Gritopia and Mountain Bike Orienteering

A long weekend at Mountain Bike events in the Scottish Borders travelling back and forth each day. Saturday was Gritopia, part of the Tweedlove Festival. A nice quick checkin in the morning which is unusual for bike events.

 Then a challenging route with around 4 major climbs through various parks in the Tweed valley area. Mainly gravel with a few rougher trails - didn't hugely enjoy the amount of bumpy ground. Some excellent feed stations. Mainly enjoyed the day feeling pretty tired by the end. 42.5 miles and 1800 m climb.

Sunday was the long course British Mountain Bike orienteering championship in Selkirk. Very much enjoyed this course which generally went well until a misplaced control at the end led to some significant extra and frustrating distance. 16 miles and 800 m climb.

Monday was the British Middle distance in Glentress. Enjoyed this less with a lot more technical challenge to the course and the navigation and map being quite frustrating in the area. 19 miles and 900 m climb.

Overall a great weekend.

Gordes Holiday Days 11 & 12 - Drive and Tynemouth

Thursday was a long day of driving with no time for stops. The ferry journey was fine although the food not quite as impressive as on the way out. The next day we stopped off at Tynemouth for a wander around and a coffee stop and then on to St Mary's Lighthouse and nature reserve before we finished the drive home.

Gordes Holiday Day 10 - Drive to Nancy via Les Jardin Aquatiques

We were packed and handed over the keys by 9 am for our long return drive. We had a stop at some aquatic gardens which provided to be a bit of a disappointment. Not terrible but more an attempt to sell pond equipment. 

We did however stop at a nice small town nearby (Port-de-Veyle) to buy a sandwich and cake lunch and walked round the wooded grounds of the chateau.

In the evening we were back at the Ibis with a disappointing dinner at McDonalds (no carrots!)

Gordes Holiday Day 9 - Hike to Abbey Notre-Dame de Senanque

After many days on the bike and with some long drives to come we decided that we would try a circular hike from Gordes to the Abbey Notre-Dame de Senanque and onwards to the Village des Bories.

It started reasonably well following a recognised hiking route to the Abbey where we stopped for a while to look around and grab a coffee from the machine.

We then had two attempts to follow a path marked on on-line maps but in both occasions found ourselves hitting dead ends that were if not impassable were too steep and rough to continue. In the end we looped back to the Abbey and ate our sandwiches and retraced our steps back to Gordes.

For our final evening we made a second visit to the Italian restaurant La Bastides de Pierres which was again pretty nice.

Gordes Holiday Day 8 - Goult

A bike ride today from Gordes to the village of Goult. Another delightful village with extremely well maintained stone houses. Visited the castle gardens at the top and the windmill before doing a recommended walk through the restored olive terraces.

Back in town we had an excellent lunch at La Terrasse restaurant. Colin had fishcake, beef and cheese. Cherry had cod and chocolate mousse millefeuille.

A nice slightly extended cycle home taking in a couple of tiny villages off the tourist trail and then the final sharp climb back up to Gordes.

Gordes Holiday Day 7 - Coustellet and Fontaine de Vaucluse

We drove today to the village of Coustellet and visited the Lavender Museum and the village market. Afterwards we headed on the Fontaine de Vaucluse for lunch beside the river enjoying a cooked trout (Colin) and a some raw trout salad (Cherry) - both very good.

We walked onwards to the source of the river Sorgue along with crowds of others.

And then back for ice cream and a failed attempt to walk a bit further upstream.

 

Gordes Holiday Day 6 - Gorge de la Nesque

Colin had a day out on the bike for a long ride from Gordes to Gorge de la Nesque. It was a bit chilly and cloudy at times but not a bad day for a long and fairly challenging effort. Around 55 miles and 1500 m of climb in around 4.5 hours. Cherry enjoyed a morning painting.

In the afternoon we had a nice walk around Gordes following our noses down alleys and seeing where it would take us. A successful journey with lovely views of the town and the tightly packed buildings and gardens.

