So our lease on the apartment was up today after 14 weeks – wow, it has been fantastic and simply flown by! So we have packed up and, after one last Pause ride, left our beautiful balcony view. Today our first stop is Bourges le Lac and we have an Read more…
Sorry we’ve not done a blog post for ages but we have been busy operating a B&B for friends and family. First to visit for a week was Janet’s friend. She likes to walk so we took her to Les Chapieux to see the glaciers and to the old village Read more…
Whilst in Asia I wrote about several random acts of kindness that we encountered. Here in Europe there are just as many people with big hearts and open souls. Yesterday we cycled to La Thuile in Italy and on the way back we stopped close to the top of The Read more…
When we arrived in The Alps the first few climbs up the Cols came as a bit of rude awakening. Now we have ridden up quite a few of them, they are no longer such a shock to the system although I do still have a love / hate relationship Read more…
So with our birthdays only four days apart, it is tempting to make it into a birthday week of celebrations. This year though we decided to keep things simple. When I asked Pete what he wanted to do for his birthday he said “I just want to go mountain biking”, Read more…
We have noticed a weather pattern here that has become more frequent in the last few weeks as daily temperatures in the valley have risen to well over 30 degrees. The pattern is for blue skies in the morning, then hot hot hot as the humidity rises and then in Read more…
I’m not sure whose idea it was but we agreed with Matty, whilst on a Pause Cafe social ride (and probably lacking in oxygen) that it would be cool to ride up the Col de Petit St Bernard and over to La Thuile in Italy for lunch and then ride Read more…
So back in Bourg and we found everyone starting to get ready for the Tour de France. Stage 11 was going to be passing through Bourg Saint Maurice and on up to the ski resort of La Rosiere whilst Stage 12 started in the town of Bourg and headed to Read more…
Upon arrival in the cycling Mecca of Alpe D’Huez we realised that the nuts mountain bike race, the Megavalanche, which starts at the top of Pic Blanc (3330m) on snow and descends to the valley floor, was due to take place at the weekend so after our time trial we Read more…
Before we left home we entered a time trial race up the infamous climb of Alpe D’Huez so it was time to pack up our van and drive three hours there. We stayed on a fantastic campsite (with a swimming pool and sauna!) full of French, Dutch, Belgians and British Read more…
This weekend was the pre-opening weekend for the Les Arcs bike park. Yesterday the funicular from Bourg Saint Maurice to Les Arcs 1600 opened – yippee!! There was also one chairlift open to take you up to 1950 so we bought our season passes and headed up there with our Read more…
So this time we thought we would head to the Italian border to the Col de Petit St Bernard. This is 8km past the ski resort of La Rosiere (at 1800m) at an altitude of 2188m. Most of the climb from Bourg St Maurice averages 6% climb but we decided Read more…
We had been told that it was a difficult climb to The Cormet de Roselend but that it would be worth it for the views. And, they weren’t wrong. The route is 19km of climbing from Bourg St Maurice at an average of 8%, but on the way you pass Read more…
When we first arrived in Bourg-st-Maurice we were amazed that on the hillside behind our apartment a chapel had been built so far up the on what looked like a precarious piece of land about to slide down the mountainside. It proved to be pretty useful for navigation as, no Read more…
So our first Col climb turned out to be up the highest paved road in Europe, up to 2770m. Not the gentlest of introductions! It was just too good an opportunity to miss as the pass had been closed due to remaining snow levels and a recent avalanche. Sunday was Read more…
The quest was …….. to find a run route and a mountain bike route that doesn’t require loads of hill climbing. I tried a different run this morning and headed to the international canoe and kayak centre. Unfortunately no one was on the course – I can’t wait to see Read more…
When it comes to trying to protect the environment, France seems to be leading the way. In supermarkets all the bags provided for loose fruit are biodegradable, there are sections in most supermarkets to buy nuts and cereals etc by the weight in non plastic bags, there is a chain Read more…
So we have found the supermarkets, the odd bar (would have been rude not to), the cinema, swimming pool and even worked out how to use the TV (and how Pete can watch MotoGP). Still on the list is to find a running route without a mountain climb to kill Read more…
From Mende we popped 3 hours back North to see some friends now living in Clermont-Ferrand. It was great to see them and meet their lovely girls – even if I did receive a dodgy makeover and glitter nail varnish thanks to their daughter Robyn. Clermont-Ferrand is a lovely city Read more…
Le Trefle (The Clover) is a three day motorbike enduro event with 700 competitors and many thousands of spectators – it is huge! We went along to support The Sheepskull Enduro Riders team with a couple of guys from the Isle of Man and a few guys from the UK. Read more…
Here in Bourges we decided to buy French Sim cards so updates can be a bit more frequent now. While waiting in the Orange shop we saw (on the news) pictures of flooding throughout the region from all the rain. Perhaps this isn’t normal then???? We keep having sunshine interspersed Read more…
With no exact plan as to where we will go in France on our way to Mende (we need to be there in 6 days’ time) we stumbled upon Arras. After a self-guided walk around the town the next morning we climbed the belfry overlooking the main marketplace which, with Read more…
Today we arrived in France after a couple of days with friends and family in the UK. The UK weather wasn’t quite up to the Manx summer so we decided not to do more mountain biking and instead spent the time catching up and taking my cousin’s boys to the Read more…
The best way to leave the Island by boat or plane is on a still, clear day and today that is fortunately what we had. We took the Ben My Chree boat to Heysham filled with classic bike fans (they’d been over for the Billown Races) leaving Douglas basking in Read more…
We had allowed two weeks on the Isle of Man to unpack and get ready for the next leg of our adventure. We arrived with a beautiful sunny scenic flight, although of course we were greeted by the familiar cold Manx breeze. The preparations included finding accommodation in France, buying Read more…