Yearly Archives: 2017

France day 11 – Spain

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The rain was coming so, we quickly packed up the awning before it got too wet.  Packed away the van and set off to Spain.  The route avoided tolls and took us along some beautiful scenery, around some tight hairpin bends and even a place where the road looped over itself.  Some of the villages we passed through had the narrowest streets I have come across, and two-way.  Luckily not much traffic passed through them. When I am home I must have my brakes replaced, they must be worn out now with all the twisty downhill mountain roads.

The last part of the trip was so enticingly close to  the A9 as we battled up and down hills to the border of Spain crossing at Le Perthus.  In Spain we stopped at the first supermarket which was taken over mainly by alcohol.  Ricard being sold in 4 litre bottles, and also in boxes of 6.  This was not for the Brits, but for the French who come over and stock up on cheap alcohol.  There was not much food.   We should have kept on a little while longer for the classier supermarkets.

Our destination was Capmany, only a few minutes into Spain.  We soon passed a few ‘Night Clubs’ presumably doing good business with French customers coming over the border.  We turned off the N-II to Capmany signposted by a nearly naked woman dancing & soliciting at the junction.

After a few wrong turns we arrived at the campsite, did not erect the awning due to 50K winds which were blowing over the site.  They had been blowing all day, and the van had been buffeted a little in the open plains. Shortly after arrival the rain arrived.  Supper and bed.

France day 10 – Fanjeaux

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Wednesday was a very hot day.  Probably too hot for a site seeing day.  We met Nadine and paid for are camping and were suggested a tour we could do.  The first item on the tour was Carcassonne.  The directions we were given suggested bypassing the town of Carcassonne and taking signs to La Cite.  This all went wrong, and we ended up driving straight through and parking in the centre of Carcassonne, where we paid a couple of Euros to park for two hours, and realised that was wasted money as 12-2 was free anyway.  A short walk to La Cite which looked impressive from the outside. Inside we were confronted by lots of tourist shops, restaurants and bars.  We walked around the streets, and the outside lower battlements which were free. We visited the church where we were entertained by five male singers, who Rosemary thought were Russian.  After a couple of songs, they advertised their CD, which we both though was rather overpriced.   Had it been, say 10 Euros, maybe we would have purchased one.

We made our way back to Van the Van, gave our ticket to a French woman and left for Lagrasse. The last few miles to Lagrasse were through some very tight hairpin bends.  These though were just the build-up for our trip to Spain the next day.

Parked in a public carpark at Lagrasse, near to the police station for security.  We then walked into town on the tourist circuit.  Lots of long narrow windy streets with the odd artist shop, and of course the covered market.  We crossed the river, passed the cemetery and arrived at the abbey.  Stopped for a beer, toast and aubergine pate.   We decided not to look around the abbey, there didn’t seem to be much of it when we reviewed the Google Map pictures.

Back along the hairpins we arrived back at Fanjeaux hoping to buy some food at the grocer, but were foiled by Wednesday being half-day closing.  The baker though was open. Back at the campsite supper and then sitting outside looking at the stars, and listening to the plops from the lake.  There was a rather ragged looking grey heron wandering around the shores.  Rosemary saw the heron when it made a rather unmelodious squawk.    Not at all a nice sound.

France day 9 – Fanjeaux

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The rain was finished for the morning, though still cloudy. We didn’t know what to do, so eventually we went for a walk.  It was one of the shorter set walks, 4.5 miles.  The walk has some good views of the surrounding countryside, the campsite, Fenouillet-du-Razes, Fanjeaux and mountains miles and miles away.  The day became warmer and warmer with the sun staying out longer.

Back at campsite, washing line erected, smalls washed and out to dry and a lunch of bread and cheese.

In the evening we wandered around the shore and were surprised by the number of little frogs who quickly leaped down the beach and into the water with a final plop.

France day 8 – Fanjeaux

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Today left the campsite on our journey to the south and hopefully the sun.  Managed to pack away the van, missing the rain. Soon came across it on our trip to the A20.  Drove the free section of the A20 to Nespouls where we took to the free local roads.  We made it all the way to Castelnaudry and started to search for a supermarket, Google had us go to Montreal, an Intermarche Contact.  Seemed to be a fuel station and a large warehouse, so tried again and found a place in Bram where we bought some essentials for the next few days.

Provisioned up, we headed to Fanjeaux (we had been there already between Montreal and Bram in the hope of finding food there.  It looked pretty grim on the shopping front.)  At Fanjeaux we headed to the camping, met Nadine at the farm. She told us to choose a site and come and pay later.  There is a longish drive through fields and down to a small lake.  The camping pitches are on the other side of the lake in several tiers.  We chose a spot near the lake, in-between the only two vehicles, two motorhomes. One was Dutch and the other was a Brit.  We tried to connect to the electricity, only to find, on our second occasion, another site with rubbish European socket connectors in the cabinets. 

A quick google, We found we there was a caravan supplier in Castelnaudary.  Arrived there and bought the adapter we required.  Back to the site, electricity connected, and the awning erected.  As soon as it was out of the bag the rain fell.  Rosemary remained inside the canopy supporting it, while I inflated, positioned and pegged the canopy.  All erected inside of 35 minutes. (Ignored R’s cries of how our tent (at home) would have been easier.)

