Go green, or end up black and blue
FAMED English mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing was recently named the greatest icon of the 20th century in the final of BBC2 series Icons.
Turing, now widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, studied at King's College, Cambridge from 1931 to 1934. Sitting just around the corner is the recently reopened University Arms hotel. Opened in 1834, Turing may well have wined and dined at the hotel, which is one of Cambridge's most historic properties.
One of 192 beautiful rooms at the hotel, the Turing Suite comes complete with a bespoke library inspired by his work.
Rates in the Turing Suite starts from £505. For details visit universityarms.com
GATEWAY TO THE CONTINENT
BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge has officially opened its 574th hotel close to Ashford International railway station.
Travelodge now operates hotels at key railway stations servicing HS1 and proposed HS2 routes – connecting the south and north of Britain.
The new 58-room Travelodge with an onsite restaurant represents an investment of £5million for the landlord, Ashford Borough Council.
It is the closest hotel to Ashford International railway station and offers rooms priced from £29.
IT’S BIG, bold – brash even – but if you’re British and like skiing, then the allure of Val d’Isère has always been hard to resist. It has the one commodity essential for a successful trip – guaranteed snow – from the end of November to the beginning of May, and almost as much après with plenty of table-topping entertainment on and off slope.
This probably explains why tens of thousands from these shores head to this corner of the French Alps year after year after year.
With 300km of runs, endless off-piste opportunities and scores of lifts to ferry the one million or so skiers who flock here every season to the slopes, it is one of the world’s great destinations.
Just because it hosts the annual Alpine Ski World Cup (it was also home to the men’s downhill and giant slalom in the 1992 Winter Olympics) you don’t have to be Jean Claude-Killy or even Eddie the Eagle to enjoy this place.
Don’t get me wrong, the slopes that span Val d’Isère and its near-neighbour Tignes, formerly named L’Espace Killy after the French champion skier, have always been a haven for the expert.
There are plenty of red runs verging on black, and black runs verging on the terrifying. Le Face, anyone?
But there are plenty of gentle greens and blues for the most absolute of beginners and incompetent intermediates. There are more bracing greens and blues, too, for the inbetweeners – about 60% of the pistes are more than 2,000m with the highest at nearly 3,500m.
The resort’s unfounded reputation as being too hard for beginners was banished two years ago with the opening of a new £16 million development on the Solaise slope.
As part of the overhaul, the old lifts were replaced with a supersleek 10-seater gondola, with heated seats and wifi. There’s a “magic carpet” area – a conveyor belt-style lift which takes beginners back up gentle slopes as they find their ski legs – and Le Lodge, a very cheap
(by Val d’Isère standards) refuge with cafeteria and to-die-for views.
It’s the perfect place from which to explore the valley, regardless of ability level, which in my case is pretty low, even by British skiing standards.
Our group, under the direction of Progression Ski guide Tori Collins, made a few unconvincing runs on the magic carpet then headed towards Tignes, and to the top of Rocher de Bellevarde at an altitude of almost 3,000m.
From there, we would choose the easiest blues and greens to the infamous La Folie Douche bar.
Infamous because tables here seem only to be for standing on, beer in hand, dancing to some dodgy Euro techno cabaret.
The bad news for me was that there was a red run in the mix before we got to the bar, and it saw me sweep across the mountain with all the grace of Maggie from The Simpsons. Exhausted – well, I was, at least – we arrived at the appropriately named venue. It really was sheer madness. After probably the best-tasting beer I’ve ever had, we had lunch at La Fruitere right next door.
Replenished and more than a little refreshed it was time to ski back to our hotel, the platinum standard, five-star Chalet Hotel and Spa Le Savoie right in the middle of Val d’Isère.
We all headed down to the spa which has a hot tub, Jacuzzi, pool and sauna in a bid to ease aching limbs.
The resort is a favourite of the British and it wouldn’t be unfair to say the hotel caters mainly for travellers from the UK . The staff are almost exclusively from GB and the hotel was taken over fairly recently by ski tour operator Inghams.
It has a cosy, friendly feel, unfussy but suitably luxurious and is the perfect place to rest up after a hard day on the slopes.
The food is first-class, as you would expect, with a five-course evening meal including complimentary wine. As part of its catered package, it also offers a hot breakfast and afternoon tea.
And that hotel breakfast provided the perfect boost for day two on the slopes.
Our guide from Progression Ski, this time an Italian called Matteo Mazza, was none too convinced by my progress after a full day on the slopes so took a few of us on a test