Camp life

So I'm back at camp, my posts are less frequent and probably a lot shorter because of this. It just means that I'm having a great time playing around with kids! This last week I've had to climb around in trees with some 13 year olds, making sure they are having a good time! I think I can manage that!

We had our staff orientation last week which involved all of us going on a beautiful hike together and enjoying the warm sunshine that Switzerland (sometimes) has to offer. Next week I'll be dealing with a group of 20 14 year olds going on a 3 day expedition! Bring it on! Hiking and camping at a lake, what could go wrong? I have to tempt fate, its in my nature. I have taken a slight step up in the world and will actually be leading this group of kids so all their problems become my problems. Putting it out into the universe that I'd really appreciate no problems!

Much to my delight I've also been asked to lead another group that arrives the following week! How I'm meant to organise that while up in the mountains is a bit of a mystery to me but never fear, I will conquer this challenge too!

I leave you with a picture of my job...

Annecy adoration

Today I had the great fortune of visiting three french town of annecy. I mainly ended up there cos I needed to be out the house for a day and with a lack of better things to do, decided a short trip to france, where fuel is cheaper, is obviously the best option.

I'm extremely glad I could come up with nothing else to do because I've now found a dream holiday destination a mere hour and a half away by car (faster, but more expensive on the toll roads).

Although I went in the height of summer the crowds of people were not enough to spoil the charm of this town. In fact they added to it. The lake of annecy was a hub of activity with people paddle boarding, sailing, paddle boating and swimming. It really looked like a scene off a summer time post card. And here I thought all of those were posed! One of the advantages of working during high season its that you get holidays while everyone else is working and all great places seem private holiday resorts. However in this case annecy felt alive with tourists and its one of the few times I've been to france and met friendly french! it might be that I'm understanding the language a bit better so I know what people are saying to me, instead of being the ignorant english. And after cycling through annecy I understand why the french get so annoyed with the english.

If someone were to stop in the middle of the cycle path without warning (and that person was not under the age of 10) it is guaranteed that the next thing out of their mouth will be in english and the next thing out of everyone else's mouth will be putain! Why do the english insist on arriving on holiday and then proceeding to be absolutely obnoxious. They're not generally obnoxious in england so what changes as they cross the channel?

I'm getting distracted, this post is about annecy. Not only does annecy have an incredibly clear blue lake as its main attraction but its also at the foothills of the alps making climbing and hiking definite musts. I have not done either there so cannot give first hand experience but c' mon, its the alps and they never disappoint!

There is so much to rave about and share but I'm just going to whet your appetite and leave you with the photos! Enjoy.

Being productive

Today was very productive and surprisingly cheap. I built a new drawer for jerry and it went very well so I'm off to but more materials tomorrow to continue my productive-ness. This is the first bit of diy I've done on my van and its a great feeling of accomplishment! I also learned how to make cord from nettle stems, rather simple but very useful to learn. More details of both to follow tomorrow!

Sedentary lifestyles 06/08/2013

I've been back in civilisation for the last few days and its been very uneventful. Its always nice visiting family again and eating good food but I find myself yearning for the road again. I'm gonna have to start syphoning gas from cars to afford all my travel desires! I should google that, I do feel like some cars don't have locked petrol tanks and if I borrow a little from everyone then no harm done... Of course I'd have to buy a jerry can! At the moment I'm enjoying being next to the lake in nyon on a perfect summer day! And its lovely watching so many people all here enjoying the sunshine too! Lovers, families, pensioners, house wives, business folk and even the unemployed who drunk beer while everyone else drinks water and teas! Wouldn't my mom be proud! Haha! The beach here is very nice, there is a grassy area that backs onto the lake and there are trees too which makes it easy to spend the day here. There is also this old man here who looks like he's here every day, he lies on a deck chair in a speedo that looks too small for him, then winds it up so it pulls up his butt to give him the least amount of covered area as is possible. There is much that I can handle, each to their own, but those extra few inches of tanned skin would look so much better white if it spared the world the sight of that tightly pulled speedo.

My final italian mountain pass 04/08/2013

Today was pretty uneventful, mostly driving but I did manage to find a place to swim! I'm sleeping next to a dam tonight with a few other campers in an open lot which seems to have been procured by free sleepers. I am finally clean after being able to swim! There was a crazy storm about 30 minutes ago which has now cleared to a lovely sunset, my last sunset on the road for a while. Now that I'm heading back to society I'm a bit sad. Life on the road can be lonely but its beautiful and full of surprises. You never know where you're gonna end up!

Free time! 03/08/2013

Its now evening and my quiet little spot has now 3 campers in it which makes me feel a little safer but thankful for my peaceful quiet night last night. My hair has been getting to me being so dirty so today I spread dish soap (the only soap I have) through my hair and then poured my water bottle over it to rinse it out. My hair looks so much better now and doesn't stick up any more when I run my fingers through it! I hiked up the other side of this mornings peak, also just over 3000m but didn't meet any lovely italian men with spiked coffee. I did have a lovely nap in the sun though

Grappa coffee anyone? 02/08/2013

I'm sitting at a beautiful view point, at just over 3000m which I hiked up with a crazy italian man who only speaks italian and who I couldn't understand at all! Then when we got to the top he gave me grappa spiked coffee and told me a whole lot of other things in italian that I couldn't understand. What a great country!

The best things in life are free 01/08/2013

Its amazing to me that right now I'm lying in my van looking out over an incredible view, I'm almost the only person on the mountain and this is all free! I had the most hair raising trip up here along extremely narrow roads, in my van but it was completely worth it! I wish everyone could see and appreciate this. There would be a lot more happy people in the world if this was the case. Wow! So beautiful out here!

Go jerry go! 01/08/2013

Today has been a good day so far, had to coast most of the way down a mountain pass for fear of running out of gas, found out my gps is not good at finding petrol stations but that's ok cos I found one myself, and someone filled up my tank for me! I didn't need to do it! How odd and so uneuropean! I then drank far too much coffee at a cafe while listening to old italian men yelling at each other. I know far too little italian to appreciate their arguments beyond the stereotypical jokes. I'm now sitting at 2030m having lunch while looking over the dolomites and listening to cow bells, a slight contrast to loud italians! Jerry did an amazing job getting up here, I had to do most the hills in 3rd gear and jerry almost overheated from exertion but here we are! By the way, loving the new giant mattress I've put in jerry, takes up more space but makes for a great night's sleep!

Via ferrata heaven 1/08/2013

 

Second night in the parking lot of the gondola and a new set of neighbours :) I'm sitting on the top of my van enjoying a cold one after a great day out! Managed to find a via ferrata today, after almost giving up hope and climbed it to the top of a mountain, it was brilliant! Met a few people along the way I could chat to so it hasn't been as lonely as I thought it might. The via ferrata was incredible, it wasn't very demanding and for most of it I climbed up the rock without using the cable :) there was a slow group in front of me but that was ok, the attitude really got to me more than I thought it would and I felt myself having to take a lot of breaks. Right now I'm trying to decide what to do tomorrow, should I spend another night here which I'm loving but my legs are in so much pain, I think I've pulled a muscle so hiking is really a no no and I asked at the tourist office and apparently you're not allowed swimming in any of the lakes here, I guess its cos its a unesco heritage site. That is nice though cos I've been drinking the water on the mountain. If I leave I can't be sure of finding another place as amazing as this is. There is so much to do here and its so beautiful! I'm also running low on gas and its so expensive in italy. Its even more expensive than switzerland. I'm not really sure why italy is such an expensive country! Its so poor, how do the people survive with these crazy prices? So basically I'm low on has and don't know what to do tomorrow.