Bikes don't always stay upright

HI Everyone,

Well, lots more to blog about beautiful Burgundy (Bourgoune), but we are now sitting in the Scottish Highlands with so much more to talk about, so these blogs will no longer be in any order. We'll get back to France and England and Scotland, but we have a tale that must be told first.

Charlie planned a C-to-C bicycle ride across England, from the Irish Sea at Whitehaven on the west coast to the North Sea at Tynemouth, near Newcastle on the east coast of England. In this area, it's about 145 miles from coast to coast with some nasty, steep mountains right in the middle. The ride started on Aug 12th and Charlie had 2 glorious days of cycling from the coast, over the mountains (the steepest and toughest he's done to date) and into Newcastle, as scheduled, on day 3. With 9 miles to go until the finish, Charlie's cycling mate overlapped wheels with Charlie and a crash followed. Charlie went down hard onto the quay at Newcastle, bracing himself on the fall with his hands and knees. Covered in blood from facial contusions, he still thought he could finish the ride (sigh). Fortunately, a lady living in the condo adjacent to the quay heard the crash and came to their assistance. On this sunny Sunday afternoon, she tossed bloody Charlie and his mate into her car, secured their bikes in her garage, and drove them to the hospital. The UK national health system (NHS) kicked into high gear, cleaning his wounds, x-raying his hands and setting his broken bones. Oh yes, the cuts on the face, knees and shoulder were nothing compared to the severely dislocated left ring finger and the broken bone in the right hand.

And where was I during all this? Well, my friend Libby and I were 3 hours away watching Libby's horse, Uncle Keef (remember him?) race at Pontifrac, a major flats course south of York. Our plan was to pick up Charlie about 7 pm in Penrith after his ride. That is, until I got a text from him about 2 pm that said, "Crashed, broke at least 2 fingers, need to be picked up in Newcastle. Sorry" !!!!!

Somehow, Libby managed to get us there in about 2 hours! We met Charlie at the Queen Victory Infirmary at Newcastle Hospital where he looked dreadful, and wonderful at the same time! His dislocated finger had been re-set, his right hand was in a cast and he had dressings everywhere else. All the other details of returning the bike, getting his kit, etc. had been handled by his riding buddy, Magnus and his good samaritan. He was very fortunate.

The next day, we took him to York Hospital Orthopedics, where he was again x-rayed, received a new cast, had all of his dressings changed and was treated very professionally and compassionately --- and with no waiting. And we were not charged a cent, either in Newcastle or York. We kept trying to pay, but were told that we were guests in the UK and they were so sorry this had happened, but no payment was required. Amazing.

Downside: Charlie can't ride for some time. Ergo, we are compensating by taking lengthy death marches....er, walks, around the Scottish Highlands - rain or shine. I'm smiling - yes, I really am!

Actually, the scenery is beautiful and the weather hasn't been too bad. We did get a bit doused yesterday, but it was only water and we only had about a mile to go.

Charlie is feeling a lot better, his face has healed very nicely and he is looking forward to getting back on his bike as soon as possible. We are very thankful the crash happened in a large city with good medical care and not in the wilds of the Pennines. And we were blessed with the help of strangers and especially our dear friend Libby. Yep, could have been a lot worse.

More to come on France and Scotland as we continue our amazing adventure. Just hoping those of you in Irene's path are safe and weather her well.

Love to all,
Lari

France is so…French!

Vive la France!

Yes, we all have preconceived notions about the French…you know, Freedom Fries and all that nonsense. Well, after 2 weeks of strolling through Paris, cruising the Burgundy canals and visiting the heart of the Cote d’Or, I now believe some of these notions are true.

For example:

All French food is fabulous, except the stranger dishes like Tete de Veau (head of veal, literally).

Young French men and women are gorgeous. Yes, she's a lock keeper!!!!

No one makes bread like the French, or pan au chocolat, or desserts.

Croissants are just a vehicle to get the yummy French butter into your arteries.

No French citizen speaks English until you try to speak French to them, then all French citizens speak English – “a lee-tull”.

It doesn’t matter how many customers are in the shop at closing time, the shop closes anyway, often shooing out potential buyers.

France is closed from 12-2pm for lunch – the entire country. I’m not kidding.

“Eeez not poss-ee-bull” is heard often, even if it “Eeez poss-ee-bull”. Being persistent in a nice way almost always works to make things "poss-ee-bull".

French people can be helpful, friendly and even happier than their US counterparts, but you’d never know it on first glance. You must first pass the inevitable “evaluation” the French seem to give everyone on first encounter. If you pass, France is yours for the taking. Passing is usually as easy as a smile and bon jour, but occasionally a bit more complicated. See “Eeez not poss-ee-bull”.

