4000 miles from home

   

We keep finding delightful areas of France that we've visited, but not fully explored.  Like the Ardeche, where we had a famous family holiday and canoed down the river as many holiday makers do each year.  When I recall that I nearly drowned when I capsized, the family just laugh and say it's me being a drama queen.  So much for sentiment!

Making our way generally westward we drove across the Plateau Ardechois into the Auvergne and spent the night on the Col de la Croix Morand at 1400 m where we had a 360 degree view for miles. A quick walk up the Puy de la Tache at over 1600 m was followed by supper and a glass of wine watching the most amazing sunset.  The striking red, burgundy and orange striations continued long after the sun had disappeared.

We've just enjoyed 3 days near Aubusson, on a small quiet campsite where, treat of treats, we could watch the last few stages of the Tour de France on their TV, and have another pool to ourselves.

Aubusson is famous for its handwoven flat weaved carpets and tapestries in a landscape design begun it is thought by Flemish weavers in the 14th century.  We took a tour around the now rather sad looking factory but from which it was clear how important a place of carpet production it once was, with commissions from many a chateau, stately home, and even the White House and the Kremlin. Nowadays Aubusson type carpets are made in China, with mainly restoration of old carpets still done at the old factory.  

On our way now to meet up with Vicky, Toby and Margot near Saumur, who we've not seen for 3 months.  Can't wait to see Margot's face!

Le Tour - stages 12 and 14

 

We made it!  Was it worth it?  Finding a parking place the day before, a disturbed night by the the roadside and grabbing our spot 7 hours in advance?  Yes, every bit and I saw Chris Froome in the yellow jersey.

We watched literally hundreds of cyclists and walkers, grandparents and children heading for the summit of Mont Ventoux.  There were the thin and lean, the very keen, tandems, solos with baby carriers, and even two prone cyclist, one only using his legs, the other his arms.  What a tremendous effort!  And Mike had a go too, cycling to the first major marker saying 9.8 km to the summit.

We saw the 'caravane' of sponsor vehicles honking and tooting whilst dispensing goodies, and plenty of support, press and security vehicles.  Then came the riders!

After they'd all gone through we returned to Gladys and made a quick getaway for the nearest available campsite where we heard about the incident that had occurred in the last kilometre.

As we move westwards we managed to catch another stage today, over completely different terrain and it was more difficult to identify the riders as they were still in one big group, but still great to be among such enthusiastic supporters.

Allez les Bleus

On a charming campsite in the Aveyron we had the chance to watch the Euro 2016 final last Sunday.  Armed with a pichet of rose and a plate of saucisson (only Mike) and frites we were all geared up for an exciting evening (not).   I didn't publicise the fact I was supporting Portugal as the mood became subdued enough and especially the following morning which was damp and overcast.

After finding new parts of France we are now heading for Nyons in the Drome Provencale to meet up with the Famille Jeannot.  It feels like our second home as we've visited many times and returning there always feels right.

'Twisted waters'

 
We climbed up to a lake in the Aigues-Tortes or 'twisted waters' National Park in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees last week, and true to its name we came upon an area of 'alp' that was almost completely crisscrossed with streams, and branches of streams. Gorgeous scenery and plenty of wild flowers, most memorably marsh orchids and pink azaleas around the lake and dotted up the mountain sides.  An interesting area with restricted public vehicular access that meant we had to queue for an hour to secure a place on an 8 person public taxi to drive us to the start of our walk.  

We found a quiet campsite and once again had the pool to ourselves - that was the fourth time - and again today in Villefranche in the Aveyron - but probably not again as French schools have broken up and the holiday season will soon be in full swing.

We've been thinking it might be time to wend our way home, but have discovered another part of France we didn't know about and the adventuring spirit has returned.  We spent the day yesterday in the Lot Valley, visiting St Cirq Lapopie and in Cajarc came upon an original French market full of local producers and where we met a wine producer related to the Suggs (thatchers in our area at home) who until then had never met someone from her home area in the 20+ years she had been living in France!  The two of bottles of her wine we bought are now safely stored away in Gladys for bringing home.  And we're not doing that with all the wine we've liked because it's a question of one in, one out and it's going to be an item of clothing next time!

We're still hoping to catch a stage of the Tour de France before it finishes, so my next post is likely to have something to do with that.

