Camping de la Bastide

This is like being back in the Cotswolds. Its a small site between Bordeaux and Bergerac on the banks of the Dordogne on the edge of a pretty village St Foy la Grande, but it looks and feels like a caravan club site and is 90% English campers. Owned and run by a very friendly English couple who are building up a good business with regular Brits. I think Rosemary will know everyone on the site by the time we leave tomorrow. Cracking storm last night!

Carcassone

Left the Pyrenees for the spectacular walled city of Carcassone, which is the biggest and most well preserved in France. It has a castle and cathedral within the double walled defenses and a maze of old streets and squares which are now turned into cafes and shops of course. Had a very nice dinner of regional specialities (duck for Rosemary and casoulet for me) and as it was dusk plenty of photos. We stopped on the car park with 20 other vans where we had also watched England get thrashed by Germany 4-1 earlier in the afternoon. A thunderstorm was circling below the town during the match - surely an omen.  

Ax-les-Thermes

We are finally in France on route to UK stopping a few days in a nice ACSI site within walking distance of the small spa town. Still in midi pyrenees region so the walk is by the side of a fast flowing mountain river. We are going into town twice a day and immediately, on having a coffee, noticed that prices are much higher than in Spain.  Dangled our feet in the municipal spa in the square where the water comes out of the ground smelling of sulphur dioxide and at 54 degrees C - ie its hot! There are St. John the Baptist celebrations all over France/Spain over last few days with fireworks (tragic accident in Barcelona on the news) and there are some in town on Saturday which we will go and see. Nice market for Rosemary to buy some chic trousers.

The 'do' was a dance in the square to Silvie Nuages (Silvie was the feisty lady accordion player) followed by burning what looked like last years Christmas tree. It was finally put out by a fireman dressed for a space walk rather than dowsing a few embers. Much amusement when an assistant fireman in T-shirt and shorts had to untangle his hose.

Andorra

Took a round about route to Andorra via the 5km Cadi tunnel which avoids the long drive over the Toses pass. The weather was fine and the scenery very impressive although it makes for tiring driving. We were heading for a site near the border with Spain, which we overshot and ended up doing some unscheduled shopping in Andorra. The approach from Spain is actually downhill, which came as a bit of a surprise and the site is only 300yds from the border.

Met a Danish family on the site with a huge caravan towed by a Rover 75 which had burnt out its clutch getting here and lost so much power he couldn't tow the van home. Now waiting for SOS to help. Told us that England had beat Slovenia - a result at last !

Drove thru middle of Andorra which opens out into a town packed with shopping centres and then further north the mountains start in earnest as we reached the ski resorts of Encamp and Soleu which are not motorhome friendly with height barriers. Reached the border with France via the Elvira tunnel emerging at 6500ft to a border duty free shopping centre at the appropriately named Pas de la Casa. Stopped to do a bit of shopping of course and a last 'menu del dia' before a long winding descent of 4000ft down to the small French town of Ax-les-Therms.           

Pyrenees - Ripoll

Stopped on way into mountains at Besalu, an historic fortified village with old Jewish quarter and much photographed castellated bridge. Huge, like 4ft, Aliquera(?) fish swimming around in the river below. Shopped in Ripoll and then diverted down a very narrow one way track, with over hangs, due to road works. Only just made it out onto the main road over a hump backed bridge.

Stayed a few miles further on for 2 nights at a small hill farm site (2900 ft) full of rallying NL's. A basic rural site by a small river in a wooded valley. No TV, no Wifi , no mobile phone - but very peaceful. Had a wander round the farm doing 'sheep spotting' and then had a really nice, home cooked meal of lamb in the little restaurant. The farm, which used to be a mill, has been in the family for 3 generations, its a shame the farmer/owner 'just' has 4 daughters and 3 sisters.     

St Pere Pescadore

We have actually moved further south again, but only by a few miles, to spend the weekend on the beach. The Aquarius site is owned by Germans (has a lot of them on site too) and is very modern and immaculately maintained. Another dismal display by England (0-0 to Algeria) last night but the Germans lost to Serbia earlier, so we did not get any stick at all! Spanish TV is taking the p... out of Rooney and Cappello, not that they have anything to shout about yet!   By coincidence we were here in St Pere on our way home during the last world cup.   Spotted crested larks and warblers in the dunes and assorted naked birds on the beach. Thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and it is sunny but blowing a near gale now (up at 3am to wind the awning in!) so the weather is definitely changing. Its off into the Pyrenees on Monday and Andorra on Thursday/Wednesday.

Dali Country

We came to Masnou near Empuriabrave for 3 nights in order visit the Salvadore Dali museum in Figures and his house in Port Lligett. The museum in the old theatre is a work of art in itself and full of weird paintings and exhibits, in fact quite difficult to describe but an enjoyable afternoon was spent roemin around. His house and workshop are converted fishermans cottages in an idyllic location on the coast at Port Lligett. We just managed to get in (limited entry) to see where and how he lived until his wife died in 1982 when he stopped painting. A fascinating view of a surreal hose and artist. We stopped on route at Cadeques, another very picturesque old fishing village, for a walk along the refurbished front (3m euro project!) and a snack.

Our site is near a 20th century man made 'Venice' of canals lined with expensive villas occupied by well heeled French ad Germans with a boat at the bottom of the garden. Main road is full of boat showrooms instead of cars. There is a skydiving field next to the site where we have been watching some sort of competition. There have been hundreds of drops every day of upto 8 at a time. Very spectacular the way that they free fall for about a minute and then come 'roaring' in to the field and land so gently.                

