On the road again
(Ying, Suzy, me and Ian on the road on the way back from skiing: Cairngorms, UK)
As promised. I am back again from skiing! We made it there and back without any major errors, a massive relief to me. I am quite nervous of skiing, having only ever been once – I ended up giving myself some nasty minor injuries that time (my thumb bent backwards and went a plummy black colour and I fell painfully on my backside) but luckily this time I am unscathed. We rented this beast of a four wheel drive, knowing that the driving conditions could be bad, but it saw us through everything. Yesterday there was fresh snowfall in Scotland again, making our return journey rather labourious, but had we become stuck in the car, I think we would have been alright.
We travelled to Aviemore on Friday evening, ready to ski the following morning. I was a little nervous, but still managed to eat most of a Scottish breakfast in the hotel. Once on the funicular railway heading up the slopes, goggles on, rented boots on and rented skis in hand, I realised I had not been given ski poles. My initial panic subsided quickly as I generally find them a hindrance anyway. The slopes at Aviemore are longer and better than I anticipated – Suzy had primed us to expect the worst; rocks poking above the snow, biting winds and blizzards, poor snow quality. Aside from the chafing breezes up at the top, I found no fault with them, in fact, I think it was altogether the best day’s skiing I have ever done. Since I had prepared Suzy and Ian with tales of my skiing incompetence, they were impressed that I didn’t break myself, nor fell too often and too hard. There was one point that I overtook Ying, Suzy and Ian in an impromptu speed dash to the ski lift. I didn’t want to totally admit that I was a little bit out of control, but I kept upright and managed to stop without slicing anyone’s legs from underneath them.
I’ll try to put up 2 posts today to make up for my weekend of silence. This is 1 of 2.
–Today Rosie is tying up loose ends before she heads home tomorrow for Christmas in Carlisle, UK –
oooh very lands-end catalogue 2011