It's been a while since I last wrote, so a lot of catching up to do!
21st Sept 08 - Carcassonne
http://www.destination360.com/europe/france/cite-de-carcassonne.php
Another early start today! I didn’t sleep well at all last night – think it was the pressure of feeling a little insecure, but we had a quiet night with no rowdy people. We headed off to Carcassonne, Mal has been here before as it is near where Greg (his brother-in-law) used to live. The drive today seemed a long one, the landscape was not as entertaining as it has been previously – the fields of sunflowers had now gone over, as they are ready for harvesting. We arrived here at about 12 noon, Jane took us up a tiny street which made us both breathe in. Our spot for the night is just outside the castle walls – boy what a view! We had a quick lunch, then decided to go & visit the castle – it is awesome. It is a stunning medieval town full of little quirky streets lined with shops & restaurants, there are some hotels & a beautiful church. It is a really hot day today so we grabbed some shade & a couple of beers.
The castle at Carcassonne
The castle at Carcassonne
22nd Sept 08 - Leucate
Being in the area of where one of Mal's friends lives we decided to pay 'Erica' a visit. Mal had explained the house was up a track, when we arrived at the start of the said 'track' I had a sharp intake of breath, it was a steep winding track albeit it did have tarmac! I offered to alight & walk to check things out on the drive up, but Mal assured me L'Escargot would do it 'no problem' - the track was a good way up to the house, but I lived to tell the tale. At the house we were greeted by a pleasent French man who we came to know as 'Laurent' he kindly informed us that Erica had left for the UK! We were unsure of her return date & based on the fact we planned to meet up with my Mum in Lloret for my Birthday we could not afford to wait around. We left Erica a note & planned a return trip maybe next year when we are in the area again......I did suggest we call or e mail prior to our arrival, but Mal thought it would be ok! Anyway we meandered back down the track, but not before I cut my heel open on a gate (don't ask!!) but it did really hurt. Mal did a great job getting us up & down the track safely. Mal's next suggestion was to go to a beach resort called Leucate, so we prgrammed Jane & off we went. Well it took hours & hours for us to get to our destination, Jane had decided to take us on a weird drive through the mountains, with no sign of life for miles & miles, along winding mountain roads (single track) - at one point we had to get the map out to check she hadn't lost the plot......but we couldn't find where we where. Anyway we carrried on & on eventually reaching civilisation! Leucate was a great place, our site was right on the beach, we decided to stay here for a few days & just relax, we were both tired with travelling. The place had great cycle routes too, so we spent some time cycling (12 miles return trip for some shopping, complete with a ferocious head wind - I was knackered). The rest of the time was spent chilling, reading & we decided upon a spot of hand washing (you will see that from the pictures)!
Me doing the hand/foot washing!
One of the great sights along the way!
One of the many thousands of vines we saw on our journey!
26th Sept 08 - Port Vendres
This was just a stop off point for the night prior to crossing the boarder into Spain. It was a working port but was still attactive in it's own special way. Charles Renee Mackintosh spent time here painting pictures of the walks. Mal & I took a walk around the headland which had some lovely views. We had a quiet evening as we prepared for our early start tomorrow. We have sussed out that if you get on your way from the aires early enough in the morning then you don't pay - an early start for us it was then! I was excited about our trip today as I was going through my first land boarder............nothing happened!
Port Vendres
27th, 28th (my birthday) & 29th Sept 08 - Lloret de Mar
We arrived here mid afternoon, we had booked into a campsite - luxury living for a couple of days! Once we had set up our site we headed off to explore where my Mum & Aunty Barbara were staying - their arrival time was 5pmish & we had arranged to meet them for a light meal at 7pm. The area was called Fenals, so we were not in the main centre of Lloret which suited us fine. We had a stroll around the area which was quite pleasant, not the quaint villages & landscapes of France but different! We met up with my Mum & had a meal out (nothing fancy as we are on a budget)!
