Blogs from Olbia, Sardinia, Italy, Europe

Blog 3 – The Guymers at Bourg d’oisans in the Rhone Alps (near Grenoble France) and then onto Chamonix, Sardinia and Geneva The mighty journey continues and of course the boys by now had developed a taste for their favourite food. Lucas became a baguette fan, Liam just drank litres and litres of 'nilk' and Flynn ate any chocolate that was available. Across the week the Bike Culture riding outfit was spotted a few times as our houseful of riders attacked the Alpe d’Huez mountain climb that is regularly part of the Tour de France. Tim and Jodie, Carla, Scott and Adele all managed the13 kilometers, climbing approx 1,000 meters vertically via 21 hairpin bends. The climb is relentless and when the riders reach the final bend the headwinds usually start. At this point they are ... read more

If you saw Day one of this year’s Tour De France bike race you will recall that one of the first stages ended in the city of Calvi on the island of Corsica. This is where we started day 5 of the cruise and everything has been very good so far – today was no exception. The weather is still fine, with low to mid 20 degree temperatures. Our excursion was to some of the islands interesting villages. The first two were in the foothills of the island’s mountains. While in the second one, perched at the top of a hill, Geoff climbed a very steep and rocky pathway to a magnificent view across the flat plain to the sea. Back on the coast, as we made our way back to Calvi, we stopped for a ... read more

Geo: 40.9225, 9.48685Mom had her nail appointment this morning at 8 so she left early. I went up to the pool, grabbed a coffee and worked on the blog until she was finished. Then we got a light breakfast, went to sign up for a kitchen tour that never happened because we were in the wrong room and then went down to the computer room so I could download pictures for the blog. Mom got on the regular ship computer to check email and got so engrossed in Queenie stuff that she used up 75 minutes just like that. Then we did some errands (yes, even on the ship).We took it easy today. Mom had a lot on her mind. We ate dinner later that night, went to a show and then up to the Crow's ... read more

After a comfortable night on the car ferry, we arrived at Porto Torres in Sardinia. We drove for two hours to reach the North-West town of Olbia. Just north of the town was Camping Cugnana, where we were staying in an on site cabin. The kids were impressed with the pool and headed straight there for a swim. At 5pm we drove 20minutes along the coast to Porto Cervo, where Polly and Mike were based for the Rolex Maxi Cup sailing regatta with the owner. We checked out the very impressive boat and were taken to the crews beach party. Everything was laid on and Indi, Polly and I even got to dance to the band. Over the next two days Matt went on board for one of the race days and then we all ... read more

Geo: 40.6975, 9.54927A lazy morning today. Going to catch 15:40 bus to Olbia and then the night ferry to Civitavecchia. I could go earlier, but I would be stuck in Olbia until 23:00 with nothing to do. Why not just stay here and admire the beach, instead? I made full use of the 10:30 checkout time. Read, packed, and planned the next phase of the trip. Breakfast was a banana and some things from a pastry shop. A macaroon and some kind of tart filled with a sweet egg mixture. Both were forgettable. Also had little biscotti with icing and sprinkles - terrible! Finally got a haircut. Yes!!!! My hair was really irritating me .... my fro would tickle my ears whenever the wind blew or I turned my head. I was so happy after that ... read more