As Swallows - Cycling South for Winter

A blocked road to a ski resort is normally unheard of. In this case the blockage was in France who don't care whether people go to Andorra or not. What was surprising was that the Andorran bus company could not be bothered to send the bus around via the longer Spanish route.

The end result was a missed day of skiing while we found out what was happening and arranged a taxi pickup from the tiny village in France with the help of Mar and Patricia. None of it was easy but they were all at El Tarter by early evening.

Mar and Patricia had also found our case which Parcel Monkey had failed to do. It was actually ours so we now had two cases of ski gear. It was especially good to have proper walking boots and not to have lost some super gear.

We, Hannah and Phil's family, our grandchildren, and Jamie's family, 10 in all were staying at the Mountain Hostel. It is an excellent place and to be recommended whether for skiing in winter or cycling and walking in summer.

The hostel is run by Mar, Patricia, Mark and Angela who kept it spotlessly clean and looked after our every need. It is what YHA once was, but with no silly restrictions or duties. The hostel is a very clever purpose built conversion of a 200 year old stone house.

Downstairs is open plan with dining and sitting areas grouped around the well equipped kitchen. The wash room, one for all, comprised of warm showers, toilets and sinks and there was never a queue. Upstairs are dorms of various sizes and by booking early we had the only one with just two beds.

For the next seven days we went skiing. The stoker, who does not ski, joined us for lunch most days. The weather was not perfect but we did have some nice days. To make up for the lack of wall to wall sunshine the snow was perfect, being often powder on piste with hardly any ice.

With the two families plus us at the hostel, and another family in an apartment nearby, we sometimes had 13 people skiing together, 6 “adults” and 7 “children”. On the piste it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. Most, but not all, were intermediate skiers The management's definition is someone who can ski fast but is not always in full control.

Intermediate skiing is great fun but fraught with all sorts of difficulties and pleasures. Children disappear off in all sorts of directions and the adults who try to be in support come unstuck trying to keep up.

The management, who reckons he started skiing in Edinburgh about 50 years ago, has officially given up intermediate skiing. This is not because he can't do it but because he thinks he would not survive the inevitable high speed crashes.

He did however love skiing with his grandchildren Florence and Noah and of course Hannah and Phil. He was still able to persuade a reluctant eight year old to do lots of turns on a steep red. Also to convince a chastened 11 year old that he could still ski after that nasty crash. It took him back to family skiing more than 30 years ago which could be why Hannah has brought all these friends and family here now.

Andorra is a nice resort for family skiing. It is not as extensive as some of the big French resorts but it still takes most of the day to get a family from one side to the other. Most of the runs are blue or easy reds made easier by the perfect snow conditions.

There was a downside for the stoker, though she has not complained. As a non-skier who likes to take the lifts up and walk, very little walking was possible. Andorra is based on one winding valley served by buses. By a short walk or bus ride she could access three or four different bubble lifts to cafes in the mountains. The management, stoker, and some of the skiers who were not lost then met for lunch.

While El Tarter is not supposed to be good for apres ski it served us fine. The Grey Wolf four star hotel next to the piste had a great swimming pool, bar and fitness room. There were a reasonable number of eating and music places. Florence especially liked tobogganing after a long day on the piste. And of course the swimming pool sized outside hot tub at the hostel.

One evening the management was cooking beside Dani in the hostel's shared kitchen and chatting as one does. “Where do you come from?”. “I'm a triathelte who does Ironman”. “I ride with Sandsfoot Cafe Racers”, “so do I!”. Over the years we have, by coincidence, met friends in the most unlikely places during our travels. Meeting Dani was perhaps one of the more bizarre as we had not actually met her before leaving Weymouth. She started riding with the Racers after we left. The management will certainly be drafting behind her if he can keep up, and gets his act together when we get home.

It was good that the week came to an end with everyone happy and wanting a little more. As usual with most ski trips little damage was done. In this case only a couple of sticks were lost, and one reckless child's ski which was later recovered.

We saw the 12 of them off in taxis to return home by sleeper train and Eurostar. Meanwhile we stayed another night and then returned to Seville by coach and train with an overnight stop in Barcelona.

Thanks go to the children Noah, Florence, Stan, Spike, Beck and Sonny, young woman Tallulah and adults Phil, Hannah, John, Jamie and Katy for making it such a great holiday. And especially to Hannah for organising and taking the management back 35 years.

The management is now exhausted having skied too far everyday. But he recovered on the way to Seville and is looking forward to cycle touring to Gibraltar and Malaga.