A magnificent panorama of volcanoes

A rare sight of El Tungurahua - normally it's shrouded
in mist. Auray has found a flower. © Tom Rayner

The day was bright and clear – a great day for admiring the panorama of dramatic mountain scenery. Tom drove Aureliano and I to Parque de la Familia which offers great views, and also has a variety of animals in a sort of children’s farm.

The park is very well cared for with good paths and well-tended flower borders plus lots of interesting trees and plants. It’s on the edge of the steep valley which holds Ambato and, to get there from La Joya (where the hospital is) you have to go through La Miraflores and Ficoa, the posh parts of Ambato, and up a very steep road.

From Parque de la Familia, provided it’s clear like today, there are great views of Tungurahua and Chimborazo, which feel almost close enough to touch; also Cotopaxi, El Altar and Sangay. It was a volcano-spotters’ paradise and the higher peaks were all covered with fresh snow shining in the clear air.

I'm getting a little blase about El Chimborazo, but what
a sight it is on a clear day. © Tom Rayner

I’m getting a bit blasé about El Chimborazo. It’s an awesome sight, but isn’t it strange how awe fades into familiarity so quickly? I guess people who live here just look at it as I’d view a familiar landmark in the Cambridgeshire Fens (although a 20,000 ft volcano would take some getting used to).

El Tungurahua is less familiar. Although it’s relatively close to Ambato, it seems to be hidden in cloud more often than not, so when it does appear like a giant out of the mist, the effect is shocking. This morning it was there as clear as day, snow capped and with its top crater tilted ominously towards us.

We could also see some other clear peaks, which were confirmed by a park warden who passed by and was happy to stop for a chat. There was El Altar or Capac Urcu (possibly from the Kichwa “kapak” meaning great and “urku” mountain. It is an extinct volcano on the western side of Sangay National Park, with a highest point of 5,319 m (17,451 ft). Wikipedia says the Spanish colonists named it so because it resembled two nuns and four friars listening to a bishop around a church altar.

I always like to know how easy it is to get to the summit and Wikipedia says El Altar is the most technically demanding climb in Ecuador. Apparently, December to February are the best months to attempt an ascent. There’s also a more accessible hike to the lake within the caldera of the mountain. From Riobamba, travel to Candelaria and then check-in at the ranger station to enter the national park.

Wikipedia says a walk of 4–7 hours on an extremely muddy trail (knee-high rubber boots are recommended) leaves one at the refuge belonging to Hacienda Releche, which has many beds, and a kitchen. The hike to the lake is another two hours from the refuge across a valley and up a steep hill. If that’s “accessible” heaven knows what the peak ascent is like!

Capac Urcu (I’m still on Wikipedia) consists of a large stratovolcano of Pliocene-Pleistocene age (so between 2 and 5 million years old) with a caldera breached to the west. Inca legends report that the top of Altar collapsed after seven years of activity in about 1460, but the caldera is considered to be much older than this (you can’t trust those Incas – they’ll tell you anything). Nine major peaks over 5,000 metres (16,400 ft) form a horseshoe-shaped ridge about two miles across, surrounding a crater lake at about 4,200 m (13,800 ft), known as Laguna Collanes or Laguna Amarilla.

In the far distance, we could also see Sangay (5300m, 17,400ft). This is another classic stratovolcano (like Cotopaxi). I wish I had my binoculars because this volcano, although clearly visible, was too far away to pick out any detail, apart from its general shape.

Sangay - photo from Smithsonian Institution

It is the most active volcano in Ecuador, despite erupting only three times in recorded history, because the eruption that started in 1934 is still ongoing. Wikipedia says Sangay marks the southern boundary of the Northern Volcanic Zone, and its position straddling two major pieces of crust accounts for its high level of activity. Sangay's 500,000-year-old history is one of instability; two previous versions of the mountain were destroyed in massive flank collapses, evidence of which still litters its surroundings today.

Due to its remoteness, Sangay hosts a significant biological community with fauna such as the mountain tapir, giant otter, Andean cock-of-the-rock and king vulture. Since 1983, its ecological community has been protected as part of the Sangay National Park. Although climbing the mountain is hampered by its remoteness, poor weather conditions, river flooding, and the danger of falling ejecta, the volcano is regularly climbed, a feat first achieved by Robert T. Moore in 1929.

I was interested to read about the cock-of-the-rock. When I was a little boy, I had a book about the natural word, which I loved reading. There was a picture of an erupting African volcano with all the local animals running away, also pictures of the Amazon river and a picture of a cock-of-the-rock. When they asked in primary school what we wanted to do when we were older, I said I was going to go up the Amazon. Well, I did cross the Rio Napa in a canoe a few years back and that’s a tributary of the Amazon! I haven’t seen a cock-of-the-rock though (perhaps there’s still time).

