Explore europe in a campervan

Since we now live in Seytroux, about 7km from the good slopes of Morzine/Avoriaz, I have taken to building a snow park in the back garden! I still drive into Morzine for snowboarding but only when the conditions are very good and the road is drivable.

On the first day I spent creating the first jump, I had my usual snowboarding gear on. Within 15 minutes I had my coat off, hat off and was down to just my hoody.   It’s hard, hot work collecting up snow and trying to compact it into a jump but good exercise I suppose. The first incarnation of my jump or kicker as it’s called in snowboarding was around 1.5ft high and really did kick you up in the air. So after the first run I had to build up the jump a little more, trying to make it longer and not throw you backwards/up quite as much. By the time it was getting dark the jump was much better, I had a few runs on it but as it was nearly dark I called it a day. More >>

For anyone arriving at this blog with the intention of reading about travels relating to the title I must apologise.  We’re not kiting right now, I’m not boarding and we’re not living in our van.  We are in Europe though, in the French Alps and it’s been snowing a lot.  Hope that’s cleared things up and saved a couple of people some time.

I went to the doctor’s this week for the 21 day xray on my broken wrist, when I might have had my huge hand-to-upper-arm plaster removed.  No luck.  The xray showed the bone hasn’t healed enough yet, so I have to go back next week.  Quite a quick visit for €120!  I should think myself lucky though - while I was waiting in the xray room I heard a girl at the front desk -

Girl (posh English voice) “I, er, seem to have hurt my leg”
Doctor’s assistant “In French please”
Girl (rather impatiently) “I don’t speak French.  Does the doctor speak English?”
Doctor’s assistant “No”
Girl “Er, well, thank you, goodbye”

It has been noted before that the French can be less than helpful if you don’t speak French but I thought that was pretty cold-hearted seeing as she was injured!  Especially as I know that the doctor and his assistant both speak English to me when I can’t understand them.  Moral of the story - bring a phrase book and at least TRY!

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Leaving Chamonix on Saturday was not made easy by the low temperatures.  After joining Joy, Oz, Anthony and Damien for a cooked breakfast, then saying goodbye, we started packing up the van up to move for the first time in 5 days.  It was the first time that even the waste pipe from the sink has frozen - after pouring in a pan of hot water with no success we just had to leave the water in the sink.  The slush that had been thrown into the wheel arches had frozen solid too so we had to chip enough off to be sure the ice wouldn’t interfere with the wheels!  We’ll definitely get rid of any slush build up as soon as we stop in future.  The roads were pretty clear though so no problems getting back to Morzine.

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Our days in Chamonix were spent with Simon on the mountains and me in the apartment where his friends were staying. Simon first met Anthony in Chamonix several years ago when he joined him and a mutual friend, Damien, at the last minute - booking a flight for the following day when he heard they were heading to the slopes! Anthony is a magician and came out with his assistant and mate Joy, and her boyfriend Oz.

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I’m writing from the van parked up in Chamonix, getting a tiny bit of sun, and hopefully posting from a nearby bar a little later. The weather is cold but really clear - from Simon’s text it’s perfect conditions on the mountain (where he is). Grrrr!

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My second visit to the medical centre for an xray confirmed that the break is correctly set in the cast. Click here to have a look! I will need to return in ten days for a further xray to check progress and again to have a smaller cast put on. Of course, that’s assuming we’re still in France…

We’ve spent most of the last three days looking at lists and noticeboards, making calls and asking everyone we can think of about accomodation for the rest of the season. We’ve tried the tourist information centre, estate and letting agents, websites, forums and asking everyone we meet.

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Excuse any mistakes please as I’m typing one-handed - more on that later…

On Sunday we didn’t go to Thonon as there was a chance the petrol station might be shut - and we wated time to test the battery more. Instead we spent a couple of hours in the internet cafe before heading up the mountain for a few (VERY icy) runs.

The drive to Thonon for gas the following day was rather snowy. We put the snow chains on to get out of the car park and had to keep them on for about 8 miles! Being slightly wiser, we put them on the rear wheels as our Mercedes Sprinter is rear-wheel-drive. It was a lot less of a bumpy ride than when we previously put them on the front wheels! Surprisingly it was snowing all the way to Lake Geneva, where it is usually green and spring-like.

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It wasn’t until I wrote some notes that I realised we have actually been quite busy - so I will TRY not to go on too much…

On Jan 1st we drove to a nearby hotel to park outside and borrow a little internet, then to the Carrefour car park to park for the night and see if we could get any internet there. No we couldn’t.

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Well, the lift that used to carry people up the side of the valley from the car park below the gondola was unreliable last year…and this year they seem to have given up on it. To make matters worse the steps up the slope have been inexplicably removed so without snow it is like walking up and down a mud slide; when it freezes in the town it will be even more treacherous!

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Our journey to Morzine in our campervan including mileage and diesel prices.

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