We thought we would enjoy spending our last week in a medium sized city so returned to Bordeaux.
We stayed in a centrally located Airbnb in a third floor walk-up, known as the 2nd floor in France.
At least two protests took place beneath our balcony. We relied on various forms of public transportation: the SNCF train network; Blabla Cars; and Bordeaux’s trams and BATO’s to get around.
Things were hopping. Bordeaux is a vibrant city overflowing with young people, built on its history dating back to at least the 11th century. It had its seedy side as well. I saw someone blatantly steal meat at the grocery. I haven’t even seen that in NYC.
France is very advanced in addressing climate change. There was very little plastic, many people rode bikes, and mass transit was efficient. The bikes were a little much, everyone rode as if they were a NYC messenger. You had to look 3 ways, twice, before crossing.
We explored the Saint André Cathedral where Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII in 1137 and became Queen of France shortly thereafter.
The best views were from the bell tower. We climbed 233 very narrow steps to reach the top and the view was worth it.
The gargoyles were a hoot.
The tower is topped by Our Lady of Aquitaine, who looks a little creepy from this angle.
I went to the Bourse a few times to try to get a good reflection. The first day it was too windy and grey.
There is artwork, sanctioned or not, throughout the city.
The urban French are devoted swimmers. We swam in a municipal pool and are lucky we survived to talk about it. I should have remembered this from when we swam in Montpellier on an earlier trip. There were 10-12 people to a lane and I couldn’t swim at a pace I enjoyed. First I tried to swim too fast to keep up. Then I moved to a slower lane but it was too slow and people, including me, were passing left and right, sometimes with collisions in the middle. Tim is a better swimmer than me, as in most of our athletic endeavors, and he hated it as well. Lesson learned: only swim in rural France.
Tim beat me with injuries this time. He fell on an uneven sidewalk, with his high-heel Hokas and banged himself up pretty well. I documented the color changes of his black eye.
It didn’t slow him down though.
We visited museums and then went to a luminaire version of Le Petit Prince for my pedestrian taste. It was very dark with kids chasing the lights as they moved along the floor but the music was good.
We saw people transporting pets in all sorts of carriers: baby carriages; crates tied to bike racks; and this frontpack with a little cat window.
It was a fine way to finish a great trip to France and a good time was had by all.
The walking tour was a lovely, fairly easy introduction to the Dordogne region of France and was labelled as hilltop walking. We had a chance to speak French and in many rural villages it was the only option.
Things got real with the bike trip. It was rated easy to moderate. I figured I rode 500 miles through Alaska in 5 days, piece of cake. But that was 24 years ago, I trained more and the uphill grades were easier.
Souillac
When the bikes were dropped off in Souillac, there was a mistake; they thought we had requested e-bikes. Tim was adamant and I was, sort of, that we wanted road bikes. All that changed for me after our first day.
I was hankering for pizza, after all the three course meals we had. I googled pizza and found a place about a mile away. When we got there, this is what we found at a gas station.
I was game but Tim passed. Instead we had duck.
We rode from Souillac to Sarlat-le-Canéda , my favorite city on the tour. We extended our first ride by visiting Chateau Fenelon, and added some elevation gain.
Château Fenlon
When we arrived at the castle at noon, they were closing for two hours and we weren’t even allowed to walk the grounds. Castles are often situated on hills. We rode up this hill and couldn’t even visit. I was discouraged.
Then when we stopped to enjoy the view over the Dordogne River, an elevated bridge that we nearly missed the approach to, my magnetic helmet light fell off and splashed in the river way below us. This was a feature I loved from my Thousand helmet and it added to the day’s frustration. (Happily I contacted the company and they replaced it but I didn’t know it at the time).
While we continued to pedal to Sarlat, I shed a few tears of exhaustion and hatched a plan. The tour company had thought we wanted e-bikes and now I did. We had a layover in Sarlat and there would be time for a swap. When I looked at the last day’s itinerary, that clinched it: 35 miles and 1800 feet elevation gain. I made the call and they agreed.