It was a wonderful couple of hours and a lucky break in the weather. Thanks also to Aureliano for being so patient (all he wanted to do was to see the turkey in the farm park).

Whale watching from Puerto Lopez

I was pretty excited about today – we were going whale watching. I wished that Margaret could have been here to share the experience. We saw minke whales off the Inner Hebrides some years back and it was astonishing. We were lucky to see them, they’re not rare, but they are not always spotted. Off Ecuador in August, you’d be hard pressed not to bump into a humpback whale – there’s a lot more of them, they’re much bigger and a lot of them are showing off in the hope of impressing a mate.

Lucy and Aureliano were not on the trip and Nidia also elected to stay behind (I suspect to help out). Tom, Julia, Emilia and I headed for Puerto Lopez, which is around 30 miles south along the coast. It’s the nearest reasonably sized town and we knew there were trips from there. Some other places were advertising them, but we were not entirely sure they were safe or kosher.

Puerto Lopez isn’t a huge place. The roads are terrible, and I was glad we were in the Montero not the Chevrolet. We headed towards the seafront quite slowly and were soon accosted by a chap who wondered if we wanted to see whales. We weren’t ready to buy just yet (the plan was to head to the front and check out the options). He wasn’t taking no for an answer and when we drove off, he jumped on his bike and rode after us.

I was getting used to the Ecuador sales technique. It’s not so much of a hard sell as a “please buy from me”. Everything is sold at the side of the road and there’s a lot of competition.

This guy was determined. When we slowed down, there he was and when we stopped at the T-junction on the seafront, he was at the driver’s window. He had a laminated information sheet and anything we wanted was possible. What time did the boat leave? 11am was the answer. Well we wanted something a little earlier …

Hang on, he’d get that sorted. A large chap on a small motorcycle arrived, there was a short conversation. No problem, they could leave at 10.30. We were running out of excuses not to go with them, so we said OK, we’d take a look. He leapt off his bike, guided us backwards into a parking slot and took us to his leader. This was a small, seafront office with the walls covered in slightly faded whale posters with promo text in Spanish and English. Whales are the main attraction, but it seems all the boats offer a chance to do some snorkelling and to see the blue-footed boobies as well (it doesn’t matter if you want to see them or not – blue-footed boobies are compulsory). We booked in ($25 each, Julia free) and were asked to wait on the beach. They’d let us know when to head for the jetty and we were quite pleased to hear that we didn’t have to wade out to get in the boat (as predicted by Emilia).

We waited until about 10.45am (so the boat did sail at 11am) and then walked down to the jetty. There were about 20 people booked on and we’d been promised a top deck view. They were as good as their word. Julia was lifted up and we had to climb around the side and up a ladder onto the top deck. The boat was quite small, a bit like the fishing boat in Jaws and powered by a couple of chunky outboard engines.

Julia enjoyed whale watching, but couldn't stay awake
for the whole show.

It was a fairly overcast day, but warm enough, and we were soon speeding out of the harbour into open sea. There were a few other boats about, and we soon spotted some whales. The boats are supposed to stay 50m away from whales and 100m away if a whale has a calf, but the animals were popping up all over. We would see (or hear) a whale blow as it reached the surface, see an expanse of back, a small fin and then it was down again. Often, there were three or more travelling together. After two or three breaths, they would dive; the tail would come up out of the water as the animal went down and that would be it – they’d disappear for some time and resurface well away from us.

The boats seem to work together. There was some mobile phone messages and a couple of boats that were near to us, headed at speed towards Salango Island, just off the shore at the southern end of Puerto Lopez bay. There were a few whales about, but they seemed to be travelling through, not mad keen to put on a show. The other boats had gone further out and I was beginning to think we’d backed the wrong horse when our chap headed out after them. There were some whales on the surface putting on a bit of a show. A couple of large whales would dive, surface with a blow, then roll on their side and slap their massive pectoral fins on the surface of the sea. They might lie there and give the surface three huge slaps before rolling back, diving and then doing the whole thing again.

I guessed this was some kind of display for the lasses, but the internet suggests it’s a means of communication with other whales. Just letting the other folk know they’re about.

A couple of whales can past and there was a baby whale with them, quite clearly visible. It surfaced more regularly and was sticking close by its mother. The babies have quite a high death rate due to attacks by orcas. Apparently, most humpbacks have scars from orca attacks.

