Today we definitely started the journey home. After a semi leisurely morning & breakfast we took our 11am train to Charles De Gaulle airport about 4 hours away. Once we had found the hotel shuttle & checked into the Radisson Blu I went for a lovely swim in the indoor pool as I was the only one in it. For dinner we ate in the hotel restaurant and went for the cheaper pasta dishes and a small bottle of much nicer than yesterday Bordeaux red wine. The nex...

It was pretty much the start of the homeward stretch from today as we took the Euskotren to Hendaye to get our TGV to Bordeaux. Getting in at lunchtime we checked into our hotel (the Ibis Styles which meant we had pretty much stayed at every type of Accor hotel on this trip.) and then went for a walk along the river where we found a restaurant for lunch. Being back in France a 'Menu de Jour' was the pick with salad, then a chicken chorizo pasta and apple tart to ...

We had decided to miss the caravan leaving this morning & just get to Givors for the main event- the start of stage 15 of the Tour de France. The train from Lyon took only 16 mins & was surprisingly not crowded. From Givors station it was 5 or so mins to the centre of town first passing the team buses, then the support cars, the start line & finally securing a spot just past the old folks home where they had a band with tables set up along the footpa...

Today was a day for walking! We were staying near the Lyon Part Dieu train station which was about 1.5 km's from the main square. As it was Saturday morning we could not find breakfast close to the hotel so by the time we got to Bellcour square I was hungry & grumpy & in need of caffeine. We found a small cafe chain where we had a Pain au Chocolat with coffee & juice for €3.90. Feeling human again we got some Tour de France info & a map from the...

5 years ago today I met a guy randomly in a pub in Newcastle. Today we celebrate 5 years together by exploring Paris. Our first destination for sightseeing today was the Champs Élysées & nearby Palaces as well as the gold statue topped Pont Alexandre (Bridge). We wandered up the Champs-élysées past designer stores & restaurants stopping for a Baguette for lunch before watching the madness around the Arc de Triomphe. Buses cut across 4 lanes to make t...