I always write some crap on New Year’s Eve most years, summarising what happened in the world, or my world. I mostly write about films we watched, but it felt like slim pickings this year. So I’ll look at my Google location timeline to remind me of places we went instead.
In May, we booked a couples trip to Eberbach, in Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is where I went to school for a while. I don’t remember why I wanted to do this trip, but it was great fun. We took the train from Frankfurt airport via Mannheim, and had an Airbnb booked in the old town, next to this eponymous fountain:
The flat was in a very old building with traditional Fachwerk, and sloping floors. Unfortunately it was located above a 24 hour vending machine, which was a magnet for local youth who fancied hanging out at 3 am, and it was too hot to close the windows.
We rented two e-bikes from the council, and planned out a route to Bad Wimpfen, which was a fairly easy 90-km round trip. It is a very pretty town at the top of a hill, with the obligatory watchtower you can walk up, and some great cakes and ice cream to enjoy.
On Sunday, we cycled in the opposite direction to Heidelberg, which is nearly all achievable on cycle paths. It is about a 75-km round trip. We locked the bikes up somewhat precariously in the street, and went up to the castle. I’ve been there so many times, but one of the benefits of being on bikes was that we both got to try some of the local wine on sale at the Riesenfass:
On both evenings, we went back to an absolutely amazing meal at the Karpfen hotel, which was opposite our Airbnb, and was pretty much the highlight of the trip. They stop serving pretty early, but the service was great and the food absolutely perfect; traditional German meals from the region.
At the end of May, we went to visit friends in Barbados. It was a fantastic week, followed directly by a business trip to Baltimore. We found some amazing beaches, saw turtles and apparently one of the kids saw a lionfish. Our 9 year old got lost on the beach, which was a bit terrifying as we were not sure whether he was in the water or on the beach. I had my back turned for a few minutes, probably helping one of the other kids. He had walked the wrong way when he came out of the water, and I eventually found him crying about half a mile away. A great parenting moment. Anyway, Bathsheba was a really interesting landscape, although not suitable for swimming:
In June, we went to a 50th birthday in Chelmsford. The dress code said hats, but somehow I ended up being a bit overdressed:
In July, we went on a 2 week camping holiday to St. Privat, in the middle of a boring part of Correze, and for the second week, we went to Alpe D’Huez, or more specifically, Bourg d’Oisans. We had booked the campsite at La Berarde, but on the 23rd June, it was washed away in a rockslide, which still makes me really sad. We spent so many happy years there, both before and after kids.
Camping in the valley was by comparison hideous, roasting hot at 35 degrees and sandwiched in next to seemingly every middle aged man in Lycra in the Netherlands. The kids loved the pool, but given our preceding camping week in St. Privat was just us next to a lake, with all the space in the world, and a campfire, it was a hard sell. I must admit I assumed they would prefer clear water to murky dark peat water in a lake, but it was no contest.
We enjoyed escaping the heat at the top of the cable car at the ice caves, but they took forever and the food was of course very expensive. It was still incredibly hot even at 3500 metres.
Richard aced a nice red mountain biking route. I spent most of the week driving people up and down the mountain for the descents, or for walking routes. My favourite afternoon was at the top of the Refuge du Galibier, eating the most amazing Tarte aux Myrtilles I’ve ever tasted.
On the way home, we stopped in Beaune once again. This time I picked the Ibis just outside the old town, as the van with the bike trailer would not really work in the narrow streets. It was a great hotel, with lovely clean rooms and games for the kids. We had dinner at the square where I first asked Richard to move in with me, 13 years ago.
It was the most amazing holiday overall. The week in the Oisans was predictably all fun bike rides, swimming, great running routes albeit very, very hot, and the awesome views of the high mountains. But the week in the middle of France, where we used to go as teenagers, was magical. The food was all incredibly cheap, the campsite we had to ourselves was 100 euros for a week with three tents and a car, and the lake was beautiful. There was some disappointing stuff on one evening when the children wouldn’t go to sleep, and I lost my cool and it was all a bit devastating. Sorry kids, can’t change it now. Maybe you’ll do better than me one day.
Later in August, Richard went bike packing to the Brecon Beacons, and stayed in a creepy little bothy:
In September, I went to New York for work, and when I came back, I went straight to a 50th birthday, followed by Bedford Half Marathon the next day. Since then my fitness has completely dropped off. I probably need to find another race to enter in the new year, like everyone else.
There was some fun local flooding, a seemingly endless succession of Scout/Cub/Beaver camps, and my eldest’s 11th birthday. I went back to America at the beginning of November, and had the interesting experience of being there for the re-election of Donald Trump. I kind of shrugged when I woke up to the news. He won both the electoral college and the popular vote, and it’s not as if people didn’t know who they were voting for.
At the end of November, we went to Rome for our 11th wedding anniversary. I won’t post any photos of that, because I think I have run out of space. We hosted a pretty fun Christmas party in our little Christmas grotto living room, and that pretty much rounds off a pretty fun year that explains why I never seem to have any money.
The resting writer 
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