Albania

Piet has been working on a project onshore Albania for most of 2012. He visited the office in the capital Tirana twice (see post of 13 October 2012), and had a chance to visit a seismic crew in the hills near the town of Berat. This crew is acquiring data to image the subsurface, which will allow Piet’s team to make estimates about the potential for oil exploration.

For this specific project it works as follows: geologists determine for what area they need more information, and draw a number of lines on a map; across these lines seismic data is acquired. Then a company goes out, scouts the area, and drills a number of holes along these lines, typically 10-20 meters deep, and 40-80 m apart. These drilling rigs are quite small, but very heavy. On this campaign these rigs were mounted on the back of a tractor, for easy accessible terrain, but there were also loose units that had to be moved by helicopter in more difficult areas. After drilling these holes are loaded with dynamite, which is then detonated. This sends a sound wave down into the earth, that bounces off deeper layers and gets recorded by geophones, which are planted at surface. This data can then be processed to create a geological image of the subsurface.

Piet and two colleagues witnessed all these steps, and also had a chance to see the terrain and the logistics, in preparation for a 2013 project. They were impressed; a large number of people and crews were moving round the area, with roads in poor condition and limited daylight hours. Unfortunately, due to a re-organisation within Shell, Piet will leave his team early 2013, and will not have a chance to use the end result of this seismic campaign.

The town of Berat at dawn

Conditions on the main road between Berat and Tirana

A helicopter is moving a drilling rig in the hills near Berat

 Detonating 10 kg of dynamite, to send a sound wave into the earth

A beach race and cycling pictures from the summer

Winter is approaching, and Piet's hours on the bike are decreasing; it is not too much fun getting soaked when it is less than 10 degrees outside. Anyway, he participated for the 3rd time in the Rabobank Beach Challenge, 38 km from Scheveningen to Noordwijk and back. The weather was reasonable, with only a light wind, a minor drizzle and a temperature of 5 degrees. The tide was low, and the sand was quite firm, so Piet rode a personal best of 1 hour 37 minutes, despite suffering from a cold.

There are no photos of him, but last week he got hold of the cycling pictures of last summer, that his sister took on Col d'Ornon and Alpe d'Huez. A nice reminder and something to look forward to!

An impression of the Rabo Beach Challenge

Max and Piet on Col d'Ornon, July 2012

Dorien on Mary's bike, Col d'Ornon

Bart finished first

Bart and Piet cycling up Alpe d'Huez, July 2012

Max, Paula and Marc starting halfway on Alpe d'Huez

Jeroen, Max, Piet, Marc, Paula and Bart on top of Alpe d'Huez

At the entry of Alpe d'Huez, with the 6 finishers of the day

At the hairdresser

Today Beau went to the hairdresser…. During the winter horses grow a thick furry coat, which causes them to sweat a lot during exercise. When it is cold outside they can catch a cold easily, and therefore a lot of horses are shaven in the fall. So Mary borrowed a shaver and had a go at Beau. As Beau is easily spooked by anything he was heavily drugged (comparable to a trailer ride to France), and put in the paddock at our house. A pattern was painted on Beau, and while Paula was holding him Mary attempted to shave between the lines. Beau was moving around a lot, trying to avoid the strange noise and scary looking shaver. After a lot of carrots and some threats the drugs finally kicked in, and the job was finished to satisfaction. It was the first decent day in weeks so as a reward we took Beau for a long walk in the dunes and the beach, to show off his new hairdo!

 The barbershop next to our house

Barber Mary is shaving between the lines

Beau showing off his new hairdo in the dunes

A short holiday in France: from shorts to snow

It was school autumn break, and as usual we went to our house in France for a week. We had to leave Beau behind in the capable (female) hands of 4 of Mary’s friends, as it was too much hassle to take him along for such a short trip. We drove through the night, arriving early Saturday morning and went straight to bed, to wake up around noon under perfect late summer conditions: sunny, and temperatures in the low 20-ies. The weather stayed like this for the next days; we spend our time working in the garden, cycling, hiking, picking apples and doing two Via Ferrata’s. Village pony Image camped in our garden to eat the grass and get pampered by the girls. Payback was done through a few pony cart rides.

