What are we doing?

This has been in planning for a long time. Long service leave had to be taken, letters written to schools, bikes bought and upgraded, camping gear sorted, the vagaries of the SNCF elucidated and, of course, a whole lot of work work and housework completed.
If all goes well we will fly to Paris, train to Bordeaux then commence cycling (each on our own bike now that Noah is capable) east and south till we get to Provence 7 weeks later.
Along the way we will camp, stay in gites (one in the Dordogne and one in the Luberon), follow the market days and eat and drink very well. Hopefully the Euro crashes!
If the kids have any say, and they usually do, we will eat a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) each morning

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Dordogne to Provence by alternative means

OK. So, her wrist is broken and so is the bike trip. However, we're
all still alive and on holiday in this beautiful country so it could
be worse.
The accident still seems like a dream. About 3 km out of Sarlat le
Caneda, Stan slows on a downhill to check if we need to turn off.
Bri yells out "don't stop" so he does. Noah stops, Bri swerves, just,
but Alice clips the back of Noah's wheel and is thrown off onto,
presumably, her right wrist. Everyone passing by stops to help. An old
woman, a young woman who calls the ambos and a British couple with the
better half being a doctor. The ambos arrived within minutes and we
then experienced the French health system which was really very good.
Two things stand out - they never asked for id or the ability to pay
and it was pretty hard for Alice and Bri, who stayed overnight with
her, to get anything to eat.
Alice had a nerve block in her armpit while they manouvered her radius
back to its rightful position, fortunately without the need for pins.
She now has a fibreglass cast and is not allowed to ride for 8 weeks.
After getting over the initial disappointment we got our shit together
and booked a rental car (hopefully covered by insurance as was the
hospital visit), bought a bike rack and sat by the pool and swam till
it was time to check out of our gite.
We knew it just wasn't going to be the same but we also felt a touch
inspired to make it into an enjoyable holiday anyway. Thank you for
all your kind and encouraging comments.

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