End of a European Summer

Our tiki tour continued from Paris down to the Atlantic coast and then back through the Pyranees, some beautiful national parks in the south of France, and through the alps in Italy and Switzerland back to our ‘home base’ in Graz.

We clocked up 7,500 kilometers on the six week trip which included some pretty big stretches in the car. Many of the days were made longer as we often chose to avoid the motorways to pass through some more interesting countryside and to avoid some of the hefty toll charges!

Keeping ourselves entertained while in the car was never a problem and we even managed to blend in a bit of ‘school time’ with audiobooks on the types of things they should teach at school like the excellent ‘Seven Habits of Highly Affective Teens’ to add to a few other ‘life skills’ the kids have picked up along the way.

The kids have loved this leg of our trip. There’s something unique about Europe with its blend of history, diversity in culture, language and landscape, and traveling infrastructure that makes it an easy and fascinating place to explore. Even different pockets within countries can be vastly different – it was amazing how the journey from the Pyranees to Austria was a completely different experience from my cycle adventure by just taking a slightly different route further north. I don’t think it is possible to tire of exploring this continent!

AirBNB has been quite a revelation for us on this trip. It’s meant not staying a single night in a hotel room for our European leg of the trip while giving us some unique and affordable options (typically less than €60) like this beautiful country cottage near Tours…

…and this apartment in Bordeaux.

… which had a beautiful old town and a relaxed vibe to accompany some pretty spectacular street entertainment.

Sunflowers were a feature of the countryside on our way down to Biarritz

Which had an unusual combination of a upmarket resort town mixed with a laid back surfing vibe

Sharks were the highlight of the aquarium there

Accommodation on the coast was at a premium during the height of summer so we opted for our ‘cosy’ set up at one of the excellent camp sites…

…Which we used as a base to explore the local coastline including dipping into Spain to one of our favourite towns – San Sebastián. The boys enjoyed remodeling the beach…

…but we really went there for the tapas, which is some of the best in the country!

Then it was time to head back to the Pyranees. It was one of my favourite parts of the cycling trip and I was keen to show the family why I enjoyed it so much

We went for a walk at the very popular Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyranees National Park

Part of Liam’s birthday present was an adventure at Vertige de L’Adour

All the years at indoor climbing walls in Wellington had been building up to this moment!

Liam wanted to ‘just chill’ on the day of his birthday and we found just the spot for that at an AirBNB with some lovely Francophile British hosts just out of Carcassonne

Sofia and Charlie

The kids learning one of life’s essential skills late into the night

One of the many beautifully tree lined streets in the south of France. This was one of the many reasons to avoid the motorways!

Camping at the beautiful Cevennes National Park

Sofia was suffering a bit of a cold so the girls went for a gentle walk to the nearby Chateau de Peyrelade

…and the boys hired some tubes for a cruise down the Gorge du Tarn

A feature of the area are some of the gorgeous towns like Peyreleau

The next day we went further north for a short hike at Col de Finiels

And then east to the popular Vallon-Pont-d’Arc

Our next Couchsurfing experience was staying with a lovely family just out of Grenoble at an organic goat farm…

Liam has been developing another essential life skill and demonstrating it at every opportunity – card magic!

We passed through some beautiful scenery in the alps to lovely Turin

And then up into the northern Italian alps and camped at gorgeous lago di Piano where our air mattress served a dual purpose

The kids only wanted one thing from our brief time in Italy – pizza! It didn’t disappoint.

And then it was across the border the next day to Switzerland where we caught up with Beni and Filipo.

The next day was a big one. Liam and I were keen for some challenging mountain biking and took on the 34km Bernina Express trail. We got more of a challenge than we expected with the 1,500 metre vertical descent turning out to be very steep and technical. We got down unscathed and Liam loved it!

The same cannot be said for the return trip on the train where the change in altitude once again had an ‘interesting’ effect on me, making me pass out while vomiting down Liam’s back – something I’m sure he won’t let me forget and will forever be an amusing anecdote at gatherings of family and friends in the future.

Everyone else went for a stunning bike ride and hike to a glacier at Samedan

From there we went further north to Nüziders to visit Iris’s brother, Armin, and his family

The set for the opera on Lake Constance for the Bregenz festival was elaborate!

Liam’s cousin Paul taught him and I how to fish for trout at a nearby pond

And then it was back to home base Graz to relax and prepare for the next leg of our adventure.

We ate well for several days after a very productive mushroom foraging session at a nearby forest.

Sofia has spent most of the time here with Francesca, including solving this homemade ‘escape room’

While the rest of us managed some time on the greens

After four months in Europe and with the first of the autumn leaves beginning to fall, it is time to leave for the next phase of our travels.

There’s nothing like a change of continent to stoke up the feelings of excitement and anticipation and certainly we’re feeling that at the moment as we prepare for our 4X4 adventure in Africa. For Iris and I this has meant researching our route, organising a vehicle, visas and inoculations and the kids have done their part by watching Bear Grylls videos on you tube. I think we’re ready to go!