Work and holidays

After driving down from Chablis we had two great weeks in our house. The first week Piet had to work, and the second week was real holiday. We didn't go anywhere, and restricted our activities to walks and some training with Pippin, cycling and work around the house.

This was also the first time we were present for Alpe d'Huzes, one of the major fundraisers in Holland, where thousands of people try to cycle up Alpe d'Huez six times, to collect money for cancer research. All equipment, volunteers etc. came from The Netherlands, and the organisation was running an un-French smooth event. We never saw the fun in cycling up our home mountain six times, but Piet gatecrashed the party and went up once, and then again up to La Garde, the first steep kilometers of the climb.

Well rested we returned to The Hague, to start planning our return for the summer.

Lac de Buclet

View over our valley

Walking along the Romanche

Cycling towards La Danchere

Training in our garden; Pippin found his pheasant

Pippin loves searching and returning fetches

Bourgogne

This year Piet's wine and dine society 'Het Derde Glas' decided to plan their yearly trip to favourite areas Bourgogne, Chablis and Champagne, in anticipation of a major trip in 2023. As this was close to a planned holiday in France Piet arranged for Mary to join them in Chablis, and then continue down south.

On Thursday day morning we met in Utrecht, and drove in one go to the Bourgogne, for an easy first stop in the Caveau in Morey - St. Denis. A second visit was planned with Capuano-Ferreri in Santenay, where host John explained the family tree, highlighting his uncle Jean Marc Ferreri, who played next to Platini in the French national team. When it came to paying our order John managed to convince us that we should pay in cash. He didn't even check the amount, fully trusting our own spreadsheet. He thanked us for keeping it all out of the books with a bottle of Corton Grand Cru. The day was wrapped up at restaurant Le Benaton, in Beaune. We were the only guests, until an older Englishman turned up with a trophy wife. He watched our animated discussion for 10 minutes, and then decided to leave....

Friday started with Vincent Latour in Meursault, one of the most famous (and expensive) Bourgogne villages, for white wine. This was clear from the bottle prices, and purchases were done with great care. We drove back to Beaune to vist our old friend Albert Morot, where we tasted his limited 2021 harvest directly from the barrels. We also picked up our 2019 and 2020 orders, and showed good faith by pointing out that the 2018 order was already collected before. As Morot produces excellent, and affordable, Bourgogne premier cru we might need these browning points in the future. After cancellation of the next tasting we returned to Meursault for a relaxing sandwich lunch and coffee, and took the opportunity to add Javillier to the program, with a similar gamma as Vincent Latour. This was followed by a long drive to Chablis. In Chablis we went to Brocard, a valeur sur for white wine. We normally stock up at the shop in the centre of town, but this time decided to visit the winery. This was a slick upmarket affair, with some similarities to the big wine houses in Bordeaux. The tasting was slow, there were too many other tourists, but the wines were still great.

In the hotel in Chablis we met up with Mary and Pippin, and went to dinner at Fil du Zinc, one of our favourite restaurants. Although the former chef moved back to Japan, the food and wine was still good. Pippin stayed in our room, and was very happy when we returned. What followed was a restless night, as Pippin couldn't decide where he wanted to sleep. The next morning the wine was sorted on the hotel parking, and the party split: we drove south to our house, the others north to the Champagne region.

Welcome to the Bourgogne!

Paul overlooking the Beaune vineyards

Pierre Latour

Javillier

In the cellar at Brocard

A fancy tasting room at Brocard

Repacking the bottles, one of the core skills of "Het Derde Glas'

Ready to go to the Champagne, and on holiday

Survival Strijd

Early May we finally managed to support Dorien during her home race in Delft, called Survival Strijd. This is the main event that her club Slopend is organising each year, using the whole University campus to build an obstacle course. Dorien is racing at national level, combining an 8 km run with some 40 obstacles. We are normally in France during this period, but this year we were in The Hague, and followed Dorien around the course. She managed to get second place, after more than an hour of hard racing. It remains impressive what she can do, we wouldn't be able to cross a single obstacle!

Dorien at one of the first obstacles

Wading through water is normally part of a race

The final task: don't touch the water!

You have to be strong!

Almost there...

Namibia revisited

Piet recently went back to Namibia, 2.5 years after his previous visit, with Mary. Although his responsibilities changed last year, Piet is still very much involved in the project, in a more supportive role. The week was filled with meetings, reconnecting with local stakeholders, and a visit to the rig, that drilled two wells offshore.

Piet and two of his colleagues managed to slot in a morning trip to GocheGanas private reserve, for a game drive and lunch. This was only a 30 minute drive from Windhoek, but felt like a whole different world, and a good break from several days of intense work. And watching wildlife never bores!

Giraffes in GocheGanas

Meerkats

Springboks

Zebras with foals

Tour de Hollande

In the last weekend of March piet joined the Tour de Hollande cycling trip, organised by his cycling buddies. The plan was to cycle towards the north and ride the Frisian Eleven Cities tour, and then back to The Hague, in 4 days. This was Piet's first ever multi-day cycling trip, with an average daily distance of 160 km. They stayed in hotels, and the baggage was driven around by one of the kids.

In the end ten MAMIL's (middle aged men in lycra) joined, and by keeping the average speed under control, proper coffee and lunch stops, and special buttocks ointment Piet finished with relative ease. They were very lucky with the weather, it was sunny, with little wind. They cycled through all eleven Frisian cities, all with beautiful centres and canals. And the social and culinary aspects were also important.....

Coffee break in Muiden

Kampen by dawn

Leaving Kampen

Hindeloopen, one of the 11 cities

The route of the 11 cities cycling tour

Lemmer, ice cream stop

Winter in France

End of February we went to France for two weeks, for work and holiday. After many grey, wet and windy weeks in The Hague we woke up to beautiful, crisp winter weather, with bright sunshine, that stayed until the last day. We were able to sit in the garden around lunchtime, have long walks with Pippin, and Piet was even able to cycle a few times.

The first week Piet was working from home, and our nephew Jeroen and his girlfriend Hannah joined for a week of skiing. Mary completed her recovery after surgery in January and spend a lot of time walking Pippin, and building up some stamina again. The second week was real holiday, with more walks, some work in the garden, and a visit to our friends Andre and Irene. Piet even managed two days of skiing, one day in Alpe d'Huez and the other in Les Deux Alpes.

Relaxing after lunch

Ready for a bike ride

The Sarenne slope, Alpe d'Huez

Lac de Buclet

Piet and Pip

On the glacier of Les Deux Alpes

Walking in the vineyards of the Savoie, near Chignin

Walking near Vieille Morte

Epe

In January we had a long weekend in Epe, on the Veluwe. It was pretty standard: picking up some wine on the way, walking with Pippin, mountain biking (Piet), reading and drinking the wine. Below a few pictures.

A squirrel in front of our bungalow

Walking near Epe

Pippin had a great time, with large areas he could roam free