Tag Archives: British Lions

Now that is what I call a weekend – cycling, Le Tour, British Lions and Murray

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  • Stunning weather.
  • Great bike ride.
  • The British and Irish Lions beat the Aussies comprehensively at rugby.
  • Despite all my best intentions I am totally addicted to the Tour de France all over again. Incredible stage today, impossible not to watch.
  • There is a Brit in yellow at the Tour.
  • And some bloke called Murray won Wimbledon ending 77 years of famine.

How good is that?

To be honest I am almost as pleased by the bike ride as anything else. I had a 60 mile day with the Belgian club I have started riding with and I the brilliant weather it was outstanding. I avoided the calamities of my last ride and we saw our all the best of our local countryside. And once again it was almost car free! (Club Cyclotouriste d’Ottignies Louvain-la-Neuve)

Cycling Ottignies Brabant Wallon

The first few kilometres took us out of the dips and valleys of Walloon Brabant and then we rolled through the flatlands to the south with just a few ripples in the landscape. The villages were looking great, not least the beautiful chateau at Sombreffe which could have been almost anywhere in more celebrated landscapes in France.Wallonia Cycle Touring

On the way back we followed a similar pattern, to the point where one of the riders muttered that everything was a bit easy today. It looked awfully like we were going to get back about 30 minutes early, until the ride leader threw in about 40 minutes of climbing on a lot of the short, sharp climbs of in the area around Ottignies – we seemed to go up and down a lot of times and by the end my legs were hanging. But it was the sort of satisfied pain that comes with a good day out.

Cycle Ottignies

This one is for Andrea – “Crime and punishment”

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Mrs Idonotdespair has a charming sister in Australia.

On Saturday they conversed by text about the error of my ways.

Placed in Salzburg, a UNESCO recognised world heritage site and centre of culture from Mozart to the Sound of Music (OK, stretching it a bit) I was able to use the power of the internet to guide us to the only Irish pub in town showing the British and Irish Lions rugby team playing against the Aussies.Murphy's Law, Irish pub Salzburg

Less a pub than a hobbit hole tunneled into the rocks behind a period facade Murphy’s Law was the perfect venue for the handful of hardened fans needing a fix.

From their positions thousands of miles apart the sisters agreed that the only appropriate punishment was that I would visit every stall at the riverside craft market without complaint. That’s a lot of stalls. Salzburg Riverside Craft market

I hardly call it fair. My brother-in-law watched three games of rugby that morning. But I guess he wasn’t in Salzburg at the time.

Did I mention we won. Worth every stall Andrea, I was good the whole time!