Where's Johnny

We woke late on the Monday morning, around 6am. It would have been later if Ian hadn't been eligible for a £600 loan at only 1225% interest. We watched the first half of Spain v Czech  then I went down to the little cafe to get some pastries before breakfast. 

The shining anyone? 

There was still no-one around in the giant lobby either, although when I was back at the room a bus pulled up and loaded up with hoards of people. Where had they all been last night and this morning?

Our plan for the day was to go on a walk in the surrounding area, the only problem being this....

However, after reading what you should do we decided to buy some bear spray. 'This is a weapon' the lady in the shop informed us, then proceeded to show us how to us it. She suggested a holster to enable quick release, and Ian signed something that probably put him on the terrorist register with Vicky. 

No matter, I felt a bit safer. We started off with just a circular walk around the outside of the hotel, and from the back the views were amazing. 

We then set off on a trail, but a pile of poo (bear poo?) freaked me out and we changed trail to one leading to a waterfall. The whole way we made as much noise as possible, and I was so focused on searching the undergrowth that I fell over a tree root and crashed to the ground. That would have scared any bear away. Eventually we came to troll falls, OK but I've seen better. 

Same thing occurred on the return journey but we eventually found our way back unscathed. Wheeew. 

We had plenty of time left for a game of tennis, so we headed for one of the 8 tennis courts. You guessed it, we were the only ones. It's something we hadn't done for years, and I was hindered by an ankle injury picked up when hitting the deck in the woods and Ian won 6-2 6-0. Who knew rackets aren't wooden any more. Amazing. We topped things off with an ice cream before retiring to bathe and rest our injuries. 

Note the nasty bruise from running over my toe with the case. 

We also found out that this hotel was the site of the 2002 g8 summit with Bush, Blair, Putin and Belusconi among those taking part. It was chosen for its remote location, and security cost 200million dollars. So I may have slept in Putins bed. How about that. 

Just before tea it started to team with rain so we dined at one of the inside restaurants. It had a few actual people in, but was enormous so had an empty feel about it. God knows how they make any money. 

Food watch

Ian - meatloaf. 6/10 gravy a bit salty. 

Jackie - steak 6/10 s but chewy,I liked the salad