IT'S A BIT COLD HERE........

9th-14th OCTOBER

Good drive up the Rhone Valley to St.Laurent du Pape where we stopped overnight. Found a better route than last year, taking a toll round Aix for 1.40€ which saved over half an hour - unfortunately I obviously didn't explain it well enough to D&M who got lost and despite leaving an hour before us, arrived an hour later feeling very grumpy. So much so that next day they spurned my lovely route up the left bank of the Rhone and cunning deviation round Lyon, avoiding the centre, and took the motorway all the way to Beaune at a cost of 30€ and arriving about 2 and a half hours before us. At least they an afternoon to look round the lovely old town. We all went out for a meal in the evening which was pleasant enough, pricey and rather spoiled by a grumpy proprietor.

We went our separate ways on Tuesday as they had to go and get the dog innoculated in Reims. We spent the night at Gurgy on the riverbank after a nice exploration of Auxerre which we always seem to miss on account of parking problems but this time found a coach park on the left bank of the Yonne which was ideal. Weather getting chillier.
Made such good time on Wednesday towards Mareuil sur Ay, our usual stop, and with the weather starting to get rainy so that we might as well be driving as sitting in the van staring out, that we pressed on to Catillon sur Sambre where we found an excellent aire with electric hook-up for 5€ a night. As gas might be getting critical this was just what the doctor ordered.

This left a 2.5hr drive on Thursday to Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkerque where we had tried to find the aire some years ago without success. As there is a perfectly servicable ( if somewhat noisy) aire in Calais next to a great restaurant we had never bothered looking at Gravelines again, but in conversation with D&M we decided to have another go, this time with better instructions. And a jolly nice aire it is too, overlooking the harbour, quiet within walking distance of the town centre where we had a jolly nice meal that evening......the GF treating me to a late birthday dinner.

Friday was nice and sunny and home by 2pm. A very pleasant,warm and sunny trip with many memorable moments. Van has now been washed and polished and put to bed until January.....perhaps.

ALL GOOD THINGS........

19th September - 8th October

28 days at CAVALAIRE-sur-MER draws to a close with a day of uncharacteristic bad weather in the form of violent winds. Since we have arrived here, we had 1 day on which it rained, 1 day when there were a few showers and now 2 days on which there were high winds and the temperature has remained constantly between 25-30.

Derek & Margaret arrived 2 weeks ago and the alcohol intake has increased to such an extent that the Good Fairy has forbidden me to go round to their place to play any more......and she is still trying to teach us all to say "No thank you, I've had enough" without much success.

We have found some good cycle tracks, visited nice beaches at CAVALIERE, about 8 miles down to the coast and introduced the Parkers to the joys of Boules to such an extent that they have bought their own sets.

A great day out was spent at sea following the regatta at St.Tropez. It was the last day and all the old classic yachts were in full sail as well as the modern huge racing yachts...a magnificent sight against the blue of the sea and the Provence sky. We boarded the boat at Cavalaire, sailed round the coast to St.Trop and spent the day in the Gulf watching the yachts all around us and then had a brief stop in the port to mooch around the town for a couple of hours.....still one of my favourite places.

We have managed to watch most of the Rugby world cup games and are now waiting to watch the England-France 1/4 final having just seen a terrific match between Wales-Ireland in which Wales were awesome winners 22-10. If we beat France (possible but our form has stuttered so far) we shall meet them in the semi-finals.

Starting back home tomorrow, 9th.Oct, with the Parkers until Tuesday when we separate as they head off to a vet to get the dog vaccinated.

Postscript...........

We won't be facing the Welsh in the semi-finals as England dismally failed to surmount the first hurdle of beating the French first. 16-0 at half time was enough to make a grown man cry as England decided not to bother the scorers and the second half was only marginally better.....but as the checkout girl at Carrefour said ,,it's only a game,,

LIFE ON THE RIVIERA

10th September - 18th September

The site at MALLEMORT proved to be excellent. The large, shady pitches had water and drainage, facilities were very good, the town ( with a large Intermarche) was a a few kms cycle ride and had an excellent market on Saturday morning for fruit and veg. The local river is part of what appeared to be some sort of hydro-electric scheme run by EDF with a network of canals for pumping water back up to a reservoir and which allowed some nice cycle paths to be available. We stayed for 3 days and might well return in future years on the way to the coast. The opening World Cup Rugby game was fairly mundane ( NZ v. Tonga, not a great contest) and Englands opening game against Argentina was dire and embarassing. The best of the bunch was France v.Japan, a very good game and Japan putting up a terrific fight and nearly causing a magnificent upset.

Moved on Sunday to CAVALAIRE SUR MER where we shall be for the next month. Took the pretty route over Garde La Freinet much to the GF's displeasure, but it saves an hour. Last time we took this road, the Porsche Club of France were having a rally, coming from St.Tropez, and I suspect we ruined a few peoples morning and caused some unexpected changes of underwear; this time, the local Harley Davidson chapter were having a rideout and we seemed to have about 50 bikers behind us, all trying to get past on a narrow, steep,twisty road with rocky overhangs on the inside and huge unguarded drops on the outside. May have ruined their morning too.

Arrived to find Camping La Baie heaving at the seams......the weather is still awesomely hot but fortunately we had a reservation - lost count of the people being turned away. The pitch we were allocated, behind the swimming pool and handy for everything, turned out to be too close to the trees for the satellite, but we could get french tv on the digital so rugby was going to be available. However, on Monday morning I spotted a couple of people leaving, and when I explained in the office that I needed a satellite view in order to watch the rugby the boss overheard and turned out to be a rugby fan and insisted that we were accommodated......so we moved to another pitch at 9.30 and now hvae a near perfect set-up. ITV4 can be a bit iffy but we can switch to french tv for the the odd games - mainly early morning games midweek when breakfast tv takes precedence.

So a week has passed, and we have settled into a very relaxing regime of watching rugby,shopping, eating and lazing by the pool in the afternoon or cycling down to the beach. The camp is in the town and you can walk to the harbour and beach in 5-10 mins. Large market on Wednesday, plenty of shops and a Carrefour within walking distance.

On Saturday night we went to the restaurant as they had a live local Jazz band performing.... it was billed as a Soiree Boeuf, which turned out to be the french term for a jam session and was superb evening of impromptu jazz, blues and rock with some fantastic combinations of guys really enjoying themselves.

The rugby proceeds......England regain some respect but still give cause for concern over the penalty count. Ireland's win over Australia was magnificent as the aussie forwards collapsed, Wales almost come to grief with Samoa (again) South Africa look sharp and France recover from their fright with Japan.

Weather crashes spectacularly on Sunday with massive thunder storm followed by gales on monday ( a mistral) that required severe battening down of hatches..........awning retracted, everything put away or tied down but forecast predicts back to normal on Tuesday.

Have found some lovely cycle paths with great views...more in the next posting.

ANDUZE TO THE LUBERON

September 4th - 9th September

Sunday dawned cloudy but bright after the rains of Saturday, and having discovered that the Voie Verte led to a local village classified as "one of France's prettiest villages" and then to a local Gorge highly rated for scenic content, no further invitation was required. The Voie Verte was another ex railway line, spectacularly hugging the hillside over great views, with some very unrailway-like steep bits - but who cares when you have battery-power. The sun shone, the birds sang and we saw proper red squirrels, which we may never have actually seen before. They are noticeably smaller than the greys ( which is obviously why they have been wiped out in the uk) but so much cuter.
As we swept downhill into OLARGUES (Plus Beaux Village de France) we ran into rain out of nowhere. As the sun was still shining, we sheltered briefly under trees, but as the skies darkened, made a dash for the village, only to find its charm of steep,narrow,cobbled streets now running with water were not bike friendly and we had to cower under trees in the lower regions for some considerable time. We were surrounded by mountains and the outlook was bleak so at a glimmer of bright and a lessening of wet, we hightailed it back along the railway track. Sods law being present meant that 8 miles back saw bright sunshine and no evidence of rain, and the campsite, another 4 miles on was roastingly hot and required a visit to the pool when we arrived back.. so Olargues will have to be taken on hearsay as being so beautiful because we never found out.

On monday we moved ever eastwards towards Provence and stopped at ANDUZE, last visited in 2007 during the rugby world cup when we stayed overnight at the splendid aire next the old steam train station and in fact had a meal in town with Dave & Briony who had checked into a nearby hotel. Our impression on that fleeting visit had been fairly neutral, but a few days there revealed hidden charms. WE opted for Camping Castel Rose which was on the river and were not disappointed. Less than 2kms from the town, an easy walk or cycle ride and a very pleasant place with a nice market on Tuesday to replenish supplies.. great pitch on the river bank, with an abundance of bird life.... a pair of herons and a pair of Great White Egrets came to fish each morning and evening and - joy of joys - a kingfisher was much in evidence sitting on a rock. Each time we sat outside for breakfast,lunch or dinner we were besieged by a flock of Great Tits, a nuthatch and several chaffinches, all picking up the crumbs.

And next door to us was small vineyard with a notice announcing that it would be open for tasting and purchases on Wed (4-6pm) and Sat (10-12). So at 5pm on wed I popped round on the bike. At first it appeared closed ( this France, after all) but I persevered on to the farmhouse where I met the owner ( Jean Vercier) and his charming wife (Claire-Lise) who immediately accompanied me back to the Cave ( big garage really) and started pouring wine in very generous quantities. They grow mainly Merlot, with some Grenache and Chardonnay. They produce 2-3000 bottles a year of Merlot, a Merlot-Grenache blend and a small amount of white and rose. The merlot was stunning (14%), the grenache blend less so (13%) so I bought a case of the merlot at 4€ a bottle which I thought was very reasonable. They gave a me complete tour of the operation, this year's harvest having already started and the place was full of boxes of grapes. This was a real family busines because they and their 3 school-age children do the picking in the evening when the heat retreats and the kids have done their homework. He then sorted and cleaned the bunches of grapes in the morning and pressed them in the afternoon. The garage was full of vats of fermenting grapes which he insisted,with a big smile, on lifting lids so I could hear them fizzing.
I didn't get round to discovering where the wine is stored and bottled since what I bought was 2008 and there was no sign of a bottling plant. So I had a lovely time and they were very nice people.

Thursday required us to move as our present location did not give good reception on ITV which is essential for the rugby world cup. So we headed to the Luberon where there were 2 possible campsites that might offer the correct blend of shade and clear satellite views on the river Durance. We arrived at the first candidate at 12.45 which was amistake as reception was shut until 3pm. However as we walked around it became apparent that although the sign said 5 star camping, it was not actually a campsite as we know it but a mobile home holiday park. After half an hour we didn't discover any campers of any description so decided to move on and not hang around to find out otherwise. The other site was only 10km down the road and proved ideal. Lovely pitches, great shade and good views of the sky. All set till Sunday.

