This year we headed to France for the October holidays to spend two days in Pontarlier, which is just across the border from Switzerland and two days in a small cabin in the Vosges mountains.
Both places we stayed at had cycle paths on disused railway lines, which were nice and flat, if a little boring. Going up and down hills is a lot of effort but it’s usually quite rewarding. Anyway, the first bike trip that we did in Pontarlier started on a disused railway line but then we decided to come back a different way, heading up into the hills and back down again. A few parts of the descent were excellent, some of them were too steep and rocky so we had to walk downhill trying to stop the bikes heading off without us. All this, plus very strong winds meant that when we finally got back to the town I had very achy legs and no desire to go out on the bikes the following day. Day 2 was a shopping day – something quite unusual for me on holiday.
The highlight of Pontarlier was the B&B where we stayed. The owner had previously worked as an interior designer so knew about furnishing the B&B. She also made great breakfasts including stewed pears, brioche and apple pie. More importantly she talked to us in French. I couldn’t understand everything but I did get the sense that my French is improving and now am really motivated to keep working at it. We also got to talk to the other guests – a British couple on the first day and an amateur pool player on the second day. B&Bs in France are great for meeting fellow travellers.
After Pontarlier we drove to see the local lake, which was very high as there had been such a lot of rainfall in previous days. Next we headed up to the Vosges mountains to stay in our log cabin. The cabin wasn’t completely isolated but was next to a few other houses very close to the forest. At the end of the garden we had our own waterfall to listen to night and day. The owner of the cabin lived next door with her dog, Plouf and had two horses in the field that we could say hello to.
The highlights of the cabin holiday were the hike that we did to the Roches St Jacques – the approach to it gave splendid views of the surrounding countryside and the rocks were quite special. Apart from the hiking and cycling, we also spent an evening doing a jigsaw of the European Union in French. It was just 250 pieces so an easy way to spend an evening.
It’s the simple things in life that I like!
Language Tips
Today's topic is relative clauses.
Defining relative clauses give us necessary information - the B&B where we stayed, tells the reader that I'm talking about a specific B&B.
If the relative pronoun (who, which, where etc) is preceded by a comma, this means it is a non-defining relative clause which provides the reader with extra information.
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