Blogs from Midi-Pyrénées, France, Europe - page 8

It is said that that real outdoors people plan their hikes as they walk the trek. This spontaneity supposedly enhances the experience as a whole. While this may be true, it is prudent to get your own plans figured out well in advance. Spontaneity is good, but organisation is better (and indeed safer), especially when it comes to an Alpine adventure. The Tour du Mont Blanc is one of Europe’s most popular hikes and a favourite for both new and accomplished trekkers around the world. It is not an experience you want to plan for on the go, because its vast stretch of massifs and valleys can spring a surprise anytime. If you think you have the constitution for this legendary trek then make sure you contact an organisation that knows these mountains and can help ... read more

Bob woke me in the early hours thinking it was raining and we had left the towels out ‘to dry’. Not rain but very heavy, down to the ground sort of mist and all the towels were totally soaked. So much so that I had to stick them in the campsite tumble dryer. Also Very chilly as no sun could get through that thickness of cloud cover so we hung about all morning, with Tandy’s heater on for a while until the mist lifted and the sky brightened. Bob got Kisbee out and we dressed in extra layers (think I’ll pack boots next September and certainly my fur lined fleece !) and after lunch set out for Rocamadour. Only 7 km but cold ones. At one point one of my legs was really hot as the ... read more

Woken in the night by the sound of acorns pinging down onto the roof of a nearby chalet. Woken next by the unwanted but expected sound of rain on Tandy’s roof. Exactly as forecast it rained almost all day. Every now and then we got a lull so dived outside to stretch our legs and managed to fit this in well between the heavy showers. Even managed a walk round the campsite lake which is an astonishingly lovely spot, the other side of the lake being quite secluded and ‘back to nature’ while our side has the pool, swimming and canoe lake and the bar/ restaurant. We didn’t use the pool. Second time the rain stopped I wandered down to it and considered reading on a lounger instead of stuck inside Tandy as the sun was ... read more

The expression pretty in pink springs to mind when visiting this rose of a city. Toulouse is renowned for it's uniformly "pink" terracotta coloured roofing. In certain lights, you can certainly see a rosy halo which bathes the city in the warmest of hues. Compared to other cities we have been to, there was a marked lack of tourists around. It was a nice departure from the usual mass of humanity we routinely encountered in our travels. Toulouse is a very walkable city, just as well as we only had a day there really as we changed the itinerary to have one night here to break up what would be an otherwise painful train ride. As it was, the overnight train ride was painful anyway. There were no phone/device charging points (odd considering that such a ... read more

Friday was hot, really hot so we went somewhere higher and therefore cooler, Andorra. With my usually grest sense of direction and my genius, knows a lot of geography, brother, we should have got to where we were going easily, especially as we had all been to the place we were going to before. This didn't happen. We spent ten quid going both ways through a tunnel which we didn't even need to go through and only realised we weren't on the cable car we thought we were until we got to the top and couldn't go any further. The baby enjoyed the ride though and to be fair, the assortment of activities on offer up there were good to watch (my mini meltdown when the cable car stopped and swung perilously on the way up ... read more