Friday 14/Saturday
15 February 2013
Another year another ski trip! And it is Valentine’s Day
which is also Brian’s wedding anniversary.
Once again we are taking Crookhorn College to Austria and
I am looking forward to the trip although it is another drive through the
night.
Roger is picking the group up at the college and driving
them to Dover where Brian and I will take over for the drive to Austria. He is
due at the college at 11:30 to depart at 12:00.
The weather forecast for today is absolutely awful with a
terrible storm promised in the south! Just what we wanted when our channel
crossing is by ferry!
The weather all the way to Dover is very windy and wet
but as we approach Dover the rain stops and it actually brightens up! Is still
very windy and the channel looks decidedly choppy.
We wait about half an hour before Roger arrives and in
that time it has started to rain with a vengeance, the storm is definitely
here!
Steve Eddington is once again the organiser and his
sister, brother in law and their young son Thomas join us here as we quickly
swap over to drive to the quayside. We would normally pick up Chris and Simon
from Premier Ski, who travel down from Nottingham, but they are flying out
tomorrow but will return on the coach with us. Steve’s friend Elliot is also
flying in from Southampton and will also travel home with us.
Of the adults on the trip we have Steve, Phil (snow
white), Roy (legend), Libby and Annie. If you include the flyers as well as
Candice and Ted (sister/brother in law) that is a quite a few adults amongst
the children who range from year 8 upwards. I recognise a few of them from
previous years and they are good kids from a good school.
We are booked on the 15:40 ferry which is delayed by 20
minutes which is far less of a delay than I anticipated with the forecast.
We are loaded and do indeed set sail at four. As we begin
to leave the harbour the captain does his usual speech about the weather and
sailing conditions.
Violent winds and hurricane level storm are the words he
used! I don’t mind rough seas and find it all rather exciting but what I don’t
like is hundreds of vomiting angels from the many schools on board making a
mess!!
The drivers room is pretty full as we enjoy dinner and
the boat starts to sway a bit.
And then nothing! The storm seemed to finish at Dover as
we enjoyed a very calm and pleasant crossing with not a sick bag in sight. How
odd is that.
We drive out of Calais at 18:40 local time and begin the
long drive through to Austria. Brian does the first stint to Luxembourg where
the plan was to top up with cheap fuel but on arrival at the service area it
became apparent that a lot of other busses and lorries had the same idea and at
some of the pumps the queue was ten deep! When you are filling up anything from
500 – 750 litres that is a long wait. We give the fuel a swerve and just stop
for a 30 minute break, along with hundreds of other kids, but at least it is a
chance for some fresh air and a leg stretch.
I take the next leg into Germany and manage to reach
Grublingen services in 4hrs 29m, a full minute before my driving time is up!
Brian then takes us to Irschenburg services south of
Munich where the breakfast choice is McDonalds or Burger King! The kids are
happy.
We have arrived here at 07:20 and will leave for the last
leg of our journey at 08:30. It is busy here but there is a distinct lack of
snow which from a drivers point of view is no bad thing as it makes the driving
a whole easier.
From here we hit a bit of traffic, which doesn’t delay us
too much, and arrive at the Gasthof Pass Lueg bang on 10:00. It has been a good
drive and I have enjoyed it.
We are met by David, the hotel owner, and soon all kids
and luggage are in the hotel.
We sweep the coach out and clear up the rubbish before
going into the hotel.
Some of the rooms aren’t ready yet so we have to wait for
the cleaner to finish her duties. Best have a beer while we wait! It might be
early but feel like we have deserved this!
I really like it here. We are the only people in the
hotel and it stands all alone in a stunning location atop of Pass Lueg surrounded
by high mountains and woodland.
David is English and when he married Stephanie he married
into the hotel. They have two young children, Oliver and eight week old
Maximiilian. Stephanie’s mother is still about and they all live at the hotel.
They are all very welcoming and it is a pleasure to return. And the beer is
good!
They have laid on some bread, cheese and ham for lunch.
The ski hire company come to the hotel now and they
arrive shortly after lunch with all of the skis, boots and poles and it doesn’t
take long to sort everyone out and then load the skis onto the bus.
Time for a siesta!
Dinner was at 18:00 and I went down before five o’clock
to do some work and have a beer before everyone came down. All of the teachers
plus Chris and Simon were there discussing the week and enjoying a beer so it
seemed rude to not join them! No work this evening.
David had given us all a code to use so we could connect
to the internet but it crashed immediately and in the end nobody could connect.
The kids are distraught!! S is Brian!!
After dinner I was very tired but decided to sit up and
have a chat and drink before bed which probably wasn’t the best way to spend
the evening finally rolling into bed at midnight!
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