A surprising menu del dia

On the road from Zaragoza

It proved to be not such a good idea to go off piste meal-wise since our Spanish is abysmal and being on the late side for lunch when we called into La Oficina in Albacete on recommendation the other week. After Signora offered us an alternative menu del dia because she had run out of some items I managed to establish I didn't eat meat and that 'baccalau' or salt cod would be fine.  And so we started with a cold 'cervesa with Fanta limon' followed by a delicious Russian salad.  All good so far till the mains arrived. Mike's leathery flash fried steak, with egg and chips was just about identifiable, but what was this huge white fried object with an egg and French fries.  It tasted like very chewy squid but looked for all the world like two breast enlargements!  We laughed and laughed, but I'm afraid couldn't eat it.  It turned out to be cuttlefish.

Food hasn't been the most important part of our trip, but we have had some memorable meals - in Miranda do Douro, Frigiliana, a little cafe in Zaragoza, and lastly with friends in their lively Pyrenean town, Aspet.  It was great to see you again, Ian and Val and we hope to watch the Tour de France with you when it comes through Aspet next time.

Fistful of dollars

   

Tino, the delightful manager of a campsite in Las Alpujarras told us about an unspoilt area of southern Spain apparently known only to locals where the film A Fistful of Dollars and other spaghetti westerns were filmed.

So we backtracked to the Med to have a look, and it didn't disappoint - an unusual mixture of mainly arid desert, volcanic rock formations dropping into the sea, salt pans, old mining villages, dilapidated habitation, small upmarket holiday towns with accessible beaches, and some that need a boat to get to, and even a flamingo colony - this was Cabo da Gata, just east of Almeria.  We parked up on a beach road 20m from the Med, had an obligatory swim which was delightfully refreshing, and went to sleep listening to the waves.

Walking over lemons

  

It does my head in to see ripe lemons on the road and all over the pavement, squashed and marked, and obviously unwanted.  This happened in El Bosque, one of four main 'pueblo blancos' in the Grazelema Nature Park east of Seville, and famous for its cheeses.  Their goats cheese was delicious.

We'd hoped to locate the Griffon Educational Observatory set up by the chair of our Wiltshire Astronomical Society.  No luck, but we found the ideal wild camp on a mirador at over 3,000'.  Our cup of tea did taste good the following morning as we looked out over the park. And then on our way down to the picturesque village of Grazelema we saw some griffon vultures flying around a rock above us - three landed and kept a watch out.

We went back to El Bosque to celebrate being away for 8 weeks, (and surviving) at a delightful 'rural' hotel where we were practically the only guests.  The pool and a cool room with balcony had nothing to do with it!  In fact it prepared us wonderfully for the next two days spent with friends Alan and Liz at their 5* villa in Frigiliana.  Thank you both, it was so good to see you there with James and Esther.

Hello sailor!

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2000 miles from home and here we are in a marina on the banks of the Guadalquivir,  a bus ride out of Seville; the instructions for which told us to press a button and go find a sailor to open the security gate!

Plenty of life's goings on to watch when we aren't doing the tourist bit, including raptors flying into trees and various boat skills including skulling and general boat handling.  As we were about to leave, we were accosted by Diana, 80+ living on a boat in dry dock following the death of her husband 12 years ago.  She needed her flight bag weighing to check it was inside the 15kg limit.  Too heavy for her but it allowed Mike to play the English gent.

Oh, and the Alcazar didn't disappoint, nor did the Plaza d'Espana, a personal  recommendation from the lady in the Tourist Office.  This was an amazing space with tiled bridges over a canal surrounded by pictorial representations of Spain's provinces, again all tiled.  A long, footsore day, but worth it.

We're off south now to the Grazalema Natural Park en route to see friends holidaying near Nerja.  It's getting hotter - 36 degrees in Seville  and climbing..

Farewell Portugal

    

What a find!  An immaculately preserved hilltop castle near the Portuguese border, from which we had a 360 degree view into both Portugal and Spain.  Gate crashed a Fete de St Antoine soiree put on by the local Cultural Society and enjoyed their barbecued sardines and spatchcock chicken, followed by an overnight park up on a terrace with again wonderful panoramic view over the Plain of Portugal and an outside tap just right for a morning strip watch.  Marvao, what a great place, thanks Pete and Joy for the recommendation.

