off, until the end that is.  Anyway, great fun to try out.  Perhaps if I were to do another skiing season I would give it another go.

Grand Massif

Our season lift pass for Portes du Soleil also includes discovery vouchers, which gives us a day's free lift pass at a number of resorts in the region.  Today we took the opportunity to explore the Grand Massif ski area, starting in Morrilon, and ending up in Flaine.  Morrilon is only about 40 minutes drive from Morzine, so very easy to get to for a day trip.
The snow in the Flaine bowl was still in good condition and we enjoyed cruising on their flattering runs down to the resort centre. Flaine itself is not a particularly attractive place, and I am not sure that I would want to stay there for a week's holiday, let alone a whole season, but it would certainly make a great location for a long weekend skiing.

Les Crosets

This week we were delighted to welcome Tim to our alpine hideaway in Morzine.  
Snow conditions were good so we headed over to Switzerland for a day's skiing in the Les Crozets area.  The three of us has last skied in the Portes do Soleil region about 3 years ago, and it was good to revisit some of our earlier itineraries. One welcome new arrival since last time is the Marmottes restaurant at the base of the Ripaille drag lift.  Lovely décor and ambiance,  and a simple menu du jour that includes an all-you-can eat soup bar.  
One of the great things about having Tim in town is being exposed to his boundless enthusiasm, and constant exclamations of 'amazing' every time a new alpine view appears on the horizon.  We may have become rather blasé about our environment, but actually Tim is right, it really is amazing out here.

Portes du Soleil Grand Tour

Today's outing started off as an expedition to Chatel but ended up being a complete tour of the Portes du Soleil, via Morgins and Champery.  There had been a major dump of snow over the previous 24 hours so we had some interesting/challenging conditions to contend with, but we managed to complete the circuit with time to spare.
To round off the day I decided to introduce Peter to the delights of the Marmottes snowcross piste. This turned out to be something of a mistake as we were engulfed in cloud at the start of the run and then proceeded, respectively, to get buried in a 2m snowdrift and ski over a cliff. Not one of my better suggestions, but we survived to tell the tale. 

The Swiss Wall

For Peter's first day out in Avoriaz I was envisaging a relaxed tour around some of the gentle cruising pistes over in Switzerland.  Silly me. Once there and in in sight of the infamous Swiss Wall piste, Peter felt we ought to at least review this as a possible skiing option.  On the way up the wall in the chair I could not come up with any reasonable excuses not to give it a go, as the snow looked in perfect condition. 
So we did, and the fact that I am writing this suggests that I did in fact survive the experience largely intact.  In fact, we went on to do all the black runs in  the Champery sector, which were all in good condition and therefore relatively easy to ski.  All in all, a fine day's skiing.

More Mont Chery

This week we were pleased to welcome Trevor and Carin as our guests in Le Sappy.  
They both flung themselves into the skiing with great enthusiasm, in spite of the fact that Trevor was suffering from a mystery illness, and treated us to some great home cooking in the evenings, which was much appreciated.
As is becoming a tradition with our guests, we took them to Mont Chery for the luxury skiing on offer there, and of course, the fine dining to be had in the Grand Ourse.

Mont Chery

Possibly our favourite ski area with its sunny slopes and flattering sweeping red runs, and one of the best mountain restaurants in the Alps.

Weather: sunny, 0 deg.
Snow: good

Lifts/Pistes:

• Pleny
• Belevedere
• Crocus 
• Bruyeres
• Le Petit Train
• TC Mont Chery
• TS de la Pointe
• Epervier (R)
• TS de la Pointe
• Marmottes
• TS Chery Nord
• Epervier (L)
• TS Grande Ourse
• Lievre
• TS Planeys
• Lievre
• TS Planeys
• Chamois
• TS de la Pointe
• Mouflons
• TS Chery Nord

Restaurant: La Grande Ourse. Belated Valentine's Day celebration. Hog roast and all the trimmings for me, and special seafood tartiflette for Alison.  Both excellent.

