HHH getting off the Roller Coaster.

Weeks of scans, hospital visits and physiotherapy have taken their toll on my energy and motivation. It has been a roller coaster of changing expectations, worries and fears. Having a chronic cancer disease takes a lot of time. I have a radiotherapy plan now so I can escape for the hills before it starts. The snowy mountains of France are calling and I take a long train ride to hike in the snow of Vannoise National Park. But first we enjoyed the opening of a new art exhibition by friend Ariella Green, (ariellagreen.com ). She took the headline photo that you can see. The image is titled Doubt and Hope and sums up my current state of mind.

The Eurostar train takes us to the mountains!

We left London around 9am and with a change of train we found ourselves among the high Alps before nightfall. A change of scenery works wonders.

Truth be told, one of the reasons we do this hike is to ESCAPE. To get away from everyday problems, routines, the environment and see what it is like to live a simpler life, where decisions are about travel, food and shelter and not much else. Being in France already begins that. Different language, different building style and very big mountains that don’t exist in Britain. We only have to decide where to walk each day.

Train where air is scarce.

A week of high altitude training is coming up! Walking along snowy trails, wonderful views and French food. The perfect antidote to hospital waiting rooms, scanning machines and blood tests!

These boots will not come with me on the HHH route.

It’s cold and rugged in the Alps, so I wear my heaviest leather boots. Walking is more difficult because they weigh more than 700 g each. I’m hoping the extra weight will work my quads and glutes a little harder and increase the workload on my heart and lungs. I hike with «yaktrax» clipped to my boots, they are like lightweight crampons and provide great grip on the slippery and steep sections of the trails. I’ve lost them in the past when they got stuck in deep snow and were gone before I knew it. That’s why I now use small carabiners to attach them to my laces. It seems a little crazy, but I’m an old lady now and I don’t care.

I use poles with snow baskets for balance, trying not to use them to propel myself, which punishes my poor shoulders. This works well and I feel more confident with my legs every day.

I sleep well with vivid but forgettable dreams. My boots feel lighter every day.

Yaktrax in the snow: make every step count.

I won’t be hiking at high altitude in the HHH and I hope that training at 2600 meters and above (about 8 to 9000 feet) will improve my cardiovascular endurance. I certainly feel breathless, but stopping to contemplate the wonderful landscape is a true joy and a tonic for the body and soul. I’m here with my husband and a friend whose early years in Australia didn’t include much snow. We boarded the Bourg St Maurice funicular and used the bubble lifts and shuttles to reach the top. It feels like cheating, but in a good way. After all, this is not training through walking. My heart rate shoots up when I walk uphill and it gradually gets easier. I packed too many things in my backpack, not sure how cold it would be. Good comments from my own ride. Keep everything light and multifunctional.

The first flowers of spring.

Although we were walking in deep snow and the surrounding mountains seemed terribly desolate, with occasional small avalanches heard in the distance, the first spring flowers were appearing in small cracks in the rock.

They were the pale lemon blossoms of the milkweed bushes, and their soft hues echoed the pallor of the gray sky. Further down the valley the snow had already melted and there were primroses, crocuses, hellebores and some tree flowers that promised to bear fruit later in the season.

The snow and the flowers, the skies and the rocks were the perfect distraction from the hassle of trying to deal with the whole cancer thing. I returned home refreshed and invigorated. I feel like my journey can really happen.

Just a few weeks and a radiotherapy treatment to go!

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