apathtosomewhere

Hoping for better weather today, but it’s drizzling outside – pah! But at least we are double figures temperature wise rather than the cool 8 degrees of the last few days.

As we got ready, the rain stopped and the clouds were looking like that they might break up. That would be nice. At 10:30 we walked down to the Town Hall, joining local people and dignitaries as they gathered for Armistice. 11 o’clock came and went (they obviously don’t acknowledge the two minute silence at 11 like we do), but we all followed the little musical band, the firemen and sea cadets down the road, around the block and arrived at a beautiful and simple metal sculpture in the shape of a dove, acting as their cenotaph. We gathered round as the band played the French national anthem, the dignitaries gave lengthy speeches and wreaths laid by an eternal flame. It was quite poignant – we had started this trip visiting my grand uncles graves in the Somme and now we were marking Armistice towards the end of our adventure, both of them in our minds. I held my phone with the photos I took of my grand uncles gravestones, their sacrifice allowing their grand niece to stand in a French town to remember them.

Afterwards, we decided to wander up the road towards the seafront, alongside the canal and harbour area with boats and fishing trawlers anchored and bobbing gently. It was quite pleasant, though as we approached the town, it reminded us of a typical British seaside town lined with shops and awnings under tall townhouses. As we got nearer, we came across cafes selling crepes and ices and other dining outlets – we stopped at one for a coffee and a bite to eat, sitting outside under the awning and overlooking the harbour. The couple next door had ordered what looked like a chip butty (well, in a baguette) and our eyes lit up! A chip butty! So we asked for two coffees and the same as that gentlemen there, the sandwich frite.

Our request baffled the young waiter – it transpired that the sandwich came with ham or steak and it took a few moments, before the penny dropped. So hubby ordered ham and frites while me the vegetarian, managed to order just chips – goodness knows what the young man said to his colleagues when he put the order in. We just laughed. The butties arrived wrapped in paper and as we unwrapped them, our eyebrows shot up- they were huge with tons of French fries! So we sat there and gradually worked our way through it all.

Very happy, we carried on down the street lined with many restaurants (and not an amusement arcade in sight). We could have had a really nice sit down meal, sitting inside with a glass of wine and a plate of seafood rather than a chip baggie, but it would a lasting memory. A French chip butty.

We arrived at the mouth of the harbour and a very pebbly, slightly scraggy beach. There was sand further out, but the tide was in and it had been covered by water. Fisherman stood on the edge sea fishing – our plan to let Pup have a run was scuppered, though even in the depths of November, she still needed to be on a lead. To the left of us were tall white cliffs overlooking the sea and we walked along the promenade until it abruptly ended under the cliffs. We turned around and started to wander back – the promenade was like all promenades, refurbished with elegant street lights, benches, a little bit of landscape and a broad walkway. Set back from the promenade was a total eyesore – a long, rectangular, flat roofed, concrete block of flats that was beyond ugly. Stained and with most of the windows shuttered, it looked totally unloved. Even worse, through an archway you could see the old buildings of the town, overshadowed and hidden behind this complete blot on the landscape – whoever had thought that this abomination would enhance the seafront of Le Tréport and signed it off, well there are no words.

It started to rain – big heavy drops that started to blot out the hillside houses. Oh for goodness sake. We decided to head back to the Van – I had an online meeting anyway and by the time we had walked back, we were soaked. We were back cooped up in the Van again and this wasn’t fun. Maybe we would head home a couple of days early as this weather seemed to be a permanent fixture and was becoming a downer. I had my meeting and we sat reading as darkness fell. We were still full from our chip butties so we snacked later in the evening.

Tomorrow we have the fun of taking Pup to the vets for her mandatory worm tablet before she can enter the UK again. I made the phone call yesterday and the receptionist spoke hardly any English – between me, the girl and a dash of Google, I think I’ve booked an appointment for 2 o’clock Thursday. Hope so. 🤞

Nothing really to report apart from the day being a total wash out.

We woke to drizzle which turned into rain – we had hoped to go for a six kilometre walk through the woods, but it was too wet. It was a shame as it would have been beautiful with all the gold and reds of the trees.

So we jumped into the Van and headed to the coast, to the town of Le Tréport across varied countryside, the far reaching views obscured by the misty weather. We only had a 73km leap today so we arrived in good time, but alas it was raining here too despite a dry forecast. Early on in this trip, we had met up with some friends who said that we must visit an Action store and we had resisted up to now. But with this awful weather, we found one on a retail park just outside town and went in.

