An Unplanned Year

1 July – 31 July

July flew by and we’re over halfway through our trip! Eek!

These are the top 10 things we did this month. It is so hard to narrow it down to 10!

1. Tour de France

Given seeing the end of the TdF was our prime objective for this trip, and that the week in Paris was the first thing we booked, we are so pleased we discovered it was possible to watch the race from the Arc de Triomphe and Charles De Gaulle Etoile! We saw the racers and the whole parade go past at least 8 times. We saw Pogacar and Van de Poel racing to the finish line, we saw riders stop riding to watch the finish on the big screen alongside us and we got to go to the top of the Arch with minimal crowds!

Bucket list item checked!

2. Catching up with friends

In July we spent almost a week just catching up with friends. Old friends, newish friends we’ve made on previous holidays and also one of Kevin’s cousins, her daughter & son-in-law. We were also present to wet the baby’s head when a first grandchild was born a couple of weeks early! They were some lovely relaxing days and meals.

3. Moulin Rouge

We had intentionally not booked to go to the Moulin Rouge on our last visit to Paris. However Aiden surprisingly loved it when he went a few years ago, so we thought we’d give it a try. The colour, the costumes, the head-dresses! It was amazing and a non-stop “show” for 90 minutes. We had great seats and dinner was pretty good too!

The blokes could wear less to make it a bit more equitable!

4. French Cooking Class

We do enjoy a cooking class and this one was so chill and fun with a varied group of interesting people. We started with coffee and viennoiserie, walked to a market to buy produce, shared out the cooking tasks, had a wine break, continued cooking and then started eating. The 6 hours went very fast. We’d recommend Le Foodist to you.

5. Swimming

We have visited some lovely beaches on Guernsey, Jersey and France. Crystal clear turquoise water is so inviting and then slaps you across the face with the cold temperature! It was however just what we needed on some of the very hot days we’ve had during the heatwave this month.

6. Battlefields tour

A relaxed and informative 2 days visiting the sites of battles we’ve heard and read so much about. The visual context adds to understanding. The incredible loss of life for the sake of, at times, only gaining 100m of ground and hundreds of thousands of still missing and unidentified people should be enough to make everyone anti-war.

The tour focussed on the Australian perspective and key battle sites. The guide helped people in our group identify where their relative likely died, or is likely buried if their body was found. We’d recommend Phil and Sacred Ground Tours.

7. Mont Saint-Michel & St Malo

Our first days in France were spent visiting these beautiful places. Walking the ancient streets of both communes, the St.Malo ramparts and exploring the Mont Saint-Michel Abbey were great days out. And we bought some Breton butter at Maison du Buerre in St.Malo.

8. Canterbury Cathedral

As well as giving welcome respite from the heatwave, the Cathedral was so interesting we spent over two hours walking around it.

9. German Concrete

On Guernsey, Jersey and on our battlefield tour we saw so many concrete towers, bunkers and tunnels built by the Germans during WW1 and 2. On the Channel Islands you can visit many of the bunkers and towers – 10% of all the concrete used to build the Atlantic Wall in WW2 was used on the Channel Islands! The bunkers in France and Belgium are plentiful and so solidly built that they cannot be destroyed. People have tried packing them with explosives and setting it off and it merely blows out a section of wall if they’re lucky.

10. Dover Cliffs

A lovely walk along the cliff top to the lighthouse where we could see France in the distance.

And yes, they’re white.

They’re also part of the same chalk seam that runs under Arras in France!