France

J and I flew to the west coast of France right after my exams to visit my family, enjoy France's excellent bike paths and eat a lot of really, really good cheese.

We arrived in Bordeaux at around midnight, with the plan to cycle a little ways from the airport and find some wild camping. With a little help from GoogleEarth, we found this lovely campsite located about 15 minutes away from the airport. It had the added advantage of being a convenient place to store our excess baggage (a couple of bike bags needed to take bikes on trains in France). We gleefully ditched our bulky bags in the woods and cycled away.

About an hour into cycling we stumbled upon a fantastic local farmer's market, complete with accordion player (which you can hear in the short clip below). We bought lunch ingredients, ate them, and then went back for dinner ingredients.

One of the tastiest loaves of bread I've ever had.

Olives

Fresh veggies

Unfortunately we didn't think our camp stove was up to the task of cooking these tasty birds up, so we settled for some local sausages instead.

Why, oh why, can Canada not harbour more good cheese?

Vineyards

Fishing huts on La Gironde

We ended up camping at a municipal campsite in Blaye on our second night. We had the entire campsite to ourselves and couldn't even find someone to pay. The campsite had the added bonus of being located in the middle of a citadel, which also happens to be a UNESCO world heritage site.

Looking out over the citadel.

Citadel toilets.

Tiles

Some wine to go with our sausages and fresh veggies.

Sunset on La Gironde.

The following day we managed to stumble upon "La Fete des Asperges", which featured this rather large asparagus omelet.

The perfect bike touring lunch: duck, potatoes fried in duck fat and beer.

Lizards hanging out at the asparagus festival.

The cheese man with his cheese-art - they were beautiful.

J's bike Birdy ditched the water bottle for some wine.

My mom's cousin: actress, violinist, story-teller. All round good fun.

From Regine's home in Jonzac we headed west to the coast to catch a ferry across the mouth of the river Gironde.

Oysters at the ferry terminal pub.

Yet another stellar (and free) campsite, this one right on the Atlantic Ocean.

My first coffee in eight months. It was worth the wait.

More cheese and bread after a dip in the Atlantic.

There were loads of bike paths and we probably spent about 80% of our time off roads. Most of the paths were impressively smooth, but this one was the exception.

From the coast we headed in-land to Lac Lacanau and found yet another great camp spot.

Sunrise on Lac Lacanau.

The house my mom grew up in.

From Lac Lacanau we cycle around 'le basin d'Arcachon' to La Teste, the town where my mom grew up and where I spent many summer's as a kid.

Sand skiing on 'la dune du Pyla' - the highest sand dune in Europe at just over 100m.

Sand dune taking over the forest.

Strawberry tart stop on our cycle back to Bordeaux to pick up our bag in the woods and catch the train to Paris.

Bits and Bobs

Crocuses - Iris family

Tom's birthday walk on Arthur's Seat, with Arthur himself (in red), as well as Forrest and super- dad Dave (MSc + job + two kids = super-dad).

Tree and cormorant mini islands in Loch Lomond.

Sam, Guy and Ewan

Ewan looking cute.

James looking cute.

In the mist on the high point of the Innerleithan Black loop.

The Pentlands. Easily reached by cycling out our front door and along the canal bike path.

Pete through the puddle.

Ferns - Studying or Faffing?

We went on a fern wander last November. I've been meaning to post the shots since then, and now that I am studying for exams, it seems like the perfect time. There is a fine line between studying and procrastinating.

Huge bi-pinnate frond from a tree fern.

Can a fern be palmate?

Climbing fern.

More tree ferns.

The technical name for this is a crozier, but I still prefer the term 'fiddle head'.

Perhaps this would be a 'cello head' then.

This one looks a bit like Chewbacca. It's rather pleasing to pet.

I personally would have never guessed the above plant was a fern, unless I turned a leaflet over (see below) and discover the sori (singular: sorus, which is made up of sporangia, which are each filled with 64 spores). But actually the ones below are synangia, which are basically sporangia which have become fused together and there are therefore hundreds of spores in each synangia, rather than the usual 64. This makes this a eusporangiate fern (order Marattiales). Got it?

More synangia.

Dicksonia species

Some proper sori. These ones have a thin covering over them called an indusium. Indusia come in various shapes, some species have two covering each sorus and some have none at all. I'm not totally sure if the ones photographed above are true indusia or false-indusia, the latter being created by the rolling over of the tip of the frond.

Osmunda species - the sporangia are borne on separate 'fronds'.

Multi-coloured synangia.

And here's a complex thalloid liverwort, just so I don't forget yesterday's studying.

And a flowering plant - this one is an Araceae - the same family as skunk cabbage - who woulda thunk?

Drumlanrig: Mountain Biking, Castle and Wackiness

We headed out to Drumlanrig a few weekends back to check out the kilometers of mountain biking trails, as well as the castle (you know you're in Scotland when...). Unlike the rest of the mountain biking we've seen here so far, the trails at Drumlanrig are not built up. They are rooty, rocky and natural. It was so refreshing and loads of fun.

There is also a bike museum and a bike shop in the courtyard of the castle. The bike shop is run by Rik, who is friendly, wacky and so enthusiastic. He's also the mastermind behind all the trails. He definitely adds to the overall awesomeness of Drumlanrig. He even let us have a go on his very cool "Buddy Bike".