Action is like Britain’s Home Bargains, B&M and such like. Cheap and cheerful. We wandered the aisles and could see why people went in for a couple of things and came out with teetering trollies. We picked up some lights for the Van and a ball for Pup and left before we went overboard. We went to find our campsite, Camping Les Boucaniers and parked up. It was still raining.

So we holed up. We had our usual late lunch and drew straws who would take Pup out for a walk in the rain. It was getting dark early because of the dank weather too. Pup played with her new ball and we chilled until mid evening when we binge-watched a series on telly.

Hopefully it will stop raining tomorrow – we’re hoping to go to a Remembrance Service, have a walk in town and possibly hit a beach for Pup. Fingers crossed.

Sorry no photos – the weather scuppered that idea.

Heard the rain bouncing off the roof as we woke up this morning. Urgh.

We had a bit of a jump today – about four hours of driving on the minor roads to Lyons- La-Forêt, north west of Paris – so we didn’t hang around. We set off towards Etampes on ridiculously straight roads which we googled. Apparently some of them are Roman, but many were built by 17th and 18th century kings who expanded the road network, but preferred straighter roads. You learn something new every day.

We crossed big agricultural fields, obviously France’s bread basket which went on for miles and then after Dourdan, we entered deep forests and woodlands. It was still raining, well spitting really, but it was trying to brighten up. By now we were looking for a patisserie as it was that time of day and as luck would have it, as we drove into the elegant commuter town of Clairefontaine, a boulangerie hoved into view. So we parked easily and scuttled across – they had the most delicious selection going and we did go a bit mad. We bought up half the shop including some delicious little cream cakes and we staggered back with our arms loaded. The cream cakes didn’t last very long.

Clairefontaine was very upmarket with large detached houses set back behind high hedges – when we looked on the map, we realised that we were only about 30 minutes from the very edge of Paris – we had just past a big car share car park by the A10 motorway and nearby Rambouillet had a train station, so it was easy to access Paris.

Once past Rambouillet, the countryside was very pretty with woodlands and plane tree lined avenues. It was 8 degrees outside – by now we were west of Paris – it had practically stopped raining and it raised our spirits. At Mantes, we were in wide open countryside with a mixture of farmland and woods – we went through some very handsome towns and villages.

Finally we arrived at Lyons-la-Foret and found our camping car site, just outside the little village. We had a cuppa and ate our sandwiches as it was past three o’clock and decided to go for a walk into the village which was less than ten minutes away. We were briefly followed by a little Jack Russell and hoped he wouldn’t join us, but he was happy just wandering around. Lyons was a charming place full of half timbered houses and buildings – we walked into the main square dominated by the stunning 18th century timbered market place, surrounded by pretty shops. It was beautiful. We had a good wander down different streets, peering into shops and admiring the architecture. The village nestled in the nearby woodlands so the autumnal backdrop made it even more gorgeous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyons-la-For%C3%AAt

https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/unmissable-sites/the-most-beautiful-villages-of-france-in-normandy/lyons-la-foret/

The light was starting to go, so we strolled back to the camping car site. It was one of those classic November days with a watery sun peering through high cloud, where you would go for a long walk through the woods, kicking leaves, all wrapped up from the chilly air. Then you come back to a roaring fire, curl up on the sofa with a hot coffee and either read a book or watch a good film, all warm and snuggly. We didn’t have an open fire, but the Van’s heating system had kept us warm these last few days.

We met one of our fellow campers walking her dog and she was British so we fell into conversation with her – it’s nice to chat to people from your own country once in a while. They were finishing a big European trip too and heading home in the next few days. As it got dark, we said our goodbyes and settled down in the Van.

Tomorrow it’s the coast!

Thick fog, though the weather apps are optimistic about the sun bobbing out at noon.

We had a plan. Wander into town and have lunch, a bit of a chill day. So we had a slow morning and made bacon butties for breakfast and relaxed. About noon, we headed into town, following a path from the campsite to a footbridge over the Loire and into Sully. It was still thick with fog and no sign of lifting at any time soon. We walked through the chateau’s parkland again to give Pup a big walk and then dropped into town, looking for a cafe and a coffee – we weren’t quite ready for lunch yet. But it was Sunday and nothing was really open – we found one cafe but it seemed to be hosting a private party, so we didn’t stop there – so we checked out the restaurants. The one we fancied was Moroccan but they closed at 2pm. We found a couple of others, busy with people eating and realised that by the time we were hungry, everybody would have finished and gone home. So we wandered around the town, then back to the Van. It was still foggy, but it had lifted slightly, but still no sign of the promised sunshine.

