Travurple

Monday, again we walked around Chiang Mai, strolling through some areas we had not yet visited, and some areas we had. It is nice to spend some time in the same city seeing it at different times and on different days, as it is always changing.

Tuesday, we checked out of our accommodation and headed to the airport for our flight to Koh Samui ( or Ko Samui – they use both versions) with BangkokAir, self labelled as Asia’s boutique airline ! It was a standard airline, £50 each for an hour and half flight, and we got fed!

Met our prearranged pick up, as we where not entirely sure the exact location of the Villa, so got the host to book us a pick up! A large minibus just for the two of us, expensive on Thai terms, but still not too bad.

The villa is lovely, in a secluded location, near an international school, 10 minutes walk from the beach. We have lots for room and a pool.

We headed out to find the local 7/11 shop to buy some basics, it’s only a convenience store really, Thai style so everything pre packed, microwave meals, but we got enough to sustain us until an adventure to a larger supermarket.

Also made contact with the electric cycle hire company, to tell them where we were so they could deliver the bikes on Wednesday, however the owner of the company delivered them that afternoon as he had to drive past on the way home. They are electric bikes, but not as we know them, they are not the UK pedal assistance bikes (when the motor will only go when you are pedalling), these ones will just go on the electric motor, easy, if a little scary the first time on the road, but we are getting used to them.

Wednesday, headed out on the bikes to a larger supermarket, a “Lotus hyper market”, a bit of a strange store, a mix between a cash & carry and a department store, but we managed to get more supplies. Shopping is going to take a bit of work and further investigation! Nic loves a catering challenge!

Walked to the beach in the afternoon, a bit of a sad walk, past a few derelict buildings, but nice once on the beach.

Thursday, showers predicted most of the day, but we did manage a walk locally and were lucky not to get wet.

Friday, another rainy day, whilst in the pool spotted a 4ft monitor lizard sitting on a rock sunning itself, thankfully it was on a rock down in the stream that we overlook and not too close.

Saturday, took the bikes out again, to the far end of the beach for a walk, more resort hotels! Then home via another supermarket, a western style supermarket, even selling Waitrose products!

Back in the pool we saw an interesting bird, after much internet searching we have decided it was a Greater Racket Tailed Drongo.

Sunday, a local walk this time, investigating possible tour options, this morning we read that the national marine park we wanted to visit is closed all November and most of December, but as it turns out it is not closed as it has had a good long rest due to Covid, and the government didn’t want to close it again this year, so the panic to do the tour on Monday, being the last day of October was averted.

As we are now in this villa for 5 1/2 weeks, our future blogs may get a bit repetitive with, walked to the beach, took the bike out, went shopping. We’ll try and do something a little more interesting occasionally 😂.

Monday, having conquered the Bangkok Metro & Skytrain last week, we decided to try out the local buses. Heading for the Royal Barge Museum. After a really interesting walk from the bus stop to the Museum, along some narrow residential lanes we discovered that, despite what the website said, the Museum was closed due to the high flood water.

We were then sold a long tail boat trip around the canals by a local fixer. With the deal struck he wanted the money, then he would get the boat! We finally agreed he could have half the money when we saw the boat, and the rest at the end of the tour! So his mate was called to bring the boat, which was fine so we did an hour tour up the canal, which was great!

Tuesday, we checked out of the accommodation early and headed to catch the train for the 11 hour journey to Chiang Mai, an interesting journey, lots of standing water around Bangkok. A really busy train of only 3 carriages, we had seats, but not the best leg room as they were near a bulk head. Arrived in Chiang Mai an hour late, jumped a taxi to our new accommodation, which is our cheapest to date, £60 for the week! and it is OK, basic, a little dated, but clean and perfectly adequate for our needs.

Wednesday, we walked around the Chiang Mai old town, within the canal, had dinner at the night market which cost us about £1.50 each!

Thursday, started early when we were woken by an earthquake at 4:36am 4.2 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre about 12 km away. Thankfully there appears to be no damage locally in Chiang Mai.

8:30am we had a tour booked to visit some caves and then kayak down the river. We were picked up in a pickup truck, only 4 of us on the tour, us and a couple of guys from Spain.

Really impressive caves, part of a 400 year old temple complex. The caves were a bit narrow and low in places but not too bad. Saw bats, crickets and huge spiders in the caves.