Julia had enjoyed seeing the whales, but it got a bit rough in the boat on the open sea and I think she was feeling a little queasy. She did the sensible thing and fell asleep.

We’d been out for a couple of hours, so the tour was nearing its end and we headed back into Puerto Lopez, past Salango to the cliffs at the southern end of the bay. The snorkelling gear was handed out to anyone who wanted it and there were quite a few takers, despite the rather dull day. We stayed up top and got a piece of banana cake from the skipper. Julia had woken up and been given a snack by Emilia, which turned out to taste terrible. We dropped some overboard and it was immediately gobbled up by a shoal of catfish. The rest of the packet followed (it was just like feeding the fish at Crowland) and I felt a bit guilty – all the fish the snorkellers were trying to spot were round our side of the boat being fed.

Just as we finished, a huge humpback whale breached a couple of times on our side of the boat. It was unexpected and quite shocking/spectacular. Tom managed to video it, which was good because I could hardly believe my eyes. These things are massive, they weigh as much as six adult elephants and grow to 16 metres (the big ones are the females) so the power to propel that much body clean out of the water is amazing. It was quite a finale to the whale show!

But the show wasn’t over, there were still the blue-footed boobies to see. These albatrosses nest on very narrow ledges on the cliffs. Their feet are very bright blue. Not for the first time, I wished I’d brought my binoculars with me.

Back to Santo Domingo

Making friends with a llama. I'm lucky he didn't
spit in my eye.

We set off for Santo Domingo quite early with me driving because Tom’s ankle is still sore and he’s keeping it in a brace for as long as possible. Apart from the chapas echados and some suicidal overtaking moves (witnessed, not done), the driving is OK. Chapas do catch me out. They are used on Ecuadorian trunk roads as well as in town, so if you’re approaching a town, there will be a chapa to slow you down (nothing wrong with that) and also one when you leave to town, as a sort of farewell gesture. They have to put them right across the road, otherwise people would drive onto the wrong side of the road to avoid them. They are also placed ahead of hazards such as tight bends and (a big favourite) before and after bridges. Before to slow you down and after to prevent cars coming over to your side of the road to avoid the chapa.

I’m slowly getting tuned into them.

We made good time and had another nice view of Chimborazo, this time with cloud swirling over its summit. The plan was to be there by 11am and Jorge would follow on in the pick-up. We managed to disconnect the cooker and have various pieces of furniture ready and got him loaded quite quickly. Jorge can load the pickup to an impressive height and then rope everything tight under a tarpaulin sheet.

The room was much diminished – no cooker, cupboard, benches or table. We had the stove for heating and some chairs and that was it.

After Jorge was dispatched home to Ambato (he’d be back next day for the final load), we took a drive to Salinas for some lunch in a café and a little walk around the town. We popped into the cemetery (like you do) and found it very Latin American, with the graves stacked above ground in slots. It would be quite hard to dig down six feet to bury a coffin in this terrain. I like Salinas, it is very pretty and has a nice feel to it. There are a very small number of tourists about (perhaps four) but the place is doing what it can to attract more.

Most of the efforts are the work of an Italian Catholic priest, who has started a chocolate factory, hotel, restaurants and other bits of industry. The tourist boom just isn’t happening, which is a shame. I liked the place and took some images, but I was very conscious that I shouldn’t be too intrusive. These people are just getting on with their lives, they are not putting on a show for the tourists like you see in some African villages. People go on safari and choose the optional trip to a Maasai village. They do a dance with some scary spear-waving, drink some bloody milk and sell you home-made crafts, then put on their football shirts and get back on their mobiles.

Here, people are getting on with their lives and tourists are a rarity. It would be like me walking the dog in Thorney and a bus-load of tourists taking pictures of me. I might be quite grumpy about it and I felt the people here might feel the same. I did take a photo of one of the chivas buses used hereabouts. I thought it was interesting. They are open-sided and used by the locals a) because there isn’t anything else; and b) because they can take their animals on board. I did a quick snap, but then noticed that some people were hiding their faces and the driver was mocking me by taking a photo of me on his mobile. I should have made some gesture to check he was OK to be photographed – lesson learned.

Tourism could bring much needed cash into the area, but it would also change things substantially. I don’t think these people would want to be part of a Maasai-style tourist experience, but then I suppose the first Maasai felt much the same. If I were in charge of the Ecuadorian high Andes tourist development board (maybe that exists, I don’t know), I’d be offering trecks in the paramo. Routes would need to be surveyed and marked, but the scenery is magnificent. It shouldn’t be a difficult sell with a bit of infrastructure in place.

