Snowshoeing - Part 1

Are you all wrapped up warm, got your snow shoes on and ready to tackle some steep ascents? Good, because you're about to come with me on the first day of our snowshoeing trip!

Staring from Plain Joux (1300 metres) we skirt above the Lac Vert....

That's a frozen lake down there

....and climb to Le Chatelet (1418 metres) for a coffee at the refuge  

Climbing to Ayeres des Rocs, we see where the Roman road headed to Martigny and admire the Fiz Mountain, the largest limestone plateau in Europe. 

Picnic spot 

Time for cake and tea by the fire... and a soak in the hot tub!

Les Houches

To set the scene, here's where we were based for our recent snowshoeing adventure in Les Houches, close to Chamonix, one of the oldest ski resorts in the French Alps, and host of the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

The rustic but very comfy Chalet Savoy

Sauna and hot tub with a spectacular view!

Dylan - the resident fox terrier who came out on all the walks

View from our chalet window

Another view from our chalet window

Sunset on The Fizz, as seen from that lovely hot tub!

Snow shadows

Snowshoe aka Nat's Big Foot

The perils of snowshoeing... huge blisters! Nothing like a bit of duct tape to keep blister pads in place...

More to follow soon!

I'm Back... And It's A Blogiversary!

Hello everyone!

Yes I'm back from my adventures in Chamonix with aching limbs, massive blisters and a spot of sun-on-snow burn, but otherwise, I'm more-or-less in one piece!

Loads of photos to share, but first, I need to get myself organised. So, here's a quick taster (an amuse-bouche maybe?) of where I've been...

Photo taken with my phone camera

Oh yes, and today 'Just Nat' turns 4! That means it's been four fantastic years of fascinating, fun, flabbergastingly futile posts from me.... and loads more to come in 2013.

Thanks to all my fabulous, faithful readers for sticking around... catch up with you all soon!

Nat

Here's To 2013...

Happy New Year dear and faithful readers of Just Nat! Here's hoping 2013 brings you all the good things in life... love, friendship, health and happiness!

I'll be seeing the new year in with some snow fun in the French Alps, so catch up with you all soon....

All the best

Nat

So This Is Christmas...

And what have I done?  Not been the greatest blogger of the year, that's for sure!  Hopefully, all that will change in the New Year...

In the meantime, wishing you all the happiest Christmas if you celebrate it, and good times even if you don't!

 

 See you all on the other side...

It Wasn't The End Of The World As We Know It...

Sombre

I was going to write a quick post to explain why I have been so absent lately. I was going to use the opportunity to have a bit of a moan about a certain client who does her best to 'make my life a living hell'.... but in the light of events that have unfolded around the world these past couple of days, how can I possibly think I'm having a hard time when others' lives have been destroyed.

At times like these, it's possible to despair over mankind. To quake at our seemingly endless capacity for inflicting such abhorrent cruelty on each other. Why do so many innocent people have to suffer so much at the hands of so few? Do we never learn from the tragedies that have gone before despite there being constant reminders everywhere we look? Perhaps none so poignant as the Holocaust Memorial near the Brandenburg Gate....

Photographs taken by me in Berlin

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it - always.”  Mahatma Gandhi