Then on to the river in kayaks, covering about 8km downstream, there had been some recent flooding as all the vegetation on the side of the river had been flattened. A couple of slightly hairy bits of “white water” but both of us managed to stay in the kayaks, one of our Spanish friends was not so lucky and went in twice.

All in all a good trip out of the city.

Friday, we walked around the parts of the the old city we had not visited earlier in the week. Tried to get some cash out of an ATM which swallowed our card! So had to deal with that, thankfully we had a spare card for that account (Revolut) so no real issues, and managed to get so cash out on Saturday, at a different ATM.

Friday evening we walked out of the old city to a herbal garden, near the university and hospital. An interesting walk seeing all the medics and students, we even passed the Faculty of Nursing. The evening was spent watching the world go by from a hotel veranda, and finding another good local restaurant to eat. The cocktails and beer more costly than the food here!

Saturday found us going to explore the local fruit and veg market, part wholesale and part retail. We were fascinated by the growth in locals shopping on their mopeds, getting as close to the stalls as they could, and driving between stalls to fill their baskets. We accepted free bottles of orange juice, being given away as it is a bank holiday weekend, Chulalongkorn Memorial Day. The juice was cold and very welcome on a hot morning.

Sunday, after another chilled day wandering round the city, we enjoyed a drink at one of our favourite bars, only to dodge a rain shower you understand ! We then visited the huge night market in the centre of Chiang Mai, then ended up sharing a table in a restaurant with a couple of Germans, who had only met up that day on an excursion, and as the restaurant was bus, offered to share their table. Had an interesting chat about traveling! We ended the day with mango and sticky rice from a local market stall, 62p a portion…. Yum😋.

Monday found us spending some time in Manchester before getting the tram to the airport. No problems getting through security and our flight to Bangkok via Helsinki was fine, albeit long!

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon Bangkok time, (6 hours ahead), and had the luxury of a taxi transfer to our apartment in the city. After a brief trip to a 7/11 to get basic provisions, we had some dinner at a local cafe/ restaurant then fell into bed.

Wednesday, we had a lazy day trying to acclimatise and get over the journey. We do have the benefit of a pool overlooking the city on the 8th floor. We also ventured to a local supermarket for more supplies. In the afternoon Nic enjoyed a massage at a nearby spa, and for dinner we headed to a restaurant in a nearby shopping centre, before once again crashing out!

Thursday started with an adventure to find the office to collect our train tickets for the train to Chang Mai next week. The MRT is easy to use, with tickets available from a machine or cashier, and functions just like any other subway/ underground network.
After collecting the tickets, we set off to walk across the city past the Wat Traimit, home of the golden Buddha, then through the Rommaninat Park, to watch the local runners braving the warm temperatures to complete their fitness regimes.
In the evening we went on a tour using electric scooters to get around the flood lit temples and to the night markets to sample the Thai street foods. After some initial trepidation the scooters were easy to use, and we had a blast, as well as some tasty food. Nic even got to don gloves to help make the Papaya salad which was deemed to be spicy by our Thai guides and fellow explorers who were all from India! This despite only having half a small chilli in it.

Friday saw us looking for an Optician to source some contact lenses for Rog. Then another walk back through Benjukitti Park in front of the Queen Sikirit Conference centre, which gave a great view of the city scape across the lake.

In the evening we revisited a restaurant we had been to years ago, run as a social Enterprise, Cabbages and Condoms aim was to make condoms as easily available in Thailand as Cabbages! There are not many restaurants which bring a basket of condoms with the bill, for you to help yourself!!

Since we were last here they have opened several restaurants, including one in Bicester in England, and expanded their local operations to include a cafe, accommodation and gardens all employing local people. The food was great too, especially the duck in tamarind sauce.

On Saturday we decided to pick a random station on the Sky train line and go and explore the area around it. We chose Pak nam, this took us out to the edge of the River where there was a fair ground, and past the Royal Thai Naval Academy and museum, before we got back on the sky train back into town.

In the evening, we used Google maps to select a restaurant called Monkey Pod, which was another good find. Out door eating in a secluded garden, with bats flying around and once again very good food, including a chocolate brownie, which arrived fresh from the oven in a frying pan with ice cream on the top….yum😋

Sunday had us up early to meet a Thai student who came with us into Chattuchak market, with the plan to help us navigate the market while improving her English, all for a reasonable price. So nice to have someone with us, as it is a huge site to navigate.

