Week 7

Another week on the farm has flown by. Although this week we've probably started to get too settled. Both of us are getting a bit restless and we need new challenges. Our highlight of the week was yesterday when we did a 10km river descent on a joint canoe. It was a lot of fun, we were only able to get one picture and don't we look silly. The feedback has been primarily either 'Nerds' or 'Gay'.

Apart from this, we've just been working away, and I've managed to read books on each of the following topics: Women in Afghanistan, The Kray twins, Emma Roberts sailing around the world and How to be good. Reading is fun, but I've decided I need a new challenge; so the next off day I have (with good weather), I'm going to cycle 100 miles just for the hell of it. I've not done 100 miles before in a day, but it can't be that hard. I've even plotted a nice route:

Its roughly the same distance as my home village of Leven to Manchester. It should be good to challenge myself on a solo ride, the longest I've done by myself in a day is around 50 miles. So look out for that in the coming week.

Congratulations also to a few friends from my home village who cycled the trans pennine trail over the easter weekend for the charity: Dove house hospice. The route is 333km over dirt and road and they did it in an impressive 3 days. I'd love to have a go at that one day. I think they raised most of the money in local pubs, but you can still donate on their just giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/tpt2011

If you've enjoyed the blog, please add comments. I really enjoy reading through them and I'm still amazed at how many page views I've had (over 3,000 now), but with only a handful of people commenting! Its really easy to do: You just have to click on the bit at the bottom of every post where it says 0 Comments.... or 2 Comments for example, and then Post a comment. No excuses. 

Week 6

We've been at the farm now for about a week and a half and we're loving it. I must however apologize for the lack of action in this next blog post. I hope you accept my apology with a new feature of the blog: Videos! I've been filming and filming over the past few weeks and have hours of footage which I plan on editing a nice film out of. I've only just managed to put them onto a laptop for backup purposes, but hopefully it'll nicely portray what life on the road and farm is like (a tiny bit).

Since we arrived at the farm we've settled into a whole new routine with a bit of labour involved. Its all good fun though. Most of the work is milking goats and then doing some work in the cheese factory. I also have the job of chopping wood (picture the opening scene of inglorious basterds where the cow farmer is chopping wood). That's basically me. I chop wood then devour goats milk. I'm not hiding Jews though.

Without further ado, here is the first video sample which I shot this morning. We do this for a couple of hours every morning, and look out for Pippetto, our helper. I've realised this video wont be much interest to anyone unless you're a goat farmer, or want to see what work we do.

It took forever to upload so don't get too excited for upcoming videos, just hold tight until I've edited the film together. Or if you can't wait that long, here's my first ever travel video to wet your whistle: http://vimeo.com/8201202. I've upped my editing game since then, it is cool to look back on though.

We've also done a fair bit of exploring since our arrival. The nearest town is a tourist hotspot: Mirepoix; a nice medieval town that attracts plenty of English. There's even a British shop, I laughed when I saw it and at the type of stuff they sell. Twinings tea, Dairy Milk chocolate, Heinz Baked beans etc. But its actually been a handy shop for us as they sell English books. Also close by is Carcasonne; they actually shot the new Robin Hood film here, I haven't seen it, but so I'm told. The old part of the city is really cool, however, its just overpowered by tourists. Damn yanks.

I was quite impressed with Sam's panoramic effort. The shot below is overlooking the modern Carcasonne.

So apart from these few visits and the work, our life now is rather uneventful in comparison to a few weeks ago. But we're living for free and enjoying life. We tend to get drunk a lot. The wine is dirt cheap and it makes the evenings more interesting. We're even thinking of extending our time at this farm as we're so happy with the deal. Good news for us, but bad news for the blog, unless you love pictures of goats, then there's plenty more to be excited for! 

DAY 32 - 37

So we've reached day 37 on the trip! We are now nicely settled on our first farm linked with WWOOF and are located close to the city of Carcasonne. I must start by expressing my delight to see the great man himself Mark Beaumont has been following the journey; me and sam have often laughed about how this machine could do 226km in a single day, and maintain similar distances for half a year. In my hours on the bike I sometimes contemplate whether his world record could ever be beaten, and my conclusion is simply, no. He didn't give the rest of us even a chance. Its just too fast. His link from twitter also brought in a few comments and quiries regarding cycling touring which I shared just a few weeks ago and which I'll happily answer in the comments section. My main advice with a trip such as this is to not get bogged down in minor details, worrying too much about the 'what ifs' can change a mindset from positive to negative. Once you get out on the road you quickly realise what has to go into achieving a sustainable routine on the bike and all the worries quickly dissipate.

