So the Rugby World Cup 2023 website has produced a selection of best of moments; tries, tackles, top plays and top players, so I thought it might be fun to put my own best of list together: Best Ladies Loo – Bordeaux by a country mile. No queues at the Ladies, such an unusual occurrence,…
Apparently “Lifers get less!” according to Catering (a bit rude, I thought) So approximately 31 years ago we spent a night in Chateau d’Audrieu in Normandy, land of apples, cider and calvados; we were on our honeymoon. I thought it would be nice to revisit and so on the final leg of our 2023 RWC…
Nantes – Japan v Argentina So we packed up the truck (not much wriggle room in the back any more) and headed north again, this time to Nantes for our last match, and as it turns out a real decider. The change in location was a case of the sublime and the ridiculous; from Mayfair-on-sea…
So here we are again – just the 2 of us after a fortnight of company. We waved everyone off back to the UK and then decided to cheer ourselves up with dinner out on the sea front. I was chuntering on about not wanting to arrive by bike in a sweaty mess, when I…
Thursday involved little more that a lot of pool action, or inaction to be more specific. Lots of reading and chatting, the odd chilled beverage and even the occasional cup of tea. There is genuinely nothing better than lying in the sunshine with a good book. Except lying in the sunshine with a good book,…
Wednesday Those of you who know me well, will know that I like a plan, and I find it extremely gratifying when a plan comes together. Catering and I went on a day-trip to Arcachon 2 years ago, when we were in Bordeaux for a week, and we loved it, so much so that I…
Tuesday – Let’s go fly a kite! Sadly, 2 of our number had to attend a funeral on Tuesday, which was a couple of hours drive inland from Arcachon, but to save them any stress about getting back in time for dinner, we decided to eat in and fire up the barbeque. This meant a…
Sunday Friends arrived on Sunday afternoon, by which time we’d explored the whole house (delighted all the rooms were roughly the same size, so no one would be stuck with the box room) and filled the fridge with food & booze. Hello House! Ready for guests? Catering taxied folk from the station to the house…
The house in Arcachon came with 7 ordinary bicycles, admittedly of varying sizes and quality, some had no brakes, some had brakes only on, some had only 1 gear but, to a greater or lesser extent, they all worked. The house owners also had 2 electric bikes that they rented to me and I added…
Fiji v Georgia – Bordeaux So we waved goodbye to the Not-so-small Boys and the Lovely Girls, dropped them back at Carcassonne SNCF, as they headed back to the UK from different airports after a couple of days in glamorous hotels as couples, rather than as part of our chaos. So lovely & very lucky…
Japan v Samoa – Toulouse While the Not-so-small Boys and the Lovely Girls were with us, we decided we’d all go to Toulouse for the day and watch a rugby match in the evening, Japan v Samoa. We had a fabulous day – Toulouse is a beautiful city and was buzzing with rugby supporters. A…
Our rental property was between Carcassonne and Limoux and so we spent a lovely few days lying by the pool and then heading to one or the other for lunch or dinner. Carcassonne is best either early in the morning or in the evening, avoiding the majority of the tourists. We had a fabulous lunch…
In which the Not-so-small Boys (and the Lovely Girls) arrive. Nobody warns you about the grip your children will have on your heart. Having devoted your life to their well being and upkeep, before you know it they move into adulthood and away from you. You are left trying not to be needy or demanding…
I admire places that manage to combine traditional, old buildings (churches, colosseums and the like) with new, cutting edge architecture and design, something Arles seems to have done very nicely. We spent much of our time admiring the old and the new of the town. What have the Romans ever done for us… I am…
So we have reached a tipping point and started our journey back north, waving goodbye to the Cote d’Azur and pointing the BBT in the direction of Arles. This has been on my travel list since reading about Le Nord Pinus, a hotel frequented over time by the likes of Picasso, Hemmingway and Christian Lacroix,…
Italy v Uruguay Il pleut! In fact il pleut a seaux! I suppose it had to happen at some point, but we had our first wet match, or at least it would have been, had we not been under cover. Stade de Nice may be a pain to get to and from, however it’s designed,…
The time we spent living and working in Asia meant that we were lucky enough to accumulate a diverse range of friends, many of whom we don’t get to see very often – literally years can go by between meetings, but that doesn’t mean that we love you less. This trip has reminded me of…
