A cold walk

I decided not to ski today - my cold is not too bad but it has affected my ears a little and the altitude difference when going up and down the mountain has caused them to be either blocked or to pop open in a painful way, causing earache. Besides, it was the club ski races today which Luke and Gavin had entered, and I did not feel like standing on the side of the race piste for 2 hours while they raced. I was up very early, I saw Gavin and Luke off, then saw Adam and Molly off, (did I mention that Molly arrived last night?) as they were skiing on a different mountain, then once Thomas was up and settled down to do some more studying I set off on a walk.

It feels strange walking here without Murdoch. Today I went up the Monbiel Valley which was in deep shadow and therefore very frosty and icy. I had to be careful as parts were almost too slippery to walk on. The stream where Murdoch usually swims was frozen solid - if he was here, I wonder how his paws would have coped walking on such frozen and cold ground. After about an hour I could no longer feel my fingers and taking photos became tricky. This scene shows how frozen the path up the valley was, and even the swing bridge to cross the river was icy (I slipped walking on there!) I walked back at a very fast pace to try and warm up, but I remained frozen for the whole walk, which was over 10km. I have added an extra of a wooden barn with the sunlight coming over the mountain.

Back at the apartment I had lunch with Thomas, and then a bit later the skiers returned. Their racing went well, but no personal records were broken as it was quite icy. At least they did not fall as many other racers did.

I so enjoyed watching Ethel and Ernest last night - I think it should be shown in schools to kids to learn about life in England throughout WW2 and beyond, including the introduction of the welfare state.