Vacations – Bit of the Good Stuff

A Vegan Trip to La Palma, Canary Islands

Published on March 8, 2018September 25, 2025 by Sharon3 Comments

Last Easter, I spent a glorious two weeks with the family on the Canary Island of La Palma. It was one of the most beautiful hiking destinations I’ve ever visited. In today’s post, I thought I’d share a few highlights from the trip, as well as details of our favourite vegan eats.

Having already visited Lanzarote on multiple occasions, in 2017 we decided to explore another Canary island. La Palma was our island of choice. Its designation as a “Starlight Reserve” really appealed to me as I adore star-filled skies, yet rarely get to experience them. La Palma is also known to be a ‘walkers paradise’ so I was looking forward to spending time in nature, breathing in the fresh air and exploring new sights.

I was intrigued by the landscape colours of La Palma. Unlike Lanzarote which is mostly volcanic rock, with black/brown/orange being the dominant colours, La Palma appeared to be mostly green from the images I saw on the internet.

Upon the recommendation of Andrew Locking from the blog Andrew’s Walks, I purchased a copy of Walk! La Palma before we headed to the island. Andrew’s accounts of the hiking routes on La Palma are so helpful and his photos are stunning. If you’re considering a vacation on La Palma, I’d highly recommend checking out his posts (to view them, simply type ‘La Palma’ in the search box on his ‘Find Walks’ page). After reading them, I was even more excited to be heading to the island.

And it did not disappoint.

The scenery is breathtaking.

And the landscape is really varied too.

There are black beaches…

… lush green forests…

… beautifully scented pine forests…

… and swathes of wild flowers.

Whilst on our adventures, we also stumbled across lots of beautiful animals. On one hike, I looked down and was surprised to see a lone cow. I think she was surprised to us too! She paused, looked up and, after assessing us, she called out ‘mooooo’ and two little calves came trotting out the forest and followed her down the path. It was a lovely sight to behold.

Another memorable hike was ‘La Cuevas de Buracas’. More breathtaking views…

… as well as a chance encounter with a cockerel…

… and two endearing goats.

It’s a very steep island, so many of the hikes start with a hill climb, for which you’re then rewarded with the most incredible views.

The ultimate hike had to be the ‘Pico De La Nieve’. It began with a steep climb through pine forests (which smelt incredible!)

After the climb, we popped out through the trees and were rewarded with the most breathtaking views I’ve ever seen! A blanket of fluffy white clouds stretching as far as the eye could see.

We really did feel on top of the world!

After the descent back to the car, we were met by this adorable raven. He was such a friendly guy and seemed really intrigued by Lucien.

We split the holiday into two halves, spending the first week in Los Llanos de Aridane on the west coast, then San Pedro on the east coast. Of the two, Los Llanos was our favourite location to stay as the town is larger, with more going on. It has a lovely al fresco cafe in the central plaza where we enjoyed chilling out, sipping coffees and reading.

A short drive from the town is Puerto Tazacorte, with its colourful houses and black volcanic sand beach.

We loved heading to this place at dusk to sit on the rocks and watch the sun set.

In Los Llanos, we found La Vitamina, which is a little cafe/restaurant serving vegan dinner options, as well as fresh juices and smoothies.

The boys chose the lasagne every time we visited La Vitamina (they really loved it!), but I was more adventurous and tried three different meals. All were delicious!

Though it may not look spectacular in the photo, this chickpea dish was incredible!

On the other side of the Island, we found Veg Art – a lovely little vegan cafe and health food shop that’s located in Brena Baja, next to the hotel complex. [Sadly this cafe has now closed down. See Rob’s update from 2023 in the comments section below with new vegan food establishments on La Palma]

Whilst staying on the east coast, we visited a few times for refreshing smoothies, sweet treats and lunches.

Whilst we enjoyed eating out, we prepared most of our meals at the rental apartments as it was much cheaper. The supermarkets on La Palma aren’t as big as those on Lanzarote, so we didn’t find such a big selection of vegan-friendly foods, however there was still plenty for us to eat. Most days we had cereal and soya milk for breakfast, then we made packed lunches of multigrain rolls filled with hummus or guacamole and salad.

For evening meals, we tended to buy frozen packs of mixed vegetables, cans of pulses (chickpeas, lentils, etc) then added in some sauce and served with pasta, rice or in wraps. My favourite foodie find of this holiday was Mojo Sauce, which hails from the Canary Islands. It took vegetable dishes to a whole new level of deliciousness. Back home, I was still dreaming about this sauce so decided to have a go at re-creating it myself. It turns out it’s really easy to make! Check out my next blog post where I share the recipe.