On the 28th we went over to Mum's apartment for breakfast, Mal cycled so me being so 'young' (on my birthday) I got a backie (for those of you who don't know what this is......it is Mal giving me a lift on his bike). After breakfast Mal headed off to explore on his bike whilst I went down to the pool with 'the ladies', we had a lovely relaxing time sunbathing, chatting & reading. Mal joined us for a light lunch, then he was off cycling again (suppose this is what it's like when you have kids??) I continued to sunbathe as I was dying to finish my book, the ladies took themselves off to their apartment & I joined them later, only to find Mal already there! Mal & I went back to our campsite whereby Mal had moved our home to a much better location, he had cleaned up too. He handed me a note which said drinks would be served on the veranda as & when I required them, he had got a bottle of sparkling wine which we later took for pre dinner drinks with the ladies! Mal had sussed out a restaurant for the evening too. We collected the ladies at 7pm & after our drinks we walked down to a restaurant next to the beach for a sumptuous meal - so sumptious that we had terrible indigestion through overeating.....guess our simple lifestyle & way of eating proved too much when faced with a large calorie laden meal! No more BIG meals for us two..... we dropped the ladies off & headed for bed.
First thing we spent time trying to locate somewhere to stay at our next destination. Then we went to see the ladies who had gone out, so we cycled down into Lloret which was very busy, then back to the campsite. We chilled out for an hour or two, then I went to see the ladies who had invited us for tea. Mum & I went down for a drink in the bar & just spent a bit of quality time together chatting. Later Mal arrived & we prepared tea, Aunty Barb was feeling a little unwell - so we fed her some indigestion stuff & in no time she was better. After tea we played cards, teaching the ladies how to play whist, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We said our goodbyes as we won't see my Mum again until March. Then we had a cycle race back to the campsite, Mal won (but only just)!
30th Sept 08 - Cambrills
We travelled for a good portion of the day & arrived here late afternoon. Along the way we could see the beautiful mountain range of the Pyrenees the mountains appeared as if they had been painted onto the skyline. We also saw some houses made of straw exactly like the 3 little pigs house!! Jane also had a mad moment and tried to take us on some back roads where there was a huge ford (basically the road had collapsed) there was no way we could get L'Escargot through so Mal had to do a bit more of his skilled manouvering! We had to go through Barcelona (we didn't stop off as we have both been here before). I must say the driving around Barcelona was quite frightening, the Spanish drivers are awful, I spent some of the trip sat in the back of the MH reading as it was just too hair raising for me! We picked a beautiful spot on the roadside & decided to have a sit out on the beach - not knowing where we would sleep! There were a lot of palm trees nearby which were filled with parrots, it was an amazing sight. After eating a light meal Mal got talking to a Dutch guy who said he wouldn't wild camp on the main road as it was too noisey, but one of the side streets would be ok, he also advised Mal to move the reversing camera from the dashboard as it would get stollen in no time (apparently people think they are GPS). Unfortunately the camera is hard wired onto the dash so not very easy to move around , we will need to address that later! Anyway we moved onto a side street & prepared the MH incase we needed a speedy escape. Neither of us slept very well, but I must say it was a little better than expected. Cambrills is a lovely place just a little further along the coast south of Salou.
1st Oct 08 - Oliva
We are now on our drive south to meet my Sister who arrives in Marbella today. We arrived here late afternoon, we were staying at a municipal camsite near to the beach - what a wonderful spot! We dumped the MH grabbed our beach stuff & headed for the sand! We just lolled around for a couple of hours until about 7pm reading & relaxing - it was idylic. The MH was an absolute tip, so I decided tomorrow morning was 'spring' cleaning! We had a good nights sleep, it's amazing what a difference it makes when you are in a place you feel really comfortable, we could easily have stayed for a few days - but maybe we will return. The next morning was spent cleaning........with a clean house we left for La Manga.
2nd Oct 08 - La Manga
Again we arrived relatively late to a very interesting site. Along our way today we went through an area called Santa Palo which was full of salt flats which were surrouned by mountains of salt! We also saw some rice fields & Flamingos feeding in the slat flats - wow we are so lucky! We drove through Alicante & noticed the Volvo ocean race is due to set off from there, Mal was so excited but he decided he didn't want to stop off, whilst we drove along the road near to the sea we saw a huge yacht, I noted down the info on it's sail & after checking the internet later we realised it was one of the yachts of the ocean race. The set up was brilliant at the campsite, we had everything at our disposal, launderette, tennis, swimming pool, mecial centre, supermarket etc.etc. The plot we had was big in comparison to previous ones & the site stretched right down to the beach where there was a retaurant. Prior to eating we decided to walk down to the beach, this was the interesting bit......there are some permanent sites here and some long term lets - well as Mal put it 'it's like a posh favella' I started to laugh but totally ageed! There were some really nice spots but the majority was like a shanty town, it was quite peculiar because it was clean & tidy but just weird! However, we did conculde we would be happy to stay there again & could happily have stayed a little longer. Perhaps this is what people do & tell everyone they have a place in Spain!!
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