Catholic Church in Salinas

Cemetery - here you get buried six feet up, not six feet under.

Above and below - views of Salinas

Back at Santo Domingo, Tom was keen to take me for a walk. I didn’t think it was a great idea with his ankle, but he said it would be OK. We walked out of the village, past free-range piglets and took a route down a steep valley, before a steady climb around the side of a hill and then contouring through woods and fields. There was a steep drop to our right looking down into a steep valley, cultivated as far as you could see. The steepest slopes are farmed here, either by crops or grazing.

We then cut up a steep track onto the open paramo and climbed until we got Santo Domingo in view below us. I guess we were around 4000m. A bit higher than we were, Tom could see Don Alfredo, who tends the sheep belonging to the local co-operative, starting to drive them down for the night. Don Alfredo lives with his wife and two daughters on the edge of Santo Domingo in a breeze block hut maybe 12x10 with a fire in the middle of the floor. The sheep live in a far more substantial structure next door. Don Alfredo also has a pig with piglets and various other animals, including a couple of vicious dogs. On account of dogs, Tom and I were carrying a couple of hefty stones each. I wouldn’t normally countenance throwing rocks at dogs, but I went with the local knowledge – apparently, if the dogs know you have stones, they snarl from a safe distance. As it happened, Tom was more concerned about the large pig [see video] than the dogs and when we got there Don Alfredo was outside, so his dogs were all sweetness and love. Tom told Alfredo he could take surplus logs and some other bits and pieces that he’d leave in the storeroom, so he was well pleased and seemed genuinely sorry to see Tom go.

Molesting llamas on the paramo. 

Santo Domingo below us, taken from the paramo.

Darkness falls fast (and with it the temperature), so we cranked the stove up and got the temperature inside up to around 16 degrees. We ate chips for dinner and watched the film Patton with George C Scott. It was a good film and fortified by rum with hot water bottles on our laps, we defied the cold. The bedroom was freezing, so the bottles were refilled and we slept in our clothes with the wind howling outside.

My first view of Chimborazo - wow!

I've been hoping to see Chimborazo, the largest volcano in Ecuador, for the past few days but it has been quite cloudy. Tom thought we'd probably see it on the drive to Simiatug and he was right. The higher we got, the clearer it became and finally the whole, massive mountain was on show.

At 6,268 metres (20,371ft), it is absolutely awe-inspiring. It hasn’t been active since 550CE but the results of its activity are all around. The surrounding high plateau is strewn with rocks and as you drive on roads where they have had to cut through or into the rock, you can clearly see strata of varying depths from eruption after eruption. It’s like the cross-section of a massive layer cake.

Chimborazo makes you stop in your tracks and, in a country where there are geological wonders everywhere, it has to be pretty amazing to stand out.

We started the drive from Ambato where we are at about 2,700m and crossed a high pass on a dirt road at around 4,200m before dropping down to Santa Domingo at 3,530m (11,500ft). You can see some video from the high part of the pass here. We met some gringos (Americans) on horses near the top.

The drive is a sensory overload from start to finish. From Ambato, you’re soon into countryside, quite lush with steep valleys and with lots of people selling produce at the side of the road. It’s an age-old opportunist sales technique and exactly how Stilton Cheese got started on the side of the A1. We stopped on one stretch where there were around eight sellers (all offering vegetables). We bought potatoes, beans, tomatoes and some fruit.

We also passed a community market set up on the bottom of a valley where there’s a tight bend and some parking. I guess people have to slow down for the bend and can park up if they see something interesting. This sells everything, including meat. Fresh mutton would be cut off a sheep (recently butchered) and hanging from a convenient road sign – did that say “bend ahead” or “dead sheep”?

There are lots of trucks on the road and they don’t seem to worry too much about where they overtake. Driving can sometimes feel a little dangerous: click here. 

In one valley, there’s the home of Mushuc Runa FC, the football team of the indigenous people. Mushuc Runa means “new man” in Quechua and they get big crowds. The stadium is reached down a steep dirt road (I don’t think you’d get the Arsenal team bus down there) and on match day everyone parks on the main road, which is also steep and narrow, but at least is tarmac. Apparently, the man who owns Mushuc Runa heads the local produce co-operative and has two wives (sisters) who live in houses next door to each other just down the road. They are very nice houses by the local standard and I thought the one higher up the road was a bit nicer (she must have been the top sister). This local gossip, by the way comes courtesy of Jorge, who knows what’s going on around here.

You can’t believe how big Chimborazo is, pictures don’t do it justice. No wonder people decided these volcanoes were gods or the homes of gods.

