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#10: Hiking “Expert” Alpine Routes… and a dog named Pinot
Paper maps or digital? Compass on your phone or physical? Packing an emergency pick axe or winging the route? We both grew up in families where these weren’t even questions that you thought about: physical, hard copy maps, compasses, binoculars, emergency survival kit – everything was packed and taken. As a result, we usually go Read more
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#9: Vehicle debacles – right is not always right!
*Disclaimer* – none of the photos in this article were taken while driving! If there was one piece of advice that would have been useful to know before we moved to France, it would have been to leave our car behind to start with. Lulled into a false sense of security by other people’s stories Read more
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#8: Running the Alps – Novices
The last few weeks before moving to France were quite hectic but we did a reasonable job of making time to train, whether running, kayaking, lifting packed boxes, running up and down the stairs with bags, or actually making it to the gym. With this in mind, we were quietly confident on arrival into Tignes. Read more
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#7: First Trip Away
Tom’s mum always said to us that it wouldn’t feel like home until we’d been away and come back. As we don’t have too much time before work kicks off, we took an overnight trip to Chamonix – well sort of, we stayed an hour outside of Chamonix in a tiny settlement called Cordon (not Read more
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#6: Catch 44
French Bureaucracy: Double the faff of a Catch 22 How come to get a French phone number, you already need a French phone number, and to do anything else like set up an Amazon account you need a French phone number?! The craziness of this situation drove us nuts for a few days but we Read more
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#5: “On Top of the World… Looking Down on Creation” – First Alpine Hikes
Somehow setting out for a hike up a mountain straight from your front door makes it quite easy to underestimate what you’re about to undertake. Given that we start with a 2100m head start, it seems that it shouldn’t be too much of a trek, but somehow climbing 600-700m up still feels significant! Hike No.1 Read more
Boondock Puffins 