Scott, did you find the same issue with most places being booked in September already? We are wondering about our plan to find places last minute while training around UK in September.

Definitely. Malaga is our planned ending point for our fall segment - we plan to fly from London to Leon and head south from there, through Segovia, Seville, Toledo and La Mancha (we’re dreaming the impossible dream here).

I’ll be publishing the itinerary for the Spanish chunk sometime in the next week, but I’m reworking it first. After following you along it convinced me that we have to stitch Cordoba and Granada in again.

Oh, and thanks for the £20 that arrived in the mail today! We’ll have a toast to the Grampies over an NA Guinness sometime this summer.

We will watch your segment in Italy carefully for the possibility of following you, next year or in future.

Would you still consider cycling Malaga to Majorca? Tomorrow we will go up out of Agua Amarga, in our underpowered Peugeot Hybrid, but still so much more horsepower than our little legs!

Looks very exciting, and very doable. Every trip we discuss making bookings as we go so we can have greatest flexibility and spontaneity, and each time we "chicken out" and return to planned steps with known distances and elevation gains, free cancellations and bike storage available, among other things. It seems that at our older ages there are more constraints re abilities and health, and "planned spontaneity " becomes a much more attractive option.

I hear what you’re saying, and if I were 15 years younger I might look at it the same way. At 78 though, there’s not much later to hope for as a bike tourist. Taking a year out of it is a lot to ask, and possibly a career-ender.

That’s true. It’s a great ride long the Isere all the way from Grenoble to Valence. And it’s not too difficult a climb over the saddle from Annecy to the Isere, so that might work for them. They’ll be able to see most of this when we bike with the other CycleBlazers from Grenoble to Valence, with a stop-off in the Vercors. We’ll be taking the high road out of Annecy though, over the southern ridge to Chambery.

I've held my tongue, but since you brought up the possibility of knee replacement.

Don't put it off. I've known several people who've had it done, one who had both knees at the same time. It was life changing for all of them. My brother works in a hospital and he was telling me about a doctor who was a competitive skier but had to stop because his knees were toast. Had them replaced and he's back to skiing pain free.

And the older we get the longer we need to heal. Like the guys in the old Fram oil filter commercials would say, you can pay me now, or you can pay me later.

Just going back to the Annecy discussion with Trish Graham, Scott, there is a cycle route French tourism calls La Bella Via- Isère river by bike that, though shortish (finishing at Valence), seems to be relatively flat and interesting.

I won't either and I live south of the border. Instead, any vacation $$$ spent on this continent will go to businesses in the Great White North. I do enjoy BC.

Sorry about your country. I was supposed to go to California to ride my road bike, but I'm not spending a nickel down there!

Looks like a great plan!

Indeed. Tempus fugit!

Carpe diem!

You'll love it! Sure going to be pretty! As always, looking forward to following along!

No, but I’ve wanted to see it for a long time. It should be amazing at this time of year, with the mountains buried in snow. Rachael and I have biked in every Italian province except for Abruzzo and Aosta in the past, and we’ll hit both of them on this tour.