While walking, we stumbled across Angelo Kelly. He is the youngest sibling of the Kelly Family, who rose to fame in the 1990′s. He still has a very distinct voice and we couldn’t believe it was him. He and his family once played to a crowd of 250.000 people and the band sold over 10 million albums. He explained he was doing this to keep himself grounded and get back to his roots…

Today is my birthday. What better way to celebrate than to set off at about 08.30 for a 13 hour trip back to Holland…
Last 4 birthdays were spent: Alone/Hurt knee, massive 2nd degree-burn blisters/Nursing a sprained toe/On the road.

The further north I got, the worse the weather got. Seems like, I’ve been fairly lucky with the weather in France (save a few showers…)

Below a few pictures of the river I went through while circumventing the Peripherique in Paris…

Came through Belgium, so I had to….really…

All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in France and Spain. Didn’t damage myself or others. Big thanks to Dave and Kate Haines and I have to commend them for not punching me in the face, once….

Last day in St. Gery. Earlier this week, I saw signs pointing to Chateau de Rousillion. Curiousity triggered again, so went for a drive. Again, singletrack roads and finally got there. Took a few pics along the way as well.

Unfortunately, there was no way of getting in. The Chateau has been commercialised and has been turned into a wedding/meeting venue

Another little (?) critter. Saw this while pressure-washing the walls and floor downstairs. It is true what they say about warmer climes, the further south (and warmer) you get, the bigger the animals/insects/etc.

Spiders are creatures too, so they need a bit of a holiday as well. Here’s one enjoying luxuries such as a pool and a temperature-duck (for those interested: the water was 26 degrees C and the spider didn’t try to mate with the duck; it said so)

After a hard day’s work, there’s nothing like a bit of spelunking. Fortunately, the parts I went to view, were already discovered, so I only had to admire the beauty. The ride to Padirac didn’t bode well. Dark clouds, some drops. When I got there, it was still dry, so I stood in the queue. I was warned by Dave that a Sunday might not be the best day to go, but did I listen? Noooo….
About half way into the waiting (queue was approximately an hour), the heavens opened. Guess who left his fleece at home and the umbrella in the car. I pondered on what to do and got progressively wetter. Went back to the car, waited for the rain to stop. Went back to the queue, umbrella in hand, but, of course, it stayed dry from then on.
Got into the building and bought tickets with about 30 minutes to spare, so more than on time.

Guide asked if there were non-french speakers (in French, but I could make it out), to which I replied with a resounding YES. Of course, being French, she ignored it. My limited French, added to the info I got from the site was enough to leave me in awe of the beauty that was beneath the earth’s crust; just breathtaking. The whole tour took about 1,5 hour as there was also a queue for the boats (3/4 on foot, 1/4 in the boat).

The Gouffre de Padirac is a bit like the Caves of Han (Belgium), as in, part of the journey is done by boat, sailing over an underground lake (about 100 metres beneath the earth’s surface).

All in all, I’m glad I went and can highly recommend it.

Officially it’s forbidden to take pictures, hence the poor quality:

Lots has been done to the house, pressure-washing the inside and outside wall of the patio and the stairs leading to the pool, painting the inside wall of the patio and stairs (the manly jobs). The inside of the house (painting and filling holes) was done by Kate.

Good thing it was still nice and warm, because I learned quickly, there was no way to keep even remotely dry while operating said pressure-washer (somehow this task was delegated to me ).

While having a coffeebreak, I got distracted by a lizard, so took pictures (4th is a crop of the 3rd picture)…

Had part of the morning off, so went for a drive. Saw signs earlier in the week pointing to the Oppidum. Curiousity was triggered. Followed the signs along singletrack roads and finally arrived. There is a busstop type thing that explains (only in French) what the Oppidum is and where it should be. Couldn’t find it, no apparent signs pointing to it (learned later I had to follow the red signs, will try next time I’m over in France). To prove I was there, here’s some pictures:

Hanging Tower, Cahors

We stopped early(ish) today, so went to see if I could get closer to the Hanging Tower in Cahors. Had seen it quite a few times, but only at passing by. After a few tries, I finally found the street that lead to it. Unfortunately, you cannot get into the tower itself . Nice view from the plateau where the tower was built, looking at Cahors. I think the convicted people who went to the tower on their final walk, might disagree. You can see the whole town from up there; subsequently, the people from the town were able to see the convicts hanging as a deterring example (don’t do crime, mmmkay?)

It was the night before Bastille-day and all was quiet in the village……. apart from the Sale de Fete. It’s apparently tradition to have a bit of a party on the night before, with traditional French food (paella )

Seriously, the food was good and even a bottle of wine was thrown (not litteraly) in. I was quite surprised, with the quality and amount of food. Starter, main, dessert, music and fireworks, all for the princely sum of 11 euros. Unfortunately it had rained that day and the organisation didn’t want to risk it, otherwise it would have been an outside party. Nonetheless, I had great fun as did everybody else.

….and that’s it. Another HUMM (semi)succesfully over.Now it’s back to France and continue helping Dave getting his house ready.

This year, I have managed not to damage myself in any comedy-style, whatsoever, which is quite a feat, I’ll tell you. Year one, saw me with a damaged knee and 2nd degree sunburn (massive blisters, the size of my lower-leg). Year two, I only had a sprained big toe, but that’s quite painful when you need to shift gears. Apart from that, we had some &^%$ in our team, who insisted on limiting my fun in any way he could think of. Luckily this person was not there this year.

Left Llavorsi at about 13.00, if I recall correctly. Took a little detour through Andorra to take in the sights (I positively, absolutely didn’t go there to get cigarettes or booze, honest). I was planning on walking through Andorra La Vella, after I found a place to park. Having quite a large truck with a bike on the back, meant parking garages were out. Andorra La Vella being a very compact town (especially the city-centre), meant all outside parking was occupied. I decided to drive on and parked the truck about 20 miles from Andorra La Vella and not got some ciggies and booze.

The trick of not getting stopped by customs, I learned, was to follow the articulated-trucks and not stop at the customs-post. Worked well, going in and out of the country. Ooops

Anyway, only one picture of the drive back.