Rudie's Tour de France - Troisième Édition

Bonjour mes amis - it's the last time that I'll be saying that for a while.

Samedi - Saturday
Oh well, all good things must come to an end I guess. After six days of swimming, eating and going for nice walks, it was time to head back to England.

Four hours travelling, so it's time for a 'comfort break'. I had to make a bit of room in the back for all of the wine that they brought home!

Guess what? It's The Tour de France again! The penultimate stage, an individual time trial from Bergerac to Périgueux in the Dordogne, we racked up somewhere in the middle of it. 

There goes Peter Sagan - he won this years 'Green Jersey'. During each race there are sprints where points are awarded, he obviously got the most points. 

They set off about a minute apart, with the last placed rider overall going first.

There goes another one...

...and another

At last the leader and eventual winner of The Tour, Vincenzo Nibali from Italy came through. Cor blimey what a fuss, there were cameramen on motorbikes and even a helicopter above filming him (I wonder if I was on TV?)

After patiently watching the time trial for the last two hours, I got my reward, a bonus swim. Forget  about The Tour de France - I was the the main attraction now 

Normality returns to this small village - the circus has gone

That was the last I'd see of this years tour - I don't think that I'll ever understand you humans

After watching the time trial we headed up to Périgueux, to the hotel that we were staying at. What a nightmare, all of the roads were closed off and it took forever to find a route to our hotel

At last, a glass of Rosé, not for me, I got water - thankfully

And you expect me to read that?

Dimanche - Sunday

 We spent Sunday morning having a wander around Périgueux

It might be a lovely view but I really want to go for a swim in there

Hot work this sightseeing malarky 

After lunch we drove to Chateau de Commarque - some old castle in the middle of nowhere

It was good fun walking around the ruins - honestly!

Another 'King of the Castle' shot

I love being on holiday

Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil - try saying that with a mouthful 

A small village with houses built into the rock - okay if you're into that sort of thing 

What I've learnt about France so far - All the shops close on a Sunday and the French like everything their own way. French dogs shrug their shoulders in that 'je ne sais pas' way! I get the impression that the French don't want to work, I understand that - I don't want to! 

Who am I to criticise? I'm just a dog on holiday in their country and they are very nice to us chiens.

Even the restaurant at our hotel was closed on Sunday and there wasn't any good places to eat nearby, so mum and dad decided to get a pizza. I had my grub while we waited for them to be cooked

They were nice pizzas, I managed to nab a slice or two

It's been a long day

Lundi - Monday
On the move again after a weekend in the Dordogne. Today we went from Périgueux to Compiègne via Paris.

South of Paris and I'm feeling Gidy

Hooray we've arrived in Compiègne

View from a bridge, mmm I can smell the water...

... but I'm not allowed in

Outside the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) 

That's the view from our room - what a tease, I can see the river, smell it, but I can't swim in it

A family picture but I'm not interested

Soprano, Italian restaurant - they let me in but I had to behave myself. Like I said earlier the French are very dog friendly

The last day of the holiday

Bon Voyage. Don't leave your pet at home!

So that was my holiday, we did just over 2,000 miles and got to see lot's of France. I think that I was a good boy and hopefully I'll get to go again!
À bientôt! - that's enough French.

Rudie's Tour de France - Deuxième Édition

Bonjour mes amis
Welcome to the second part of my french holiday blog.
We finally made it to our home in Quillan on Sunday night, where we stayed for the next six days.

The Aude - I remember it well

What's that sign all about? 'Pas de chiens' - I don't know what they're on about!

Further downstream I finally got the chance of a swim

Throw it then 

Happy days

Leaving Le Brennus after they've had their wifi fix and a beer

Tuesday morning we were up early to see another stage of The Tour de France, near to Fanjeaux, about 20 miles from our house. There's the caravan - I don't know what all the fuss is about.

We set up camp by the roadside, nicely shaded by Plane trees and surrounded by grapevines and sunflowers and waited and waited

What the f**k is that?

Oh that's the Caravan! 

Madness, but good fun

Here's all the goodies we got

An hour later and at last, here comes The Tour de France, within a few seconds it was gone!

After all that time sitting by a roadside in the middle of nowhere it was time for a picnic, in Fanjeaux

How's that for a view

Time for a swim after all of that excitement 

Campaigne-sur-Aude

Back home - look what dad nicked!

All of the doors are shut.. 

...oh well I'll go in through the window 

Another day another swim

Next to where grandad had his allotment in Quillan

Château de Puilaurens, an old Cathar castle near to Axat

Bit of a hike

You expecting me to read this?

We made it to the top - what a stupid place to build a castle, why on earth didn't they build it at the bottom? Surely it would have been a lot easier.

Mind you the views were good

I'm the king of the castle

After a picnic by the river at Saint-Martin-Lys it was time for another swim

Look at those silly sods turning their raft over

I'm in

Lovin' it

I'm not letting them spoil my fun

Our last day in Quillan, before heading home, which meant a trip to the vets...

...for a tapeworm jab. Oh by the way, I did embarrass dad by having a 'pee pee' on the floor!

This was to be my last holiday swim, at Fa, a small village near to Esperaza

Here's a random French bitch that I met...

...she wasn't interested in playing though. And that's the nearest I got to any holiday romance!

Well I really enjoyed my time in Quillan, swimming everyday and just vegging about, although it went by far too fast. I'll post my final holiday blog soon.
Avec plaisir
Rudie Le Chien xx