CASTLES AND CANALS

29th.August - 3rd.September

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny - hardly surprising after a very hot night, and having gotten within 4kms of the castle at PEYREPERTUSE it seemed silly not to go and have a look.....even if the 4 kms were almost vertical. The GF was anxious but a german next to us assured us that we would get the van another 2km up the mountain 'to where the coaches park'and then there was a path the rest of the way.. the road was fine, the parking area - which seemed to contain all the vans from the aire the night before - was fine and the path was steep,rocky and a bit of of a lung-buster but we got there and it was worth it for the views alone. The casle stretches out along a ridge with sheer drops all round and is remarkably intact. It was one of 5 built as a defense against the Spanish (the 5 sons of Carcassone) when the border with Aragon was this side of the Pyrenees,and with its visible neighbour, QUERIBUS on the next ridge, commands a series of valleys with spectacular views. It fell out of favour when the peace treaty of 12** settled the border along the centre of the Pyrenees and it lost its raison d'etre.

So from there we found a route back down the valley which avoided the road back over the highest ridges, much to the GF's relief, even if it was still a bit narrow and windy through some terrific gorges and the pretty road to CARCASSONE. Great camp site within view of the old walled city which was a 15min walk away. So good that instead of the intended 2 nights we stayed 5.
Walked into the old city on Tuesday and took a walking tour of the old walled town and the 'new' old town that was built to replace it down below, and ending on the banks of the Canal du Midi.......which made us think about cycling along it. Which is why we stayed. The tour was ok but a mite tedious as at every stop the guide gave a 10 min lecture in French and then repeated it in English and as it went on from 10am till 1.15 we got very very hot, thirsty and hungry. By the time it ended it was too late to go back for lunch so we had an excellent lunch at a brasserie under umbrellas in the main square and then returned to the site to spend the afternoon by the pool. The weather remained hot but a hot wind sprang up for 3 days which was very irritating and a short lived thunderstorm one evening. We cycled into town for more exploration......the castle is Very Touristy and there are more ways to separate the unwary from their cash than I can recall - it must be hell for people with young children.

A jolly good ride along the Canal du Midi, enlivened with the spectacle of watching a car being fished out that must have fallen in only a few minutes before we arrived. The Canal path is excellent and very well maintained and on the site we spoke to several people and families who were riding the whole length from Toulouse to Agde - an Argentinian, especially,with his wife and 4 children, aged 7-14, who had left the car in Toulouse and would be return from Agde by train after taking 5 days to cycle the complete canal. Will definitley investigate more about aires and campsites along the route.

Finally left CARCASSONE on saturday and went to MIREPOIX, a rather fine half -timbered medieval village, and then wasted a lot of time and fuel trying to find a decent aire for the night without success and so ended up at a campsite on the other side of the Black Mountains from Carcasssone having driven around 3/4 of a circle to get there. Camping Cerisiers de Jaure at St.PONS du THOUMIERS is very nice and on a Voie Verte cycle path so we shall explore a bit.

CAVES & CASTLES

26th.August - 29th.August.

We got very wet on Friday and it didn't stop raining until the evening. Very Lake District like. Off on Sat morning bright and early as our visit to the caves at NIAUX was booked for 9.45, we had to 'check in' by 9.30 and we were about 45 mins drive away. Getting to NIAUX village was no problem and I had checked when booking that there was plenty of parking space at the caves for a large motorhome. What they had omitted to mention was the that from the village on the valley floor, the caves were 2 miles up a mountainside on a very narrow,winding road with overhanging rocks at every corner. There was however, just about enough parking space at the top at the enormous entrance to the caves. This complex is one of the few in europe,(14 I think they said), where you can still see the original cave paintings which is why entry is strictly controlled by allowing only groups of 20 to enter at any one time in order to reduce heat and carbon dioxide. The tour took nearly 2 hours and involved walking 800 metres into the mountainside through a magnificent series of galleries and tunnels to reach the main chamber with the paintings. led by a very informative guide. The caving system was carved out of the rock by water but are now nearly completely dry which is why the paintings have survived for 14,000 years (some paintings were damaged by water in 1978 and nobody knows why). There is no lighting in the caves, and we were all given rechargeable battery torches with low heat emission bulbs, which we had to turn off in the vicinity of the paintings whilst the guide used special torches to illuminate them for us as he described them. Altogether quite a stunning & unforgettable experience.
The drive down was just as hairy but we waited until the next group had congregated at the reception so that there would be little likelihood of meeting anyone on the way up.
Drove to AX LES THERMES, thought about going up to ANDORRA and then found a terrific aire at LES CABANNES where we spent the night for 4€ with another 26 vans. Superb mountain views and a pretty village ( on the Tour de France 2011 as it headed into the Pyrenees)

As we missed out on the high Pyrenees, our plans were somewhat scrambled so we decided to head for the Cathar country and the castles. As MONTSEGUR was quite close, and any visit was going to involve a strenuous climb, we arrived there about 10am. And the climb was very strenuous but a Gold star for the GF and we were rewarded with stunning views all round. The Castle is in ruins of course but the history comes alive when you reach the top.....500 people held out for 10 months in 1244 when it was besieged during the Albigensian crusade. The 220 Cathars they were sheltering were offered safe passage in a peace settlement if they renounced their faith but they refused and walked down the mountain and on to the pyres waiting for them at the bottom. I think it is one of the worst massacres of the middle ages and an atrocity that the Catholic church should never be allowed to forget. End of obsessive rant.

From there the road took us the strange phenomenon of the fountain of Fontesforbes at BELESTA....a cave at the side of the road which is the outlet for a stream running through the mountain. Due to some unique channels cut by the water, the flow is intermittently a trickle and a spectacular flood of 15000 litres a second. This complete cycle of trickle-flood-trickle happens continually in the summer months every 30 mins or so.
There a very detailed diagram and explanation about the level in channel Q falling below the level in the underground reservoir M and sucking air through hole P which is incomprehensible.But the effect is wonderful.

Stopped for lunch at PUIVERT, but did not fancy climbing up to the castle in the afternoon heat and headed for the CHAT.de PEYREPERTUSE, associated with the Cathars but more realistically a defensive fort, alongside its near neighbour at QUERIBUS, during the wars with Aragon/Spain, passing the Chateau at PUILAURENS on the way.

PEYREPERTUSE is a very iconic castle, perched on a ridge, and Mr Michelin thoroughly recommends a visit by campingcar in one of his Escapades. As there is an aire in the village below,DUILHAC s/s PEYREPERTUSE, it seemed the perfect night stop, esp. as All The Aires describes it as the 'prettiest aire in the Pyrenees'. Nobody mentions the access road over the GRAU DE MAURY which whilst not especially high, seems to be, with an unguarded road not much wider than the van and very steep with hairpins. White knuckle ride for the GF and when I enquired as we crested the summit if she was Ok, the response of 'what are you bloody going to do about it if I'm not?'seemed a tad edgey. But we got there in one piece with the happy thought of getting back to sustain us. Terrific setting for an aire and a dozen or so vans there. Walked round the village, found a man making wine in his garage and after a tasting bought 5litres of the red Corbiere for 15€ and a bottle of the white for the GF. Then found a man in a van with a wood burning pizza oven in it and bought what turned out to be an excellent pizza for dinner.

ALL THE FUN OF THE FOIX

21st.- 25th AUGUST.

The gite had to be vacated by 10am as new arrivals were expected that afternoon. We said our goodbyes on Saturday night as there was much to be done with packing and young children on Sunday morning without us getting in the way and departed about 9.30, waving goodbye my new friend, M.Arnal the farmer on our way. Short drive to ST.ANTONIN and the aire.......whilst we Could have driven further, I felt the alcohol level in the bloodstream was high enough to justify driving to the nearest place and parking up for the day. Nice market in the centre and terrific boulangerie for the requisite tarte aux fraises.
Only problem was the heat and only part shade. By mid afternoon, with the silver screens on, all vents & windows open and the cab doors open, the temp inside was 39.8. and we were sitting in the only shade behind the van...and then we discovered that we could go and sit in the river about 100m away which probably saved us. Very uncomfortable night as temp never dropped below 32.

Up early on Monday because of the heat and on the road about 8.30. Good drive to TARBES where we parked for a few hours in a private guarded aire and walked into town for a drink and look around. Still rather hot in the middle of the day for sightseeing so a stroll through the very nice gardens was the highlight ( We decided to give the birthplace of Marechal Foch a miss, merely having a drink in his square, opposite his hotel). Then onto LOURDES. Ok I know, I swore I wasn't going to do another Catholic pilgrimmage site and the GF only agreed to go if I promised to not to rant on about a. Religion b.Religious souvenirs c.Gullible Religious Tourists....but I didn't promise not to write about them. So we found a very nice little family run campsite where we pitched under shady trees and did a bit of housekeepng. Next day, got the bikes out and cycled into LOURDES, only 3km away. Unfortunately the weather changed and thick mist hid the mountains and a fine drizzle fell as we approached the town but it soon cleared. LOURDES. Its better than it might be and whilst unashamedly attempting to separate you from you money ( I was offered, in dark alleys, enough splinters from the true cross to build an ark) it is obviously bringing enormous comfort (and hope?) to hundreds of thousands of unwell people so who am I to mock. And it's not up itself like Compostello nor are there armed guards in the church of the grotto which was an interesting church. So we had a cup of coffee and left them to it (I have several splinters of the true cross available at a reasonable price if anyone is interested).

Now. The real reason why we were in LOURDES was to begin an Escapade en CampingCar, from Mr.Michelins book of the same name, which is a tour of the thermal waters of the Pyrenees, including crossing the Col du Tourmalet, the highest of the passes. The GF had only agreed to this on the basis that Mr Michelin wouldn't send us up impassable tracks or dangerous routes, even though she had watched the tv pictures of the Tour de FRance crossing said Col in July. Well I thought it would be fun. But then the weather changed and the clouds came down and the forecast was for several days of thunderstorms in the Pyrenees so there wasn't much point.

