Vaucluse Dreamer

It’s hard to believe that over 2 months have passed since we arrived home following our bike ride through Spain, and that this is only my second post since.

We normally take a week or so to muse over our little cycling adventures, re-visiting the route, sorting out what went well, and more importantly what wasn’t quite right. But unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance, as just 3 days after we arrived home, Millie, our wonderful old golden retriever, suffered a series of strokes and died.

It was such a huge shock, and sent us into a tailspin, although we were incredibly relieved that it hadn’t happened whilst we were away on the bikes, in the middle of Spain. Even now, we can’t think how we would have been able to get home quickly, as we were in some incredibly remote parts of the country. We are just happy to have been able to spend such a lovely few days with her, when we finally arrived.

Millie was such a poppet and has left a huge hole in our day to day life. Pusscat has also missed her old friend, now spending more time on the sofa, enjoying the warmth of the fire, and wandering from room to room yowling for her companion.

So if I’m honest, it’s taken us a while to pick ourselves back up and adjust to not having her around. It’s amazing how much of a presence she was in the house. l still find myself stepping over where she used to lie at the bottom of the stairs, as the action was so deeply ingrained, and yes, we even miss the dog hair filling the hoover.

I’ve also been back to the UK for a couple of weeks, busy doing a few fairs before Christmas, whilst Andy has been at home decorating. And now, all of a sudden it’s just a couple of days before Christmas and we’re about to say goodbye to 2024.

It’s been quite a rollercoaster, and so many things we had been hoping to do have had to be put on ice, with plans changing left, right and centre, as the year has gone on. When we started 2024, we were aiming to cycle from Amsterdam back to Apt, but life threw a large spoke through the wheels of that plan.

But the idea of a year without a little adventure didn’t feel quite right, and as things settled down, we found time to organise a different trip. So in October, we  cycled over 1200km from Madrid to Sète instead, having a fantastic time exploring a country that neither of us had ever visited before. It really was quite an adventure, as we took a route through the heart of the country, passing through mountain ranges, and deep gorges…

Vast open ‘badlands’

And stumbling across some incredible towns and villages that we’d never heard about before.

It was such a different trip from our ride through France last year, when we had planned the route and the accommodation, on a day-to-day basis, confident that we would always be able to find somewhere to stay each night.

We didn’t have that flexibility in Spain as we weren’t following a well-trodden trail, or cycling through a tourist area, so had to plan both the route and the accommodation before we left. This gave us security and some peace of mind, but also put us under pressure, as we had no option but to reach the places we had booked, as we knew there really was no other accommodation nearby.

That said, we cycled along some incredible roads and got a real sense of Spain. We loved the ribbon-smooth tarmac and respectful drivers, yet if we’re honest, we struggled to get to grips with the opening times of bars and restaurants, especially for dinner.

Our early-to-bed, early-to-rise lifestyle felt rather out of sync with Spanish culture, with us heading off to bed just as restaurants started to open. We ended up very adept at carrying food on the bikes, and cooking each evening, as we really couldn’t face eating so late, which actually worked perfectly.

It really was quite an experience, and we still can’t believe that we had such settled weather in the 2 weeks that we were on the bikes. There had been terrible flooding in the Pyrenees, just before we started and then just after we arrived home, Valencia & the surrounding area was absolutely devastated by another huge storm. The ‘Weather Gods’ were definitely with us again this time, but we did feel that our luck may be running out.

Since arriving home, we’ve been looking at our options for next year, and as this is really the first time in nearly 40 years that we won’t have a dog, we perhaps can travel a little further afield. Whilst it’s always easy to arrange house-sitters, we have never liked to be away for too long, but our son is very happy to look after gentle, one-eyed, toothless Pusscat, allowing us to spend a little longer away. So between decorating (heading back to the 90s with a few stencils) and trips back to the UK, our minds have been racing and the maps have been out.

So roll on 2025. It’s already shaping up to be an interesting year and I have a feeling we’ll be staring next Christmas in the face, before we even think about it. We have a housesitter booked for February, for our anniversary trip to Nice Carnaval, which is always a great way to wave goodbye to winter, especially staying in the apartment we found last year, which gives us the perfect view of all the parades, whilst we’re there.

Then depending on how a few other things pan out, we’re hoping to travel to Brive to watch Provence play rugby there, before walking for 10 days in and around The Dordogne. That is very much a ‘finger in the air’ option at the moment, but we’ve already had the maps out, starting to look at possible routes, and are already hoping that things fall into place so that we can do it. But after this year, I won’t hold my breath.

We’ve settled on one trip though, which will take us both way beyond our comfort zone, and way beyond the French borders too. We’ve taken the plunge and reserved a camper van for 6 weeks to explore the quieter, beautiful parts of Japan. We want to escape the tourist spots and mega-cities and will be taking bikes and our walking shoes to allow us to go in search of some different places, far away from the well-beaten path. It’s somewhere that we’ve always fancied visiting, but only now feel that we have the opportunity to do it.

For now though, we’ll settle into a gentle Christmas. We collected our youngest from Nice airport on Saturday, after spending Friday evening watching Provence Rugby play at Aix, which is always great fun and we really are making the most of our season tickets there…

Instead of driving home late for an early start to drive back to Nice, we stayed at Antibes, which is such a beautiful little town, enjoying a midnight stroll along the quay…

And a morning in the market and ambling along the sea wall….

Before we collected Tom and drove to Toulon, to watch the rugby there too. It was an incredible 36hrs, made even more memorable when the match ball was delivered to the stadium by military helicopter. It was a real celebration of the local services, with a video beforehand of the ball being passed from service to service, before finally being taken into the helicopter. The sense of community ownership and pride at all the rugby teams we’ve seen in France is palpable and just so lovely to see.

You can see a Video of the 2 days here

So, as the sun set on the shortest day of the year, the sky tinted with shades of lavender and apricot…..

We made our way home, lit the fire, and settled down to relax for Christmas…..

I hope you have a gentle, peaceful and very happy Christmas too …