Ecolint Geography Conference: Follow up 4 of 4

After the excitement of the conference, it was a weekend of R&R, with a bit of work thrown in... watch out for some joint co-productions in 2013.
A reminder that if you have need of some top-quality CPD, Richard Allaway and myself are available via the Geography Training website.

The weather was baking on the day of the conference, so that night it was a BBQ, and local ales and fizz. We watched the night fall across the valley, with the sound of crickets and cow bells. I could get used to it...
Saturday was a cave ouverte. This is a day when vineyards open up, and offer their stock at reduced prices to make room for the new year's vintage that will come in a few months time, and also to make money. There was some serious food eating going on, and we had a chance to taste quite a few wines.
Another reminder of the link between geography and wine, with the nature of terroir.


The big event was on Sunday, with a favourable weather report. We headed back from the Jura, and into the Alps. We followed the autoroute to Chamonix, where we parked up, and headed up the cable car to L'Aiguille du Midi.

It was a reminder of the power of lapse rates. The Aiguille is over 2000 feet above the valley floor, and the temperature was correspondingly about 20 degrees less at the top...

Here are some of the many pictures that I took while at the top. Would have been great to transfer onto the smaller gondolas and head over to the Helbronner, but that route was closed for the season. I'll have to come back...



It was then a quick tour of Chamonix before heading for the airport, and my flight back to London.

I am grateful to the Allaway family for their hospitality.

Also found this useful video which explores the growing numbers of Chinese visitors to the area, and the people who have found a growing business providing for their needs. When we went up the cable car there was a large group of Asians who came up with us (and we were accompanied by a large group of Americans on the way back down). I also had a good chat with a lady and her daughter from Australia.



And a final reference for the Water Scarcity work...
This excellent book by Rupert Wright was on my book shelf the whole time and I completely forgot about it. It has some excellent passages on the importance of water...




Comments