Beginning of this year I did a summary of what happened for us last year and I was mentioning as well some of my wishes for 2024. So I thought I will try to do a similar posts every three months to summarise what happened in our life.
Début de cette année j’ai écrit un résumé de ce que nous avions fait l’année dernière et j’avais aussi mentionné quelqu’uns de mes souhaits pour cette nouvelle année 2024. J’ai donc pensé que cela serait interessant de faire un résumé de ce qui c’est passé ces trois derniers mois.
Read the 2023 summary post here.

Personal Life:
Vie Personnelle:
Since coming back from maternity leave I have decided to change my working pattern to have more time with Marcus. Since January, I am doing my 37h5 in 4 days (Mondays to Thursdays) instead of working 5 days/ week. This allows me to have a 3 days weekend every week, which I have to say I love. It is a bit intense when I am at work but I love having my Fridays with Marcus.
J’ai décidé de changer mes horaires de travail à mon retour de congés maternité pour avoir plus de temps avec Marcus. Depuis janvier, je fais mes 37h50 en 4 jours (Lundi à Jeudi) au lieu de 5 jours / semaine. Cela me permet d’avoir des weekends de trois jours toutes les semaines, ce que j’adore. C’est assez intense pendant que je suis au travail mais j’aime avoir mes vendredi avec Marcus.
More importantly the main thing of the past three months was Marcus’ first birthday, which we celebrated with some friends. It is incredible how fast the year has passed. Master Marcus is now crawling and standing up. Let’s see if he walks by this summer.
Skye also celebrated his third birthday and it was a 35 for Matt.
Mais la chose la plus importante qui c’est passé ces trois derniers mois est le premier anniversaire de Marcus que nous avons célébré avec des amis. C’est fou comment l’année est passée hyper vite. Monsieur Marcus fait maintenant du quatre pattes et arrive à se tenir debout. Nous allons voir s’il marche d’ici l’été.
Skye a fêté ses trois ans et Matt ses 35.

Walking:
Randonnées:
The weather has been very wet and windy this winter; however we still managed to do some great flat walks and we discovered new areas in Cumbria. Let’s hope spring is better.
Le temps n’a pas été terrible cet hiver. Il a beaucoup plu avec du vent mais nous avons tout de même réussi à faire quelques randonnées et nous avons découvert de nouveaux endroits en Cumbria. Nous espérons que le printemps sera meilleur.
- Walk Cunswick Scar near Underbarrow
- Walk Gelt Wood near Brampton
- Walk around Muncaster Mill near Ravenglass

Travelling:
Voyages:
Beginning of January we spent 4 days near Arrochar in Scotland with Matt’s parents. It was a great sunny weekend and we visited the Cowal peninsula.
Début Janvier nous avons passé avec les parents de Matt 4 jours vers Arrochar en Ecosse. Nous avons eu un weekend très ensoleillé et avons pu découvrir la péninsule de Cowal.
Read our adventure around the Cowal peninsula here.
Beginning of February, we went to visit our friend Tania near Glasgow. However, Matt started to feel really sick during the Friday while driving there and was unable to get out of bed the Saturday. So I just spent some time with my friends chatting and cooking asparagus risotto. We did a little walk around her estate but really nothing worth sharing with you. We drove back home on the Sunday morning as Matt was still feeling rough. We did promise her that we will come back.
Début Février nous sommes allés passer un weekend chez notre amie Tania à côté de Glasgow. Malheureusement Matt a commencé à être malade sur le trajet et a passé le samedi au lit. J’ai donc juste profité de papoter avec notre amie et de cuisiner un risotto aux asperges. Nous avons fait une petite randonnée autour de son quartier mais rien qui vaille la peine de partager avec vous. Nous sommes rentrés directement le dimanche matin car Matt se sentait toujours mal. Nous lui avons promis d’y retourner.
End of March / beginning of April, we went for a week holiday near Windsor. I will tell you everything about it soon.
Fin Mars / début Avril nous avons passé une semaine vers Windsor. Je vais vous raconter tout cela très bientôt.

Blogging:
Blogging:
I have now managed to write all the old blog posts from our holiday in Northumberland and our summer walks in Cumbria, which means that I am up to date with my writing. Hurray!!!
J’ai finalement réussi à écrire tous mes articles sur nos vacances dans le Northumberland et nos randonnées l’été dernier en Cumbria. Je suis enfin à jour sur le blog.
Read all our adventure in Northumberland on this page. For walks in Cumbria it is here.
I have also published a first poem that my mother wrote in french and that I translated. It looks like people have enjoyed it and we are thinking to do another one.
J’ai aussi publié un premier poème que ma mère à écrit en français et que j’ai traduit. Il semblerait que mes lecteurs ont apprécié et nous pensons en faire un autre.
Find the poem here.
I am still working on updating my blog to have a consistent formatting between all the blog posts and I am slowly writing all my walks in French and English on the Visorando website so you can easily download GPX files and PDF to do the walks.
Je suis toujours en train de mettre à jour mon blog pour avoir tous les articles au même format et j’écris lentement toutes mes randonnées en français et en anglais sur le site Visorando pour que vous puissiez télécharger les fichiers GPX et PDF des randonnées facilement.
See my Visorando profile here.