We had also planned another Escapade after the mountains, touring the Cathar castles based around Carcassone, so looking at the maps we decided to head south to FOIX, another Cathar base and also close to Mont Segur, number one on my 'must visit'list ( having read several books about its place in Cathar history). Found a nice riverside campsite at BASTIDE DE SEROU after a very pleasant country drive with the attraction of being very close an old railway track cycle path (Voie Verte) to FOIX, about 20km away.
So on wednesday we visited the tourist offices, armed ourselves with maps from the very helpful young man, and after visiting the market (where we watched a man dispening wine from vats in the back of his van via hosepipes into any container you wished to present for 0.90€ a litre or 1.10€ a litre for the superior) we cycled to FOIX along the best cycle path we have ever done. A slight gradient as path follows the hillside with spectacular views over to the Ariege massif, foothills of the Pyrenees. Final 4kms on the road down into the town of FOIX. Stunningly restored castle overlooks the town and we climbed up to it in the heat of the day ( although not as bad as last weekend)and whilst it was open, the only English speaking guided tour of the day at 1pm was cancelled due to ill health. So we just did the best we could and had a good look round and a picnic under a shady tree with lovely views up and down the valley it was built to protect.

Had intended moving on but discovered on thursday that in order to visit the caves at NIAUX, which are as important as Lascaux, it is necessary to book a reservation as visitor numbers are limited and the earliest booking we could get was Saturday so we stayed on another day. Set off for a bike ride on friday morning, overcast but looking as though it would clear, only it poured with rain and we got very wet.

BIRTHDAYS AND HEATWAVES

13th-20th AUGUST

On the basis that I haven't put proverbial pen to paper for 2 weeks, this will either be the interminable ramblings of an idiot or a very brief digest as I lose the will to live.

Left home Saturday midday and spent the night at the very nice Firtree Farm, just outside Dover. Not our usual eurotunnel crossing on Sunday since we had a cheap (£54 return) deal with Norfolk Line which was very good for high season. Leaving UK earlier than normal in order to rendevous with the Pates who have taken a gite nr. Toulouse en famille to celebrate his 70th birthday.
Ferry packed with probably the last big holiday exodus but on and off first so on the road from Dunquerqe just after 1pm. It being Sunday, the roads were clear of lorries and first night stop at the aire in BREZOLLES. Arrived not a moment too soon as it was packed, with later vans occupying the lakeside picnic carpark next door. Weather v.good. Discovered that Tracker is not working because they failed to initialise the sim card for international roaming when fitting the new one in June and it cannot be done after you have left the UK without resetting the unit....I seem to remember being here before in the winter in Spain when it would not work and the unit needed resetting......

Monday was a Bank Holiday so another lorry free run avoiding the motorways down to UZERCHE where there must have been 30 vans in the aire, with later arrivals using a smaller area which is used on Thursdays when the old station yard becomes the market place. All the other vans were french. Pleasant walk around town in evening sunshine.

Weather lovely and a good drive avoiding motorways down to CAHORS where we stopped briefly to pick up wine and beer for the coming festivities and then on to LAGUEPIE in the Aveyron Gorge where the Pates had rented the gites from clients/friends of Dave. As no-one had seen the gite beforehand it was not known in advance what the access would be like for us and photographs on their website were not encouraging. The gites was about 3km out of the village, which boasted a rather scrubby aire but would do at a pinch if all else failed. As instructed, we rang Dave on arrival at the aire and he came down in his car to pick me up for a recce, the general opinion being that access would be difficult. The shortest approach road was far to narrow, twisty and overhung but there was a long way round which was fine but the turn into the drive was fraught and a low tree halfway along ruled it out completely. However, next door was a large farmhouse with plenty of space and to cut a long story short we were able to email the owners of the gite who directed us to the farmer (whose son lived in the farmhouse but was away on holiday) and when I asked in my best french if we could park off the road in the shade of the buildings he became my best friend and said of course we could. Problem solved, so we went back to the village and picked up the van and the GF who had stayed with it. Note.....the temp was in the high 30's so nothing was being done quickly.

The gite was terrific, very secluded on the top of the hills with great views, a swimming pool and able to sleep a lot of people. Present were Dave & Briony; Maryon; Paul,Ruth,Toby & Mimi;Simon,Chris Theo & Siobhan; Cate, Matt, Brya and Mia ; making 9 adults,1 teenager and 5 children. We slept in the motorhome and when Geoff & Caroline arrived the next day, they were staying at a nearby B&B ( run by an English couple from Oakham with whom they shared mutual aquaintences and found by pure chance on the net).Thus the total complement from Wed night to Fri night for meals was 19.

On tuesday evening, the younger adults left the older generation babysitting and went for a meal downtown whislt we had a splendid meal on the terrace prepared by Maryon and quaffed much wine.

Weather remained v.hot and thank god for the pool. Geoff & Caroline arrived wed.evening and a splendid night was had in the courtyard with a BBQ prepared by Simon with much help from his siblings. The bottle bank already taking over the extremely large utility room.

Thursday, Dave's birthday. Most people went by train to VILLEFRANCHE ROUERGUE as there was a market and it's a nice place. Ended up Dave,Maryon ans us having lunch in LAGUEPIE , which was so good that we booked a table for Saturday lunchtime for my birthday.. Terrific evening party with all 19 sitting down to a BBQ in the courtyard and I must have had a good time as I was persuaded t0 play a duet on the spoons with Chris.......

Friday at leisure. G&C picked us up and we went to CORDES sur CIEL, a nearby
ancient hilltop village. Weather hotter so we all we really did was have a rather excellent lunch after a desultory look around....terrace restaurant with panoramic views and those misty sprays that kept us cooler than otherwise. A nice scenic drive back in their air condtioned hire-car with a short sight-seeing stop at ST.ANTONIN NOBLE VAL where we spotted a large aire for when we left on sunday. Another very excellent dinner in the courtyard for 14.

Saturday was my birthday. Geoff & Caroline had to leave for the airport in order to be back for her mother's 70th birthday on Sunday but not before we had an excellent lunch in LAGUEPIE for the 7 elders.Afternoon spent in the pool as temperature rose and a very pleasant ( and alcoholic ) evening.

A FEW DAYS AWAY..28th June-7th July

Spotting an advert for a motorhome show in Shrewsbury which included 2 evenings of concerts, 3 nights at the showground with entry to the show for an all-in cost of £40, we headed westward for a few days.
First stop BLADON CHAINS, next to Woodstock and close to Oxford for 3 nights. Walked to Churchill's grave.
Great cycle route round the countryside and canal during which we stumbled on JRR Tolkien's
grave in a cemetary at Wolvercote. Following day we cycled into Oxford along the canal towpath which was v.pleasant.
Then to Shrewsbury. Lots of vans there but show was not large and poorly supported which was a shame as the 2 concerts were excellent and the weekend was great value. Cycled into Shrewsbury on the Sunday and then along the Severn. Bought new digital TV for van.
On Monday we headed for WOLVERLY, on the Shropshire canal nr Kidderminster, via Much Wenlock where I managed to find myself in the very narrow high street and demolish the wing mirror of a badly parked VW Golf whilst inflicting damage to the rear of the van ( this looked worse than it was but will still require some cosmetic repair). The GF hopped out to placate the owner whilst I drove aroune for 20 minutes trying to find the coach park that I had missed on the way in, thus setting up the the scenario in the one-way high street. The lady was was very nice about the whole thing and even drove us round to her local garage who gave us a quote straightaway for £175 which seemed quite reasonable for an electric mirror. The car was booked in for 2 days time and I paid the bill which seemed much better tha involving insurance companies - esp.since the insurance is due for renewal in 3 weeks and I'm shopping around for quotes.
Nice couple of days at Wolvercote; cycled both ways up and down the canal. The Stourport basin where the canal meets the Severn is well worth a visit, having been restored over the past few years. I could still get persuaded to buy a narrow boat.
Back home to have the van MOT'd and serviced. What with the tax, insurance and habitation check due this month it's going to be an expensive time.....
We are now Great Uncle & Aunt as Anna was born on th 4th July to Matt & Beata

SO WHAT'S NEW........

Just catching up because I have been very lazy and let this drift..........
Having left Bordeaux, we stopped first at VIVONNE where there was a very pleasant Aire in the town square (even if the directions were confusing) and then caught up with Derek and Margaret again at La SUZE s/SARTHE, one of our favourite Aires by the river. Another alcoholically fuelled night and I don't remember who won the card game. The next night was Calais and a terrific meal as usual at Cote d'Argent and back home the next day.

Home for 3 weeks, during which the remaining grass was covered with gravel to provide an almost maitenance free enviroment for the future then off to the ISLE of WIGHT ......I don't know why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. The GF had gone down to her mother's after we had spent an excellent Easter at Rutland chez the Clarks with JK+C who took her back with them,and as I was going to drive the van down to pick her up the IOW seemed like a good idea at the time. The cost of taking the van over being so exorbitant made me book for nearly 3 weeks to justify the expense rather than the 5 days we should have opted for. Suffice to say I got bored. We cycled a bit but the GF didn't like the narrow lanes with traffic and even with electric bikes some of the hills were hard going. We pottered around on buses a bit, the weather was warmish but a constant cold wind didn't help.
Then down to Dorset and a great campsite at EYPE near Bridport, on the cliffs with views from Lyme Regis round to Portland. Had intended staying 5 nights but ended up there for 11 as it was such a great place. Lots of walking not much cycling.........and D&M dropped in for a night on their way down to Taunton for solar panels & Lpg tanks to be fitted.
Then down to the New Forest for the Spring Bank Holiday to meet up with JK+C for the weekend. Unfortunately weather was not good, campsite was packed but they had kept a pitch for us next to their tent. J+K stayed the weekend then left Charlie with us for another 2 nights which was fun. Dropped Charlie back home on june 1st and then back to drought at Martlesham...good job we did away with the grass.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS AND BORDEAUX CYCLE TRACKS