Sarlat is a medieval town that developed around an Abbey in 1081! Much of its architecture dates back to the 1400’s. We stayed at the Hotel Couleuvrine, which is an old rampart tower from the 15th century that has been renovated beautifully. We had to walk up 20 stairs, along a hall and then down 17 stairs to get out our room. Very cool.
The town was buzzing with restaurants and markets, cobbled streets, street musicians, and sculptures, some headless.
We used our rest day to swim. We found a beautiful outdoor pool, where we each had a lane to ourselves. Very different from our experience later in the trip, in Bordeaux. That night my e-bike arrived. I gave it a test spin up a hill and shrieked with joy. Now I knew I would finish and enjoy the ride.
I was sad to say goodbye to Sarlat but the next morning we headed out to Les Eyzies, 26 miles and 1200 ft elevation gain. I was barely even looking at the numbers anymore, with my trusty e- bike. To my credit, I only used it up the hills but it made a world of difference.
We stopped at the Chateau Beynac along the way and were glad we did.
First of all, it was open for touring. It is perched high on a cliff overlooking the Dordogne, perfect for defending against intruders. It was built in the 12th century and has been beautifully preserved.
It changed hands several times but was inherited at one point by Richard the Lion Hearted, the Duke of Aquitaine. His mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was married at 14 to Louis VII and became Queen of France, that year. When they did not produce a male heir (we know that was the King’s issue, since they had two daughters) the marriage was annulled and she then married Henry II and became Queen of England! What a life! She was possibly the most powerful woman in 12th century Europe. She was later jailed by King Henry when she and their sons plotted against him. This is depicted in the film, “The Lion in Winter” with Richard Burton and Katherine Hepburn. Several films have been shot here, most notably Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel” and Joan of Arc, who rallied the hundred years war, which led to a French victory and expulsion of the English from the land.
During our castle visit, I tripped on a medieval stone. I scraped my leg and bled pretty well. Luckily, I had my Orion travel first aid kit with me and it had everything I needed to clean and patch my leg. When I was sure I hadn’t broken anything (credit that to lots of milk as a kid) we carried on. At our next destination, I found honey infused bandages.
Off to Les Eyezies, which is a beautiful town set among rocks and cliffs. It is known for cave paintings and is where Cro-Magnon man was found in the 1800’s, dating its cliff dwelling inhabitants back to 10,000 – 40,000 years ago.
We didn’t get to the Caves but local graffiti gave us an idea of what we missed.
This was in the back of the train station where we also found a pristine Morgan, complete with leather driving cap and straps.
We spent two days here while Tim geared up his courage for our final day’s ride. I just made sure my battery was charged.
From here we went on to Montignac, known especially for Les Caux, caves. Along the way, I had to remove my contacts and was a bit at a loss, I missed town signs and had to concentrate to see the road surface. When we stopped for lunch, I lost Tim in town! I was almost in tears and didn’t think my well known whistle, which my kids still respond to, was appropriate. He showed up eventually.
We stopped along the way at another castle, not as rugged as Chateau Beynac, since it was privately owned for many years. It had beautiful gardens and an impressive dungeon.
We spent a good part of our day in Montignac planning the next day’s ride, the big one. Our host prepared an early breakfast. But first she was very happy to put a pin of our home town on a map on the wall. Voila!
We got an early start and picked up lunch in the market. The first hills were long and steep. And then that was it! At the halfway mark, we completed our big climbs, OK Tim completed them, I pushed a button. The best part was when we passed a field of horses and one actually raced us- and won. It was beautiful to watch it gallop.
And then, just like that, we were back in our starting point in Souillac. A good time was had by all. Total mileage, 110; elevation gain: 5084 ft; number of times brought to tears (Lynne only): 2; injuries: 1.