Must also mention Coimbra, a delightful city with its old town on a hill which we climbed twice to visit its university, the oldest in Europe and instrumental in the sharing of knowledge between East and West in the Middle Ages.  The decoration in the library has to be seen to be believed.  We found some genuine Coimbra Fado music which some local musicians are trying to revive - it's sung by men when they want to impress their girlfriends.  Catch it on radio if you can.  

Next stop Spain.

The perfect place

           

We've come over 1000 miles to fetch up in a part of Portugal we couldn't have imagined.  Serendipity we're calling it because we were going east after Belmonte (which was literally an overnight stop) towards the Portuguese Spanish border BUT we'd seen some signs to the Estrela Valley and thought it needed further exploration.  

The first campsite was a no no, and how lucky we were.  This one has been wonderful - right by a flowing river, with a weir to mask all other noise bar the water.  What a place to rest and reflect by! This has been particularly relevant as our dear friend David Reeves died recently.

The owners are lovely Dutch people who invited us to a local market on Sunday.  Small by French standards but not tourist-driven.  In fact some visitors might have been off put by the livestock being sold; from adult chickens and ducks to one day old chicks and little ducklings, partridge, pheasant, etc.  (Not so nice were the canaries and other finches which are still kept in cages). All this next door to a huge undercover barbecue where separate stall holders were busy cooking chicken to eat!  

I couldn't blame Mike for succumbing as we've mostly been having veggie meals.  Not difficult with a tiny, but packed to the rafters, mini supermarket just outside the campsite.  Their motto seemed to be "If we don't have it you don't need it."

We have enjoyed two or three river walks which gave us great views over the Estrela Valley and Mike has actually swum in the river, which he says was so cold his marriage equipment nearly disappeared!

We've booked to hear some live Fado music so are leaving for Coimbra tomorrow.  And then we will be heading east, where the next blog will come from.

A fantasy fulfilled

Mike has acquired the Leonard Cohen look with suntan and a fetching panama he blagged after we'd sampled some delicious port at Symingtons in Pinhao - Quinta Bomfim.  I hadn't appreciated brands like Warre, Dow, Graham and Cockburn all belonged to the one family which owns 27 estates! We deliberated about going on a tour and tasting as we'd done this in Porto many years ago, but persuaded ourselves this was different as it was actually at a Quinta.  

A reason for visiting this region has been to fulfil a fantasy Mike has had, ever since we didn't do it all those years ago - to go up the river Douro by train. We could have gone all the way starting from Porto, but the river from Peso da Regua to a tiny place, Pocinho, where it stops and turns round, hugs the river.  It is so close at times the train slows to crawling whilst it navigates a trellis bridge or runs a few feet from the water's edge.  It was worth it and we weren't disappointed, going through first a wider valley covered with vineyards to a much narrow and steep sided rocky part.  Port is also made from vines grown there, but is spicier because of the concentration summer temperatures of 50oC can produce.

We've left motor home city now on our way to Marvao near the Spanish border, an old town recommended by friends Pete and Joy.

Flower power

We're so enjoying Portugal where we've been since leaving Burgos last Sunday.  Our first stop was at a small town on a very strategic promontory overlooking a huge dam on the Douro, which forms the frontier between Spain and Portugal at this point.  Miranda do Douro was delightful and I enjoyed my first dish of bacalhau or dried cod.  A huge portion, easily enough for two, and very nice.

On from there down to Pinhao further down the Douro where we spotted a wonderful wild camp on the river front.  We chatted with some local people, one who sold us his 'home made' olive oil and honey, and another who ran a great little restaurant.  Her local red wine was a bargain!

The scenery has been incredible: rolling hills (up to and over 1,000m) and river valleys full of vines, olive and apricot trees.  Underscoring the vines and trees have been carpets of yellow hawk bit, such that your view is a range of greens interspersed with yellow.  What's really hit me are the wild flowers everywhere, and I've only recognised 25 species, but there are many more.  Road verges are covered with wild lupin, delphinium, vipers bugloss, cerise and yellow foxgloves, giant mullein, mallow, tall spires of blooming fennel as well as big clumps of lavender stoeca.  Autoroute banks, usually so uninteresting, have been carpeted with bushes of white cistus and broom.  A swathe of broom under-storied with clumps of bright blue lavender is a very pretty sight.

