France

Yesterday was warmer than the day before; 36C in the sun & 29C in the shade. Lovely weather for cycling, I thought. So in the late afternoon, I set off for Pézenas - a short 16 mile round trip, which apart from the climb up & over Cassan & Roujan seems pretty much flat ....
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So on Sunday we drove down through France. The 07:00 ferry meant an 04:45 start, and then it was 700 miles of mainly motorway driving. Some really bad weather in the plains before the Massifs Centrale (rain like you wouldn’t believe), left us all really tired by the time we arrived in Gabian. After last...
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So this evening, we’re packing up the car and heading down to my parents’ in Kent, before catching the Sunday morning Ferry & then driving the length of France to The In-Laws. A couple of diferences with this trip though . . . . o The Huge Dalmatian’s pet passport is now active, so he’s...
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So here’s the problem. Most of the triathlon / fitness blogs I read are written by real people. People like you or me. And they do really amazing things. At the moment, I’m not even a triathlete at all - it’s more than 12 months since I last got painted, dunked, wind dried and pounded....
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You’ll remember how impressed I was with my new and very comfortable Asics Cumulus VIII running shoes that I bought from SheRunsHeRuns in Kent last month? Basically this was the first time I’d found a shop that actually took any notice of my feet, and how I run on them, and what kind of running...
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So last Friday, we all went off to Sigean safari park. We have all the usual photos of lions, ostriches tapping on the car windows, giraffes, etc, that I won’t bore you with here. The only one I want to show you is my daughter (on the right) in the back of the car...
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Last Thursday morning was my wife’s parents’ French lesson, which we tagged along to. The teacher, Caroline, lives in Abeilhan, which is conveniently just under 8km from Gabian. So I went with my running shoes on, my shorts under my trousers, and a breathable / wicking top in the back of the car. The weather...
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When Von SmallHaussen came to visit a few weeks ago, she commented as we were leaving the gym that she thought I was a bit of a metrosexual. Now, I live in the North East of England, where the culture is distinctly butch and hard drinking. So I was a little worried about this label....
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We went en famille to Pézenas yesterday for the Mardi Gras parade. I’m not sure what I was expecting - probably something like the kind of thing we get in the UK for carnivals - trashy floats, and the occasional display of artistic brilliance. Maybe even some morris dancers. None of that - this was...
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This is great countryside for running in - especially at this time of year, when the weather’s not too hot (like The Big Yin, my skin isn’t white - it’s more of a pale blue . . . ). If I’m here in the summer, when the temperature’s often in the mid 30’s centigrade,...
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