Late last year Piet proposed to take a sabbatical after almost 35 years of working, basically to have a proper break before the final stretch of his working life, and to have a practise run for his retirement. The idea was supported by his line manager, and a basic plan was put in place to cover this period. We decided to have two long stretches in our house in France, split by a return to The Hague for various social activities, and to stay in touch with Mary's parents, Paula and Dorien. During the first period in France, we also organised a trip to Corsica, something that has been on our wish list for some time.
We left The Hague with a trailer full of stuff the morning after Piet's last working day. Before continuing to Corsica we spend a week getting our terrain under control, as the combination of a lot of rain and wind, and a mild winter / spring resulted in long grass, fallen trees, and overgrown ditches. Mary also completed the transformation of the house, with three proper bedrooms with double beds. The bunk beds were moved to the 'old part', and will now be used for overflow only. In between all of this we of course had time to hike and cycle, and enjoy a glass of wine.
On return from Corsica we got our first visitors, friends of Mary from dog training, who were signed up for Alpe d'HuZes, one of the biggest Dutch charities. The aim is to cycle, run or walk up Alpe d'Huez as many times as possible during one day, to collect funds for cancer research, with an ultimate (and nearly impossible) goal to cycle up 6 ('Zes') times. The days before the event were spend relaxing, with easy walks and bike rides. On the day our combined effort resulted in twice walking up (mother and son), twice cycling up (father), and Piet cycling up three times, but abandoning his last ride halfway due to rain and thunder.
On the way back to The Hague a stop was made in Chablis, the famous wine town, for one more hike and a nice dinner, arriving back on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and a few weeks holiday in The Hague. This is something we have never done, as almost all our leave is spend in France. As mentioned above: a practise run for retirement!
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