• Churson
• Gazelle
• Le Petit Train
• Chavannes Express
• Bruyeres
• Folliets du Golf
• Stade

The Les Gets Sign

You've heard of the Hollywood sign.  Well today we visited the next best thing: the Les Gets sign.  Also filled in a couple of runs in Les Gets that we had not previously skied.

Weather: sunny, -1 deg.
Snow: good

Lifts/Pistes:

• Pleny
• Belvedere
• Crocus
• Bruyeres
• Chavannes Express
• Gentianes
• Chavannes Express
• Bleuet
• Chavannes Express
• Piste Mauve
• Orchis
• Chavannes Express
• Bruyeres
• Folliets du Golf
• Piste A
• Piste R
• Piste F
• Piste H

Avoriaz - filling in the gaps

As you might expect, after more than six weeks of skiing here, we have done most of the runs in Morzine and Avoriaz. However, one or two gaps still to be filled in.

Weather: sunny
Snow: fresh.

Lifts/Pistes:

• Prodains 
• Tour 
• Prolays
• TS Leche
• TS Mossette
• Abricotine
• TS Cubore - Montriond
• Les Lanches
• TS Choucas

Restaurant: Opadcha

Great outdoor table overlooking the start of the Swiss Wall.  Fun watching the unsuspecting skiers launching themselves and their families into the abyss.

• Alpages
• TS de Fornet
• Snowcross Marmotte
• Retour Chavanette
• TS lac Interets
• Bleue d'Arare

Cocktail Stop:

Ice Bar - mohitos, no need for extra ice.

• Bleue d'Arare
• Prodains

All the Way to Chatel

Having previously only gone into the Chatel sector for a few runs, today's mission was to ski all the way down to the village.  Possible reconnaissance for a Portes du Soleil grand tour maybe?

Weather: sunny
Snow: fresh.

Lifts/Pistes:

• Prodains 
• Tour 
• Combe a Floret
• Chaux Fleurie
• Les Rochassons
• Pierre Longue
• Chaux des Rosees
• Les Blattins
• TS des Combes
• Le Linga
• TC du Linga
• TS de l'Echo Alpin
• Les Combes
• TS de Cornebois
• Les Rennes

Restaurant: Bois Prin - steak and chips.  OK but not as good as the one Alison had here on our previous visit.

• TS des Rochassons
• Chaux Fleurie
• TS Lindarets
• Boulevarde des Skierus
• Prodains

Still to do:

We have yet to take a bus to the other side of Chatel to ski the many runs on that side  of the mountain. Also, link in to Morgins.

Les Gets Again

Weather: sunny, strong gusty winds, -6 deg.

Lifts/Pistes:

• Pleny
• Belvedere
• Crocus Bruyere
• Chavannes Express
• Violette
• Grians d'Or
• Renardiere
• Grains d'Or
• Vorosses
• la Turche
• Melezes
• Perrieres Express
• Melezes
• Renardiere
• Ranfoilly Express
• Tulip
• Mouille aux Chats
• Sautenaillies 
• Grains d'Or
• Myrtilles
• Nauchets Express
• Bruyere
• Folliets du Golf

Lunch: Vaffieu - classic tarte Vaffieu.

• Stade

A Wrong Turn in Avoriaz

I have been wanting to try the Prodains run that goes from Avoriaz 1800 down to valley level at Prodains, but until today had not got around to it  Thanks to a wrong turn coming down the Arare piste, I ended up on this run with no way back to Avoriaz centre.  So down to Prodains it was.  Alison, thinking that I knew what I was doing, followed me down to the bottom.  But thanks to the delay and lack of mobile phone signal, it took us the rest of the morning to get back in contact.  Anyway, an opportunity for us each to do our own thing in the morning, which in my case was to try out the Marmottes snowcross off-piste are that had been closed until recently.

Weather: sunny on the slopes (but foggy in the valley). -6 deg.
Snow: good everywhere.

