Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys

What do you think about when cycling in France?

In 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…

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Day 86 Rians to Pertuis

In which Sid takes Doris to a Big Band FestivalSid (being French-ly literate and articulate) is a keen reader of local papers, particularly about the affairs of the villages and small towns and very pleased to find a big band festival. Pertuis is just 32 kilometres from Rians down (get that?) a charming river valley. The holiday riding is slightly…

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What do you think about when cycling – part 10

Architecture – 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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Mifter Bat fpeaks French

Mifter Bat says:Hi there! I have been learning French or as you say how to parlay frog. But I have been very furprifed to see signs advertising “Degustation Ventes”.  Disgusting winds! People fay that about me but I don’t put it on posters! Oh also I have thought of a Joke.  This is All My Joke and I am very…

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Day 85 Toulon to Rians

In which Sid and Doris climb up into Provence and enjoy being able to speak with people on matters other than ordering food and drink.We leave the seaside with a couple of backward looks. For the sailors out there: Our room is named after Gitana VI, a 20 metre Olin Stephens design for Edmond de Rothschild built in 1975. We…

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Day 84 Porto Torres to Toulon (France)

In which Sid and Doris leave Italian Sardinia for France, spending most of the day sitting on the ferry.We have covered the little apartment with our washing so the first job is to get everything back in the bags and go find early breakfast. At the cafe we can see the vast ferry coming in so know how much breakfast…

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Day 82 Palau to Trinita d’Agultu

In which Sid and Doris do purist riding to seek out Neolithic era buildings and a hotel up an overly beaten track.From Palau we were going to the very north of Sardinia at Santa Teresa Gallura before turning West, South West toward Porto Torres. So as not to use the same road twice which Doris hates, Doris plotted a route…

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Sometimes I think about roads

Big roads vs little roads – the human perception of slopes – potholes1. Big roads are boring but little roads always seem to be hard Every so often we take a step back from the Epic Journey, and we muse that the problem with Epic Journeys is that you tend to whizz through places on the straightest road you can…

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