Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys
"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
In which Doris’ birthday is spent laboriously on the toboggan roads across Brittany The rodents bring the birthday post and Doris is 35 again. Older people might struggle with an epic journey so it is best to stay young. High paws on the trip so far. Today we go through very small farming villages to Rennes, capital of Brittany. Across these…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris cross the Loire and visit the largest contemporary line of megaliths in the world. Our small road route to Ancenis on the Loire took us across some hills and what might (we hope) be our last gravel track. From the top of the last hill at Saint Florentine Le Vieil we could look across the…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris stop in Le Cholet to visit the textile and loom museum. When we got into this deserted ‘hotel on the bypass for commercial travellers and empty in August’ Madame asked asked us where we had come from. Neither of us could remember as La Chataigneraie is just another nowheresville. And so is this. See here…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris outwit French shopkeeping and create a fine new song. Learning from previous French shutness Sid went into a supermarket in Rochefort to buy sandwiches and apple pie. A wise precaution as every shop we passed was shut, with a variety of excuses. At one point we were standing outside a Proxi Marche (closed because…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris idle away a day walking around the town, seeing the docks and writing. Every afternoon Sid and Doris shower, do laundry, drink, write, eat, plan a route, book a hotel and sleep. One of the best things about our holidays is breaking that routine, fun as it has been. We get up later, lingering over…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris take another ferry to visit Rochefort, the naval centre in the time of Louis XIV. In the night it rained – but not on us, ha ha – and we set off into a cool misty morning on the shadowy forest roads. The vines are behind us for now. We take back roads up to…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris visit the submarine pens and eventually cycle past Medoc chateaux and Pauillac port on the Gironde.We continued down the river, past the elegant stone houses now much further from the bank than when they were built. The river is big. Say what you like about the french, they do a good river. And with it…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris visit Chateau Roquetaillade on their way to Bordeaux, a very fine city. Musing on whether we were still being Epic enough we felt that we were not doing and seeing the things, and in danger of turning this into a Delivery Ride. So we set out for Bordeaux (which is not short of Things)…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris start out along the Garonne canals before striking out up hill, down dale, but mostly across country to the Gironde.We are at peak French holiday season and today is the Friday between a Bank Holiday and the weekend so hotels are as much a limiting factor as our legs. Bazas is broadly in the right…
Read moreIn which Sid and Doris have a ride along the Garonne and its lateral canal. Today is the Feast of the Assumption, when virgin Mary was told she was to be mother of Jesus. This is a Bank Holiday in France, and in common with Bank Holidays everywhere associated with poor weather. In fact today has been perfect for us:…
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