We took the 15-minute drive to Tweng the other day to try the ice driving in their rally cars, which was excellent fun, so we've been wondering if there's anything that could top it. As far as winter activities go, St Michael has a lot to offer, so this week, we tried our hand at biathlon!

There's a very professional set up at the Gnadenalm over towards Obertauern - where they cater for all abilities of shooting and cross-country skiing. I've done a bit of the latter and more or less none of the former, but I was in no way made to feel uncomfortable. It was great fun!

There are plenty of places around St Michael to try cross country skiing and it's a lot more technical than it looks. It's an amazing work-out if you're looking for a healthy start to your year, but don't worry - there's nobody holding a stop watch if you don't ask them to! As for the biathlon, it's much more tricky than it looks on the TV. It doesn't take much 'skating' on those skis to get your heart rate up and it's surprising how much that affects your ability to shoot straight... Well, mine anyway!!

J x