Pyrenees

Once in Spain I met up with a good friend Lisa for a one week tour of the Pyrenees. We started in Barcelona and worked our way westward. On the way we discovered the (for us) unheard of country, Andorra. Quite amazing to randomly ‘discover’ a country in the middle of Europe? Guess that there might be a few more surprises lurking around the place.

We walked and explored and even climbed in the soft slushy spring snow. Ended up at the top of a wonderful hill and look forward to returning for more peak bagging one day. The whole mountain range from coast to coast looks like it is filled with all sorts of interesting corners, peaks, huts and viewpoints. It is very much like the NZ alps, with mountains about the same size, trails, and (in June) not many people at all.

Heading now for a weekend in Paris and then back down to Bordeaux for an MSF logistics training course.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Just Happened?

Image
The story of a surprise brain tumor diagnosis Symptoms and Diagnosis Three years ago I was giving a slide presentation which included some pictures from my time volunteering in Africa. There were pictures of some of the disadvantaged and malnourished HIV orphan kids I worked with in the highlands of Ethiopia and Cameroon. I suddenly felt uncontrollably emotional. Bit odd I thought, must be getting older, or maybe the effect of now being a real family man with kids? I skipped the next section of those slides, took and breath and continued on with the show. One year ago I went to unclip my foot from the pedals of my mountain bike on a difficult section of the sidle track along the Port Hills. I couldn’t get the little ankle action quite right on the left foot and promptly toppled over. My good friend Nic and I diagnosed rusty pedal cleats and I carried on with the ride with a bit of a bruise on my hip. Six months ago I had just had a long soak in the spa pool at our local leisu
Read more

Judith's Cameroon Visit

Image
Christmas this year was spent in Yaounde with some friends putting on a great feed at their house on the other side of town. Elodie and I then headed to Kirbi, with its wonderful long deserted stretches of white sand and some quiet beach time. We hoped to track down some rare turtles laying their eggs on the beach under the cover of darkness, but after two nights out walking and sleeping on the beaches we will have to try again another day for that experience. My sister Judith arrrived in Cameroon to visit our African outpost just before the year ended. We headed with her for the hills and spent New Years Eve beside a beautiful lake at the top of the Mananguba Mountains, about half way between the coast and where I work in Belo. The 'guide' turned out to be a right pain, but we got there in the end and enjoyed a swim, fresh fish, and christmas pudding all the way from New Zealand. My mate Andy also joined us for this little camping trip. Cameroon has featured in the movies
Read more

Hash House Harriers

Image
We have had the luck to come across an excellent group of people all belonging to what I thought was a long past colonial relic, the Hash House Harriers (HHH). It turns out this concept is alive and well around the world, usually in places with large expat communities. Here in Yaounde every Saturday at 3:30pm, a group of around 30 or 40 takes off into the green hills around the city for an hour or so run and then some social drinking afterwards. Last week was a little damp and therefore muddy, with the allocated trail leading through fields and and up and down muddy slopes. The route for the run is laid out by some volunteer 'hares' in the morning using some standard little markings at junctions. The 'harrier' runners come along and have to search and find the correct route. This means lots of extra running and searching for the fitter and faster members, and a more social slower time for those bringing up the rear. Turns out that the concept started in Kuala Lumpur in
Read more