Lent declutter challenge, the halfway point

Lent declutter challenge, days 1 - 4

Lent declutter challenge

Today marks the halfway point in the forty days of Lent and going by the comments I received following my Lent declutter challenge post, I seem to have touched a chord with many of you. My main reason for sharing the challenge on the blog was to give myself some accountability by getting it out there. The fact so many of you have told me you have now been encouraged to have a clear out too, has been a bonus. You have no idea how happy you have made me, so thank you, and keep going.

 

We are doing our best to donate or recycle as much as possible, rather than just throw things in landfill and one email I received asked about charity shops in France and where to find them. I guess we are lucky here with a Secours Catholique in Chef-Boutonne, plus ARK and HOPE both within a half an hour drive away. We have put aside bags of clothing to donate to the Secours Catholique boutique as I know that local families in dire need can go to the Mairie and be given vouchers to spend in the shop. 

Donations made by ARK 79

 

ARK and HOPE both take and sell books, furniture, bric-a-brac and clothing, with all funds raised going to help animal charities both locally and abroad and I have bags of bits waiting to go to them, plus some old towels and bedding that will go directly to the animal shelter near Angouleme. 

 

Le Relais textile bank in the village

We have also been making good use of the clothes and textile bank in the village run by Le Relais, because we can fill a bag, strap it onto the bike and drop it off without having to use the car – another environmental tick. The email I received, encouraged me to look Le Relais up online, to find out who they are and what will happen to the bagged-up donations we have posted into the container. 

 

Le Relais infographic

Le Relais are linked to the Emmaus network and have around 22,000 textile banks all over France, allowing them to collect almost 90,000 tonnes a year of items that might have ended up in landfill. They state that on average each person gets rid of 12kg of textiles, every year, and I feel I may have exceeded this figure somewhat in the last twenty days, but it has been a good few years since some areas were sorted and cleared out.

 

In the last thirty years, Le Relais have created a job a week, mostly in their sorting centres, generally employing people who have struggled to find jobs elsewhere, and almost all the textiles go on to have a new purpose:

 

55% are exported to Africa 

26% (cottons and wools) become thermal and acoustic insulation

10% become cleaning rags 

6% are sold in their boutiques in France

3% are incinerated in biomass furnaces

 

Lent declutter challenge, days 5 - 8

We have filled our local bin with clothes, towels, bedding, shoes and handbags, so this clear out really has been a win-win situation for so many people and associations all over the world - and we are pretty confident it will only be Adrian’s undies that end up in the 3% heading to the biomass furnace. 

Lent declutter challenge, days 9 - 12

All our other items have been carefully sorted at our local déchetterie, so all old batteries, electronic items, cardboard boxes, ink cartridges etc have all ended up where they can be recycled. All the paperwork I’ve shredded has gone in our compost heap and all magazines and other paper have been taken to our village recycling point.  

Lent declutter challenge, days 13 - 16

This week it will be the kitchen that comes under scrutiny, including the storage boxes under the stairs that at the moment cause Adrian to mutter and curse every time he is looking for something. I might only be halfway through the challenge, but I already feel like a winner. I’m more in control of the house and its contents than I’ve ever been, and the added bonus has been we are now using and enjoying some really pretty cups and glasses that have sat in cupboards for decades. In fact, the cups were weddings gifts, so it’s quite appropriate they are finally being used as we approach our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

 

Lent declutter, days 17 - 20

 

My declutter challenge this Lent

A family meal out at N@APH79

Manic March

February left us with a shiver as the March winds arrived early. The last few mornings of the month were 0ºc with an icy easterly wind giving a real feel of -10ºc. It was the sort of weather that encouraged comfort eating and we don’t need much encouraging to stray from the healthy track. While chunky vegetable soups and lentil with sweet potato bakes ticked the box for healthy and comforting, we also indulged in one of our favourite cheesy mountain dishes, tartiflette. Even served with a side salad this oven baked potato and melted reblochon cheese dish can’t really be classed as healthy. When Ed and Pearl visit, a meal at the village restaurant is a must, the raclette cheese featuring on the pizzas and in the burgers.

Bugnes for Mardi Gras

 

As February drew to a close, Lent arrived, and here in France, it brought with it more tasty temptations. I know, traditionally, Lent is a time to do without, but it seems no one has told our local boulangerie that. In our area of France, Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, is celebrated with bugnes, a light doughnut-type delicacy. The weekend before Lent, we treated ourselves to a bugne each when they were tantalisingly left on display at the till at the boulangerie. A week later when we cycled in for coffee and croissants at the market, despite Lent having started, the tempting bugnes were still there and so we treated ourselves once more. Would you believe it, but yesterday, for the third Saturday in a row, the same thing happened? In our defence, the March wind has made cycling quite hard work, and we’ve also taken on another challenge this Lent that has certainly been hard work, both physically and mentally.

