Brian and Sylvia have successfully completed the Tour du Mont Blanc, Alpine Europe’s most famed long distance walking route! We completed the entire circular route on foot, without the aid of cable cars, chair lifts, buses trains or other mechanical contrivances. No cheating! It was every bit as spectacular as advertised! It was also VERY challenging. Sylvia and I had […]
Bastille Day and an Update on the TMB
Today is the French Holiday of Bastille Day, when France Celebrates it’s independence. And tomorrow may be another special day in France. What better way to celebrate than with fu-fu coffee at a local French restaurant? But our special days in France are also coming shortly. Sylvia and I will soon be embarking on the adventure of a lifetime – […]
The Last Miles Before the Hundred
Our last conditioning hike of the pre-Tour Du Mont Blanc was completed Sunday. Seven miles out and back on the Falls Lake Trail with fully loaded packs…carrying exactly what we’d be carrying on a typical day of the TMB. The hiking days in the Alps will be longer with much more up and down, of course. The TMB is of […]
Oh Goody! Site Updates!
New updates to Becauseitzthere.com! In addition to some changes to the look and feel designed to make the viewing and reading experience a little better, we are busy building new landing pages for each of our hikes pages with all the details in one concise summary! The landing pages will still link back to the blog posts. You can view […]
A hundred Miles of Up and Down
Countdown to the Tour Du Mont Blanc… The TMB — one of our Bucket List Hikes — and the majestic French Alps are looming close, and we’ve been busy getting ready for what promises to be the adventure of a lifetime. This means physical, mental and practical preparation. It also means spending a lot of money on things like this…a universal […]
The TMB Just Three Weeks Away! (and of course the French train workers are on strike)
Update on the Tour Du Mont Blanc So… We’re just three weeks out from the Tour Du Mont Blanc…our hundred plus mile circumnavigation of Western Europe’s highest peak! The excitement is building for this, the most ambitious thing we have ever done. Brian’s ‘Tarzan French’ is improving daily to the point where he now believes he can communicate with any […]
The TMB Hits a Snag, the Next Hike…and Waterfall Week!
We are now weeks away from the Tour Du Mont Blanc, and it’s beginning to sink in that we are actually going to do this thing. There is no turning back now! Finally, we going to be in the Alps! It is a dream of mine of as long as I have been a hiker. It’s also the next of […]
What’s Been Going On?
Taking a much needed rest the last few days. But we’ll have more posts soon! The the meantime we have updated our Bucket List, Best Hikes in the Southern Appalachians and Local Hikes pages. We are also finished with all of our preparations for the Tour Du Mont Blanc, now just a few weeks away! Brian is hastily cramming to […]
Countdown to the Alps!
***The Tour Du Mount Blanc is one of BecauseItzThere’s Bucket List hikes. It will be our headlining trip of 2018, and our fourth Bucket List trip completed as a team! The Alps is Three Months Away! ANY hiker worth his or her salt wants to take their game to the Alps. If I have to explain why…then you probably won’t understand […]