Sue & Gavin
Today, we got our first taste of what the word "crowded" in French actually means. Rick and Liz invited us to go skiing with them and their friends Sue & Gavin who we had previously met at their dinner party. They thought that we should go to a small and lesser know resort called Le Grand Bornard. Unfortunately, given the superb weather and incredible snowfall, half of France thought the same.
Rick & Liz are not early starters, so we arrived mid-morning to a village "under seige". We drove around and around looking for a parking spot. And by "parking spot" we mean any spare 2 sq m to put our small car. The french are not that particular about parking and while it is not a complete free-for-all, we essentially ended up parking on the mainstreet footpath. The queues at the ticket office were equally horrendous. By this stage, Rick (who is not the most patient of fellows) had lost it and we decided to go for lunch instead. The theory being that the chaos would eventually subside.
The theory proved correct and we were finally able to find a car parking spot, and get our tickets....only to face the lift queue. Or should I say "rugby scrum"! I was pushed, elbowed and trampled in equal measure ...and that was just by the three octogenerian dames behind me!! Civilised is not the word I would use in relation to a French ski queue. See the photo below.
Despite all this, the snow and weather was superb. The crowds were no big deal. I expect that we will just need to get used to them with the Christmas holidays coming up and again in February. I am sure we will devise some cunning plan to avoid the worst!
But we will be going back to Les Grand Bornard as we liked the resort. The terrain looks exciting and a mid week ski in January might be just the ticket!!
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