Hotel Restaurant Le Tanargue Ardeche

Après un été bien au chaud c'est bientôt le départ vers l'Orient...
Si je suis encore le nez dans mes valises ma tête est déjà partie.
Dans une semaine je serai de nouveau autour de Shanghai pour rencontrer des sculpteurs de racine. Sculpter des racines en Chine est un art presque codé; on doit d'abord trouver une racine d ...

... in skimpy firemen outfits squirting water cannons into the crowd... i could not get over the size of the tour parade. It almost took away from the riders coming through!

But yes the riders did finally come through at impressive speed and we watched it all from our trackside spot on the finish line! simply put amazing... off to Mt Ventoux tonight to try and get a decent spot trackside to see the hill climb tomorrow.

Until then...

Possibly the most romantic destination EVER, the Chateau Du Bijou is very beautiful and totally away from it all, but only just! We spent the weekend exploring the Ardeche and Drome
areas, situated either side of the Rhone Valley, which are both also really beautiful
and unspoilt holiday destinations. No crowded beaches, but fresh rivers
for ...

... voor enkele fotos..bleek dat zijn hele familie ineens kwam aangesneld. Ze hingen allemaal wat rond op het midden van de baan. Ergens kunnen we stellen dat we het leven gered hebben van enkelen, want er kwam een dikke Audi aangescheurd (op deze baantjes in de bergen kunt je harder rijden dan bij ons op de autostrade...niet dat we dat doen hoor!) en maanden we hem van ver aan om te stoppen voor de geiten op de baan. Het was echt een vakantiedag! xx

Only for Brenda! Driving down the upper Ardeche gorge on the outside of the road with 1m retaining walls and vertiginous views. Big lorries using all the bend were coming the other way ...

Left St Eloy fairly early and lunched at a motorway aire (with free electricity to cool the fridge, and services for the van's wastes) at La Fayette. On to Le Puy with fantastic volcanic mounds with statues and churches atop.

Coubon a small village with the site 7m above the Loire (unexpectedly this far south), but showing signs of having been 2m underwater in the winter.

... rise 2,500 feet above the village and the Tarn river (you will be hearing more about that river over the next few days) runs down from the mountains and into the village. We spent 2 days in Florac and had wonderful meals and nice walks in the area. The Tarn river is full of large trout and from the town bridges we could see quite a few of them hanging around in the crystal clear waters of the river. As we have mentioned to some of you already, the ...

... get in there to pick you up. You're committed! I hope to do that on my last day as today the Mistral is blowing sharply down from the Alps. I hope I make the 32 kilometre Grande Descent tomorrow. If not, well, I'll just have to come back again! After my trip was over, the fellows who picked up the kayaks and drove us back to base broke out wine! Only in France!

... ervoor zag het er zwart van het volk. Na onze steak/friet ging t plots veel beter! Hans vondt uit hoe ie bochtjes kon draaien en dus gingen we hoogerop! Op de terugweg werd ik wagenziek vermits we 1000 en 1 bochten moesten nemen en Hans elke bocht aansneed als een vers stuk Emmental kaas! Ik was dus wagenziek, en Hans heeft momenteel last van nek, schouder(s), zitvlak.. en ga zo maar door. Maar al bij al zijn we t er over eens! Les Estables! T was zeker de moeite waard ! =) xx

... had been malinformed what type of walk it would be, and had been very upset with the guy for taking us out at such a late hour in that wild area without proper shoes and pants in order to protect ourselves from whatever snake we might have startled. INFO The Ardeche was a region already populated over 30000 years ago, attested by the Chauvet Pont d'Arc cave paintings that were discovered in 1994 (it holds the oldest paintings to date), and the Gaul tribe of Helvii ...