2022 was an all round better year than the last couple, it would have been difficult not to be hey?

After seeing in the New Year, we dived straight into Veganuary for the first time. We eat mainly Veggie outside of the Tourist Seasons here so it’s been on the radar for a while. We picked up some lovely new recipes that remained on our repertoire all year.

Outdoors the snow was wonderful at the start of the month so we took advantage of every opportunity, even heading further afield to Le Mourtis for the first time.

Vic started her training for the Aneto Trail in earnest by tackling the Couch to 5k with Sarah Millican on the BBC.

Skiing remained high on the agenda in February so we took a couple of trips away. Firstly across the border to Cerler in Spain with a couple of friends where we put a dent in Spain’s Gin stocks. Then later to Andorra to visit Geoff’s cousin who lives there and Vic’s cousin and family who’d taken a week's holiday near the Grandvalira Ski Station.

In the Chalet we had mainly Self-Catered guests, but our 1 week with a catered family from the UK went down a storm! It’s really great to see families enjoying themselves together - it’s one of our favourite things here.

Mid-Feb saw the arrival of some new Cycling kit from the very forward thinking team at Neopro Cycling which got us very excited about the coming Spring.

Then even more skiing was had later in the month when more friends from the UK came over with their 3 kids.

March - Our final Self-Catered group checked out at the start of the month and Vic and I took a breath. Well, until the bizarre sand storms blew up from Africa and turned everything orange. 

Vic turned her thoughts to the kit she’d be wearing for the Trail Race in July and we premiered the first ever Games Master night in the House. Fortunately our guests worked out the Tasks and released us from our prison and we all lived happily ever after.

The last weekend of March saw our traditional end of season celebration at Superbagneres, where we were joined by Ben and Holly for the day!

There was Snow Joke on the 1st of April when lots of white stuff returned to Luchon. We couldn’t help but treat ourselves to a few days further afield at Grand Tourmalet and Piau Engaly.

Vic was still training outdoors, but we filled our time starting on the decorating in the large family suite on the top floor. Have you see those photos?

Ma Kidd came out to see us for the first time this year during April and we all hopped over the border to watch the Easter Parades in Bossost. Our first bout of dog-sitting for Kiwi in nearby St Mamet coincided with her visit, so there was plenty of time for walkies

Once the snow had gone Vic’s training runs got even longer and at the end of the month we flew back to the UK with Ma Kidd to catch up with Vic’s family.

May - After a stop in Nottingham with Vic’s parents we headed down to Devon to see Vic’s Sister & family and Vic completed her first ever Parkrun in Barnstaple. A quick stop off in Bristol before we headed back to Nottingham for a few more days with the parents completed our trip.

We were back in France later that week and straight into some more dog-sitting for different friends in another nearby village. Luigi & Leia were great fun apart from Leia covering Geoff in Sheep Poop on one walk. At home we got the house spruced up and ready for our first summer guests who arrived on the 12th.

The weather was very Kind in May and we started to get the garden prepared for the Veg we’d grow throughout the summer. Towards the end of the month our former House Elf and all-round VIP, Dobby(!), paid a visit. We finally got room 5 dressed and photo’d and ready for guests too.

June - By June we were well into the swing of things with numerous cycling groups here to challenge themselves against the Pyrenees and to relax in the house. Vic’s training had ratcheted up again as she strove for those all important ‘marginal gains’. 

The first weekend of the month saw the return of the Motor Days festival in Luchon, and it was great to see the town buzzing again. Otherwise, whilst our guests were enjoying the outdoors we went on some beautiful hikes. The weather really had been stunning in June.

However, later in the month Geoff had an awkward fall off his bike and we later found out he’d damaged his Coccyx - this took a couple of months to properly disappear. Vic’s training continued unabated and she was into the last few training runs before a week’s rest before the event.

Towards the end of June Ma Kidd came over for her second visit of the year which coincided with the Brandons being burnt all over the valley. The Brandons are a symbol of the start of summer here and there’s quite the party around each one.

At the beginning of July we saw a game of Pelote Basque for the first time on the outdoor courts near the park. We were fascinated by a 3-a-side game which is part squash, part lacrosse where the players have a large horn like glove called a Chistera to catch and launch the Ball (the Pelote).

The second weekend in July brought Vic’s event - the Aneto Trail to town. It has become more popular each year we’ve been here and now covers the whole weekend from registration on Friday to the events on Saturday and Sunday. Some Runners have a very early 05:30 start and some won’t be back in town until gone midnight, but the village and volunteers are there throughout. 

