Heleen and I are planning to go to New Zealand. I haven’t seen Maaike in quite a while and I’ve never been to New Zealand. We’re thinking of renting a camper van and going around with Maaike and Patrick. Hiking, biking and generally having good fun is on our programme. The last two weeks of December 2011 and the first week of January 2012 would be the period to go.
Let’s book a ticket and see places like this.
A week in a place called La farge, a small place (33 acres of land) outside of Jumilhac Le Grand. Merijn is going to cook for a group of people, but before they are coming we had a relaxing week there. We by the way are; Merijn, Nynke (my housemate) and I.
After a road trip of 900 something kilometers we arrived at a very idyllic spot somewhere in the south-east of France called La Farge. A huge residence with an enormous amount of land surrounding it. The area has problems with it’s population… everybody is leaving. Lot’s of foreigners buying real estate and living there for a short period every year.
A summary of what we did in our week:
- The first evening we walked through it’s forest and found a small river running beside it. The nice thing about the forest was that the owners made a tree hut, set up walking bridges between trees and had big safety nets underneath it all.
- Road cycling. The longest trip being a 140 km route to and from Perigueux. I did not think it possible for me to actually cycle for such a long distance with a lot of steep hills in the terrain. But I did and it felt awesome.
- We drank wine, ate cheese and some foie gras at a typical restaurant.
- Night live. We found out that Limoges has a nice history, but it’s hard to find a nice pub after 1.00am.
- Merijn can make poetry from song. Dutch band called Frank Boeijen groep with Kronenburgerpark.
I’m going to cycle with two friends from my living community in the Dordogne. One week of reading books, road cycling and relaxation. Downside is the travel. It’s a 1000km to get there…
The summary of my weekend out with my colleagues is quite simple.
Friday:
- Arrive at Stavelot in Belgium at 8.30pm
- Do a 16km bike trip to adjust to the hilly countryside
- Drink wine and go to bed at 6.00am
Saturday:
- Rise at 11.00am
- Watch Netherlands – Japan
- Do a bike trip for about 4 hours around Stavelot
- Drink beer and wine
- Go to bed at 3.30am
- Crash through the bed, because some people found out my bed sucked. When dropping on to my bed and I would actually burst through the bottom of the bed.
Sunday:
- Get up at 12.00am
- Do a kayak trip of 9 km for about 2 hours
- Get home at 21.00am and die of exhaustion
Maaike is over from New Zeeland. It’s so nice to have her over. I’ve seen her a week now and I feel I haven’t had a chance to properly talk to her. And this is even though I saw the entire week. On Monday and Tuesday we stayed in Nijmegen going around looking at the place. Wednesday we cycled from Nijmegen to Limburg where our parents live.
Unfortunately Patrick wasn’t used to the cycling. Even though he insisted the towel was to keep the saddle clean.
So Kai,
a friend I made in South Africa is getting married. Since my friends seem to like faraway places for their marriage he has made an even better choice. He’s getting married in Capetown. So in October I’ll be back in die Kaap for two weeks.