Back to the journey! I have to go back in time again for this post, but already its making me smile in the knowledge that its been by far the best week we've had on the bike.

We really lucked out with our hostel in Nimes, an English host greeted us and shared in our passion for football, this meant that we enjoyed the champions league match on an enourmas pull down projector high def screen - something he saves for rainy days. We enjoyed a few beers with him and met a few characters along the way. We also stopped by at the Nimes ampitheatre - the best preserved ampitheatre in the entire Roman empire. It really was fascinating. An audio guide takes you back to the gladitorial peaks of these spectacles. I had no idea how brutal an affair it really was. The core of the shows are based on pure animal cruelty, I can't sympathise too much in the human elements that much as (I'm told) most gladiators had a choice to fight, and only when the 'sport' lost its popularity would slaves be made to fight. They gave a few shocking examples of the animal cruelty which I could not believe, "A bear would be chained to a lion in a fight to the death with punters betting on which animal would win". I felt relieved that this sport didn't last for as long as you might think, but then I quickly remembered bull fighting is still in existance.

Once out of Nimes we really just aimed in the general direction of Carcassone. We were once again blessed with incredible weather for the following 3 days, and I began to realise that its no coincidance why so many people are obsessed with the South of France. The climate for one is enough reason to visit, however, we never really ventured far south enough to see the spectacles of Monaco, Saint Tropez, etc. I can see the appeal of the sunshine, sea and sand found at these places. But we've had that in abundance in the form of lakes and rivers, and we don't have to feel out of place next to the millionaires with their yachts, I mean look what we found at the side of the road.

 Sam was happy too.

This was exactly what we needed at 2pm with the temperature will into the mid 30s. It was the first time on the trip where I've really had to think about properly managing my body. I was probably sweating just as much as I was drinking, and I had to keep eating peanuts to put back in the salt that I would lose. One of the worst things is sweat in the eye, its blinding.

A few days with this heat and our routine had to change. We decided to get up earlier, cycle until 1pm, then take a siesta till 3/4pm and go on till 7pm. We would try to revolve the siesta around a nice river or waterfall. With this change in routine we put in some good miles and were well on course to reach the farm on the proposed date of April 10th.

When it came to getting to the farm, we spoke to the hosts and arranged a time, we only had to cycle 60km so we thought by saying mid afternoon we would have plenty of time. It  turned out to be one of the hardest days of the trip. We cycled into a relentless headwind all day. Our mindset of just getting to the farm didn't really help, it was brutal and not enjoyable in the slightest. I suppose at this point I must mention how hard it has been at times; I tend to write about the highlights of the trip, but on the bike there is some major low points. When it takes everything to keep going, the muscles are screaming, you feel as weak as a kitten, no energy, cyclists refer to it as hitting the wall, and when this happens it isn't fun at all. Thats why I feel a great sense of pride and achievement in this trip, I think subconsciously this has already made me a stronger person, both physically and mentally. It has also made me hate the wind more than I ever thought would be possible for a graduate of geography.

Anyway, by about 4pm we made it here and we are very happy with our current living situation. All our worries about whether WWOOF would work out have been completely dismissed. We really didn't know what to expect. The scheme is simply: a few hours work on a farm will be rewarded with accomodation and food. Obviously the variables with this can get the mind racing.

Upon arrival we were fed straight away, then we had a much needed shower. Our hosts couldn't be more welcoming; Peter and Laila, originally from Switzerland had moved here 19 years and have set up an ogranic farm producing goats cheese. After a delicious meal with the family we then had a tour of the farm. Set in the rolling hills (a nightmare to cycle through), its such a picturesque landscape. They have 67 goats, which we have to milk in the morning, then a selection of donkeys, horses, dogs, cats and fish.

 The main building expands far further than I can fit into a picture, but you can just about see our appartment through the bushes (the balcony leads into it). We really couldn't ask for more. Me and Sam have been given our own appartment for the stay, complete with double beds, Tv - with french sky, internet and much more to make us run around like giddy kids when we realised how lucky we had been. You can see for yourselves below...

If all of this wasn't enough, they have given us a car! Check out this bad boy. A vintage ford mondeo estate! Because Sam was silly enough to have his wallet nicked in Brussels, complete with his drivers license, I have to do all of the driving. What an unfortunate pleasure that has been.

The final jewel in the crown of this farm lies with their dogs. A mother and daughter working pair of Border Collies. I think they are the bubbliest, smartest and cutest dogs I've ever come across. On our first morning milking goats we were shocked when without cue, they kicked into action and rounded all of the goats up for us. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I naively thought they were just pets. But look how cute...

