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Reluctantly we left our beautiful chateau and cycled off in the dark mist again. The sunrise was beautiful, the fields bigger, the hedges lower and it’s still very rural with the sweet smell of silage wafting o er us as the huge tractors drove past us along the country lanes – all so familiar to us from Devon. It became far too hot to even contemplating walking around the Roman remains in Sanxay, so we chilled on the shady grass in the centre of town and cycled on. When we arrived at Lusignan, we headed straight to Intermarche to buy a lead to charge Neils lights and a power pack to charge our phones as we are both using them for navigation. From now on we’ll be much safer cycling in the dark and no more chatting up bar owners to charge me phone. The meal in our Chapeau Rouge hotel was as wonderful as advertised. Then straight to bed as it was so, so hot. I saw the kick off of the France NZ World Cup rugby match, then fell promptly asleep. Neil made it to half time before zzzzzzzzzz.

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Best cycling in the early morning. I have never seen so many sunrises in succession! Ceri has a mechanical, turns out brakes were rubbing due to wheel alignment issue. Turn bike upside down and a bit of pushing and shoving and all fixed. For me today was filled with disappointment as I had imagined a lovely breakfast after a slog up a hill . Only place we could find was the French local Mensa branch ticking into first wines of the day . Lunch will be better with a medieval village and a market square I imagine. Well it is but entry to said village was all new town and without signage . I realise I’m heading for low sugar irritability. Bonking is not just a sexual phrase! I recognise it and Ceri takes over and gets a super meal deal which we eat by a river . Both of us fall asleep. I decide we need a treat so we are a fabulous chateau with a 4 poster bed , full of faded grandeur but just what we need . Pizza and early bed beckon

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We set off before dawn as usual, following the river towards the Loire. The battery on Neils front light was empty so he could barely see a thing cycling along dirt tracks in the dark. The connection to my back light had broken, so my front light led the way with Neils back light served us both. Anyway it wasn’t long before daylight crept up on us and we were safe again. We became rather wonderfully chilly as we cycled through the mist floating across the river and fields. It all became rather mystical.

Angers had fantastic cycle lanes throughout, with mown grass under the tram tracks. It’s reputedly the greenest city in France and certainly felt that way. Having cycled through it before we skipped the city centre this time and stopped for our coffee and croissant breakfast as a roadside cafe, greeted by jovial chaps enjoying themselves. Cycling along the Loire brought back fond memories of a previous trip, spotting familiar cafes etc. As we headed south enjoying mile upon mile of vineyards, the day was heating up reaching 34, so we stopped in the shade of a church yard for our picnic and a rest. Every cemetery is full of beautiful graves adorned with flowers and the ever important running water. We’re constantly filling our water bottles …. no more urinal fillups for me thank you!

Finally we arrived at Montreuil-Bellay. What a beautiful place! I’d booked a 15th century hotel run by the lovely Nathalie. She recommended a restaurant but all were closed Sunday-Wednesday. That’s something we need to consider as we travel. We walked over the old stone bridge past the huge castle walls with the sun setting over the river. It was stunning. Eventually we came across a hotel serving food which ended up the best meal on our trip! Fantastic mushrooms! Then home to a very welcome bed.

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Getting into the swing of it now

Bed very early wake up 05.45 leave in the dark , lovely fresh feeling to it all . Cycling I suppose is like all sorts of travel …what’s behind the next corner , sometimes quiet contemplation I find but mostly having a buddy close by makes for a comment or a decision on a fork in the road . I have given up being the route master , that’s just the kind of guy I am . We had a very minor 10 minutes when we disagreed. It all ended with a lovely snacks breakfast on a church bench . Tractors aplenty in this rurally idyll today much like home and lo! we find Okehampton and Wiveliscombe twin towns

Our cunning plan is to get to a river and follow a bike path which we do , it was only partially successful as it was out in the open more than we realise . I play games with myself and go slowly in the shade and speed up in the sun . We both need no persuading to have a swim in the river Mayenne. I stand on a bramble . Ceri like Androcles removes it later . She finds a super chateau just off the ‘ Chemin de Halage’ you might be wondering what I contribute to this venture…well truth is not a lot just someone to have a chat too about Leeds United or when will I get a beer 🍺

