There can be few more pleasurable ways to spend a September Saturday afternoon than soaking up the sun and sounds at the Stade Aguilera in Biarritz. Fortified by Pascal & Isabelle Labasse’s Bearnais brunch where we feasted on local specialities of cooked Bayonne Ham, Andouille (spicy tripe sausage) and Piperade (tomatoes & chillies), washed down […]

(This post was written by Jonathan Ray, his final article for the Saturday Telegraph, published 2nd October 2010). They breed them tough in France's Sud Ouest. The Pays Basque-Béarn is serious rugby-playing, bullfighting country and, as I discover, serious eating and drinking country, too. I am here with my old mates Jason Yapp and Tom […]

Having developed an unhealthy interest in cycling the legendary peaks of the Tour de France over the past few years and having my friend Paul Bottrill entered in to this year's Etape du Tour (see August 2009 posting 'Etape in Cotes du Rhone'), I chose to spend a long Bank Holiday weekend on 'recon' in […]