We turned off a good road onto a dirt track to cross a mountain pass. The road wasn’t too bad (no need to engage 4WD today), but it can get tricky in bad weather. I’m not comfortable giving the car such a hammering and would have slowed down a bit, but the Mitsubishi Montera (now 19 years old) seems well suited to such an environment. It’s a V6 2.7-litre petrol and isn’t very economical, although petrol is only $1.83 per gallon – less than 40p per litre. Lucy was getting a bit shaken in the back and gets painful contractions with the rough road.

We came off the dirt road onto a metalled surface and then turned off again onto a dirt track to Santa Domingo.

Santa Domingo is 3530m (11,500ft) and it’s hard to breathe once you start ding anything physical such as climbing the stairs. The centre of the community is a church and square, surrounded on three sides by school, church, cheese factory and the abandoned furniture factory where Tom and Lucy got accommodation. The central square has pigs running around, dogs and llamas. In the morning, people bring milk to the cheese factory from surrounding smallholdings, they arrive with two plastic cans strapped each side of a llama.

We walked down to the nursery (you get free nursery care in the high Andes) where children were playing out. Lots of them know Tom, Julia and Aureliano. The toys are worn out and play equipment is old tyres and logs. There’s a steel climbing frame and some plastic slides which all went flying when there was a blast of wind.

The rooms they have been using are above the old furniture factory. There’s a big room which they have used as a playroom. It was the old school and when they went in the last lesson was still chalked up on the blackboard (quite spooky). They also have a living room/kitchen warmed by a wood stove, where there’s a sink, fridge and gas hob; large table with benches and two settees. They have a bathroom and large bedroom which had two doubles and a single bed. It’s warm enough when the stove is lit, but very cold without it (and in the other rooms). Drinking water is from an office-style water cooler, milk is bought from the cheese factory each day and has to be boiled before use.

A local man had set up an interview for Lucy with his 90-plus mother, who had direct experience of the Simiatug uprising and the seizing of the land from the hacienda owners. She was able to give Lucy a first-hand account (she lives on her own over 3,500m in a hut with her animals) and in exchange for helping set up the interview, Lucy had promised her son a copy of the video, so we set off to take it to him in the nearby town of Salinas.

It’s a drive of about 45 minutes and Salinas is a pretty place with a central square and busy streets. It’s also quite industrious, making cheese and an orange liqueur among other things. We bought some cheese and chocolate. The man we were to deliver the video to lived further up the valley from Salinas, along quite a narrow rough road. He wasn’t there, but Lucy left the data stick with his wife. It seems odd to leave a piece of modern technology with a woman in a rural shack, but why not?

We were back before dark and enjoyed a nice meal of beef, potatoes and onions cooked on the wood burner. I wanted to go out to see the night sky, but there were three sodium lights in the main square, so light pollution was worse than Thorney. It was also very cold and blowing a gale, so I wasn’t tempted to venture away from the community.

Things I've done for the first time

This is a list of things that I've done for the first time during 2014. I thought it would be interesting to keep a little list (although it turned into a long list) of 'firsts'. It's by no means everything, but I think I have the main ones sorted.

1. I retired

It was my 60th birthday in July 2013 and I'd decided a few years back that I should retire at 60 if I could afford to. I thought I could afford to, but I wasn't dead sure and it would have been easy to have said I'll do another year, save another £10,000, just make sure.

I didn't, and I'm pleased that I didn't. I've had enough money and should have enough to see me out, so I did the best thing and asked for early retirement back in June. Somewhat annoyingly, the company offered a voluntary redundancy scheme just a month before my retirement date and I bet I would have qualified. That would have added maybe £75,000 to my pot, but it's no use beating yourself up for decisions that might have been. I made the best decision I could at the time, based on the knowledge I had.

I was a little apprehensive about retirement. I wasn't worried about boredom, but I was concerned about stimulation and missing work colleagues, relationships/friendships and gossip (the social side of work, if you like).

Retirement has been great; I've had the chance to do lots of new things and I've never sat down and thought: "what am I going to do now?" It's been quite the reverse in fact. I've not had time to do lots of the things I thought I'd do - without the dead time of commuting, I'm reading less and writing less.

Last-day-in-the-office selfie - only me left 

2. I became a school governor

I said that when I retired I'd volunteer for a number of things. Life has been pretty good to me, so I thought I should put something back. I read that there was a shortage of people willing to become school governors, I thought that might utilise some of the skills I used in my job, so I signed up for a website called SGOSS, which is an abbreviation for something, and aims to link volunteers with vacancies. In the meantime, I'd mentioned it to my friend Pauline Coakley, who is chair of governors at the Duke of Bedford School in Thorney, and it turned out there was a vacancy there.