Ended the week with dinner and a couple of beers/cocktails at Monsoon bar, accompanied by a two piece band! Doing Mexican and western tunes.

As you may have noticed, we have not published a blog for a couple of weeks, so this is quick round up of what we have been doing. 

Monday 19 September, driving further northwest we visited Cluny in Burgundy, a nice campsite which was half closed down for the season. We walked in to town and visited the Abbey. It was a big complex and the largest religious building in Europe until St Peter’s Basilica was built in the Vatican, there was not that much left of it. There were lots of models and artists impression of what they think it looked like in the various centuries.

On Tuesday the visiting of Burgundy wine producers started with a Co-operative in Buxy. We bought some wines including a 5 litre box for €12.95! the best that could be said about it was “it’s not bad”.

We found a campsite in Cormatin. 

Wednesday, we started the day visiting the Chateau in Cormatin, a tour in French, but at least they gave us a English translation. Unbeknownst to us the translation was done years ago by a friend of Nic’s family, who lived close by and who used to give the Chateau tours in English.

Parts of the interior the Chateau are in their original 16^th state, a very interesting building.

We got back to the campsite just in time to check out at 12noon, and drove on to Lungy and Vire. Both with caves, so more wine tasted and purchased.

Continuing our drive northwest, we spent the day in Colmar, a lovely town!

On to Nic’s cousin near Strasbourg, a great weekend, drinking of wine, including at the local wine maker. We also help pick and press grapes to make wine. So we’ll have to visit again when the wine is ready.

Monday 26 September, we left Strasbourg, heading towards Calais to catch the ferry on Tuesday, back to the UK. Saw a car on the opposite carriageway flip! Not sure what caused it, but thought it was heading our way!

Spent a few days in Kent with more family. Nic went to see the new ABBA voyage. A hologram show which was amazing.

Saturday 1 October, a drive back to Pock to finish our 3,900mile road trip.

Then spent the week packing up the motorhome, repacking all our stuff in parents lofts and garages (thanks again for the storage solutions).

Managed other domestics, eye test, haircuts, cholesterol check (Rog – all Ok), Covid jabs! And a good catch up with family

Sunday 9 October, a cheap train to Manchester, a direct train York to Manchester would have been £42 for both of us, taking 2 hours, a train via Bradford was 20 mins longer and saved us £31, saving doesn’t sound like much, but the Easyhotel in Manchester was £28.

Went to see Dave Gorman (comedian) that night in the palace theatre, a good laugh.

A very quick canter through what we have been up-to in the last three weeks, hopefully we can get back to the normal weekly service.

So, Monday morning started with looking for a garage to look at and fix the Motorhome. The campsite recommended a garage (‘Garage 1”), just down the road, who were not able to deal with Fiats, yep you guessed the Motorhome is a Fiat. So Garage 1 recommended a Fiat garage (‘Garage 2”) in Tarragona, heading back west, the way we had just come, Garage 2, a Fiat main dealer, was unable to help as their service facility is in the basement of the showroom and the motorhome is too tall to fit down the ramp, thankfully they did send one of the mechanics outside to have a look, we think just to check the wheel wasn’t going to fall off, obviously it wasn’t, so they sent us to Garage 3, in Reus, even further back west. 

Thankfully Garage 3 agreed they could look at it in 20 mins – 30 mins, so in true garage style, they looked at it after 1 ½ hours, identified the problem as being that the brake pads and discs needed replacing and quoted a large figure to do the work, obviously we didn’t have a real choice so agreed for them to carry out the work, which would hopefully be carried out that afternoon. They then closed for a 1 ½ lunch and very diplomatically threw us out, giving us directions to the local “restaurant’. The restaurant was fine €11.50 for the 3-course menu of the day including a drink. So, we kill time and head back to Garage 3 when the open after lunch and sit in their air-conditioned reception all afternoon. At 5:30 they inform us that when fitting the new brake pads and discs they discovered that the brake callipers also needed some repair, and therefore they could not finish the job that afternoon. They agreed to move the Motorhome on to the road outside the garage, so we could spend the night in the motorhome on an industrial estate.

Garage 3 needed to send the brake callipers to a specialist to be refurbished, so another day sat in their reception, not wanting to leave and there was nothing interesting close enough to Garage 3, but this time we were prepared to sit it out, which included books, coffees etc. yes, we got thrown out again at lunchtime, so back to the restaurant for another €11.50 menu of the day. The same waitress was on duty, and today she realised the extent of our lack of Spanish and helped us out with the menu choices, by taking pictures, and using a translation app to tell us about them! Nic learnt a new word ….sandia is watermelon! 

