cheska15

rhon glad it’s not just us then. Last nights stage was good and I admire the efforts of all of the riders.
my husband isn’t all that great but hopefully with the advice given today from the covoid hotline he will improve. This virus is nasty even for fully vaxxed and very fit people.
We had -5 here this morning and currently it is a beautiful sunny and still winters day.

Should be another good stage tonight.

dwdvagamundo

It’s a miracle that more of the riders haven’t gotten COVID given the number of selfish idiots jumping into the road and screaming in the faces of the riders during these mountain stages! Last two days have been really exciting.

rhon

Now that the race is out of the Alps, I really enjoyed seeing some of the lovely old villages such as Brousse le Chateau and Ambialet. The Aveyron and the Tarn have some wonderful villages and scenery.

Hopefully not too many more go out because of Covid with two more last night. As already mentioned I am surprised there are not more from spectators on the mountain stages.,

cheska15

rhon maybe it’s been too hot. The scenery has been beautiful. Looking forward to the Pyrenees as I love looking at them.
I too hope there aren’t any more withdrawals after the testing today.

cheska15

A fabulous race this year and great to watch. I find the riders inspirational when climbing in the Alps and Pyrenees. Despite the hot weather the landscape still looks green. We visited the Dordogne in 2008 and while it was pretty it wasn’t one of my favourite places. We made a mistake with booking accommodation in the middle of nowhere, and the gite owner had been sick and was unable to maintain the property. The grass surrounding the gite was knee height, and the gite obviously hadn’t been opened for sometime as one of the owners told us we were early in the season, and they weren’t prepared. I did ask why she took the booking. Second day in and the hot water tank in the roof burst. The ceiling was mouldy within a few hours, and my husband is allergic to mould and got chronic hey fever as a result. We learnt valuable lessons that trip. We have never stayed in a gite since, and now always stay in bigger towns where I can wander off by myself sometimes. Great thing about travelling is you live and learn.

rhon

I really enjoyed the stage last night as we stayed in the Gers near St Clar in 2012 and visited several of the places they went through or showed aerial views of the churches and villages. The Gers is a lovely area which is off the radar of a lot of overseas visitors. We would happily return and are considering a stay near Nerac. And we stayed at Montcuq in the Lot in 2018 where we had a lovely gite. We had actually booked to go back in 2020 and had to cancel.

Cheska, our experience of gites has been totally different from yours. We have always had good experiences with the gites being as shown on the booking site and with friendly, helpful owners or caretakers. We have spent 56 weeks in France since 2006 with only one week in Paris and the rest in country France staying in gites. It is a pity one bad experience spoiled it for you, but the great thing about independent travel is that people can do what they enjoy and what suits them. We do not all have to be the same. We love staying in gites and are starting to consider a return in April, but are still a bit skittish about Covid especially as they are talking about yet another variant.

The time trial ends in Rocamadour tonight. Not sure I will sit up to the end. But the Tour and all the regions it visits does inspire you and make you want to return, and as for the riders , I continue to be amazed at their stamina and persistence.

cheska15

rhon yes we are all different travellers. I’m one of these crazy people who even love the tourist places and the busier it is the more I like it.

it has been a great race this year and the winner of the yellow jersey was well deserved, and it was fabulous to see so many different winners for each of the stages.

I haven’t added too many places to our already packed three month itinerary from April 2023. Everybody I know who had travelled this year and who will be travelling next year is complaining about the cost of travel insurance. I did have a quick look and the quote I received was $2.900 for a three month trip. Will have to do more research in that field.

It has been especially good to see familiar names in the post, and I hope that you and your loved ones have come through the couple of years in good shape.

annhig

I have been watching but not posting as something always got in the way. Not only do we have the luxury of being able to watch it live, but ITV do an exceptional highlights prog every evening which is very well put together. This year the racing has been exceptional I think, highly aggressive but at the same time with great sportsmanship especially between the two leaders.

Starting today and for the next week up until next Sunday the whole kit and caboodle rolls onto the Tour de France femmes - anyone else going to be taking a look?

kerouac

hetismij2

Good start for the Dutch in the Tour de France Femmes.
It will be interesting to see how the race goes over the next week. Dutch TV will have live coverage of course.

cheska15

I did watch the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes and enjoyed seeing Paris look so beautiful. The Dutch women have a great reputation as being very skilled and that was on show last night. Not sure if I can do another eight days of early mornings though.

rhon

We are away camping at the beach and do not have TV so will not be watching. I will keep track of the daily winners. We have a few Aussie girls riding and Pogacar's partner rides for Bike Exchange.

hetismij2

Full house of jerseys for the Dutch. Annemiek van Vleuten, at 39, the rightful winner after a couple of astounding days in the mountains.
And to think she only took up cycling because a knee injury stopped her football career.

cheska15

I enjoyed the Tour de Femmes and once again was impressed by the cyclists. Also saw some areas that I didn’t know much about. Australian television only showed a couple of hours at most and was on very late at night.
Hopefully will be in France in July 2023 and hope to see a bit of a stage. Until next year keep healthy and happy.