So I became a governor in April and it's been interesting. It's good to be involved with the school again, having had no contact since our children left, and I do feel that I'm doing something useful. There's very little as important as education.

The school got a rating of "good" in its Ofsted inspection in April, our head teacher resigned in June, we recruited a new head in October, I became vice-chair and now I'm involved with projects to set up a new website and to look at provision of school meals. So it's been quite a busy eight months and with a new head in place from January and a deputy head to appoint in spring, it looks as if it will stay that way. I’ve also met lots of new people from the village.

3. I used snowshoes

At the start of the year, Sam and Lucy were living in Villaret sur la Rosiere, near Bourg-saint-Maurice in the French Alps in order to do a full ski season. We'd gone down with them in December 2013 to help carry their gear and made several other trips to spend time with them.

Because Margaret doesn't ski (and doesn't want to learn) we skied for a few days and looked for other things to do on others. She was quite keen on snowshoeing, Sam and Lucy had reconnoitered a route and so we set off to walk through the snow from St Foy to Le Monal, a small village which is uninhabited in winter. It was a lovely, sunny day, the views were great and the climbs not too severe.

Walking on modern snowshoes is very easy, you just need to remember to walk with your legs a little further apart so you don't step on your own shoes. You also need to keep fairly close to the trodden path, move off into soft snow and the relatively small snowshoes they use here won't stop you sinking in.

In Le Monal, we were able to sit in the snow and bask in the sun, while enjoying some magnificent views of the north side of Mont Pourri. We liked St Foy so much we're going back this January.

Le Monal in January.

4. I raised ornamental grass from seed

This doesn't sound much of a first, but it was quite demanding. I grew Angel Hair (stipa tenuissima) and Blue Grass (leymus arenarius) partly because Margaret wanted to convert our patio to gravel with assorted pots/planters and partly because were had agreed to run the plant stall at the church flower festival and I needed some plants to sell. I thought the Angel Hair would go down a bomb, but it was tricky to shift. Lots of people already had it in their garden and said it seeded everywhere. Considering how tricky they were for me to germinate it, I found that hard to take.

The Blue Grass was the hard one to germinate. It was in and out of the fridge, in and out of a plastic bag, in the sun, in the shade and I even took it on holiday to France because I thought it might die if I left it unattended for a week.

Having babies is easier (for me, not Margaret).

5. I skied in La Plagne, took the Vanoise Express

I skied a lot this year and there were lots of firsts in terms of new runs (Reynard will forever be etched in my memory) but I did do a couple of bigger firsts. Sam and I skied across to La Plagne from Les Arcs, taking the massive cable car that links the two resorts. It’s called the Vanoise Express; the cars are double-deckers and can carry over 100 people and it gets you across pretty quickly. The cables stretch 1,800 metres and it rides 400 metres (1,200ft) above the valley floor. I went back to La Plagne several times in the spring, sadly it was later in the season when the weather was quite warm and the snow was not very good.

On the Vanoise Express.

6. I drunk Genepi and Green Chartreuse

Genepi is a sweet, alcoholic nectar of the gods. I love it. Green Chartreuse has 60 herbs infused, but it's the high level of alcohol that does it. After a hard day's skiing it can kick-start your evening. It also revived Tim Dawkins, Davina's boyfriend, restoring his voice after three children's parties in one day.

Both drinks are essentially alcohol, sugar syrup and a few herbs. Once I( get my still sorted (a first for 2015) I’ll be aiming to recreate these great tastes of the French Alps.

7. I got an allotment

When Sam and Lucy came back to England following their six months in France, they were planning to live with us for a while to allow them to find new jobs outside London. I thought it would be a good idea for Lucy to have an allotment to cultivate, otherwise she'd be digging up my lawn to plant beetroot. As it happened, they went straight to Jersey and I'm left alone with the biggest allotment in Thorney!

I have enjoyed working the plot and I’ve got half of it pretty much dug over. I’ve spent about £1,000 on shed, weedkiller, wood, plants, compost, bark and manure and so far I’ve had about 2kg or onions, all the courgettes and runner beans we could eat, a barrow-load of apples and some leeks.

Plenty of digging required when this was taken.

8. I used a rotovator

See above! I bought a rotovator to help with the digging and when that proved useless, I bought a bigger one. Here's some advice, don't buy a rotovator until you have tried digging with a fork. It's the best way and also good exercise.

