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Last weekend Catherine and I went back up to Aviemore for another couple of days skiing and a long weekend away from work. We drove up to Ayrshire on the Wednesday night and Thursday morning, then up to Aviemore on the Thursday. Friday we went to Cairngorm where there was epic snow cover, it’s the first time I’ve ever used the Car Park and Fiacaill Ridge ski tows. Unfortunatly the 50mph+ winds and low cloud meant that only the lower slopes were open, and it was quite busy considering it was a normal working Friday. We stayed in Aviemore that evening too, both nights at the Hilton in Coylumbridge.

However for the Saturday Cairngorm would be even busier and the forecast looked better in the South, so we headed of to Glenshee. Glenshee was the last Scottish resort that we hadn’t been to, as unlike Nevis and Glencoe that are within 20 mins and 45 mins of Fort William, and likewise Cairngorm and the Lecht for Aviemore, Glenshee is in the middle of nowhere. There are some towns not too far away, but whilst Aviemore and Fort William are quiet, Pitlochry and Blairgowrie have nothing at all!  In reality it’s only 25 miles south east of Aviemore, but the road journey is 80 miles and takes 1h 45m – however it if you hold the map just right, Glenshee is almost on the way back to Ayrshire from Aviemore.

It was an excellent day with relatively low winds when away from the north west faces, and blue skies all day. It was probably one of the best days skiing we’ve had in Scotland with excellent snow conditions, some wind-blown powder and almost all the rocks covered. We explored Cairnwell, Carn Aosda and Sunnyside with the best conditions at Bucharts Coire. Some pictures from the day at Glenshee:

We’re now back to looking at Banff for March. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to sort something out as I’m really looking forward to going back to Sunshine Village. I’d like to get back on a board too for a day or so, though I probably really need some more lessons. Maybe.

Last weekend we were in Tampere, Finland for a friends wedding. We initially booked to fly to Dublin then direct to Tampere with Ryanair, but Ryanair dumped Tampere for the whole season, so we ended up with Easyjet from Gatwick to Helsinki. Because we had an Aer Arann flight booked to Dublin, we changed this to a one way flight from London City allowing us to spend a day in London too.

Finland is a beautiful country, and we had great weather for the few days we were there. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Helsinki, but we spent some time in Hameenlinna before going on to Tampere.

London on the other hand is not so nice. It’s been a few years since we were last there, but last time Oxford street didn’t look like a 99p tat bazaar… The skyline is littered with cranes and the whole place has a work-in-progress feel to it. Perhaps in another couple of years it will be better. Still, every time I go there I remind myself how nice it is not to live in a city.

We had a bumpy trip back on the ATR 72, but really good service with Aer Arann which makes all the difference.

Yesterday we got back from our Summer holiday to Disney’s Corondo Springs in Orlando, Florida. Once again a great time was had, we visited all the Disney Parks and Waterparks, and Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica. We couldn’t hire a Ford Mustang this year, but fortunately we were able to upgrade to a Dodge Challenger, which was super as they’re still not commonly available through the dealers in Florida.

This year was made extra-special by being there for the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. We went out to the Kennedy Space Centre on 4 separate days. First on the Satuday to see the visitor centre and the launch, but this was scrubbed due to lightning striking the pad the previous evening. The launch was put back 24 hours, so on Sunday we went our again only for the proximity of thunderstorms to cancel the launch at less than 20 minutes to go. Monday was almost exactly a repeat performance with a 48 hour delay. Finally on Wednesday everything went according to plan and Endeavour lifted off just after 18:00 EDT.

After all the cancellations (STS-127 had also scrubbed twice in June) I spent most of Wednesday convinced she wasn’t going to go, and the launch window would be over so I’d not get to see it. Given the shuttle program is finishing next year, I’d probably never get another chance to see a shuttle launch. Even at 30 seconds to go, when the auto-sequence had started with Endeavour’s own computers monitoring the launch I didn’t think she would launch. Five shuttle launches have been aborted by the launch sequencer between the main engine start at 6.6 seconds to go, and booster ignition. 5 seconds to go and I still didn’t believe it would happen.

At two seconds to go my mind changed from not thinking it was going to happen, to not wanting to see anything bad happen.

The big screen at the visitor centre showed the boosters ignite, followed shortly by Endeavour clearing the tower at LC39A. 10 seconds later she was visible above the tree line. A few more seconds passed and then we heard the noise too. I wasn’t even looking through the camera, just pointing it in the approximate direction with a finger squeezing the motordrive.

I heard the audio feed in the background: “Endeavour – go at throttle-up”.  It was just after that point on the 28th of January 1986 that the Space Shuttle Challenger was lost. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, everybody knew that too.

We stood there watching the trail, and at 2m 5s into the launch we saw the boosters separate on the big screen, and the separation was just barely visible directly. A wave of euphoria swept over the crowd at that point. In what seems like a few seconds later we heard that the external tank had separated, and Endeavour was safely in orbit.

It was an awesome experience. I’ve been interested in the Space Shuttle for as long as I can remember, and with the pending termination of the programme coupled with the tight launch windows related to the ISS mission launches I never thought I would get to see a launch. I got really lucky, and Catherine was fine about 3 extra days of the holiday being interrupted. Secretly I think she really enjoyed seeing it too.

Anyway, here’s the pictures:-

(There are only a couple of the launch – I wanted to watch it for real, not through the viewfinder! Try Youtube for a Video)

Anyway, I don’t go in for holiday souveners much, so I only got two STS-127 t-shirts, a STS-127 mug, a STS-127 baseball cap and an STS-127 pin badge…

Last week we were in Chamonix skiing at the Vallee Blanche ski areas. The snow conditions were excellent, but the visibility could have been better on some days.

Chamonix itself is a nice little town, with much more to do than we’d expected. We also took a trip on the Aiguille du Midi cable car to the peak platform at 12600ft. It took a while to acclimatise to the altitude, but it was an awesome experience, and it was -17 Degrees Celcius but in direct sunlight you wouldn’t know it.

During the days with the low cloud base we went to Les Planards ski area which is at the town level and only 5 minutes from our apartment – we had great fun on the blue and red runs there. On the better days our skiing skills had improved sufficiently to allow us to explore much more of the areas.

The mountain rescue helicopters were operating almost continually during the time we were there, and that has to be some of the most challenging peacetime heli flying possible, especially considering the Alouette III is single engined and operating at high altitudes.

The only regret would be the access pass we had also allowed unlimited skiing at Courmayeur in Italy, but the free shuttle bus through the Mont Blanc tunnel was fully booked days in advance. Next time we’ll go for an extra week!

The new Canon Powershot A590 IS worked well too!

Other holiday pictures

But we don’t know where we’re staying yet – Still, a substantial saving going “allocated on arrival” so fingers crossed! Skis are serviced, gear retrieved from loft, only a few days to go now..