French wine from Burgundy is far better than we thought, but nothing tops the sparkling Cremant, especially when mixed with cassis for a sparkling Kir du Cremant (Kir Royale) or the smoky, unique Ratafia. All made in Burgundy.

The French countryside is a living postcard, full of quaint villages perched on hillsides, dazzling green fields, pastures dotted with Charolais or sheep, vineyards, rivers and ancient churches and cathedrals.

French roads are excellent, well maintained and well marked.

Wine from one plot selling for as much as 15,000 Euros a bottle simply cannot be THAT much better than the wine on the next plot that sells for 30 Euros, Terroir or no Terroir.

You can find anything and everything at the French Tourist Offices - they are helpful, friendly, well equipped and online....can this be France?

Our Cruise through Burgundy on the Canal du Nivernaise

July 29, 2011

Our cruise on the Yonne River and Canal du Nivernais began today as we were introduced to our Penachette, a boat specially designed for the French canals. She is 9.5 M long, draws mere inches and, while basic, has more than enough comforts for the week-long cruise. Oh yes, her name.....are you sitting down?.....Larrey! I am convinced that's just the French spelling of Lari, as you know they always have lots of extra letters in their words that they don't bother using!

I'll write more on the journey and the wonderful villages, towns and sights along the river and canal in a couple of days when we return to England. For now, here are some photos.


The peaceful, unhurried journey was filled with postcard images like this one.

Locking through the first of 64 locks along the journey

Breakfast aboard on our first full day. Last night we pounded metal stakes in the ground along the river and tied up to the bank. The night was moonless so the stars were incredibly brilliant out here in the French countryside. The only sounds - oh wait, there weren't any sounds!!! It's unbelievably quiet after all the birds and animals go to sleep.







Known for its tender beef, the distinctive white Charolais cattle graze all along the canal. Once in awhile they would lift their head and stare at us, as if to say, "You'd better not order the Boeuf Bourgogne."









Chateaux, quaint villages and centuries-old towns share the river and canal banks with miles of verdant pasture, thriving fields and thick forests.
My next blogs will take you to the ancient town of Auxerre, the Caves of Bailley, and explore the canal itself complete with its lock keepers of every description and personality. One wonderful quirk on the French canals - they close from 12-1 pm every day for lunch. No one should be in a hurry here, and the French understand the meaning of work to live, not live to work!
Au revoir for now,
Lari

Vive la France!

July 27, 2011

Hi Again!

Where to begin! We arrived in France this afternoon from Majorca, after a wonderful 2 week holiday of sun, fun, exploring, bike rides, wine, food, friends and relaxation.

After an admittedly typical discount airline experience (Easy Jet, with a blessed empty middle seat, but a long delay in both Palma and again in Paris – due to a security breach at our gate?????), we finally got off the plane about 45 minutes after taxiing to the gate at Charles de Gaulle international, then waited another hour for the luggage. The 45 min. bus ride into Paris and the 45 min. walk to our hotel – yes we should have gotten a taxi, especially since it started raining – meant we arrived at 9 pm. Fortunately, we dumped our luggage in the room and went to dinner at a lovely restaurant close to the hotel for a fabulous meal that more than made up for the long travel day. My confit du canard and Charlie’s saumon au citron, along with crème brulee and gateaux glace for dessert, and a perfect bottle of St. Emilion certainly absolved a lot of traveling woes!

Our lovely hotel is minutes from the Champs Elyseey and is surrounded by streets full of designer showrooms and shops. Name a designer, any designer and the shop is here anxious to help you part with your treasure. Amazing shop windows are now etched with my “oh so lady like drool”.

We strolled along the Seine, took a wonderful river cruise from the Eiffel Tower past the heart of Paris and her beautiful monuments and structures, around Notre Dame and under numerous bridges, each more beautiful and historic. The day turned to evening (the sun sets about 9:30 pm) as we strolled through the Jardin du Tuilleries, past the Louvre and across the Pont Neuf bridge – with its open iron grillwork sides hung with thousands of padlocks engraved with couples’ names professing their love (oh, so Paree) – to the Ile de St Louis for dinner along the Seine. I forced myself to order Escargots, then Steak Tartare – two really good reasons to come to Paris. Charlie devoured a whole grilled sea bass. Okay, yes, we also had dessert – Ile flotante, chocolat mousse, café, and another spectacular bottle of wine – of course. We took a taxi home!

Next day we were up and out early for our train to Joigny, in the Burgundy “departmente” and to meet our canal boat, armed with a bag of fresh pan au chocolat and croissants. Not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse that there are no scales here, but I am having a bit of trouble seeing my feet these days! Hmmm.

My next blog will share our wonderful canal boat journey on the Yonne River and Canal du Nivernais.

