Life is not a Practice

Caro was "extremely motivated". Stefano less so. So caro and I took our mountain bikes in to Tannheimertal. It rained on and off but was also sunny on and off.



And the Apfelstrudel at the Engel in Grän made it all worthwhile.

46.8km and 700 meters of climbing
Track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=phtcixlokeyxjsql

A quick trip to Ardfern in Argyll, Scotland to look at a boat.



Flew to Edinburgh and then drove across to Ardfern. Next day did the whole thing the other way.

Four of us out on our mountain bike enjoying the Allgäu spring and getting dirty.



27km and 481 meters of climbing
Track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=fjwqhprkcddzdevu

Pictures at https://goo.gl/photos/BJ8FEUuKJqQvqgwY6

Moni rang me yesterday to say that the flowers in the meadow by the Kögelweiher are in bloom. The weather forecast lied and said it would be dry until midday so we cycled over there.

I didn't know there were so many different types of flowers in Allgäu. Afterwards we drank coffee down at the lake and then froze our way home.



Recovered with mulled wine.

10km and 144 meters of climbing
Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=lavvgusnqphxmxxe

Once again sunshine and once again round the Grüntensee but this time there were two of us.



Better speed of 21.1km/h and a lower heart rate at 118 beats per minute. Amazing what a bit of wind shadow can do. :-)

25.5km and 328 meters of climbing.
Track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=cmvyopmblrberkbn

The end of April and it has been snowing this week. The roads are clear though so I was out on my road bike today. Once round the Grüntensee. And you can tell I recently spent two weeks eating and sitting around on a sail boat. 22.5km at an average speed of 19.7km/h and an average heart rate of 123 beats per minute.



22.5 km and 265 meters of climbing.
track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=kdmzjeoskivtekcj

Thursday and snow and rain. Jon suggested nordic walking as a joke and four of us said "yes please" so we did Jon's "normal" morning route through Wertachtal.
And then hot tea and Baileys at the Frenchie House

This week the Farina's left us and Annalena and Daniel joined us. During the week we worked our way back north and then visited some islands in the Kornati.

Better weather than last week but less wind.



Photos at https://goo.gl/photos/XDTv6MWSu24zBV43A

Tracks at:
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=diemedrdkelcvtdo
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=dullwdxuepcxtdci
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=inbnquomflncrkpc
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=tgdweupbhvwcwijn
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=sdwoozdqcuzhxkal
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=mrbybsffmbaneyob
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=beugquklogazhpvl

Max's blog for the week starts at http://maxhogarth.blogspot.de/2017/04/sailing-croatia-day-8-tucepi-marina.html?m=1

Stefano's photos are at https://goo.gl/photos/5BCDUaiUVH2rNycPA and Max's at https://goo.gl/photos/JWtE4H6AWGdyPAMY7

Week 1
Rhiannon, Caro, Max, Stefano and I on a Dufour 350. The three Hogarths are staying for two weeks. Farinas are making space for Annalena and Daniel at the weekend.



We are enjoying everything from an afternoon and evening tied up at the harbour wall in Hvar to lonely bays on uninhabited islands; glass flat seas to 30 knot gusts out at sea.

What I absolutely love about sailing is waking up not knowing where you will be in the evening. You know the direction and you know you will have your "home" with, but you don't know what the day will hold or where you will be sleeping. On one day, we started anchored off a village on an island and now we are backed on to the main harbour wall in the middle of a medieval town. A day later we finished the day anchored in a tiny cove surrounded by forest and nature.

At the end of our week together, we did a night sail to the mainland to meet Annalena and Daniel.

Photos at https://goo.gl/photos/XDTv6MWSu24zBV43A

Tracks at:
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=alqibrmrxxcfhebw
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=uvkyehqtbwxjhbyx
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=bcckveftakgdqbdz

on day 4 I restarted my plotter and lost part of the data
- http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=iajyhkuhyaeqqmja (part 1 of the day)
- http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rreuxgpjwpzflndy (part 2 of the day)
- http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rjkftidbhfyjqeju (the whole day from Max but with lower resolution so you can not see the heart that Rhiannon salied and which is shown in my part 2 track)

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=htswjbiuzsqznhux
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=tydixdnajvlpnzxp
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rzxvjddcttrmbnft

Max's blog starts at http://maxhogarth.blogspot.de/2017/04/sailing-croatia-day-1-nesselwang-biograd.html?m=1

Stefano's photos are at https://goo.gl/photos/5BCDUaiUVH2rNycPA and Max's at https://goo.gl/photos/JWtE4H6AWGdyPAMY7

Caro "forced" Stefano and I (and Noelia) to go out biking despite our protetsing about the planned rain..
The 7-Weiher-Tour is the classic spring tour and today was a classic spring day. The snow is nearly all gone except in the mountains.



25km and 313 meters of climbing.
Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=faegoyqugyapuhyu

At the furthest point from home, I received a message that a repeater of ours had a problem so set off home at top speed. Until then I had kept my heartbeat below 135 but on the way back it was 150. Luckliy a colleague solved the problem so I turned round and cycled slowly back to the others.

See my heartrate at https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1628812010

First mountain bike ride of the season. Caro and I rode to the Allatsee and back. As we crossed the border, she saw an interesting track so we did a few extra meters of climbing on steep gravel. It is good that we do lots of spinning in winter.



36km and 468 meters of climbing.
Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=cuocqgqeuntashiz More details at https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1616807767

My first bike ride this year. The "standard" 20km around the Grüntensee.
I think I need a bit of training before we cycle to Monaco :-)



20km and 257 meters of climbing. Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=ahcbdmtjmduqwucl

The aim of todays ski tour was the Sulzspitze - 960 meters of climbing. Nine of us set off from Grän and enjoyed the climb up through trees covered in new snow.



At the pass - Strindenscharte - I decided that the combination of rewiring Stefanos office yesterday and the 730 meters were enough. Three others agreed with me so we ate something, took off our skins and had an exciting ski back down to the cars.

730 meters of climbing. Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=onrfjydxjqiexgaa

A few hours skiing with Chris and Philipp in Tannheimertal.

Seven of us took advantage of the perfect snow and weather to drive in to Tirol and do a ski tour.

The walk up the mountain was a nice exercise and the descent was a dream. Unfortunately the waiters were extremely incompetent and disorganised. But on average - a brilliant day.



6km round trip with 600 meters of climbing. Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=xinijzkyemawfshh

I may have mentioned that we have a relay station on the Grauen Stein. It is solar powered but this year we added a backup generator that we can start from the office. It worked great when we didn't need it but now we needed it and it didn't work.



Yesterday Tom set out to reach the station but had to turn back half way. So today it was Simon and my turn. We were the first (and only) people on the mountain so we had to break trail all the way. It took us one and a half hours to cover one and a half kilometers.



At the station we scraped the ice off the solar panels, got the ice off the antennas and failed to repair the generator.

Then we skied back in to the valley for a beer.

Track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=cerjpztjhxihgcjx