We just spent a few glorious weeks in France. We started and ended in Bordeaux, where we saw a rainbow and I tried escargot for the first time. Not bad. For the next two weeks, I ate so much duck, I may start quacking.
During the first week, we hiked through the rural Dordogne hilltops. Our walk began in the village of Meyssac, where we walked a roundabout loop in the hills, in the pouring rain, to the adjacent town of Colognes au Rouge.
Many of the towns we visited were considered “Les plus beaux villages de France”. The most beautiful French villages, which is an official status. It is a tourism scheme to attract visitors to what are some of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen. Some seem real. Others, not so much, more like Disneyland, according to my partner in crime, Tim. To qualify, towns must be rural, with less than 2000 inhabitants, have at least two historic sites, and agree to some marketing terms.
The buildings in the the Colognes au Rouge, are red, just like the name implies; built from the local red sandstone. We walked through an apple orchard, to get to it, which provided a tasty snack.
The fuzzy image is because we used a high tech baggie to keep the camera, which was also our GPS, dry. Remarkably, this was our only day it rained steadily our whole trip.
We were looking forward to lots of baguettes and pastries, but didn’t expect to find them Automat style, in a vending machine. We passed.
This was not the only food we found in vending machines. A few towns sold pizza this way. Again we passed.
Next we had a whirlwind ride to another Plus Beau Village, Curemont. We spent an hour walking around the town, where it seemed more inhabited and real. Then we headed off to Beaulieu sur Dordogne, beautiful place on the Dordogne River.
We followed a cattle drive for a small portion of our walk.
We arrived at the village from an old cobble path in the woods. I imagined a cobblestone street but it was now merely a rocky path.
We were excited to see there was a municipal pool along the river, but when we got there, we found it closed. C’est la vie. The river was lovely, people were fly fishing and we watched a swarm of something for a while. Made me think of home and hope that my bees did not swarm while we travelled.
Then we were off to Carennac, we walked through walnut and plum orchards on the way. Good snacking.
This was another beautiful village which felt lived in, there was an art exhibit, a lovely church and bridges over the town and river.
After a swim in the pool and a relaxing evening, we headed out to our final walking destination, Loubressac. It took us a while to adjust to store and restaurant hours in France and we had a few walks without lunch because we would arrive in a village at just the wrong time.
Tim was so dismayed when we found a 1950’s style expensive tourist trap for lunch, it brought a tear to his eyes. I didn’t care, I wasn’t missing another lunch on a long walk!
Loubressac may have been my favorite stop on the walk. It was a bustling old village. School was in session. In session may be used loosely. There is either no school or only half a day on Wednesdays and the kids always seemed to be in recess. I read that the cafeteria serves a three course hot lunch, just like many of the restaurants.
It was here Tim became a little obsessed with the architecture of rural french toilettes.
You can see why. It was also here we started to notice how people travel and transport their pets. We were in a 3 star hotel and each night a couple would walk in with their two dogs, armed also with dog beds and proceed to set them up for dinner, complete with scraps from the table. And they barked! We saw pets pushed in strollers, pulled behind bikes in crates and worn like backpacks. Hmmm.
I was drawn to this house because it looked like a face and then I saw the basketball hoop. While we were away, my bird camera caught subtle northern lights in the Adirondacks.
Subtle, but I confirmed it was pitch black on other nights at this time. We’re further south in France at 40 degrees latitude and haven’t been in the path of the light display.
All told we hiked about 44 miles through the hilltop villages of the Dordogne and a good time was had by all. Our bags were transferred every day and we only had to carry a day pack. The only way I will go these days. Then we had another whirlwind transfer from Loubressac to Souillac, where we picked up bikes and headed off for the next part of our adventure.
I’ll score this the way I do my golf game, which includes strokes, lost balls and broken tees. Mileage covered:45; injuries: none; lost items: 1 bra left draped over a lamp (merely to dry, not for ambience). Overall a great trip.