Back at the Garage at about 5pm we were informed the work had been completed for a figure 50% more than the original quote! But needs must and the bill was paid. The only thing they could not deal with was an ABS brakes sensor, so we still have a warning light on the dash board. 

Before we set off on this journey, someone said “you can’t expect to travel for that long with having a crisis” (you know who you are!) the same someone challenged us to go to a specific restaurant in Barcelona. We accepted the challenge but failed to get there because of this crisis!  This only means we’ll have to go back to Barcelona to complete the challenge. 

So after getting back on the road, we set off back east, after the last couple of days, we didn’t get that far before attempting to find a campsite for the night,  the first campsite we arrived at had a high restricted entrance, a strange thing for a campsite looking to attract Motorhomes, so we carried on looking for another, the joys of google maps, which tried to direct us to the next campsite via a very low bridge. Only the second time on the journey we have had to turn around. We finally found a nice campsite, which was massive, it had its own amphitheatre! But we only stayed 1 night as we had other places to be. 

Wednesday, we had a long day at the wheel, driving 5 hours between us, to get to a campsite near Beziers (back in France).  This campsite was a family party site, not our usual choice, but it was near Beziers airport and Nic was flying back to the UK for a couple days, so near the Airport was a good choice. 

Late evening on Thursday Nic flew back to the UK, a free transfer to the airport from the campsite. 

Friday, Rog had an easy lazy day, after doing some “house” work, a nice campsite with our own little shed on the pitch with a private loo and shower.  Just had to put up with the loud entertainment until 11:30pm. 

Saturday, Nic was due back to Beziers airport at 4:20pm with Ryanair, and yes you guessed it, was delayed, the flight left Manchester 2 hours late, then 10 mins from landing in Beziers, the Captain informed the passengers that Beziers airport was closed and therefore they would be landing in Montpellier, waiting for another 2 hours for a bus to arrive, then being taken to Beziers train station rather than the airport (which is walking distance to the Campsite) so a further wait for a taxi, Nic finally got back to the campsite at 11:30pm instead of 4:30pm only a 7 hr delay!! Rog had another easy day, a cycle along the Canal d’ Midi, then sat by the lagoon, a man made beach on the campsite. 

Sunday, started with Nic filling in the Ryanair compensation form, hopefully another €250 compensation.  Then we had a 4 hour drive up to Le Puy (heading towards Lyon),  which included a slight altercation with a car that overtook us and cut in far too early, as another car was coming in the other direction, clipping the front end of the Motorhome, thankfully no significant damage, he stopped and exchanged details just in case. A driver following us also stopped, tore a strip of the driver (in French)  and offered to be our witness of the collision. All slightly stressful but could have been a lot worse.  

We had nothing booked in Le Puy, but it has 2 Aires and 2 Campsite, so we’d be able to get a pitch somewhere. How wrong we were! There was a Renaissance festival in Le Puy, lots of people dressed in costume, lots of motorhomes and not a pitch to be had anywhere, so we left Le Puy and headed another 20mins to an Aire in Beaulieu, which was free in both senses of the word, available & no cost, it even had free electricity. 

Sorry no photos this week. 

So firstly, sorry we have been busy and enjoying ourselves too much to publish a blog last week, so again this is a double blog!

Monday (29 August) as the Metro was suspended due to work on the tracks, we got the replacement bus service, or correctly we should say we got the two replacement buses, which only got us as far as a working metro line, and then we had to get the Metro into the centre of Valencia, which took about an hour in total, so not too bad. And as some of you are probably shouting at this blog, we have all the time and nothing else to do.

The centre of Valencia has lots of interesting buildings, which are reasonably close together so we walked between them all, the market (the largest covered food market in Europe, so we are told), the silk market, various churches and the Torres de Sarranos (see picture)

Tuesday, we had a quiet day on the campsite with time at the pool.

Wednesday, was Tomato Fight day ! because of the closed Metro, we had to get a taxi at 6:15 am to the outskirts of Valencia (actually the carpark next to the cemetery) to get a 7am bus, to Bunol for the annual ‘Tomatina’ festival (the largest food fight in the world) 22,000 tickets to throw tomatoes at each other. Rest assured the tomatoes were not food quality.

