Mountain biking/cycling – Page 12 – When the Cat's Away…

May 21, 2019May 23, 2019

19-20 May: Gorgeous Cervo (You won’t find it in the Lonely Planet)

Author: Mrs A

Location: Cervo, San Bartholomo al Mare & Diane Marina, Italian Riviera, Italy

Sunday: With just an 18km journey between locations, it was one of our shortest journeys yet, but not without its challenges! We followed a busy stream of traffic and our Google directions down a one way road, which appeared to get narrower and narrower with a line of parked cars down one side and a wonky stone wall on the other.

We pulled to one side to assess our options. With traffic constantly coming down the road, reversing was going to be impossible without significant help…and going forwards looked equally daunting without potential damage to Truffy and/or parked cars. Not a fun situation.

One of the cars passing us slowed and wound down his window. We half expected abuse for blocking the road, but no, the Italian driver told us that the road is not as bad as we thought, and that as a motorhome driver himself he was confident we could drive down safely. Mr A bravely took off, me walking in front, letting him know how much space was either way. To increase stress levels, a bus was following us, but amazingly was very patient. When Mark pulled over on a wider piece of road, the bus driver even indicated he understood the caution and gave me a thumbs up. Phew! Another skilful negotiation of a tricky road – absolute kudos to Mr A for excellent driving. We could not imagine such patient drivers in Sydney – they’d be much quicker on the horns!

So we arrived at our next destination with no damage done, a campground beside the beach 15 minutes walk from the village of Cervo. We immediately set off to explore.

Stormy skies over Cervo but we didn’t get too wet

Cervo has around 1200 residents, many of them artists, sculptors, wood carvers, painters and jewellers. The village largely built up around an initial Roman villa more than 2000 years ago. Like France, Italy has a ‘most beautiful villages‘ classification and Cervo has well deservedly achieved that recognition.

The streets are very steep, and at the moment I am not breathing too well…but made it with a little wheezing. Mark is suffering with tendonitis in his calf, so also struggled up the streets – not doing brilliantly between us! It was well worth all the effort though, with gorgeous views, interesting little alleyways and of course the friendly village cat there to meet us at the top!

Curvy cobbled steps lead us up into the village

A well looked after village, touches of colour and flowers everywhere

Trees growing on seemingly impossible surfaces

Endless beautiful laneways enticing us down

You can almost imagine the lives that have taken place in these streets over the centuries

‘St George and the Dragon’ mural painted in the early 1900s after sailors from England shared the story with local artists

Fortified walls evident at the top of the village

Italian cats say ‘Ciao’

A fine view from outside the church

One of the key highlights in the village is the Romanesque Oratorio di Santa Caterina church. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the historical and artistic significance of this magnificent building, having pride of place looking out to sea and covered with incredible frescoes (mural paintings painted on plaster).

Incredible frescoes cover the walls and ceilings

The equivalent of the church hall, all set up ready for a conference

Such a picturesque area, with plenty of exploring to be done. We can only imagine how busy it gets here in the summer holidays, despite the fact that Cervo does not appear in the Lonely Planet and has a pebbly beach.

All this exploring worked up an appetite and we went along to Pizza Pazza, the restaurant right next door for dinner in the evening. Yet another fabulous meal, and again at a fraction of the price we would pay in the UK or Australia, including a bottle of wine.

Monday: Glimmers of blue skies greeted us so we leaped on the task of washing first thing. Once everything was either hung out or dried we decided to go exploring in the other direction, biking our way to the next little settlement, San Bartholomo al Mare.

There are no bike lanes here, but the drivers continue to be quite respectful of cyclists, keeping their distance and no agression at all. This is all in absolute contrast to what we have been led to expect by the various blogs we’ve read – maybe our expectations have been lowered by our experiences on the road in Australia and New Zealand?

We took a random uphill road just to explore, and were soon making use of the motors on our electric bikes to take us up past gated villas with incredible views, meadows and Ligurian olive groves. It was all very picturesque.

Gorgeous views across to Cervo on our ride

Garden like wildflowers along our cycle

Terraced olive groves are plentiful here with agriculture still a key source of income

Beautiful orchids growing by the side of the road

We then cycled up to the next settlement, riding up a cycle friendly pedestrianised area and finding a little pizza place for lunch – yes, they even did me a pizza without cheese! We both ordered the small portion, which ended up being absolutely huge. Despite the fact I only ate half, we had no need to eat for the rest of the day!

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

16 May: A ride-by past the Cannes Film Festival

Author: Mr A

Location: Cannes & Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France

Thursday: Truffy our motorhome was all prepped and ready to hit the road. We pointed him south to the coast and the Côte d’Azur, which was looking especially glitzy as it happened to be hosting once again this week the Cannes Film Festival.

