The Skinners in 2009

	Snow featured early in the year, especially at home in February…….
	…and in Pertisau, Austria, where we skied, snow-shoed and walked in the snow.
	We raised over £500 on a sponsored walk for Marie Curie. Their nurses helped keep Julie’s Mum at home before she died in January.
We camped twice with the Cub Pack this year
	Mick sailed several times over the year in the Solent….
	…but Julie managed to keep herself busy.
	We celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary with a party….
	..and a few days in Paris for the Bastille Day celebrations (our wedding day) – awesome parades and fireworks. We bumped into someone we would see again in Berlin (Usain Bolt)
	We spent a wonderful week in Berlin, doing the sights and watching fabulous athletics at the World Championships
	We followed that with a week walking south of Dresden, near the Czech border while staying in a village called Krippen. Awesome walking with spectacular views in a national park they call Saxon Switzerland.
	In September we spent a week on a tallship – the SS Stavros S Niarchos, cruising the Scottish islands out of Greenock.
	We were part of Red Watch.
	This is about as adventurous as Julie got.
	Mick did a little bit more…
	..and thoroughly enjoyed steering the ship into port at Greenock.
	Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. With our love, Julie and Michael XXX