We managed to get a spot in one of the squares on the truck route, so we were close, but not too close to the serious action. We also had a good view of the ham at the top of a greasy pole that you had to climb to claim the ham. Nobody managed it this year!

It was a fun day, we had our first alcoholic drink at 10:30am, in our defence we had been up for hours and did only have two drinks! The citizens of Bunol set the tone, with tables outside houses with wine, tapas and family chatter on the go at 9.30am, watching all the tomato fighters arrive. At around 10am all the tables were cleared away ready for the main event. We enjoyed meeting other tomato fighters and getting involved with the throwing of tomatoes which we scooped off the floor as they landed by our feet.  The tomato-y-ist bit was walking out of the village, through where the serious action had happened, the tomatoes and water was ankle deep. We did manage a little hose down before retrieving our bags from the lockers, for a quick change before getting the bus back to Valencia.

Thursday, we left the Valencia Camper Site and heading further south to visit some good friends, who had last year moved from the Isle of Man to just south of Valencia. We parked the motorhome on the road in their estate and slept in the house! On a sofa bed, which was very robust and like a real bed! We also took advantage of the offer of a washing machine by doing 5 loads!

This is when we became too busy enjoying ourselves to write and publish last week’s blog, we spend the week eating, drinking, and catching up. Also other good friends from the Isle of Man flew out for a few days. To celebrate a birthday we went to “Triple Brew’ in a nearby town, which had a menu for the 100’s of beers they served. Rog ordered a taster of 5 different beers (twice!) the most memorable name for a beer was ‘F**k Brunch”. An interesting name and a nice milkshake wheat beer. Thankfully Triple Brew also served really good food.

We stayed with these friends for a week until Thursday, when we started the long drive north, we drove only about 30mins to visit other friends in Elche. After a menu del dia at a local restaurant, lots of food and wine all for 11€. We had a swim in the pool. Later on we got the local bus into town to see the Basilica, the ceiling compartment above the central doors on the bus opened, and the bus driver was trying to lock it back in place, however she could not reach, So Rog fixed the bus, it says something when Rog is the tallest one there! After a brief glimpse into the Basilica as there was a service on, we went to one of the local bars in a quiet square for an Aperitivo. Then back to our friends for tapas to finish the day.

We stayed in the Motorhome on a side road outside their apartment block, which was quieter than we expected. 

Friday, after a quick stock at Lidl, we drove for about 2 ½ hours to just above Valencia, it was actually the same motorway junction as the Caves we visited, but this time we headed for the coast and found a campsite for €10 a night, our cheapest paid for site yet, so we stayed 2 nights, just about on the beach. So nice to enjoy a dip in the sea to cool off.

Saturday we visited the local market, about 10 mins walk from the campsite.

Sunday, we started heading for Barcelona, however en route the motorhome developed a noise with the front wheel whilst braking, so we headed for the nearest town, still 100km south of Barcelona and checked into a campsite, La Noria in Torresdembarra, obviously it is Sunday afternoon, so everything is closed, but they say they can help us find a local garage tomorrow to look at the issue! So Garages permitting we still may be able to get to Barcelona tomorrow as planned, by train. Watch this space!

Monday morning, we broke camp at Camping Terra Alta in Bot, first job was to collect the wine we had bought from the local cooperative. As we had enjoyed cycling the Via Verde, we decided to drive to an Aire further down the Via Verde at El Pinel de Brai station so we could cycle again. Google Maps first option to get to El Pinel de Brai was a very small round with lots of hairpin switchbacks, so we didn’t choice that one and went the longer way around. Once we had parked up and taken the bikes off (that Rog had carefully secured only half an hour ago!) we saddled up. We set off cycling downhill first this time, but not too steeply, but we knew it would be uphill coming home! We had a vague plan to cycle as far as the village of Xerta, however on the outskirts of the village we came across a small fire in a picnic area, thankfully the local Bomberos (Firemen) had just arrived to deal with the fire, so we decided to stay the same side of the fire as the motorhome, just in case it got out of hand, it didn’t!  So we cycled back for lunch at ‘La Brasa Verda’ the café in the old station building.  The building was old, it looked like they had ongoing renovation plans, which they were doing when they could. We chose to sit outside under a newly constructed veranda, which looked like a fruit cage, to keep the bugs out, we sat on a traditional basic picnic bench. However the food they served was amazing, it was some of the simplest, yet the best, we have had in a long time. We ordered;

Goats cheese tapas – three different types of locally made goats cheese, all soft cheeses and very ‘fresh’, nothing too “goaty” all wonderfully tasty and served with a fruit compote, that even Nic couldn’t identify, but which complimented the cheese.

