Monday 4th October

After a stormy night, left in bright sunshine and a hot morning. Made our way to the Aire by the “Maries” office in Puicheric, only to find it had gone! A new road system had taken some of the carpark which housed the Aire. Sarah and I went into the mayors office and spoke to the lady inside, who explained (in french) it had gone, but we could stay the night parked outside if we wished, but there was not any water etc. Since this was no problem for us and the town looked interesting we decided to stay and parked between two rows of trees at the side of the building. At which point the high winds and rain returned! Had lunch whilst the storm blew itself out and then went for a walk around the old town in sunshine. The town was in the center of the wine region and had a distillery, I swear you get drunk just walking past it! There were tractors with trailers and large tankers coming and going all the time. Found the towns cemetery which was full of very impressive family crips and a fabulous old church high on the hill. Walked along a small canal which led to the Canal de Midi and the river Aude which runs through the town. All the shops were closed so we returned later, they were still closed but one of two local wine producers shops was open! Bought two box’s of wine (6lts) for 13 euros, the old man in the shop was very proud of the fact his wine was organic. Returned to the van for cheese and wine, very very good!