After our two weeks of quarantine we eased into life in lockdown – the only difference being that we could go to the supermarket and deliver groceries for Pete’s parents and vulnerable neighbours. So not too much difference really. However, the first visit to the supermarket was very exciting but Read more…
I’m glad to say that we made it back to the Isle of Man, just one day before they closed the Manx borders to non-residents, two days before Easyjet stopped flying to the island and four days before they also closed the borders to Manx residents -phew! We have made Read more…
What a bizarre end to the season! After struggling for snow for most of the season we had started to enjoy the sunshine and spring temperatures. Teaching beginners was more like teaching water skiing but the social side was good. And then we got snow – lots of it! We Read more…
We have been working now in Bansko for three months during which time we have each had two days off in total. Both of us have lost weight so the regime of at least six hours skiing and snowboarding a day, in addition to an average 15,000 steps, thankfully seems Read more…
No one likes to be poorly and it always seems worse away from home. Unfortunately in a holiday resort once a bug takes hold, it does the rounds pretty quick and just keeps spreading with all the new people arriving each week. So first I had the sick bug and Read more…
So here we are two years on from both leaving “normal” jobs and trying out mad, crazy and fun life experiences – with the odd bit of work thrown in 😉 Difficult to summarise all that we’ve done so far, so I’ll (Pete) just tell you about today and you Read more…
Over the last few weeks Pete and I have had time to reflect over our new career choice and whether we have did the right thing two years ago in leaving secure jobs in the Isle of Man and following our passion for travel and winter sports. Unequivocally the answer Read more…
So it is exactly a month since we started working at the ski school and to mark the occasion our boss gave Pete and I our first day off work. How amazing! It was just so lovely this morning to not set an alarm clock, to put on normal clothes Read more…
Here’s a few things that have tickled us in the few weeks we’ve been in Bansko, Bulgaria. 1. In the gondola on the way to the slopes at 8:30am the other day and there’s a few instructors from other ski schools – one of whom has his Dr Dre speaker Read more…
We arrived, unpacked, stocked up on some required household items like lightbulbs and kitchen bits then collected uniforms, PR photos etc. We also took some time to try to find the quickest way to walk to work in the mornings (you may know how much Pete loves early mornings). Our Read more…
Storm Atiyah made for an eventful departure from the Isle of Man. It wasn’t just the usual “Blowin a hoolie”, it was gale force 9 with winds gusting up to 100mph. As we unloaded at the airport it took one person to hang onto the vehicle door while someone else Read more…
We have been back “On the Rock” for a whole month now and it has flown by. It has been lovely to catch up with friends and family, both here and in the UK. We went on a little reunion with a few of the guys from Sunpeaks in Leeds, Read more…
As they say “All good things must come to an end” and that is the same for our amazing Canada and US trip. The wildlife, nature and lovely people have blown us away, and if we were young enough for a working holiday visa (under 35 years old), I’m sure Read more…
So it is my (Pete’s) second blog in 18 months !!! Why you ask? – well there’s 3 days left of the 6 month road trip so I’ve gone budget busting mad and been renting mountain bikes in Squamish and Whistler – two of the world’s top 10 mountain bike Read more…
We have spent the last few days trying to sell Fred, the tow hitch, the bicycle rack and bikes. It has been a bit stressful getting lots of messages of interest, sometimes stings of questions and answers and then radio silence or a no show for a viewing. People are Read more…
Vancouver is an ace city as it is surrounded by mountains but also on the coast with rivers and beaches. It has a bit of everything. We headed up Mount Seymour to see the views but unfortunately low cloud hugged the mountain so there were no views to see. We Read more…
The ferry journey to Saltspring Island was in very sheltered waters so the 35minute crossing was smooth (much to Pete’s delight). We were surrounded by low cloud so it was a little eerie. We docked at Fulford Harbour in the South of the island, and decided that, as it was Read more…
We had arranged our first viewing of Fred in the outskirts of Victoria so we headed straight there from Nanaimo. In a freak of nature we arrived there early (!!!!!) so we drove up Bear Mountain Parkway to see beautiful views and nature etc – we were wrong. We saw Read more…
We drove through heavy rain and arrived at Nanaimo on the East coast. We tried to locate a bike rental shop and ended up in Pacific Rim Bicycles. Unfortunately they don’t rent bikes but the guy there gave Pete an old set of forks from his recycle pile (for free) Read more…
We set off from Cumberland in rain and drove through patches of sunshine and intermittent really heavy rain. The road was in bad condition and felt like a rollercoaster in places. No wonder they are spending $38 million to improve part of it! We drove to Ucluelet and while Pete Read more…
On our way to Campbell River it started to rain and just got heavier and heavier. We got a short break in the weather as we arrived in Campbell River so cycled the coastal path to see the chainsaw carvings. There was some impressive entrants into this year’s competition. Back Read more…
It felt strange for me to be back in Port Hardy three years after we set off from there for the kayak expedition. The town seemed even more run down and quiet but we had been recommended a great salmon wholesalers, Hardy Bouys. Thanks Deb and Ron! We took a Read more…
For the 6th September we had booked a ferry for the route called The Inside Passage, from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy at the Northern Eastern tip of Vancouver Island. It was the most expensive thing we’d done all trip and was going to take 16 hours so fingers were Read more…
A short driving day of only 109km and we reached Boya Lake. Thanks to Jeff and also Kathy and Phil that recommended this place. One Canadian even asked us “How did you guys hear about this place?”. The lake was turquoise blue and during a little mountain bike explore and Read more…
We left Duhu Lake and its gorgeous reflection to drive 454km to Muncho Lake. Every side track here seems to have an oil or gas facility or a compressor. We have passed several work towns made entirely from portacabins and containers. Some of them seem to be on their way Read more…