South Cornwall

 

For a post-Christmas treat we left the snowy wastes of home for the milder climes of the South West. Basing ourselves at The Falmouth Hotel, we ate and slept well and fitted in some great walks: On Tuesday, we headed to Maenporth and then ambled the coast path around to Helford Passage. The sun came out and we were in T shirts, having been sledging two days before, noting an overall temperature rise of about 25 degrees! On Wednesday, we went North to Mylor Bridge, walking in the mist, following the creek around to Restronguet Passage.

Boxing Day Bash

All the FTs, energised by piles of turkey sandwiches and lashings of mulled wine, gave the snow one last thrashing ahead of a threatened thaw. Our white knuckle ride video hopefully captures the essence of quality family time.

It's Christmas!

 

Waking up to icicles, one of which was 2 foot long, Christmas Day turned out clear blue, cold and bright. After some calls to Oz, we chucked the Turkey in the oven and prepared for guests. Pressies after lunch and a bit of telly before getting tucked up in bed while outside, the temperature headed south to -12 degrees again!

Christmas Eve

Sneaking off work early we bagged another late afternoon session on the snow. The Sun's rays struck us glancing blows to go with the more substantial blows from the undulating but lightning quick, iced surfaces. We found a new run all to ourselves: The perfect way to start Christmas. A medley of mayhem can be found at our usual video repository, incorporating previously unseen footage from this week. Thanks Turtinos.

Even More

This is us practising until dusk when the small people left the main hill and we could get down to some serious downhill magic on our new no-control polycarbonate slope rockets.

More Downhill

Jack Frost was still in the garden, we saw him there at dawn... After balancing the ladder on some slippy surfaces to get up to melt the ice in the boiler pipes, we trudged up to the hill, it being way too icy to risk the car on the skating rink, formerly known as our front road. Compacted frozen snow now awaited us and we set about trashing the new sledge. Luke mastered the skim board at full pelt and Will demonstrated the stand up sledging possibilities for those who have no fear. More pictures here.

Best Downhill Of The Day

The county finally got some of the blizzard that had been terrorising the Northerners. When it gets white, get out there: Teaming up with the Flying Turtinos we limbered up for a prolonged spell of icicles and christened the new sledge downhill from Daisybank. The banging tune on the video made up for the slow pace. Still, once it gets down to -10 tonight it should freeze over lovely for tomorrow!

Above The Clouds

Tim T and I left the foggy valley behind and climbed to view the whole of the Severn valley covered in a thick blanket of icy cloud. In bright sunshine, we surveyed 'islands' of the various 'Beacons' rising out of the mist: A truly magical Sunday morning. We ventured along the ridgeline to Haresfield and on to Stroud, returning up the Slad valley and down from Birdlip until we reached the chilly fog once more.

Into The Valleys

The Great Welsh Get-Together drew us once more to the Griffithstown valley. Hannah took the opportunity for a longer drive on quieter roads and kindly chauffered us. Everyone was good.

David & Rebecca's Big Day

David and Rebecca's Wedding was a good excuse to dress up smart and mingle over canapes and champagne. The happy couple looked radiant throughout.