Here is a quick update on our plans!
In a few weeks Dan will be going to Austria for a week to teach skiing! Yay!
April 22nd we leave Scotland and fly to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We will see Giant's Causeway and stay with a friend. Then its too Dublin, and south to Cork. On the 29th we fly to London.
We will stay in the South of England (London area and Devon most likely) until may 7 when we take the train to Paris.
We will stay 4 or 5 days in Paris and around (up to Vimy Ridge for a day, also to Versailles). On the 21st of may we have to be in either Geneva or Montreux to catch our train ride across Switzerland (click here for info about that trip! We are going 1st class!) but the time between is not planned. From Zurich we will go North to the black forest in Germany and stop in Munich before heading back south to Venice. From Venice we are going back to Lyon, France.
JUNE 5 2009 we arrive back in Toronto!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I'm not human, eh, I'm a turtle!
It has been for EVER since we have had internet access for longer than like, 20 minutes, so I am going to finally update the blog again!!
First news is that Dan and I are officially leaving Scotland on April 22nd to Ireland! We will spend a week there and then head to London. We will spend some time in the South of England before heading to France and that's all we know for now!
Arwen and I went on a trip to the Canary Islands for a week in January. They are Spanish islands off the North-West coast of Africa. We were on the largest island, Gran Canaria. We had a really great time! I will post pictures soon as they are all on Arwen's computer at the moment but she will be here on the weekend. I went windsurfing a few times, we spent a lot of time swimming in the Ocean and visiting the beach. We also went to a market, went out in a boat to see dolphins, and visiting some traditional cave dwellings. It is a place we would like to explore more one day as it was hard to get away from the tourist areas in the one week we were there.
A few weeks ago Dan and I visited Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. We went on a really great walking tour and learned all about the city. We even got a picture of a ghost!! We were supposed to go to a concert but it got canceled so we spent our evenings at the hostel.
Today was sunny! And we were both off! What an amazing combination. We headed up to Anoach Mor (the mountain where Dan works - Gaelic for big mountain) and did a climb and got a few runs in on our snowboards. The snow was SO deep which was incredible considering there wasn't ANY snow two days ago.
We also are playing in the local band and we had a practice tonight. We are playing Jupiter from the Planets, its great fun!
The mountain festival kicks off friday, when Arwen arrives, and Mom and Kyra are here a week from today - so much to look forard to!
We miss everybody but are still having a really great time here :)
Heather & Dan
x
First news is that Dan and I are officially leaving Scotland on April 22nd to Ireland! We will spend a week there and then head to London. We will spend some time in the South of England before heading to France and that's all we know for now!
Arwen and I went on a trip to the Canary Islands for a week in January. They are Spanish islands off the North-West coast of Africa. We were on the largest island, Gran Canaria. We had a really great time! I will post pictures soon as they are all on Arwen's computer at the moment but she will be here on the weekend. I went windsurfing a few times, we spent a lot of time swimming in the Ocean and visiting the beach. We also went to a market, went out in a boat to see dolphins, and visiting some traditional cave dwellings. It is a place we would like to explore more one day as it was hard to get away from the tourist areas in the one week we were there.
A few weeks ago Dan and I visited Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. We went on a really great walking tour and learned all about the city. We even got a picture of a ghost!! We were supposed to go to a concert but it got canceled so we spent our evenings at the hostel.
Today was sunny! And we were both off! What an amazing combination. We headed up to Anoach Mor (the mountain where Dan works - Gaelic for big mountain) and did a climb and got a few runs in on our snowboards. The snow was SO deep which was incredible considering there wasn't ANY snow two days ago.
We also are playing in the local band and we had a practice tonight. We are playing Jupiter from the Planets, its great fun!
The mountain festival kicks off friday, when Arwen arrives, and Mom and Kyra are here a week from today - so much to look forard to!
We miss everybody but are still having a really great time here :)
Heather & Dan
x
Thursday, January 29, 2009
"And then I let you win bingo!"
So I thought I would write a big story to tell everyone what has been happening here since I have 2o minutes left on lunch break.
We were kind of busy and then tired after Christmas/New years so I had better tell you about that right?
Chapter 1: Christmas
Dan and I were at Chase the Wild Goose hostel (click for web page) that Susie and Eddie run. Also their friend Brandon was there (he is also from Australia). We celebrated Christmas day (food etc), Dan and I were both working eve and boxing day. Susie and Eddie were allowed to close the hostel for a few days to take a holiday.
We learned that the oven in the hostel is not very hot, but one side is hotter than the other. So we had a dinner instead of 2pm lunch. Oh well!
