Last two days of Alex & co., Hassocks and the first few days of Nevache

On my 69th birthday we motored into town after a few hours of shooting with the airgun by the male Grants in the garden and a visit up to Virágos for having a look at the camel and trying to find my cache. We did find it, but unfortunately the top is broken, so some maintenance will have to be done sometime. Callum had a minor disagreement with crickets, so the walk was cut short and we returned home.

Grandad is instructing the budding hunter

En route to town we stopped at a lovely lángos booth by the main road and had a few, with Callum having a burger, as usual. We will have to remember this lángos place, as the people there were very friendly and chatty and their lángos was first class.

The lonely Viragos camel with the droopy hump

And then in the evening we had my birthday dinner at the Kéhly, which was as lovely as it usually is. The environment, the service and especially the food is excellent and it never disappoints. At the end we drove Callum home and Alex with Meaghan walked home right across Margaret Island, which was very nicely finished for the FINA World Championships. They have discovered the  Palatinus baths and decided to take Callum there on the Friday, while I packed and did my last minute shopping.

Callum at the Kehly with his beloved Schnietzel

Talking of which, we went to get a spare battery for my new camera, as the old one is definitely going to be chucked. It has got a piece of dirt in the middle of the lens again which is aggravating. We were  only half way there when we realised that we forgot to take the camera with us, so that trip was wasted, but at least we knew that they do have spare batteries for most types now, so we called them with the battery code number and they had one.  I sent Roy back later for it. Before getting home we bought two magic tricks for Callum, which we hope he liked once he got home.

And then on Saturday Roy did two rounds of the airport, first in the early morning for Alex and me and later for Meaghan and Callum. All was well and we got to Luton with no hassle whatsoever. While waiting for our luggage we bought the train tickets and we didn't have to wait for too long for a train, which then turned out not to stop at Hassocks, so we got off at Gatwick, but the wait wasn't that long there either. After our arrival at Stephen's place we spent the rest of Saturday playing with the children and having a rest after a long day.

Sarah James

In the evening I met up with a long lost ex-neighbour, Sarah James, who came over to babysit Elian adn Xander, which was nice. Lucy went off to her tennis match and Stephen, Alex and me went to the Komedia where he was compereing with his arm in a sling. One of the acts was extremely funny, but I was really tired, so after him I practically slept through the rest.

At The Bull

On Sunday we went out to The Bull in Henfield, which is a nice pub, with good food and a lovely garden for the children. Stephen was not at his best, as he was on strong painkillers and worrying about his operation on Wednesday, but the little ones were really lovely and Alex enjoyed playing with them a little.

On Monday we got up early to catch the train to the airport and all went extremely smoothly. The plane did leave about 35 minutes late, but made some of it up and we didn't miss our bus in Malpensa. This bus turned out to be a real gem: modern, comfortable, extremely well air conditioned and fast.  We got in to Turin Porta Susa station 10 minutes early and walked to Porta Nuova in about 25 minutes. We had a drink while waiting for the train and caught the 4.15pm for Bardonecchia. 
Ginny picked us up and we were indoors at her place well before dinner.

New staircase with old timbers at Nevache

The house has come along a very long way since 2 years ago, and now they can actually put up 10 people, which is amazing. They also had Richard's sister visiting with a friend, so with us currently there are 6 people here and another one arriving tonight. By then Alex would have gone off to his IEC meeting, so all is well.

 Lac Laramon

Yesterday and today Alex and I were doing some hiking, as these were the only two days we could go out together and enjoy the heavenly environment in the valley of the Claree river. 2 years ago we spent most of our free time in the village and while we did go hiking once together and once with friends, we kept to the valley floor.

Double selfie in the mountains

This time we decided to do some climbing and both yesterday and today we climbed a great deal and the views were breathtaking indeed.  Yesterday's tally was 9km with nearly 600 metres of climb to a couple of lakes high up on the Northern side of the valley.

Today we did a little bit less than yesterday, this time on the Southern side of the valley and on both days we had lunch in a refuge or auberge in the wilderness. Today's tally was 8.4km with 390 metres of climb in lots of lovely countryside. While yesterday had the lakes, today we walked along the river and also saw a fantastic set of waterfalls. Yesterday's highest point was 2448 metres, while today's was at a modest, but still beautifully lofty 2070 metres.

On the trail

The views are really to die for and the two-summitted lovely mountain that I christened the Fishtail, was visible most of the time. I took hundreds of photos, some of which you can see here. Tonight Ginny will deliver Alex to Bardonecchia and I will not see him until Monday. I will also be on my own for 3 days from tomorrow morning until Saturday afternoon/evening, as Ginny, Richard, Alison and Corry are going for a high level hike to some glaciers in the next valley.

A gorgeous waterfall just before the auberge where we had lunch

I hope to have a rest after these two arduous hikes, but I will also have to do some washing for Alex and shopping for a Hungarian meal that I offered to cook on Sunday. We ended up with an unused set of minibus tickets today, so I might also take that to the top of the valley and walk back down, if I feel like it and the weather is good any time in the next three days.

Looking towards the top of the Claree valley

Next  post will probably be from Bardonecchia, but it might just be from home if there is not enough time or the WiFi is too much hassle there.