EE & S Adventures

Happy birthday to Samuel - and what better way to celebrate than a journey to Legoland theme park.  And quite a journey by train and bus it was.  We left our apartment at 6.15 in the morning and didn't get home until 11.30pm. Arriving just before opening time was a good move.  It allowed us to book Samuel into one of the limited places in Lego driving school.  Eric remembers doing the same thing 38 years ago in Billund!  After some instruction running through the road rules, the kids were set loose to drive around a simulated town with traffic lights, roundabouts and even a car wash - not really necessary as it started drizzling when Sam got behind the wheel.  At the end the drivers were presented with their genuine Legoland drivers licences. The weather wasn't the best to have the top down Legoland had a small onsite factory where we could see how Lego bricks were manufactured... And quite a few shops where we could participate in how they are retailed...

The final day was always going to be hectic.  Most of our packing was done the evening before and our hostess kindly gave us a lift to the station with all our luggage before 7am.  We had races to run and then a second race from the event to the railway to be certain of making our connections to Munich where we would be spending the next month. Near the end of Eric's course Leaving our bags in storage at Saarnen (the amazing organisers set up a luggage store at the station for all those with early checkout and departure) we hiked to the event in a light drizzle that promised to get heavier.  While Elise and Samuel could start right at 9am, Eric was facing a race against time to make our train.  From his start just after 10.30 he had exactly 92 minutes to run the race, run 2km from the finish down the mountain to the assembly area and check in then run another 1.3km back to the station.   He also faced freezing to death on the chairlift in the rain wearing his flimsy o suit as

Yay - today was the downhill day!  With the assembly area and finish in a valley beside a river and right near the Rougemont railway station, and with shorter courses, it was a bit of a break from the uphills (though Eric's course still managed to incorporate a fair bit of climb).  Today was a later start however which meant it was quite hot and humid by the middle of the day when we went out so it was still tough. Elise and Sam about to head to the start The forest was muddy, very muddy and while there was less uphill, there was lots of downhill and in places it was the day for perfecting the bumslide as the quickest and safest way to descend many of the hills.  Indeed Eric had at least one leg where it was virtually impossible to descend upright as the woods were so steep and slippery.  Unfortunately Samuel took the wrong map today at the start although we weren't sure if this was his fault or the fault of the organisers. Post race the river provided a

After a rest day that was, well, restful (and very welcome), day 4 dawned very early for Eric who set off for the railway station while Elise and Samuel were still sleeping for his earliest start of the event.  Elise and Samuel decided on a more civilised departure time as they didn't have the inconvenience of pre set start times. The early departure did have its benefits - a near empty train and an early ride on the chairlift which started in cloud and mist in the valley only to climb above the cloud to enjoy a glorious sunny morning.  The view from the top of the hills over the sea of cloud in the valley was breathtaking. Todays race was another fairly high day.   The courses were a mix of about 70% open pasture and 30% forest (100% steep again though - what a surprise!).  Samuels course was particularly tough both for navigation and steepness and he did well to get round.  Many of the steep paddocks were very muddy which makes it extra hard to turn the legs over.

Stage 3 was at Col du Pillon, the same venue as stage 2.  The weather could best be described as variable - plenty of sun but with the odd storm and strong winds threatening.  Definitely not as nice as the previous day and we were pleased that we had already visited Glacier 3000 - not a shorts day today. A house made of mirrors (snapped from the train) The courses today took in the lower slopes of the mountain which made for much tougher and muddier orienteering.  The forest was thick and tough to run through - soft and steep and complicated.  Eric undid all his good work on the first two days with a diabolical run.  Elise also struggled around for a long time.  Sam had fun completing both his official course and the daily o week kids event which meant he wasn't waiting too long for the rest of the family. Our starts were later today so after running we were straight back on the bus for the trip home.  Elise and Sam got caught in a storm during the last pa