Four glorious days riding in Provence
Dawn in Marseille
So lucky with the weather: warm and dry with little wind for four glorious spring days. Riding out from Marseille through classic Provence; through the techno new towns in the Durance valley, then Apt and the Lubéron. The Gorges de la Nesque are less well-known than the Ardèche but the road is at least as challenging.
Riding on to the villages at the foot of Mont Ventoux, Bédoin and Malaucène, on a route which to be used for motorsport rallies but is now given over to cyclotourisme. On to Vaison-la-Romaine and booking in at a charming old hotel in Nyons in the Baronnies Provençales.
Castlerigg and ROC Keswick/Threlkeld - Lake District National Park
Brisk ride on my Rockhopper up to Castlerigg Stones to warm my legs up. Then on past the old Royal Observer Corps Post with its watch tower and underground nuclear bunker, like the one I used to own in Norfolk. Back alongside the River Greta and the K2T Path.
More photos: Castlerigg and ROC Keswick/Threlkeld - Lake District National Park
Keswick garden colours
Pulling my boots on I was pounced on by one of the colourful Keswick beggars. You don’t need to be a a hen pheasant to be impressed by his colours. Tame as the neighbours hand-feed a number of them.
Warmer weather and no shortage of rain mean the garden growth season is well under way. Plenty of trimming and thinning to be done. But it’s not all cutting, I uncovered a Holly sapling of about 25 cm height, dug it out successfully with about the same depth of root. Its new home is a gap in a hedge to the road. Watered in with some of its previous soil and rain water from the butt.
Lakeland loop - Lake District National Park
Silloth, North Cumbrian Riviera, Solway Firth
Ride round the Lake District enjoying my Ninja Z250SL newly nippy after its annual service and with fresh tyres. Frosty overnight but I made a prompt start to enjoy these challenging roads nicely clear of traffic on Sunday morning. Riding to Silloth on the Solway Firth, then A roads on to Cockermouth, Rowrah, Cleator Moor and Frizzington to Seascale on the west coast. A treat to see the locomotive “River Irt”, built 1894, in steam and ready to haul a passenger train on the Ratty Railway at Ravenglass.
Cold Fell, Worm Gill & Upper Calder Valley - Lake District National Park
Worm Gill
Monks Bridge, River Calder
Murky cloud on the high fells so we hiked from Cold Fell to the River Calder and up Worm Gill, the name maybe because of the way the river's bed worms its way in to the fells.
Lovely to hear the calls of the Skylarks aloft almost continuously and their counterpart, the burble of the becks. Terrain reminding me of hikes, compass navigation and bivouacs on Dartmoor: long wide hills covered with marshy grass, reeds with occasional piles of stones; fast-running rivers fed by numerous becks. And the view forward to Samuel, leading, reminded me of a famous photo from the Falklands War. Elsewhere, a sign prominently warned that off-road motorbikes are not welcome on this route.
We walked up and out of this open country, passing a small herd of gorgeous Highland cattle just in time to catch the rat-race of the shift-change out of Sellafield on the moorland road over Cold Fell.
More photos: Cold Fell, Worm Gill & Upper Calder Valley - Lake District National Park
Mont Blanc & Mont Ventoux
It’s always a wrench to fly north from Marseille and to leave the delights of Provence and the French Riviera. But recognising landmarks in the aerial view of the Alps is some consolation, particularly when the winter snow has not fully melted. And worth getting out the DSLR to share.
These are views of Mont Blanc (4810 m.) & Mont Ventoux (1910 m.) from an A320, flight BA347 of the 9th April.
Les jardins enchantés de Jean Cocteau - Palais de l’Europe, Menton
A new exhibition of works of Jean Cocteau exploring the theme of gardens.
A presentation by the city of Menton of artworks by Jean Cocteau and friends from around the time of his film La Belle et la Bête (1946).
The exhibition starts with his ideas and fantasies around fauns and their play. It goes on to nymphs and other mythic animals. All shown playing in joyous gardens that are one of the pleasures of the mild Mediterranean climate of Menton.
Read more: Les jardins enchantés de Jean Cocteau - Palais de l’Europe, Menton
Mont Carpano, Pointe de Nicioret (772 m.): GR 51-52
View of the Riviera from Plan de Lion (716 m.)
A satisfying and major linear hike parallel to the France-Italy border between Menton and Vengtimiglia. A long, steep climb up from the beach at Menton-Garavan to the frontier pass at 772 m. altitude on Mont Carpano.
More photos: Mont Carpano, Pointe de Nicioret (772 m.): GR 51-52
Pointe Garavan at Easter
Great little beach on the Ligurian Sea at Pointe Garavan. There’s a row of beach shacks under the coastal railway and the cliffs that are the border between France and Italy. A place to enjoy the lap of the waves and relax with a picnic of pasties filled with courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines plus Easter chocolates with a hint of Limoncello or Rhum.
Marseille Les Goudes
Photographs from a walk around the charming port of Les Goudes, a quirky old fishing village at the end of one of the peninsulas out from the Parc national des Calanques, to the east of Marseille. Maybe not the usual image of one of France’s largest cities but a vibrant part of its heritage.
Siegfried - Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Tonight’s First Night of Siegfried had to be one of the most fantastic staging and singing ever of Siegfried’s forging song. Andreas Schager’s characterisation of the wild boy Siegfried smelting and forging using machines that look Heath-Robinson but appear convincing in their metalworking functions was utterly compelling. He gave us muscular singing, sparks from the anvil, juggling with forging hammers and joyous characterisation with the vitality of the youth who knows no fear. One of the great Siegfrieds and a highlight of the whole cycle.
Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion
Piton des Neiges (3070 m.), view from Cilaos (1150 m.)
View of Cilaos village from GR R1. Indian Ocean horizon beyond the crater.
Hiking up the inside of the volcanic crater from the town of Cilaos on the GR R1 long-distance hiking route. This, the Forêt du Grand Matarum, is primal tropical forest, never harvested. But all the species have arrived from somewhere since the volcano went quiet so there’s a hotchpotch of trees and plants we know from Europe plus many from elsewhere.
More photos: Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion
