Mountain biking

Finally after living here for 7 weeks (time flies)...we got ourselves on a bike....

As I was almost born on a bike (everybody cycles in Holland) I thought I would be ok.

But we got mountains here and that is a little different then cycling in Tulip land..FLAT!!!

We went up the Super Morzine towards Avoriaz and from there to Lindaret. All the ski lifts got special "hooks" on the side so you (well somebody else does it for you) can hang the bike on the lift and off you go!!! The track we did was amazing, it is all through the trees and the scenary was fantastic.

When we arrived at Lindaret I was hungry again (of course)...and we had a coke and some fries (with mayonnaise - being dutch) and we made our way up back to Avoriaz to go "downhill" to Morzine. Beautiful view over the valley!! But that road is sooo fast. Unfortunately everybody had to wait for me but he.. I didn't fall and I had a good look around!! A bit the way I ski to be fair.

Arrived in Morzine I decided that I had enough and cycled back to the chalet.

But I definitely will "drag" myself on a bike again! There is so much to cycle here. And for only 15 euros (day pass for the ski lift) you can do a lot of cycling in the area. I might even consider to buy a bike..(next season).

We are now in the process of getting the chalet ready for new guests and family! Phil's parents are coming for a few days on their way back from the South of France. Will be great to catch up with them. When they leave we have a group of B&B's in! So not a lot of cooking to do..

Looking forward seeing a lot of people arriving in the chalet..as this place is so big with only us + Otto!!

The weather is fantastic at the moment.. a lot of sun and the forecast is good!!

We had a great day yesterday. We went to the 4x4 trial in Morzine. Attached some pictures of the day at Les Prodains (morzine). We enjoyed a really nice afternoon watching the cars and had a little snack..(fries and sausages)! very nice.

Before this we had a great walk around the area with some good friends of us. It was a bit of a climb but the views we had (see attached) says enough...

There are countless of walks still to do..which we will do over the next coming weeks.
Weather is great this morning and hopefully this will stay so we finally are able to go to the swimming pool for a few hours.. I can't wait to jump into the water.

Regarding the removal truck...well this thing finally showed up..24 hours later then expected! Excellent service from them. But besides all this..we are more then fully operated now with Xbox, DVD player etc.etc.etc.

Otto is OK as well...!!

Well our cycling guests have left after a week staying with us. We had a fantastic week with them and they had the opportunity to watch the tour life!! Chalet is very empty at the moment..so we are already looking forward to our new guests arriving in a weeks time!

Attached some pictures of the party enjoying a 4 course dinner...it was a pleasure cooking for them as the returned every evening empty plates. We are very much looking forward seeing them again!! Even if they were asking for custard 24/7 (haha sorry Mark)!!

To give you small idea what they have eaten.....(2 kilo mince meat, 4 cans of kidney beans, 15 jacket potatoes, 5 kilo chicken, 2 kilo pork, 1 kilo pasta, 2 kilo of rice, 1 kilo couscous , 17 baguettes, 24 litres of milk, chocolate fudge cake, brownies, banoffee pie apple crumble (on request), cheese etc. and still.....the came back for more..All successfully burned off with endless miles of climbs, col's and tours around the valley!!!

Today we are going to the 4x4 Trial, at les Prodains. Test stages started at 8am on Saturday with lots for spectators to see all day and some snacks to look forward to (mussels and fries, ham on the bone and lumberjack's soup) plus a traditional yodelling band!!! Will be fun..

Tomorrow to Thonon to get the number plates sorted for the "snowmobile" and to pick up some shelves for the mini chalet...

We have finished with the garden...just in time to welcome our first 10 road cyclist!
It is hard work to cater for them but the group is good fun and clear all their 4 courses...It is absolutely amazing to see how much they eat..but with an average of 50 miles a day it is no surprise...yesterday was the first day that the didn't like to have a cheese platter...This was after homemade potato and leek soup/ chili with 15 jacket potatoes and a delicious homemade banoffee pie.

Otto is having great fun with them..and get's loads of attention! We take him every day for his early morning swim in Lake Montriond specially with the weather being so hot. We have been there many times but every time I arrive I am stunnend by the scenery..

The weather at the moment is fantastic, an average of 30 degrees, lots of sun..it makes the place completely different. The forecast for this PM is thunder..but tomorrow it will be 26 degrees again!

At this moment in time we are waiting for our removal truck to arrive...the removal company said it will be late PM. Unfortunately the driver doesn't pick up his phone..So with some luck we are able to meet our friends in Morzine and have some nice dinner with them (today is our day off) and by the time we will tuck into our steak we have most of our stuff unpacked. Will be Xmas at Chalet Peillex this PM....If we are unable to unpack the boxes..we can easily hide them from our guests. Which is a bonus...but I am confident enough that the stuff will turn up in time and there will be no boxes in the boot room, rooms and mezzanine.

We have finally got all the paperwork together from a variety of sources to apply for french number plates for the "snowmobile". So hopefully in a few weeks we will have a french registered car...this will be a worry less. We are now looking into buying as well a 4x4 mini bus for the winter so we can bring our guests to and from the slopes.

Finally an update

Many things have happened over the last few weeks...to start off our personal belongings still haven't arrived..but we finally got a date from the removal company 17Th July!!

Thankfully the chalet is completely decorated and stuffed with thousands of plates so therefore business continues as normal.

Our good friend Hardy came over last week and we did many activities..one of the highlights of the week was the music festival in St.Jean D'aulps..which turned out to be a great evening with live bands, a DJ with "smoke" and many locals. There was a beer / wine tent, picknick tables and a pizza van..and music from my dutch past!!! Good old mainland Europe tunes...As you can imagine I was in my element...

Furthermore we hired a horse for a hour in the center of Morzine, the have got great stables and you can ride a horse for 1 up to 3 hours. You must book in advance as it get very busy over the summer. The scenery around here is amazing and we rode through woods, the river etc. Unfortunately for Hardy..her horse was more interesting in eating leaves then "wobble" around the woods..but she had a great time.

One of the other things we did was Hydro speeding in the river Dranse. We had a few days with rain and therefore the river was a little fuller and choppier then normal. We are definitely going back to do it again!

At the moment the passPortes du Soleil is being held..every year at the beginning of the summer thousands of Mountainbike fans are arriving in the valley to discover over 80 km of MTB circuits. There are a lot of different places where you can try the local delicatessen like Abondance cheese, local ham, wine etc.

We are very much looking forward to many other events that are planned this summer..One of them is the Harley Davidson Rally (13th & 14th July) in Morzine. We have heard many good stories from our friends about this event so can't wait.

At the moment we are busy with preparing the chalet and garden ready for our next guests..

PS: Otto is having a great time...he has his daily swims in Lake Montriond, walks in the mountains and furthermore he is relaxing..as you can see.