A stop en-route at an Asian grocery store recommended by our local hosts enabled a massive stock up on all the ingredients Catherine likes to use in her cooking, and we know from previous experience here they are not easy to source in the French and Italian supermarkets. We miss our spicy dishes here when eating out so create our own.

We decided on a whim to stay at a campsite we spotted in the first town we reached, Mandelieu-la-Napoule. It looked very scenic on a small canal, so we were shortly tucking into the fresh produce we had picked up on the way down. Ah the joy of France to get such quality veg everywhere you shop.

The e-bikes were quickly unloaded and we set off without much of a plan as to where we were going to explore. We found ourselves wandering along the coast towards Cannes, and realised we could actually ride all the way in.

A short bit of off-road cycleway

So we decided to check out what was happening around the Film Festival. It was heaving of course, with all the beautiful people parading around their floating gin palaces.

Constant sound of popping champagne corks here

It was really quite entertaining for us to hear so many languages and accents, see people so dressed up. Something we miss in Australia. And we even got to see the (empty) famous red carpet ready for the premier of the Elton John story, Rocketman (see news story and resultant images here). Amusing to see some hopeful young ladies all dressed up in skimpy outfits with signs saying “ticket wanted”. I wonder how their evening will go!

Step ladders at the ready for the paparazzi to photograph the arrivals

Would have hated to be driving though the traffic chaos, but our e-bikes make it so easy to really cover some ground and weave in and out. We are so pleased we lashed out for these little beauties. Ideal for this type of outing.

Looking back along the coast

Many cruise ships in town for the big event

It was a great day out, capped off by a veggie Pad Thai courtesy of Mrs A. An episode of Peaky Blinders and the day was ended perfectly.

We have now ten days to wander into Italy and down to Florence, where Catherine will then fly home for a quick hospital visit leaving me to take care of Truffy. Italy here we come!

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

14 – 15 May: Endless gorgeous villages

Author: Mrs A

Location: Bagnols-en-Forêt, Saint-Paul de Vence, Fayence & Tourettes, France

Tuesday: Curious about the joys of riding an e-bike, we took our friends out for a cycle along some of the forest paths where we were staying…we can safely say they approve!

David & Mr A head off down a woodland path on a ride

Jenny admiring the view down to the coast

It was just a short ride in the morning before we headed back to wind our way by car across the mountain villages, past Fayaence, Tourettes and Grasse across to the small walled town of Saint-Paul de Vence.

Nestled among the olive trees and overlooking Nice

Approaching the walled village

Saint-Paul de Vence is a perched village located about 12km north east of Nice. It was originally settled in about 400 bcd and then was renamed in the year 120 when the Romans called it Castrum Sancti Pauli (interpreted as St Paul’s Fortress). In the late 1800s and 1900s the village was discovered by impressionist artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Marc Chagall (who is buried in the little cemetery there). The poor artists enjoyed the clean light and spectacular views – to the coast in one direction and the snow capped Alps in the other.

The Colombe d’Or restaurant and inn started life in the village in the 1920s and had a great reputation for good food and dancing on its terraces. It became a popular place amongst the artists, who often exchanged a painting or two in return for food or accomodation.

Today the whole village remains full of artists and galleries selling everything from today’s modern art to older Chagall and Picasso paintings and prints.

The Colombe d’Or restaurant – we didn’t lunch here

Lunch was our first port of call, having forgone breakfast for a ride. We found a little terraced cafe with a fabulous view. It was a little tourist trap really with overpriced average food and wine from a sack, but the views made up for it!

Lunch with a fine view

We continued our exploration of the village, visiting Marc Chagall’s grave, covered in stones in the Jewish tradition and admired the views down to Nice and across the mountains. We wandered around the little lanes, admiring paintings with high price tags (€65,000 for an original Picasso artist’s print thank you very much – that’s around AU$106,000 /£57,000 /US$73,000 for our international readers).

Exploring the village…So much to look at here…oh for an endless bank account!

Perched with a view

Beautiful multi-toned roses blooming

Front row seat at this hotel with a view down to the Mediterranean

Every alleyway entices you down

Di admires an artwork from a prize winning Macedonian artist

An Apéro Spritz on the terrace concluded our afternoon before returning back to Colin’s feast of fish and prawn gumbo – delicious!

Cheers…though I think Di is sad we’re all leaving

Wednesday: Our final day with our friends in France – it was time to give Colin and Di back their peace, serenity and healthy livers and Chris, Karen, Jenny and David were to be off back to Australia. The weather greeted us with appropriate sadness with a fine rain falling, and the morning was spent sharing stories, photos and doing the final packing and washing.