L'Estartit

We could have walked to this site along the Pals beach if the river Ter was not in the the way. In fact we are not moving very far at all at the moment waiting for the weather to settle down before heading into the mountains - there would not be much point at the moment with all the low cloud and heavy rain around. Estartit is a nice resort with a good beach opposite the Iles de Medes, an aquatic nature reserve and a good number of diving schools/trips. We parked the van on the beach when we arrived, to look around, but are now on a small site with a lot of NL's. A steady walk into town, had a nice Spanish lunch with NL football supporters much in evidence and now its raining. It was Holland 2 Denmark 0 so the site was quite happy despite the rain.   

Playa Brava Pals

Stopped at Playa Brava site on the end of Platja Pals for a couple of days. Its right on the beach but not in any of the discount books, so its not very busy even at the weekend. We walked/paddled to the other end of the beach, a round trip of 4 miles and the longest paddle ever. Swimming costumes were optional on this part of the beach it appeared. Rosemary had a shower with a tiny frog (no - not a Frenchman) which she bought back in her towel. It crawled up the rear tyre to hide under the wheel arch and may still be there! Tried a bit of fishing in the salt water lagoon but to no avail. Watched England try to beat USA in World cup also to no avail, it was 1-1.

Callella, Begur and Pals

Left the site in Llafranc and drove into Callela on route to Pals. It was raining which was a pity cos it is a really attractive resort with sandy coves backed by an old fishing village now mostly small bars, restaurants and hotels. We had a coffee under the sun/rain shades by the port before heading for Pals via the coast road. This was now running with rain water which did not do a lot to help with the front wheel grip on the steep windy roads. We stopped in Begur which is situated on top of a rocky outcrop a few miles inland and has a commanding view of the coast and surrounding land. We had a pizza for lunch (and watched World Cup 2010 opening ceremony) before 'marching up to the top of the hill' where the, now mostly ruined, castle was used as lookout for pirates in days gone by. Amazing views despite the rain which was now easing. Arrived at Pals to stop for 2 or 3 sunny days (we hope) on a beach site called Playa Brava.               

LLafranc

Llafranc is in a very picturesque part of the coast (next to Callela de Palafruegel) and has been popular with British tourists for many years. The campsite has a large contingent of Brits who come for the season (even found one with a NuVenture van!). Walked down to the old harbour area, in the drizzzle this morning, there seem to be more English nationals here than in Leicester. The downside to picturesque is that everything is either up or down a very steep hill, including the Kims campsite, but the walk is doing us good - I think. This is a small site compared to many but well equipped including a very nice warm swimmimg pool and free WiFi.

We seem to be stuck in a weather pattern of cloudy/showery days and clear evenings for about week so we are off touring a bit today.   

Camping Cala GoGo

Here we are again - and it does not seem to have changed much at all. A steeply terraced site with a 'tractor train' to the idyllic little sandy bay, with its beach bar, about 200 metres below. The last time we were here was actually 41 years ago and it was quite an adventure.
Our first time abroad, we were towing a caravan with friends and their young son in an Austin Cambridge. Needless to say no-one had driven on the right before and I had not towed a caravan. It took three days to get here. The ferry broke down mid channel and we were towed into Cherbourg, cold and seasick, at 3am instead of 6pm. Then we had two breakdowns, one a puncture and the other a broken fan belt in Toulouse. I remember we sat in a bar for about 2 hours before the engine was cool enough to put a new belt on. The other indelible memory is that Cala GoGo 'champagne' was cheaper than a litre of bottled water and we brushed our teeth with it! Sadly it is no longer available but a bottle of girlie pink cava is only 2.31 euro v 1.75 for 5 litres of water.  After 9 days of getting sunburnt and drinking bacardi and coke (very trendy then!) we set off for home, breaking down yet again with a blocked carburettor on the Cherbourg peninsular. Guess which ferry was waiting to make its first return crossing since being repaired!

We were here for 2 nights this time - enough for a quick dip in the sea, bacardi and coke with a Cala GoGo sandwich under the thatched beach umbrellas and a welcome ride on the GuaGua train back up the hill.            

Montserrat

Not just a monastery but 'a whole community' on the Mountain of Monserrat as the guide book says. This is certainly true as apart from the basilica and other religious sites there are several restaurants, huge souvenir shops and accomodation for several hundred 'pilgrims' with associated services. Its a big tourist attraction with dozens of bus tours a day even out of season. This is more than compensated by the spectacular location of the main complex on MontSerrat 2300 ft above the surrounding plain. There are numerous hermitages and others sites scattered around the main complex linked by 'walks' (but not for the fainted hearted or geriatrics) although 3 funiculars do make the highest places at 3500ft accessible.  We took the longer more spectacular drive round the mountain to get to the monastry (not entirely by design!) and the steeper descent down to the 'cog railway' station, which would have provided an easier and more convenient way to the monastery. We had a very interesting afternoon and early evening here, which was not enough, so it is well worth another visit when/if we are on the Costa Brava again.

We left it a bit late leaving in fact and managed to find a campsite open at 9 o'clock on the coast near Matero. Turned out to be a nice site and in the ACSI book. Our NL neighbours took quite a fancy to our van. We only stayed one night here.   

Palamos

Nice drive up the Costa Brava coast which has many lovely coves and sandy beaches as well as the popular 'British' resorts of Tossa de Mar, Callela, etc now abandoned by the package tour operators I think. But they are still very busy so we drove further north to the more Spanish resort of Palamos, or Sant Antonio to be precise which is still a working harbour, only to find a cruise ship berthed there! We did a good shop on the way so will be here over the weekend. There's a nice long promenade and sea food restaurants for Sunday lunch.   The sun is still shining most of the time, its nice and warm and no rain for almost 3 weeks