I plan on doing a post every 4-5 days from now, although we are now in one location for the next 6 weeks, we plan on taking full advantage of having a car and exploring the area to the full extent. But for now, we have stumbled across a french channel showing the football. Sam is Manu obsessed and screamed like a little girl when he found a channel that was showing the match, we had planned on using a crappy internet link. But for now, Come on Chelsea!

DAY 25-31

So another delayed blog post, but with no internet connection for over a week its easy to see why. I'm in the best of moods as this week has gone like a dream. We've had hot weather all week, no major issues with the bike or body, and some of the best cycling conditions of my life.

The landscape of france has really changed over the last few days, we've mainly been cycling through The Rhone valley, en route to Montpellier, and its noticeable how much drier and arid the land has become, it really feels like you're in Northern Spain rather than France. The temperature reaches a toasty 28 degrees most days with no chance of rainfall.

I am struggling to remember most of the minor details of the last week or so, all I can really do is point out the 'highlights'. Six days is just a bit too long without an entry and I've only myself to blame, but when you're having so much fun its hard to beat yourself up about it.

We are now in the city of Nimes at a lovely hostel just on the outskirts. Our main reason for coming to the hostel was football. We've managed without a wash, a bed or electric for six days but we just can't go without a bit of football for that length of time. Our plan has worked exquisitely as last night we watched Tottenham get an unfortunate battering, and hopefully tonight Manu and the neanderthal Wayne rooney will get the same.

It must be said that the wild camping is getting better and better as time progresses, just 2 nights ago we pitched our tent next to the Gard ou Gardon river (shown below) and managed to have a cold, but wonderful swim. We managed to catch a few rays before night fall and sam captured it perfectly on camera. I mean look at those tan lines, ridiculous.


We continue to get caught out by the lazy french on sundays, they literally close everything down. We never really keep track of what day it is and were a bit baffled as to why nowhere was open. Then we realised it was a sunday and started to panic a bit regarding where we would find water. As the day went on we both ran out around mid afternoon and I drank a bit from a village water fountain (a low point). Luckily, we found a small bread shop where we could get a baguette, and just as we were leaving the woman noticed what we were doing and brought us out a big bag of crouissants, no charge. We also managed to get the sacred 6 litres of water that we so desperately required.

Another couple of pictures that need a bit of explanation are shown below. You might notice I'm wearing a Liverpool shirt. I obviously support Hull but this shirt has served two purposes; firstly, it was cheap (7 quid) and is as good as any cyling shirt on the market, and secondly, it annoys my dad. Just after this was taken it got very very hot and my ipod died on me. It was my fault as I was basically sticking it down my pants with no pockets to put it in, and the sweat had leaked into the ipod and blown it up. A bit annoying but quite funny. I think I actually prefer to just let my thoughts wander when on the bike and just take in my new surroundings. Some of these thoughts have led to the decision that I'm going to cycle back through the UK instead of getting picked up at Dover. It would be such a cool way to round off the trip; to reconnect with England and also meet up with a bunch of friends from 'ACE' along the way.

We reached a big milestone yesterday by passing the one thousand mile mark! I just noticed it on the cycle computer and got all excited. When I think about it, one thousand miles is a long way, and to do that just using a few muscles and a bit of steel is quite an achievement.

I must also share the lowest point of the trip, and possibly my entire life before this post ends, however. On our 4th day wild camping we'd finished a long day on the bike, having cycled just shy of 100km, and everything was sweaty and dirty. I had to venture into the woods to answer natures call, and whilst squatting like a dog to take a poo, the feet can accidently intrude on the location of the poo, and led to the lowest point of my life. Basically, I shat on my foot. With no hot shower or even running water to clean myself, I had to make do with baby wipes.

On that note, its time to conclude this weeks events. We're in Nimes for another night and planning on getting to the farm by the weekend. I wish we had longer to discover Nimes, its a really beautiful city with some well preserved classical buildings from the Roman Empire. We briefly met a couple of Americans last night who were here working with the church of Jesus Christ. It was strange to meet them, as I'm a firm atheist and believe religion is the root of all evil, but I really liked them. Meeting them reminded me of a famous quote by Steven Weinberg: "With or without religion, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion". I suppose this quote isn't really that applicable as they weren't fundamentalist terrorists, but still. They were nice and it was good to meet them, I just wish I could have chatted to them for longer about why they believe the Earth is 5,000 years old.

Thanks for a few comments last week, its nice to know who's following. According to my blog statistics I've had well over a thousand page views which baffled me, I only thought it was a handful of friends and family that were following, but keep them coming!