I am reading a wonderful book about a pair of sisters, The Dickersons, who lived on the Mummy Range in the early 1900’s, called “Apples of the Mummy’s Eyes”. They viewed the profile of the “mummy” from the off the grid cabin they lived in for 80+ years! From the age of 5-6, they worked with teams of horses to pull stumps and did all sorts of hard labor. Helen was a real homebody, like me, and made pine needle baskets, candies, woven blankets, which she sold at a store on the edge of their property.
Here at McGraw Ranch, we have two guardians, Pulpit Rock and Indian Head. In fact at some point, the ranch was called the Indian Head Ranch.
It just seems like a strong profile to me but nonetheless, he is our protector. The first thing we see every morning.
We took advantage of several beautiful, warm days this week and hiked in the backyard. Tim went to Balanced Rock. I opted to skip the elevation gain and looked at pine cones instead. We have beautiful Ponderosa Pines all around us and their pinecones reminded me of a rose.
The next walk we took was along the Northern Boundary trail into the Comanche Peak Wilderness, where we caught a glimpse into the next valley. It’s easy to imagine what it must have been like to ride horses into this territory when this was a dude ranch.
We didn’t realize we could see Longs Peak, the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park at 14,256 feet, for a good part of the walk but it was clear to us on the way back.
There was a sundog on the way down. A sundog occurs on either side of the sun when it is low on the horizon and is called a sundog because it sits beside the sun like a loyal dog. My best capture of this was in Maine when we wintered at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park.
But now the weather is turning colder once again, single digits for the next couple of days. Space heaters are back in use and water is left dripping from all the faucets.
We stopped by the Stanley Hotel, the setting for Stephen King’s “The Shining”, while in town yesterday. They have special rates, more not less, for rooms with paranormal activity. Stephen King shot his own miniseries here but the hotel promotes the Jack Nicholson version.
What’s not clear is that it sits right at the edge of Estes Park and is not at all remote.
Although we are only 15 minutes from town, our setting is remote. Just the way we like it.
Yesterday, we finally took our first hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked to Gem Lake. Should have.been a piece of cake. It wasn’t. Apparently I am not acclimated to the altitude yet. With any climbing, my heart rate increased to the 140’s and was mildly uncomfortable. Nonetheless, the views were lovely with several optical illusions, at least to my eye, or maybe it was oxygen deprivation. Elevation gain 1000 feet, give or take.
Love these clouds, getting ready for strong winds to arrive.
There were loads of cool rock formations. This is one of them. Not quite sure how such a perfect round hole was created.
Rock formation in a different perspective.
I see a monkey riding a dog. How about you?
Bowels of the owls???
The lake was most remarkable for the rock formations, which surrounded it.
Every year as Christmas approaches I start making projects, lots of them. I think I knit 40 hats, scarves, cowls and sweaters. Most have been distributed.
This is my current tour de force. A drop shoulder fair isle sweater I designed and knit on a machine. It’s being stretched on my new woolly board from the Wool Brokers in Scotland.
I made this pullover from a simple pattern written up in the 1980’s. The body is cashmere, sleeves are alpaca silk and sock yarn. My granddaughter thought it was soft enough to keep.
Star Wars was my theme this year.
When I wasn’t knitting, I baked, lots of different cookies. These buche noel cookies were a hit with me!
These stained glass window cookies were fun to make. The centers were a surprise though. They looked like chewy candy but were actually melted lifesavers and hard. I won’t be making these again.
Decorations were kept to a minimum. I pulled out two candle chimes and a star.
We kept the lights on an evergreen from last year, plugged it in and voila!
Then we hit the road, to Christmas celebration in Kittery, Maine, and skiing at Killington, Vermont in spring conditions.
Complete with a rainbow.
The Champlain Bridge, on our way home, was picture perfect.
A few more days at home and then we are headed back out. We will be caretakers at Mcgraw Ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Can you say ROAD TRIP?!