Di then took us up to the little village of Fayence, which had overlooked us on our Monday night farm meal. Mark and I visited here with Diane three years ago – then it had been sundress weather and the streets were bustling with the Saturday market. This time, it was jacket weather and other than the odd cat, the streets were largely abandoned.

“I might have fleas but I’d still like you to rub my tummy s’il vous plait.”

The cats rule the streets here

Closed today…looks like this cat had a run in with a slamming door

We walked across to the next village of Tourettes, enjoying the unique doorways and artworks on the walls, and admiring the views down across the valley towards the coast.

The evening saw us get suited and booted for our final meal together.

Our final glass of champagne from Epernay

Dinner was held at Moulin de la Camandoule an old olive mill with a history that dates back to Roman times.

The old Roman aqueduct – tiles have been found suggesting a villa was located here too

It was a delicious meal and a fitting end to our time together in Provence. Many thanks to Di and Colin for putting us up for the past few days and being such fabulous hosts.

May 15, 2019May 18, 2019

12-13 May: Spring on the Côte d’Azur

Author: Mrs A

Location: Bagnols-en-Forêt, Provence-Alps-Côte, France

Our wonderful hosts have lived within the community of Bagnols-en-Forêt for about four years now. It’s tucked up on the hinterland behind the sparkling Mediterranean, on land which traditionally has been used to grow olives and grapes, but these days is more profitable being subdivided to house terracotta tiled villas with swimming pools.

Sunday: We joined them for a walk around the neighbourhood with Genie, their little poodle-cross rescue dog, and got a good feel for the area. Many of the houses are on half acre plots with lovely gardens. Just 100 metres from the back of Diane and Colin’s property the forest stretches on for miles with views out to the foothills of the Alps.

Genie enjoying her neighbourhood stroll

View out north over the forest to the foothills of the Alps

The delicate mauve flowers on the wild garlic

Later, we drove on down to the village for a lazy Sunday lunch, enjoying salads and a glass or two of local Rosé.

Colin and I awaiting our lunch

Miss Genie wondering why we’re taking away her attention!

Towards the end of the afternoon a rental car arrived bringing Jenny, David, Chris and Karen to the house, here to enjoy their final four days in Europe before flying back to Australia. Colin cooked us all up a delicious feast and we had a good catch up.

Monday: We awoke to a beautiful morning and so Mr A and I decided to jump on our bikes and see a little more of the area. We rode up into the area behind Colin and Di’s house and explored some of the tracks leading into the forest. It’s great fun riding our little e-bikes and we were grateful for them on the steep uphills back out of the valley.

The area is stunning, and as we rode through the area full of wildflowers we marvelled at how parklike the area was. We reached a clearing along the road and with views that took our breath away – looking south towards the Mediterranean, Saint-Raphael gleaming in the distance, and north up into the beginning of an alpine environment.

Looking south across the Esterel Mountains (Massif de l’Estérel) to the French Riviera

Looking inland towards the Pré-Alpes

Gorgeous wisened old trees admiring the views too

Our kind of pathway – we could ride forever on here

Bees collecting pollen on the wildflowers

Yellow, white, pink and purple the prevalent colours

We clocked up 20km and returned to get ready to head out with the group. We piled into two cars and headed south towards the coast. Our first stop was the little town of Fréjus.

The town is on the site of an ancient naval base founded by Julius Caesar in about 50 bce and known originally as Forum Julii. Its Roman ruins include a late 1st-century amphitheatre, an aqueduct, and ancient fortifications.

As we arrived in town we saw a parade starting – it turned out it was the saint day for saint François de Paule, the Italian monk who arrived on the day the plague ended in the town – and henceforth was praised for being the town’s saviour.

Parade about to commence

We ambled through the little streets, checking out the architecture, arriving at the main square and the cathedral.

David and Mr A chilling out on the steps

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame et Saint-Étienne (13th century) has a 5th-century baptistery, gradually being excavated.

After lunch in the square we drove a short way along the coast to Saint-Raphaël. A €4 ferris wheel ride gave us the perfect opportunity to enjoy views along the coast and get our bearings in this resort town.

Looking along the coast – Diane’s favourite sandy beach below

Up and away – Karen, Chris, Jenny & David in the other capsule

We explored the streets before ice creams and returning back for the evening. Di and Colin had booked us a unique experience, a private dinner prepared and served at a local farmhouse, La ferme Constantin in nearby Fayance.

It was a fabulous rustic setting, as we enjoyed wine and appetisers outside overlooking the fields, before heading in for food as the sun set.

