Smugglers in Pas de la Casa

Here we are in the very comfortable and friendly Grand Pas Hotel in Pas de la Casa in Andorra! James and I are having a pre dinner drink in the bar, where we will soon be joined by Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel. Today was our first day of skiing in Andorra and it did not disappoint. Cat, Chanel and I had the first of our three lessons from 9 until 12 with the truly lovely Santiago; Santi for short. He is Argentinian and speaks excellent English, some of which he learned from his favourite television series Outlander. This led him recently to address one of his clients as “Mistress” which she pointed out is no longer used to address a lady in the way that it was in the 18th century! Santi soon got the measure of where we each are in our skiing journeys and taught us accordingly. It was great fun. I was very impressed by both Cat and Chanel, neither of whom have skied for a good few years, and who were soon making beautiful turns down the slopes. As we went up the chairlift Santi was telling me that the little river right beside the pistes is the border with France, and smugglers regularly cross it and then climb up into the mountains with contraband, mainly tobacco, fastened onto their backs with duct tape. He showed me a cardboard centre from a roll of duct tape which he had just picked up from the piste. This is because tobacco tax is lower in Andorra than in neighbouring Spain and France.

After our lesson we met the boys at the outdoors café at the foot of the gondola and had lunch sitting outside in the warm sunshine; it really felt quite like springtime. Then the boys and Cat went to ski some blue runs while Chanel and I went back to the ski hire shop to swap her ski boots which have been causing her calves to cramp. By the time we got back to the hotel James had just arrived back, Cat was practising on the green runs, and Ally and Davie were continuing to ski - which they did until 5 p.m.!