Jake & Miles' European Excursion

The trip there

The trip up was an easy one, we got our bikes, rode to the bus stop, put our bikes on the bus, then get off, and then go up the gondala. After that we went up to the chair lift and rode over to say hi to Suisse (Switzerland). I liked the bit were we went into the hut and toook a photo under the Suisse flag.

Ok that’s enough of Switzerland, let’s head back to France

The road

The road was quite bumpy at some points beacause of the gravel, it was still fun but Sonia (my mum) and Miles (my brother) weren’t quite confident yet. There were really big bumps/ramps that I went in the air on one of them. Then after I rode the down hill run I went down the whole entire road (the second part is really steep) and I didn’t crash but I thought I would.

Watch out for cows

The downhill part

Time to get serious

On the downhill part I fell over five times or something like that. The fist time I landed in nettles and it realy hurt but the other times I was fine. One time Stuart (my dad) filmed me going down a wobbly part. I did quite good for my first time and I learnt how to skid my back wheel to turn and also some other stuff. It was one of my favourite times.

Nailed it

The ice cave is really cold, it is really wet and it is shrinking. So, if you want to go in the ice cave you will see it is quite small, and it’s going to be really cold, so if you go in there, you need to wear a jacket.

And you’re standing in ice.

There are lots of places to take photos.

A nice place to take a photo

The ice cave was a great place.

Exiting the grotto

You asked for it, it’s the first caption competition of the blog. The winner will receive a free workshop on boat safety.

Today’s mission, if you choose to accept it, is to get lunch in Italy

The crew

Name		Nickname		Special Skill
Jake		Joe		Climbing
Miles		Banana		Running
Stu		Stew		Geocaching
Sonia		Sony		Relaxing

The equipment

• Warm clothes
• Ice axe
• Crampons
• Mittens
• Chalk (for climbing)

The plan

First we go up the bumpy cable car to Plan d’Aiguille. We’ll go up the not so smooth cable car to Aiguille du Midi after that we go on the cable car (that was probaly the best) all the way across to Mount Helbronmer. We’ll descend down to the Sky way halfway point then down to Italy (Entrèves). At Entrèves we’ll search for a place to have lunch, then go safely home. READY THREE, TWO, ONE GO!

Mission report

Here we are, the bottom of the long squishy cable car up to Plan d’Aiguille hope were not gonna be stuck in it (dun dun daaaan!)

The crew assembles

We got locked in infinite void (approximately 1,000 m). This was not meant to happen (or was it?). We have gotten delayed 😱 What’s gonna happen next keep on reading to find out.

We like hanging out in glass boxes

We are free and now in Italy but still not out of the cable car also it stinks and I don’t know why… Anyway at least there’s a beautiful view of this mountian.

A mountain

Finally a gig, I still haven’t been notified how much they’re paying me though. But it was so good it was my first time playing on a grand piano

My first public recital in Italy

This is the reason why we needed chalk, for rock climbing. We definitely conquered that rock although how do we get down…

I told you we needed to bring chalk

Again we are distracted 😱 these grasshopers were tight competition in piggy back but who would win Joe or Jeremy.

The crew have officially gotten distracted

How we got to Italy

When we got off at the halfway point we started chillin’ but then we realised we had chilled enough and with Stew’s special skill we set out on a hunt for a dreaded, thing a geocache 😱. It was a long and treacherous journey but eventually the clue made sense - at the bottom of a mountain under a rock (spoiler alert it was a mountain diagram).

Back on track we went down the cable car and set off to find a restaurant for lunch. After walking in a circle we found a restaurant. It was a nice restaurant it had a cuckoo clock and everthing. I ordered a margherita pizza, Banana ordered some spaghetti with sauce, Stew and Sony shared a meal of polenta, and caprese salad. On the way back we went back over to Aiguille du Midi down to Plan d’Aiguille and back down to Chamonix.

Yesterday was a transition day - train from Paris to Geneva, a quick nachos and beer, and then the bus down to Chamonix.

We were unable to find any raclette so had to make do with fondue.

So much cheese

Tonight’s blog post will feature our action-packed journey across the alps to Italy. Stay tuned.