Arriving at the farm

Our private dining room

It was a great experience, one we will never forget.

The village of Fayance up in the hills behind us

May 12, 2019May 15, 2019

9 – 11 May: A dash through France – Champagne to Provence

Author: Mr A

Location: Beaune, Mirmande and Bagnols-en-Forêt, France

We had three days to travel just under a 1,000km through the centre of France in order to reach our next get together with friends in Provence. That meant the freeways – expensive, boring and fast would be my summary. We spent around €100 on tolls, but arrived early enough at our stopovers to at least see something of the country.

Thursday: The first night we returned to the town of Beaune, the wine capital of Burgandy. We had been here a few years ago and loved it, staying at a great free parking spot within walking distance of the town centre.

The old hospital from the 1400s

Mr A strolling through the wet cobbled streets

Basilique Notre-Dame de Beaune – 13th century church

Founding date of the hospital for the poor

It rained on and off but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for ogling the amazing selection of food and wine shops that cram into the tiny centre. A very classy place is Beaune. We escaped with our wallets intact, only giving way to our desires with a round of washed rind sheep’s cheese, a type of cheese Catherine can tolerate small amounts of with her dairy intolerance.

Friday: We were up and off in the morning and hitting the freeways again. We managed to get to Mirmande, our stop over, early enough to have a good explore on the bikes.

Camping in a meadow full of daisies – we’ve been in worse locations!

Around 4km from our delightful little campsite (La Poche camping) was a village a friend had recommended as it is in the category of “one of the most beautiful in France” – along with hundreds of others I think, as there seems so many. In fact I looked it up, there’s 156 that an association formed in the early 80’s recognises as “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France“. There’s some criteria they need to meet and a branding they can use. All very noble.

Our trusty little e-bikes powered us up right to the 12th century church at the top of the village, with outstanding in views right down to the Rhone river.

Built in the 12th century, the church of Saint Foy – now hosts an art exhibition rather than a congregation

Magnificent 360 degree views across the countryside

A fabulous art exhibition space within the old church

The village is as famous for its gardens which complement the views

Ivy covered buildings with fabulous views

Passing the old ramparts on our slow passage down through the village

It’s the little details that count

The village also has an award for the best roofs in France

Riding up to the Church, we can hardly believe the residents bring cars up here

Mr & Mrs A in front of the village

After snapping away for a while I dragged Mrs A away and we headed down to the Rhône through some lovely countryside.

The Rhône – a strong current and a very long river

The climb back up to our camp was 4km straight up – thankyou Mr Bosch we love your pedal assist technology!

Saturday: The final day of the drive into Provence was completed without incident. There was no tailgating, or middle lane hogs, drivers are almost all respectful to others on the road. A pleasure to experience, coming from Australia and New Zealand. So we finally reached our destination at our friends’ place just outside a small village called Bagnols-en-Forêt in the hills behind Cannes and St Tropez. And what a place it is! They have created this private oasis of a garden, and a house of eclectic, exquisite taste. Colin is an awesome master of his domain, the kitchen, and dinner a sumptuous affair. The rest of the mob arrive tomorrow, so we enjoy the time to ourselves catching up with these guys.

It’s fascinating to get their perspective on French life, as Australians who moved out here 8 years ago. I think the best phrase I heard them use was that the French life in a “bubble”, where the world in some ways doesn’t seem to touch them too deeply. Traditions are maintained, micro-agriculture common, family life still central to their lives it seems. The finer and often simpler moments in life are still treasured. A long lunch with friends (where mobiles seems less prevalent than at home), a walk through the woods, choosing the weekly shop undertaken with such care at the local market. These are the things we observe and love about France.

Rescued dog Genie is slowly getting used to us

Blue skies and a tempting looking pool (though at less than 20 degrees, not ‘that’ tempting!)

May 4, 2019May 4, 2019

2 – 4 May: And off to France we go!

Author: Mrs A

Location: Newhaven Ferry Port, Dieppe, Grandvilliers, Saint- Quentin, Longpont, France

Thursday: The day had finally arrived to board our ferry across to France. We originally booked our tickets while visiting my dad in New Zealand, and it seemed so far away. We had sat there wondering what would have happened to us in the intervening five months…an awful lot as it turned out!

We had not had the best night’s sleep. While sleeping at the port seemed like a good idea (and we were not the only motorhome to do so), the night was punctuated by the arrival of multiple heavy goods vehicles running their engines and freight trains moving to and from the port.

Nevertheless, a crisp clear morning greeted us, blue skies and light winds seeing us off from England.

