The design capital of France truly disappointed us. Ever since we drove through the central Saint-Étienne a couple of years ago, and got somewhat lost there, I have wanted to visit the city with more time. The city was filthy, filthier than the capital, if it even is possible: there […]
We spent the extended weekend in the spa town of Aix-les-Bains in Savoie department to escape, not the heat this time, but the wardrobe renovation in our second bedroom, currently serving as an office. We had already donated the old wardrobe to a young couple who took it down and […]
This was not at all the hike we had planned from Super Collet (at 1640m altitude), only half of the distance and partly different route. After about two kilometers into our hike, we got apprehensive of the dark clouds that were gathering above us (it was perfectly sunny when we […]
Let’s see how many heat escapes we need to take this summer. We have orange warning (the second highest level) for heatwave on this weekend and the early days of the coming week. Daytime temperatures are expected to climb close to +40°C. Yesterday we escaped the afternoon heat to the […]
We spent a week in Crest in central Drôme at the foot of Southern Vercors range, hiking in surrounding areas, but also going for a couple morning runs. We like this area of Drôme for multiple reasons: its landscape is an interesting mixture of forested mountains and Mediterranean scenery. Also […]
We had a very sunny January, but thereafter the Spring has been dull with cloudy days and a lot of rain. Therefore, we have not done much hiking. We started a marathon training program instead, this time with a more modest goal in mind; we have been following a sub […]
I’ve lost track how many times we have spent our winter vacation in the Serre Chevalier Valley in Hautes-Alpes department, but one thing is sure: the weather has been mostly good. And so it was this time, too. Actually it was extra good, since the sun shone from the clear […]
We spent the extended holiday weekend in the area where most of town and village names sounded like they were taken from Asterix. The area, called la Dombes, is an undulating plateau in the department of Ain consisting of 1200 ponds or rainwater pools that are man-made, most of them […]
As the weather forecast looked very promising for the last weekend of October — with lots of sun and the daytime temperatures in upper teens or lower twenties — we decided to take Monday off and head for a short bike tour on this All Saints’ holiday. We had just […]