Family Life

Cycling from London to Paris for charity – I’m living with a MAMIL

December 9, 2012
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I had no idea what a MAMIL (middle-aged men in lycra) was until last month when Bikerboy sent me a link of Rosie Millard’s article  My Olympic Legacy: a bike-mad husband  in The Independent.  At that point I felt as if I had joined an undeclared counselling group for wives.  Yay!  There are others like me, […]

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My big baby is back from her African trip

August 26, 2012
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The oldest arrived yesterday after spending a month in Mozambique and Swaziland with her school friends doing their World Challenge trip.  We have missed her.  I have missed her so much.  Her absence for the last thirty days has really come home just how much I’m going to miss her company when she goes off […]

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2000 miles by bike in 8 days – Why I put my derrière through it.

August 6, 2012
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Before this summer’s trip Bikerboy and I had taken a shorter 4 night trip three years ago and what a contrast that was.  We then covered less than 500 miles with only one day on the motorway for a mere 2 hours. This bike was also a KTM, same model as now, along with our […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day eight – our last day

August 3, 2012
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Our last day of biking through France.  We were aiming to spend the night somewhere close to the ferry in St Malo and we chose Dinard,  we first visited the town 3 years ago and liked it very much.  Today’s milage was a mere 200 miles, piece of cake after the last few days.  I’m […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day seven

August 1, 2012
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The next morning, breakfast with a view at Chateau d’Pramenoux. Bikerboy locks me in the tower. I think he has had enough of my derrière. Now we’re heading home, next stop is simply to head back in order to make it in time to catch the ferry on Thursday. We were debating how much we […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day six

August 1, 2012
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It turned out the sprocket was fine but is wearing out, the bike’s chain needed lubricating (oil) to stop getting sticky. This bike was carrying a lot of (ahemm..cough) weight. I remembered from the last time I was here there was a garage and we found the owner Claud coming out who told us to […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day five

August 1, 2012
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Today we covered 325 miles from San Sebastian in Spain to Cucugnan in France. First part of the journey was to make the miles and this meant a bit of this, the most disgusting undrinkable bottom of the ashtray tasting coffee and a make do breakfast. I don’t know why people back home complain about […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day four

July 28, 2012
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Last night we caught up with Dan spending the evening envying the view he has from his apartment.   We ate, drank and watched the night light descend from his dinning table. This morning the plan was to find an interesting curvy road and enjoy it without being loaded with panniers. Two days ago we […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day three – The Loaf in the Box

July 27, 2012
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We arrived in San Sebastian yesterday met up with Dan in his pop-up bakery. In the evening we went for a beer and some pintxos and watched the rain pour down on this packed city.   Pintxos The river looking towards the sea. Today baking at The Loaf in the Box Dan has a team […]

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Motorbike trip to San Sebastian day two

July 26, 2012
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Last night we were able to unwind, the boutique hotel, Le Clos Saint-Martin, was perfect for us, mellow calming decor with easy relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff. It’s the small details that I notice and like such as not having typical hotel carpets for the corridors, everything is well placed and carefully considered and designed […]

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14 Today – Happy Birthday!

July 21, 2012
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This is the face of a 14 year old, “no photos!”  I had to go back to last year to find these photos I had managed to sneak in a “click”, otherwise looking through my library you would think allergy kid vanished from my life.  She’s at that stage of what I call a proper […]

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Happy 5th Birthday!

July 18, 2012
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The 4 yr old turns 5 today and she’s had an incredible achievement in the last year.  Her walking has improved immensely and she only uses her frame during school play time mainly to protect herself against other children running into her.  Her determination, smiley disposition and sharp wit will carry her far in life […]

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Writing an ebook on Sourdough, part one: Starters

June 27, 2012
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It’s not news I’m writing an ebook on Sourdough, for a while I’ve been twitting, and posting photos on twitter and facebook sharing my frustrations with my research and most recently my biochemistry lessons. Not so quietly I sit here banging my head on the table exasperated by my dimness. Ask me to make something, […]

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Bruges, Belgium and The Hertog Jan Meal

May 3, 2012
Bruges, Belgium and The Hertog Jan Meal

This post follows on from my last on Bruges, and De Hefter Bistro here. Here’s the 14 course meal we had for my birthday at Hertog Jan’s restaurant. The bouquet of roses were waiting for me at our table with a bottle of champagne, they really were the most beautiful roses I’ve received.  This set […]

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Bruges, Belgium and De Refter Bistro

April 30, 2012
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It had been almost two years since Bikerboy and I had time on our own, and for my big birthday getaway we stayed two nights in Bruges, Belgium.   I have a big thank you to say to the charming and informative Elizabeth from Elizabeth On Food blog for recommending the gorgeous hotel and the […]

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