We also found an abundant supply of strawberries on La Palma. I lost count of the amount of trays we bought. They were so sweet and delicious!

In summary, La Palma is a fantastic destination for a walking holiday. It’s full of breath-taking scenery, including those stunning star-filled night skies. This island will always hold a special place in my heart. One day I’ll be back.

With love,

Sharon xx

SaveSave

Vegan Man in a Van; Mountain Bike Road Trip to Tignes, France

Published on August 7, 2017September 26, 2025 by Sharon5 Comments

I’ve been reading Sharon’s Bit of the Good Stuff blog for several years and always enjoyed the practical guidance and recipes that have helped me to follow a plant-based diet. Sharon’s blog is an inspiration, demonstrating that following a vegan diet isn’t difficult and this movement grows, it gets easier and easier to eat in this way. Once you’re in a routine, eating day-to-day is easy. We all have our tried and tested mealtime favourites. We know where we can go for vegan-friendly lunches and snacks.

I’ve found it more challenging when I step outside of this routine, perhaps working away from home or visiting new places. However, with a little extra thought and preparation, it’s not hard to overcome any potential difficulties and continue to eat healthy, plant-based food wherever you are.

Last July, I took a road trip to France with a few (non-vegan) friends and below I share a few reflections on what was a fantastic trip. The tips I offer on going on a road trip are perhaps obvious enough but, hopefully, some of these words might show how it is to maintain your plant-based diet, even when you’re the only Vegan in the Van…

Tignes
The plan was simple enough; four guys taking shifts to drive a van through the night to arrive in the early hours of Thursday morning and make the most of a long weekend in the mountains. Tignes is in the high alps, located at an altitude of around 2000 metres and nestled between higher peaks that scrape 4000 metres.

Aside from the stunning Alpine scenery Tignes has the added attractions of miles and miles of mountain bike specific trails and the FREE use of the chair lifts and gondolas that take you high into the mountains.

But this post isn’t about mountain bikes! Sharon’s asked me to share my experiences and any tips I have for travelling as a vegan to France. Here goes…

Take Food With You…
OK, obvious enough this one but, if you’re going to be driving for 10 hours, you’re going to need a good supply of snacks to keep you feeling good (and alert if it’s your turn to drive). A little preparation pays dividends here. I made myself some avocado sandwiches; lovely. I recommend sandwich fillings that stick together nicely, don’t spill out down your shirt (or onto the upholstery of your car) and don’t mind getting a little warm if it’s a long journey. Nuts and dried fruit make an ideal snack; easy to pack and they don’t melt when the sun comes out!

I have found that good vegan energy bars aren’t as easy to get abroad as they are here; those available in supermarkets tended to be very sugary cereal bars. I took Nakd and Trek Bars with me; great for the journey and for stuffing in my backpack on a long ride!

Once you get to your destination, I found it useful to have a few tins of vegan soups and stews as a handy back-up (I took a few from the Amy’s Kitchen range). If you don’t take any provisions with you, it’s not hard to find pasta, tomato sauce and fresh veggies in the local supermarket to make a simple meal. Non-dairy milks are easy to get hold of too, as are oats for breakfast.

And Drinks Too!
More ambitiously (!?) I also took a flask of green smoothie. Throw ice-cubes in the blender to make it nice and cool and keep it fresh for the journey. Talking of drinks, take loads of water. The air-conditioning in cars and planes dries you out pretty quick so keep on drinking. Being properly hydrated also helps to keep you alert. Sometimes it’s not another espresso that you need to revive you, it’s a bottle of water!

Service Stations
I find motorway service stations something of a nutritional desert, irrespective of whether or not you’re plant-based. Stuffed with high-calorie low-nutritional value food, don’t rely on them as part of your eating plan. For me, service stations are strictly for van fuel, toilets and (in France) excellent for coffee. Even the vending machines do you a proper coffee! Just be sure you’ve got a pocket full of Euro loose change that you can feed the machines with at 3am!

Arrival

It’s 0800hrs, Thursday morning, and our van rolls into Tigne. The side door slides open and we’re greeted by an icy blast of mountain air; it’s around zero degrees and there’s snow in the air. To be honest, this wasn’t quite what we’d imagined for the middle of July! We closed the door and headed off to find our accommodation; a self-catering apartment in the middle of town.