My Lent declutter challenge, day 4

 

40 mins a day, for 40 days

Lent is a time to give something up and I have struck gold on an idea to tackle the clutter in a mega Spring clean this Lent. The plan is simple, spend 40 minutes a day, for the 40 days of Lent, and fill one bag of something every day, to be sold, recycled, or donated. By focussing on one cupboard, or set of drawers, or cluttered corner at a time, and setting a time limit, I won’t get too overwhelmed by the task in hand, something I know I’ve had a problem with in the past. I can’t be the only one who has emptied an entire wardrobe onto the bed and then run out of time and energy deciding what stays and what goes, resulting in more piles on the floor than there were before I started, and a job that never seems to get finished.

My Lent declutter challenge, day 8

 

We are now on day twelve and so far, so good. I’ve sorted through and reorganised all my clothes, shoes, cycling gear and handbags, plus the large wicker storage baskets on top of the wardrobes. I am ashamed to admit that these contained more scarves, gloves and shoes than I even remember owning. As each day’s bag has been filled, the contents have been sorted, and I’ve cycled 27km just going back and forth to the recycling point at the end of the village, occasionally adding in a loop around the allotments.

 

I’m not sure who has been more traumatised by this unusual behaviour, Adrian or the dog. While he has embraced my madness and matched it, clearing a carload of old and obsolete electronics from the dumping ground we once called a dining room, he’s also rolled his eyes more than once at some of my mad ideas. Poor Mini, however is finding it all quite upsetting. Gone is the calm of inactivity she has grown accustomed to, and while she watches suspiciously as we sort through piles and shelves, the minute we start loading the car, or moving bags and boxes out, she is at our heals. “Are you going somewhere? You won’t move house and leave me, will you?”. Poor Mini.

 

Finding a treasure of memories from 2010

Some of our finds have included love letters from over 25yrs ago, an empty pink champagne bottle that neither of us can remember the occasion for which we drank the contents, and a folder full of holiday receipts, maps and the itinerary from our 2010 road trip for Adrian's 40th birthday. 

French Entrée Magazine article Mar/Apr 2012

I also found lots of magazine articles going back over ten years where the blog and our life in France were featured (including one about the 2010 road trip). Adrian managed to fill an entire bag with socks he never wears. 

A curious find in our curiosity's cabinet

Then there was the dead lizard in our curiosity’s cabinet, and while no one can claim that isn’t a curious thing to have, I’m not sure it’s something we need to hang on to.

 

Whilst I would love a place for everything and everything tidied away in its place, this exercise has made me realise that the things I put away in cupboards, storage boxes, drawers etc, I don’t use. I’ve always been a fan of the “Less is More” mantra and now I know that the less things I own, the better I function. 

 

As week three of Lent begins, it’s time to tackle the bookshelves, then the towels and bedding in the laundry room. Wish me luck and if you don’t hear from me, send help, I’m probably trapped under a heap of duvets, lost in a book. 

I’d love to know what is the weirdest thing you have found when having a clearout?

Waving farewell to a wild January

Coffee and croissants in Chef-Boutonne

Au revoir January

We have reached the last Sunday in January and I’m ready to bid it au revoir. Looking back in my diary I can’t quite believe what we have managed to fit in, although I guess being busy has helped the time pass quickly.

 

The January weather has treated us a bit of everything. We guessed the ferry crossing to Dieppe was going to be rough when we found a plentiful pile of sick bags in our cabin. It was a cacophony of booms, groans and creaks, rattles, crashes and lurches, but surprisingly calm cocooned in the dark of the cabin. The closer we got to France, the calmer the water and my mind. Back home, we’ve had torrential rain that left fields and ditches flooded and overflowing, hurricane Gérard who blew in with gale force winds of 100km/hour, and a week later, snow heavy enough to settle, although it didn’t hang around for too long. The only thing we have been missing are the cold and crisp days with blue skies and sunshine – our favourite winter days.