MONDAY 4TH.APRIL

The Aire at St.Jean de Luz came highly recommended by several, esp. Marianne who declared it to be her favourite, and was therefore something of a disappointment. In fact we only headed there as it had been so warmly recommended and had we known what lay in store may well have gone elsewhere.
The location is perfect in one sense that you only have to cross the road to be in the port, 2 mins takes you to the heart of the town and superb restaurants and 4 mins to the superb beach and promenade that, in our humble opinion, beats Biaritz......BUT....
The Aire is long and narrow and only one entrance, about 15m. wide with spaces for 20 vans so that once you are committed to entering from the busy main road you are already pointing the wrong way if you discover that it is full as you had not had time to assess the situation before you were on it and had to make a decision. If it is full, you have no room to turn round and must therefore reverse out onto the main road, making a reverse u-turn so that you will be pointing the right way as you cannot cross the double white line onto the other carriageway. FORTUNATELY we did not have to do this but we spent many happy hours watching others do it. We arrived about 11.30 and there was just one space, nicely situated facing the entrance, so no danger of being hemmed in by other vehicles parking close....and there wasn't more than 3ft between vans.
All this though paled into insignificance when we discovered that whilst our front end was 8m from the main road,our rear end was 2ft away from the platform of the main town railway station with a busy urban timetable, an intercity connection to Paris and a TGV connection to Nice and Cannes. I assured the GF that the trains would not run all night, a fact she ungraciously threw back in my face at 3am as the TGV engine stopped opposite our bedroom and hung around,engine roaring, as it was presumably killing time to get back on timetable. Between the road and the railway, sleep was very difficult to come by and the Gf was not best amused come breakfast time since we had to contend with the hottest day of the trip and have all the windows open or suffocate......
Which was a pity because St.JdL is a great town with a stunning beach and promenade round a horseshoe bay and the views of the coast from the headland were terrific with great waves and surf. The town is extremely well healed and we realised we were back in civilisation when the first ( and only ) 2 coffees of the day came to 7€20 (the last 2 coffees in Spain -incl a baguette- were 3€25). So on Friday we walked all round the bay and over the headland through beautifully kept gardens and promised ourselves to come back and spend more time one day. On Saturday, I was told to find somewhere else to spend the night.
So we found a campsite just up the road. The TomTom, which has been extremely well behaved all trip decided that the entrance was in fact at the rear of the property down an extremely steep and narrow dead-end. Rude words were uttered as I extricated ourselves with difficulty....this followed the pantomime of finding the local Carrefour which had been relocated since I downloaded all the Carrefour locations onto the TomTom last year....
The campsite when we eventually found the entrance,only opened for the season on friday but was already doing good business. A 15 min walk took us down to the great surfing beach and so it seemed a good place to stay for the next 3 nights....wrong again. It started raining on Sat. night and by sunday morning the sloping grass pitches were looking distinctly wet and slippery. I watched 2 vans struggle to get any traction so made a management decision and we left whilst the going was good.
The rain got worse and we decided to head 15km inland,to an Aire that also came highly recommended by magazine article, on a lake at the charmingly named St.Pee sur Nivelle. Found it without trouble and it may one day entice us to stop and explore but as the rain was now set for the day we had coffee, talked it over and decided to head north to Bordeaux to a newish campsite we found in the book that seemed very convenient.
So indeed to Bordeaux and a real gem of a campsite a few minutes off the ring road, and adjacent to a lake a few miles north of the city centre. The site is very new but is nicely landscaped with lakes and fountains, full of ducks and croaking bullfrogs ( or maybe toads - who knows). It is not mature yet but will get even better with age as the trees and plants grow. It also has a very swish restaurant open to the public and as it was Mothering Sunday, I took the Gf for dinner courtesy of her 2 sons who's account has been debited with another €57 - (which has reminded me that last years €60 is still outstanding) - and I must say that the Chateau Pichon-Bellevue 2003 was worth every penny.
We also discovered that Bordeaux boasts 650km of cycle tracks so on Monday, having woken to the sunshine again, we set off to explore. I have never experienced city cycling like it ! The bike rules in Bordeaux and the cycle paths have their own signposts and traffic lights and bikes seem to have priority everywhere - even being allowed to cycle wrongly down oneway streets and through pedestrian shopping malls and squares. It was a real pleasure and we had such a lovely time that we stopped for lunch. We also ran into Paddy Ashdown who, I am sad to report, claimed that he had no recollection of me buying him a half of bitter in The White Hart when he was first canvassing to become the Mp for Yeovil and whilst perfectly civil, failed to respond in kind. I will not be buying him another one ! He did let slip that he was in Bordeaux researching for a book he is writing on the Cockleshell Heroes, a plaque to whom was unveiled here last week.
So this extremeley busy and convenient campsite will make a fine jumping-off point for going to Spain or returning to the UK. We could do Calais with one stop from here but will take 2 and I am sure we will use it again...and I would like to cycle round more of Bordeaux.

NB I discovered the cycle tracks when I picked up a booklet with maps and instructions - it lists 14 offences that can be committed when using the tracks, with instant fines ranging from 11€ to 750€. The contraventions range from having faulty brakes to using a mobile phone and riding more than 2 abreast. I managed 2 offences but got away with it.

NATIONAL PARKS AND RIP-OFF TOURISM

THURSDAY 31st.MARCH

A pleasant Saturday at HORCAJO, apart from having to listen to England being ejected from the One-Day World Cup quarter final by Sri Lanka, and a nice stroll down to the village to explore its charms....which were few as it was shut and in the usual state of being unfinished. It boasts a hotel and is the gateway to the National Park and once tried to smarten itself up but gave up halfway through.
Left on Sunday for TOLEDO and drove across the Park with low cloud obscuring the hills and despite the deteriorating road were rewarded with the sight of a magnificent golden eagle swooping across in front of us to land in a field of cows...obviously looking for a nice calf for lunch.
TOLEDO campsite by lunch time and immediately caught bus to town 10mins away and looking great on hilltop. We agreed that TOLEDO is Top Town and cathedral is Top Cathedral. The GF rates it as the best Church ever but I still like the Mezquita as Top Church. The cathedral is Awesome and has a definite WOW factor everywhere you look...the stained glass is magnifcent, the carved choir stalls are the best ever, the altar blows your mind as it soars to the ceiling with its gothic artistry,the Treasury with its El GReco collection ( not to mention Rubens,Rafael et al) and there are over 20 chapels round the walls some of which are bigger than other churches.
After the cathedral, the tourist office map lists another 27 churches and buildings worth a visit, of which we did 2............BECAUSE TOLEDO IS ALSO
RIP-OFF TOURIST TOWN.......where to begin
Firstly, our intention was to spend 4 nights in Toledo in order to have plenty of time to see the sights but the first problem was the El Greco campsite.Maybe we have been spoilt by ACSI to expect €15 a night so to find them asking €28.70 was a blow to the pursestrings....and unsurprisingly only 3 other units were in residence. We decided to stay only 2 nights at that price and went into town.
Ok, we know that some (not all)cathedrals charge admission but this was €7 each and the audio guide (with headphones that could only be used by one person at a time)was €10........Evora town audio guide was €2 each and is a very representative price.
And then the 27 other minor churches ALL charged a minimum of €2.30 each admission...and nowhere offered an over-65 discount unlike anywhere else.
Nowhere else has charged admission to minor churches. To spend 2 days and see the lot would cost over €150 for 2 people.
And lastly, the Rough Guide's rating of a 'disappointment' due to the 'extraordinary number of day-trippers' taking 'the edge' off the experience was spot on, especially on the Sunday we were there.
So when we got back to the van we decided to move on the following day and did a quick internet search on the weather for likely destinations.
The plan A was to slowly move up to towards Biaritz to follow the same route home as we had taken last year but the forecast for Mon-Thurs was for heavy rain in that region. Plan B was to go over to Valencia where the weather was good, call in to see Terry & Jackie at last, then go up the coast near Figueres before heading home more or less on the plan A route but by a more roundabout way......
So we left TOLEDO on Monday morning but over breakfast I spotted another campsite that looked interesting in another National Park on the way to Valencia but still left room to then drive up to Pamplona-St.Jean de Luz-Biaritz and save a few hundred miles whilst also avoiding Barcelona.
And that's how we came to be at KikoPark (sister site of the one down on the med where the GF nearly came to blows with a surly swiss gnome) at VILLARGORDO DEL CABRIEL......forget the town, it was closed and might reopen next century if the one horse returns....The campsite was ace, out in the wilds on a headland overlooking a huge flooded-valleys reservoir with magnificent scenery. Campsite facilities excellent; even got the bikes out for a ride around. THe only noise was birdsong and the occasional whoosh of the Madrid-Valencia High Speed bullet train as it passed 500m away....the line apparently going straight through the national park 'Hoces de Cabriel'.
Fortunately it is electric,continuous rail,only ran between 7.25-22.30 scarcely hourly and only made a noise like a sudden gust of wind...otherwise it was very pleasant-if isolated-spot.
Like the site at Horcajo, it had lots of bungalows and I suspect that these would,like there, be busy at the weekend. However, on Monday and Tuesday we only there with 2 other vans and by wednesday the Gf had had enough isolation so we set off for PAMPLONA.
We had stayed at a pretty poor site there on the way down so decided to try the site 25kms south.
A terrific drive up there with some great scenery between UTIEL and TERUEL where we crossed great gorges-a mini grand canyon- and passed through an area of Aragon called Rincon de Ademuz, famous for being unheard of. It's the only part of Spain where deaths outnumber births and it has the hardest winters in the country. Teruel looked v.interesting but we couldn't stop and I would like to go back to spend some time among the best Mudejar architecture in Spain.
Finally arrived MENDIGORRIA, which turns out to be a splendid campsite on the Rio Arga nestling beneath a hilltop village with a splendid church of San Pedro and wonderful views across the surrounding hills and valleys,which we explored the following day (the village,not the surroundings).
Plan C now is to go to St.Jean De Luz and stay at the Aire in the town for 2 nights, then find a campsite for another 2 nights to stock up for 3 nights of Aires across France.
nb.....Mendigorria was site of a battle in the Carlist wars

nb2.....have seen Hoopoe on 3 occasions

SATURDAY 26TH.MARCH 2011

Before leaving Fuzeta we had a great lunch at a restaurant we had passed several times on the bikes and it was always busy....in the middle of nowhere at a hamlet called Aire de Torres And we were not disappointed. Mainly fresh fish grilled on an open barbecue but also steaming tureens of eel stew and fish stewed with rice. We both had a whole grilled sole which were delicious.
The Portuguese gentleman next to us very nicely kept us informed about all the various dishes we could see around us and even insisted that the GF taste his stewed Cuttlefish eggs..apparently a delicacy..which she pronounced delicious and like scallops. After a litre of wine and a large brandy it was necessary to take a walk before attempting the cycle back.....

So on Sunday 20th we headed inland to EVORA, leaving the Algarve behind,and meeting up with D&M and their outward travelling companions, Brian & Rita on the Orbitur campsite, who provided a most delicious BBQ on Sunday night for all of us, along with a litre bottle of brandy that was nearly empty by 9pm......which was when I went to bed apparently, although I have no recollection. The whole episode prompted the GF to try and teach the rest of us the phrase 'No thank you, I've had enough' but with no obvious sign of success.

On Monday we walked into EVORA, a pleasant & interesting town and hired audio guides for a mere 2€ each to enhance the walk through the old town and met up in the evening for drinks...........

