The Dolomites

We fell in love with Selva Val Gardena during our recent ski-ing holiday. It was our first visit to the Dolomites but won’t be our last. Although it was late spring, the snow was good, meaning we could ski the Saslong and the 10.5k La Longia from Seceda down to Ortisei on a day trip (which also took in an underground funicular).  Best of all were our three tours of the 45k Sellaronda. We skied the second clockwise circuit on our final day which, as it was bright and sunny meant we could fully enjoy the stunning, alpine, karst scenery.

Must do better

March seems to have been a long month and yet one remarkably free of time for writing Drabble entries.  I know that we have had a week long ski-ing holiday and that eating, drinking and ski-ing from dawn to dusk left little time for anything else but I still can’t account for my tardiness during the rest of the month. Work has been fairly manic, we have continued to host Misty “en vacance” and there has been the loss of a whole hour as a consequence of BST but in all honesty, I’m clutching at straws. Verdict? Must do better!

Cold Fell

Cold Fell lived up to its reputation last weekend when Robin, Cathryn and I made the ascent on a chilly, blustery day. The route is easily followed from the Clesketts carpark near Hallbankgate, passing Howgill cottages before a slightly tougher climb takes you to the summit. Very few people climb to the top where the Trig Point nestles between a rough stone shelter and beehive memorial cairn, embracing wide skies and endless views.  It’s a lonely place that can either make your heart sing with joy at its sheer isolation or create fear at the melancholic emptiness of the landscape.

Wonderful Whistler

Unusually for Miss Glis (but luckily for us), she has been keeping us updated with photos of her skiing holiday. As they scattered Fiona’s ashes on Tuesday, now that’s over, they are getting on with the enjoying the rest of their time in Whistler. The weather looks to be amazing with sunshine and bluebird skies so they seem to be getting in a lot of skiing and “Apres” which will all help with the grieving process. And yesterday, they went exploring an impressive crevasse on the glacier. No doubt it helps to have a ski instructor as your mountain guide!

 

A snowy reminder...

Caught up in the round of endless work meetings, sometimes it’s easy to forget that the opportunity to visit interesting places is actually a real privilege. Yesterday, I posted pictures on Facebook of snowy landscapes taken from the train during a routine journey on the Carlisle-Settle line on my way to Leeds. Immediately, several of my friends said how much they wanted to travel on that line too but the opportunity hadn’t arisen.  I try not to take the beauty and history of where I live and work for granted but their comments reminded me of how lucky I am.

London: an ageless city

The course of the Thames has, inevitably, changed a little over the centuries as it meanders through London but essentially, it’s remained a constant. And given to fanciful musings, as I looked out over London from the top of St Paul’s, I couldn’t help but think how much the landscape has changed since Christopher Wren  built his amazing church.  The mean streets, timber buildings and open sewers have been replaced with imposing buildings made from Portland stone and latterly, steel and glass.  There are flood defences.  But the enduring soul, the vibrancy of the city, like the Thames, remains unchanged

The Pavement

York is an ancient city with lingering echoes of very different times, when life was shorter and more brutal than today. As I’m still enough of an infrequent visitor to York, whenever I visit, I try to discover something new. I don’t always succeed as often, my time is limited but on Thursday a little celebration was in order as I found a plaque related to “The Pavement, created as early as 1378.  Even though I’d passed the wall where it’s situated many times, and geocaching has allegedly honed my observational skills, I’d never spotted it before. I was delighted!