It was cold and danp so we ended up sat in the Van. We considered our options – we had about 7 days left of our trip, so we could just head straight home or we could bounce up towards the Normandy coast and chill up there as the weather looked better. So we took the latter and spent the afternoon planning a route and a couple of nights worth of camping and checked in at home.

I started to feel quite cold so sat in bed to warm up and managed to crash out for the night. Not sure if I was running a bit low or harbouring a cold or something – maybe a good sleep would do me good.

Anyway we had a route, it would be a big jump to a campsite north west of Paris before we hit the coast. A long day of driving. Hey ho!

Another gorgeous morning.

We were on a mission today – Nevers market – so we skipped breakfast, packed away and headed off. It was a typical November morning, hazy sunshine with mist hanging in the fields and very atmosphere. Then gradually, it got foggy – in places quite thick and stayed like that until we got the outskirts of Nevers.

We found the car park easily and reversed the Van into a spot. Blimey it was probably the first time we had parked without trauma or breaking sweat. It was just gone 9am – another wow! We walked through the streets of Nevers until we reached the Marche Carnot – there was an indoor market full of butchers, bakers and vegetable stalls and outside, other vendors spreading out around the adjacent streets. We wandered around the stalls, buying bits and pieces and then discovered the flea market in a small park area selling allsorts of bric and brac so had a browse around that.

https://www.burgundy-tourism.com/discover-burgundy/city-breaks/48-hours-in-nevers-on-the-banks-of-the-loire

We stopped at a cafe and had a petit dejeuner and then went off to buy some more food off the stall holders. The Pup was getting more than her fair share of pats and being made a fuss of which she thoroughly enjoyed. Nevers was a nice little town with some elegant buildings but the Town Fathers had allowed a couple of square carbuncles to be built near the market, which was made worse as they had been abandoned for some time – they just needed a stick of dynamite, they were that bad. We then wandered back to the Van and headed off to our next campsite, the fog gone, but the day was overcast. We stayed on the minor roads today, with rolling hills as we left Nevers and then it all levelled out to flat farmland . At La Marche, we picked up the River Loire and ran parallel with it for the rest of the journey, crossing over to the other side at the pretty town of La Charite sur Loire, with a little island in the middle. We went slightly inland and picked up the Canal lateral de la Loire, its waters lying low. We were back to rolling countryside, woodlands and pretty villages as we ran alongside the canal, spotting many herons and egrets fishing in the water. Outisde the village of St Bouize we came across signs warning us of boar hunting in the woods and we half expected a boar to shoot out in front of us. It was a lovely route by the canal with the golden trees lining the way until we reached Fouchard and crossed both the canal and the River Loire at Cosne -Cours-sur-Loire. We passed a couple of power stations with their cooling towers dominating the skyline, one right against the road that you saw the water cascading down at the base of the towers. We stopped outside Briare for a cuppa and a bite to eat, letting the Pup have a run on the grass. Several goats were eating grass behind a wire fence and trotted over to watch Pup chase sticks and charge around – they almost looked baffled. In Nevers, Hubby had spotted a la galette aux griaudes, a large scone like bun which was a speciality of the region – as I was trying to google it, the stallholder launched into a full description of it, albeit in French and Hubby nodded sagely, before buying one. Finally I discovered that it was basically a bread roll with pork crackling pieces inside. Hubby decided that he would have it for lunch and was really looking forward to it, took a couple of bites of it and left it on the table – it wasn’t very nice, tasting of fat more than anything apparently. What a disappointment.

Feeling better with a cuppa, we carried on, back to following the River Loire until we arrived at Saint-Pere-sur-Loire and our campsite. The campsite didn’t open til three so we had an hour to kill so we retraced our steps back to the river, crossed the bridge over to Sully-sur-Loire opposite and parked in front of the magnificent chateau overlooking the river. We wandered into the grounds to admire the building and then followed a path by the side of a lake and into woodlands – it was all part of the chateau’s estate (Jardin et parc du Chateau de Sully-sur-Loire) and it was lovely. It was nice to stretch all of our legs and have a good wander – though there were signs to watch out for vipers! We ended up in front of the chateau again and followed the Centre Ville signs into a pretty little town, full of shops. We stopped by a patisserie for a baguette and peered into shop windows, noting that the town had at least three opticians! We could now go and check in at the campsite, which we duly did and found a nice little pitch looking towards Sully between the trees. We set up home, sorted out the laundry and gave the Van a quick clean – grit seems to be a problem at the moment, sticking to the soles of our shoes and getting traipsed into the Van – and did a quick inventory of what food we’ve got (we have got boxes for overflow food). The sun finally appeared, a bright red ball sinking behind the trees, the first we had seen of it all day.

https://www.france-voyage.com/cities-towns/sully-sur-loire-16023.htm

Darkness fell around 6.30 and it was quite chilly. We turned the heat on in the Van and made tea -then did a few sorties to the laundry room. We are spending a couple of nights here, so we can have a slow morning and walk back into town for lunch and work from there.