Lifts/pistes

• Prodains
• Lac-Intrets
• Bleue d'Arare
• Vaineuve
• Crot
• Prodains
• Lac-Intrets
• Bleue du Lac
• Fornet
• Bleue du Fornet
• Choucas
• Les Lanches
• Cubore
• Patenaille
• Les Lanches
• Choucas
• Blanchot
• Bleue du Lac
• Fornet
• Snowcross Marmotte
• Retour Chavanette
• Tour
• Boulevarde des Skieurs

Lunch at Les Trappeurs:  well deserved beers, omelette for me and a very sub-standard carbonara for Alison.

• Lac-Intrets
• Bleue du Lac
• Fornet
• Bleue du Fornet
• Choucas
• Bleue de Chavanette
• Choucas
• Alpages
• Fornet
• Snowcross Marmotte
• Retour Chavanette
• Tour
• Boulevarde des Skieurs

Apart from losing each other, a good day's skiing.

Les Crosets

Time to return to Switzerland after our recent massive snowfalls When we went with Jonathan at New Year it was all looking very sad and brown.  Now all that has changed. Some great snow and skiing conditions, at least initially.

Weather: Morning - Sunny, afternoon dense fog.  -5 deg.
Snow: fresh

Lifts/pistes:

• Prodains
• Tour
• Mossette
• TS de Mossette - France
• Grande Conche
• TS Grand Conche
• Mossettes
• Crosets
• Marcheuson
• TS  de  Mossettes - Suisse
• Mossettes
• Crosets
• Marcheuson
• Lechereuse
• TK de Ripaille
• Ripaille

Restaurant: les Marmottes - great ambience, decor, friendly staff.  

• TS de Pauvre Conche
• Pauvre Conche
• TS  de  Mossettes - Suisse
• Grande Conche
• Abricotine
• Les Brochaux 
• Creux
• Boulevarde des Skieurs
• Prodains

Difficult return journey with virtually zero visibility in the fog.

Les Gets Quickie

Only time for a short afternoon ski today because of work commitments in the morning.
Weather: hazy sun, -1 deg.

Lifts/pistes:

• Pleny
• Belvedere
• Crocus
• Bryuyere
• Chavannes Express
• Pist Mauve
• La Croix
• Belle Mouille
• Charniaz express
• Chevrelles
• Troncs
• Les Freux
• Chamois
• TS des Fys
• Piste N
• Piste B
• Piste D
• Stade

Martin Comes to Town

By the end of this season, all the family will have visited us in Morzine.  Having had Jessica, Adam and Claire over Christmas, and Jonathan at New Year, this weekend it was Martin's turn to sample the delights of the Portes du Soleil.
Taking a break from doing black runs with his stag weekend buddies, he joined us on a more leisurely tour of Morzine/Les Gets.  We we fortunate to have a sunny break in the otherwise almost continuous snowfall that we have experienced here over the past few days.  So great snow and sunshine.

Weather:
Sunny in the morning then cloudy with snow in the afternoon.  -5 deg.
Snow: fresh and lots of it.  Too much in some places as many of the higher runs closed because of avalanche risk.

Lifts/pistes:

• Pleny
• Piste N
• Nabor
• Les Chardons
• Bruyere
• Chavannes Express
• Violette
• La Rosta
• Campanule
• Mouille aux Chats
• Tulip (L)
• Ranfoilly express
• Tulip
• La Rosta
• Eglantine
• Mouille aux Chats
• Sauternelles
• Mouille aux Chats
• Tulip (L)
• Nauchets Express
• Cheverelles

Restaurant:

Le Grand Pre - nothing too fancy, just burger and omelette.

• Troncs
• les Freux
• Chamois
• Retour des Nants

Next family due out in Morzine: Nick and Katrina.