Vic’s race was on Sunday and she set out at 08:30 to tackle the 21 km course. Sadly she wasn’t in the greatest shape for it after fighting off a heavy cold for the week prior. We saw her at the halfway feeding station at Superbagneres and she was in brilliant spirits! A few hours later she’d cross the finish line in a time of 5 hours 21 minutes (???). We celebrated with a few beers in Billy’s before a well deserved soak in the bath.

Just over a week later and we were riding bikes up the Col de Peyresourde to watch the finish of the Tour de France stage on the Altiport. We collected goodies on a beautifully hot day and then watched the protagonists fight it out right to the finish line. Tadej Pogačar won the stage by just a few seconds with G coming home 4th after a battle royale on the Pyrenean Road. If you watch the highlights closely you can make out The Free Range Chalet Flag flapping around the 300m marker. We have some great shots from the day.

August started off in a similarly busy fashion, but we could take a breather during the second week when we had a self-catered group in. Geoff dashed back to the UK as a birthday surprise for his mum and Vic spent quite some time with Dobby who was back Dog sitting nearby.

After another Cycling Group passed through mid-August, Vic’s family came out to visit. Her parents, her sister & family and her dad's cousin and husband. It was a wonderful week; we hiked for hours up to the Espingo Refuge for the nephews first ever experience of staying overnight in the high mountains. We celebrated the achievement well enough for them to run out of white wine! Both days hiking were in amazing weather although it clouded over during the night so we couldn’t see the stars. We visited the Pyrenees Ho! activity park, played laser tag one evening, hopped over the border to Spain for Tapas and a bike ride and of course made the most of the Flower Festival weekend in town. We were in need of a rest after this week!

Vic dashed back to the UK for a friend's wedding at the start of September where she enjoyed herself thoroughly and we had our first Guided Cycling week. It was a great pleasure to meet some of the guys from Corsham Cycling Club and they covered plenty of KM’s here in the mountains during another week of great weather. The same week our favourite, e-bike riding, long term staying, vegan guest arrived for her shortest stay ever!

We had more cycling groups who took advantage of the quieter roads and slightly less intense weather in September before things started to calm down towards the end of the month.

The very last weekend of September saw us head up to Paris to spend a few nights exploring with Vic's sister and her Hubby Rich. Geoff had never been to Paris before and it was great to spend time together when none of us has work commitments in the background. Paris was wonderful and we squeezed an awful lot in, including using the tickets to see Tom Mcrae which had been bought before the Covid outbreak.

October historically quietens down in terms of guests for us even though the weather can be beautiful. But we had more visits from family & friends. First a friend of Geoff’s who we haven’t seen properly for nearly 15 years; we really enjoyed showing them the area and the town. Then the parents came out together for a relaxing break here in the sunshine.

In between, Vic took part in the October Rose walk for Charity - the event is getting bigger every year and it was great to see a large turnout in support, the town seems to turn pink for the whole weekend.

Towards the end of the month Luchon closes its High Street for the annual end of summer Street Market which ties in with the October Half-Term School Holidays. However our attention had turned firmly towards our upcoming Trip to Colombia. We were taking every opportunity to go hiking in the mountains here and were getting things ticked off the Kit List.

Oh and did we mention that we created a little theme song for the trip? Have a look here!

Nov - We continued the Hiking training and Kit gathering at the start of the month, but we also managed a dash back to the UK for a few days to see the parents for the last time this year and a family birthday bash. 

By mid-November we’d got all of our kit together and were ready for the off - you can read more about that trip here. But rest assured, we’ve made memories that will last a lifetime.

It was late November by the time we were back home in France and we spent the next week relaxing and recovering from a couple of bugs we’d picked up.

Dec - December started with a flurry of DIY Projects, mainly replacing a shower in Bedroom 3 (The Red Room), but servicing the boilers & fireplace, better draft proofing the dining room and adding some shelves for the figurines Vic’s mum had bought for us last year were all on the agenda.

Frustratingly the Shower Tray we’d ordered didn’t turn up in time, so that project didn’t happen before our Xmas Guests arrived but it’s underway now.

We had some great socials with friends in town before they headed off to visit families away from France, we enjoyed our annual Staff Xmas Lunch at La Lova on the outskirts of Luchon, but Xmas & New Year were mainly spent enjoying some time off by ourselves.

We hope you had a lovely Xmas & New Year, a memorable 2022 and we wish you all the best for 2023.

Geoff & Victoria