Dukan novice

Oh, and I got my first "Have you lost weight" comment the day before yesterday, love it :)

Brilliant - that's the best motivator in the world!

Re: France - what's your mode of transport / budget? How far are you prepared to travel / how long are you prepared to drive.

Eurostar from Paddington is easy for city trips to Lille or Paris. (or build in a visit to Brussels to get a taste of another European country while you're here)

Beyond that - do you prefer cities, culture, nature, beaches? I suppose the weather whilst spring-like is not going to be on your side all the time so you might want to plan accordingly.

No doubt Jon and Laura can give proper suggestions soon.

Have fun planning and travelling!
 
I like the idea of adding in a trip to Brussels. I prefer to use public transport, not that confident with driving in Europe. I am trying to do things reasonably cheaply as I want to visit a lot of places this year :) But I prefer to stay in hotels where I can over hostels, I have had some less salubrious experiences in hostels last year!
I haven't been on the Eurostar yet! My friend wants to go to Amsterdam in a few months so we're planning to do that with the Eurostar as well. I can't wait to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, it looks fantastic in books.
 
kiwi - Congrats on the compliment. What a boost, eh! :)

As for France, I may be biased (and some places can be packed with tourists), but you can't beat the Loire Valley. Not only is it beautiful, there are loads of regional gastronomic specialities - and, of course, fantastic wine by the bucketload.

It's definitely worth seeing a château or two (Chenonceau and Chambord are probably the most famous and fairy-tale-like), but there are plenty of gorgeous little villages and towns dotted around also.

Some of our favourite places were Beaugencyand Amboise (you can also visit the beautiful former house of Leonardo da Vinci there). But we often used to enjoy just picking a road out of Orléans (where we lived) and driving until we found a picturesque village. I just wish I could remember the name of one such place - it was pretty small, with pleasant walks and a little square where they sold their speciality Sablons (sweet biscuits), and a little pétanque pitch on the outskirts. Looking at the map, it may have actually been the place called Les Sablons, but I'm not sure. In any case, there are so many similarly perfect little places in the area to visit.

I don't whether it's still in operation, but there was a fabulous boat ride (they also did dinners onboard in the evenings) which set off from La Source, just south of Orléans. It followed the Loiret through the Sologne (former vast royal hunting grounds, where wild boar still live), passing by exquisite little properties with extraordinary boat houses (particularly the one by Charles Garnier, who designed the Opera house in Paris). There's also a wonderful, huge botanical garden at La Source.
 
great news on the compliment, what an ego boost! you're a whole stone down already - well done! are you in a smaller size yet?
 
Thanks dukandebut and Emmma :D No, not down a size yet but everything is much looser and I can see the changes, even in bra size which is awesome :) And my trousers keep nearly falling down at work which is a good (but annoying) sign!
dukandebut, thanks so much for the advice! I'm doing some more research tonight and hopefully I'll book tomorrow. The Loire Valley sounds great, I'm checking it out now :)
 
I have a gym membership and there's a pool in the gym. I LOVE gym classes and had a great gym at home with loads of classes, I really miss it :( My gym here is good too but it doesn't do many classes so I find motivation a bit trickier. However, I forced myself into the pool this morning for the first time in many years, which is a big deal for me because I hate getting into a swimsuit in public. I really enjoyed it and managed to do laps for about 45 minutes.
So, swimming is the new plan! :D
I still haven't booked for France, hopefully will do that this afternoon :)
 
thanks! :) I wore a baggy t shirt practically into the water :D I probably drew more attention to myself doing that than if I just went in like normal!
 
Hey, just waqnted to say hello, enjoy your time off, well done on the swimming! Best exercise there is! I just wish *I* would get more of it...

Hope you're enjoying the spring weather too!
 
Sorry I missed this before... DD's suggestion sounds good, and I admit to never having been there, although it's not far from Paris at all.

Let me know if I can help.

Ref swimming - I used to weigh a tonne, and started swimming after losing perhaps three stone (hence about 8 stone more than I weigh now, but I felt GOOD cos I'd lost three stone). Once I'd negotiated getting from where I'd dropped my robe and scrambled to the edge of the pool, I was fine! Definitely lose that tshirt. We always think people are looking at us but, in reality, they're thinking about their own problems while they swim, I'm sure... (and they probably have bad breath, smelly feet and all sorts of other non visible afflictions!!).
 
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