We have a few match free days as we head south again and are looking forward to some time when we are not in the BBT, but are lying in the sun instead. Our 1st stop was a lovely hotel in Beziers, with a pool, air-conditioning and another fridge full of wine. What’s not to…
The original plan after wine country was to head straight to Marseille and spend 2 -3 days there ahead of our 1st match. I was supremely smug having booked well in advance a lovely looking apartment overlooking the Old Port. Then 6 months ago they cancelled my booking, apparently having sold the building – I…
If anyone had asked me 30 years ago, how did I imagine I would spend my the night of my 60th birthday, I’m not sure I would have ever come up with, having a fish dinner overlooking the sea in Folkestone followed by a hot & sweaty night (not in a good way) in a…
It is no secret that I will shortly be celebrating a significant birthday (one with a zero at the end of it). In fact Catering is completely fed up with me announcing “I am 60 this year” to anyone willing to listen, partly because everyone assumes, wrongly, he is the same age or older than…
I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since we travelled to Japan for the RWC 2019. So much has happened since then: So here we are in 2023 and the RWC has rolled round again. We had such a great time in Japan that we decided to do it again, this time in France. I…
Continue readingRWC 2023 – In which the Big Blue Truck goes to France
I can’t believe it’s a year since Catering turned 60. It’s been a blast helping him celebrate, but today he’s 61 and so we’ll have to think of another reason to keep on having a good time. May have to corral my employer’s centenary as 2026’s reason to celebrate. Anyway, we are currently on holiday…
It’s no secret that I am particularly fond of sneaking off for a warm week in Europe ahead of the UK summer – a week of sun & sea ahead of the various events that define our summers in the UK – Henley Regatta, Henley Festival & Friday Night Field Drinks. This year it was…
Looking back it seems that 2025 became a year of travel. Catering turned 60 in January, which resulted in a couple of trips with old friends,1 to San Sebastian & Rioja and a weekend at the cottage in Dulverton, with people he’s known since he was 12. Life’s a beach… And then you dine… If…
Continue readingI have a companion voucher and I’m not afraid to use it – Part 1
We’ve had a couple of false starts & frankly COVID didn’t help, but I think we can safely say that both our chicks (the Not-so-small Boys) have fledged. The Smallest Boy is now the proud owner of a delightful 2-up & 2-down mews house in Battersea, that he is getting to grips with. The first…
Continue readingIt’s official – the nest is empty and they both have their own nests now
Above Trapani on the top of a mountain sits Erice, originally settled in 1200 BC by Elymians (don’t know, so please don’t ask), a desirable (largely because it was defensible) cliff-top place to live in the Middle Ages. It was the place to live, with Trapani simply acting as its port. The tables have turned…
Once we’d recovered from lugging the bags up to our 4th Floor apartment, it was time to explore and eat, because it felt a long a long time since breakfast. The big mistake I regularly make is bowling up to places and expecting that we’ll be the only people interested in eating there at peak…
After the many ups & downs (physical, rather than emotional) of the days since we left Palermo, we were looking forward to a few nights in the same place, sauntering about the city, which we were assured was largely flat. The best laid plans were somewhat scuppered when we received an email from our host…
Continue readingTrapani – What do you mean the lift’s not working!
The reason we spent 2 nights in Castellammare del Golfo, rather than swinging straight past and on to Trapani, is that buried somewhere in all the holiday research done, there was an article about the creation of the first nature reserve in Sicily. In 1989 a large, peaceful protest (please note no one threw soup…
We returned to the airport to collect the hire car and set out with what can only be described as an air of trepidation about us. We had witnessed first-hand the lawlessness of Palermo’s roads on our relatively short taxi journey from the airport to our hotel, how would we deal with this on our…
Apart from a quick week at the Cottage and a couple of long weekends away, we have been largely Hambleden based over the summer. The theory being that while the weather is good in the UK, why travel when most of Europe is ferociously hot in July & August (and full of people armed with…