We were invited by Luc, Nadine’s husband, for drinks at 6.30 where we met the other two couples who were camping.  Turns out that the Dutch couple knew John and Carol.  We drunk wine in the campsite common room with Luc, Nadine and the other two couples.  As it was getting dark we made our excuses to go and cook a quick meal of sausages and peppers. After dinner, the sky was clear, the stars were bright, and our galaxy was very visible. Despite the clear sky, the rain was soon on us during the night.  Battering down, with strong winds blowing the trees.  The shelter these trees gave to our camping space was fabulous.  Didn’t hear the awning blowing about at all during the night.

France day 7 – Carreau

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After breakfast we went for a walk along the local roads, through woods and by lakes. A deer was spotted in the woods, and a few buzzards.  We walked up through Carreau and spotted some English cars parked outside houses. The rain managed to keep off. Had lunch back at the campsite, and after 14.00 J&B arrived in their car.  Showed them Morrison and then we went for a drive around.  We stopped off at the Eglise Saint Eutrope in Les Salles-Lavauguyon.  This church has some wall paintings which are worth viewing. Then on up to Chabanais to see the English shop which sells Marmite, dropped in at Cassinomagus, an Archaeological Park, but never went in, then back to J&B for supper.

France day 6 – Carreau

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Walked over to Jen and Bev’s after breakfast.  Not a car in sight on the 15-minute walk to their home.  We ate lunch and then drove over to Brantome for a walk along the river and the cliff walls.  Back to Jen and Bev’s for supper and then a walk back to Morrison in the dark.

France day 5 – Carreau

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Today we packed the van and headed over to Jen and Bev’s.  We were going to be staying at a campsite within a mile of their home.  We arrived as the only campers on the site and were greeted by the Dutch owner of the campsite La Nozilliere.  They had taken over the site this year.  The pitches were not delimited, with no fences or hedges.  Tried to connect to their electricity, but unfortunately required a European adapter.  Luckily, they had one in stock. (Had we pitched elsewhere we would have found the standard electricity supply.)  This campsite had been closed the previous year.  The Dutch owners had bought the place during the winter and had done some work in the Sanitaire.  You could see they were tall, Rosemary had difficulty with the washing-up facilities & light switches and needed something to stand on.

France day 4 – Arçais

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Another cloudy, sunny and warm day.  I processed some of Linda’s beans from the pods and caught up with emails etc.  Linda & Rosemary spent time cleaning the rental because some new tenants were arriving for the weekend.  After lunch we drove into Niort, on the way we stopped at an Angelica field. This was maintained by the commune and had a notice about Angelica being a speciality of the region.  (A very small field, so not very impressive.).   We then drove to where there is a lock being renovated, eel ways and weirs.  Nearby was a posh restaurant called Auberge de la Roussille.  Got caught by a Frenchman who explained about the works for some 30 minutes.  It dawned on us that he thought we were French.  Linda is so fluent in French, and the man became surprised when he was told we were English, and that Linda was also British.

Back to campsite where we sat and drank a bottle of Cava with L&M. before going out for supper at The Patio. The restaurant was almost full. It is a clean modern looking restaurant. I ordered fish for mains, and Linda a steak.  When the meal arrived, we swapped as Linda decided the steak was too rare, and I was drooling at the thickness of it.

I started off with carpaccio of beef with a strong herb (sorrel?) dressing.  It was decidedly yummy.   The steak was very rare in the middle, but crispy cooked on the outside.  Pretty yummy as well.  I finished with two giant profiterole ice-creams.

Rosemary ate a veal main, which did not impress her,

France day 3 – Arçais

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Walked up to L&M after breakfast. Weather cloudy and sunny and warm.  R&L spent time collecting beans from the allotment.  Lunch and supper at L&M.  I did go for a short cycle ride on one of their bikes.  A tad uncomfortable and tremendously heavy.  Spent a while in the garden photographing a bumble bee in a passion flower,

France day 2 – Arçais

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Up, showered and breakfasted, we set out on a cloudy day, which intermittently showered, that annoying rain with the wipers on intermittent wipe.  Please rain hard and get it over with, please. We headed off on the D840 joining he N12 at Verneuil-sur-Avre. Turned off on the D401 and then the ever so straight D938. Suddenly the D938 veered to the right on a brand-new road Google knew nothing about. Unusual that a new road does not appear in Google maps, at least in the UK they appear very soon after they have opened. We continued the D838, D301 to Le Mans. This time for our very first time we went past the race track.

We continued through Noyant, Saumur, Thouars and stopped for lunch at an Aires on the D938.  The Aires had a closed café and some loos.  There was a farm nearby selling melons.  On again we then skirted Niort, passed through Coulon and at last reached Arcais.

On the way a couple of events occurred. Man standing in the middle of the road doing a survey, no Day-Glo jacket.  Lucky to be alive, has health and safety bypassed the French? A little while later there was another man in the middle of the road stopping us and asking us to move to the side.  He was an outrider for a rather large boat that was being transported along the road.

At Arcais we booked into the campsite, the weather was looking up, sun shining.  We erected the awning, phoned Mike who was on his own, Linda being out at a choir practice. He came over with a bottle of wine and we chatted.  He left to be at home when Linda returned, and we then cooked our meal.  Alas the rain (very very light drizzle) had started again