The sunshine is back!!!!!

We woke to blue skies and beautiful autumnal colours which made us feel so much better after the last couple of days. We got the Van ready as we were heading up to a little town called Saint Pierre le Moutier for our next stop, some 220 kilometres up the road so we planned to hit the motorways today.

Our first job of the day was to hit a supermarket for provisions and headed to a Carrefour in Massiac. I went in armed with a list, but seemed to spend ages hunting stuff down – I was very proud of myself as I asked (in French) for bits I couldn’t find and briefly was engaged by an aged local asking me about something!

Flushed with success, we jumped onto the A75 motorway northwards across pretty countryside which was interspersed with towns and industrial parks. We hit an unexpected fog bank (or was it just low cloud?) and lost the brightness of the day and the views until about five minutes later, the sun fought back and started punching holes into the gloom. We were gradually dropping down, leaving the Massif Central behind us and coming upon to vistas that only the eye can appreciate and the camera fails to capture. We whizzed through Clermont Ferrand where the A75 turned into the A71 and I needed to lean out of the window for a toll ticket.

The Van needed topping up with fuel and I researched the little town of Gannat as we cruised up the motorway. It had a TotalEnergies garage which were still proving to be the cheapest diesel around and we could stop for lunch too. However, much to our surprise, a Total Energies at the motorway service station was the same price so we pulled in there to fill up – usually motorway garages are much more expensive. We still headed to Gannat, pulling off the A71 at the toll booths, paying our toll and went to find somewhere to park. We ended up parking on the street, a couple of minutes walk out of town and went to find a suitable watering hole. There didn’t seem to be any cafes on the main street, so we headed back towards the Van, coming across some charming little side roads and found a little patisserie with a sunny outside seating area – I went inside to get food and coffees and came out to find Hubby in conversation with a man and a woman. They were teachers and we ended up talking about education systems, getting grants and basically sorting the world out – you think your country is the only one with certain issues, but it transpires that every European country has the same problems. We’ve met so many people on this trip and had these same conversations which are so interesting and affirming – we just love it!

https://www.valdesioule.com/en/activites-et-visites/parcours-decouvertes/gannat-la-ville-a-la-campagne

We waddled back to the Van and headed out of Gannat on the D2009, a very straight road across flat farmland, but still very pretty. At Moulins, the sky clouded over and we lost the sun again. The temperature had hit the giddy heights of 13 degrees, but now was sliding back into single figures. We picked up the faster N7 dual carriageway which took us to St Pierre le Moutier, though we did come in via the scenic route courtesy of the satnav.

We found our little camping car aire on the outskirts of the town and after punching in our code to raise the barrier, we were in. There were three other campers and we parked in between them in a little hedge lined bay. It had a big grassy area, so we let Pup have a run around and chase her ball – she hadn’t had much exercise these last couple of days. We had a cuppa and with the gloom lifting we then wandered into town which was very handsome with a tidy High Street and a magnificent church in a pretty square. The Pup got made a fuss of by two passing ladies who cooed in French at her, while we stood grinning, not understanding a word. Our Pup didn’t care – she just lapped up the attention.

https://www.burgundy-tourism.com/sit/ville-de-saint-pierre-le-moutier

With the light waning, we walked back to the campsite and settled in. We decided to use the Van’s onboard shower – which we hadn’t yet used – as we didn’t fancy the campsite’s utilitarian showers in the dark and we had an early start tomorrow (morning market at Nevers!) Also, it gave us a chance to check that it all worked. The Pup gave us a few odd looks, but soon we were clean and fresh and ready for tea. We figured out a possible car park for Nevers, close to the market hopefully and relaxed for the evening.

