Planning for such a long 750k hike needed to be meticulous. We needed maps, and an itinerary with all days planned out together with either booked accommodation or a list of accommodation possibilities.
We also decided it was timely to see the French Open. It had always been Ian's desire to see the French Open, so when his Fraser Island trip with the boys in the family started early in May instead of late, there was the perfect opportunity to visit the French Open late in May. It was easy to tag a few days onto the front end of our walking trip to France.
We bought seats to the Loge Open Package which had ring side seats on the Philip Chartriere Centre Court at Roland Garros, coupled with hors d'oeuvres in the lounge below the stand. Each day we arrived around midday, watched the match, then migrated down to the lounge at 3pm for a snack and a wine or two or three, before returning to the next match.
Each day there were 4 matches, 2 mens and 2 womens in the second round. The highlights were twofold - firstly seeing the Paul Henry Matthieu versus John Isner match which the crowd favourite Matthieu won in a marathon 5 sets lasting 5hrs 41mins, the second longest in the history of the French Open. Thes second highlight was being up close and almost personal to Roger Federer, playing Nicholas Mahut.