Friday 26 December 2014

Bicycle Interlude

 

In Machcoule (pronounced Mais Cool – like Very Cool in portuguese), a little town in the north of France we met a man with a collection of very cool bikes. Enjoy! 

That silver steed at the top is one of the first all aluminium frames and it is completely take-able apart-able. The little bike is a tiny gem for those mini-bike aficionados out there.

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Two dreams in blue…

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Enjoy Life! Enjoy Oranges!

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Monday 8 December 2014

Kenavo Brittany

There is a dragon that sleeps in the heart of Brittany. Some say Merlin is looking after it. Some say Vivian is. Well for now it seems he's sleeping quietly and it is safe for us to travel these ancient lands of legend.

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Rolling down the Brest to Nantes Canal we get stuck behind a roulotte at Berrien. It reminds us to stop and look for evidence of our old friend Hok Braz and see if any earth folk round here still remember this big fella.

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So up we goes the mountain to Huelgoat, to look for the Devil's hole. Up there in the forest we find this map.

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We follow the map and find the Devil's Hole! Here the legend says Hok Braz went to play in the woods, to the place called the Devil's Hole....Unfortunately for us, Hok in his joy forgot to plug the Devil's Hole. We know this only too well, for there it is.  Woe and thrice woe!
Hok-Bras s'en fut jouer dans le bois, auprès de l'endroit qu'on appelle le Trou du diable,....Par malheur pour nous, Hok, dans sa joie, oublia de boucher le Trou du Diable. On ne le sait que trop en ce monde, hélas! 








 
 

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Down we go, down, down, down and there behind us looking over our shoulder there is, a scary creature. What is it? Is it the devil? Quick get out of here!
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Clambering out of this deep dark hole, escaping the devil we find refuge by the giant friendly mushroom.

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We recover from our shock and carry on our search past the Trembling Rock, stopping to have a tremble of course and down to the Menage de la Vierge. The virgin is hiding and we don't get to see her. But we meet some more rock creatures. Much friendlier ones this time.
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They remember Hok Braz but nobody else round here does.
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So we make our way out through the beautiful, lush forest, to the lake....
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... and say kenavo.

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In Lorient we arrive just an hour or so late and miss the car free celebration.
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But further down the canal and south a bit in Larre, we do get to close a road to perform our show and we have our own car free celebration! The chairs are still empty but for sure they all filled up.
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Is that the dragon puffing and fuming? Merlin do something!
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In Nantes we find some friendly giants and so we know it is time to end our search for Hok Braz. We'll be telling his story soon...
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It is time to look for new legends. Like the one of the hairy cow? The legend of the veg box bike?

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Or perhaps the tandem that will carry a message from the future to Paris next year?

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Alternatiba - for more about the tandem and it's journey follow this link
https://alternatiba.eu/tour2015/
 
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We're in Nantes for the Alternatiba event and there, all the friends, the friends we met came out to say good bye to us! 

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Kenavo Brittany! We will return!