Walking into town tonight, wrapped in thick coats, scarves and gloves, the air distinctly November, we’ve spent the last six weeks in warm weather, wandering around in light clothing and enjoying daily sunshine. Now abruptly, instead of sliding into the colder months, we are thrust into colder climes like someone flicking a switch and it’s a bit of a shock. Like we’ve missed a chunk of our lives – up to this point, we hadn’t really noticed it was autumntime, just an extended summer, so we are little bit startled when we realise we’re in November and we’re missing those annual points of time and traditions of Halloween, Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday back home. Just a little surreal.

We woke up to thick fog this morning. Not good.

We were planning to visit the Millau Viaduct, the magnificent road bridge spanning the Tarn Valley just up the road, but we couldn’t even see across the aire!

Luckily it dispersed while we were having breakfast, though it was still damp and overcast. We jumped onto the A75 dual carriageway and within 10 kilometres, the bridge began to hove into view. And what stunning bridge it was with the most amazing views up and down the valley as you crossed it. We pulled into the adjacent visitor centre and parked up – the whole place was deserted, but the centre was open. We watched a couple of films describing how it was constructed (what a feat of engineering that was) before heading outside and up to the viewing platform. The sun was breaking out from behind the heavy clouds, lighting up the valley – it was just perfect timing, making the bridge glow. It was a bit of a pull up the tarmac path and we were both out of breath, but it was well worth the haul up – it was a fabulous spot to view the bridge and surrounding valleys and hills. There was also a lower path, so we went to investigate, hoping to drop down below the bridge, but halfway down there was a locked gate so we could go no further. We had another wander around and having exhausted the Millau Viaduct and the visitor centre, we headed back to the Van, deciding to drive up the Gorges du Tarn, just across the valley beyond Millau.

https://www.tourisme-aveyron.com/en/millau-viaduct/discover-millau-viaduct

After paying a toll for the bridge, we skimmed past the town of Millau sitting in a deep convergence of valleys and followed the valley of the River Tarn passing through pretty villages, the gorge getting deeper and more dramatic. The village of Les Vignes was particularly pretty as we headed towards La Malene – the valley runs for about 43 kilometres through the most spectacular scenery – deep wooded valleys with cliffs and crags, it was spectacular and got better at every turn. Deep into autumn, we had the whole road to ourselves, which was lovely – we could go at our own pace as we stared in wonder -but could imagine how busy it could be in the summer. The valley got deeper, the sides got taller so we had to peer up through the windscreen or through the skylight to see tops – it was really breath-taking and magnificent.

https://www.visit-occitanie.com/en/discovering/major-sites/gorges-du-tarn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorges_du_Tarn

We stopped at La Malene hoping for a coffee, but nothing was open. We were saddened to see that people thought it was okay to daub graffiti in a couple of places along the gorge – is nothing sacred? Caffeine depleted, we slowly climbed out of the wooded valley just as it started to spit with rain. We certainly had got the best part of the day weatherwise as the dark clouds were closing in. It was very pretty here – it was definitely autumn with vast swathes of woodland in autumnal colours. We dropped down and clipped the town of Chanac surrounded by mountains – little roadside signs told us that we were still 800 metres or so above sea level, as high as a Scottish Munro, but it didn’t feel like it. We driving across the roof of the Massif Central.

It was miserable now , the clouds low making the landscape darken prematurely. The scenery was still gorgeous and occasionally you would get a brief long distance view, but the haze of the rain blotted out most of it – you could just make out the outline of nearby mountains. We started going through some quite big towns after many miles of not seeing anything – our road kept sidling up to the A75 and running alongside it, before diving back into the trees. We were in the middle of the Massif Central, but that didn’t stop pockets of low industry being built – grey warehousing stretching along the road, but with the A75 dual carriageway passing by, it made perfect sense, but it was still a jolt to the senses.

We dropped down into the little village of Garabit and came across the Garabit Viaduct, a railway bridge over the River Truyere which was constructed by Gustave Eiffel – there was a resemblance of the Eiffel Tower in its design. It was a lovely surprise to stumble upon.

https://bridgeinfo.net/bridge/index.php?ID=8

The rain kept easing off and then pouring down again. We stopped in a layby for a cuppa and a bit of lunch to keep us going, huddled inside as the rain bounced off the roof. Further up the road, it started to get foggy or maybe it was cloud base but we lost all the views – a little further on as we passed Vieillepesse, it started to brighten again, with the sun weakly shining through gaps in the cloud – but slithers of mist hung in valleys or draped around nearby hills, it was very atmospheric and beautiful.

