Peelies travels

At last, we are off again. After failing to get away to Corsica earlier in he summer, we are back on the road. It's a great feeling, although I'm always just a little apprehensive about embarking on a long journey. The more I learn about vehicle maintenance, the more l know what there is to go wrong. The result: more tools and more spare parts. At least this landy isn't complicated, plus I can slide underneath without needing to lift it. We have picked Hull-Rotterdam because it’s  only 85 miles to Hull and then we are o n-board, plus t he nice people at P&O held our previous payment as credit and we used it to rebook this trip. So here we are, boarding the Pride of Rotterdam at the rear (due to our 2.7m height with the box). We are dwarfed by motor homes and camper vans and later by a desirable Sprinter 4x4 on its way home to Germany plus many others that completely fill the deck in all directions. The Skylounge is an early call, just to get the trip off to a good start...

If you want a huge skiable vertical drop then don’t go to Sälen. This lump of hills, just east of the border with Norway, rise to just about 1,000m. Each run down is a single adrenaline rush, rather than one that can take some time. However, for a family friendly destination where you can learn or re-learn in a lovely environment, you can’t go wrong. Take the lift attendants; every one of them makes eye contact and says Heije or Hello and smiles. They do that every time they pass you the button or the T-bar. All day. It’s a big contrast to other countries and resorts where you can feel like a second-class citizen and begin to wish you weren’t English. It isn’t terribly expensive. On-slope coffee and hot chocolate, even with fresh cream and marshmallows (if you are allowed them), is at least competitive as at home, possibly cheaper. Obviously if your request for a “hot chocolate” is misunderstood and you are served a shot-glass full of goodness, that includes coffee, whipped cream and ...

We have got our ski legs back after eleven years and it’s just as well. The two boys have progressed exponentially and are now fearless. They aren’t using poles and just point downhill. If they need to slow they use snowplough but scarily this isn’t employed much. I have just tried to stay ahead of the younger one on the Free Ride, all the way down from the top. I failed.  It’s the last day, Friday and it seems colder today but I think it’s again no lower than about minus 14. There’s no falling snow and visibility is better.

It’s never been warmer than minus 5 and when it was, that morning felt warm. There were no cold cheeks, toes or fingers. The rest of the time you need to be conscious that there’s a chill, especially when you getup some speed. Mostly it’s been cloudy and sometimes this has been down to ground level and it seems to snow most of the time. When it snows it has been light but amazingly, every flake counts and just sticks. Consequently a period of light snow gives a new cover and the previously beige coloured power and ice  on the main road is again transformed to white. The hired bus has winter tyres with studs.  They don’t stick out like a small nail, just protrude almost like a low profile rivet head. However it works, there’s no problem with this sort of snow. It’s presumably the school holidays in DK land as there are many cars with Danish plates. The boys are in morning ski school which is delivered easily in English, which helps the Danes too. Everyone’s skiing has improved ...

We have finally decided to go skiing again, this time with some of the family. Destination is Salen in Sweden and we have selected a family friendly area, hoping for quiet slopes and plenty of opportunity to learn or re-learn the technique. This is our base for week, a lovely AirBnB cabin, with enough room for six. We have hired a VW Caravelle at the airport (SCR) in which to get around. Nowhere is more than a few km away but we feel that easy transport of us and the ski equipment will be nice. The region is having a very cold 2026 so far and we are ready for maximum temperatures of roughly minus 13-15. Fortunately little or no wind is forecast. Relaxing, almost asleep, in the early evening of the first day. Initial skiing is always a bit tricky but it took just a few minutes to find balance and get going.

At Caravanning Oyambre, near Comillas (where the Gaudi house is), we wandered down to the local beach during the evening. Here there are many camper-vans and a surf scene. The site behind the beach isn't very highly recommended and we were happy in ours, a 15 minute walk away. It was the night of the full moon and we made the most of it whilst down there. Then, with the weather holding for a fine evening, we cooked outside for what will be the last time for a few months. We chatted to Brits coming into Spain and staying here for their first night or two. It's surprising how many are coming, even late in the season. Those campsites still open, are closing this weekend or next. Then it will be aires all the way for these travellers until they get to the coast in either Portugal or the south of Spain. It's been a great trip for us. We've only driven a few hundred miles here but seen some great countryside. We've spent the time in Castilla Leon and Austurias, with en...