Up the Montcabrer: the ice, snow, mud and thumbs.

I can't quite seem to catch up with these hiking posts! I guess in a way I should be grateful I had a rough night last Saturday and decided at the last minute not to go hiking on Sunday 'cause that way I'm able to post this before another hike (tomorrow) gets added to the waiting list... :p

This is a tale of climbing a mountain. On a gloriously sunny Sunday. With ice and snow. Saved from breaking anything thanks to trekking poles and thyme bushes. But still managed to find myself with my ass covered in mud... and ended up with sprained thumbs! ;o)

keep reading!

Final Snowy Solstice Morning

The sun rises on my final morning here, on the shortest day of the year. It�s colourful and magical, but I�m glad to be going. I�ve had fun in the snow �as you have probably noticed from my snowbsession these past few weeks-, but I�m glad to be heading south for the summer!

Early bird catches the worm they say� although berries would be more accurate! I finally found out what happened to my snowctopus�s eyes! Indeed, I caught the culprit red-beaked:

HA! Gotcha! I hope he enjoyed his early breakfast, cheeky blackbird! :p

Strategic retreat, although at some point he�ll head back down to finish off the other eye. I should have used coal�

Tonight I�m moving out to a friend�s apartment to be closer into town. Tomorrow morning I need to get up early to take a suitcase to the Post Office to have it mailed back to Spain (all my winter stuff, plus some chocolate and other goodies), head over to the bank to get some kiwi dollars, print my e-tickets and boarding cards and then catch a 13h45 train to Lille in France from where I get a TGV to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and then� I�m off! Up, up and away!!! New Zealand and a summer Christmas, here I come!!! :o)

(this would be the end of my snowbsession of the past month... I just realised I haven't written anything that didn't talk about snow since the end of February, lol!)

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Snowctopus!

So yesterday I finally got to make my snowman! I braved the snowstorm and enjoyed the last few rays of sunlight to play in the snow for a fun and exhausting hour (I forgot how tiring making a snowman is! lol!)

The garden before:

and after (seen from my bedroom window):

What's that? The tree branches are in the way? Oh well, I guess I'd better bring you outside and introduce you in person...

May I present, Mr Snowctopus!

keep reading!

White Weekend

So after a snowy Friday, I woke up yesterday morning to see a beautiful blue sky out of my window, with sunlight shining down on the snow!

I needed to go into town to finish up my Christmas shopping, and as I was heading out I decided to walk into town along the river to enjoy the sun and snow and take a few pictures of something I'd never seen before this year: snowy riverbanks along the Meuse!

This one's coming up on the Pont de Fragn�e:

I walked along the bank until I reached this point and realised I could go no further! I was at the meeting point of the Ourthe and the Meuse!

keep reading!

Snowy Friday

So yesterday morning I quickly posted a couple of pics of the view from my bedroom window and said I was wondering what would be waiting for me 150m higher up on the university campus... well, here's the answer:

That's the view from within the bus, was a bit thicker down below and the bus was having so much trouble making it up the hill for a moment I thought he'd pull over and say "time to walk guys!". It was snowing hard, and from my stop to class I got covered in snow!

But when I got out of my first class at noon, no more clouds, gorgeous sunshine, and everything looked lovely!!!

keep reading!

Morning whiteness

Here's the view out my window at 8h30 this morning:

Did someone drop a bucket of snow on us during the night??? There wasn't nearly that much when I went to bed! The campus is 150m higher up, so is probably going to look like a ski resort! :p

Maybe I will get to make my snowman after all... :D

It's BAAAAACK!!!

File this under the category "Be careful what you wish for"...

When I got up to Campus on Monday for my first class of the week, I was complaining how ugly everything looked with the snow all gone (melted with the *slightly* warmer weekend temperatures and rain) and how it was no fun dealing with below freezing temperatures if you couldn't at least have pretty snow!

Yeah well... several hours later it started snowing! Not much, just a few centimetres to make the place all white and shiny the next morning. But then Tuesday evening... aye! aye! aye!!! When I got up Wednesday morning: snow in town, so even more snow up on the hill! Plus it started snowing again during my first class, and I had to cross the whole bloody campus while it was snowing! (if it had been raining I would say pouring!)

Not that I minded all that much as you can tell from the grin on my face:

keep reading!

MORE snow?!?!?!

This is utter madness! This is my 10th Fall in Li�ge and I've NEVER seen anything like this, never before Christmas, and never even this much or this long during "real" winter (although I missed the 2 worst ones of the past ten years).

