Le Tour de France

So.... on the 17th of July we drove from Germany to France (through the length of Switzerland) picking up Mike along the way in Munich. We arrived in the centre of Le Bourg d'Oisans, which is the town at the foot of the infamous climb to Alpe d'huez, and just followed the first camping signs we saw. We were SO lucky as the camp site was closed but the very nice and very french Charlotte (pronounced very aggressively as Charlotah) let us take the VERY LAST available spot with power. So we negotiated the mud and made ourselves at home... 1 metre from our neighbours on all sides. hmmmmm.... cosy. We made a gourmet meal of spaghetti with tomato sauce, drank some wine and went to bed. Welcome to the exciting & squashed up life of a campervanner Mike!
The next day was a rest day for the tour riders so we too were at leisure. We decided to tackle to ride to Gap (we only got 2/3rds of the way) as on the Tuesday the riders would be finishing there. So off we went on a full day of riding, we did 120kms and 2200m of climbing (which is ALOT for us unconditioned mtb'ers!), stopping off in the aptly named village of Corps for lunch at a lovely roadside cafe. We were all amazed at how many cyclists we saw - we easily saw 500 others out there. And also, how considerate the motorists were. The drivers REALLY move into the left hand lane to overtake. And wait behind you if a car is coming from the other direction. It blew our minds!! And the roads are just sooooooooooooooooooooooo good. So well signposted and safe and not a pothole in sight. For us Kenyanised cyclists it was a real treat and we all really enjoyed the day.
Tuesday dawned and it was raining. And it basically didnt stop until late afternoon. The 3 of us had headed into town in the morning to try to get to Gap by motorised transport but to no avail. So we accepted the fact that we wouldnt be seeing the riders that day.... and went shopping instead! We bought rain jackets, roxy clothes, sunglasses, a very cute TDF yellow jersey baby grow for Nico and Mike bought a full on North face jacket as he'd been totally unprepared for the COLD and wet weather. Crazy European summer. We also went to the large supermarket and spent hours waiting in the que to pay... it seemed every dutchman and his family had landed in Bourg d'Oisans. The dutch REALLY are are passionate bunch.
So, once the weather (seemed to have) cleared up we decided to ride up Alpe d'huez. I was the clever one and wore ALL my winter kit. The boys (who copied each other's attire for every ride) were macho and took no warm stuff. It started raining half way up the ascent... and by the time we descended the temperature was rock bottom. The silly boys had to stop at a shop at the top and buy fleeces, winter gloves and beanies!
It was really unbelievable how many people were camped out along the roadside all the way up the climb to Alpe d'huez.
There was hardly a free spot. And this was all 4 days BEFORE the riders were even due to get there! It was a 12km climb (with 1200m of climbing!) but we all rode up with grins on our faces as it the atmosphere, even in the rain was totally carnival like. One corner in particular was very festive - Little Holland. They had a DJ stand set up and were blasting out tunes, they had banners and beer and there were loads of drunk dutchmen singing along to their funny songs and throwing their chairs in the air. All very funny. I think after that the 3 of us really started to feel the TDF vibe.
On Wednesday the weather was great and we 'popped' over to Briançon on our bikes, there and back meant 140kms and 2650m of climbing in total. The tour riders had it easy man! We got to Briançon in plenty of time to catch first the caravan, and then the riders (and all the zillions of official cars that are part of the procession). The caravan was amazing to us Tour Virgins. We'd never seen anything like it. Loads and loads of floats from companies like Haribo, some bread company, Cofidis, Carrefour and the main sponsor, LCL etc etc drove buy, all done up SO creatively and SO over the top. And they all would throw freebies out at the spectators as they passed. I had some pesky kids next to me so didnt score that much of the rubbish but I got better by the end of our trip.
The riders came past in a flash even though we were at the top of a 1km unbelievably steep hill. There was a breakaway first of about 8 riders, none of which I really knew, and then the main pelaton was just this huge moving mass of panting riders. We were able to spot Thor Hushovd and Cadel Evans and thats about it! So our 3 hour ride there, followed by a 3 hour wait and 3 hour ride back was only rewarded with the briefest of sightings... we wanted MORE. And boy did we get more. That was just a warm up glimpse of our heroes!
That evening we went for a cool meal in the buzzing town of Burg dwaZonne to give ourselves a break from camplife.
I'll use Mike's words for our next day, Thursday the 21st - Stage 18:
'Apologies before I begin…I’ve had TWO G&T’s [and then we moved on to the wine] and I can’t feel any of my limbs, so I hate to think what this email will read like on a sober morning…
What a day! I’m sure some of you caught the excitement on TV. That 88 riders made it outside cut-off (that’s near on half the peloton!!) says it all. A monster stage if there ever was one: Col D’Angel, Col de L’Izoard and to cap it off, Col de Galibier…all hors cateogrie. No wonder.
We rode up to Col de Lautaret [40km and 1100m of climbing one way], the turn off to the last 8km up Galibier, as promised. The initial plan was to do Galibier itself, but a curt “pas de bicyclette” from a not-yet-fed-up Gendarme put paid to that plan.
The crowds. If ever there was a time not to be agoraphobic, this was it. Hundreds? Thousands? Seriously, it was completely nuts. We placed ourselves on a slope 400m up the climb and waited for the carnival to begin. If yesterday was spectacular, today’s was out of this world. The Caravan was even more festive and, the veterans that we now are, were able to place ourselves strategically enough to come away with a few goodies.
The riders shooting past were nothing but amazing…how they can haul up that climb as fast as they were is something unbelievable…and over all too soon.
The way back down to home base was rather hair raising…hundreds of bikes and more than a few cars heading down the same direction. There was only one way to get down and that was fast, to avoid all the idiots who don’t know how to ride in a straight line. '
A video of Andy and the astana rider (who Andy soon dropped after this):


