On the strength of a Buy recommendation in the FT I am reading Laetitia Rutherford’s so far marvellous memoir, Our Hearts Hang From The Lemon Trees. It is published by Short Books, the discerning publisher of my French cycling book, … Continue reading
Made my annual visit to the Dyfi Valley Bookshop in Machynlleth in case any of the 100-odd novels written by my great aunt Berta have fetched up there in the last 12 months; or (less likely, since he is much … Continue reading
So … just a short stage today for our cyclist heroes: a mere 168km to Alpe d’Huez finishing with 30km of ascent in two bits, totalling 2500 vertical metres of uphill at an average gradient of about 8% with 42 … Continue reading
@rosiesimpson writes rather a brilliant blog in the form – for the moment at least – of a wine guide to the Tour de France. I haven’t read enough of it to know how she handled the time trial at … Continue reading
As any fule kno, our world divides into two kinds of people: crocophiles and crocophobes. It is not a division down the middle, because the angry mass of phobes vastly outnumbers the oppressed minority of philes. Croc Monsieur I once … Continue reading
“A big picnic, with a cycling race attached,” is how Nadia of @foothillsfrance describes the Tour de France, from the spectator’s point of view. In July 2011 we met up with the Tour on our way back from cycling down … Continue reading
The Grands Montets is 50 years old today, and will be hosting a big party all day – bigger than usual, that is – with raffle tickets handed out in the queue and a season’s lift pass – next season’s, … Continue reading
Road testing your own guide book can be quite spooky, especially in places you wrote about blind; that is to say, on the basis of exhaustive study of the secondary sources – other people’s work. Last week I finally got … Continue reading
Last week a French court ruling against ski tour operator Le Ski (to be appealed) brought about the suspension of ski hosting by British tour operators in the French Alps. The story has been extensively covered in UK and French … Continue reading
On the day of the mother of battles at Twickenham, a delightful contribution to Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent about Notre Dame du Rugby, a romanesque chapel in France’s south-western rugby heartland, near Grenade sur L’Adour. “We pray for … Continue reading