What am I going on about? You remember me complaining about the "slushy snow" that was raining down on the city all day Sunday? The stuff that melted all the snow in town and has stopped me from making a snowman in my back yard? Well it never occurred to me that up on campus the situation would be any different. Silly me, I forgot that the Sart Tilman - our "hill" - is about 150m above the city (Li�ge is only 68m above sea level). And what was rain down here was probably snow up there! So basically it snowed all day Sunday, stayed freezing Monday, snowed again a bit yesterday... and here's the result:

You think that's white? Take a look at this!

keep reading!

Snowy week!

It's been crrrazy here in Li�ge this past week! Snowing almost every day, snow up on the hill (on campus) and snow downtown (which almost never happens! or at least it doesn't "stick"). And temperatures below freezing for 10 days straight. This is my 10th Fall in Belgium, and I've NEVER seen this much cold and snow this soon!!!

I cancelled my evening sports activities due to being worried about being stuck up on campus at night if the snowing increased and the buses stopped running (they do that some times, nightmare!), but I enjoyed myself like a 6-year-old kid all week long goofing around in the snow and taking pictures! So here go some snowy shots and the tale of last week. ;o)

This what I woke up to on Tues Nov 30th:

Snow and the cars and the street:

made some things irresistible!

(and yes I know I'm early... 3 weeks to go!)

keep reading!

Snowy morning!

And after last night's snowfall, here's what I woke up to:

Looks gorgeous from inside my room, but I wonder how I'll feel when I have to go out in it! :p

Icy cold!

When I wrote about the snow up on Campus last week, I mentioned I was wondering if the weekend's hike would be snowy or not, and if my gear would do for the current weather conditions... Well the weekend was GORGEOUS! Beautiful blue skies we hadn't seen in weeks... which sadly here in winter are always accompanied by freezing cold weather, this time literally! The temperature hasn't been above freezing for a few days, and probably won't for the rest of the week! A light snowfall on Saturday added to the upcoming holiday feeling, but fortunately it wasn't enough to complicate things around here.

I'm running really behind on my Walloon Hiking Posts (which I'm doing as much for myself -to remember these hikes- as for anyone who might be interested in hiking or seeing the Belgian hills and woods), but I did want to sneak ahead and share a photo from yesterday! The latest in wintry (3� below freezing!!!) hiking fashions, voil�!

Quite a clash of colours, eh? I'm trying out my new garters (is that the right word for those red things?) which I got 'cause I was fed up of the mud around here. Have warm Columbia pants (part of my old Antarctic gear) on under my outer shell, and am wearing two icebreaker shirts long+short-sleeve) under a polar fleece and my jacket. Hat, gloves, scarf... those came and went depending on sunshine and whether climbing uphill or down... ;o)

There was just enough snow on the ground (and trees and bushes, more or less depending on sun or shade) to make everything look magical and all "Winter Wonderland", but not enough to make hiking a problem (I've been told it's more tiring to hike through the snow). Added bonus: the mud was all frozen!!! So for once I didn't come home with my pants all muddy up to my knees! (which kind of defeated the point of inaugurating my garters) Instead it was fun to walk on its crunchy surface, lol!

The snow was falling quite heavily when I left the University this evening... it's a pity I don't have classes tomorrow until the afternoon, I'm sure the pristine morning snow would make for lovely photos! :p

First snow on campus

I mentioned in my post yesterday that it had started snowing while I was in class... and I was wondering whether there would be any left when I got up there this morning. Well, here's the answer (taken w/ my cellphone, so not perfect):

Not much for those of you who have already gotten a decent snowfall this year, but it made me feel all giddy and goofy (plus I've had Christmas carols stuck in my since yesterday's snow)! It was actually snowing again (lightly) when I got off the bus! The snow's not sticking to the road, but it sure looks pretty on the leaves and branches of the trees and other plants! :o)

This weekend the temperatures are supposed to be mostly around or below freezing, and I'm wondering what my Sunday hike is going to be like... at a higher altitude and further inland. Will I get snow? What's it like hiking in snow? I hope my regular hiking boots will do the trick! Although I'm afraid the hat I brought with me isn't warm enough, and I didn't bring any snow gloves... winter is coming in much earlier (and colder!) than last year here in Belgium!

Snowy Alicante

Remember me complaining last month because I was missing the unique sight of seeing snowy mountains from the beach in Alicante? Well, guess what?!

