The progress from my severe spinal stenosis back in December/January continues, though at times it feels pitifully slow - though of course it is so much better then where we might have been.  After many years of our freewheeling lifestyle things appear to be changing at an unprecedented pace and keeping an even keel through the bumpy ride has been tricky, especially for me. Apart from my medical episode which has stopped me climbing and hillwalking, the two places we have spent the most time in the past fifteen years, Chez Arran and Babis Bar are in the process of changes of ow ..read more

Snowshoeing at Beille We left the Costa Blanca with some misgivings, we had been there quite a while and were well settled, plus I wasn't sure how I would cope with the travelling. In the event it all went as well as could be hoped for, we had five days in the Ebro Delta, a week plus at Chez Arran then made the long trip home via a flat calm crossing on the Santander > Plymouth ferry - which included a very smart upgrade - only the biggest cabin on the boat which even included a private balcony. Then six and a half months later we back in the UK to the inevitable mix of cold, crapp ..read more

Exploring the coast north of Altea February in the Costa Blanca Three weeks on and we are still seeing slow improvements in my stamina, balance and general fame of mind. I have walked 3kms a couple of times including 1.5km uphill towards the Albir lighthouse. I have been having weekly osteopath sessions and doing my exercises religiously several times a day. We are still miles from tackling steep or rough terrain but life is so much better than it might have been. Valentine's Day was especially memorable - the day I should have gone under the surgeon's knife but we walked the ..read more

Sherri guarding my chair So we bided our time for about a month waiting for my pre-op visits to the hospital, getting out every day in the sunshine but I was really struggling - at the worst it was four rests (on the small chair Sherri bought me) to cover the 300m or so to the Promenade. Then something odd happened - the aching in my legs faded, so we kicked the painkillers meds into touch - then I walked to the Prom without stopping - and day on day I got a little better, steadier on my feet and covering longer distances. After several days we began to think a small miracle may have ..read more

My Minder keeping a watchful eye  We assume it is sciatica - whatever it is, it has has pretty much floored me. We made it back to Chez Arran but I wasn't in a great state so we booked a Physio who was excellnt - loosening things up nicely. Then things got worse so we visited the 'emergencia' at the hospital in Foix - the doctor I saw was pretty dismissive - gave me a prescription and a form for a scan - the first available date was two months away!! About to spend 30 mins in a noisy tube So after a lot of stressing and throwing ideas around, plus asking questions on FB ..read more

Our pad at Mascarat - though not all of it  After a month of cool windy weather arriving back on the Costa Blanca was a complete tonic, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted as we enjoyed warm sunny days and glorious sunsets. We stopped in the same lovely apartment in Mascarat that we weathered Covid Lockdown 2 in, back in early 2021. I did a bit of climbing but felt vaguely ambivalent about it, not sure if that was because we know the area so well, or I was just happy to enjoy the sunshine without the need to keep scaring myself! The last supper, Pal and the final sun ..read more

You might guess it is windy around here  We are due back at Chez Arran mid-December for a couple of weeks cat-sitting so thought we had better crack on. A week in the mountains above Lourdes was very pleasant though the climbing was limited for a variety of reasons. Then south through the Pyrenees to Morata de Jalon, a place we last visited an amazing 19 years ago. It is a great area with a lot of climbing but for almost two weeks the wind has blown, occasionally roaring and on one occasion ripping tiles of roofs and hurling a big wheelie bin into the side of our car - bugger. At ..read more

Calames and mackerel sky  We climbed with Colin around Briançon for a few days then he was away to Spain with a car load of stuff he was transporting. We stayed a little longer then headed down to Buis le Baronnies, where, once again it was too hot for comfort. There was some confusion about our leaving date, and on the Wednesday morning we had to pack the car in a rush and hit the road. We headed to Chez Arran a day early, luckily they had space for us. In the event, John's contract to work in South Sudan was late, so we were only needed for two day's cat sitting - the two week ..read more

The Maurienne - we like it around here We had just over a week in the UK and than it was off again - Sheffield > Portsmouth > St Malo > Avallon. The only fly in the ointment was the emergence of a heat bubble just before we set off - the week we spent near Avallon was 33-35C everyday which way too hot to climb. Basically we hunkered down, made a real effort to keep the bedrooms cool and went for gentle local walks. Our local crag - 120 routes, minutes from the parking Then it was away to the mountains - five hours to the relative coolness of Aussois up at 4,800' and ..read more

Last stop in Norway - Thorbjørn's cabin at Riksgransen Norway was great, the weather was kind, things were cheaper than we expected and we got all the photos we needed - the drone was a massive help with that job. I actually managed to crash it for the first time, clipping the tip of tree on the way into land. It was a spectacular tumble through the tree and down a rubble bank. Fortunately damage was pretty minimal - a split blade and a couple of scuffs - though my ego took more of a battering. Then it was a three plane hop back to the UK to get ready for our upcoming trip to France a ..read more