We finally came up to Massiac, our home for the night – we had booked into another campervan aire and this one was by a sports field, sitting under trees by the river. There were four other campervans set up, so we parked close by and set the Van up. Here, the cloud drifted through the valleys surrounding Massiac – it was very autumnal here and quite cool. Being so high up, the temperature had only got to 8 degrees all day – it was warmer back home. The Pup and I had a good walk around the site and the sports field to stretch our legs before the light disappeared and then retreated indoors to make some tea and relax for the evening – we had done a lot of driving today. Then it started raining heavily again……

It’s chucking it down with rain, bouncing off the roof – not a good start to the day.

We had left the big outside mat outside overnight and as we trod on it this morning, it oozed with water. We dragged it over to a concrete area in an attempt to drain it as it needed to be packed away into a bag and ultimately in the Van – our pitch was just a patch of earth like the others, but it had a slight indent and had formed a puddle right by our side door, hence our soggy mat. It was very muddy and we slid as we got the Van organised for the day. The Pup had the right idea – she had hopped back on our bed and had curled up asleep, it seemed a good idea.

We pulled the Van out of the pitch, noticing the deep tyre tracks in the mud – it must of rained heavily overnight. It was raining now as we drove off, out of Pezenas, along its pretty main road through town. We were following the back roads again, through towns and villages – we passed through Paulhan, as it drizzled outside, the clouds dark and menacing. The countryside was starting to undulate and as we approached Nebrian, it started to get seriously hilly. Plane trees stood to attention along the roads, leaning at slight angles and they appeared again in the little communities, softening the buildings and making it look very pretty.

By the time we came up to Jonquieres, it was very pretty countryside with vineyards in every field and mountains looming in the background. The rain obscured any decent views that may be had, but it was still lovely. We passed through St Saturnin de Lucian before arriving in Arboras where we started to seriously climb into the wooded hills. The temperature on the Van said 7 degrees and still the rain came. We brushed the cloud base at 670 metres above sea level and passed over the Col du Vent before starting to drop back down slightly – we were on the southern edge of the Massif Central. We hadn’t seen another car or house for miles now, there was nobody around and we had this to ourselves. It was really autumnal here with the trees showing off their full colours of green, golds, reds and oranges – it was very pretty in the rain, but wished the sun was out as this would of been stunning.

We drove through the very picturesque village of La Vacquerie with its narrow streets – we had been through a couple of villages which had been a bit tight for the Van – and just past St Pierre de la Fage, we popped out onto stony moorland, leaving the woods behind. Since climbing high at Arboras, we hadn’t really dropped down again and seemed to be driving across a plateau – at La Caylar, the landscape turned back to arable/pasture farmland and we followed the D9 as it ran alongside its bigger counterpart, the A75 slicing its way across the countryside – the two roads kept meeting as we passed through L’Hopitalet du Larzac and then we did a slight detour to St Eulalie de Cernon.

St Eulalie de Cernon nestled at the bottom of a beautiful deep valley – we turned a corner as it all opened up in front of us, it was a fabulous view though somewhat muted by the rain. We dropped from 800 metres above sea level to 580 metres when we arrived at the village – you forget how high up you are still. We were going to stop and stretch our legs in the village, but as we pulled up in a very generous parking bay, the heavens really did open. As with all the villages, there hadn’t been a soul about so we would have looked a sight – two British tourists and their dog wandering around in the rain and getting soaked. So we shelved that idea and pulled up out of the valley to La Cavalerie where we had booked in an aire. We stopped at an isolated Spa supermarket just out of town for a few bits and found the aire, already with quite a few campervans in attendance and parked up. It was 2.15 and it was still chucking it down.

We made a cuppa as the rain bounced off the Van and a big black cloud loomed. The weather app showed an area map covered in rain for the rest of the afternoon – it was going to be a bit of a non day today, probably our first seriously horrible day. We had a restaurant booked for tea tonight so we wouldn’t be cooped up in the Van all day but we whittled the afternoon away, reading and taking naps.

The rain kept easing off and then lashing down again in a never ending cycle as more campers arrived at the site – there were about 17 of us now. Just before 7pm, we braved the rain (now just light, thank goodness) and wandered some 250 metres to La Poste restaurant for tea. Of course we were the only ones in there in a vast sea of tables until another guest came for a meal and several men in camouflage gear propped up the bar – we weren’t sure if they were from the nearby military base or local hunters. We enjoyed a nice meal and then waddled back, letting out a whoop of joy that it had actually stopped raining! We dodged big puddles in the dark and got back with relatively dry feet and spent the rest of our evening chilling.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Millau and hoping to see the famous Millau Viaduct if the weather lets us.

Boy, it was chilly this morning despite the sun shining. A real nip in the air.