Into the belly of the ‘Seven Sisters’ we drive

The three hour journey went without incidence, and we pulled off the boat in Dieppe reminding ourselves to drive on the right and give way to the left on roundabouts. Finally our left hand drive truck was coming into its own.

Both tired, we decided not to drive too far on our first evening. Those of you unfamiliar with travelling by motorhome in France will probably not have noticed the ‘Aires de camping car’ in many of the small towns and villages. These are designated areas for motor homes with often four or five parking spots. Sometimes there is the option for a couple of hours of electricity (around €2) and drinking water, which is often free. Generally there will be a drain to dump your grey water (showers/dishwashing) and a dump-point for your black water (toilet).

We selected a random one from an app which had good reviews and drove over.

The village of Grandvilliers sits on the far northern outskirts of Paris, and is fairly unremarkable. We had a stroll around the village and bought some bread from an artisan bakery before retiring for the night.

Wonky old house along the road from where we parked up

Loving the tulips

A beautiful array of tulips on the entrance to a mechanic’s workshop

Monsieur A very proud of his ‘Je voudrais du pain s’il vous plaît’

Friday: A bit of research of the area revealed nothing too exciting for us to aim for, so we picked another location in the general direction of the Champagne region we’re heading to. Either there are no towns of note here, or nobody is writing about them (probably the latter!)!

We drove through relatively flat countryside, mostly growing rape seed for canola oil and various other vegetables, and ended up at another small town, Saint-Quentin.

Picturesque patchwork of fields on our drive

Saint-Quentin has a long history and was originally founded by the Romans in around the 4th century. Many of the roads we drove to get there were dead straight, a clue to this history. Apparently many Roman artifects and coins are still found in the surrounding fields and properties. This town has a bit of a tragic story, with more than half of its population killed during the great plague and during World War II 80% of the town was destroyed or severely damaged as it was part of the German Hindenburg Line.

Today it is a peaceful centre, with a train line into Paris taking just under two hours, and the Canal du Nord taking water borne traffic through town. Our aires for the night was right beside the canal, so we decided to jump on the bikes for an explore.

Despite the grey day, a picturesque cycle

Potential to go a long way…we stuck to 20km

Other than a few rowers, there was little traffic on the water, perhaps a bit early in the season for barges. We were interested to see that the canal near here heads underground for a few kilometres. In the early days, it took hours to travel through the 5 or so kilometres but today it is traversed using a chain boat. We didn’t make it up as far as the tunnel.

Saturday: The temperature plunged to 3 degrees centigrade overnight which made for a slow emergence from bed. We really miss the warm bedspread we left with my mum in Hastings, but are hoping that nights this cold will be few and far between as we head south.

We drove to the town of Soissons where there was a choice of large supermarkets to choose from. There we did a huge shop for 10 people – tomorrow is Sunday and French shops will be closed, and we are joining a group of friends who are staying nearby in a house. Somehow we managed to make a whole trolley load of purchases disappear into Truffy, and set off for our night’s destination.

It was not too far to drive to the little village of Longpont. The village is very pretty and dominated by the ruins of an old abbey which was active between 1131 and 1793. It was open to be visited, but with looming black clouds and no roof on the abbey we retreated to a nearby pub instead. Are you surprised?

Abbaye de Longpont – ancient ruined monastery

Can almost imagine the stained glass in this grand window

The old entranceway, several hundred years old

One pastis and one vin rouge, merci boucoup

The Forest of Retz is close by to here, an ancient woodland which has been under protection since 1672, quite rare for Europe where forest was seen as something to cut down and use for fuel or clear for agriculture. Hopefully the rain will hold off so we can go for a stroll tomorrow before we head to Priez, our home for the next few days.

As for tonight, we’re sheltering from the showers (currently marble sized hail!) and are going to enjoy an Italian red (yes, I know, blasphemy in France) with a home made Pad Thai. Bon soir!

May 1, 2019May 1, 2019

27 April-2 May: Our final family time this spring in Sussex

Author: Mr A

Location: Brighton, Hastings and Newhaven Ferry Port, East Sussex, UK

Saturday-Sunday: Before heading to Continental Europe, we spent our final weekend in Brighton with Catherine’s sister Helen and her family. London-on-Sea, as it is jokingly known locally, served up its usual eclectic way with everything from fine dining to a wonderful greasy spoon cafe for brunch.

Feeling a little neater after some haircuts

Catherine, Helen and Isabel – just the girls

Miss Isabel ready to party – Catherine bravely accompanied her to a 5th birthday celebration, despite the promise of party balloons 😲

Then it was time to head along the coast to Hastings and Catherine’s mum, Jenny.

Monday: Catherine and Jenny visited her nearly 97 year old grandma, good genes on that side of the family at least!