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Gosh it’s hot! We shortened our ride today, more to recover from yesterday, so having said farewell to our friends we cycled at a leisurely pace, stopping in the shade for any excuse. We even saw a red squirrel scurry across the cycle path. Neil kept looking for bars for a beer but these tiny farming hamlets seem to only open up in the evenings, if at all so water became a bit of an issue. Finally at our last closed cafe and in the hot sun, Neil noticed a urinal. Surely not!!! Yep. To my horror, he filled up his drinks bottle from the water feeding into the urinal. 😳. To my greater horror, I realised I would have to do the same🤮 or die of thirst. We’re both still alive.

We enjoyed our shorter day cycling over fairly flat terrain. We’d muse that, despite the heat, we loved the freedom of what we are doing. Deciding day by day where to go and what to see. We ended up in a tiny village north of Angers. There was a bar directly opposite so Neil finally got his long awaited beer. With no restaurant open, the friendly barmaid provided us with a delicious salad and pasta. What a lovely lady she was. There was even enough for us to take home as breakfast. We aim to leave early to rest in the shade as much as possible. The whole of Europe including UK looks red on the weather map. We’re still happy.

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St Malo is such a beautiful place! Haven driven through Southampton and Portsmouth, this part of France is a revelation. We said goodbye to our ferry friends and cycled to the nearest coffee shop in St Malo for coffee and croissant where we met Leslie and Jonathan. They had exactly our France en Velo book and we got on like we’d known each other for years. Off we cycled dipping our bikes into the channel sea as per the C2M tradition. The coast route took us through pretty villages and tiny harbours until a bay opened up. I knew exactly what we’d be doing next so I followed Neil to park our bikes for our swim. Who followed us in but Leslie and Jonathan! It was a glorious swim. Nothing like the freezing swims my husband usually suggests ! We chatted for a long while with our new friends. I wish we’d exchanged numbers. Hopefully we’ll see them again.

Next stop was OYSTERS for lunch ! How could we resist! There were oyster beds and shops all along the coast. Neil enjoyed his with a pastis and has named it his tour tipple.

We continued through farm lanes and on the Mont St Michel. It was packed with tourists, but still worth the visit with its medieval streets and buildings. Luckily we were able to cycle across the 2 mile causeway which is prohibited in peak season.

And here we are in our hotel studying maps and preparing for our meal in a nearby restaurant. It’s been a wonderful day.

We’d cycled 44 miles (Neil told me just 20 miles !)

Our anniversary meal was absolutely delicious. It’s been then best anniversary EVER!

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This is just to let you know I’m still fine. Its now 3 years since I was first diagnosed. If you’d like to read from the start, click on the ABOUT link above, where I’ve posted some instructions.

A few people have asked me to write an update, so I thought I’d start with an email I wrote to my surgeons and oncologists in April 2019, 18 months after my surgery:-

I’m sitting at Heathrow station awaiting our train to Devon having spent 3.5 months touring NZ and parts of Australia. I’ve been reflecting on our activities during the last 2 years:

• July, August 2017 chemo and radiotherapy 
• September – huge wonderful wedding and continued chemo
• October 2017 – oesophagectomy
• December, January 2018- blasted with chemotherapy, but still attended 3 weddings 
• February- skiing in Italy 
• March – camped Norfolk and Suffolk 
• April, May – toured Andalusia 
• June – Nello cycle ride – 60 miles
• July, August- toured France and Spain 
• September- delayed honeymoon on Burgh Island
• October- 2 further operations 
• November- Vienna 
• Dec to March 2019 Bali, New Zealand and Australia 

In NZ we climbed Roy’s Peak which is higher than Ben Nevis and walked various high alpine ways. We camped, swam, kayaked, sailed and enjoyed the wines of many vineyards. Best of all we caught up with many many old friends from when we both lived in Australia including my surrogate Mum in Perth who is now 96!

Now we are heading back to Devon to settle down for a while and enjoy our friends and our home. 

It just 21 months since my story started. Apart from the occasional dumping syndrome and pulling feelings around my diaphragm, I feel absolutely fine. Who knows what the future holds, but thanks to you all- the surgeons , the anaesthetists, the oncologists and the fantastic nursing staff, I’ve been able to live my rather busy life pretty much to the full throughout the whole process. Being very happy newly weds at this stage in life, Neil and I are looking forward to a long happy life together.