Tomato Salad – Sliced beef tomatoes topped with seeds, mixed herbs and olive oil. Another stunning dish.

Grill – a choice of two meats from chicken, sausage or burger, we had the chicken and the sausage. Lovely tender chicken skewers and tasty sausage, served with potatoes, onion (sadly not cooked enough for Nic to enjoy) and aubergine (which Nic did enjoy). 

We wanted to order the local lamb, but they had run out so we opted for the wild tuna.

Tuna – was stunning, it is without a doubt the best Tuna we have ever eaten, again just simply cooked and served, it was lightly cooked over an open wood fire (like everything else), it was so fresh and tender. We very nearly went back for lunch again the following day, just to have the tuna again!

Followed by fresh melon and watermelon, local sweet pastries & sweet wine, then local homemade shots (one peppermint and one quince) with the bill, and a chat with the Chef about the Isle of Man, as he was wearing a Celtic Nations T-shirt which included a Manx flag!

And all for less than €60 (£50) – which also included ½ litre of wine, a couple of beers

and coffee, possibly a little expensive locally but worth every cent! 

Luckily the carpark was also an Aire so we spent the night. Once all the to-ing and fro-ing of the Via Verde stopped it was a quiet night with only one other van, and beautiful dark sky for star spotting.

Tuesday morning, we moved down to the coast, actually a delta which sticks out into the mediterranean sea (or according to Google Map the Balearic sea as we are opposite Mallorca), to a campsite called Eucaliptus, a large campsite, but our cheapest paid pitch to date, we were packed in, just enough room to get the awning out, but the closest motorhome was a seasonal pitch and they were currently not there, which was nice. There appeared to be a lot of seasonal pitches, the opposite pitch appeared to have lots of feral children, who were still running around at 1am on our first night, when they were accompanied by 3 females, the second night a man and dog arrived for what turned out to be their last night, and it was all much quieter!

We swam in the sea, went for cycle rides along the coast, saw flamingos, but did little else for the 3 nights we were there. We were approached by the only other Brit on the site to borrow a screw driver, so he could fix his pizza peel for his portable pizza oven. 

Rog managed to lose a pair of sunglasses in the sea, whist trying to body surf and got hit by a huge wave (ok, a wave which was slightly bigger than the rest, but didn’t see it coming)

On Friday morning we left Eucaliptus camp and headed to Sant Josep Caves in la Vall d’Uixó, as their car park is another free Aire, as we had tickets to the caves on Saturday morning, but Friday night, was an interesting night, with fireworks in the distance and the loud music from somewhere until at least 6am (Nic heard it, Rog was asleep!)

Saturday morning, the caves of Sant Josep were really interesting, not that we understood much of the Spanish commentary, but we had a boat ride in the cave, on the longest navigable underground river in Europe.

Saturday afternoon, we set off for Valencia, or at least the Valencia Camper Park, 12km outside Valencia, but right near a Metro station for easy access into Valencia. However the Metro line is currently being upgraded so is not running, so instead there is a replacement bus service, which we’ll try on Monday!

The Valencia Camper park appears to be a converted industrial unit, with various sizes of pitches, being cheap we opted for the smallest size of pitch, it’s cosy, we can get our awning 2/3rds of the way out, but it is only €17 per night (£14)

Sunday, Nic spotted a good looking restaurant online called “ Resataurante El Gordo y El Flaco” in the local town of Betera, 20mins walk from the camper park, so we set off in search of lunch. We got there as it opened at 1:30 and managed to get the last table in the house. They also managed provide an English waiter from the Midlands to serve us, which was a bit weird but helped a lot with the menu and ordering. Another really good meal, but we managed to over order, partly as before the food we actually ordered we had, (on the house), nuts and crisps, a small slice of ‘pizza’, and a bowl of Russian tuna salad. 