On Tuesday we headed to CACERES and an Aire just 10 mins walk from the centre. Brian & Rita don't like Aires so headed for a campsite out of town and then went off on their own.....
We stayed 2 nights. THe Aire was incredibly busy and the designated area for 10 vans already oversubscribed when we got there but another 12 vans were parked in the area for coaches so we joined them and had drinks.........
First thing in the morning the local police arrived and very politely told us all that we couldn't park in the coach area. As we wanted to go & look round the town and stay the night this was a bit of a blow but as luck would have it we not only managed to whip into 2 slots recently vacated in the Aire proper but also connected to the free electric point courtesy of a frenchman with a vast array of cables and adaptors he was only too pleased to share with us. CACERES has a delightful old town, wonderfully preserved.....the main square is undergoing a major reconstruction which rather spoilt things but we shall come back next year to see the results. When we returned to the parking area, the coach park was again full of motorhomes who then stayed overnight with no more visits from the police so who knows what that was all about. More drinks were then taken......this is worse than having Pates around.....And as we were leaving Paul & Marianne appeared, having spent the night in the coach park and now looking for a slot, so they were lucky. Small world again.

On Thursday a lovely drive through the countryside and up into the hills to a campsite at a village called
HORCAJO de los MONTES in the Cabaneros National Park after stopping at CIUDAD REAL to stock up with wine...
The Campsite is perched on a terraced hillside above the village below with great views and as we were the only visitors (it did get busy on the weekend) we had 2 great pitches on the terraces. The GF & I love the site, it is so quiet ..... the only noises are birds and sheep bells and the sound of corks being drawn from bottles. Margaret had bought a kilo of fresh prawns at the supermarket in Cuidad Real which we had for lunch on friday with enough wine to ensure we all had to go to sleep until dinnertime when the GF produced a wonderful meal for all of Gaspacho followed by boeuf bourguignon followed by fresh strawberries & icecream and accompanied by lots more red wine and finished off with tawny port..........

My liver was again waving a white flag. D&M have itchy feet and want to keep moving....we have 2 weeks to go and don't want to get too far north too quickly so are staying here another night before moving up to TOLEDO which is not very far away, over the hills. So they left this morning for RIAZZA in the mountains above Madrid
before heading through France at a leisurely pace. We shall stay in Spain and whizz through France stopping only at Saintes & La Suze sur Sarthe where we may catch up with them again....hope so as the last week has been a great time with a lot of laughs and we are 5€ better off after the daily card games which nowhere near covers the cost of the red wine, even at 1€64 a bottle!!!!!!!!..................only joking if you are reading
this.

SATURDAY 26TH.MARCH 2011

Before leaving Fuzeta we had a great lunch at a restaurant we had passed several times on the bikes and it was always busy....in the middle of nowhere at a hamlet called Aire de Torres And we were not disappointed. Mainly fresh fish grilled on an open barbecue but also steaming tureens of eel stew and fish stewed with rice. We both had a whole grilled sole which were delicious.
The Portuguese gentleman next to us very nicely kept us informed about all the various dishes we could see around us and even insisted that the GF taste his stewed Cuttlefish eggs..apparently a delicacy..which she pronounced delicious and like scallops. After a litre of wine and a large brandy it was necessary to take a walk before attempting the cycle back.....

So on Sunday 20th we headed inland to EVORA, leaving the Algarve behind,and meeting up with D&M and their outward travelling companions, Brian & Rita on the Orbitur campsite, who provided a most delicious BBQ on Sunday night for all of us, along with a litre bottle of brandy that was nearly empty by 9pm......which was when I went to bed apparently, although I have no recollection. The whole episode prompted the GF to try and teach the rest of us the phrase 'No thank you, I've had enough' but with no obvious sign of success.

On Monday we walked into EVORA, a pleasant & interesting town and hired audio guides for a mere 2€ each to enhance the walk through the old town and met up in the evening for drinks...........

On Tuesday we headed to CACERES and an Aire just 10 mins walk from the centre. Brian & Rita don't like Aires so headed for a campsite out of town and then went off on their own.....
We stayed 2 nights. THe Aire was incredibly busy and the designated area for 10 vans already oversubscribed when we got there but another 12 vans were parked in the area for coaches so we joined them and had drinks.........
First thing in the morning the local police arrived and very politely told us all that we couldn't park in the coach area. As we wanted to go & look round the town and stay the night this was a bit of a blow but as luck would have it we not only managed to whip into 2 slots recently vacated in the Aire proper but also connected to the free electric point courtesy of a frenchman with a vast array of cables and adaptors he was only too pleased to share with us. CACERES has a delightful old town, wonderfully preserved.....the main square is undergoing a major reconstruction which rather spoilt things but we shall come back next year to see the results. When we returned to the parking area, the coach park was again full of motorhomes who then stayed overnight with no more visits from the police so who knows what that was all about. More drinks were then taken......this is worse than having Pates around.....And as we were leaving Paul & Marianne appeared, having spent the night in the coach park and now looking for a slot, so they were lucky. Small world again.

On Thursday a lovely drive through the countryside and up into the hills to a campsite at a village called
HORCAJO de los MONTES in the Cabaneros National Park after stopping at CIUDAD REAL to stock up with wine...
The Campsite is perched on a terraced hillside above the village below with great views and as we were the only visitors (it did get busy on the weekend) we had 2 great pitches on the terraces. The GF & I love the site, it is so quiet ..... the only noises are birds and sheep bells and the sound of corks being drawn from bottles. Margaret had bought a kilo of fresh prawns at the supermarket in Cuidad Real which we had for lunch on friday with enough wine to ensure we all had to go to sleep until dinnertime when the GF produced a wonderful meal for all of Gaspacho followed by boeuf bourguignon followed by fresh strawberries & icecream and accompanied by lots more red wine and finished off with tawny port..........

My liver was again waving a white flag. D&M have itchy feet and want to keep moving....we have 2 weeks to go and don't want to get too far north too quickly so are staying here another night before moving up to TOLEDO which is not very far away, over the hills. So they left this morning for RIAZZA in the mountains above Madrid
before heading through France at a leisurely pace. We shall stay in Spain and whizz through France stopping only at Saintes & La Suze sur Sarthe where we may catch up with them again....hope so as the last week has been a great time with a lot of laughs and we are 5€ better off after the daily card games which nowhere near covers the cost of the red wine, even at 1€64 a bottle!!!!!!!!..................only joking if you are reading
this.

SMALL WORLDS

Thursday 17th.March 2011

So the weekend's bad weather continued into Monday with the forecast not improving until later in week. D&M decided to move on to OLHAO on Tuesday morning which actually dawned bright,sunny & warm - thus reinforcing the impression that this spell of rain is all their fault and that they didn't leave their little God of rain back in the Uk as they are supposed to. Although Olhao is only 8 miles or so down the road they were hoping to find some friends they met on the Greek trip who often winter at the campsite. The plan was to stay 1 or 2 nights depending on whether they found them, then head on to Lagos and Sagres to see the Algarve and eventually meeting up with us again at EVORA where we will be going on sunday at the start of a 3 week long slow journey home via CACERES,TOLEDO & SEGOVIA.
Paul & Marianne sent a text suggesting a lunch on wednesday in Olhao with them which sounded good.
Tuesday afternoon we cycled out on to the marshes and finally tracked down the beaches at PEDRAS DEL REI which we have searched for before in vain........everybody knows them but nobody could actually tell us how to find them....Down a tiny lane we found the narrow pontoon bridge that crossed the inlets to the outer Isle of Tavira where a tiny train ferried us to the old tuna fishing community a mile away on the beach. The train is a relic of the tuna fishing industry, now converted to taking paying passengers out to the village for 1€20 where the old stone cottages have been turned into a cafe, restaurant,gift shop and picture gallery museum.. The beach is immense and the views must stretch well down the Algarve and back to Spain. There is also the curiosity of the Graveyard of Anchors where hundreds of anchors, once used to weigh down the tuna nets, are half buried on the sand dunes. The pictures show graphically how the fishing boats were circled, the nets raised and men jumped down into them to gaff the enormous tuna that had been hauled to the surface. It all seemed a bit barbaric but very hard and dangerous. The community finally gave up the struggle to survive in 1966. A fascinating glimpse of a former way of life.

So wednesday dawned sunny & bright so we set off for Olhao to meet Paul & Marianne....and this is the small world bit...
They had asked another couple to join us, Frank & Glenys. Frank & Glenys said they had just met some up with some friends, could they bring them along as well ? Frank & Glenys told the friends that they would be joining Paul & Marianne, whereupon the friends said that they had heard that name mentioned recently.... and yes of course they turned out to be D&M..........they had intended to surprise us by turning up at the restaurant after the rest of us got there, but since their van was parked near the entrance to the campsite and we had to pass it, we stopped and called in, not having really expected to see them until sunday. As I explained that P&M had booked a table for lunch that did not include them they responded by saying oh yes they had been included....how we all laughed when all was revealed.!!!!!!! Gosh we know how to have fun out here........
So lunch was a table of 8 at Sergio's, (which we had missed trying last year as it was closed the day we went) where after a magnificent repast with much wine the bill came to 68€ !!!!!
Lunch lasted until 4 pm, then back to the site for a few beers before the GF decided I was in grave danger of being drunk in possession of a bicycle and we ought to make for home. Nicely, the earlier breeze had abated and we a very pleasant cycle back...only 30 mins by electric bike and the wonderful sight of a large flock of flamingoes.
Next few days look set fair so we shall remain at Fuzeta and leave on sunday for Evora

Monday 7th March 2011

Pottered up the road and found a nice site at SAGRES, close to the town and overlooking the beach with lovely views. 6 vans parked there with another 20 or so parked up above on the cliffs and more exposed to the rather worsening weather to come. Walked over the fort on the headland in the afternoon and spent and enjoyable hour or two walking on the cliffs and reading about the exploits of Henry the Navigator who taught the Portuguese how to sail into the wind and navigate when out of sight of land without falling off the end of the world as this place was widely held to be. Tremendous thunderstorms overnight but Sunday was bright so we drove along to the beach at CARAPATEIRA with intention of staying there overnight. Terrific views from the carpark but as there were only a few surfing dudes in beat-up campervans and the inevitable germans in a WW2 panzerwaggen ( at least the swastikas were painted out) who looked like staying we headed back to Sagres and parked by the fort this time along with 34 other motorhomes.

