After a brief weekend back in Brighton for a beautiful wedding, and catching up with family, it was good to be back in our mobile home and off on our travels again! We landed back in Geneva and found the van, then headed to Annecy not too far away. The lake and weather were gorgeous, with an amazing alpine back drop. We enjoyed a lovely two days here wakeboarding, windsurfing and relaxing a little in between! It's great to be able to park up the van and cycle around not having to drive for a while, and being able to park almost anywhere you like! I reluctantly gave Chris a hair cut which he'd asked for, and wasn't overly pleased with the end result, but luckily it grows very quickly so it's ok now! We then headed back to Chamonix where we had arranged to meet the guide again to see if we could make an attempt at Mont Blanc. It wasn't happening unfortunately as the forecast was too dodgy, so we treated ourselves to a nice hotel and a fantastic meal in a Relais & Chateaux restaurant in the town. Once again, they did not disappoint one bit, with mini appetisers along the way, including a tiny poached egg Chris managed to squish and spill on his trousers! We booked another guide for after the weekend hoping for the best, and went off to meet Rich at the airport. He made it, a little late but in tact despite the security alerts in London. He decided against bringing his bike as planned, probably a wise manouever as we'd been told earlier that day that Chris' bike wouldn't be up to it (in fact he said he felt sorry for Chris that he had this bike!) so he would have to hire one designed for downhill cycling. We made our way to Les Gets and the weather as it always seems to be in the mountains lately, was awful. There was no way putting up a tent was going to happen, so Rich checked into a hotel and we camped in the van. The town was full of young bike enthusiasts, and Chris and Rich were up first thing ready for a full day at it. They'd hired full body armour and went up in the ski lift in the pouring rain. I met them for lunch and they looked like two different people - dining in the cold and wet with two muddy monsters wasn't quite what I had in mind, but there was no way we were being let into the restaurant when they were in that state! Despite the weather I think they enjoyed themselves, even though it doesn't sound like much cycling went on in the afternoon - more rolling bikes end over end down rocky steep slopes marked 'danger' and coming down on their back sides! Not really my idea of fun - hot chocolates and newspapers were the order of the day! After they had made every towel in Rich's hotel brown, we headed out for bowling and dinner and a fun evening. The next day the weather was no better and we felt sorry for Rich as it was his last day with us. We headed for Chamonix to meet the guide for our potential activity tomorrow, but found that this time there was too much snow - Mont Blanc won't be happening until at least 2008! Secretly both a little relieved that we didn't have to exert ourselves in the freezing cold in the early hours, we headed to Les Deux Alps where a glacier exists that you can snowboard on all year long. Going up in the lift at 7.30am we had a few runs down the very icy slopes, but I wasn't really enoying the t-bar drag lift experience after falling off several times, once spectacularly being dragged up by my left leg stuck in the board - a good look I'm sure! A few bruises later, we did one final run together trying to perfect snowboard dancing and left Chris to it for a couple more while I enjoyed another hot chocolate! You could only board in the mornings as the snow got too soft, so Chris arrived with Vin Chaud from a large vat outside where a party was kicking off. Lots of visiting Italians were singing and dancing to the dj's music, and as we stepped outside, they played YMCA so it was time to leave! This was our last stop in France and we're now off to Italy. The drive through the Route des Grande Alps was stunning, passing many resorts we'd like to revisit in the winter!