Runner's High - or not!

Everything well and truly back to normal now. A weekend of washing, ironing, cleaning and blogging and now it's Sunday evening and that old feeling of doom is beginning to wash over me. Since our return I have to be honest I haven't run a step. The sun has been shining, my thoughts are turning towards babies and prams and any spare time has been spent trying to get a little business idea I have had off the ground. I'm also enjoying being 'ache free' though I'm not too happy about the extra pounds that I can't shift. With around 6 weeks to go until the start of the Great North Run I am seriously considering deferring.

I do think that at 55 and spending 37 hours a week doing something I hate I should spend the rest of my week having a bit of fun and right now I'm not finding running a lot of fun.

I just read on twitter 'The true but rare runner's high is a zone that we enter when everything seems to click perfectly' I have yet to experience this high and I feel I've been a little short changed, surely after nearly 2 years I should have come close at least once?

I'm going to give it until the end of next week then I shall make my final decision.

6 Hotels in France

Just thought I would share our impressions of the different Hotels we stayed in during our stay in France, might help if you are planning a trip.

• Ibis budget  Bar Le Duc, France.

Excellent value for money, we paid £70.48 for 2 nights through Accorhotels. Nothing fancy but very clean, small room, comfy double bed with single bunk bed above should you need it. Shower, wc and air-con. TV but only showing French channels. This particular Ibis was in the middle of an industrial estate with a range of stores including an E. Leclerc within walking distance. There were also a couple of grill type restaurants a few yards from the front door. Continental breakfast was available for 7 or 8 euros extra.

• Hotel Saint-Hubert  Saint-Claude, France.

Booked through Booking.com at 51.00 euros for one night. Lovely spacious room with shower room and French TV. No air con. Interesting town within walking distance but very little open in the evening. We had a nice meal in the small bar. Breakfast was available but I think it was around 10 euros.

• Sejours & Affaires Appartments   Manosque, France.

This was a welcome change, we actually had 2 connecting double rooms, one complete with fridge, sink, 2 electric rings, plates, cups, saucers, glasses, cutlery and a few pots and pans. For the first time I was able to drink a cold wine out of a proper glass and we cooked for ourselves. We could also make a cup of tea, up until this point there had been no tea/coffee making facilities. We paid £79.00 for 2 nights. Lovely large bathroom with bath as well as a shower and TV. You could pay extra for a continental breakfast and there was a very good deal with a restaurant a small distance up the road.

• Royal Aigues Mortes Hotel  Aigues-Mortes, France.

Now this was a real treat, booked through Travel Republic for £48.00 for one night. The room was only small but opened onto a small patio overlooking a beautiful pool. Luckily we were able to book in early and made as much use of the pool as possible. The lovely, busy, lively walled town was a walk along the river away where there were plenty of bars and restaurants. We could have done with another night here.

• L'Etoile Hotel  Carcassonne, France

This has to be the tiniest room it is possible to fit a double bed and a shower room in to. No air-con though there was a fan which lost the battle against the fierce heat. Rather uncomfortable night. We had a lovely meal in the restaurant though. £38.51 for the night including breakfast.

• Kyriad Hotel  Bourges, France

We would seek out these Hotel's on any other trip, mainly because they had tea/coffee making facilities! We paid 45 euros for the night through Booking.com  small but very comfy room. Shower room was very tiny. Air-con, French TV. Bar and restaurant available. Mcdonald's just down the road. Continental breakfast was available for 9 euros but we discovered a 'Patapain' on the way to the motorway minutes from the hotel that sold anything you could want for breakfast at much more reasonable price and they were open at 9 am on a Sunday morning. We also picked up rolls for lunch too.

Back to work with a Bump

Holiday well and truly over now, back to work this morning with an almighty great bump!

I have just put on here a selection of shots from our last few days.

One of my paparazzi shots 

Limoux

A very pretty paper Mill we went to but didn't do the tour - it was in French and the heat was 

getting the better of Madi

Not sure which one of us looks the most pregnant?

I think this town was called Mazamet. We didn't spend too long there, 

'all day morning sickness' cut short our visit!

We watched them put this up in one of the squares, in time for the weekend when we came home.

The Castle

... looking so much better from a distance!

Entertainment in the Castle - this was free, we couldn't afford to see the 

Arctic Monkey's although we could hear them when we visited one evening!

Missing my daily cake fix already!

Fireworks in Carcassonne

Now I think on this day I have discovered that I will never be first in the queue for the Harrod's sale, nor will I camp out for tickets to Wimbledon or be at the front on the streets for the next Royal Wedding. The fireworks were amazing .... whether or not they were worth the 7 and a 1/2 to 8 hours we spent clinging to a hillside, the jury is still out!. It was all quite jolly to begin with and we sat on what at 2 pm was a gentle slope, we had plenty of room around us and a good view of the castle. By the time the fireworks started at just gone 10 pm the gentle slope had turned into an alpine mountain side and there was barely room to move.

The view from our hillside

Early days - all quite jolly!

Andrew very nearly finished this book by the time the evening was over!

The crowds building up

At last a plane appeared and five parachutes fell towards the Castle

 A selection of photo's from the fireworks