The first of many.............

Oooooh! Aching legs, a small blistered toe, creaky hip, - I've been x-country skiing today!

Christiane and I set off for Arvieux and had a great time with me trying to speak French and she trying to understand me - in between, we skied our legs to a stand still. The snow was good and the sunshine stayed with us most of the time. It was just as the sun dipped behind the mountains that we returned to the van.

{Back at the car park - now in the shade}

The reason this will be the first of many is we decided to buy season tickets for the whole 05/04 area for 'ski de fond'. So either there will be more days out or this will have been the most expensive day's x-country ever for us both!

{My Season ticket}

As we climbed back to the carpark, I lost concentration, so along with the other minor aches and pains which are developing, I have a bit of a bruise on my leg.  The worst thing was not the falling but the failing to get up again. I tried very hard for several minutes and eventually managed to remove a ski and stand up. To her credit, Christiane did not fall today, although we were both a bit wobbly at times.

I wore my new (bought for my birthday in September) Paramo Velez trousers and they were very comfortable. They don't flap - which makes them perfect for x-country. The leg vents were excellent to reduce the overheating I always experience when climbing. I did wear some woollen long johns underneath as the temperature today was never above -2 degrees and unlike my previous Paramo Cascadas there is not much weight to them. I have worn them a couple of times before for walking but I really wanted to give them a tryout for x-country skiing and snow-shoeing. So far - so good!

{Ladies Paramo Velez trousers}

We came back and enjoyed a cup of lovely jasmine tea with Him Indoors. The tea came from our Chinese trip and the box is emptying fast - it is delicious and very refreshing! Just the job...............