I want to come here on my motorbike.
- The roads are empty
- They twist and turn
- There are loads of green lanes
I know no other member of my family will have felt that today (Monday) led so clearly to that decision but I have been driving the car round these windy roads with everyone telling me to slow down because I can just see myself riding my bike round the, long, windy, perfectly tarmaced, twisty lanes.
We also went for a walk this afternoon through some potentially interesting biking territory. According to James’s website (link opens a new window) many of the tracks we walked are open to bikes and other off-road vehicles. I certainly saw motorcycle tyre tracks just on the edge of the village. With so many byways being closed or reclassified in the UK, France looks a haven for those of us who, like Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, like to get our bikes muddy.
The walk was great. The kids moaned at the prospect but Kate assured them I was only a mile or so – probably though a genuine misreading of the map. It was at least four miles. We walked out through an archway opposite the bakers and down to a funny little building over a river. This has just been re-roofed by what is it? What purpose does it serve?
A right and a left put us on another great path for biking and walking. Molly moaned about not having appeared on the blog so here she is:
And, to be fair, here’s supermodel son Joe:
Joe had been “desolate”, as the shop attendant had described him, when a visit to Decathlon earlier in the day had found it devoid of rugby balls. No wonder the French went out of the world cup in the quarter finals – no balls. But Molly had bought a pink mini-basket ball. This entertained us most of the way round the walk, passing, bouncing and catching it between us.
After a very long straight track across wide open fields we turned left on a road into somewhere called Le Moulin. I suggested we might want to go out and paint the town red. That joke would be as close to Ewan McGregor as I am likely to get.
We missed a planned turn off – these tracks are not signposted and often appear to be driveways to people’s houses. So we walked on to Sallen, up a short track and left to Le Haut Digry. Again, a planned left turn looked like a private driveway so we walked round three sides of the property to pick up the track all the way back to Courmolain.
Definitely some tyre tracks in the foreground here:
An evening of Scrabble followed. The four of us had hands each but I teamed up with Molly and Kate helped Joe. Molly and I had the highest individual scores.
Ever wondered why there are never any photos of me? Because even when someone does try to take one I have to struggle to hold Joe to prevent him from putting bunny-rabbit ears over my head.