Brompton touring in Bristol

 

This year we are planning some sparkling adventures to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary, but can we succeed in getting away at least once a month for a cycling mini break? The maps are out, our Bromptons are fully loaded, and we plan to use them - with at least one cycle tour every month, whatever the weather, that must include at least one night away and at least one hundred kilometres of pedalling. Having spent three weeks in the UK over Christmas and New Year, we wasted no time in ticking off January’s challenge with a three night, one hundred-and nine-kilometre getaway in Bath and Bristol at the beginning of the month. We were blinded by bright sunlight on our way into Bath, soaked to the skin the following morning, tossed around by a stiff coastal wind in Portishead and cycled up lanes flowing like a river, but I can’t think of a better way to have started the year. It certainly beat what was waiting for us on our return to France.

 

The French health service is big on screening and now I’m in my (early) fifties, I’m on their lists. Last January it was the mammogram and ultra-sound, followed by a recall, as nothing is ever normal with me. Thankfully in March, after a bit more squishing and poking, I was given the all-clear. Before Dad was diagnosed with liver cancer, he’d had some polyps removed from his colon. Our doctor was adamant that this meant there would be no bowel cancer self-test to post off for me, so I was sent directly to a gastroenterologist and a colonoscopy was booked. Life got a bit hectic towards the latter part of last year, so I rearranged my October appointment, for January. What kind of idiot puts their bowel under scrutiny following three weeks of festive indulging with family? That would be me.

 

Within a week of returning home, I was following the dullest diet imaginable, avoiding all the foods I was craving, fruits, nuts, chickpeas, lentils, vegetables. It was almost more of a struggle to stomach than the cocktail of laxatives that was dinner the night before the proceedure, almost. I’m delighted to report my colon is in tip-top condition, scoring 9/9 on the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale, and there were no pesky polyps to deal with. I’m now the proud owner of a fab set of colour colon photos too, but I won’t share them here.

 

Ed performing at Chansons d'un Soir, Poitiers

 

It was a relief to get it over and done with, especially as we’d not met up with Ed and Pearl, or any of our local friends, to reduce the risk of catching covid. Ed came home to cook for us the day of the colonoscopy (isn’t he lovely), and this week we spent an evening with them in Poitiers, watching him perform at a music school event ‘Chansons d’un Soir’. You have no idea how proud I was, watching him playing the guitar and singing, switching effortlessly from French to English and back again.

Sunday dinner at Le Canton, Longré

 

Last weekend we belatedly celebrated Christmas with our friends, dining out at a local restaurant and following that with an afternoon of fun and games. Research suggests that in order to keep our brains active and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, socialising with friends, playing games, reading and writing are just as important as lifestyle choices of regular exercise, a healthy diet, not smoking and drinking alcohol in moderation. Seeing as we cycled to the lunch, which was delicious and sensibly portioned, I think we ticked all the boxes there.

 

We have also slipped back into the comforting routine of cycling to Chef-Boutonne for the Saturday morning market. It’s not the vibrant, bustling event of the summer, but the fresh air, rosy cheeks and meeting friends for coffee and croissants makes it the perfect way to start the weekend. 

The sun is shining today, so my fingers are crossed that February will be welcomed in with crisp, clear sunny days to put a smile on my face.

As another year draws to a close

Three years of owning my Brompton

Today I am celebrating three years of Brompton bicycle ownership and I’m still enjoying the fun, fitness and freedom that #KTTinyTourer has given me. Every year has brought new adventures and new places to explore, as well as seen me challenge myself to longer distances and harder mountain climbs. It is no exaggeration to say that owning a Brompton has changed my life for the better.

 

January cycling

Despite turning fifty this year, I struggled to set myself cycling challenges for 2021. I would have loved a long-distance tour, ideally one that crossed France north to south, or east to west, or maybe from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, but that wasn’t going to be possible. I did decide on a mini challenge, to cycle a minimum of 10km every day, during the month of January, which was a real success in terms of helping to beat the winter blues, so my plan is to make it an annual January challenge. 

 

Having cycled less than one thousand kilometres the year before I bought Katie the Tiny Tourer, in my first two years I’d clocked up almost eight thousand five hundred kilometres, so decided it would be a good challenge to reach fifteen thousand kilometres by the end of 2021. Sadly, I have failed, but only just. For a year where Covid-19 restrictions and work slightly clipped my cycle touring wings, I still managed to cycle further than last year and have reached the grand total of fourteen thousand kilometres since December 2019. I can’t be too harsh on myself. 

 

My 2021 cycling highlights 

We knew there would be no summer holiday this year, as I was working from the beginning of July until the end of October, but we did manage to squeeze in some unforgettable short breaks. 