So much to do before the end of summer: finish swimming my gps alphabet; canoe camping at Great Camp Santanoni; train to climb a big hill with stuff.
The hill starts today. We’re hiking Rooster Comb, with friends but no gear. I will hopefully get to swim an “R and S” after our hike.
We’re getting ready to return to Seguin Island for a few weeks to help tuck it in for winter.
This is truly one of my favorite places in the world. We’ve helped out almost every year since 2008. I may know the 64 acre island better than my own little piece of paradise.
But to get there, we have to take a boat, then a dinghy to the beach, offload everything, then climb up another couple hundred feet to the top of the island, where the lighthouse is perched. I have knots in my stomach already even though Tim does most of the hauling while I unpack in the kitchen. I and/or some our stuff usually take a dunking as well.
Next weekend there are big goings in in our little town and we like to high tail it out of here. Tim arranged a horse drawn carriage to bring our kayaks four miles in to the great camp, where we will look for a nice camping spot- another of our favorite places.
We decided, just in time, that this was not our ideal gig. Just in time, because two planes were already scheduled to fly in, before the weather turned, with 12 barrels of fuel. It snowed a little the day before the planes were due.
Our replacement arrived on the first plane, and we left the next day on the second one.
He was already familiar with the property, is a big ice fisherman, and brought his own augur, ice fishing tent, and heater!
We spent 24 hours together reviewing the systems, the back up systems, and enjoying a few meals together.
Then we flew off – to what we learned is the most dangerous city in Canada: Thompson, Manitoba. The primary employer, a nickel mine, closed in 2017, which created a lot of poverty in the region. Gangs formed, drugs arrived, violent crimes occur frequently, sometimes by “machete kids”. Our replacement never left his hotel for these reasons.
But all the hotels were sold out. So we booked an overnight bus to Winnipeg. When we told the pilot we needed a place to wait until the bus station opened for our 10 pm bus, he said he would drive us and find a safe place to wait.
We did and were fine. Since it was a late night bus, many people were in “good spirits”. But there was a strict bag check policy, and for good reason.
The week before, in the same bus, two guys tried to get on with loaded guns and drugs. They escaped. Even worse, in 2009, a passenger BEHEADED another passenger! Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore. Bring back the bears !!
Our trip was uneventful except the bus had no heat and it was 20 degrees !! We survived. Luckily I was still in lots of layers.
We arrived in time for balmy autumn weather in the Adirondacks. Then we headed south to summer weather in Washington, DC to congratulate my daughter and her fiancé on their engagement.
It has taken me a week to absorb it all and be ready to write about it.
We are in a cabin in northern Manitoba on the southern shore of Egenolf Lake in a wilderness area that spans 6 million acres. Just like home in the Adirondacks. Except it’s not.
The nearest road is 250 miles away but travel is made easier, for some, in the winter, when the lakes freeze. We met one man who rode a snowmobile 6 hours to get here one winter.
We are in an off the grid cabin, designed to provide most of the comforts, in the harsh Manitoba winters. How harsh ?
There is a column in the cabin with the low temperatures marked for several years dating back to 2003, entitled, “The Bushmen Will Survive.”
And we are pretty sure they did.
Every system has at least one, sometimes two, back-up systems, and we have spent the week learning them all and thinking of many of the what ifs. We have had a great teacher, who has spent two winters here and who will continue to provide advice and support from afar. We have internet! And satellite communication.
Right now, the place is buzzing with activity as they close this vast fishing and hunting lodge in the wilderness. On Tuesday, that will change when they all fly off.
This is not our cabin. It’s an old trappers’ cabin near the lake, where two trappers once weathered -60 degrees and lived to tell about it.
The moon was beautiful last night as it rose to the northeast.
And a stunning sunrise greeted us this morning. We have hiked the esker that is behind the lodge and look forward to skiing and snowshoeing it. We’ll use a snowmobile and gas powered auger to get our water once the lake freezes.
Island and North Country Life 