The second part of the holidays started
with the arrival of nephews Bart and Max, who flew over by themselves for an
outdoors “bootcamp”. Physical activities were planned each day, and we ended up
cycling, hiking and climbing a Via Ferrata, and in between taking care of Beau.
At the end of week Piet’s sister turned up with the rest of the family and the
bootcamp culminated in a bike ride up Alpe d’Huez where Bart (15 years old)
beat Piet, Dorien set the female Lambregts record of 1 hour 21 minutes, and also
Paula and Max cycled up without stopping. After a picnic we continued to Col de
Sarenne, a small back road, but now famous due to the passage of the Tour de
France. The week ended at the pizzeria, with the kids making lots of plans for next year. Not sure if Piet
can cope with all this activity again though…
The following week Paula and Dorien negotiated 2 days at Cecile, in the Ardeche, hooking up with some old friends and horses, enjoying rides and playing games, like previous times….unfortunately it is quite far away. Piet’s other sister and family stayed for a few days, on the way home from the Provence. The earlier pattern was repeated with a hike and bike ride, only less strenuous this time (but still managed to get 6 people on top of Col d’Ornon).
The last few days were spend relaxing, working in the garden, cleaning inside and outside the house, and riding Beau. As always the holidays have flown past. This year we unfortunately didn’t manage to have an overnight stay in a mountain hut, but we managed to have day trips to a few of them. After Beau’s colic scare we didn’t want to leave him in someone else’s care, and towards the end we simply ran out of time. The drive back was very smooth, and everybody is back to normal again: the girls to school, Piet to the office, Beau at his stable and Mary managing the whole zoo around that!
Dorien in the Via Ferrata near Mizoen
A short rest in St. Christophe, on the way to La Berarde
Cycling back from La Berarde
Refuge des Sources, high above Villard Notre Dame
Bart taking a shower near Villard Notre Dame
Max taking a rest during a hike to Refuge des Sources
Max riding on Beau
Piet, Marc and Nel at Lac Lauvitel
Just like the Tour de France: Bart and Piet climbing Alpe d'Huez
At the finish: Bart and Piet
The following week Paula and Dorien negotiated 2 days at Cecile, in the Ardeche, hooking up with some old friends and horses, enjoying rides and playing games, like previous times….unfortunately it is quite far away. Piet’s other sister and family stayed for a few days, on the way home from the Provence. The earlier pattern was repeated with a hike and bike ride, only less strenuous this time (but still managed to get 6 people on top of Col d’Ornon).
The last few days were spend relaxing, working in the garden, cleaning inside and outside the house, and riding Beau. As always the holidays have flown past. This year we unfortunately didn’t manage to have an overnight stay in a mountain hut, but we managed to have day trips to a few of them. After Beau’s colic scare we didn’t want to leave him in someone else’s care, and towards the end we simply ran out of time. The drive back was very smooth, and everybody is back to normal again: the girls to school, Piet to the office, Beau at his stable and Mary managing the whole zoo around that!
Dorien in the Via Ferrata near Mizoen
A short rest in St. Christophe, on the way to La Berarde
Cycling back from La Berarde
Refuge des Sources, high above Villard Notre Dame
Bart taking a shower near Villard Notre Dame
Max taking a rest during a hike to Refuge des Sources
Max riding on Beau
Piet, Marc and Nel at Lac Lauvitel
Just like the Tour de France: Bart and Piet climbing Alpe d'Huez
At the finish: Bart and Piet
All the finishers on Alpe d'Huez: Bart, Dorien, Max, Paula and Piet
Refuge de la Lavey
Dorien picking raspberries
And the finishers on Col d'Ornon: Carla, Sam, Romy, Dorien, Piet and Paula
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