We're now a little further down the river valley at Peso da Regua where there are many more people (probably from the river cruises) but also motor homes - Gladys is definitely the smallest!

  

The Camino

 

Spent four very pleasant days in Burgos.  A truly European campsite with all nationalities coming and going - mostly on overnight stops - even from Ireland, Czechoslovakia and Finland, so they'd come a long way.  

We can cycle the 4kms into the city with its beautiful riverfront or get the bus.  We had to visit Burgos' famous Cathedral and Mike came across the brand new Museum of Human Evolution based on sensational recent discoveries of fossil remains of our very early European ancestors found in the Atupuerca mountains east of the city. 

We walked a very short way on the Camino that runs through Burgos and saw plenty of peregrinos with rucksack and staff.  Not many seemed to be smiling, perhaps because all they could think of was stopping for food and a rest at one of the many hostels.

We are up with our domestics, sitting out in very pleasant afternoon sun, ready to roll.  The Douro valley in Portugal next, but probably not all in one go.

First uncomfortable moments

 

They don't come singly, these moments!   First was when we turned up at a free aire in St Estephe that had been built up as something fabulous on the banks of the Gironde, which it was.  But.... it had been commandeered by a group of people with several tents and dogs that looked as tho they'd been there a while.  The service area for draining our toilet waste and picking up fresh water was, well, no other word for it, 'disgusting' with evidence of faeces around the drain.  Plus the toilets were unavailable.  We did stay but only after we'd moved right away and relied on our own facilities.   The 180 degree view was spectacular as was the display by swifts catching their evening meal just feet away.

We'd taken a short ferry trip across the Gironde to get to St Estephe, just as we'd done 41 years ago and after what turned out to be an uneventful night we set off down the Chateau route towards Margaux and other famous wine producers.  Angludet is a favourite of ours, hence the photo, and I managed to keep Mike away from making an appointment!  A first along this road was me driving a few kms, tho' I'm not sure how much I'll be doing...  Plenty of activity in the vineyards, we think they were tying in and weeding.  Some machinery being used, but there were horses among the Chateau Latour vines.

Another uncomfortable moment was after leaving a campsite in Les Landes when we discovered none of the electrics were working.  Did an about turn back to the campsite all set to phone for help only to find they had come on.  Lesson no. 1, the electrics don't work with the motor running!

Lots of good flat cycling in Les Landes but it was time to move on south.

La Venise Verte

       

Stumbled upon a part of France we've sped past many times, the Marais Poitevin - France's second largest wetland area after the Carmargue - crisscrossed with canals and cycle paths.  Ideal for the unfit like me and a wildlife paradise.  We've seen kingfishers, water vole, pied wagtails and a canoeist camper saw coypu.  The yellow irises are stupendous as are the pale blue ones, which seem most popular in people's gardens.

Coulon is the centre of the smaller area of La Venise Verte, and where we stayed 4 days thanks to a recommendation by Gary, a Netherstreet neighbour's son in law.  Many thanks Gary, and to you and Jane for a lovely lunch on Sat, it was great to meet you.

Also a big thank you to Gina and Rob who we'd not seen for 20 years but it felt like only last month. It was great to see you and a bit of your part of rural France.

Rain set in for a couple of days, it's warm but obviously time to move on..

PS - only just learnt to post photos so using this post as a bit of a catch up.  You can see the phantasmagorical rock formations on the pink granite coast, the coastline just down from our campsite on the Golfe de Morbihan and the island we went to on our boat trip mentioned in my first post.

Lunch with Ollie and his minders

Here we are after lunch in the Vendee with a lovely brindle boxer and his kind owners.  Jane's mum and dad live in Netherstreet and we invited ourselves over on our way further south.

Getting used to van living, which is much easier when it's dry and most of its contents can be kept outside, but it's great wandering about on a whim.

A couple of very cold days east of Roscoff pushed us down to the Golfe de Morbihan, although the pink granite coast had been worth seeing and the wildlife great to watch from our campsite.  Just had a good week near Sarzeau relaxing with a bit of cycling, coastal walking and bird watching.  Found a great creperie with award winning ciders.  So good we went twice.

Last night was at our first aire, which was free, but we didn't have mains electricity.  We shall use them again but we do need to charge our electronic equipment, and now my kindle whose battery has run out.