Super Morzine

Quite a lot of snow coming down today but still worth going out for a few runs in the afternoon.
Weather: cloudy, snowing, -1 deg.
Snow: fresh

Lifts/pistes:

• Super Morzine
• TS Zore
• Seraussaix
• TS Proclu
• Proclu
• TS Seraussaix
• Baron
• TK Baron
• Zore
• TS Zore
• Tetras
• TS Zore
• Tetras

Vin chaud at L'Passage

• Super Morzine

Chamossiere

Weather:
Cloudy at first, then sunny, about -1 deg.
10cm new snow

Lifts/Pistes:

• Pleny
• Bellevedere
• Granges 
• Charniaz Express
• Chevrelles
• Charniaz Express
• Piste Mauve
• la Croix
• Belle Mouille
• des Tetes
• les Blanchots
• Chamossiere Express
• Arbis
• Choucas
• Troncs Express
• Raverettes
• Pointe de Nyon
• Aigle Rouge
• Raverettes
• Chamois
• des Fys

Restaurant:

Vaffieu - excellent duck pot au feu.

Lifts/Pistes:

• Granges
• Charniaz Express
• Piste Mauve
• la Croix
• Pist Mauve
• la Croix
• Bruyere
• Folliets du Golf
• Piste C
• Piste F

Les Gets

After being closed for several weeks with mechanincal problems, the Ranfoilly Express chair finally reopened this week, providign the perfect excuse to revisit one of our favourite pistes: Tulip.

Weather:
Sunny and cold, -6 deg.

Snow: 5cm fresh snow from previous day.

Lifts/pistes:

• Pleny
• Belvedere
• Crocus
• Bruyere
• Chavannes Express
• Violette
• la Rosta
• Reine des Pres
• Mouille aux Chats
• Tulip(L)
• Mouille aux Chats
• Sauternailles
• la Rosta
• Campanule
• la Rosta
• Eglantine
• Ranfoilly Express
• Tulip
• Mouille aux Chats

Lunch:
Wetzet - does a good soup with all the extras.  Also ketchup in squeezy bottles- very important!

• Tulip(L)
• Nauchets Express
• Choucas
• Troncs
• Les Freux
• Chamois
• Fys
• Piste F
• Atray
• Pleny

Avoriaz: Fornet

A short ski today.

Weather:
Freezing fog in valley and low cloud at 1800 level in Avoriaz.  Sunny above cloud level.

Lifts/pistes:

• Prodains
• Lac-Intrets
• Bleu d'Arare
• Lac-Intrets
• Bleue du Lac
• Fornet
• Bleue du Fornet
• Choucas
• Chavanette
• Tour
• Cretes
• Boulevarde des Skieurs
• Prodains

Back home for lunch!

Mont Chery

Weather: sunny, about 0 deg.

Lifts/runs:

• Pleny
• Belvediere
• Crocus
• Bruyere
• Petit Train
• Mont Chery
• la Pointe
• Epervier (R)
• la Pointe
• Epervier (L)
• la Pointe
• Chamois
• Grand Ourse
• Ourson
• Grand Ourse
• Chamois
• la Pointe

Restaurant:

La Grand Ourse

Excellent meal: duck breast salad and kangaroo burger.

Brit owner and all brit staff!

• Ourson
• Chamois (lower half: never do this run unless there is lots of snow on the gorund)
• Petit train
• Chavannes
• la Croix
• Bruyiere
• Folliets du Golf
• Piste N
• Piste B

Great skiing on Mont Chery.  Best of the year so far.

Chatel

I though that it might be useful to log all our ski outings on this blog so that we can remind ourselves what worked and what did not when we come to show visitors around the Portes du Soleil later in the season.  So here goes:

Weather: sunny, about 0 deg.
Snow: Very good.
Runs/lifts:

• Super Morzine
• Serrausaix
• Proclou
• Combe a Floret
• Parchets
• Ardents
• Chaux Fleurie
• Le Chesery
• Chaux des Rosees
• Les Blattins
• Des Combes
• Les Combes
• Des Combes
• Les Combes
• Cornebois
• Pre la Joux

Restaurant:
Plaine Dranse: Le Bois Prin
- great steak and vegetarian tartiflette

Runs/lifts:

• Rochassons
• Grand Plan
• Lindarets
• Boulevard des Skieurs
• Prodains