Salers in the Cantal
Click here for more photos

 

In May we spent five days cycling in the Corrèze, Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme departments, where the climbing rivalled that of the Pyrénees and the gorges of the Haute Dordogne were stunning. 

 

Looking down on the Lot
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In June we returned to the Lot where we enjoyed cycling through vineyards and river gorges, as well as sampling lots of patisseries. It was only a five-day break, but we clocked up four hundred kilometres, including two 100km days. 

 

Aubeterre-sur-Dronne

In July we spent a long weekend in Chalais, in the south of the Charente department, where the weather wasn’t as kind and the accommodation was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. We still managed some lovely cycling through sunflower fields and along old railway lines, taking in pretty locations like Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, Riberac and Montguyon.

 

Summer in the Cognac vineyards

In September we celebrated my birthday with two 100km days, one to Jarnac, through the Cognac vineyards, and one crossing the chemins de Saint-Jacques pilgrimage route to St-Jean-d’Angély.

 

Autumn in Angouleme
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In October we had an autumn overnighter to Angouleme, a short and sweet escape where we avoided the worst of the wet and windy weather and dined like kings on local steak. 

 

My library commute

I also really enjoyed the seven-kilometre commute to Chef-Boutonne for the four months I was working at the library. As well as proving to me that commuting by bike, even if we live in a rural village location, is a viable option, it was also a great way to clear my head and shift my brain between French and English at the end of the day. I was impressed that for a short commute, I still managed to clock up over one thousand, one hundred kilometres, meaning a huge saving on fuel for the car.

 

I can’t deny that these last two months have been rather sparse in terms of cycling, but the weather has been pretty rubbish, yet again. Even as I write this, the wind is howling outside, and the rain has been falling steadily since Boxing Day. I am, however, extremely thankful that Christmas Day was bright and sunny and so much better than forecast, meaning for the third year in a row, we managed our Christmas Day bike ride.

 

Morning coffee on Christmas Day

This year we cycled a fifty-two-kilometre loop, stopping at a lavoir (stone wash house) for morning coffee and then on to our favourite covered picnic table (with restored bread oven) for lunch. The village of La Faye also provided us with a fresh baguette from a vending machine, and my first experience at using one.

Our Christmas Day picnic

 

We laid out our baguette, naan breads, humous, carrot sticks, pâté en croûte (like a cross between a pork pie and a sausage roll), coleslaw, tuna pasta salad, Pays Basque pâté, satsumas and mince pies, plus the bottles of beer, and then two friends turned up. With smoked salmon and prawns, oatcakes, sparkling white wine, sparklers and great conversation, they certainly added some sparkle to our Christmas Day.

 

Christmas Day blue skies and sunshine

The longer we sat, the warmer the sun got, and two hours had passed before we realised it. This was markedly different to last year when we got cold sitting for a quick picnic. Thanks to the great weather, we set off for a longer route home than originally planned, treating ourselves to hot chocolate, cake and pressies when we got home at 16h30. It was a lovely, relaxing but active day, with none of the usual stress of a big Christmas dinner.

 

Our Boxing Day turkey meal

 

We did have a more traditional turkey meal on Boxing Day with Ed and Pearl, but even this was an easier option than a roast dinner. The slow cooker sorted out the spicy red cabbage and while the dauphinois potatoes were in the oven I cooked the diced turkey with lardons, onions, mushrooms, sprouts and crème fraiche.

 

Life seems to have developed a habit of throwing the unexpected our way, so I’m happy to let 2022 show me where it’s going to take us and our Bromptons. I know there is still lots of France to explore by bike and many adventures waiting for us.

This post brings with it my sincere wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all. 

   

For Ben; One Year on, The road to Bangkok (and back)

#ForBen The Road to Bangkok

Today is the day we should have been heading south east to the Correze for a few days away to celebrate our wedding anniversary this weekend. Thanks to current restrictions, the furthest we got was twenty kilometres to the nearest Lidl for the weekly shop. The fields of bright yellow colza, the blossom in the apple orchards and the wisteria dripping from stone cottages, certainly brightened up the drive, but left me wondering what sights and colours we’d have seen on our way to the Correze.

 

Instead of the routes Adrian had planned for us while away, our cycling will have to stay closer to home, but for the next fortnight it’s the kilometres that will count, not where we go.

 

Last April we lost our nephew Ben, and in his memory, we took part in a virtual challenge with teams logging their kilometres as they covered the distance from Loughborough in the UK to Istanbul in Turkey, and back again. This event reached thousands of people and raised over £30,000 for mental health charities working towards suicide prevention in young people.

