Category: Uncategorized
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Riverboat Cruise in Portugal May 2018
Background On Friday, 18th May 2018, we (my wife, Jean, and I) fly to Lisbon, Portugal, to start an 11-day experience with Viking Cruises which will take us from Lisbon to Porto, along the River Douro to Salamanca in Spain, back to Porto and on to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain for a few…
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Day 9 in France
MUCH better! Just as well, as it was our last day. 🙁 Went to visit the Alpine gardens at the top of the Col de Lauteret -the highest gardens in the Alps, we believe. Chilly wind, but some great views of the mountains and glaciers round about. The flowers were actually quite nice too…. This…
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Day 8 in France
Not one of our better days….. We’d decided that we should visit Grenoble, the nearest large town/city, whilst we were in Bourg, as it had a reputation for history and interesting architecture. The drive there was fine – finding your way around and parking were a nightmare. Eventually managed it, made our way to the…
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Day 7 in France
Another absolutely gorgeous day weather-wise. Keep hearing stories about how wet Blighty is – what a shame….. Drove out from Bourg d’Oisans and went round the back of Alpe d’Huez via a lovely place called Villard-Reculas. Stunning scenery – in fact, that was the case all day. Had a quick look round the Alpe d’Huez…
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Day 6 in France
The day after…… Unsurprisingly, I slept extremely well. When I awoke, everything seemed to be working at one level or another, and I managed to ascend the stairs to get some breakfast. We then took a beautiful drive out to a place called La Berarde, a haven for cyclists, hikers and general outdoor types. It…
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Day 5 in France
I am writing this a day late for what will become obvious reasons…….. Had a reasonable night’s sleep, considering the enormity of what I was about to undertake. Lynne had kindly arranged to get up early and had made the three of us who were going to do the ride some porridge, which I managed…
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Day 4 in France
Not the greatest of starts. Jean had eaten something disagreeable and had had virtually no sleep. Still, we managed to have a bit of breakfast, where we met Steve, Pat, James and Jane. Steve is actually a TeamMK member, so we had a good old moan about the state of the club rides, etc. He…
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Day 3 in France
An excellent breakfast at the reasonably civilised time of 8.30 a.m. Weather started disappointingly (coolish, rainy and murky) and continued in the same vein throughout the day. As a result, we elected to recce the Marmotte course via car. Glad we did, as it took us most of the day! We at least had the…
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Day 2 in France
Day 2 in France//marmotteblog.files.wordpress.com/2 012/07/img_17032.jpg”> Before undertaking the long journey south, we decided to take a quick peek at Laon Cathedral. Well worth it, as the French do monumental masonry very well, as can be seen from the photo. Magnificent. From then on, it was just a case of programming the sat nav, getting onto…
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Day 1 in France
One of the constant pieces of advice I’ve received for the ride is to keep well hydrated, as it can get VERY hot. I’ve got two 1-litre bottles, but thought it might be a good idea to carry some more bottles if poss. I therefore dashed out to my local bike store and purchased one…