Books and TV:
Livres et TV:
I have been mainly listening to audiobooks since the beginning of this year as I find it easier. I can listen when I walk Skye, when I cook or relax in bed after a long day at work. I have managed to listen to six books so great some less great. Here the list in reading order.
Depuis le début de cette année j’ai principale écouté de audiobooks car je trouve cela plus facile. Je peux écouter pendant que je promène Skye, que je cuisine ou dans le lit après une longue journée au travail. J’ai réussi à écouter six livres; certains bien d’autres un peu moins. Voici la liste par ordre de lecture.
- Acide sulfurique by Amélie Nothomb (Actually only paper book I have managed to read, in french but available in English);
- Small bodies of water by Nina Mingya Powles (this book won the Nan Shepherd award in 2019);
- On the road with kids by John Ahern;
- The library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina;
- Expedition: Adventures into undiscovered worlds by Steve Backshall;
- Clap when you land by Elizabeth Acevedo.
TV wise I devoured season 2 of Vigil on BBC iplayer. Any TV shows to recommand?
Sinon j’ai adoré la saison 2 de Vigil sur BBC iplayer. Avez vous des séries à me recommender?

Blog discoveries:
Découverte de blogs:
Finally I thought I would share some great blog posts written by fellow bloggers in the past three months.
Finalement j’ai décidé de partager avec vous des articles de blogs que d’autres bloggers ont écrit ces trois derniers mois.
- I have added a lot of places to visit in Cumbria thanks to Sharon who wrote an amazing post about dog-friendly places to discover in the Eden valley;
- I discovered a bit of Amsterdam with Anabel who went for a canal boat trip;
- I continued discovering the world from my sofa by reading Marion’s adventures in Istanbul (blog in french);
- I followed Jo during her explorations of Portugal and her tasting of cakes;
- I virtually walked around the Mont Blanc with Jim;
- and went for some snowy walks in Minnesota with Bruce and Linda.
Let’s see what Spring will bring !!!
Voyons ce que le printemps va nous amener !!!









Find all our adventures in Uk on this page.

Thanks for the mention! I can see someone appreciates birthday cake, what a lovely family photo.
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Oh yes he loved the chocolate cake I made.
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Sounds like you’ve had a busy year already! Let’s hope the next 9months are just as enjoyable! 😊👍
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Hopefully they will be 😊.
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What a lovely little lad! It’s great that you can work a 4 day week to spend more time with him. They grow so fast and those days are precious. Many thanks for the link. Have a great week!
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Yes it is really good and I like this work pattern.
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Thank you for the mention Mélodie. Yes, we have had awful weather so far this year, I’ve not managed to get to the Lakes at all. I enjoyed the poetry and I like the French alongside the English! Let’s hope the sun starts to shine soon!
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I hope you will be able to come soon.
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Fab family photo and love the one over Loch Ruel as well
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Thank you 😊.
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A lovely round-up of the first three months of this year. I love the views of Loweswater and Loch Ruel, also your family photo, Marcus looks so cute :)
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Thank you.
Loweswater is our go to when we don’t want to travel with Ennerdale water.
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Getting the right life/work balance from the start is more important than you think. Enjoy.
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Thanks. Not always easy to do both.
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The joys of parenthood.
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Being a parent means changing your lifestyle but you’re certainly keeping busy, which is a good thing. Changing your working pattern sounds like a good move.
Book choices say a lot about people. One called “Sulphuric acid” – mmm sounds like somebody’s a chemist (which of, course is what you are, of a sort). For a similar reason I’ll have to look that one up
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Yes we have changed a bit especially our bed time no more night out / watching TV series 🤣.
To be honest we are fortunate that Marcus is flexible and loves being out which means that we can travel by car and go hiking.
Amelie Nothomb has a strange writing style and her own world. People like her books or not at all. I try to read all of them.
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What a great round up and thanks for the mention, you’ve packed alot in over the first quarter of the year. X
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I felt we hadn’t done a lot but actually by writing everything we have done it ended up being a good list.
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J’ai hâte de voir ton article sur Windsor, c’est sur ma liste pour cette année !
J’aimerais bien tenter la semaine de travail sur 4 jours si j’en ai l’occasion. Mon dernier employeur était contre de par la nature du travail. Il fallait être joignable 5 jours sur 7, dommage.
Merci pour la mention 😉
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J’ai la chance de travailler pour une entreprise qui fait passer le bien être de ses employés en premier. Peux être que tu trouveras une entreprise aussi flexible avec les horaires 😉.
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I enjoyed your three months of life in your part of the world! Congrats on your job changes, it is a good thing!
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Thank you.
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That’s awesome that you’ve been able to adjust your work schedule to work the same amount of hours, but over four days. Glad to hear that despite the weather, you’ve still been getting some walks in. Here’s hoping for a nice spring!
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Thank you for your summary, Mélodie. I’m impressed by your blogging accomplishments (up to date with your writing) while working and having a young family. Of the books you read, I’ve also read Small Bodies of Water. I always enjoy reading your blog in English and French. I think the PDF of your walks in both languages would be a great asset to locals and visitors. I hope you have a beautiful spring.
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Thank you. I am trying to write a post per week and set aside some time for it. It is nice to hear that people like to have both languages. I hope that the PDF will be useful. Thank you have a great spring too.
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