You’ll see I had a blip resulting in 2 further operations in October 2018, after my successful cycle ride, so it caught me completely by surprise.
I’ll keep this short: I started getting severe pains across my abdomen every time I bent over for gardening or cycling or whatever. Eventually I was doubled up in pain so a friend drove me to my doctor. He referred me and I was admitted that day, still doubled up. After various scans, they determined my colon was migrating through the hiatus hernia hole in my diaphragm into my chest. They operated later that week to pull it down, but 2 weeks later they same thing happened so I had a second keyhole operation. This time they sewed a patch over the hole which has worked.

The spanner in the works was my girls trip to Vienna. Could I go? After the first op, it was a definite yes, but the second operation was just 4 days before I travelled. There were some serious discussions between the medics, with some saying GO and some saying NO! So I went, wearing those sexy surgical socks to prevent DVT and I walked up and down the aisle a couple of times. We had a wonderful time and I sent my surgeon a cheeky postcard of Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ from the Belvedere art museum, sending him a great big kiss for all his staff to see.

Unfortunately, since this and very occasionally, I can suffer extremely painful acid reflux at night because I have no valve stopping my stomach acids from coming back up. The acids fall into my lungs, resulting in a painful cough and wipes me out for a day or two. Fortunately it happens pretty rarely and I just have to accept that this is part of my life, but I must confess it is rather irritating! The adventure photos above were taken after all this so, as you see, it’s not restricting anything we do.

In June 2019, Marc married the lovely Sarah. It was a wonderful wedding starring Neil’s Morris Minor, so here are some photos.

And now we have COVID-19. We were travelling in Sri Lanka when it started in Wuhan. We’d had a wonderful time feeling far away from it, and then went skiing. We were lucky to leave Austria just as the virus spread though Italy and the enormity of it took hold. Back home, we went through a terribly sad period supporting our neighbour whose dear partner had Covid and died. Rather than being alone, she said her goodbyes to him via FaceTime in our garden. It was very distressing not being able to go near her to comfort her and we were extremely cautious around her, not touching anything she touched and staying probably 3m away etc. She must have had Covid but was fully recovered when he died.
At the start of the outbreak, I stayed home while Neil did all the groceries shopping etc, which he does in his rather creative way! My immune system has completely recovered, but I’m probably more compromised than others, due to my age and the acid thing. Whilst acknowledging the desperate sadness around us, we’ve had a very peaceful and, dare I say, enjoyable lockdown. We love each other’s company. Our garden looks amazing and we’ve completed all those niggling DIY jobs which mount up. We’re so lucky to live in this beautiful area and we’ve enjoyed many cycle rides and stunning walks, starting right from our back gate and encountering almost no one. Neil has continued to work 2 days a week as a GP and didn’t see patients for the first 2 months. All consultations were by phone and there have been relatively few cases here in Devon and Somerset. Now we’re out and about again, everyone we see seems to be respecting the social distancing rules. We are all very aware that we are not out of the woods yet, by any means, and continue to be extremely careful.
The future remains a mystery, but for now, both Neil and I are extremely well.

Hi all

Here’s the website if you’d like to sponsor our Nello cycle ride on Sunday 24th June in aid of Force Cancer charity. I’m cycling 55 miles and Neil is cycling 100 miles.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/CeriandNeilcycling

The trouble with feeling so well is that I end up far too busy to update my blog! It’s all good news. I had a CT scan last week, met the oncologist yesterday who told us that all the scans show no sign of cancer. Deirdre is a distant memory and this is my final post.

I have to meet my oncologist every 3 months for the next year, then every 6 months for another year then finished. I don’t need any more scans unless I report something unusual.

