Reflections on 2006

The year started with 5 weeks in Tasmania with my travel companion C. That was so good that it deserves its own post.

The latter holidays have been detailed but there is a lot left to summarise here!

Two great dance holidays, one with Jive Addiction in La Pineda near Tarragona (where incidentally I met L and R and have enjoyed trips to Newcastle following their invitations) and one with Club Dance Holidays in Granada, learning a little about tango. A week of tango is just enough to whet the appetite and I really need some regular lessons near Nottingham to achieve an ambition of dancing in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Walking holidays were a weekend in Yorkshire with my local Ramblers, the Hereford walking week, trips up Snowdon and Cader Idris and the fateful Introduction to Hutting from the Waymark brochure with my friend T. The principle of this holiday is that you stay high up in the Austrian Alps. Wonderful scenery if the sun shines as it did for half the week. Some huts are great, a bunk to yourself, good food and great camaraderie. Others involve bedding down on a large communal mattress - I don’t like somebody else’s breath on my back when I am trying to go to sleep - at least not a man’s! Basically I was out of my depth up in those mountains. T is stronger and fitter than me (he is younger - that could be an excuse for a lot of things in the future!) and easily kept up with the other five on the trip. I was the slow one although I did manage the walks in the times on the signposts. Also nothing to do with the weather or any other factor, I did manage somehow to pitch of the trail roll 20 yards and drop six feet off a rocky shelf before coming to rest with just one bruise to show. Incredibly lucky not to have serious injury. After a day off I resumed with the group in pouring rain which turned into heavy snow. There was a lot of scrambling before we reached the coll in 6 inches depth of snow and then the descent involved hanging onto this wire for about 30 yards before we settled into a steady walk down. So much for Austria in August!

There were many weekends away; with T and friends in Scarborough for jazz and cricket, with J (who is so wise - why don’t I take her advice?) in Ipswich, to relatives in Brightlingsea and to C, sometimes to work in her garden which she loves. Also a short break in Barcelona which I am willing to visit time and time again.

Finally a week in Samos with C. The first time we had not been on a holiday that had a detailed itinerary. Would we be bored? It turned out to be a lovely chilling out week. We relaxed, found wonderful beaches, good restaurants and rated Samos as perhaps our number one Greek Island.