Rotovators chop up the weeds so you end up with three times as much bindweed as when you started; they are stolen or they break down! Having said that, if you had a large plot of weed-free, previously dug loam, they are great for creating a fine seed bed.

9. I swam in Lake Annecy off a pedalo

About 30 years ago, I swam in the Thunersee at Interlaken in Switzerland. It was a hot June day and the water was absolutely bloody freezing! I resolved never to take a dip in an Alpine lake ever again.

Well, in July (after being assured by Sam and Lucy that the water was like a warm bath) I broke that rule and had a swim in Lake Annecy. I was back in France to help bring their stuff back to the UK and we had a trip to Annecy for the day. The lake is huge, it is warm and you can hire a pedalo for an hour or swim from a beach. The bed of the lake shelves very gently, so you can still stand up even 100 metres from the shore, so a pedalo saves you wading out for ages.

If I was making an argument that the quality of life is so much better in France than in England, I’d take my opposing protagonist for a swim in Lake Annecy.

10. I walked on a volcano

The next four firsts are all connected with another first - I visited Ecuador. I wasn’t planning to visit Ecuador, but Tom and Lucy announced they were getting married and Margaret and I, together with my sister, flew across for the wedding.

There were lots of firsts in Ecuador, including visiting Ecuador, but the volcanoes really made an impression on me. Who isn’t fascinated by a volcano? There are lots of them in Ecuador including one (Tungarahua) which is currently erupting. Cotopaxi is only a few miles from the capital Quito and is a classic strato-volcano; if you asked a child to draw a picture of a volcano, they would draw Cotopaxi.

We were able to visit on a clear day when the whole of the mountain was visible and got up to about 4500m. We would have reached the snow line, but there was a fierce wind which was whipping up ash and sharp cinders and blasting them straight into our faces. See my blog: http://ericsdailydiary.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/ecuador-cotopaxi.html

If you asked a child to draw a picture of a volcano, they would draw Cotopaxi

11. I crossed the equator

When I was a young boy, many of the heroes presented to me were explorers - Shackleton, Scott. Hillary ... the world still seemed to have undiscovered places and if you wanted to get to America, Australia or even France, you went by ship. Cheap jet travel hadn’t shrunk the Earth and satellite mapping hadn’t catalogued every square inch.

For me, there was a fascination with crossing the equator. On board ship, people crossing the equator for the first time (at least in the books I read) had to undergo an initiation ceremony involving Neptune, shellbacks and polywogs (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony) so this seemed to possess a magical quality to me.

Now, we cross the equator at 500mph and at 35,000ft, so the magic is lost. Tom and Lucy were married in Cayambe, more or less on the equator and I must have been back and to across the line several times. I would liked to have visited the equatorial line in a park near Cayambe (not the one the French built, which is several hundred yards awry), but there just wasn’t time. I missed a great photo opportunity, but nevertheless, I knew I was on and across the equator and I can say I have stood on both the equator and on the Greenwich meridian.

12. I saw the Southern Cross

I have always wanted to see the Southern Cross, the iconic star constellation of the southern hemisphere, which is famously featured on the Australian flag. Christobal Cobo, an old friend of Lucy’s who now lives at the Hacienda Guachala with his wife Gabriella, knows a fair bit about astronomy and we were talking about stars in the southern hemisphere the night before the wedding (when it was too cloudy to see anything).

Wedding day night was much clearer and so he took me into the darker part of the courtyard to see the Southern Cross. On the equator, it's quite low in the sky (directly south, of course) and, looking north, you can also see the Great Bear (the Plough), which is the iconic constellation of the northern hemisphere. It is possible also to see the North Star from Cayambe, but Christoble explained it was very close to the horizon and you needed to gain some elevation in order to get a view.

13. I swam in a volcanic pool

Natural hot springs are 10 a penny in Ecuador and we were booked into Termas de Papallacta, a spa resort on the slopes of the volcano Antisana. This is a popular place with tourists and natives (as it’s within easy reach of Quito) and it was busier than other places we’d visited.

The water from the hot springs is piped into pools around the resort and these vary in temperature, ranging from warm to “like a very hot bath”. We tried them all. Several pools are large enough and deep enough to swim in, others are more for wallowing. Our chalets, also had their own network of hot pools and we were able to enjoy those after nightfall. I was going to have a dip the next morning, but they has all been drained overnight and were still filling up.

You can see why ancient peoples found hot springs such a magical thing. We’re used to baths and showers and it’s still pretty amazing.

