I should start by saying Happy New Year, and wishing you a gentle, healthy and enjoyable next 12 months. I don’t know about you, but I really can’t get my head around the fact that we are already a few days into 2026. They say that the older you get, the quicker the time passes … More Hello 2026, what do you hold?
It’s all been a bit busy, since we arrived back from Japan and have been settling back into our happy, gentle life in Provence. Our trip to Japan was everything we had hoped it would be, and if we’re honest, totally exceeded even our wildest dreams. We loved the simplicity of living day-by-day, with just … More An auction and an adventure.
I’ve mentioned before that this is going to be a very busy autumn for us, and we hardly finished putting everything away from the cycle ride, before packing again for a trip that we’ve wanted to do, for a long time. It may seem a bit odd to say that the cycle ride home wasn’t … More Time for the next adventure
After all our worries following the stressful start to the trip, with the cancelled train and chaotic, diverted route in the UK, we had been a little bit anxious about the trip we had booked to get us back from Bordeaux to Aix-en-Provence. But we needn’t have been concerned, as everything went as planned, and … More Day 17 … We left the toughest day till last.
Well, what a wonderful last 2 weeks this has been, and yesterday, we pedalled the last leg of the trip through western France, arriving in Bordeaux. We had really enjoyed our couple of days cycling along the lanes around Duras, avoiding the storms that had been a constant feature of the weather forecasts. But, on … More Day 16 … Wet, but happy in Bordeaux
Since deciding to accept that we will just ride from Duras to Bordeaux and avoid the storms that had been predicted, we’ve just relaxed into enjoying our time here. Today, we decided that as we cycled in from the north, pedalled the roads to the east yesterday, and will be riding out west to Bordeaux … More Day 15 … Second breakfast in Marmande.
Last night, we had a long chat about the plans for the next few days, coupled with looking at every possible weather forecast we could find, hoping that one may give us (even the slimmest chance) of being able to camp (storm-free) on Wednesday night. But however hard we sought for a glimmer of hope, … More Day 14 … Exploring the Dropt valley
We really enjoyed our day off in Mussidan yesterday, and after another good night’s sleep, we were ready to go on again this morning. I had planned various routes to Duras, which we had decided would be our next stop, on the revised route towards Bordeaux. We had the ‘If it’s bucketing with rain’ route; … More Day 13 … Hiding from the cloudburst
The joy of cycling and also the frustration of cycling is having to deal with the weather. Two years ago, we were having to fill our water-bottles from taps in cemeteries, as it was over 35 degrees on some days. This year, we’ve hit the storms at the end of a long summer canicule (heatwave), … More Day 12 … Dramatic history & some re-planning
All I can say, is that cycling 740km to Angouleme to watch the first rugby match of the season for Provence, was worth every turn of the pedal. We had spent a lovely afternoon exploring the town, before I put on my Provence T-Shirt to wear to the match. I have carried it in my … More Day 11 … Into the Dordogne
Vaucluse Dreamer 