We headed for Ceret, a little town just up the road as Hubby had discovered that the local InterMarche supermarket had two dedicated campervan sized parking bays. Nearer the town, I tapped the InterMarche into Apple Maps only to find it located way out of town. So abandoning that idea, we decided to try our luck in Ceret itself and did our usual – got ourselves in a knot and sent our blood pressures sky high. We got trapped down a street as they had closed it off for roadworks so we had to do a ten point turn, we then went down a completely wrong street and finally did a couple of laps of the town. This was ridiculous – we made an executive decision to go to the Intermarche after all and work from there, only to discover it was a 43 minute walk back to Ceret.

To give ourselves some thinking time, we washed the Van in the car wash, filled it with fuel and found a possible car park in Ceret – which we successfully did. By reversing the Van in so the back tyres touched the kerb and its bum overhung the verge, we managed to get the Van in a car sized space. I went to get a parking ticket which also turned out to be slightly traumatic as I needed to translate all of its demands and a queue was gathering behind me – I stabbed a lot of buttons and came away with a ticket that cost me two euros and gave me 24 hours worth of parking, not really knowing how I accomplished that.

Parked up, we walked into town and what a lovely little town it was. Tall plane trees gave a beautiful shade under their autumnal foliage as we wandered around. We found a cafe in a perfect little sunny spot to warm up (it was quite cool that warranted winter coats and a scarf) and had a coffee, ended up patting the cafe’s giant Bernese Mountain dog and fell into conversation with an English lady who lived nearby. We carried on with our wanderings, coming across little squares, timeless alleyways and little side roads – we had to watch our step as there were deep concrete gutters running through the streets and were potential leg breakers. We stopped off at a bookshop and perusing a box of maps came across one marked “Minehead” which made us chuckle – how on earth did a Minehead map find itself in the south of France? We visited a bakery for some sandwiches and cake and enjoyed some banter with the lady behind the counter (we’re all over the place linguistically which made her laugh) and the Pup met a four month German Shepherd puppy and they played together for a while.

Armed with lunch, we said goodbye to Ceret, nestling in the foothills of the Pyrenees – if you looked east, the landscape flattened out dramatically, but look behind and the majestic Pyrenean mountains rose above the little town. It was such a contrast. We picked up the D900 and headed north along the coast to Montpellier, hoping to find a nice picnic area to have lunch along the way somewhere in between. First we hit Perpignan, sitting in a broad flat valley floor and the satnav thought it was fun to take us right through the centre of it. It was a pretty town with avenues of plane trees, but we didn’t really notice much more as we contended with traffic lights, buses and the general chaos of urban driving.

We skimmed past Perpignan’s airport and little satellite towns – at Rivesaltes, the satnav decided to take us down this awful potholed back road (probably to shear off half a mile) that tested the Van’s suspension and our spines. Something made an dreadful crashing sound in the back that made us wince. We were burped out back onto proper roads and ran parallel with the A9 motorway across unremarkable countryside towards Narbonne.

We passed the Etang de Leucate, a vast body of water, sandwiched between us and the coast – here we got transferred onto the D6009. We missed a couple of decent stopping places (no signage) and went for many miles where there were no parking places at all or there was a tiny little lay-by, right next to the speeding traffic. Finally we came across a big parking area, set back off the road and behind some scraggy trees, where we made a cuppa and enjoyed our sarnies, watching lorries come and go. Suitably refreshed, we carried on to Narbonne with the half hearted idea of visiting for old times sake – years ago, with friends, we nearly went over the town’s weir in a boat we had hired for a weeks cruising – but common sense butted in and we skipped round Narbonne’s outer ring road and continued up the coast.

These last few days, we seen a few people trying to hitch hike – walking along with their thumb stuck out, something we haven’t seen for years. We hitch hiked in Corfu when we were young and stupid, great fun but had a couple of moments of like “what have we got ourselves into”. Now older, wiser and no room in the Van, we carried on past them and wondered if they were ever successful at getting a lift.

The countryside improved after Narbonne – this was wine country and there were fields and fields of vines. It was very pleasant. We approached Beziers which the satnav decided that we needed to see, so again we were on red alert for all the traffic hazards that Beziers could throw at us including mad people whizzing along on electric scooters at crazy speeds with no helmets – they would just pull out without looking!