Breakfast
Breakfasts were easy; I took oats, nuts, dried fruit and long-life soya milk with me to ensure a reasonable start to the day. Riding bikes in the mountains is hard work, even when you’re headed downhill for most of the day so it’s important to get some decent food in you at the start of the day. By day two of the trip the other guys had ditched the croissants, cheese and ham and were sharing my oat-fuelled breakfasts. They were genuinely interested in what I was eating, and why.

I don’t make porridge as such; I pour soya/almond/rice/whatever plant-based milk onto my oats, let them soak and that’s it. A bit like Sharon’s ‘Overnight Oats’, without the overnight bit… If you’re in a hotel that provides breakfast, you might want to think about bringing your own cereal and soya milk. French hotel breakfast can be a bit cheese, ham and pastry orientated but there’s usually a good trough of fruit that you can get stuck into. And the coffee is good. Be sure to pocket a banana or two for later!

The bike trails in Tignes are fantastic. We arrived at the start of the summer season, before the schools have broken up; as a result, queues for the chair lifts are very short and you can maximise your riding time. The downside of arriving early in the season is the weather; during the first afternoon the lift took us up into a blizzard and the highest trails were closed due to snow fall!

Thankfully the weather can change very fast and day two was bright and sunny.

Lunch
By early afternoon we were hungry and thirsty as we rolled back into town after a morning hammering the trails in the mountains like the pro-riders that we all dream we are… My original plan was to dip into a local grocery store, get some bread, fruit, nuts and knock up a quick lunch. In reality, the group invariably gravitated toward a bar where the prospect of a cold beer beneath a sun shade was overwhelmingly attractive.

I guess this is the part of where it could get difficult as the vegan guy in the group. I don’t want to go and sit under a tree by myself eating an avocado… but I don’t want my eating choices to get in the way of everyone else. As it turned out, even the least promising looking menus offered something with some minor adaptions. There’s always a leafy salad and chips. Adapt a panini by asking for no cheese. My French is very limited but ‘sans fromage’ (without cheese) is a useful place to start. And it’s probably worth remembering that you’re not the first vegan in France; everyone I spoke to was really helpful. You might not end up with the most healthy plant-based lunch but you’re not going to starve; and I think that’s OK for a few days.

Dinner
Evening meals were easy; we cooked up big bowls of pasta and rice that we’d brought with us and added heaps of stir-fried vegetables from the market down the road. Actually, that didn’t happen but it was the original plan! Instead, after the reality of a day in the mountains followed by an early evening beer, cleaning and repairing bikes, rinsing out kit and taking a shower, no one really fancied cooking; even if cooking was essentially just boiling up some water. So once again we went out to get something to eat. And once again it was easy enough to find something to eat; even vegan burgers! Pizza and pasta restaurants are a good bet; it’s easy enough to get a pizza without cheese on if you ask for it.

Conclusions
The mountain biking was superb and left us high on adrenaline and endorphins at the end of every day. The scenery is spectacular; I love the mountain environment. Tignes, as a resort, is a great place for a mountain bike trip; there are plenty of trails, the lifts are open (and free!) and there’s lots of really good value accommodation available.

Maintaining a plant-based diet isn’t hard if you do a little preparation. It was great to have some food packed for the journey and to bring a couple of tins as a fall-back option. Eating-out is harder, in the sense that you’re not necessarily going to have many choices available. Be prepared to ask for some simple modifications to a dish; just removing cheese opens up your options.

I should acknowledge the support of my friends too, all of whom have subsequently bought a copy of Sharon’s excellent book, and have hopefully seen first hand that eating plants is a healthy way to live.

Enjoy the summer, wherever you may be travelling,

Mark

A Vegan Vacation in the Black Forest, Germany

Published on April 18, 2017September 27, 2025 by Sharon6 Comments

Last Summer, my family spent a glorious three weeks in the Black Forest, Germany. At the time, I was busy editing my cookbook so I never got the chance to write about the trip, so it’s been wonderful to spend time this weekend looking through photos and reminiscing.

In this post, I thought I’d share some of our favourite activities from the vacation as well as our experiences of eating vegan in the Black Forest; an area of Germany that isn’t particularly known for its ‘vegan-friendliness’.

For the majority of our vacation, we stayed in a holiday apartment on the outskirts of Freudenstadt. Just a two minute walk from the apartment and we were in the Black Forest. It’s one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I’ve ever been.

We spent many hours in the forest, hiking and running.

