Courchevel 2012

This year’s ski trip sees the same people returning to the same hotel (who says we lack imagination?). The conditions on the piste couldn’t be much more different though – last year was horribly icy – we’d have been better off with skates than skis most of the time! This year though, there is loads of snow, so conditions should be really good.
The journey here was something of an adventure – the uk being in the grip of a cold snap, with the accurately forecast snow arriving the night before we traveled, exactly as predicted, completely catching the authorities on the hop in the morning. The drive to the airport was pretty hair-raising:

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Happily, the flight managed to get off after a delay of just over an hour, which wasn’t so bad,all things considered. The roads in France were completely clear even though they’ve had a lot of snow over the last couple of days. As I write, we’re still waiting for the rest of the party to arrive as they were on a different flight which was delayed with technical problems.
We’ve been out for a quick ski, just to see if we can remember what to do, which seemed to go ok, although it was very cold indeed. I shall have to wear more clothes tomorrow.
Here are couple of pictures of the view from our window:

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One of the chalet girls gave me a present to take back to Sarah:

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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011

I was once again very fortunate to be the guest of Aerospace Logistics at this year’s Festival of Speed. I opted to go down on my bike, with the aim of getting there early to beat the crowds and safe in the knowledge that I’d have somewhere to change so that I wasn’t baking in leathers all day.

The ride down was glorious, and I managed not to get lost, now that I have satnav on the bike. I even remembered not to go though Petworth which is always backed up with a traffic jam of overheating classics on the Goodwood weekend.

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goodwood_fos_2011-383I arrived at 7:45 and things were already getting pretty busy. On my way to the hospitality suite, I stopped off to take a look at the Bloodhound SCC stand – Richard Noble’s latest landspeed record project.

The main theme of this year’s festival was ‘Racing Revolutions’ and this was split into sections of important innovations in racing – such as carbon fibre, streamlining, turbine engines and four-wheel drive. The Lotus 56 managed to combine two of these, being both turbine powered and four-wheel drive. I’m pretty sure I had a matchbox model of this when I was a kid – fascinating to see (and hear) the real thing!

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Other themes for the weekend included a celebration of 50 years of the Jaguar E-type, which meant a large number of them were in action on the hill, as well as on display in the Cartier Style et Luxe exhibition. There was also a celebration of 100 years of the Indianapolis 500 race and 100 years of the Isle of Man TT races.

goodwood_fos_2011-701Other highlights included a helicopter-engined motorcycle (really!), seeing Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel of a number of cars, including his Porsche Spyder and a world record for driving on two wheels being set.goodwood_fos_2011-553

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I had a really fabulous time, as always. You just don’t get to see some of these cars and bikes anywhere else – it’s a really wonderful event, and I’d recommend it to anyone! Thanks again to Adrian and Simon for their generous hospitality! As usual, I took hundreds of photos (about 700 this time), but have managed to whittle them down to a slightly more manageable 150 or so. If you’d like to see them, please click on the album below.

Bluebells

Since spring has definitely arrived and with it, very early bluebells, I thought that I should try taking some photographs of them. It’s notoriously difficult to get decent pictures of bluebells since they grow in shaded woodland, which gives all sorts of problems with light levels and brightness and contrast issues. At first I tried making some HDR images, but I wasn’t really happy with the results. I was using shutter speed to bracket the exposure, but the high exposure shots were ending up with such a slow shutter speed, that wind movement was causing problems.

I had another go at another location (without trying to do HDR) and got better results, though the light was getting rather low. I took some tips from this page about how to adjust the white balance, which was very useful. Let me know what you think of the results…

Photos from Folkestone…

Whilst on our church weekend away recently, some of us had the chance to go on a photography walk with Malcolm, one of our church family members who is a professional photographer. It was a great opportunity to learn from someone who really knows what they are doing. Looking over someone’s shoulder is always a good way to pick up tips, and to be able to hear the thought process behind the shot (as well as the technical stuff) was really interesting. Thanks Malclom!

Here are a few of the images I came away with:

The sun continues to shine in Courchevel

We’ve had another day of fantastic weather here in Courchevel – clear skies and bright sunshine. There hasn’t been any more snow though, so the problems with runs being icy continue. I got caught out by a patch of ice I hadn’t spotted today, and took a bit of a tumble. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big one, and I got away with it. Most of the time we can pick our line as the slopes aren’t too crowded this week – there’s plenty of room for everyone.
It’s the staff night off in the hotel tonight, so we’re off into town for dinner for a change.
I leave you with a couple more pictures from the slopes:

Courchevel day 2

The first day of skiing went well – I was a little worried that I wouldn’t remember what to do, but it seemed to come back reasonably quickly. One or two wobbly moments served as useful reminders not to overdo it on the first day!
Conditions are good – the sun has been shining all day (I’ve got the bright red nose to prove it!), but it is cold (see the picture of the weather conditions according my phone this morning). Some of the runs are very icy, so we’re having to be properly careful.
Courchevel is certainly living up to it’s reputation as one of the most expensive resorts in the alps. We were charged €28 for 5 coffees this morning!
The scenery though is stunning – we’ve had some great views today.

On the piste again…

As if I hadn’t had my fill of snow this winter, I’ve come to France for a week of skiing. It’s been 3 years since I last took to the slopes, so I hope that I can remember what to do! I’ve joined two sets of friends, their families and another mutual friend on the trip. Happily, I’m sharing a room with Paul, the other lone male in the party, rather than either of the families! (those that know me well will have heard of “The School Ski Trip” of 2008, which, I fear left me permanently scarred!)
The others have gone out for a short ski, in search of the free lifts (our ski passes are valid from tomorrow), and I have elected to stay in the hotel for a bit of a rest. I leave you with a couple of pictures taken from the balcony.