On Friday the weather turned sour, temperatures dropped, and it started raining almost continuously.  Piet still managed a wet and very cold ride op Alpe d’Huez, but most time was spend indoors reading and organising the house for winter. Early Sunday morning we woke to drive back home, and it was snowing heavily. We had to drive very carefully to Grenoble, as several trees had fallen across the road, and sudden breaking on snow is not easy. We narrowly avoided a few accidents, and halfway between Grenoble and Lyon we crossed onto save roads, and drove home in the sunshine. And 5 minutes after arriving in The Hague the ladies were at the stable!

Mary is working in our forest, preparing a training area for Beau 

Walking near Auris en Oisans, view over the village of Les Cours 

Walking near Auris en Oisans, with a spectacular view over the Romanche valley 

 Paula and Image riding near our village

Dorien and Mary in the Via Ferrata near Alpe d'Huez

 Paula, Mary and Dorien at the top of the Via Ferrata in Alpe d'Huez

Leaving on Sunday morning: snow everywhere!

The sights of Tirana

One of the projects Piet is working on is located in Albania. Last week he had to go over to Tirana (the capital) for a meeting in the Albanian office of the company that is operating an exploration concession in the mountains. It was his second visit, and this time he had a morning off, so he and a colleague went exploring the sights of Tirana.

This was a rather disappointing experience, as there are hardly any historic buildings or other places of touristic interest. They wandered around for a few hours and spent most of their time enjoying the favourite Tirana pastime: having coffee on a roadside terrace. The city has a modern appearance, with a touch of the orient (chaotic traffic!), and at first sight is pleasant and safe. Our Albanian colleagues are very knowledgeable and a somewhat unruly bunch, but a lot of fun to work with. Next time Piet will hopefully have a change to visit the interior near historic Berat, where all the real (oil exploration) activity is happening.

Skanderbeg Square, with his statue and the National History Museum

Tabak Bridge, one of the very few old structures in Tirana

Modern Tirana, a typical trendy cafe

Et'hem Bey Mosque, build around 1800

Modern Tirana: a roadside kiosk selling newspapers

Italy

The last 2 years Piet has been working on several projects in Italy (from The Hague), and his team organised a geological fieldtrip to look at some of the rocks in real life. It was a partial repeat of the trip of last year (post of 22 September 2011), followed by a few days on Sicily. The weather was perfect, the rocks interesting, the food excellent and the company good: not a bad week in the office! The highlight was a visit to Marettimo island, off the west coast of Sicily. The geology was intriguing, but it was very windy, and the ferry was unable to pick them up in the afternoon. So the group had to stay behind, find accommodation, buy toothbrushes and enjoy life (not too difficult in a place like that!). The next morning the ferry could land and that whole day was spent getting back to The Netherlands, well bronzed and ready for a long dark winter!

The Amalfi coast, near Naples 

Geology in action; our trip leader Rafa sharing his knowledge 

Geology in action: studying a rockface in Sicily

The interior of Sicily, farmers are burning the remaining straw

The harbour of Marettimo island

Mary is riding Beau in Meijendel, Wassenaar

Summer in France (II)

The second part of the holiday started with the traditional horseback-camping trip for Paula and Dorien. Stable manager Cecile planned something different this year. Her stable in the village of Mizoen, Le Poney Fringant, hadn’t seen any improvement over the last 5 year, despite many promises by the council. She decided to throw the towel, and has purchased an old hotel in the Ardeche, to start her own Bed and Breakfast, combined with a stable nearby, offering horse back riding and accommodation. In order to start exploring the surroundings she organised the camping trip in the Ardeche, with her new house as centre point (so no camping under the stars this summer). Mary dropped the girls off, and they had 5 days of horseback riding, in an area that is much more suited than our valley, with rolling hills, many good riding tracks and plenty of water. The last 2 days were spent at a large Western Horse show in the village, with a real rodeo and many other races. The girls had a great time, and they are planning to bring Beau along next year! 

The rest of the holiday was spent at the house, riding Beau in the valley, doing some bike rides, and working in the garden. We attempted a more difficult new Via Ferrata at Mizoen, but unfortunately Dorien had hurt her knee and we had to abandon early. We then drove to Alpe d’Huez to try a much shorter one, with similar difficulties. Paula and Mary climbed this one, and it was indeed quite challenging, getting close to real alpine mountaineering.

