Nope, four and a bit weeks until departure. Plan is to get the Chunnel to France on the 23rd November with a good friend of mine, Bez, then we’ll meander our way down to the South of France / Pyrenees to get some quality road cycling in. We’ve got about two weeks before I drop Bez off at Lyon airport, then I’m on my own to LG.
So what have I been up to? Well aside from concerning myself about a leaking roof in my flat (which I also need to get rented out) and the fact that I currently no have offiicial job to come back to next April, the focus has been on getting everything ready for the trip.
And most importantly that has meant getting the trusty VW campervan (‘Van Collymore’ as she is affectionately known – you can work out the dogging related joke) ready for the trip. After I spent a couple of weekends insulating her*, my man Paul in Essex has been kitting her out inside with full units, a sink and hob and Propex heater. Picking her up on Sunday so pictures to follow.
What else have I done? Lots and lots but it’s all far too uninteresting to share here without losing the already highly limited readership. I have bought some very nice new phat Line Prophet 115 powder skis and mounted some Marker F12 Tour bindings. These complement my Scott Missions skis for general prancing around on in the thinner stuff and their Fritschi Freeride bindings. I’ve also bought a Snowpulse Airbag – preferred the look of it to the ABS and the fact that it protects all round your head and torso if you do end up in a slide.
I really sound like a geek don’t I, and it gets worse below……
* I recommend SF40 Supafoil – apprx £180 for 15sq/m roll. Cut the foil to the size you need to fit the sections of the van and then seal the edges wth decent quality gaffa tape. That way the water won’t get inside the insulation itself. My van already came ply lined and the ply had been carpetted so it was just a case of unscrewing all the panels, taking them out, getting the insulation in and refitting them. The roof is a bit more of a faff and you can’t get so much insulation into a normal roof so I had to half the thickness of the SF40.
onefootinlagrave 