I just noticed that last week’s blog title included the words ‘holiday booking’ and then didn’t contain anything about it at all, well not for me at least. I know my life is one long 10 month holiday as far as you’re concerned but there are really some bits that are more holiday than the rest.

So I’m in training and that’s for my holiday. I’ve booked up, in my madness, to go on a cycling holiday. This isn’t just any old cycling holiday though, I’m off to Kerala in southern India to cycle 850km through terrain including a huge mountain climb, tea plantations, beach side roads, a tiger reserve and much more. I’m going with Exodus, a company specialising in guided tours so I should be in safe hands, no need to worry Mama.

Needless to say, I now need to get my body in shape in order to complete this epic adventure. I’m renting a bike there and it’s going to be a mountain bike, I guess they need to be to take the punishment of the Indian roads. The longest day we do is 90km and there are a couple very close to that length as well so I need to get to the point where I can cope with that and in heat and humidity no doubt. It would be nice to lose some weight too, less to drag up the hills.

Back to this week though. I set off Tuesday having packed up Vern for the month with my body board, my bike and everything I might need for a European tour. I managed to get on the Tunnel early (another set of tickets care of Mr Tesco) and headed through northern France with the destination of Yerres, just south of Paris. I was heading for a night with Thomas and Marina Fischer. I’d worked with Thomas in 2001 when together we tried to setup a new business in Paris for Schlumberger delivering SMS messages across Schlumberger’s network. In the end the project was scrapped but I’d had fun living and working in Paris for 5 months.

So Marina is Malaysian and cooks a mean, fiery, meal. She didn’t disappoint this time. Spicy chicken with coconut milk served with flat bread. Very nice. After the meal she taught me a thing or two about internet news groups, a crafts site called Ravelry.com and an internet store called Etsy.com. I’m so off the pace apparently! It turned into quite a late night for me but it was lovely to catch up with them both.

I dropped Thomas off at the station in the morning and then made the epic trip to Lacanau, avoiding all toll roads. 8 hours 15 mins later, with just a 5 min pit stop, I was at the lovely Les Grands Pins campsite, the site Helena and I stayed at over Easter. It’s much busier than it was at Easter and in just 2 weeks from now they close for the season, are they mad it’s lovely, sunny and hot.

So while I’ve been here I’ve been surfing, reading (unheard of for me) and cycling. Lacanau is surrounded by fabulous cycle tracks through the forest and in and over the dunes. My first ride was curtailed as I was soaked. I’d setoff in the dry and sure enough as soon as I finished it stopped raining. My second ride though was the funniest. I cycled the track south along the coast. Imagine my surprise though when I cycled by a couple in full hiking gear, boots, backpacks, caps and walking poles minus one thing, their clothes. Yep I was passing through a naturist colony. I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous in my life. Needless to say I didn’t take pictures. There was also a guy on a bike in cycling shoes a T-Shirt but completely naked from the waist down. He obviously wasn’t cycling far, oh the chaffing.

So over 4 rides I’ve managed to clock up just over 200km. Today’s was the longest at 73km and also the easiest which is a good sign. My legs and bum are getting used to the distance so maybe there is hope for me in India. I treated myself at 3/4 of the way round to a steak dinner, oh boy was it good. They really do know how to cook a steak ‘bleu’ over here. Part of the ride was along a disused railway, I saw just two people in probably 15+ miles.

The surf here has been the biggest I’ve ever seen it here and I’ve been coming for 20 years. I had a great couple of days on Friday and Saturday but yesterday the sea was a fury of waves and all the beaches were red flagged (you’re not allowed in). Waves the size of houses. Still there were some very mad and obviously fit surfers willing to give it a go and entertain the crowds on the beach. Today’s been much the same so I’m staying clear of the surf, plus after 73km on the bike I’m done in anyway. Maybe I’ll make it in tomorrow, my last full day here. On Wednesday I’m heading off to the Dordogne to stay with my Dad and Chris (his partner) and picking up Helena from Limoges airport on Thursday lunchtime as she’s coming out for a long weekend. Bring it on, it’s probably going to be a boozy affair.