96 years young, Jean enjoying the sunshine

Jean will be 97 in a few weeks’ time – this may be her first selfie!

A few more lovely home cooked meals from Jenny, and a chance to get some last minute tasks ticked off before we head over the English Channel on Thursday.

Young Marmalade enjoyed the mouse on a stick we bought for him

Tuesday: Jenny took us over to Hastings Country Park for a short walk and some fresh air, another place of great memories for Catherine.

Views over the gorse flowers across the country

The sun breaks through the cloud…team photo

A lovely woodland walk on our return circuit

A mother-daughter shot to complete the walk

Later in the day, Catherine took me on her and her sister’s favourite after school activity, a ride down to the beach and along the coast. It was a cold day, but the sun shone and Hastings showed us her good side.

Warming up in a sheltered spot on Hastings Pier

Yes, there is sand (at low tide) in Hastings!

Mingling with the local wildlife on the pier…odd….

Riding the bike path along to Bexhill-On-Sea

It’s an interesting mix here of demographics, with everyone from a scattering of celebrities, and working class housing estates. If feels an authentic town, with the largest beach based fishing fleet in Europe still bringing in the delicious fish and cockles that we just had to sample.

So many memories from Catherine, shared with me, and it does draw you even closer together understanding someone’s childhood, as I had shown her mine in Kettering.

Wednesday: Now it’s our last day in the UK, with a ferry across to France early tomorrow. I few nerves on my part as I keep running through all the things we need to have sorted. Catherine as ever the calm one, thank goodness.

We are parked up at Newhaven Ferry Port for the night. Little Truffy is dwarfed next to his bigger HGV cousins all waiting for the 9am ride across the Channel to Dieppe. What adventures await us in France?

April 24, 2019

18 – 23 April: An Easter to remember with friends and family

Author: Mr A

Location: Harby, Nottinghamshire and Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Thursday-Saturday: We were kindly invited to stay over the first part of the Easter weekend, with friends in Harby in Nottinghamshire, a village embodying all thats good about the remnants of rural England. A good pub, a strong sense of community, roads where cyclists still feel safe to venture out on a morning in droves and endless opportunities to potter around the fields on the rights of way that make this beautiful countryside so accessible.

Woodlands filled with wood anemones

Rape-seed fields of golden yellow

A grand woodland entry along one of our cycles

John whizzes out of the woods after a slight diversion

Team beers at the Pyewipe Inn (the Lincolnshire name for a Lapwing!)

Concluding with cheese and night caps back at the house

I was lucky enough to make friends at secondary school that have become lifelong mates, along with their wives and partners. The party begins, the catching up on our lives lived so distantly for much of the year.

Without the full team, night one hit the ground running!

It feels like we have only just left each other’s company last week. The sound of laughter, music and popping corks rings out over the usually tranquil garden of our hosts. Stunning food is served with of course wines to match. We are having an Italian theme to the party to get us in the mood for a major birthday milestone one of the group has in June, as we have organised to celebrate it together there.

Saturday lunchtime feast – incredible food, joined by Andrew’s family – Lyn, Sam and Emma

Old school mates sharing a beverage as the sun sets

Just a small one please Stuart! The famous dairy-free lasagna – verdict? Delicious!

We decide our appetites need to be sharpened by a little cycling, and off we go down a “greenway” as they are called here, that can be accessed from the village. Of course it leads to a pub, and oh…another one on the way back!

Saturday morning a short cycle ride

Mr A completes John’s off road circuit in 9 minutes

It was a merry bunch that sat down to dinner each night!

Easter Sunday–Tuesday: All too soon it was time to bid our farewell and hit the road once again. Next stop: my daughters and grandchildren in Milton Keynes. After catching up over Chinese takeaway the first night, we kicked off with cycling from one daughter’s house (where we were parked), to the other’s house, via the extensive network of “redways” as Milton Keynes calls them, that were designed into the city’s original blueprint. It was fantastic riding with my oldest grandchild, taking his first big ride on a new bike. He did so well.

Luke bravely tackling the cycle paths, as long as nobody was too close in any direction!

Both of my daughters are moving to new houses within a few weeks of each other, so an exciting time to hear their plans and see their properties. When we come back in September so much will have changed. They all have worked so hard to make this jump to bigger homes. Very proud of them both. At their age they can afford to take some risks with big mortgages. A period of economic instability, especially in the UK, looks pretty likely.

Hayley and Phil’s new-build home…just a few more weeks and they’ll be in!

