The hill is a very short run with "button" lifts. These lifts amount to a tiny little circular button on the end of an extension pole down from the lift cable. Simply put, you grab the pole and stick it between your legs. The "button" provides a bit of a seat and you are pulled up the slope. I was apprehensive, but it was rather easier than a t-bar type lift found at many U.S. resorts. I managed to negotiate the lift without falling on my face or busting a nut - always a bonus.
Looking down the hill, there is one side with a bit of a park - jumps, rails, etc. all set up for performing tricks. The other side is mostly just a moderate slope down. However, towards the bottom, at the center, there was a large jump.
Riding down takes no more than a minute, but the snow was of good quality and there was very little ice. The riders there were, for the most part, quite skilled. Very few people fell at all and lots were jumping and making use of the board park. The lines were non-existent, and the ride up took less than 5 minutes.
Mick joined us for a few runs, but then he busted a binding and bowed out for the evening. Tony and I stuck around for another couple of hours, including a brief break for beer. At the top of our last run down I realized that I had also broken a binding and had to very slowly ride down with just a toe strap on my back foot. Luckily, there was no ice and I stayed off of my backside.
Given the constraints, I think the indoor snowboarding hill was very well done. (A few people were on skis, but the majority of folks were riding snowboards.) A few more visits and I think I would have been tempted to try the jumps myself.
Sunday, after yet another excellent breakfast cooked up by Bart, we set off for Oxford. This weekend there were a variety of free guided walking tours around town. They all started from the local castle. Walking there, we realized that we had not even walked by before and we were very impressed by the outside. We found room in the tour walking around the outside of the castle and found out it was quite extensive in its day. We took few photos as it was actively raining, but here is one just for flavor.
The tower is a very old tower. The building in the foreground is not as old as the tower (a few hundred years instead of about 1000), but it was part of a prison until just recently. We plan to go back to take the inside tour to find out about the prison and have a chance to climb the tower.
Who knew such good stuff was within a half-hour walk from out apartment? It seems we find cool stuff every day.
In other news, we continue to battle against the public transport system here, with a predictable mix of success and frustration. The train people continue to frustrate, but after hours (seriously, hours, I'm not even exaggerating) of research, I think I've figured how to get two of us from Liverpool to London after completing the three peak challenge next month and the other two of us from Liverpool to Oxford. Given a few more hours, I might even be able to convince the train company to sell me the last of tickets. The bus people continue to be easier to deal with. We now have a 12 trip ticket for the Oxford-London bus. Between the two of us, we expect to use the 12 rides getting to Angers later this week and then visiting London while our friends Dan and Natalia are in London. While later this week will be our first attempt to actually use public transportation here (rather than just book it), so far the bus people get props for providing good information on their website and friendly service at the station. Stay tuned for a review of public transport after our trip to Angers.
Finally, in weather news, today was 60 degrees and raining. Loving the temps, hating the rain, but what can you do. It is England.
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