The year almost done, and below are some final pictures from some of our adventures in 2024. Merry Christmas all!
In between two projects on the house in The Hague we made a last minute decision to drive to France, to enjoy the usually beautiful autumn weather there. The outside painting was finished and some work in the front garden was scheduled to start, but with the unpredictable weather timing was uncertain. Instead of waiting in The Hague we took the opportunity, and had our yearly October break in France. Piet had to work a few days, but for the rest we enjoyed great weather, hiking, cycling and doing some work in the garden. We also did our yearly pelgrimage to the Gigondas, this time without Piet's friends, for some hikes and to stock up on red wine, with an overnight stay at our favourite hotel Les Florets.
Once the call came that the gardener was ready to start we closed up the house, and drove home to manage the (hopefully) last project of our 2023-2024 renovation.
During the last few weeks of our extended holiday Dorien and Lars came to France with Ollie, to take a break from their busy working and new home owners life. They were joined by their friends Luuk and Nienke for several days. Unfortunately, Piet had to go back to The Hague to start working again, before coming back for a final week of leave.
The main event was the Tour de France Femmes, with a finish of the final stage on Alpe d'Huez. In the morning Piet cycled up with the local cycling club, and in the afternoon we walked up to see the race. Although not as busy as the men's race there were many spectators, and it was a very exiting and close race with a few seconds difference between the first three riders in the final classification.
The last days were spend hiking, cycling and organising the house and garden after nearly four months in France, and preparing (mentally) to return to a regular life. Mary used the regular bike rides she did during this time to get in good shape, joined the local club, and as a reward smoothly cycled up Alpe d'Huez for the first time in several years. This whole period gave a good taste on how retirement could look like! We are looking forward to more of this....
After spending two weeks in The Hague we returned to France for the second part of our sabbatical. We didn't have any plans, and just wanted to have a long holiday. We arrived at the same time as our friends Jochem and David, who were registered to participate in the Marmotte, the gruelling 175 km cyclosportive with three long climbs, and a finish on Alpe d'Huez. Piet spend the first days cycling with them, and during the event we supported them on Col du Glandon (the first climb), and Piet cycled up the Alpe to the finish with Jochem. The whole group completed the event without major problems.
Paula and Jasper also arrived and used our house as home base for 5 weeks, and made several trips in the Alps. They have a shared passion for hiking, cycling, rock climbing and alpine tours, and maximise their days off for these activities. The last week Paula worked from the house, while Jasper, who just completed his MSc, was enjoying his last weeks of pre-working life freedom.
The last week Piet's colleague Cameron, with her family, was staying at a nearby camping ground. Piet took her along a few bike rides to show her the beautiful surroundings, share ideas on things to do with young kids, and to take her up some classic climbs.
For ourselves we settled in a nice routine of waking up without alarm, have breakfast, drink coffee and read our book, before deciding on activities for the day. We also had some fixed point during the week: agility and man trailing with Pippin, and bike rides with the local club UC Oisans once or twice a week. And every day there was a short or longer walk with Pippin. In short, time flew past, and before we knew it the 3 month sabbatical was gone, and Piet had to return to The Hague to start working again.
Once Piet's sabbatical was approved we started looking at a trip to Corsica. Our original plan was to do a long, multi-day hike with luggage transfer, but that proved to be impossible as most accommodations didn't accept dogs. We quickly adjusted this and organised three very different places to stay, spread over the island, and booked a ferry from Toulon for a 2 week trip.
We drove to Toulon, some 4 hours from our house, and had a smooth check-in to the ferry; this is a well-oiled machine that can board many cars, campervans and trucks in little time. We booked a cabin for the overnight sail, and settled there with Pippin. Most people just hang around for the night, but we preferred some luxury, and, although we didn't sleep well, we arrived somewhat rested in Ajaccio, at 6 AM. Pippin's highlight was that he could sleep on Mary's bed!
After a rainy and misty drive to the centre of the island we arrived in Lozzi, where we had booked a small wooden chalet on a mountainside, overlooking a small lake. This turned out to be a perfect starting point for several beautiful hikes and some nice bike rides (yes, Piet too his road bike along!). One common feature of Corsica was very obvious here: cows and pigs are wandering freely on the roads, in fields, and in villages.
After 5 days we moved further south, to Vivario, still in the mountainous centre of Corsica, where we had booked a room in a very small family hotel. Again this was our base for several long walks in the area, and we also did a short stretch of the famous GR20, one of the toughest long distance hikes in Europe. We then drove to Serra-di-Ferro, where we had arranged a little bungalow in a small holiday resort, close to the beach. Here we could combine easy hikes, bike rides and even swims in the Mediterranean. Even Pippin loved swimming in the sea! These last few days the weather was perfect, and it was good to end an active holiday this way. On our last day we took a scenic seaside route back to Ajaccio, where we boarded the ferry for another 'cruise night'. The next morning we first drove to Montjay, where our French neighbours have a holiday house, and we had some coffee and a catch-up. In the afternoon we arrived home, to our garden that had grown significantly in the rainy spring weather. back to work!
