Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys
"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
I have been thinking about church spires, as you do. Many of the spires in France (and probably in the UK too, I will check when we get back, cf “Hertfordshire Spike”) look like they built a tower first and then went for the post-factory upgrade once they’d saved up some more money, or as spire fashions changed. As we…
Read moreMore variations on Spotto – The Song of the Magic Goop – Lions on Gateposts – Calories in an e-battery – Not That Chicken Song – The French Neutron Bomb – The Revenge of the Wombles 1. More variations on Spotto. I think I may have mentioned some of these before, but boat-o continues to be a firm favourite, especially…
Read moreFrom time to time we take pictures of bicycles but it’s not always easy to weave them into the narrative of the blog, so I thought I would collect them here. As with the things-made-from-tyres post, the latest pics will be at the top and the date will always be the last date of posting. Latest is a very simple…
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This is an important concept for a touring cyclist, and even more important for the TC’s eager blog audience.
Read moreFor quite a long time in the middle of the trip we didn’t need to think about other cyclists, because there weren’t any. But now we are in the richer (and dare I observe, flatter) areas of southern France, the numbers are starting to build up. They come in the following categories:– Men (always) in full club kit whooshing past…
Read moreIn which we fall out of love with the Pyrenees and think about Brittany instead.We have been really struggling to work out how to get over the Pyrenees. Armed with a large map of the area (approximately double bed-sized) we can see a range of choices. From the left:– go round the west end, which will drop us onto the…
Read moreI know you have been waiting for these eagerly. Recently we have had a bit of a language mismatch, starting with the famous “Y Viva Sardinia”. I’m going down the road againY viva SardiniaAnd I’m getting the Costa Smelda planeY viva SardiniaAnd I’m cycling to the Cote d’AzurY viva SardiniaAnd I’m drinking mohitos by the scoreSardinia more and moreSardinia more…
Read moreAs I mentioned in the Wildlife Update post, most of the interesting wildlife we see – and actually, now we think of it, 100% of the mammals – is/are dead*. So here are some observations. From early on until we entered France we saw at least 3 (dead – assume everything in this post is dead) hedgehogs every day. In…
Read moreIn the whole Epic Trip, this is the first country where we’ve actually cycled here before. So the Dorisian free-ranging mind has memories to draw on as well as its usual free association. 1. Old building adverts. I love them. I think eccentric art collectors should be buying up these buildings and shipping them home. 2. Santons. These could be…
Read moreArchitecture – Bottoms – Adjectives – Rivers 1. A new school of architecture We have been observing with interest a type of architecture called “You can build a whole building with this!” Mainly used for purveyors of building material, easy examples are concrete works and marble/limestone quarries. An early winner was a maker of concrete pipes and half-pipes, whose HQ…
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