Monsieur Le Clapton et La Colonel....

Bonjour mon amis...oh...er...I am still speaking French after my week away in France....we went to Les Arcs for some R&R and a bit of my favourite hobby...skiing....

....we always drive to France....I was very keen to get going...we seemed to be sitting in the drive fro ages before the car started...

....but soon we were at the Eurotunnel...and we were the first car on the train!! Right at the front.....and we even got to tweet from inside the tunnel, under the sea because the magic of technology now gives a phone signal all the way to France....

...France has hundreds of places to stop on their motorways....we stopped to buy some dinner for later....

...we drove as far as Reims...before dinner...the Colonel and I nabbed the top bunk in the small hotel we stayed at.....

...and we were up VERY EARLY the next morning as we still had 500 miles to drive....

...which meant another motorway stop for breakfast before 7am (which was really 6am in UK time....YAAAAWN)....

....another stop later in the day to buy sunglasses!....

...and our first sighting of the mountains and the snow in Albertville...the site of the 1992 Winter Olympics....

...and before we knew it we were in Les Arcs and enjoying the last of the afternoon from our balcony overlooking the village.....

...the Colonel and I fitted Helmet Cam so the family could record some exciting footage out on the slopes.....

...we did some careful route planning too because its easy to get lost.....

..and we made sure that the fresh bread and pastries were ordered each evening for delivery warm and fresh to our door each morning....

.....a final check of the day's route over croissant.....

...the Colonel and I took it in turns to go out on the slopes...the Colonel was very good at steering the party to a suitable restaurant every day for lunch....a hearty meal for hungry skiers...

....and of course making sure that the typist was correctly fuelled for the day....

....he even tried the odd run himself.....

....thew weather wasn't particularly brilliant...we had snow most days and that makes it a bit difficult to ski because its hard to see the slopes in the flat light....

....but it did not stop us finding a warm watering hole of we needed one....*makes resolution to move to France permanently*....

.....careful planning makes for the perfect holiday....

..see?...fresh every day...the Colonel knows that an army marches on its stomach.....

..i made sure I did a weather forecast every day....

The weather forecast with I, Clapton....

A video posted by Marley Terrier (@marleyterrier) on Mar 30, 2015 at 8:58am PDT

....the Colonel enjoyed the wide open spaces....

...but the queues at the lifts less so....

....he toured Les Arcs making sure all of the equipment was correctly stored and presented...an army cannot afford to lose equipment....

...preparation, preparation, preparation....

....*more snow*.....*sigh*.....

....only one thing for it then....

....we made sure we conducted our annual survey of the salami...our pals in the #BTPosse depend on us for this....

....i wasn't sure if I should drink it or swim across it....

...on one sunny morning we did make it all the way down the mountain to our favourite restaurant....the snow ran out about a hundred yards from the door though and we had to walk the last bit in our ski boots.... 

...the Colonel had us lined up for drill every day of course....tennnnnnnnn hut!....

...while he helped William "prepare"....an army marches on nutella and banana pancakes..apparently...

..although to be fair to him it did seem to be snowing every time he went outside....

....but he did get to ride the lifts...

A video posted by Marley Terrier (@marleyterrier) on Apr 9, 2015 at 8:49am PDT

.....he did get to meet an astronaut....

...it was much sunnier when ever I went out....here I am in the cable car to the highest mountain in the village....

...I even got to eat lunch outside!.....

 ...and even do some skiing!....

A video posted by Marley Terrier (@marleyterrier) on Apr 9, 2015 at 8:49am PDT

...and all too soon we were on our way home...that is a two-day drive too so the Colonel and I were glad to have a soft bed after a long day in the car....

.....so may stops on the motorway....

...but soon we were back under the Channel and heading for home....

....Miss Lola was happy to have us back....