Weather forecast very iffy for next week and we heard from Derek & Margaret who were heading for CONIL and intending to then make for Portugal, so we decided to head back along the Algarve and settle down in a campsite and wait for them. As we had liked FUZETA it seemed the right place to go.
Site still busy, mainly french and ok if not exactly topnotch but the location is great as you can walk out of the door onto the sands. LIke Tavira, the village and fishing port nestle behind islands of sandbanks and and you can get water taxis to take you over to them...which we will try to do if the weather improves. We had some horrendous rain storms (and the site manager insisted we change pitch at one stage as we were surrounded by water) but some lovely sunny days as well when we managed to cycle out along the saltpans and saw flocks of Avocets, Spoonbills, Flamingoes, Godwits and goodness knows what else.......there is an amazing variety of birdlife all around here and we have a Crested Lark thathops around the pitch and something as yet unidentified which may be a Firecrest or Goldcrest.
Took the van into OLHAO to stock up at the Intermarche and ran into Paul & Marianne who at still at the site there. Arranged to meet for lunch in Olhao one day but weather has not let that happen yet.

Saturday 12th. March

Derek & Margaret suddenly arrived having decided to leave Conil when the sun was shining. We had expected them on sunday and had bought food at the local market in preparation so we had a very jolly evening chez nous catching up on the news and drinking so much wine that certain people were very inebriated. And the same thing happened on Sunday night in their van.
Unfortunately the weather is very rainy.

And of course we have been and still are concerned at the earthquake in Japan. We had news from Julian at first that Justin had sent an email saying all ok...we have no wifi here....and then I turned the phone's data roaming on to connect to the internet and pick up Justin's facebook page.
By Saturday we managed to speak to him by, phone after they had got home after spending Friday night sleeping at the school, and heard the story of their adventures which whilst worrying are nothing like the horrors from the tsunami victims up north. Tokyo will now have rolling power blackouts and we wait anxiously for news about the failures at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Worrying times and we watch Sky news constantly. Spoke to Justin a second time and they are ok so far.

THE B-TEAM DOES THE ALGARVE

Saturday 5th March

The Pates duly arrived looking pale and pasty from the long English winter and revelling in the sunny climes of Portugal. We entered them to dinner and after the requisit beers and wines I introduced them to the delights of Tawny port which must have been a success as I soon had none left.
Saturday morning was spent locating a bar showing the 6 Nations Rugby as I could not guarantee getting a satellite picture on Stream ..we were pitched near some trees and as the breeze swayed the top branches the picture could break up...despite dire predictions that our dish was too small for this part of the Algarve I solved the problem on Sunday by moving lower down in front of the trees and had a perfect picture for the rest of the week. Anyway I digress. We found a bar, then had a snack lunch at another before returning to watch Wales-Scotland and England-France which was a cracker. Unfortunately we had chosen an horrendous ex-pat bar run by Denise (50 - looked 60-drinking vodka by the 1/2 pint) with about the saddest collection of alcoholics you could meet outside of an AA meeting. But we had fun. Dinner at the Valverde Restaurant opp. the campsite was very good indeed - the Gf & I shared a Cataplana, the local variant of a Bouillabasse. Sunday saw us watch the Italy-Ireland game chez nous as the reception was now ok and D&B entertained us to dinner in their roundhouse chalet with garden furniture...apart from not being able to light the oven so we had to cook the chicken in our oven (Dave announced that their oven was unconnected to anything, thus demonstrating his grasp of gas installations as the manager showed him how to light it the next day....and the Gf showed him again later in the week when he failed to hold the gas nob in until the burners had ignited fully). The evening was further enlivened by Dave's patio plastic chair disintergrating under him, smashing one of OUR wine glasses and covering me with red wine. ( not funny really as he banged his head on the glass door panel and if it had broken.......).
The rest of the week maintained a highly enjoyable level of alcohol, sun, sightseeing and eating. WE showed them Lagos, MOnchique, Cape St.Vincent, the beaches of Saleema, Figueras, Luz, Port du Mos and Carapaterra and the grottoes of Lagos and enjoyed convivial evenings.....and even won the Quiz night at the Dukes where we had been recommended to sample the wednesday evening €8.50 buffet .. how the bill got to €110 was still a mystery on Thursday. We even had time for an afternoon barbecue of fish bought from the Lagos fish market......7 sardines the size of mackerel cost €0.66 and a lot of other unidentified fish only cost a few €s.
The fine weather finally broke on Friday night and instead of going into Luz for a classy meal at Mrs. Miggins we opted to just cross the road again to save messing around with taxis in the rain.
So my liver needs time to recuperate so we are going up the coast for a couple of days of wild camping........

SUNSHINE IN THE SALT PANS

FRIDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2011 PRAIA DA LUZ

Spent 8 days at CABANAS near TAVIRA in the Ria Formosa National Park....,(GF takes over as he has to go and sort out the electricity in the Pate's chalet. So Cabanas a site rather like a car park but so nice and easy to get on and off the pitches, always a plus in my book. The actual pitches were very small, although we could have gone to an area where there were two or three together, but guess what ???
So we settle in and on Wednesday night it's BINGO run by Mr Personality himself. You wouldn't think it would be difficult to make a bingo session depressing......

And he ran the quiz nite which is why only 4 teams turned up and we came 3rd as every other question was a pop song+artist from the 80's - 90's and guess what.............Partnered Stuart & Thelma, the couple from Conil renting bungalows along the Algarve as they argue over which motorhome to buy next.)

The cycle tracks are great, if a bit rough and stony in places, and run through the salt marshes which have large salt pans and are a haven for birdlife. Flocks of Flamingoes, hundreds of Avocets ,,flocks of curlews,Stilts, Godwits......all of which took much thumbing through the bird book. Also discovered the name of the birds first seen last year that looked like a cross between a magpie and and a jay are in fact Azure Winged Magpies.

The village of CABANAS is lovely now that the sun has returned and our bar continued to charge 1€ for all drinks. TAVIRA itself is charming and about 1/2 hour by bike along the track. Took the train to FARO on Sunday ( 5€60 for two people return and it was 50 mins each way) but it was shut so we had a snack and a beer and went home.
Cycled to FUZETA to meet Paul & Marianne for lunch which was great fun. A great place with a campsite right in the centre of town on the beach and to which we will return to stay at length one day.(Campsite not well spoken -of as iffy in the past, but we had a look and it was very busy with french and germans and seemed ok-esp when you consider the location) Had Chicken Pirri-Pirri off a charcoal grill with all the trimmings, 2 litres of wine, desserts and coffee for 40€ (£36) at a restaurant on the front run by a very cheerful ( & large) husband and wife.

We explored the tracks through the salt marshes, found hideaways where vans are wild camping and seem to be tolerated by the local police who patrol the area but I could not persuade the GF to follow suit for a few days. The weather is brilliant and getting warmer each day.
The Pates, as mentioned, arrive later today to stay in one of the chalets for a week and we have put some goodies in there for them which necessitated having the fridge running .... turning on the electricity at the fuse box is apparently a man's job so Igor had to go and flip the switch from off to on, it being rocket science and all that........

I also realise that I don't like this part of the Algarve which I had forgotten. LUZ is FULL of Essex English and it's very depressing...and the prices are double those around Tavira. The beaches are still great but I shall bypass this area in future and after Tavira & Fuzeta go up country or the west coast.

WEATHER,GAS & PORTUGAL

Wednesday 16th February 2011

Finally left CONIL as the wonderful weather broke at last and a few days of storms set in but not before we managed 2 lovely days walking and cycling.
The walk was along the beach towards Cape Trafalgar, 11 kms away, and back on the footpath across the dunes, stopping for a picnic at the old watchtower.
The beach was almost deserted and the surf was crashing or doing whatever surf does and as the whole coastline is unspoilt the views from Trafalgar back past Conil are lovely, and the town , being so white against the sky and sea looks great.
WE finally completed the cycle ride to BAROSSA which ended abruptly when my motor gave up the ghost last time, by cycling on through the town after a coffee stop to SANCTI PETRI, a small ex-fishing village on a headland looking across to SAN FERNANDO & CADIZ and the castle island of Sancti Petri. This village has been abandoned by the fisherman and is just in the process of being developed by every type of water-based leisure venture imaginable. It still retains some charm but soon will be a huge sporting venue and marina and may well become a modern horror but for the moment it is a great place for a picnic.Great cycle path to it as well...27 mile round trip on the bikes.
Few drinks with Nick & Barbera, Dave & Geraldine to say farewell on Monday night and then the heavens opened for wind and non-stop rain. At 9 am on Tuesday morning we were resigned to not moving as though nearly everything was packed, it was decidedly unpleasant. The forecast was bad for 2-3 days though so if we stayed we would be there until FRiday, so when the wind eased at midday we made a decision to go even though it was still raining.
Off by 12.30, stocked up at the supermarket and left CONIL in the rain by 1.30. Rain stopped by JEREZ, sun came out at SEVILLE and arrived TAVIRA by 5pm in more or less sunny weather. Campsite busy, pitches very crammed but all hard standings, facilities fair to middling but hot water is dangerous.

Thursday 17th.

Wednesday a write off as storms swept in continuously;rain,hail,wind,thunder and lightning. Managed to walk down to the very pleasant village of Cabanas for a coffee. Still operating as a fishing community, the village nestles behind islands of sand dunes like the machair of the Hebrides. Look forward to trying some of the many seafood restaurants.
Having a problem with Spanish Butane gas which looks suspiciously like the regulator fouling problem suffered 2 years ago.Have used Spanish Propane for the last month without trouble, when it came to replace the cylinder I decided to switch back to Butane as it is much easier to find than propane in Portgal but when the bottle was connected the pressure was rubbish at the hob and fire. Discovered from neighbours that the only propane to be had was to go back to Ayamonte, just across the border in Spain and find a little petrol station down in the docks which had the only stocks to be had. A bit fraught taking the van down the cobbled streets of a busy little port but the excellent directions ( with dire warnings of avoiding getting sidetracked into old town with steep,narrow overhanging alleys) made it quite a pleasant trip and the directions of how to extract ourselves from the oneway system were most precise. So all sorted and propane gas working fine. On return shall switch to a Gaslow regulator from the second Trauma regulator that may be failing.....my last resort is to fit the spare that I carry but I am loathe to mess about with the gas system too much if I can avoid it .
A light bicycle ride pm and a glass of vinho in Cabanas at a very pleasant little bar on the front we have discovered ( mainly because it was the busiest) where every drink so far has been 1€.
The GoodFairy may be changing her opinion of the Portuguese as everyone round here is very smiley and very helpful and the area although busy with Northern Europeans is still very Portuguese.......unlike further along the Algarve - of which there will no doubt be more said when we hit Costa Skegness.

ALL GOOD THINGS.........

