Hurrah! Our dreams of sailing to the Mediterranean may soon become reality! We returned to Cornwall towards the end of April and kept ourselves busy during our quarantine by scrubbing the boat and putting up the sails and running rigging. On our joyous release from isolation the winds picked up…and up. We spent most of …
This is our last post from the mountains for this winter season and happily it has ended on a high as we spent two fabulous days touring the mountains with our guide Pierre. We had an early start on Thursday morning, somewhat hampered by the fact that it was so cold that my skins would …
We have been incredibly lucky to have warm weather and spring snow conditions so have been making the most of this whilst we can. After our long tour to Col Pers, we headed to Tignes the following day, again with Chris and Suzanne. We walked from the main resort of Tignes le Lac, initially up …
Another long delay between blog entries and so much has happened! As we entered the New Year we decided to head back to our home in France as the prospect of remaining on the boat in Falmouth throughout the winter was not enticing. We were glued to the news of travel embargoes from the UK …
Well, we haven’t posted for a while so time for the last few words of the year. 2020 has been a little unpredictable and certainly not ideal for the first year of retirement. Our plans, to spend the winter skiing and the summer sailing to the Mediterranean, have been turned on their head. We had …
Day 4 – Via Rhôna – Le Pouzin to Les Sablons Well, as can be seen from the moody photos, the weather has become much less settled. It was about 20 degrees cooler today than last week as autumn takes hold. Today felt like a long day – 97km fighting a cold, strong, northerly headwind. …
Day 1 – ViaRhôna – Arles to Avignon Well, after surviving the mountains and given a few days of rest at the beach, we are no longer saddle sore and were missing the cycling 🚴♀️🤪. So… we’ve decided to ride all the way back to the mountains along the Rhone initially, then over the Jura …
Day 7 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Barcelonette to Guillaumes Today was an easy day with stunning scenery. We left Barcelonette and began the 30km ascent up the Col de la Cayolle. Within only a few kilometres we entered a narrow gorge that gently climbed to the col. In many places the narrow road …
Day 5 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Briançon to Guillestre What a fabulous day! The threatened rain did not materialise and we set off from Briançon on a fantastic, clear sunny morning. Almost before leaving the town we hit the 20km marker for the ascent to Col d’Izoard and we began. We climbed steadily …
Day 4 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Valloire to Briançon Today, as anticipated, was the biggest climb so far. The 18km Col du Galibier is an iconic climb in the Tour de France and no less iconic to the humble touring cyclist. It climbs slowly up a spectacular valley from Valloire, but at the …