It was fun to talk on the web cam with the Holmes' and Dan's family sent us a video from their holiday!
Chapter 2: New Years
At the hostel once again, which was booked FULL! Most people went outside except one Dutch group that stayed in. Around 11 they came out of their room dressed up as ABBA!!! They had also brought with them a digital projector and Mama Mia sing-along! So that is how we spent new years. At midnight we did a Dutch tradition that is to stand on the furniture and jump into the new year, and then since we are in Scotland we sand Auld Lang Syne. We were across the Loch from town so we could see many different fireworks shows.
Chapter 3: Heather climbs Ben Nevis (4,400+ feet above Sea Level)
Dan drove me to town to meet Gary (my assistant manager at work) and then dropped us of at the parking lot for the North Face carpark (British for parking lot lol). We were walking up the path by 7am, it was still dark out! We walked until about 9:30 or 10 when we arrived at the CIC hut (belonging to the Scottish Mountaineering something or other) and took shelter from the wind there to eat lunch. It was a cloudy morning and by now we could take off our head torches. We changed into our climbing clothes and got all our gear ready to go.
We thought we would be starting our real approach now, but there wasn't enough snow! This section of trail should have been covered in deep snow with steps carved out from all the walkers, making an easy ascent. Instead we were walking on loose bits of rock. Eventually we found some snow and put on our crampons and harnesses.
The climb was very easy technically but it was very long. We did three pitches. This is where Gary climbs up first, placing anchors along the way. When we run out of rope, he stops to take in the rope for me. I follow and remove the anchors he has placed. After that the climb was not difficult so we just climbed roped together. We were not really 'climbing' because it wasn't vertical. More like crawling up the hill using our axes to dig into the snow for grip.
It got dark very shortly after we reached the top of the climb, so we left the hill using map and compass. It had also turned very cloudy so unfortunately I didn't get any good views.
The climb down took AGES! The trail should have been easy, but it had so many icy patches, but they were too small to really warrant putting our crampons back on. I learned many many different ways of crossing ice from walking to jumping to belly-flopping to holding onto Gary's axe with mine and him dragging me across! Very entertaining. My favourite technique is the "beached whale."
We spent 14 hours out that day. 10 of them we were in the clouds. I did not get all the way to the summit of Ben Nevis but there will be many more opportunities for that!
Out of time to upload pictures directly, but this link also has them all. It's a facebook page but you do not need to be a member if you use this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2211394&l=31bb6&id=121506517
There are more chapters to come, will have to continue after work!
Heather
x
We were kind of busy and then tired after Christmas/New years so I had better tell you about that right?
Chapter 1: Christmas
Dan and I were at Chase the Wild Goose hostel (click for web page) that Susie and Eddie run. Also their friend Brandon was there (he is also from Australia). We celebrated Christmas day (food etc), Dan and I were both working eve and boxing day. Susie and Eddie were allowed to close the hostel for a few days to take a holiday.
We learned that the oven in the hostel is not very hot, but one side is hotter than the other. So we had a dinner instead of 2pm lunch. Oh well!
It was fun to talk on the web cam with the Holmes' and Dan's family sent us a video from their holiday!
Chapter 2: New Years
At the hostel once again, which was booked FULL! Most people went outside except one Dutch group that stayed in. Around 11 they came out of their room dressed up as ABBA!!! They had also brought with them a digital projector and Mama Mia sing-along! So that is how we spent new years. At midnight we did a Dutch tradition that is to stand on the furniture and jump into the new year, and then since we are in Scotland we sand Auld Lang Syne. We were across the Loch from town so we could see many different fireworks shows.
Chapter 3: Heather climbs Ben Nevis (4,400+ feet above Sea Level)
Dan drove me to town to meet Gary (my assistant manager at work) and then dropped us of at the parking lot for the North Face carpark (British for parking lot lol). We were walking up the path by 7am, it was still dark out! We walked until about 9:30 or 10 when we arrived at the CIC hut (belonging to the Scottish Mountaineering something or other) and took shelter from the wind there to eat lunch. It was a cloudy morning and by now we could take off our head torches. We changed into our climbing clothes and got all our gear ready to go.
We thought we would be starting our real approach now, but there wasn't enough snow! This section of trail should have been covered in deep snow with steps carved out from all the walkers, making an easy ascent. Instead we were walking on loose bits of rock. Eventually we found some snow and put on our crampons and harnesses.