Luke playing with his cousins at a park close to Zoe and Mark’s new home

Blossom heavy trees and endless blue skies – such a great long weekend

Team Anderson and Team Moss ready for the cycle home

Proud dad with his daughters

Our visit also coincided with my oldest grandson’s 7th birthday. He really is maturing at a rate of knots, and in such a good way. A real pleasure to see. So a little surprise was hatched where we met him out of his first day at a new school, in Truffy, and they got to take a ride in their first motorhome. Hopefully memorable!

James waving the flag for England while Luke is beside himself with excitement

So we then bid a big goodbye to my family until we are back in September, and pointed Truffy’s nose south in preparation for our upcoming ferry to France next week.

April 19, 2019

15-17 April: A brief dalliance with Derbyshire

Author: Mrs A

Location: Dronfield and Newhaven, Derbyshire, UK

After leaving Fuller Leisure on Monday afternoon we headed north, hoping to find a spot for the night not far from where we were to have Truffy’s eye-mask (see previous post!) fitted. We’re pretty new to the travel apps for motorhoming, but both Search for Sites and CamperContact showed a pub 8 miles away which allowed free stopovers.

We headed on up there, just an hour’s drive from Gunthorpe. It was an ‘interesting’ drive with Miss Google Maps directing us down little single track lanes with blind bends…but we made it without incident. We even managed to do our first LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) fill up on the way, meaning we’re all set again for off the grid heating, hot water and cooking.

Our stop for the night was the Hyde Park Inn, a cosy pub opposite playing fields in the village of Dronfield. We called in for a drink before we settled down for the night, welcomed by the publican and locals alike.

A nice quiet stopover

We were joined by another Hymer during the night

On Tuesday afternoon (after getting Truffy’s thermal eye-mask fitted) we headed off on the road, leaving South Yorkshire and the surrounds of Sheffield, and heading into the Derbyshire Peak District. Despite working in Derby back in the early 1990s, other than one weekend trip, I have never fully explored this area. Mr A’s previous experience hails back to when the world was black and white and he was in the Boy Scouts.

Our first impressions were very positive – quiet winding lanes lined with dancing daffodils, stone walled paddocks full of skipping lambs.

Truffy heading off down towards his next adventure

We called into the village of Monyash for lunch, opting for delicious baked potatoes before we moved on.

Little village of Monyash

We continued on from here to our little farm stay parking spot for the night.

Wednesday morning we awoke to perfect blue skies, an ideal day for a cycle. We had selected our campsite based on its proximity to two of the Peak District’s best rail trails – the High Peak and the Tissington. Our home for two nights was Brundcliffe Farm, a working dairy farm alongside the High Peak trail.

It was a fresh start to the ride as we headed up the trail towards Parsley Hay, before moving onto the Tissington Rail Trail south. These old rail routes were turned into traffic-free walking and cycling routes back in 1971.

Wrapped up warm as we reach the junction of the High Peak and Tissington trails

Stripping off layers as the temperatures climb from 6-16 degrees centigrade

Newborn lambs skipping across the fields

We reached Ashbourne around midday and so set about finding somewhere for lunch. Ashbourne is a pretty market town, its roots dating back to Anglo-Saxon times (around the years 500-1000, before King Harold met his death near Hastings in 1066). Today it looks like a prosperous settlement, with classy boutiques and lovely cafes and shops.

We ate lunch in a sunny courtyard at a Mediterranean restaurant called Jack Rabbits. Mark enjoyed melted Brie on toast with a fig chutney, while I went for the home made sweet potato and tomato soup. Delicious.

Did I forget to mention the sweet potato fries? Naughty but oh so nice!

A very good soup. My only criticism is their menu is a bit heavy on the dairy products!

After a good feed we jumped back on the bikes and headed back on the trail. As it was uphill on the way back we had to make use of the motors on our eBikes – but still had to do plenty of work. It’s a pedal assist motor, so unless your legs are moving, it will not work.

Endless possibilities for walking here, with public footpaths criss-crossing the dales

Flowers galore along the path – daffodils, celandine, violets, daisies and more

I swear the buds on the trees were bursting with new leaves as we rode

This is definitely one of the loveliest cycles we have done. The scenery was spectacular and the Peak District National Park carefully manages the land through clearing to ensure there is a year round corridor of wildflowers.

The temperature climbed to 16 degrees centigrade – the warmest we’ve been in about three weeks, and we saw our first bees and butterflies along the track.

Bright yellow buttercups light up the side of this cutting

Plenty of old bridges to cycle under, built in the 1800s

Reaching Parsley Hay we saw the track continued north…we could go on and on forever!

We continued on past Parsley Hay to the next ‘station’ where we went to a local pub garden for a refreshing drink.