14. I ate at Rules

Rules is one of the oldest restaurants in London. It specialises in game and was one of Winston Churchill’s favourite places to eat. I’ve often thought I’d like to eat there (more for the experience than the cuisine) and so when my boss Marc Tucker offered to take me out for a farewell meal following my retirement, I suggested Rules.

It’s a superb place,somewhat of a different age but not out of place in modern London. Service is excellent and I had roast suckling pig and a syrup sponge pudding to finish.

15. I organised Ciderfest

We staged Ciderfest in July to say thank you to people who had helped with the cider making and who had donated apples in 2013.

It may become an annual event. People seemed to have a great time, although we were really lucky with the weather and had it been raining, we wouldn’t have been able to cope with the numbers indoors.

This coming year, if it all turns out OK, we will have more cider for drinking and also a couple of new people to invite. It might become our annual party.

16. I visited Ripon Cathedral and Fountains Abbey

I took a motorcycle trip with Tom to Derbyshire and Yorkshire in August and there were a lot of firsts - Snake Pass, Holme Moss and Skipton ...

Two other firsts were a visit to Fountains Abbey and Ripon Cathedral (or Minster). Fountains Abbey is the ruined remains of what would have been one of the most magnificent religious complexes in the country. It would have been amazing in its day, which is odd because it was founded by the Cistercians, who eschewed luxuries and comfort. I guess they thought the magnificent buildings were to the glory of their god and not for their aggrandisement? Anyway, Henry VIII confiscated the land and riches during the Dissolution and so plunged them back into poverty, where they were happy. It’s a great place to visit.

The crypt at Ripon Minster is one of the oldest buildings in England - it’s the remains of an old Saxon church. It’s reached by narrow staircases and is quite atmospheric. Worth going if you’re in the area.

Fountains Abbey - magnificent ruin.

17. I used a stump grinder

This is an unusual entry and it’s the second power tool I’ve used for the first time this year (see rotavator). We had three large conifers cut down in late spring; you can never get the stumps cut low enough to the ground with a chainsaw, so I hired a stump grinder to finish the job.

I wasn’t sure what to expect and it is a strange tool. The cutter is set in the vertical plane is is basically a heavy wheel with a large notch. You position the machine over the stump and lock one wheel. You then draw it back and forth across the stump, cutting a large groove. You then reposition it and make another pass. I created three barrow-loads of sawdust and a lot of noise, but the stumps were dispatched in a couple of hours.

I hope to put a small octagonal greenhouse on the site next year. It will be the first time I have owned a greenhouse.

18. I am learning Spanish

I love languages and I feel quite uneducated that I cannot speak a foreign language with any fluency. I can get by in French, order beer and food ... that kind of thing, but I couldn’t have a proper conversation. After “hello, how are you? I’m fine too thanks”, I’d be struggling.

I can’t even do that in Spanish and when we were in Ecuador, I felt slightly disrespectful at not being able to at least make a gesture in speaking Spanish. If I’m lucky enough to be able to go again, then I aim to at least have better Spanish than French.

I’m having classes at U3A and I really enjoy them; it’s also an excuse to travel more in Spain. I tell you what, if any Spaniards want to know what the time is I’ll be right on it.

19. I went to Jersey

Sam and Lucy have moved to Jersey and we made a trip across in September to take them some of their possessions which had been left in our garage.

The ferry goes from Weymouth to Guernsey and then on to Jersey and it takes about four-and-a-half hours. Jersey is granite, it has some lovely beaches and pretty villages; it’s also really small (nine miles by five miles) and the speed limit across the island is only 30mph (20mph in many villages) with a small section of dual-carriageway at 40mph.

We’ll be going back to Jersey at least a couple of times a year I hope.

20. I went to an Allen Jones exhibition

This was two firsts for me - it was the first time I’d seen any works by this famous pop-art/shock-art artist and it was the first time I’d been to the Royal Academy on Piccadilly.

The exhibition made me feel very uncomfortable; it presents women in a way that I don’t like. It treats them as exaggerated sex objects; as vulnerable and exploited, and also as predatory. I couldn’t tune-in to his message.

21. I went for dinner at Lutyens

Lutyens is a swanky, fashionable restaurant in Fleet Street. It just happens to be in the building that used to house the Press Association.

Our actuaries and our lawyers took members of the pension fund trustees there for an end-of-year dinner. For the trustees who worked for the PA in Fleet Street it was a nostalgic return. We dined in what used to be the post room and dispatch department and lots of my fellow trustees were getting quite misty-eyed about it.

We polished off three bottles of Pol Roger to start and the meal was very nice. The most amusing thing was that there was an Allen Jones painting on the wall!