The last couple of weeks have had a chillier feel to them, which was welcome after and 40+ degree heat in the South West! The constant rain of the last two days was a bit much though! When we left the sea in Guethary, and Chris packed up his surfboards for the forseeable future (until we get around to Spain in September), there was a sad face in the drivers seat, but once we started heading towards the mountains, and more adventures, we soon looked forward to exploring our new surroundings. We headed for the Pyrenees first, and a small town called Cauterets. This is an alpine village with all the associated winter activities, so we weren't quite sure what we'd find in the middle of summer, and it did feel a bit strange winding our way up the valley with no snow in sight. On arrival it was very quiet and we checked into a small hotel which didn't look like it expected much business, but catered well nonetheless. Went for a run to stretch our legs and familiarise ourselves with the place, passing Avenue des Ouefs (Egg Avnue!) so called because of the smell of the sulphur springs. I was later to be covered in the mud from such springs and not allowed a shower afterwards - luckily it didn't smell! We went for a lovely days walk up past Pont d'Espagne and continued on to Lac Gaube, a beautiful turquoise lake (freezing cold water), surrounded by pine trees, and a view of the only snow capped peaks in the area. Had a huge savoyarde cheese fondue to reward ourselves in the evening! Despite my desire to rest my feet for the day, we did want to make the most of our time here, so booked to go canyoning in the afternoon. I was nervous until I saw two young girls who were joining us, although in a way that put more pressure on - anything they could do... It was great fun, travelling down a very cold river via various natural slides and rock formations, climbing, jumping, swinging and all sorts of methods to clamber over and under, and sometimes just drifting along on our backs(my favourite bit!). I also managed to let out a couple of amusing screams on the biggest jumps, and had no control over my flailing legs and arms which are supposed to remain together until you hit the water! The next day we had to head to prepare our first big challenge of the trip in Chamonix - Mont Blanc. We'd travelled until we dropped the night before, then got up and driven 'til lunch time, until we finally saw the impressive vista before us. This is the highest mountain in Europe at 4,810 metres, and we were aiming to climb it after a couple of days training. We met up with two friends, Charlie and Dickie, and then our guide Bastien to let us know what we had signed up for. We had a few drinks that evening, and it was good to see some familiar friendly faces after a few unpleasant experiences with some locals along the way! A tip for any of you headed that way - never try to get a refund for a frozen sandwich! We met Bastien at 10 the next morning with our hired equipment - crampons, ice axes, boots - and he supplied helmets and harnesses. Not knowing quite what to expect, we boarded a train up to the Mer de Glace (sea of ice), a truly stunning and impressive glacier, that's receeding all too fast with global warming. If George Bush needs any proof that it's happening, he should come here, and we should all make the most of these natural wonders while they exist. What we hadn't been told until now, amidst all the amazing local facts, was that we were going to have to climb down 200 metres worth of ladders before we could actually reach the glacier! This was by far the scariest part of the day for me and I took my time working my way down. Once there, we put the crampons on and started walking on the ice, avoiding crevaces along the way. We learned how to walk properly with the crampons on, ice axes in hand, up and down steep slopes. The following day we needed to experience high altitude to be able to acclimatise for Mont Blanc. We travelled through the 12km Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy, and to the highest peak there which is 4,061 metres high. We parked at 2,000 metres and climbed two hours to 2,800 where we stayed in a refuge for the night. The five of us had a room for the night consisting of bunk beds in a halls style arrangement of large and small dorms. Considering it's remote location it was an impressive operation, and we were provided with a 3 course meal and a bar. The downside was that we had to get up at 3.30 the next morning to make the ascent so we couldn't really make the most of it, although the boys managed a Bombardino (alcoholic 'goo') before hitting the sack! Getting up for breakfast in the middle of the night is a strange feeling, but we didn't want to go without. We donned our head torches and set off. The glacier used to be about 10 minutes walk from the refuge, but is now an hour and a half over some lose rocks so this required concentration we weren't sure we were up to at that time of day! When we did reach it though, it was all worth it, and as the sun came up, we were surrounded by mountains in all directions, and the glacier came to life. We didn't want it to come to life too much though, the main reason for leaving so early when it's colder and more solid. We were roped together with Bastien setting the pace, and made our way steadily upwards, over snow bridges covering small parts of huge crevaces. We stopped briefly a couple of times for energy bars, and I once 'enjoyed' having to stay attached to the others as they all responded to a call of nature - an experience I won't forget and one of the few times I can see why being a man is advantageous! There was a steep icy climb at the top and a few rocks to scrabble over to the summit, where the view was amazing. We could see the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc and countless other mountains so clearly. It was pretty cold up there, and approaching 9am, so we took the necessary proof shot and started our descent. Charlie lead the way down, Bastien above us at all times in case he needed to stop us slipping. Luckily we only had one such occasion, which didn't amount to much, but scared Chris half to death! Charlie decided to jump one of the large crevaces, not checking for the slack behind him, so ended up pulling Chris towards the gap at a rapid pace, meaning he had to jump unprepared, and the rest of dug our heels in above him! After that it was fairly uneventful, but we admired the scenery the whole way down, reaching the refuge again at 12, having lunch, then heading back to the car. A brilliant, but exhausting day. The idea was that we would then rest until the next afternoon when we do the same sort of thing - scale Aguille de Midi, sleep in the refuge and prepare for an even earlier start to reach France's highest peak. My boots were hurting my feet quite a lot by that afternoon, so I wasn't completely gutted when we were told the weather would not be good enough for us to make the attempt this week. Chris and I may get another chance next week, weather permitting, and if he's recovered from a rather full on afternoon of cycling involving several crashes and a resulting dodgy knee! We'll keep you posted...