I can ski!

Its true! We spent the weekend with Ian's dad and Jacy in their new home near Tarbes, and spent two days skiing in the Pyrenees at La Mongie. It took me a while to get the hang of it (this picture is after about an hour), but by the second day I was relatively convincing!

Starting to ski, a bit
I was most impressed with the whole area, and not just because of the wonderful weather! It was pretty cold - below zero everyday when we left the house - but the sun was so warm that at lunch time we could sit outside without lots of coats and gloves.

The whole region is pretty beautiful - there is a giant flat plateaux covered in little villages and small market towns and then the Pyrenees suddenly appear. The foothills are really rounded and green and studded with elongated traditionally french villages which look like they haven't really been touched for the last 100 years! I don't suppose I'm ever going to be a great fan of ski resorts - after all they are giant lumps of metal and plastic and concrete and nasty hotel blocks plonked down on the side of what could be a beautiful mountain. I'd love to go up to a bit where there aren't ski-lifts and hotels and see the actual mountains. And walking here in the summer would be great - there are loads of trails marked to little lakes and gullies. Its pretty untouristy here at the minute - mainly french people - I wonder what the summer is like....

The view from the edge of Pujo