We also took picnics with us and enjoyed them in the log cabins that are dotted through the forest.

The forest smelt incredible too… a mixture of pine and earthy, mossy scents.

On our trips, we also stumbled across waterfalls and lakes. Lots of special places to pause and soak in the beauty of nature.

We were able to explore further afield, thanks to our kind hosts, Edeltraud and Gunther, who provided us with complimentary Schwarzald Plus cards. With these cards, we were able to use the trains, buses and chair lifts in the region for free, as well as free entry into 80 attractions (including the local swimming pool) throughout our entire stay! What an amazing card! It literally saved us hundreds of pounds.

We made full use of the free transport to explore the region’s cities and towns (Baden Baden was a favourite of ours) as well as the chair lift in neighbouring Baiersbronn. There’s a lovely cafe at the top of the chair lift, where I spent time chilling out and reading, while the boys whizzed down the hill in go-karts (another attraction that’s free with the Schwarzwald Plus card!)

The card also gave us free entry to the incredible Baumwipfelpfad in Bayern! It’s like a huge, modern helter skelter.

At the top you’re greeted with the most breath-taking views of the forest – trees for as far as the eye can see. To return back to the bottom, you can either walk or grab a cushion and whiz you way down the helter skelter. How fun is that?

After spending our days exploring, we’d return to the beautiful apartment, cook some delicious dinner then curl up on the huge comfy sofas to watch movies. We’d bought 20 second-hand dvds with us (purchased from Amazon for a penny each!) and they were just perfect for family evening entertainment.

Each day, we stocked up on groceries in Freudenstadt, which was a 20 minute walk from the apartment, commencing along this beautiful path.

The town has two supermarkets – Aldi and Norma – as well as an organic health-food shop, and all were well stocked with vegan-friendly food (much to our delight!)

We were especially appreciative of the clear labelling. We don’t speak German, but luckily we didn’t have to try and read the ingredients as there were big vegan labels on the packaging!

In the main supermarkets, we were able to buy a whole array of vegan products including pesto, pates, dips, mayonnaise, hummus, milks, crackers and cookies.

In the health food shop, we were able to buy more specialist items, such as flavoured tofus (my favourite Taifun brand!) and chocolates including the gorgeous Vivani.

For lunch, we would buy fresh-baked seeded rolls from Aldi, fill them with hummus or pate, tofu, and salad. Pack them in containers that we’d brought from England and stash them in our backpacks. For snacks we had trail mix and chocolate.

For evening meals, we loved these bags of organic frozen vegetables. They were so handy (and I really wish we could get them in England!) We mixed them with jars of marinara, sweet ’n’ sour or curry sauces and serve them with pasta, rice or noodles, and nuts/seeds/tofu for a protein boost. It literally took 15 minutes to make dinner (and no chopping involved!)

The supermarkets also sold vegan-friendly meals. We tried this green curry one night, which was lovely (but these kinds of meals tend to work out a lot more expensive than making your own).

We saw a couple of vegan-friendly restaurants during our excursions to the Black Forest towns, but we were happy to eat at the apartment every night. Not only were the meals tasty and nourishing, but they were cheap to make too.

During our vacation in Germany, we also got to stay in Stuttgart for a couple of nights. We stayed with the lovely Katja (an architect) in her stunning, modern house. I’d emailed ahead and mentioned to Katja that we were vegan and she kindly offered to make us a vegan breakfast. We happened to be her first ever vegan guests, but you would never have known. In the morning, we were greeted with a table laden with vegan-friendly goodies, including plant-based milks, yogurts, muesli as well as breads and home-made jam.

We had one whole day in Stuttgart so we went to the most famous attraction – the Mercedes-Benz Museum. It’s a great day out and highly recommended. Lil’ L and M were lucky enough to return to Stuttgart another day with our Freudenstadt host, Gunther, who took them on a tour of the Mercedes-Benz factory (he took an afternoon off work to accompany them – how kind is that?)

It happened to be our 14th wedding anniversary while we were in Stuttgart and we celebrated in style, sitting on bar stools and munching falafel platters at Vegi. Not very classy I know, but we loved it! While we were there, more and more people arrived to order their takeaway dinners, and the queue ended up going right out the door. It made me smile to see veggie food so popular here in Stuttgart!

We also found a lovely cafe in Stuttgart called Cafe DA where we tucked into yummy chocolate cake. The staff are really friendly here so be sure to go say hi to them if you ever find yourself in Stuttgart.