Friday 12th February 2011

Somewhat hazy about the last few days as they involved the consumption of a considerable amount of alcohol. It started with another top 3 finish in the weekly quiz although having tied on 2nd ( because I wouldn't listen to the Gf and put Wellington for Old Ironsides instead of Cromwell.....hey - he was the Iron Duke and I was on a roll after correctly answering Antartica for the location of Mt. Erebus,Johnny Cash as the Man In Black and Persia as the country of Xerxes so I did my bit) and then losing in the tie-break ( length of the Suez Canal - Paul immediately said 220 miles and I had no idea so went with it.......look it up yourselves to see how close we were) so we came 3rd, preserving our previous record of 1st,2nd & 3rd.
As there is a starburst of people leaving over the next few days-some home, some to other spanish sites and more to Portugal - 8 of us had lunch at one of the bars on the beach that started at 3pm, went on till 6.30 ( the bill was 108€ ) and ended up in the bar by the sports stadium where every drink is 1 €.
Friday was Paul's birthday and more alcohol was consumed and the final boules match when the men were firing on all cylinders, possibly due to alcohol, and ran out 3-0 winners.
And the sun keeps shining. We are off to Tariva on Tuesday, new horizons for us, and Paul & Marianne are off to Olhao on Monday but as they are not too far apart we intend to meet for lunch at some stage as there is a cycle track along the Algarve coast linking them.
Conil has been great, the weather nearly perfect so we will be back next year.

BIKES, BOULES AND BEER

TUESDAY Feb 8th.2011

The bike controller eventually arrived on Monday, having been posted last Tuesday ( but there was no delivery on Saturday, this being Spain ). Fitted in 15 mins with the help, advice and mastic sealing gun of Paul to make the housing watertight as the old controller looked definitely rusty round the edges - and rather more weather-worn than the new one considering we only bought the bikes early december. These controllers were higher spec ones than the standard fittings and so were changed at the point of sale.....mmmm was an old one used on mine ??. However I musn't be cynical since Eddie at the Electric Transport Shop has been more than helpful in sorting everything and is insistent that I go to Cambridge as soon as we return so that they can thoroughly check the wiring looms and replace the connectors I have vandalised in the 'diagnostic' checking. I cannot speak highly enough of their after-sales when it would have been so easy to say 'well come and see us when you get back to the UK and we'll have look at it'. If anybody reading this wants an electric bike ( and the GF says it is the Best thing we've Ever bought), go to the Electric Transport Shop....just look at their website.

So here we are and in only a week we'll be moving on to Portugal, probably Tavira for a week before heading to Lagos and Dave & Briony (and Derek & Margaret have emailed to say they are on their way). It has gone so quickly, mainly because the weather has been so brilliant and we have been out and about so much. We have played Boules every afternoon bar one, taking it in turns to provide the beer; a raucous evening after Nick & Barbera arrived when we invited everyone round for pre-dinner drinks; tapas in the sun after shopping in the market for olives and nuts; a terrific sunday afternoon when we walked down to the beach with Paul & Marianne after the re-scheduled fiesta parade to enjoy beer wine and tapas in the sunshine and surf at one of the beach bars....and the sun still shines and we still have things to do...

Roy, the token (and broken welshman, land-of-my-fathers plastered all over his van) wandered past and stopped to inform us that he had just booked our pitch for Jan-Feb next year. As we were going to re-book the same pitch for next year the GF called him a very rude name, calling into question his parentage. I then discovered that everybody had started making reservations so I popped down to the office and found I could book the pitch next to us, so done deal ( advance bookings were very ..er..advanced). Took great pleasure in telling Roy that we would be neighbours next year and that I would take great pleasure in gloating about Wales having made an early exit in the World Cup.....hopefully I won't have to eat my words. The campsite has also dropped the requirement for a deposit this year making advance booking even more attractive.

Nick & Barbera......the story of their 3 week trip to Conil was harrowing and costly. They have reported the first garage to the RAC ( who seem to have been rock-steady in their support,unlike the AA last year, even providing translators) for charging them 860€ to replace a fuel pump which Fiat said had not been replaced in their opinion. Having got here however, they have no running water as there is an apparently incurable leak if the system is switched on. Again much advice been offered but the pouring of water from beneath the sink remains impervious to new o-rings,jubilee clips, plumbers tape and even gaffer-tape, the motorhomers' answer to everything. Hymer have been contacted for advice.

Sitting in the evening sunshine,under the awning with a glass of Rioja, a bowl of spicy olives and watching FRance stuff the Scots has an awful lot to recommend it, especially when England had a great win over the Welsh last night........watched by happy band of brits in the camp bar and one very sad and morose welshman who took it on the chin.

LATER......and the bottle is empty......actually, the scots put up a plucky fight ...3 tries to the french 4 is pretty good going although they never really looked like troubling the french too much. With Ireland sneaking a very lucky last minute win in Italy this could be a great 6 nations... england - france should be a cracker.

AND IT WAS ALL GOING SO WELL.........

Tuesday Feb.1st 2011

Well it was going well until we had cylcled 12 miles to Barossa on Monday morning in the glorious sunshine. We pulled up at a cafe for coffee on the promenade but when we came to start off again my motor wouldn't start. At all. All the lights were on but nothing happened. This has happened before and seemed to relate to a sensor on the brake lever which cuts power to the motor when either brake is applied. If a lever doesn't return to its proper place then the power remains off so I had tightened and adjusted various screws and this seemed to have cured the intermittent failure of the motor to restart after stopping. Until monday morning. Nothing would get it to start so I had to ride back under pedal power and the apparently flat roads suddenly sprouted an astonishing amount of hills. Upward. Heigh-ho so we will be getting fitter.
When we got back to camp I emailed Eddie at The Electric Transport Shop (as they are closed on Mondays) with details and being the kind of guy he is he picked up the email and rang me straight away. He said it would be a faulty brake sensor so told me how to isolate the sensors which I did. Still no power to the motor.Too late to continue so he emailed to say he would ring first thing Tuesday which he.As we have two bikes the same he talked me through swapping connections between them until we could find the problem. Cut long story short, discovered lack of power at a connector bloc-when connected to F's bike my motor worked so not a duff motor. By now, half the campsite is giving advice and listening to Eddie on the phone. Wires were traced with multimeters and it seemed that the connector block itself was not making a connection so it was removed and the wires reconnected with a cable connector block. Switch on....nothing. deads as a dodo. So the only thing left was the heart of the system, a blackbox cpu which all the wires came out of.Making a management decision I undid the 4 screws holding the cover on (hoping I wasn't invalidating the warranty as Eddie had disappeared at this stage) and found a little molten mess of burnt out diodes and transistors.I emailed the shop with details and they rang back to say that they would put a replacement in the post immediately if I gave them the address which was done.But they are concerned as to why it has happened and it may be down to a suspect cable that may have been trapped during assembly in which case it will happen again....and this component has never failed before. So now its Friday and I'm hoping it will arrive today.

Having said that we went out for a bike ride on Wednesday with Paul, Marianne,Tony and Sabena and I was fine so the absence of power is an irritation rather than a disaster.......and it'll make me fitter.

WEdnesday quiz came FIRST with Paul & Marianne with a near perfect score of 48/50. A lot of beer was consumed followed by a vast amount of brandy back at their van and he and I very duntish on Thurs morning........

Weather, Quizzes and Punctures

Saturday 29th January 2011

A week of fairly nasty weather interspersed with interludes of very pleasant sunshine . It started with high winds, turned to rain, developed into storms, settled into gales with ocasional thunder and finished with hail but there was always spells of of hot sunshine. Weird and unpredictable but I am writing this as the sun sets majestically over the Atlantic and the forecast is promising.
We have settled into the routine of La Rosaleda, managed to visit the farm shop, the market and the beaches between climate changes.....some stunning surf one afternoon.
Have renewed friendship with Paul & Marianne, parked nearby who we met 3 years ago on a bus to CADIZ and got on well with, saw briefly last year but not parked close to and who are now are best buddies......especially since they partnered us at the Wed. night quiz and we came 2nd (could have won). Since over 4 weeks last year the Gf and I were placed 1st,2nd,3rd & 4th with a variety of partners we have a reputation to maintain......and the money is useful.

Through Paul & Marianne we have joined the Boules set and having purchased our own sets at the Chinese Bazaar (7€50 each) have had 3 very jolly afternoons with P&M, Tony & Sabena, & Jim & Carol.

Dave & Geraldine arrived on Monday having abandoned Nick & Barbera in Girona still trying to get their Hymer moving. To be fair, there are no campsites open in bandit country at this time of year and N&B were being looked after by the AA rescue team so they had no option but to press on. As of today, N&B are back on the road and mobile...but around 2500€ poorer......having had both fuel pumps (high and low pressure) replaced although the second (fiat main dealer) garage has suggested that the neither of the pumps looked as though they had been replaced recently...???? An email this evening suggests that they will be here monday/tuesday after getting to Vilanova today.

Just to keep me on my toes, the small God of luck who normally watches over me presented me with a flat rear tyre on the bike this morning in case I was feeling overconfident. Last year we had a puncture on the scooter. Fortunately I had a puncture repair kit with me, although the glue tube was dried up but neighbours wre soon flocking to assist. Successfully mended said puncture and inflated tyre only to discover that the valve was leaking, albeit slowly. Rode into town to discover that replacement schrader valves are not a common item in the local bike shops (2) but I did get one in the motorbike shop...but the little twiddly tool to insert/remove them were unknown. Did pick up a spare inner-tube for a mere 3€50 which seemed very reasonable. Back at the ranch, word was circulated and a schrader valve tool appeared as if by magic and problem sorted..........which was a relief as changing the inner tube would involve removing the back wheel and disconnecting all the cables to the disc brakes and the hub gears which seems a daunting prospect.....I have emailed the Electric Transport Shop for instructions as the manual is more concerned with battery management and troubleshooting.

Phantom have still not sorted out the tracker gps......may have to drive somewhere remote and set the alarm off 30 times.