The last few days we cleared away the paddocks, cleaned the house, and let Beau spend his final hours with his friend Image in the garden. Beau’s departure was a sad affair for Image, as she has lonely months ahead of her. We loaded Beau in the trailer, and drove off on Saturday evening, arriving next morning in the pouring rain back in The Hague. Beau was put back in the stable, and after a 2 day depression has settled back in his old routine. We assume that he misses the freedom and grass in France, but as we know that a horse brain has the size of a potato he probably has forgotten already!

Back to school and regular life!

Dorien (on Beau) and Mary along Lac du Verney 

 Dorien and Ena riding in the Ardeche

Cecile's horses drinking from a stream in the Ardeche

 The ladies and Beau in Bassey

Paula in the tough Via Ferrata of Alpe d'Huez

Dorien waiting at the top of the Via Ferrata 

 Mary riding Beau near our house

 Piet in the Kamikaze Parc, Oz Station

 Dorien riding Beau near Allemont

Summer in France (I)

This year we joined the Dutch gypsies, who drag their own house and other possessions with them on holiday (referring to the many caravans and campervans on the road), as we planned to take Beau along to France in his trailer. After a number of successful practice runs around The Hague we loaded Beau on a Friday evening and drove through the night, dragging the trailer behind our car, joining the slow lane with the above-mentioned Dutch gypsies. Beau was slightly sedated (normal practice for horse owners), and only restless when we stopped to refill or stretch our legs, so we just kept going. When we turned into our valley early next morning the road was closed for the Marmotte cycling race, and as we didn’t want to punish Beau any further (with another hour in his cell) the ladies unloaded him, and walked the last 8 kilometres to the house. He was put in his stable (see post of 12 May 2012) while a paddock was constructed in the garden. Then Beau’s holiday started: spending most of the day outside eating grass, together with village pony Image, sleeping in his stable at night and during the mid-day heat, complemented with exercise and riding in the morning and cooling down in the river behind our house. In any case Beau seems very happy in France, despite the large numbers of flies and mosquitoes around. 

And what else did we do? Except for the usual work in the garden, hiking, cycling and horse riding.... We hiked to the Promontoire mountain hut, the highest we have ever been to. It is clinging to a steep mountainside, and can only be reached after a long walk and a short glacier crossing. Fortunately the latter was covered with snow, and we could reach the hut without any trouble. The crampons and ice axes we took along were tested next morning, in preparation for a real glacier crossing next year.
The Tour de France did not come to Alpe d’Huez this summer, but crossed the Glandon – Croix de Fer passes nearby. This was an opportunity that could not be missed by Piet, and he spent an afternoon cheering the cyclists with several thousand other people. Unfortunately the Dutch guys did not do very well this year. 

Piet’s sister visited again, and this time we took them on a Via Ferrata climb (see also summer pictures of 2010 and 2011), which was their first mountaineering experience. It didn’t stop there, as the boys were very keen to cycle up Alpe d’Huez. So after a practise ride on Col d’Ornon we rented 2 road bikes and Piet took his nephews Jeroen (16) and Bart (14) up the mountain. They did very well, especially Bart, who finished together with Piet after 1 hr 12 minutes, which is a very good time for a 14 year old. Next year he will try to leave Piet behind! 

Piet’s other sister visited as well, after a 9-year absence. We took them on a 2-day appreciation tour of the Alps: a hike, the Adventure Park, a practise cycle on Alpe d’Huez, and horse riding on Beau. Then they left for their holiday destination, and unfortunately Piet had to go home for some days in the office.

Dorien and Beau riding in the valley near our house

Image, Beau and Pauline on the dike of the Romanche

Collecting the horses at Cecile's stable

Waiting for the cyclists on Col du Glandon 

Yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins, supported by his Sky team 

Dutch hero Robert Gesink, far behind the leaders

Crossing a snowfield on the way to Refuge du Promontoire

Spectaculair Refuge du Promontoire, clinging to the mountainside

Mary and Dorien descending from the Refuge, on the glacier

Refuge du Chatelleret, with Promontoire far in the distance

Piet is hiking near Mizoen, Cascade de la Pisse in the background

Cycling near Venosc