SNOW!!!

keep reading!

Snowy Road Trip back South

So, you remember from my previous post how disappointed I had been by the lack of snow and then how excited I was my last night in Li�ge 'cause of a little bit of snow? Well I got plenty more snow on my way back down to Spain! :p

This is how things looked in Li�ge (on campus) when I left (I didn't have much time to wander around taking photos, had 2 meetings that morning and had to finish packing, last-minute chocolate shopping and loading the car, only got it all done thx to a friend's help!):

By the time I finally hit the road it was getting dark and I was stressed out about the possibility of driving at night through the Ardennes over snowy-icy roads (I wasn't worried about the dark since Belgian roads are all lit-up!). Well damn was I lucky!!! All along the drive the radio broadcast was punctuated by the "info routes" every 20', which kept informing me of a snowstorm moving across Belgium from the coast inland, with Brussels paralysed by the snow (and I later heard ditto the Eurostar, poor people stuck in that tunnel -which is a rather cool one by the way!), snow covering the country, accidents all over the place... except in the provinces of Li�ge and Luxembourg (Lux is the country, but the neighbouring Belgian province that covers the Ardennes is also called Lux)! In other words no problems at all on the E25! YES!!! And then I cross into France, and ditto! Radio talking about Paris under the snow etc, well when I got to my friend's house in Nancy, they hadn't even seen the tip of a snowflake! Situation which quickly changed since I woke up Friday morning to see this:

not too much, not bad, wasn't going to use it that day anyway since hanging out with my friend and her new baby and going into town for the Christmas market...

Things got a bit more complicated on Saturday when I was scheduled to continue on down the road. I woke up to find quite a bit MORE snow on the car:

but managed to have some fun with it anyway:

;o)

So I continued on South, pretty much following the inverse path I took in August on my way up. A beautiful crisp winter's day, with lovely white fields...

and highways covered in salt to keep the cars from slipping, but icky salt that kept being splattered up on my windshield and after a while making it impossible to see through (even worse when the sun was hitting directly on it, like a white wall instead of glass!) and so having to stop every 50km or so to pore water on it to clear it off (the windshield wiper liquid sprayer thingy being blocked, grrrr!)!!! The day's �tape ended up taking 90' longer than it should have. snif!

I spent the night in Valence instead of Lyon (my stop on the way up, big confusing city if you don't know your way around, which I don't). It's a lovely little city (about 100'000 inhabitants) I'll tell you about some other time (not much to see but what there was was beautiful!). I wandered around town Sunday morning for a bit to visit and enjoy the "last" of the snow:

Did you notice anything curious in that photo? Hmmm, apparently someone else had been having fun with the snow recently as well! Look in closer:

My original plan had been to head straight down to Barcelona (5h drive) from there, but when reading a little folder about "things to see" in the region I came across the mention of the tallest "donjon" (the keep or main tower from a medieval castle) in France just a short drive away and I knew I HAD to stop and visit! :p

Doesn't that "paysage" look gorgeous? The light came and went throughout the day...

Here's the Donjon overlooking the town of Crest:

And a more impressive look:

I spent a short hour (could have spent 2!) wandering up and down stairs (very impressive place and very informative if you're a fan of the middle-ages, which I am!), and then continued on my road... with a very dirty car:

thanks to all this damn brown stuff:

which I guess I should be thankful for since it keeps the roads from being icy.

For some reason (running late? tired?) I didn't stop for anymore pictures on the way down. I will say the countryside was gorgeous all the way down. I didn't see the snowy Pyrenees since I crossed at night. And the last snow caps I saw were on mountains around Tarragona. The thermometer didn't hit (and stay above) 0�C until Avignon. It hit the double digits when I entered the Comunidad Valencian, and then stayed above 15�C once I entered the province of Alicante. Quite a difference arriving home to 17�C weather when it had been -10�C when I left Nancy 2 days before! Unfortunately I had also changed gorgeous blue skies for grey rainy ones! It didn't stop raining until I left Catalu�a! But at least it "washed" the car... lol!

Now it's time to prepare and enjoy Christmas. I'm going to try to put together a "12 Days of Christmas" series... but I don't have internet at home any more (no point paying for 4 months of non-use) and I don't have time to figure out how to get service, too busy settling in and preparing Christmas! So I can only connect sporadically when I come to my parents'.

And I'm sorry I missed the Fishy Friday post last week... I was on the road and the days before was going crazy trying to get everything done for the trip. :p