It was at this point that we discussed the French and Spanish outlook on rules and regulations. There were, at times, where rules were blatantly ignored – double parking (even on a roundabout), just stepping out onto zebra crossings in front of you and back in Sant Pol, crossing the railway line after the barriers had come down and a red sign flashing “No Crossing!” There was this total laissez faire attitude which was quite refreshing, to be honest and most of it was basic common sense, though for the uninitiated like us, a touch alarming.

Finally we arrived at Pezenas, a few miles south of Montpellier where we had booked into a municipal camping site. We found it behind a line of retail outlets and supermarkets and it was actually very nice – we parked up in a little cul-de-sac full of campervans and took a deep breath. It had been a bit of a trip today.

We made a cuppa and as the sun started to slip out of the sky, decided to walk to the old part of town, some ten minutes walk away. It was fairly straightforward and we soon found ourselves in a delightful wide thoroughfare with little independent shops and cafes. It was lovely to visit all these different towns and not see any big multinational outlets that are so repetitive in our own High Streets – all the big names were usually found on retails parks in the outer suburbs or clubbed together down one street, but the actual town centres were full of independent traders and it was fabulous. We wandered around as night fell, down little tiny cobbled streets, with tall houses and old buildings on either side and it was beautiful – there was hardly anyone around in these back streets and you could imagine meeting a Victorian gentleman and woman coming round the corner, it was that timeless. It was lovely.

We found ourselves back on the main thoroughfare – we were still full from our lunch, so we sat down at outside cafe table and had a beer, soaking up this lovely little spot. We finally decided to wander back to the campsite, as the temperature was starting to drop and settle down for the night. Tomorrow we would take another little step back towards home.

We all woke up early this morning as we were all off travelling again.

We had a cuppa on the balcony – it wasn’t as warm today and it was quite cloudy. We walked daughter all the fifty metres to the train station and waited for her train to Barcelona airport before waving her off. We then walked to the bakery in town and picked up some croissants and had our final breakfast overlooking the sea and watched the street cleaners clean the street of leaf litter. Afterwards we packed our final bits back into the Van – gosh, we had pulled tons of stuff out – and after one final check, rolled out of the driveway.

It should of been a slick manoeuvre, except a Spanish person had parked their van on what looked like zigzags opposite and therefore possibly illegally – not that anybody cared – so there was a little bit of backwards and forwards before we cleared him. While we were doing that, the train klaxon burst into life and the railway barriers came down – bad timing on one level, but at least we would have time afterwards to line ourselves up with the narrow street opposite. So we parked against the kerb and waited, rather nervous about the right hand turn at the top of the street.

As it was, it was very easy. I got out and directed Hubby in between the high kerbstones and fencing as we left the railway line and then legged it to the dreaded right hand turn which we swept round (albeit very cautiously) in one. We were free. We crawled through the narrow back roads of town and jumped on the C-32 and headed north towards France. We did a lot of dual carriageway driving today bypassing Tordera and Girona and then onwards to Figueres, through the wooded foothills with the mountains in the background – the sun had come out making it a nice drive. At La Jonquera, we came off the main road and onto the N11, a quieter back road for the rest of the journey. During our little sojourn in Spain, we had noticed a neat little traffic calming measure involving traffic lights at zebra crossings. Basically they’re on red and at a certain distance, if they detect you doing the speed limit or under, they turn green and allow you to continue without hindrance. Seems they don’t change until you’re doing the correct speed. Brilliant idea!

We crossed the Spanish/French border at the town of Le Perthus, which the border runs right through dissecting it in half. We were back in the Pyrenees, but only just. The mountains here were mere pimples compared to the monsters in the far background and a mere slither of the great mountain range, but it was still very beautiful countryside. We were headed to a campsite just outside the small town of Maureillas las Illas, some 10kms from the border – we didn’t fancy a long drive today. The campsite was open and we parked in a sunny pitch before making a brew and sunning ourselves outside. It was quite warm, though a little breezy. Around 4pm, we decided to waddle down to reception to pay for our pitch and walk into town which was exciting as we had to walk about 200 metres on the busy road before we came across pavement. We had a look around the town, a pleasant little place with little squares and rambling alleys before we found a Spar shop and grabbed some bits for tea. With the sun disappearing behind the tall hills, we put a wiggle on back to the campsite and feeling hungry, decided to make tea and settle down. Daughter texted to tell us that she had made it home safely which was good and we made some video calls to family.

So not a really exciting day today – we are both tired from the weekend and though we only had three days break from the Van, it feels a bit weird being back in it again and rediscovering our routine. We’ve planned a route home – basically straight up the middle of France over the next fortnight which will be fun and a chance for us to get acclimatised to the colder weather as we head north.