Dinner out in the evening at L'Artegal restaurant just a few metres away from our house. Colin had the veal steak and Cherry the Guinea Fowl.

Gordes Holiday Day 5 - Rousillon

Another pleasant bike ride - this time to Rousillon the ochre village. Arrived just after 10 am and stopped for a coffee and a wander around the village centre. We followed this with a walk round "Le Sentier des Ocres" an old mining area with large exposures of colour ochre.

We stopped for a nice lunch in the village centre before riding to the "ecomuseum de l'ocre" which was a former ochre works converted into tourist attraction.

A sharp ride back home to Gordes up the steep hill left us tired and sweaty.

Gordes Holiday Day 4 - Menerbes

After some morning body balance for Colin and a visit to the bakers for croissants, bread and a few things for dinner we headed off on our bikes to Menerbes for a visit to the market and a look around the village.

A very pretty place and very pleasant to wander around and enjoy the views from the hilltop site.

The galleries we hoped to visit were unfortunately shut but we got a few things in the small market. A nice lunch of ravioli and veggie lasagne before we left.

The drive home was a bit more challenging with a long uphill into a strong wind back to Gordes. We stopped for pictures at a classic viewpoint.

After a short break we headed out for another walk around Gordes this time stopping off at a couple of art exhibitions in the castle and visiting the interior of the church. 

Home prepared dinner and enjoyed a lovely raspberry tart purchased that morning in the bakery.

Gordes Holiday Day 3 - Nancy to Gordes

A long day in the car. Roads were generally pretty clear and fast although with some big tolls to pay. We arrived in Gordes just after 5 pm and settled quickly into our big fancy home. Amazing views out across the Luberon.

 Had a wander around the town and some very basic shopping and went out for dinner at La Bastide des Pierres for a shared pizza with rocket, artichoke and caponata sides / starters. A healthy Italian.

Gordes Holiday Day 2 - Drive from Amsterdam to Nancy

With an estimated drive time of around 5.5 hours we both quickly reached the conclusion we'd not choose to drive to the South of France again. Even if the travel times are not that much longer than the train with the various service station stops it takes much longer than the pure drive time and is very tedious.

After leaving the ferry around 9.45 am we arrived at Nancy at the Ibis Budget Laxou Nancy at around 5.30 pm. It was basic but really pretty good and we both slept well.

We took an Uber into Nancy town centre and had a nice walk around the city centre and a decent meal at La Petite Cuillere.

Gordes Holiday Day 1 - Coldingham & Ferry

We headed off at around 9.30 am in the fully laden car with 2 bikes on top and the electric bike in the boot with the suitcases. We broke the journey with a stop at Coldingham where we visited the Abbey...

and then walked down to the beach for coffee at cake at the beach cafe...

We then walked along the coastal path to St Abbs village and into the harbour before returning to the car and heading onwards to the ferry. A few holdups on the road down but the ferry terminal was very clear.

The boat and cabin were pretty nice and the buffet dinner was very good with lots of choices available. Neither of us slept terribly well though.

Sa Calobra CC - Food

A great week on the cycle camp. Very much a training vibe with good healthy food from our chef Uli and whilst wine and beer was available very little was drunk. We also benefitted from a daily massage and our bikes were very well looked after by Paul our driver, mechanic and photographer.

Sa Calobra CC - Day 6 - Formentor and Race

Final day of cycling and a much easier day out to Formentor and a day with just 60 km and 1000m of climb. The weather was improved although a bit chilly. The road was closed with works going on so we didn't quite make it to the lighthouse at the end. Lovely views though.

It was a final race day with a handicap uphill race to Albercutx. Pleased to have pushed very hard at 108% of my week start FTP.

Lots of photos taken on the hill and then an easy ride along the coast and home.

Got out of the house for the first time, other than on the bike, for a short walk around Pollenca. Found the hill with 365 steps up to El Calvary church which I couldn't resist walking up.

