Made it to France

Its now about 5:45 pm, Sunday  in Arlanc France and I am here for a couple of days before heading to the Alps.
I left Edinburgh on Friday and the reports of snow causing traffic problems were all over the radio so rather tahn take the A1 south and follow the coast, I took the inland route on the A68 and crossed into England at Carter Bar just south of Jedburgh. I like this route, there is something dramatic about crossing hill passes and the views in both directions from the top as you cross the border are spectacular. The road was a little snowy on the English side but no real trouble and more importantly no hold ups. I spent the night at a friends in Clochester and got the Shuttle through the tunnel under the channel at 8:30 on Sturday morning.
The motorways in France are really good, ok you have to pay for them but you can see where the money goes. I did get a little hung up going round Paris. Normally I can avoid it because when I drive straight to the Alps you stay well north and don't see Paris at all. But, because I was comimng here the most direct route is to cut around the capital and join the  autoroute heading pretty much due south. After a hold up or two due to roadworks and busy traffic I popped out heading south and from then on plain sailing to Arlanc.
My friends have been here for a number of years and I know it pretty well. They live in an old mill outside the town surrounded by fields and cows. Its lovely to get out of the car here after two days driving and just spend some time walking the dogs and chilling.
However, tomorrow I am back in the car and off to the mountains. Its about 4 hours on good roads and so long as it doesn't snow all should be fine. I will get into my appartment in Ste Foy tomorrow afternoon, get my gear organised and on Tuesday will go up to Tignes for a ski. Its good to make sure the legs still work before you meet the clients on Wednesday!
I will be in Tignes for 21/2 weeks and its always fun. We get a lot of repeat clients and its good to see them and there are lots of instructors around at this time of year so its good to catch up with thm.
I will try to post regular reports on the conditions.