Thursday 17th December

Woke up to a very cold motorhome! This was probably to be expected mind, as we were 1250m up in the Mountains in December and this would have to be something we would need to get use to. The day was foggy and the roads not great to drive from the snow last night, and Lorna had the task today of guiding us safely back down the mountain roads in these conditions. The fog was clearing when we came into the Pyrenees national park, en route to the last ski station Gavarnie, and the scenery was spectacular mountains covered in snow and gushing clear mountain rivers. We came into Gavarnie but as it was lunch and everywhere would be closed decided to carry on up to the ski station that was still closed. Now this is where the road became interesting and Lorna got a little nervous, as the roads got smaller and higher with hairpin bends and slush and snow still on the roads. So I took over driving and when we started slipping on the roads a little we decided it was time to try these new snow chains and they did work well, grip was suddenly something we once again had as we continued the up the crazy road with great views but sheer drops! We then reached the ski station 1700m up, and new straight away this was where we wanted to ski. The sun was out shining on the tips of the mountains, and all around such wonderful views. The scenery was picturesque and we knew we were high up by the fact the mountain opposite us had clouds around it the same level we were! After a walk around we started the task of heading back down the mountain road we could see winding down before us. Before we entered the village we passed a snow covered Aire surrounded by mountain views, that we will probably use as long as we could put up with the cold. Back in the town we decided that when we came to ski we would use the ski bus up to the resort then doing that drive again! We parked up and had a wonder round, everything including the Tourist Information Office was closed and it was past the French Lunch break. The village was dead, apart from the odd person around preparing the village and their shops for the stat of the skiing season in a couple of days time. We really liked the views, village and ski resort and decided this was where would spend Christmas and learn to ski, that is along as their ski school could speak English!

We stayed the night up in the car park 1300m up but decided we would head back down to lower grounds for a few days after before we came back up to ski. As apparently the temperature rises a degree every 150 metres down, but don’t quote me on that.