My great joy this trip so far has been the discovery that I can connect to Suffolk Libraries on the internet and download 3 books at a time for the E-Reader which last for 21 days before disappearing back into the ether..........don't ask me, I don't know how it works but it does and it's a terrific service which I would be quite happy to pay subscription for.....and they have 000's of books on the catalogue. The Gf is now getting interested and we may have to buy another e-reader.
Nextime: Radio Roda and the voice of america

A WEEK IN CONIL

Saturday 22nd.Jan

A week of sunny warm weather has been replaced by cloudy with strong wind. THe evenings have been a bit chilly, sometimes requiring heating but never cold enough to need overnight heating. Had a very pleasant Buffet night in the restaurant on Monday (8€) but they have dispensed with the services of Jose the cuban who has been so entertaining in previous years with his interpretation of Bingo, Salsa lessons and Club 18-30 games for 60-somethings which have been great fun. Now we have a disco which precludes conversation and empties the restaurant fairly quickly. Shared a table with Stuart and Thelma who are between motorhomes, being unable to agree on the specification for their next one, so have flown out to stay in one of the chalets for a month before heading over to Olhao in Portugal for another month......nearly everybody seems to heading to Olhao this year and all start the conversation with "you either love it or hate it but....". We have no strong feelings either way but wouldn't go there for a month as parking in the roadways is not very comfortable and once you've done Faro there's not much else (see last year). The other couple we shared with were Dave and Jackie who have a house in Pembroke,a house in France(Aveyron),a motorhome,a caravan,a trailer tent and a tent. At one stage as Jackie was explaining their very complicated lifestyle arrangements, Dave looked up and said "I just go where I'm told and most of the time I don't know where that is" which must just about sum it up.
The local Romeiro festival is on Sunday 23rd this year and the restaurant put on a free lunch on Wednesday which was another fairly alcoholic affair well attended.
The electric bikes have been given a good outing everday and are proving excellent fun...and a great conversation point. Accosted on the prom whilst having coffee by an Austrian motorhomer who had to have full chapter and verse on them. But we see a lot of them around.
Prices at Mercadona, the local supermarket, seem less than less year, and the wine I was paying 2€50 last year is 1€80 this year and still as drinkable. 12 cans of San Miguel 33cl. and 5.4% was 5€34 which I am sure is cheaper...and certainly was cheaper than the local CruzCampo brew which I usually drink. Might have been on offer. Shopping has proven no problem on the bikes so far, and we were told about a local fruit & veg farm up the coast near Roche where 3€60 bought 6 oranges the size of grapefruits, a kilo of clementines, a lettuce,kilo of tomatoes and a bunch of bananas. Not bad for £3.10 so we shall return as we run out of east anglia's finest veg.
Site is still much emptier than previous years, Nick & Barbera have broken down for the 5th time and are now at Fiat Girona awaiting something to happen next Monday and I assume Dave and Geraldine are still with them........text message today said last night temp was -3.5 but at least they are in a hotel.
On the malfunctioning front, setting off the alarm by opening the door before disarming revealed that the tracking device is not working as the alarm did not trigger the usual phone call to check we are ok. When I phoned to see why they had not responded they say they had not received an alert. When they ran a check it seemed they were not receiving a signal fron the vodaphone simcard in the device that communicates with them. They checked with vodaphone to confirm the card was authorised for roaming..which it is and has been in the past..and now say that the device....which is hidden deep in the bowels of the dashboard needs resetting to kickstart the simcard into european life. I have no idea how to dismantle the dashboard & although I have a vague idea of where the tracker may be hidden I am not happy. They have also suggested forcing a reset by setting the alarm off 30 times in succession for more than 5 secs each time........that'll makes us popular round here !

.......and finally, CONIL de la FRONTERA

Sunday 16th Jan

Should have been an easy and pleasant run down to CONIL de la FRONTERA, but the ubiquitous fog rather spoiled things, especially around a town called Marchena where the Tomtom was convinced that a new link to the A62 was open except that it wasn't. It may be open one day but not this year. As visibility was down to 50 yards at this stage things got a bit fraught as I tried to avoid the stagnating roadworks that will one day connect to the A62 and began retracing our steps back to somewhere with a signpost. When we eventually found the signs all became clear...except for the visibility...and the fog lifted by the time we in site of civilisation and glorious sunshine saw us to Conil. Arrived at 13.15 coincidently since that meant we had been on the road from Sunday 12.15 to Sunday 12.15 allowing for the time difference, 1540 miles with one days stopover.
La Rosaleda looked good and fairly busy, many smiles and greetings as we booked in and a lot of old faces to say hello to. Weather has been in the mid 20's since beginning of month soeverybody happy. We have a great pitch.......as expected since we picked it out last year and paid a deposit as we left. This is still one of the best sites and very friendly, same staff in the restaurant as we had a bottle of wine to celebrate our arrival and catch upon the news.

Note: I have failed to mention the problems that Nick & Barbera have encountered on their journey down. They left on the Friday before us and took their usual route from Calais down to Orange, then basically following the Med coast all the way down to Gibralter then across to Cadiz. We did this route with them in 2009 but I baulked at doing it again as it cost about £200 in tolls ( we spent £35 in tolls this Year and £5 of that was a mistake) and is slightly longer. Anyway, last year the turbo blew on their Hymer and cost them nearly a week and £1000. So we somewhat startled to receive a text from them on Wednesday to say that they had broken down near Montpelier but expected to be mobile soon. Dave & Geraldine were travelling with them so thay had help at hand. On Thursday a text to say on their way followed by another one saying oh no they weren't as had broken down again. I think it's something to do with the alarm. By Friday the problem was still not fixed and they were being transferred to a Fiat garage on Monday. Meanwhile they are in a chalet on a campsite courtesy of the recovery insurance and as of Tuesday there is no news.

MARTLESHAM TO CORDOBA...1300 MILES

SUNDAY 9th JANUARY 2011

All packed and ready to roll. Despite the absence of the scooter we seem to have no more space than before and the Gf kept appearing with yet another bag of last minute items that required packing as essential items and I fear for the payload. We gained about 100kg from the scooter and the bikes weigh in around 45Kg with the necessary-for-insurance D-locks at 2 kgs each so we should be fine as there will not be much water aboard....or fuel at £1.30 a litre which will be cheaper abroad... but we do appear to have a vast amount of 'stuff'. The Gf has taken her winter and summer wardrobes, pessimistically. Optimistically, I have thrown in an a thick jumper to wear down to the Spanish border.......who'll be smug in Madrid?

Off at midday, sunny run down to Folkestone and straight on to 15.50 and in Calais aire by the port by 17.45 CET. Aire full of british vans heading south. V.cold night..and noisy, as the ferries berthed in the port seem to have reverted to running their engines all night, a practice they stopped last year. Consequently up and away at 8am.

Monday 10th. Jan

God run to Lemans. Used toll road down to Rouen for €11.30 to save time. Remembered that we had used an aire close to Lemans at Suze La Sarthe so changed plans halfway and got there about 16.00. Brisk walk round town. Everywhere very wet but temp. quite mild. Chat with other british van also heading to Spain.....their first van and first trip abroad with v.long Kontiki double axle. No guide to aires, finding them by luck and intending to cross the Pyrenees- when I raised an eyebrow, Adrian said that he thought they were like the welsh hills so what was the problem? I explained about alp-like mountains & snow and he seemed surprised.
Gave him details of some aires on the route. May see them at next stop.

Tuesday 11th. Jan

To CAVIGNAC, as last year. Good run mainly down the N10, no tolls, very busy with lorries.
Minor disaster to find height barriers at both entrances to aire ! Found details of another one in next village but as emerging onto main road saw aire sign pointing up towards church...they had relocated the aire next to the cemetary and a vineyard but it was very new and clean so fine. Walked down to the supermarket and bought 3x5litre bottles of water. Later joined by another brit van who I re-directed as we were walking back from shop, also stuck in front of the height barriers and feverishly thumbing through the Aires book. A sign at the barrier would be helpful.

Wednesday 12th. Jan

Horrendous journey to PAMPLONA. The A63 was 'fermee' between Bayonne and the Spanish border and there was a 'Stockage des PL' ?????? according to signs out of Bordeaux. As I intended using the A63 between those points this was worrying but not disastrous as we could continue on the N10. At coffee time in a service area I walked round the truckers asking what the problem was but they all shrugged and said that the road was closed for some reason not known. 50km from Bayonne we discovered what 'stockage' was.......stacking. The 2 lane dual carriageway was coned off and gendarmes were waving lorries into the inside lane where they parked. The nice policeman waving cars through thought about us but grinned (?) and waved us on. The queue of lorries, parked nose to tail went on for 15 kms ! Work that out. Suddenly we got to the head of the queue and there was no reason for the parked lorries. The road was clear for us and a few cars for 20 kms and then we ran up against another stack, this time 10kms long as we were waved through on the outside lane. As we joined the A63, the stack started to move so were slowed as they tried to filter into our lane because there were road works ahead. Chaos. And then there were signs saying we would have to leave the motorway at J.7 as there had been a bad lorry accident with a fire in the roadworks and which was why the road was closed ahead. Fortunately, it was cleared and re-opened as we approached and we saw the debris being carted away on flatbeds on the opposite carriageway. So we got through with only about 30min delay in the end.........I think the last lorries in the first stack would take 24 hrs to get moving so we were lucky. New Motorway not on Satnav caused some anxiety trying to find motorway to Pamplona as the signs showed Pamplona, didn't show Pamplona etc as the satnav went into a sulk. But we got there in the end. Should have been a spectacular view but crossed mountains in low cloud all the way until 20 kms from Pamplona when we burst out into bright sunshine. Campsite above town, we were the only visitors. Ground v.wet so parked on roadway close a hookup rather than a pitch. Nice and sunny and mild. Chilly overnight. Might come back this way and explore into town as there is a bike route.

Thursday-Friday 13th-14th. Jan

Terrific run to ARANJUEZ, just south of Madrid. Only spoilt by great banks of low cloud/fog for much of the way, spoiling any views. But the driving was great with very little traffic until the last 35 Km round the Madrid ring-road and onto Aranjuez. Very nice site behind the royal gardens which we explored in the late afternoon sunshine. Decided to stay 2 nights in order to do the palaces as we are here and break the journey. Ground again very wet and much signs of trouble getting off pitches even though sun is shining. Parked on the mats. Had the first bottle of Rioja to celebrate from the camp shop at a mere €4.
Woke to thick fog....the site is at the confluence of the Tagus and Jarama rivers and prone to this. Didn't burn off till mid-day when we walkked through the gardens....being Jan. not much too see but will return later as they look wonderful....to town,had bloody awful lunch including a soup like dishwater with a poached egg in it but 3 courses, bt.of water and decent bt.wine for 20€. Vist to the Palace, well worth the stopover and EU citizens over 65 with audio guide each for 10€ for both of us was value for money. We were vastly outnumbered by the guards as I rhink we were the only visitors that afternoon and monitored very closely. However, top monument and very informative guides.

Saturday 15th Jan.

Again woke to thick fog, apparently its normal. Good run down the A4 to CORDOBA (or VILLAFRANCA DA CORDOBA to be precise) spoilt by endless fog banks. Ground is very wet but sun is very warm. Having 'done' Cordoba twice now ....its still my favourite city....we are only stopping overnight so staying at Villafranca is easier and cheaper than the city site.
Arrived in glorious sunshine and sat outside for the afternoon after strolling into town. This is what we came for !