Cadillac & Gimont 18th, 19th & 20th Sept 08

18th, 19th & 20th Sept 08 - Cadillac & Gimont Cadillac Me outside the Church in Cadillac! Inside the Church in Cadillac A Church along the roadside en-route! Just one of the many pretty villages we have driven through.

Keith, Mal, Me & Helen - some great people we met in Cadillac!

An early start today to Bordeaux which meant we avoided paying for our camping fees for the night, as we were gone by the time the guy came around to collect! The day didn’t start too well, Mal got very cross with me when I tried to interfere with the speed we were driving at – uh oh got to bite my tongue! Anyway, we arrived in Bordeaux at about 10.30am & headed for the Hymer dealership. Fortunately they were very helpful & asked us to go around to the service area & they would take a look at the problem with the block. After a lot of testing & fiddling around the guy concluded, as Mal had 2 days prior that the electro block was caput! He went off to see if they had one in stock, unfortunately not. Mal asked what they could do as we were travelling, they thought they would see if their other place had one in Toulouse which was over 100 miles away……anyway they didn’t have one! Then the guy disappeared & arrived back with a new one (we concluded with our limited French that it was for another customer, but they would let us have it). So, Laurent (the hymer guy) set about taking the seat out amongst other things to get access to the electro block. Finally he had it fitted just after 12 noon, we were ready for lunch as we had skipped breakfast to set off early – but we decided to crack on the further 20 miles to our next destination Cadillac, stopping along the way to get some supplies. We arrived in Cadillac just after 1pm & I proceeded to unpack the shopping, only to find the fridge wasn’t working! Mal tried his best to diagnose the problem but was unsuccessful – part of the van instruction manual is in ‘German’! Back to Hymer we went…….we waited about 20mins to speak to Laurent, who then came out to look at the van. He diagnosed a missing fuse from the new block he had put in…….we said Au Revoir to Laurent……he said he hoped we wouldn’t be back soon. So, another 20 miles back to the site, which was only very small & by this time we were getting concerned there would be no room left! Luckily for us we managed to secure the same spot as earlier. I cracked on with some food as Mal was almost passing out from hunger by now. Mal had got chatting to a guy across from us called Keith & his wife Helen. After dinner we had another disaster, Mal knocked a glass of wine over the laptop, but I am pleased to say we dried it out after taking it to bits & it has survived……how much bad luck are we having at the moment!!??!! Next day we got chatting with Keith & Helen who had stayed here before, they told us there was a great market on Saturday & also advised us on camping in Spain as they had been doing it for years. Mal offered the services of our internet connection for them to send e mails to family in the UK. Unfortunately Mal discovered a virus on their laptop, so on he got with sorting it out. We had a bike ride into town, which I must say is a lovely little place with charming character. Keith popped round later to invite us into town for a beer which was lovely. Keith being a cockney regaled us with some very funny tales of his youth which I particularly found enchanting. The next day we went to the market which was a real cultural experience, the air was filled with a penetrating array of interesting aromas. There was a stunning display of fruit & vegetables, along with clothes, wine, the most delicately created cheeses which looked almost too beautiful to eat. Alongside all of this there was a menagerie of animals from live chickens, geese, a cat, kid – some of which I must say were not for sale! We met up with Keith & Helen for a coffee, as ever Keith entertained us with some great tales, then we said our goodbyes & exchanged contact details (hoping that we will meet up again sometime). We then set off for Gimont which was on our way to Carcassonne. We arrived in Gimont at about 2pm, so quickly cooked some Mackerel & knocked up a salad prior to our 3pm webcam call with Wendy & Jmel in New York. After our web call we took a cycle ride into the town – I must say I was disappointed, it was very run down. With the town being run down I was on edge as to whether it was a safe place to stay. But we concluded it was, but I set the van up ready to hit the road immediately if we needed to – as advised by Keith. Oh one thing I almost forgot Mal has taken to free wheeling down hills now to save on fuel, another of Keith’s tricks – I must say it’s like riding on the wild mouse!