So, Friday, our last day, and the tours' deciding stage arrived and the weather was beautiful at last. We'd heard music coming from the mountain and seen the fireworks going off the night before, so the excitement and build up was there. I was rooting for both Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans as they both seem like such cool guys and both deserve the title for all their hard work and amazing talent. In previous tours I either haven't been that interested or someone I didn't like was winning... now 2 amazing guys were in contention and we were there to support them. AWESOMENESS!


So that evening we decided to go for pizza (I had one without cheese) but obviously so did the rest of the world. But we found a cool spot with a weird but very friendly waitress and waited hours for our meal. While we were seated there, so was the traffic. People trying to drive out of the town had in the end turned their cars off as they didn't move an inch the entire evening! We had packed everything up and got the team bus ready for our early departure the next day, but got it stuck in the surrounding marsh when turning it around... nothing the 8 strong Norwegian guys from next door couldn't cope with! That bus must weigh at least 3 tons?! I was cheering on from the sidelines :)
And so we left jolly france at 5am the next morning, drove Mike to Zurich and then we drove home to Benedikt's parents house to see our darling son who got even cuter in the week we were away. And we got home just in time for his first birthday. More on that next.......

So I now wear glasses

When I remember that to wear them that is. They dont really seem to make any difference? But apparently my left eye is a lot weaker than my right eye... my left is 125 SPH while my right is 025 SPH for those of you who know how eye measurements work. I chose some very subtle plain brown oakley frames... thought I'd stay under the radar with my first pair. Then in the future once I'm used to myself wearing glasses I'll bling them up. I'm supposed to wear them for night driving and watching TV mostly. But the optometrist said I could wear them all the time if I wanted. They still feel a bit odd on and it feels like I'm straining my eyes the whole time... so pole pole I'll wear them more and more.

Yoga has been going exceptionally well lately. I can almost do the whole primary series. Just have to be able to get both feet behind my head! I am not far though from doing that, would you believe. My teacher has actually started me on the second series which is exciting. I am just LOVING my ashtanga yoga and am so energised by it. Here is my latest trick: (its a back walk over... I can do it with straight legs I promise!)


I've started growing sprouts. I got a cool sprout growing contraption last month and have basically been trying to sprout anything that doesnt move ever since. Its SO cool and SO easy and SO rewarding. I've been sprouting: Alfalfa, mung beans, soya beans, flaxseed and fenugreek. The sunflower seeds, fennel seeds and dill seeds did not work. Sprouts in general are just SOoooooooooooo good for you!

On that topic, I've been officially vegan now for over 6 months and am loving it. I've really been researching what I eat and what Nicolas eats and have been making some seriously healthy meals. I am passionate about eating healthily and staying healthy. So is Benedikt cos he has to be, living with me! I will never go back to be just vegetarian and am loving learning more and more each day about our food choices.

We've been cycling quite a bit lately as we are off to follow the Tour de France on Wednesday! Our honeymoon!! BUT we have a friend coming who is sharing the campervan with us :( ha ha ha ha. So we will be in France for a week and Germany for 10 days. Following the TDF is a dream for both of us and we are besides ourslves with excitement. So watch for us on telly during stages 16 to 19.
We are having Nico's first birthday party while we are in Germany, with all the family and some friends. So will be plenty of news when we are back beginning of August.
Check this video out from a race we did yesterday. It was a 9km circuit race where you did as many laps as you liked until you got your fastest time. Benedikt had the fasted time out of EVERYONE!! He's so fast and sexy!

On a side note, I've removed the 'new' from the title of this blog, as we've been here 2 years now and it no longer feels like a new life!