The climb was very easy technically but it was very long. We did three pitches. This is where Gary climbs up first, placing anchors along the way. When we run out of rope, he stops to take in the rope for me. I follow and remove the anchors he has placed. After that the climb was not difficult so we just climbed roped together. We were not really 'climbing' because it wasn't vertical. More like crawling up the hill using our axes to dig into the snow for grip.
It got dark very shortly after we reached the top of the climb, so we left the hill using map and compass. It had also turned very cloudy so unfortunately I didn't get any good views.
The climb down took AGES! The trail should have been easy, but it had so many icy patches, but they were too small to really warrant putting our crampons back on. I learned many many different ways of crossing ice from walking to jumping to belly-flopping to holding onto Gary's axe with mine and him dragging me across! Very entertaining. My favourite technique is the "beached whale."
We spent 14 hours out that day. 10 of them we were in the clouds. I did not get all the way to the summit of Ben Nevis but there will be many more opportunities for that!
Out of time to upload pictures directly, but this link also has them all. It's a facebook page but you do not need to be a member if you use this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2211394&l=31bb6&id=121506517
There are more chapters to come, will have to continue after work!
Heather
x
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Where's the ski hill??
That, believe it or not is what I was asked yesterday by a client who was standing under a chairlift.
Anyways.
It has obviously been a long time since we posted on here, Fort William now has a view of some snow. Up on the mountain there is lots of the white stuff. Which makes me a very happy boy. I have been teaching both skiing and snowboarding as well as running lifts, working on the books doing routers (scheduals) and learning how to set ski bindings. All of which means I am getting paid.
Heather is enjoying work as well and has been able to get up onto Ben Nevis ice climbing. I should be able to get up climbing soon as well.
That's about all the news I have right now, if you have any questions for us or things you would like to know, just post a reply on here and we will answer it for you. (you do not need to log in to do this)
We like getting messages back.
TTFN
Dan
Anyways.
It has obviously been a long time since we posted on here, Fort William now has a view of some snow. Up on the mountain there is lots of the white stuff. Which makes me a very happy boy. I have been teaching both skiing and snowboarding as well as running lifts, working on the books doing routers (scheduals) and learning how to set ski bindings. All of which means I am getting paid.
Heather is enjoying work as well and has been able to get up onto Ben Nevis ice climbing. I should be able to get up climbing soon as well.
That's about all the news I have right now, if you have any questions for us or things you would like to know, just post a reply on here and we will answer it for you. (you do not need to log in to do this)
We like getting messages back.
TTFN
Dan
Friday, December 12, 2008
Highland Coo!!
Today we made gingerbread houses. Here they only make gingerbread people. We had enough dough to make 2 houses, one for us and one for Nevisport.
Last week we took a trip to Inverness, which is about 2hrs northeast of here. It is called the "capital of the Highlands." We found a pub that was hosting a ceileidh(pronounced kaelea) in the lower level and a reggae night upstairs. Then we went to another pub that had a traditional 3 piece band, drums, guitar, and pipes. Heather ended up singing some Canadian music at the end of the night. From there we went to see the Culloden Battlefield, where a lot of people died in under an hour.
For more info use your technological skills and look it up. We then went to the Clava Cairns. They are ancient burial chambers (3 or 4 thousand years old) that are all built to line up with the sunset at winter solstice. We had great timing as we were there at sunset and we're close enough to the winter solstice so it looked great.
Everyone's Christmas presents have been posted!!!
Looking forward to Christmas, we are going to spend it with some new friends of ours who took over a local hostel as managers when Simon and Tash went home.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
I'm Flying!!!
So yesterday Heather and I went on a hike to The Lost Valley of Glencoe. It was pretty cool, except for the rain. Nice couple hours hiking up trails and down rock faces. Really nice place, it is where the MacDonald's hid their cows so other clans couldn't steal or kill them.
Also lots of you have been asking for pictures of our flat/car.
Also lots of you have been asking for pictures of our flat/car.
I was able to go climbing a couple of days ago, lots of fun also. And of course it started raining, so we had to cut it short. We only got one climb in.
Just trying to send some faxes today but they arnt that easy to do. No places has an international fax. I dont understand, from home you just type in the number and hit send, here there are different types of phone lines apparently. Some only call land lines, some will call land and mobile numbers and some are for national fax. Still havn't found an international fax. I will just have to keep trying.
That's all for now. Hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves.
Dan
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
More cold drinks!
Saturday was a trip to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. Very cool.
Big news is that we are buying a car! Thursday it is getting some work done but we might even be driving it by the weekend!
Here is a link to some more photos. YES it is a facebook page, but you DO NOT NEED a facebook login to view this site.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2204544&l=166d2&id=121506517
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