Tonight, we’re sitting in the garden in Devon, starting to get to grips with everything we need to get done in the next few days, as on Friday we will be doing our last event of the summer, and on Saturday morning will be getting back on the bikes to pedal home, to Provence.
Nearly 8 weeks have passed since we arrived in Plymouth at the end of our bike ride north, through France. In many ways, it feels as if that was in the distant past, yet now it feels as if it has gone by quickly, and we realise that we haven’t done everything that we had planned to do, whilst we were back.
Although we have done things that we hadn’t expected either, and ended up spending a magical hour, on top of the village church tower, watching the eclipse across the East Devon landscape.
A moment that we really won’t ever forget
We’ve had a busy time, working on jewellery and having our stand at local events, yet just have one left now for the year, which will see us at Dunster Show, in 3 days time
It’s good that we both thrive when we have to work to a deadline, as we have to have everything finished, panniers loaded and bikes ready to go by Thursday evening. We may not set off until Saturday, but a few days ago we realised that we won’t get back from Dunster until late on Friday evening and will be off early the next morning, pedalling to Exeter to catch the train to Plymouth and then the ferry back to Roscoff.
No pressure then!
We’ve also done some good walks along the coast path too, walking over to Sidmouth, which is steep enough to make us puff
We’re keenly aware that just 3 weeks after we arrive home on the bikes, we will be off to do our first multi-day walk, on the Fisherman’s Trail, along the Portuguese Coast. So walking has been as important as cycling at the moment, and we’ve really enjoyed doing some longer walks too.
Even though the last few weeks have been busy, we have managed to do a few bike rides, heading out along the Devon lanes, just to keep our legs turning, replacing croissant stops with carrot cake stops, at a favourite café, and just enjoying the rides
We’ve spent the last couple of days in the pretty, Dorset seaside town of Swanage. After the busy-ness of the last few weeks, it felt like a relaxing little holiday, and it was so nice to just leave thoughts of the madness of the next few days behind. We just did what we enjoy most, pulling on our walking shoes and setting off to explore the paths around the area.
We took a wonderful 23km hike along the Purbeck Way, following the path from the beach to Corfe Castle and back.
You can watch a Watch a little video from the walk here
And today, walking the cliff trail from Swanage, out to the stunning chalk cliffs, known as Old Harry Rocks.
A little video from that walk is here
Not only was it a lovely way to spend a couple of days , but it was also a good test of doing back-to-back long walks, ahead of Portugal, although we’ll really only start to get to grips with that, once we’re back in Provence.
The ride is coming together nicely now, although part of it was thrown up in the air last night, when I spotted a post on Instagram, from the cake shop I had planned to visit, announcing that it would bow be closed for a few days at the end of next week. Gateaux in Tusson has a wonderful reputation for its cakes and atmosphere, and friends often organise their trips around a stop there, so we had planned to do the same.
I had planned the ride to take us on a loop inland that would see us arrive at Tusson, just in time for morning coffee and cake. But now that really is off the table, so after spotting last night’s post, I have been spending time today re-jigging the route.
It’s a shame, but at least I spotted the post. Surely that has to be better than us turning up, just finding it closed. I have a feeling it would have taken me a long time to get over the crushing disappointment, if that had been the case.
As it is, I have now planned a ride that will take us through some places that we visited nearly 40 years ago. Just seeing the names of some of the places has flung open doors to long-forgotten memories.
Now, we’ll be passing through Saint Maxient L’Ecole, where we once stayed at a small hotel by the river, serenaded by frogs as we ate supper on the terrace, and having to deal with the friendly and over-eager attentions of what the waiter called ‘Basil – le chien fou’
Then we’ll be passing the Foret de Chizé Zoo. We once stayed in a gite nearby, and were welcomed by a lady who kept bending down to snatch up huge snails and put them in her coat pockets. We watched as they tried to make their escape, leaving silvery trails down the fabric. None succeeded in their efforts, as she seemed to sense them escaping, popping them back into her pockets, without even looking.
Whilst there, we also visited the zoo, only to find we were shepherded out at lunchtime, whilst it closed. We found lunch at a nearby restaurant, and went back when it reopened in the afternoon. It really was a different time.
So although I was initially disappointed at the enforced change of plan, I’m now looking forward to revisiting some old memories.
We’re still eagerly awaiting the tickets for the rugby match at Colomiers to go on sale, so we can finalise that part of the trip too. It’s only just over 2 weeks away now, so hopefully they’ll appear on the ticket office soon, but as yet, we’re still waiting.
So tomorrow we’ll step up a gear and really get to grips with getting everything out and ready to go. Andy will fettle the bikes, and give them a clean and I’m sure it won’t take me long to find all the bits we need and pop everything back in the panniers .
When we arrived at the end of June, it felt as of we had all the time in the world, yet now we’re counting the hours and ticking everything off the to-do list, before we go.
It’s going to be a mad few days, but we can finally start looking forward to starting the trip home
Hope you will enjoy the journey.
Postcards from Provence and beyond 