We read a poster at the hospital yesterday pointing out how beneficial exercise is for cancer patients in recovery. I think we’ve got that covered! Two weeks ago we walked up from sea level to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar and I was hardly even breathless. We’ve joined a local outdoor swimming club and Neil and I swim most mornings. I’m cycling further and further on my electric bike and the gardening is going well. We’re back singing with the choir and joining them in the pub afterwards, so life is pretty much back to normal. The blues episode I mentioned in the last post never came back, probably because I can do pretty much everything I did before. I’m just loving life and getting fitter although I do have a way to go to get back to the fitness level I had before. I’m now training for a 55 mile cycle ride fundraising for our local Force cancer charity. I haven’t set up a link to the fundraising page yet, so there will be one more post here.

I’ve recently stopped wearing my wig as there seems no need. I’m moving on from the ‘woman with attitude’ shaved look to the Annie Lennox look which I like. This isn’t a very flattering photo but you get the gist.

Someone asked me this morning if this experience has changed my attitude to life and I answered that it hasn’t. It had already changed. Meeting Neil did that. (driving our old cars to The Gambia in January 2010) And we have lived our lives to the full ever since. During these last 8 years we’ve enjoyed some pretty big adventures which most of you know about. We’ve loved our friends, our families, our travels, our hobbies and interests, and now our shared home. We had the most amazing wedding in Culmstock last September and all this Deirdre episode has done is give us a rather quiet winter and the assurance of how much we mean to each other.

Neil promised me a calm and quiet cruise at the end of the treatment, but no need! We went skiing instead. Ha ha. Such has been the rate of my recovery. I’m a very, very lucky lady.

We’ve had the most uplifting and unconditional support from everyone who knows us, and even those who don’t – friends, family, colleagues, choir, locals and friends from all over the world. It’s been a journey, but the challenge was never too great. We felt a genuine positivity throughout. We’re about to book tickets for a few months in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand and have 6 weeks immediately ahead of us driving the camper van around France and Spain.

Thanks everyone for your support. We’ll never forget your encouragement and love.

Ceri and Neil

I have to say I feel great, so since my recovery is going so well, I thought I’d add the progress of my hair.

A while ago, my hair had become so horribly thin and wispy, that I decided to go for the Yul Brynner look and shave it all off. It looked so much better.

It’s now been 2 months since my last chemotherapy treatment and I can see my hair starting to return. It’s about 2mm long today and looks and feels like soft baby hair, not the chemo frizz I was expecting. I think it’s the same strawberry blonde colour I had before which will lighten in the sun. I was dreading it might be grey but we think not. Here I am, wig free, enjoying breakfast in our camper van last week.

Also, I’m also very pleased to say that my sense taste has come back completely and, apart from loving my food, I’m enjoying wine and G&Ts again. Yay!!!

…although that was an apple juice in the photo above as I’ve chosen to drink ‘responsibly’! Ha ha. I hope it lasts.

It’s been great cycling again with Neil. My electric bike has been worth it’s weight in gold (and it’s very heavy!) as it helps me cycle up hills and keep up with ‘Wiggins’ Neil.

I’ll have a CT scan in early May but no date has been set yet so we’re busy catching up on our travels. Recently we took our camper van and bikes around beautiful areas of Suffolk and Norfolk. It’s been wonderful getting our lives back to normal.

For the sake of honesty however, I must confess that I’ve had some emotionally low times during the last month, the first since this all started in June last year. Now that all my treatment has ended, I want to continue life exactly as I did before, but I can’t. I know it’s early days, but it’s so frustrating getting tired easily and occasionally getting stomach cramps after I eat. The surgeon told us recently that my recovery is in the top 5% of patients so, really, I have absolutely nothing to be frustrated about and a heck of a lot to be thankful for.

Anyway, our recent camper van trip has wiped all those blues away. I feel great again and ready to roll up my sleeves and start gardening. We all have our ups and downs.

We went to a lovely wedding in Pembroke College, Cambridge on Easter Saturday, where the bride was caught up in the traffic due to Stephen Hawkins’ funeral ending up 30 minutes late. We explored as much of Suffolk and Norfolk as we could fit in, including Constable country, miles of coast line, cycling, canoeing on the Norfolk Broads and catching up with friends and family. We had such a great time.

I’m very used to my wig now which I wear most of the time. I need something on my head during this cold weather and as soon as the weather gets warmer, I’ll probably forget the wig and embrace my new funky cropped hair look. Maybe I’ll dye it bright pink and get piercings in my nose!!! Watch this space!