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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
People keep saying to us “Wow, have you really been gone three and a half months!” – see time flies. That is why we have to make the most of every day and every opportunity. We took the opportunity to fly back from SE Asia in time for my cousin’s Read more…
As we have both been to Bangkok before (Pete twice), we have seen most of the tourist sights therr already but as our visits were 20 years ago we thought it would be fun to spend a day and night in the city and see how it has changed. Since Read more…
We rented a moped and, despite the stormy clouds and dodgy weather forecast, took to the roads to explore the island. We went to a waterfall on the East side of the island, called Tranh Stream. By the time we walked up the rocky path to the small falls, we Read more…
We decided our last few days of our SE trip should be spent on an island, soaking up the sun. So from Hanoi we flew to the very South of Vietnam to Phu Quoc. After a 2 hour direct flight we checked into the Eco Beach Resort in Ong Lang Read more…
We arrived in Ninh Binh and for once checked in at a gorgeous homestay in Tam Coc and got ourselves sorted all before a beautiful sunset. Our accommodation was really quiet and we had soft mattresses – bliss! !!!! We just need to get a message to the cockerals that Read more…
A false start, brought about by waking up to heavy rain and thunderstorms, we delayed our trip by a day and spent an extra day in Hanoi catching up on blogs, research, booking of flights etc. Finally we strapped our luggage to the Honda XR150 motorbike and hit the road. Read more…
For a second time we are in Hanoi and we were all set for a road trip in the mountains today but woke up to a thunder storm and torrential rain. We decided to postpone for a day but our hotel room was already booked. After a night of dodgy Read more…
So everyone has heard of, or seen pictures of, Ha Long Bay and that was where we were thinking of heading until we heard how many cruise boats (junk boats) were all visiting the same places plus within a two day trip you only got to kayak for about half Read more…
We have just spent a few days in Hoi An and loved it. Other travellers told us it was their favourite part of Vietnam and we thought it was because of the beaches, but Hoi An is so much more. Hoi An has an old preserved colonial town full of Read more…
We kept our motorbike one more day so we could explore the sights around Da Nang. Da Nang itself is a strange place with lots of big hotels but no real centre. It has lovely golden sand beaches and we stayed near My Khe beach – a huge golden beach Read more…
Our trip around The Golden Loop had started as an idea of riding the Hai Van Pass, a pass made famous by Top Gear and one which Jeremy Clarkson said was “the best coastal pass (pause for dramatic effect) in the world”. And today was the day to ride this Read more…
We headed to Da Nang and rented a 155cc moped from Danang Bikes. Pete navigated the crazy traffic to get us out of the city (in what world does no traffic rules seem like a good idea? – but somehow it does kind of work here) and set off towards Read more…