Day 12 - Paris to London

The Eurostar got us into London by 11.30 am and we visited the Graft and Craft exhibition at the Crick and then a drawing exhibition at the British Museum. We were at the National Theatre again to watch Hansard starring Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings.

The next morning we got the 8 am train back to Edinburgh to finish off our holiday.

Day 11 - Goodbye to Le Mas En Provence

An early start and our host Sophie drove us to the bus stop at Crestet at 7.30 for the 7.50 bus to Carpentras.

It had been a lovely week in a beautiful house in the countryside. The breakfasts were delicious and we had the living area pretty much to ourselves as we were the only guests for most of our stay.

It was a 90 min wait for the train to Avignon and then a two hour wait for the TGV to Paris which we got into around 3.30 pm. We had a long walk round some of the main sights in Paris that we hadn't visited in a long time such as Notre Dame and the Louvre.

Day 10 - Circuit of the Dentelles de Montmirais

Our last full day at Le Mas En Provence and we headed out for a fairly demanding 35 mile circuit with 1000 m of climb. The route visited many villages such as Seguret, Sablet, the wine town of Gigondas and the high village of Suzette.

Cherry sped up the hills in her electric bike whilst Colin had to work hard.

There were some great views of the "Dentelles"

and towards Mont Ventoux

Day 9 - Mollans and Pierrelongue

An easier day today with a very short ride along an old railway line to Mollans-sur-Ouveze for a gentle stroll around town with time for Cherry to do some sketching.

We then walked along the old railway line to Pierrelongue with its little church perched high on a rock in the middle of the little village.

In the evening we headed into town for a lovely French dinner at L'ancien Poste. The chocolate pudding was too good not to photograph.

Day 8 - Toulourenc Valley

What was meant to be an easy ride turned out to be fairly tough with quite a lot of climbing. A very pleasant ride along the Toulourenc valley visiting the tiny village of St Leger and then Brantes.

Nice walk along the valley bottom at St Leger and in the village in Brantes.

Vegetarian food isn’t so common in France but found a lovely Vegetarian restaurant in Brantes with lovely views of the village and mountains.

Day 7 - Mont Ventoux

A big ride for Colin up Mont Ventoux at a height of over 1900 m. Around 3 hours of climb over around 21 km and an average slope of 7.5%.  Felt pretty good and made it fairly comfortably.

Cherry meanwhile visited nearby villages of Faucon and Mollans-sur-Ouveze and sketched and painted.

Day 6 - Vaison la Romaine

We cycled off to the nearest town of Vaison la Romaine - a journey of about 30 minutes through some beautiful countryside.

We then visited the really interesting Roman site and museum and then visited the medieval old town up on high ground on the other side of the river. The sun was shining today and the temperatures ideal. Also not many people about.

A very pleasant sit outside when we got back to the house in late evening.

Day 5 - Entrechaux in the rain

Our first full day at Le Mas en Provence and we had a wet and windy day. We headed to the local village on our hired bikes which had arrived in the morning and walked around checking out the shops and the walked up to the castle.

We had a fabulous lunch at the little restaurant in the village and had a lazy afternoon and evening at the B&B sheltering from the bad weather.

Day 4 - Avignon to Entrechaux

In the morning in Avignon we had a culinary tour of the setting lasting 4 hours. It was a nice small group with an energetic and informative guide.

We enjoyed croissant and other pastries, some excellent chocolate, coffee, wine tasting and a selection of goodies from the market - all very nice and informative.

In the afternoon we took the train to Carpentras and then a bus to Crestet where we were picked up by Sophie from the B&B. It was a bit of a damp evening but a lovely house in a lovely location.

Day 3 - Paris to Avignon

In the morning we had a 20 minute walk to the Gare de Lyon and a 2 hr 45 minute train journey to cover the 440 miles to Avignon. It was a very wet day but we ventured out to visit the Palais des Papes - the large papal palace right in the centre of town.

It wasn’t the best of castle/palace visits we’ve done but there was a very interesting exhibition by Ernest Pignon-Ernest.

We then visited the Pont D’Avignon just before sunset and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Day 2 - London to Paris

We got up at a sensible time and walked across the road to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar to Paris. They had unfortunately turned the experience into something akin to a airport experience but it wasn’t long until we were in our comfortable seats heading to Paris - arrived at the Gare du Nord around midday.

We had a 45 minute walk to the hotel through what were initially fairly quiet Sunday afternoon boulevards. After checking in, visiting the Bastille market and lunching we went for a walk along the Promenade Plantee (or Viaduct de Arte) an old railway line through the heart of Paris that had been converted to a floral walkway. Lots of interesting views from a slightly different perspective being at 3rd floor level.

We had a nice dinner at the Argentine restaurant Carne Santa near our hotel.

South of France Holiday Day 1

We started out trip on the 8.30 am train to London arriving around 1 pm at Kings Cross. A nice lunch at Carluccios at St Pancras although we both probably ate a little bit more than we should.

We then checked in to the Megaro hotel, a fancy boutique hotel just by the rail stations.

We had a walk around Covent Garden, visited Neals Yard and walked along the Southbank.

There was an interesting costume exhibition at the National Theatre where we had a nice dinner and then watched Translations by Brian Friel starring Ciaran Hinds.

Eskapade +

A long bike ride to Musselburgh and the mouth of the river Esk

and then inwards along the River Esk to the source at the North Esk Reservoir in the Pentlands.

From there a tough transfer through the Pentlands mainly pushing the bike before a more pleasant downhill through Balerno and along the canal to home.