 

#ForBen The Road to Bangkok

This year, Ben’s squadron friends and family set their virtual sights on Bangkok and walkers and runners have been logging the kilometres since Ben’s birthday on 2^nd April. They are now halfway there and have opened up the challenge to cyclists too, in the hope we can get them there and back again before 27^th April, the first anniversary of Ben’s death.

 

There are no teams this year, just a link to log your activity, on foot or two wheels. If you’d like to join us, here is the link to use.

 

To check on the progress of the challenge, click here.

 

To read more about the challenge and follow the regular updates, see the For Ben Facebook page here.

 

Finally, here is the link to the Virgin Money page, which has already got a total of almost £5,000 which will be split between Papyrus, Shout and CALM.

#ForBen The Road to Bangkok

 

We are living in extraordinary times that have put a lot of pressure and stress on us all. Mental health issues, now more than ever, need to be talked about and addressed, not ignored or stigmatised.

Hope and peace for 2021

Looking forward to a new year

Hope and peace 

Hope and peace were my words for welcoming in 2021, but neither seem to be doing their bit to live up to my expectations just yet. We are two weeks into the new year and the world seems equally as mad and scary as it did in the run up to Christmas.

 

The situation in France

The French vaccination programme seemed to get off to slow start but after reading our local (Nouvelle Aquitaine) health authority’s recent press release, I am more reassured. The start of the vaccination programme, at the end of December, was only to obtain the consent from the residents of the care homes, to determine how many vaccine doses to order. Many residents have a legal guardian to handle all their affairs, so I guess it was quite a task to coordinate, especially over the New Year holiday period. It wasn’t until early January that vaccinations began to happen. To begin with it was for those in care homes only, but from tomorrow an online booking system will be opened up to anyone over 75, whether in a care home or not. Staff members at care homes, aged over fifty, are being vaccinated too, and a report out today claimed 200,000 people were vaccinated in France yesterday, so numbers here should soon begin to rise steadily.

 

The situation in UK

The UK has gone back into lockdown, mainly thanks to the new UK variant of Covid-19, that although not rampaging through France like it is in the south of England, has reached French shores. UK schools are closed once more, and exercise must be kept ‘local to home’; whatever that means seems to have caused a bit of media debate these last few days. During our lockdowns here, we knew exactly how far we could go as we were given a one kilometre from home radius, extended towards the end to a twenty-kilometre radius. It’s not rocket science Boris, just simple-to-follow rules. Our parents in the UK are still waiting to hear when they will get their vaccinations. Dad is over eighty, Mum over seventy-five and although Adrian’s mum is younger, she is still classed as a high-risk, and yet despite all of them living in a Tier 4 area, still they wait. 

 

Our region's Covid-19 figures per 100,000 people.
We live in the top left bad pocket!

What next?

The French government were meeting this morning to determine what happens next for us. The main concerns are the effects of rising numbers following Christmas and New Year and the arrival of the English variant of Covid-19 on French soil. The press seems to think it unlikely, for now, that a new country-wide lockdown will be put in place, but it could be that the overnight curfew is brought forward to six o’clock for all of France. Our department, the Deux-Sèvres, isn’t fairing too well compared to neighbouring departments, and whatever happens nationwide, I wouldn’t be surprised if our curfew was brought forward to six o’clock in the evening, instead of eight. As it’s cold and dark before six, this really wouldn’t inconvenience our daily lives at all.

 

Ed got a brief taste of freedom last week in Poitiers, as there are certain practical parts of his course that can’t be done online, but he is back home with us now, waiting to discover what will happen for the final few months. Pearl is here for a few days too, and while I’d normally be happy my nest is full, the uncertainty of so many things at the moment are definitely putting a damper on my mood. The fact that it is January and the last few days have been cold and damp, probably hasn’t helped, but we are keeping up our daily bike ride, even if it’s just for a half an hour, ten-kilometre ride, close to home. 

Raindrops keep falling on my head

It can be a struggle some days to get off the sofa and out the door, and it’s not easy to see where I’m going through my raindrop coated glasses, but it’s worth it and we’ve already clocked up over two hundred kilometres this year. I just can’t help feeling that we should have learned so much from the last year and yet we don’t seem to be any more prepared now than in early 2020 when Covid-19 was something from China, occasionally making the news. 

Hope and peace 2021, you know you can do it. 

Stay safe.