The Gerrard Chronicles 2004 - Traveller's Tales

We had been saving Wengen for our 'old age' but jumped the gun. After the horrors of the Hotel Falken last time we went there, the Hotel Brunner, on the ski run into the village, was a relief! The snow was super, the weather good. We took an 'off day' to go up the Schilthrom Mürren for the view & Ken went back the next day to do the super black down, which was not too bad but very long. He also did the Lauberhorn race track where the racers jump but it is not safe to do that with other skiers around. Avis' huge improvement of last year was maintained. More on these links for Wengen & Mürren.

With the extra information Patrick Delaforce gave us & more research by Ken, we flew Ryanair to Carcassonne, picked up a car & did a round trip over the Pyrenees & back. Web users have a full report on this link.

With all the new family information, Ken gave a talk to the Anglo-German Family History Society, who's web site he still maintains, called "It was a Long Time Ago", as his first encountered German ancestor was Numabela of Cantabria, a Goth born about 750. This is on his Mother's side, the Angles on his Father's not being 'on the record'. Granny Numabela is not on the direct male line but was the wife of Loup, Duke of Gascony, who sorted out Roland. He published the talk in booklet form for those members who could not come or hear properly & you can down-load a pdf file (1.9MB) of it on this link. Some were shocked at what they saw as the mountain of work ahead of them!

In September, we flew Easyjet to Athens, & stayed the night in the Hotel Ioanis, found with some difficulty after the pleasant experience of the new airport & efficient tube system. At the crack of dawn next day, we took the bus (now quicker because of the completed motorway to Aghios Konstantinos) & hydrofoil combo to Skiathos, where Geof (web site on this link) met us & took us to the "Farmhouse" villa on his land, where we had a largely lazy week, somewhat overshadowed by the flat troubles back home. We hired a little Suzuki SUV for three days, necessary on the several new dirt tracks across the island & saw views we had not seen or not available on previous trips. But the SUV beat up Avis' shoulder & gave her trouble all Autumn, the roads still being excessively rough in places. We had several feasts during the trip, breaking in a new (to us) restaurant at the Hotel Bontzos & met Zoi's boy-friend Milton at his bar. The journey back was rather trying, as it all takes place in one 20 hour day & it is hard to relax in Athens.