Our legs were aching by the time we reached Truffy, having clocked up 56km in the saddles (35 miles), and we were pleased to say we had plenty of battery left on the bikes.

This was a fabulous taster of the Derbyshire Peak District and we definitely would like to come back. There is so much to do here. Big tick from us!

April 15, 2019April 15, 2019

12-14 April: A weekend with the HOGs in the pork pie capital

Author: Mrs A

Location: Melton Mobray and Eye Kettleby, Leicestershire, UK

When we first purchased our Hymer motorhome – back in mid November last year – we joined the Facebook group – the Hymer Owner’s Group. Our experience with the Zone (our caravan in Australia) owner’s Facebook group has been so positive, we hoped the Hymer group would be similar. We haven’t been disappointed.

We hadn’t long signed up to the group before we saw a weekend away advertised with fellow Hymer Owners Group members (or HOGs!). Knowing we would have only picked up our truck just over a week before, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get some tips and meet some other motorhome owners. We booked in.

We arrived on Friday afternoon to Eye Kettleby Lakes, an adults only caravan and motorhome park on the outskirts of Melton Mobray. Our first impression on checking in to reception was that this is no ordinary campground…it was more like a ski resort with warm log cabins decorated with modern artwork and furnishings.

We settled onto our site, with a view across fields of sheep and a lake with a large fountain…the only thing missing was the weather! With a top of 7 degrees centigrade and a bitterly cold wind, we were not encouraged to hang around outside.

The Truff-mobile looking small amongst the giants

At 6pm there was a meeting of the HOGs to welcome us all to the weekend. We chatted to a few people but didn’t join them at the pub. After the past few weeks of dinners, lunches and drinks out we decided to stop in for the evening and cook our first meal in Truffy. We felt bad being unsociable but figured we had done our social quota for the time being.

Wooly hats the order of the day at the evening catch up

Saturday morning dawned cold and we were treated to our first sight of frost in a long while. I think we were in the depths of central Australia at Uluru when we last had temperatures this low at night.

The blue sky looks far warmer than it is

We bravely decided to wrap up warm and jump on our bikes to ride into Melton Mobray. As we departed we bumped into the couple from the Hymer in the next site over, also riding their eBikes into town, so joined them for the ride.

By the time we had arrived in the town centre it felt like we had frostbite on our fingers, toes and noses, the windchill absolutely cutting. We decided to invest in a fan heater, having discovered one of our gas bottles had emptied already. A call to Fuller’s Leisure, where we purchased Truffy, advised us they hadn’t fully filled the gas tanks, something we hadn’t realised.

We had a quick look around Melton Mobray, a scoot through the market and brief explore, before heading back to camp.

Melton Mobray looking pictureque…

Melton Mobray is famous for pork pies and Stilton cheese

Most of the cycleway was via country lanes and an off road bridleway. We were not far from being back and I realised it was suddenly really hard to cycle….puncture!

Walking back pushing a heavy bike with a flat soon warmed me up, I can tell you! Mr A and our neighbours wasted no time in getting the tyre off and a new inner tube fitted, and I was back in action.

Mark’s daughter Hayley, son in law Phil and grandchildren Luke and James had also come to Melton Mobray for the weekend. They brought their huge caravan and were parked up in a brand new campground on the other side of town. Hayley and the kids came over and joined us for a hot chocolate at our campground cafe, regaling us with stories of the alpacas, donkeys and sheep at their farmyard camping area.

A herd of Hymers?

We had an early dinner in Truffy and headed up to the pub to join other HOGs for an evening beverage and socialise. Lots of tips were shared and travel stories recounted. A lovely bunch of people.

Mr A very excited about his first pint of Old Speckled Hen in a long while

Sunday was another cold blustery day, so we spent the morning going through our instruction manuals before joining Hayley, Phil and the kids for a BBQ at their caravan.

All in all a great weekend – though we are feeling the novelty of cold weather starting to wear off…we wish it could have been warmer so we could have socialised more, but as it was we really enjoyed our time. We hope to meet more HOGs on the road as we travel.

Category: Mountain biking/cycling

19-20 May: Gorgeous Cervo (You won’t find it in the Lonely Planet)

16 May: A ride-by past the Cannes Film Festival

14 – 15 May: Endless gorgeous villages

12-13 May: Spring on the Côte d’Azur

9 – 11 May: A dash through France – Champagne to Provence

2 – 4 May: And off to France we go!

27 April-2 May: Our final family time this spring in Sussex

18 – 23 April: An Easter to remember with friends and family

15-17 April: A brief dalliance with Derbyshire

12-14 April: A weekend with the HOGs in the pork pie capital

sparkysparkler