Nico's been walking for the last 6 weeks

So now we have a toddler as Elena quite rightly pointed out. He took his first few steps on Kilifi Beach during our wedding week, when he was still 9 months old! But we didn't really count it, as on the beach its a lot easier to stumble along and he only did it a couple of times. We thought it was just fluke. Even though it was exciting. THEN once we got back to Nairobi and a few days later his Aunty Mandy was playing with him, he just let go and started walking! It was all VERY exciting. He would walk between the 2 of us screaming and having a great time. So by then he was 10 months... still pretty early for a boy. Yay, we have a winner!!
So here he is at the end of the week when he REALLY started walking properly - first week of June 2011:

Using his zimmerframe in between:

Aunty Mandy was instrumental in getting him walk!


A week later he could walk a whole stretch:


And here he is last week... such a clever little thing answering the phone already!

So these days he walks everywhere, all the time. He still falls a lot.. and has the facial roasties and bruises to prove it... but he is getting better and better by the day. He can almost bring himself to standing too... thats the next tricky thing. He can bend down and pick objects up off the ground quite well now.
He's just too cute! Almost one... scary!

Mt Longonot with Boz

So my sister stayed with us after the wedding holiday for a week in Nairobi before jet-setting off to England for another wedding.
Wednesday the 1st of June was a public holiday so we climbed Mt Longonot, a dormant volcano in the Great Rift Valley.

So for the rest of her week we pretty much lived my usual daily life. We went for awesome trail runs in the forest with my running buddie, Farah. Mandy and I played tennis at Muthaiga Club - our annual tennis games are becoming a tradition now, we even have special outfits for the Grant Event.
We went to the Triangle Market where Mandy bought a giraffe statue for her English friends who were getting married, as it had been a long standing joke, and it was a really cool giraffe. We bought tons of other stuff too, as you do in these fabulous markets: Kikoys, scarves, necklaces, lime stone hippos/bowls, lovely (unframed) paintings, cool handmade instruments and DIVINE leather sandals. Although I bought my last ever leather product when I bought my wedding sandals and I vowed as a vegan that was the last animal product I would wear!
The time went far too fast and before we knew it, it was time for Mandy to fly off. And for Collin to come back from Mt Kenya for a night. The 2 of them just missed each other at our house too - such a pity!
So we had sushi and wine with Collin, then took him on a trail run and to the shops the next day before he too, flew home.
And that was it! The last of the wedding guests gone. Nice in a way to return to normal life, but boy did I miss my family. They always leave such a big GAP

The Real Royal Wedding - 21 May 2011

Wow, WHAT an amazing day! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I was totally relaxed and calm and hadn't been at all nervous in the days leading up to it. The only thing that made me uptight on the day was when Benedikt was in a flat spin about the looming storm! We had had a substantial rain shower during the morning and a storm had been brewing over the sea for a good couple of hours during the lunch time preparations. It hit us at about 1:30pm, did its thing and then blew over by about 2:30pm thank goodness (the wedding started at 3:30pm). So we were very lucky with the weather as the sun came out nicely for the rest of the day. But the rain did make setting up a bit difficult as we had to keep everything indoors. Not that I had much to do with that... I was chilling all day while my minions went about their respective tasks!
We started off the day with a yoga class that Oriane, my amazing yoga teacher, took. Everyone loved it! And I made her show up her amazing strength and flexibility which wowed us all.

Next I went and had my nails done and my sister put my hair in curlers...

So Sabine, who runs a rose farm in Thika, delivered our rose the evening before.... over 600 of them! PLUS a massive box of petals. And all as a gift!

So the guests started arriving and hung out at the front of the house while my sister was madly trying to get us all ready....

And then it was time.... I was ready, the beach was ready. Boz was almost ready... she just had to have her dress safety pinned in a big bunch at the back...


Da da dada, da da dada... Here comes the bride, 60 inches wide

So then everyone mosied up to the front garden and had bitings and drinks while we faffed around with photos

Of course our beloved dogs had come with us on the holiday and were very much a part of the wedding:



So then came the photo session... it didnt last too long and it was FUN! Especially with the punch going down so nicely. There are ZILLIONS of photos I had to go through so you're lucky I narrowed them down:


Phew, this is taking me forever! And I'm only half way. Hope you are all reading this while supposed to be working ;)



So then it was time for the reception:

So then everyone got down;

After the fun rain interruption we returned to our seats and carried on. Philip gave an awesome speech. And so did both our dad's - great concise meaningful ones. My sister also spoke, she was very funny yet very soppy! She even did a bit in German.

Everyone landed up in the pool of course


Floating candle time:

And finally, my gay brother

And really finally.... we did our cha cha the next day


So there you go... as you can see I didnt hold back on the photos of the funnest, prettiest, most relaxed, happiest wedding ever!