Au revoir!

Sun and Sea Send Us on Our Way

Hi All,

Well, here I sit on our adorable canal boat moored at Chatel-Censoir, halfway through our Canal du Nivernais journey and I’m wondering: WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE DO THIS….EVERY SUMMER????

Yep, we’re having a great time. Our two regrets are: 1) we can’t drink or eat enough in 10 days to make a dent in the wonderful food and wine from the Burgundy region, and 2), we can’t bring any of it home. I am thinking of throwing away clothes, and may still do that to make room for wine. I won't be able to fit in these much longer anyway!

But I digress, as usual.

I haven’t even finished blogging about our time in Majorca yet. Our Majorcan holiday just kept getting better. The weather remained perfect – not too hot or humid, just perfectly sunny yet cool in the evening. So of course, we spent lots of time soaking up the sun and relaxing. We both read about 6 books each, a rare treat that shouldn’t be so rare!

Charlie continued to ride several miles each day, usually around 35-50. His longest was about 70 miles, with lots of elevation. In fact, during our 2 weeks in Majorca, he rode over 400 miles and his total elevation was 18,000 feet. Man, that’s a lot of up and down.

Once Richard arrived, Charlie took him on a really fun, and challenging, ride along the coast, then met Robyn, the boys and me at a great beach café at the very end of Alcudia that specializes in local seafood. We had hoped to swim in the cove and catch some rays while waiting for the guys to arrive, but the wind picked up to about Force 3 so we abandoned that idea and took a long walk – uphill of course.

When the two cyclists finally arrived, intact but not too happy with the wind, we ordered a platter of assorted seafood that I cannot begin to describe, but can say that even though I grew up in Florida, with a father who was an avid fisherman, I have never tasted fresh fish as good as the three fish that were on this platter. No, don’t ask me what they were, because none of us recognized the Spanish names the waiter told us. Can you tell from the photo?

It was quite a day, and we ended it on the roof terrace of Robyn & Richard’s condo with another outstanding bottle of Spanish red as we watched the moon rise over the Mediterranean.

Two days later, Robyn’s sister Alex, her husband Dan and their three children – Linus, 7, Tilda, 5, and Daisy, 3, arrived from France, where they now live. We hadn’t seen Alex since Robyn’s wedding in 1993 and had never met Dan, so it was a great treat for us to spend time with them and get to know Dan and the kids.

Our last full day of fun there was spent on a powerboat Richard rented to take us to Formentor and two other very small coves along the rugged mountainous coast of the Baha de Pollenca. The water is crystal clear and a deep azure blue that becomes a brilliant aqua closer to shore where we anchored. Although a little cooler than the Gulf of Mexico, the swimming was refreshing and exhilarating.

All five kids are part fish and spent the entire day jumping in and out of the boat, snorkeling, swimming to shore and generally getting that shriveled “prune” look. We ended the day with huge pans of paella on the roof terrace. Does life get much better?

We must say that leaving the next day was quite a struggle, Majorca is a magic place and enjoying it with people we love makes it very special indeed.

But it's off to France and another adventure. Say, does anybody know if the food and wine is good in France????

Richard and Charlie, or is that Stevie Van Zandt?

Photos of Majorcan Wineries

Here are the photos of our trip to the Majorcan wineries in Binissalem. I think I have finally found a bottle of wine I won't be able to finish in one evening! Anyone want to help?









At the C'an Novell winery, you can bring your own bottles and fill them directly from these huge casks made from olive wood and oak. The 4 liter bottles in buckets (so they are easier to carry) cost 6 euros, with 4 euros returned when you bring the bottle and bucket back for a refill! Okay!








The cellar master didn't want to be photographed, but took our picture in front of the vats to show the massiveness of these wine casks. Note the hose which leads to the spigot where you fill your bottles. Oh yeah, I'm relocating!

More photos from Majorca. Can you guess the theme?

Hope this makes you hungry and thirsty!





A small selection of Spanish wines in the supermercado....note the prices, some as low as 2.35 euros, and we bought wines for 1 euro and they were awesome. I might be relocating!













Hundreds of legs of jamon in the supermercado.


Olives of every description, along with garlic, anchovies, capers and cornichons are available at the farmers' markets in Pollenca and Port a Pollenca each week. Did I mention relocating??










This picturesque fellow is the head butcher at the farmers' market. He selects and slices the huge legs of jamon and suggests the best sobrasessa, a local sausage made only in Majorca. Never argue with a guy who looks like this and wields a really, really big knife!













Beautiful fruits and vegetables grown on local farms fill the markets. We really enjoyed the variety and the intense flavors of the grapes, tomatoes, melons, herbs and peaches. I'll be sending my new address......