Fun and Games in the Dordogne Back in 2019, I was introduced to the wonderful ‘sport’ (sic) of sabering by the Mercer Island chapter of The Chain Gang, particularly Bruce and Kim York, and their daughter Casey, my sabering gurus.…
I explained in a previous blog that we were forced to change our Champagne tour – and change it a lot – when France allowed a clown to buy a hotel North of Reims, and pretend to run it. In…
One reason I’m looking forward to cycling in Tuscany again is the opportunity to return to a most extraordinary hotel. On our 3rd night in Tuscany, Monday night, we stay at the Certosa di Pontignano, a 14th Century monastry which…
This is a plea for help. So, unless you’re literally in the process of booking a holiday, everybody else, could you take 2 minutes, and see if you could help me? I’m after your photos – your Chain Gang photos.…
Last month I explained why we’ve made changes to our Normandy tour. This month is my chance to tell you all about it. First off, I’m delighted. When I first researched around Normandy, back in 2011, it was a real…
This month, I’m lucky to be able to share with you a new album of photos from our Alsace tour, courtesy of Friend Of The Chain Gang, Roberto Peixoto. If you visit the album on Flickr, you’ll find a selection…
In 2019, we received some bad news about one of the hotels on our Normandy Tour – they’d closed, permanently. As I mentioned in a blog post about Champagne, sometimes this doesn’t matter. Sometimes it matters a lot. In this…
On Thursday, we spend the day exploring Reims. Why – is it worth it? Yes it is! Firstly, we’ll make our way to the magnificent Villa Demoiselle, the blend of Art Nouveau and Art Deco that houses the Champagne maker,…
When I’m on our bike tours, you can imagine I get asked a lot of questions about how we design our tours – why we stay here, why we don’t visit there, etc. Occasionally, in my own mind, I’m reminded…
Josephine Baker During the first three days of our Dordogne tour, it’s hard to miss that Josephine Baker used to live here. She was in the headlines again last November, 46 years after her death, when it was announced that…