Sa Calobra CC - Day 5 - More big hills

The heavy rain this week led to landslides on Sa Calobra and closure of the road so the final two days needed to be replanned at short notice. A second very big day was planned with similar distance and climb to the queen stage. My legs weren't great and couldn't get much pace over the first two climbs. I jumped in the van for a long rolling section and the third climb before getting back on the bike for Sa Batalla climb and the final 20 km run into home. A better performance on the climb and got out the front and pushed hard on the return home and managed not to get caught by the group.

Sa Calobra CC - Day 4 - Queen Stage

A big ride today of 110 km and 2400 m of climbing along the Serra Tramuntana. We got delivered to Andraxt in the morning at the western end of the Serra and proceeded a delightful up and down journey along the range with the coast to our left hand side. The main climbs were

Sa Gramola 5.2km at 5%

Coll des Pi

Sa Bastida 3.2 km at 5.8%

Claret 

Puig Major 14.2 km at 5.7%

On reasonably good form to day beating several of the team up the final hors categorie climb.

A bit of a slog for 15 km after the summit with a lovely final long gentle slope home at the end. Massive day.

Sa Calobra CC - Day 3 - Coffee Ride

With bad weather forecast we switched the queen stage and the recovery ride. A cycle out from Pollenca to Cycling Planet for coffee and cake at roughly the half way point. The weather started pretty nice for the early part before torrential rain on the way home.

81 km , 630 m climb, 3 hrs

Sa Calobra CC - Day 2 - Pollenca to Felantix

A longer day mainly on the flat and again hard work to hold the wheel so big effort for some and an easy day for others. Weather not so great. A bit overcast and pretty horrible at the end for the final climb.

Two Cat 3 climbs of Randa (4.8 km at 5.2%) and Sant Salvador (5.1 km at 6.6%). Last on the first climb and 2 behind me on the second. Was mainly focussed on efficiency today and holding energy back for the days to come.

97 km , 1348 m climb in just under 4 hours.

Sa Calobra CC - Day 1

First ride was a generally flat ride in the countryside just south of the tramuntana ridge. The weather was lovely and the scenery very appealing. Riding in the group with a very wide range of abilities meant it was tough work for me to keep up with the bigger riders with big engines. Dropped off the back on a fair few occasions but generally not off for too long. Two climbs to do. I was last up the first relative short Cat 4 climb of Santa Llucia and had two people behind me on the second Cat 3 climb of Santa Magdalena.

 69 km with 934 m climb in just under 3 hrs.

Very well looked after in the dining room with our own chef for the week Uli. Paella tonight.

Bangor Visit

Travelled by Ferry on Sunday 15 January for just under a week staying with Maxwell in Bangor. Goal for the week was to help out around the house as much as possible. The weather was pretty rough with lots of very low temperatures making it difficult to manage many trips out of the house.

Took Maxwell for very short walks at 22 Maxwell Road, 6 Seymour Avenue, Crawfordsburn Country Park and Donaghadee. Had dinner at the Golf Club with Denis and Maxwell on Wednesday and took Maxwell to the Old Inn for fish and chips on Thursday.

On Friday went out with the boys (Tim, Warren, Glen and Mark) to the Imperial Bar and to Tuk Tut for Thai food.

Ferry back home on Saturday.

Norovirus

A nasty bug entered the household and laid us all low for many days. Started with Colin on Thursday evening, Hannah on Saturday and Cherry on Sunday. Severe vomitting followed by tiredness for a number of days. Not nice :( 

New Years Celebrations

Colin & Cherry had a quiet evening in joined by Max and Kasia just after the bells. Hannah was out late with friends - Beckie and George staying with us for several days.

On New Years Day Colin had a morning cycle round the city centre..

.. and then Colin and Cherry headed to collect Les and go for a walk and lunch in South Queensferry. Lunch at the Railbridge Inn was pretty good.