Trip to Chamonix

When we left Chamonix at the end of last winter we left behind some furniture and all our ski stuff because there wasn't room in Martha (the car) for it. With the ski season rapidly approaching (the local area opens on Thurday) we needed to get up there and get everything.
So we hired a big box van and made a flying visit.

It took about 10 hours to drive up there with about an hour stop altogether for petrol and snacks. It is around 900km, most of the way is fast toll road, but there was a bit of cross country and in the mountains that slows things down a lot. Plus the van could only just manage 130km (which is the max speed on the motorway) downhill with the wind behind it. There were slower vehicules on the road though!

The dog was impressively well behaved, and just snoozed at Doug's feet only getting crazy excited at service stations where she wanted to play with the lorries. It rained most the way and was snowing hard when we arrived. Just as well we weren't any later (was 7pm ish) as we might have had problems getting up the steep road to the flat.

We were there two days and three evenings. Apart from the 5 showers we spent the days walking the dog in our favorite bits of Chamonix (and doing some packing) and the evenings going to our fave restaurants. We took the dog in to a restaurant one lunch time and she behaved astonishingly well (given past performances) just lying down and staring around, she didn't jump on a waiter or anything. After that we ventured to take her out with us to the restaurant and then bar on the last evening. She behaved very well again and made a lot of friends. One guy in particular loved dogs and let her lick all over his head, ears and nose which she LOVED (weird animal).
During the day she had great fun playing in the snow. I will put some videos in a separate post.

In Chamonix

Chamonix and mountains behind

View from above the flat

Rhoda and faithful hound

Doug and faithful hound

Packing didn't take quite as long as we expected. Particularly we had been dreading getting the sofabed out the flat as it is very VERY heavy and we really struggled getting it in to the flat. In the end it wasn't as bad as we expected, either we have got stronger or it has got lighter.

Getting the oven out was quite a trial. We had to dismantle a lot.

Still plenty to go

Taking a rest

 We had to get the van back by 6pm and allowing time for getting up the drive and unpacking and filling with diesel we decided this meant we had to get up at 5.30am and leave by 6.30am (we still had to pack the matress and a few other things like Poppies crate that we needed over night). In the end departure was slightly delayed by the blipper to get us out the car park being 'mislayed'. Hardly any cross words had been exchanged when Doug remembered where he had put it. Hurrah! We were on our way well before 7am - it still wasn't light.

It was a strange thought that we have no particular reason to return (although we may visit friends there who knows), so we might well be leaving for the last time. We have owned the flat there for 9 years. It was our 'fun place' away from the real boring life of London, so although we didn't feel that sad leaving London (although of course there are places and friends we miss) we felt very sad leaving Chamonix (again). Once we were on the road we felt better as we discussed all the fun things we need to make sure we do in our new life. It is easy to get caught up in the farm and with worry about the house and not do the things we came here for.

It has been a bit tricky to fit all the stuff we brought back with us in to the house but we shifted more boxes upstairs and have managed to squeeze most of it in to the hallway. There is still an oven sitting in the middle of the kitchen waiting for a home.

Another sofa and cupboard

Oven with no home

Stuff found a new home in the hall