We then had 3 starters to share, thankfully on the advice of the waiter we had ordered half portions of these. We had Iberico Ham served with “tomato bread”, some Croquettas, and a Millefuille which was layers of Foie Gras, goats cheese and apple confit, with a brulee topping. Nic could have stopped there! Rog then had Hake and Nic had Turbot, both served with veg. Then Puddings had to be done too, Chocolate three ways for Rog and Cheesecake for Nic.

This bill was slightly bigger than the one on Monday!!

Then a slower walk back to the site and a dip in the pool for Nic to aid digestion!

So, the Nyerrio del Conflent festival in Prades, was basically crocodile clipping fireworks (the roman candle type) to the top of sticks, so they wizz around when lit and parade around the town, to and from the main square, accompanied by a group of drummers. There was also the odd really elaborate stick with lots of fireworks clipped to it thrown in, and a large dragon. It was truly bonkers, a health and safety nightmare, at least there was one fireman following them around wearing what looked like a fat suit with a hose attached, which was hopefully filled with water. It has been held since 1150! it was great to see an old tradition continuing. There were quite a few children taking part in the event, a sure way to ensure that these traditions continue.

Tuesday, we left Prades, heading up into the Pyrenees, driving through Llivia, a Spanish enclave in France, and on to Andorra. Three countries before dinner! We parked up for the night in what was a carpark, at the top of a mountain pass, we were not the only ones there, there was about 20 other motorhomes. The view was stunning, we spent hours watching the light change on the mountains, and all the activity with the other motorhomes, especially a red Mercedes van with three young folk in it, because it is was parked just below us on the lower terrace.

On Wednesday, we left our car park and drove out the other side of Andorra, not missing the duty-free shopping and a fuel top up, 20% cheaper than in France. We overnighted at an Aire in La Seu D’Urgell, a nice town which hosted the 1992 Barcelona Olympic kayak events, (the kayaking world cup was heading back in September). Whilst walking around town, we had an unexpected thunder storm, so took refuge in a bar on the ramblas. Had a little mop up job to do when we got back to the motorhome, as the we had left the top vents open, but it could have been a lot worse than it was. Nic attended an early music concert we stumbled across on our evening walk(not Rog’s thing). The group of eight musicians had 35 replica Medieval instruments between them, and performed in Spanish from the Cantigas of Santa Maria. A lovely if unexpected end to the day.

Thursday, we moved on again to another Aire in Tarrega, another stunning drive through the Pyrenees down on to the plains. The Aire was good, close into town next to the police station, so hopefully secure, unfortunately it was also next to a large lorry park so there was a lot of lorries moving overnight. In Tarrega we went out for lunch, Nic ordered what she thought was a margarita (see photo).

On Friday we drove to Tarragona, found a university carpark to leave the motorhome in for a few hours whilst we walked into town. Unbeknownst to us, Tarragona were holding a festival including Human Towers, which were amazing, seven people high, with a couple of kids on the top. Rog had wanted to see Human Towers, but the main Human Tower contest is in February, so we felt lucky to see them now.

After Tarragona, we left the coast again and heading back into the hills, to a campsite just outside a town called ‘Bot’, the campsite was right on a “Via Verde” another old railway line. 

Saturday morning, we cycled to Horta de Sant Joan, a continual steady climb up the railway, but then the village itself was up a steep hill, but it was OK because it was downhill all the way home! On the way back, we went to the local cooperative to sample the local wines, a bought a ‘few’ bottles, which as we were on the bikes, we had to get them to keep for us until Monday morning for collection in the motorhome.

Sunday morning, we cycled the other way along the Via Verde, this time the downhill way and uphill home, but nothing too steep. Back to the Motorhome for lunch and quite a lazy afternoon. Nic even managed to have the pool to herself for a few minutes around 2pm, as everyone else seemed to be going for lunch!

Firstly, a postscript to last week’s blog, the random French family on the pitch opposite us, late on Sunday afternoon took down their huge tent, then put up a medium size tent in its place, no idea why, but an interesting spectacle to watch all the same. 

Monday, we left whilst the medium size tent was being taken down! We had less than an hour drive to our next stop, but that one hour had some windy (bloody English language, is that “not straight roads” or “breezy roads”? – you decide, but probably both apply) there were also some spectacular views back into the main Aude valley.

So, our next stop, via the local supermarket, was to visit some good friends from the Isle of Man, who were holidaying in a Villa in Ginestas, just north of Narbonne. We had planned to only stay a couple of nights but ended up staying 4. A lovely villa with a pool. We managed to get the motorhome on the drive, so we continued to sleep it in.

