Thanks to the recent gas crises — due to the strikes at oil refineries 30-40% of the gas stations have shortage of at least one type of gasoline — Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes announced last week that all regional trains and buses were free this past weekend. We though about taking our bikes […]
This was the third time Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival was organized in Annecy, and the third time we attended. This year’s lineups for both biathlon and cross-country sprint races were quite impressive. There was supposed to be two Finnish biathlets, but on the race day we heard that one of […]
We briefly visited the French capital this past weekend to leave our passport applications at the consulate. The Paris consulate is the only place to for the Finnish expats to apply for a passport in France, and it’s been made extremely expensive compared to applying for the passport in Finland; […]
While the 2021 ended with the worst weather ever, the 2022 started with the best possible; for he whole January it was mostly sunny with nice winter-like temperatures. We rushed to book our week-long winter/skiing vacation in Serre Chevalier valley in Hautes-Alpes before the school vacations started, and we were […]
This was a very easy hike (10.6K in 3h, D+/D- 391m), with nice views. The wind was chilly, but it got quite warm when the sun came out. Usually we start vacations like this with easier hikes and then move on to more challenging ones. This time it was nice […]
After a very short morning run in Pont-Saint-Esprit we packed ourselves in the car and started driving to Coux. On our way we stopped to visit the small village of Saint-Thomé in Ardèche. Climbing the steep trail to the village located on the top of the hill gave us a […]
From Aurillac to Pont-Saint-Esprit After we had already extended our stay in Aurilliac by two days, if was time to move on and start driving home — kind of. We had booked the first two nights in Pont-Saint-Esprit, a small town by the river Rhône in the department of Gard. […]
Villages of Saint-Martin-Cantalès This was an easy and more scenic hike (11.15K in 3h 10mins, D+/D- 308m) starting from the little village of Saint-Martin-Cantalès, and passing through or by several others. There are no pictures of them since they basically consisted of just one or two houses, and there was […]
Aurillac As usual, we spent the first day exploring the town we were based in. Aurillac, the capital of the Cantal department, is known for various things, such as being the Historic umbrella capital of France (half of the umbrellas produced in 1999 were made there), and its Cheese Center, […]