Even though I was working on my book during our time in the Black Forest, I couldn’t have been in a more beautiful, relaxing place to put the final touches to it. I will always look back at this summer with great fondness. Thank you Gunther, Edeltraud and Katja for making our stay so comfortable. We’ll be back, for sure!

Sharon xx

Our Summer Adventure in the French Alps

Published on September 13, 2014September 27, 2025 by Sharon10 Comments

During the school summer break, we strapped three bikes to the roof of our car and headed across on the Eurotunnel to France. Our destination – the beautiful French Alps.

La Clusaz, a short drive away from our hire chalet, soon became our favourite place to hang out. It’s a great family-friendly place, with so many activities going on that I felt like I’d landed in a scene from Where’s Wally!

The village was filled with activities for all ages – inflatables for the small kids, summer luge, zip wires and a big air bag for the older kids, as well as an ice rink and swimming pool.

Lil’ L loved the big air bag! The slope is actually designed for ski jump practice but, in the summer, you can slide down it in an inflatable tyre. It was really popular with kids and adults alike. Literally everyone I watched jump had a big smile on their face :o)

From La Clusaz, you can take cable cars up into the mountains for hikes, cross country biking and downhilling.

Our hiking adventures took us through alpine meadows…

through forests and streams…

and up and down rugged hills…

where we came across these beautiful creatures ❤️

The weather wasn’t the best, but we made sure to make the most of the sun when it came out.

We did get caught out one day whilst hiking on the top of a mountain. The sky suddenly went dark, and then the most almighty storm set in. We ran as fast as we could down the mountain, slipping and sliding in the torrential rain, with deafening claps of thunder and forked lightening overhead. It was exhilarating (and just a little bit scary too!)

For the first time ever, it was me that was left trailing behind on the bike rides!

It’s incredible how much Lil’ L has improved at hill climbing in the past year. Last year, I was the one waiting at the top of hills as M patiently coached him up the hill. Now, he flies up the hills and stands waiting for me!

I’m seriously going to have to up my game as I don’t want to be ‘slow mum’. That’s just not cool!

As well as hiking and biking, I loved running in the stunning countryside surrounding our chalet. After climbing up and down hills for three weeks, my body’s definitely stronger and more toned. I’d love to keep it that way!

Other activities that Lil’ L loved this holiday included swimming, reading, playing chess and Diablo. He’d been patiently waiting for a new Diablo for weeks so, when we finally gave it to him at the Eurotunnel terminal, he couldn’t wait to get started. He even managed to spin it in the car!

We were really pleased with our hire chalet, which was spacious, modern and came with a fully-equipped kitchen. When in France (with the exception of Paris), we always prepare our own meals. Not only does it save us a small fortune, but it can be difficult to find vegan-friendly eateries, especially in this area of the Alps (aka ‘Cheeseland’!).

In fact, I didn’t see a single vegan option on the menus I looked at. No matter though, as I was more than happy to cook, especially as M was around to help out. Back home, I’m usually in the kitchen on my own, so it was lovely to have some company!

Since we were travelling by car, I took a few supplies from home that would either be hard to come by (like nooch and nettle tea) or a lot more expensive in France (like big packs of almonds and cashews). I also took some herbs and spices to save having to buy more.

Fortunately, non dairy milks and yogurts are readily available in the French supermarkets. The Bjorg brand has lots of vegan-friendly products, including delicious mushroom and aubergine pates. We found them on the ‘Bio’ (organic) aisle, along with the milks and tofu. Bjorg tofu is different to the tofu you find in the UK, as it’s UHT and doesn’t need pressing. It’s chewier than our regular tofu, but I find it works well when diced into small cubes and cooked in sauces.

The one thing that always catches me out in France though is the hummus – for some unknown reason, most of the brands contain cheese!

All the meals we made were simple and quick to prepare. For lunch, we loved big colourful salad plates, beans on toast (we found Heinz baked beans on the world food aisle!), or baguettes filled with stir-fried veg. For our main meals, we enjoyed pasta, curries, fajitas, French bread pizzas, stir-fries and couscous dishes.

The three weeks flew by and, before we knew it, it was time to head home. We’re now back into the routine of work, school and evening clubs and activities, so week days are pretty full on. I’m looking forward to lots of weekend biking adventures though, crunching our way through piles of Autumn leaves. I just need to sneakily get some extra hill practice so I can keep up with those boys.

I hope you had a wonderful summer too!

With love,

Sharon xx