Tuesday, after a hard day by the pool, we all went out to the local wine/tapas bar “Oncle Jules”, and had lovely wine and tapas prepared by a lone chef in a tiny kitchen. The guy running “Oncle Jules’ was originally from Chicago, and we were able to ask him about the French alcohol licencing laws, as he was only allowed to serve alcohol up to 18% (so no spirits).

Wednesday, another day by the pool, followed by a visit to the local festival, every Wednesday through the summer there are stalls, food, drink and music in the local square. A good night was had, there was even some fishing for toy ducks!!! Fresh Churros and a late evening swim before bed.

Thursday, another quiet day, Nic managed a short walk with friends to see the avenue of trees into the village, and an almond tree with nuts ready to pick. The day was finished off with a few drinks, steaks at the Villa and a last hand or two of Gin Rummy….we know how to live!

Friday, we helped with the checking out process, including gaining all left overs – beers, wine and the contents of the fridge! After manoeuvring the motorhome off the drive, we drove on to our next campsite in Prades in the Pyrenees, a Catalan town surrounded by mountains.

Saturday, a short walk into Prades town itself, a small market was being held by local food producers, had a coffee and watched the world go by for a bit! The evening saw a couple of thundery showers and a nice dip in temperature.

Sunday, another walk to Prades, an artisan craft market this time and then a longer walk around town as it was a little cooler. Spotted some posters for a festival being held on Monday, so have extended our campsite booking to attend the festival. Festival updates in next week’s blog.

Clock update – the Prades clock strikes every ¼ hour and every hour, the strange one about this clock is that it strikes all ¼ hours, including on the hour, and then strikes the number of hours twice (a different bell). So at 3pm you get, four strikes for the 4^th quarter in the hour, followed by 3 strikes for 3pm. Then the double strike the hour, which we noticed in Premian, we are reliably informed, (by family sources), that this was to ensure that those working in the fields had 2 opportunities to hear the correct time, especially in the days when the town gates may have been locked in the evening, to allow time to get home.

Monday morning, breaking camp again and leaving Carcassonne, with only have an hour and a half drive to our next stop, we decided to see the latest Marvel film “Thor – Love and Thunder”, however the local cinema was only showing it with dubbing in French (rather than the English, with French subtitles) so we didn’t bother, heading to the supermarket instead, what excitement !

We then set off for Premian, in the ‘Parc Naturel Regional du Haut-Languedoc’, with what now seems like the obligatory road closure, that Google Maps do not know about, and a vaguely signposted diversion. After a very tight right hand turn, which we attempted, gave up, drove past and turned around, to access the turn from the other direction, we got to the campsite. The camp site ‘Camping les terrasses du la Jaur’ is a small municipal site, about £16.50 per night, on the side of a valley surrounded by pine forest, with a local greenway (old railway line) just across the valley.

The other campers are predominantly French, with the odd one from Spain or Germany. There were lots of cyclists with a couple of very minimalist campers, they had a bedroll each in the middle of a pitch (no tent, of any sort). Diagonally across from our pitch was a French family with two young children. There was lots of bickering, and that was just the parents, the kids were generally ok, just occasionally overtired, or was that the parents again!!

A relatively quiet week for us, another hot week and a few more mosquitos around, unfortunately Nic sustained a few impressive bites, which reacted badly. We used the time to catch up on boring jobs like laundry, keeping the water topped up and the services emptied.

We had a few good walks and cycled the green way, Nic has mastered the electric bike (gears and power) and can now climb steep hills, leaving Rog to pedal slowly behind.

There are forest tracks directly from the campsite, climbing up the valley, we have walked there a few times and not seen another soul.

There is lots of birdlife on the campsite, we have seen Robins (including three fledglings), Chaffinches and Nuthatches all on our pitch, the Robins were the most tame, hopping under the table finding crumbs.

The local village clock tower, once we spotted it, has one clock face, chimes every hour and every ½ hour. However at every hour it chimes the hours twice! Never heard one like that before.

On Tuesday evening there was a local producers evening market, with food and live music only a short walk away. We had a look round, then enjoyed the band from our chairs back at the van, as it was still very hot in the market field, despite being 8pm.

Sunday saw us take to the greenway again, to cycle to a market in St Pons, about 5 miles away. It was mostly car boot sale, but we enjoyed the cycle and a coffee in the town.