We went to visit our friends from London who had moved to the country in southwest France – it was definitely off the grid but near a lot of great places to visit. We were able to see a lot of different places while we were there over a couple of weeks and it was good that our friends daughter had been one of Alexandra’s best friends in London. We had a rough start in that our flight from DC to Heathrow was late and we missed the connecting flight to Toulouse. We landed about 10pm – the next flight options were to either wait 22 hours or drive to Gatwick and take the first flight the next morning. We chose to get a taxi over to Gatwick and get a hotel room – was pretty exhausted by the time we landed in Toulouse the next morning and then had a 2 hour drive to Mazerolles.
The trip was balanced around hanging out at their farmhouse and day trips. The first day trip was for me to ride a portion of the Tour De France – I was in a lot better shape in 2004. I rode about 50% of a stage with a Cat 1 climb – from Arreau to Col d’Aspin but decide against the next peak, Tourmalet which is the hardest climb in Pyrenees on the Tour De France. I had a decent bike but I was in running shoes and not clipped in – so a climb 50% higher and with 10% grades would have been tough. We drove over Tourmalet when we left – it would have been a struggle. And my entourage wasn’t up to wait around for me all day.
Note the shoes 
Killing time in Arreau 
View of the valley
After leaving the mountains, we went to the town of Lourdes. I had no idea it was such a pilgrimage destination. Thousands of older people in wheelchairs and ambulances coming for relief.
Alexandra’s look says it all – wth
The Grotto and Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
After a couple of days at the farmhouse, we headed out on a overnight trip to Biarritz – couldn’t find any pictures but remember that the surf was awesome with large swells and a slow break. Alexandra and I had worked our way about 1/2 mile offshore where the biggest swells hit the first break – glad she was a good swimmer. I couldn’t find any pictures…below is from the internet.
Sharon and I headed to the wine region in Bordeaux while Melanie took the girls back to the farmhouse. We went to a the Rothschild Estate as well as several smaller ones near Bordeaux and then rented bikes in Saint-Émilion.
Rothschild Estate 
We bought 6 bottles of wine – ranging from $30-$50 – carried them around all day and back to the USA. Opened 4 of them since 2008, 2 were vinegar and 2 were ok. When I look at the current prices – they range from $30-50….so not a great long-term investment.
Start of ride 
Saint-Émilion village 
Sharon not believing that the grapes off the vine were not good
Our last trip before heading to Toulouse was to the fortified medieval city of Carcassonne. I had never heard of the city before and it was well-preserved.
After we left France, we flew back with London and had layover for a couple of days and went to see other friends who had moved to Oxford. Ironically, they were living in a old farmhouse too – we hadn’t been to Oxford before and it was a nice town to walk around in mid-summer.
(This was written during the Great Shutdown of 2020. My memory isn’t this good, used internet searches to fill in a lot of holes. If there’s huge fat foot below me, it not my fault – that an advertisement I can’t control).
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