The Daredevil

Last of the Summer Wine Skiing Trip

You certainly need a head for hights for this one!

This is the very brave Scott on a tandem paragliding flight over Meribel. He must be crazy if you ask me, & although I'd like to like to do it, it really isn't for me. Scott on the other hand really doesn't need asking twice & it just so happened that he slid off the chair lift & parked up right next to the stand where the man was selling this 'service'. He was then strapped to the man & off they set, straight down the hill. The parachute rose suddenly, filled with air & then before he knew it, he was soaring in the mountains. He must have been up there 20 or so minutes & he said the views were fantastic. It was quite something.

We had a stunning day today - beautiful, clear blue sky & crisp, white snow were the perfect combo. The freshness of the day helped greatly in some of the team's recovery, me included I think.. You might be unsuprised to discover that we went for a night on the town last night & did have our sights set on clubbing!

It all began with a bit of compulsary apre ski, stretching to some pre dinner aperitifs, a little wine during dinner & a few drinkies post supper.. & then we had the choice of a 60 euro taxi ride to Meribel (where apparently the real night life was at) or to venture to the one & only club in Brides-Les-Bains??!! Well, with an early rise & skiing on the agenda tomorrow, thankfully, we chose Bride.. & so with my Dad & Geoff (the only two senior members to join us, which was a real treat) accompanying myself, Will & Scott, we made for town.

To cut a medium, boring sized story short, the club was awful - the only people that were in there were two middle aged women, dancing very badly to some tragic french music.. we finished our drinks & left promptly. We found a bar down the road & enjoyed a greatly increased busy atmosphere & a few German wheatbeers.

Flashforward to this morning, & with a few sore heads (Will) & much lack of sleep (all of us!), we all trickled down to breakfast, to prepare ourselves for the day. The 25 minute gondala up to Meribel was touch & go with Will, who missed breakfast, feeling every bump & rock of the bubble car & on the verge of making quite a scene. Thankfully he didn't & so we cracked on with our full day of skiing!

And we'll have no mention of the Rugby. We did just about manage to stay awake to watch at the hotel in the evening. Not sure why we bothered though. Hayden, whose 71th birthday it was today (& he still skis, amazing!), is also a Wales fan, so he made quite sure we knew the result & was proudly strutting around the rest of the night.

No clubbing tonight. Quiet night in.