Sunday 10th October 2010

Saturday 9^th October 2010

A local baker arrived delivering fresh baguettes and croissants- good start to the day. Having the beach so close is huge bonus, even when the wind is a little blustery, making it more spectacular. Enjoyed spotting the wildlife- jellyfish (2 at least a foot in diameter!) and a small snake- at the water’s edge. Ended up near a rocky jetty where Sarah became the local ‘David Bailey’- 50 photos of waves!! Gotta love waves! Returned to ‘Bella’ and the scrabble tournament continued with a great competitive spirit! Imagine this….the scores are close…in an instant dad puts down the big one –‘JUST’ triple word, double letter with j, adding t to another word- 68 in total! The tears began to flow! The evening ended in high spirits thanks to the wine and the ipod playing…but was slightly affected by ones great dancing skills (begins with D and ends in D!) 

Sarah and Lynn xx

Sunday 10^th October 2010

The bread man appeared again…but brought the rain….heavy rain…gale force winds! Great mixture!

Spent the day in ‘Bella’ playing cards and watching the lake build up around us. Maybe being so close to the beach was not such a great idea! Yet impressive views of a powerful ocean!

Sarah and Mum xx

Friday 8th October 2010

Easy journey to the Aire at Narbonne plage, only took 20 minutes. Large hard standing Aire with a few trees and only a sand dune bank separating it from the beach and the Med. Set up, had coffee and went for a walk along the beach towards the town. The weather forecast had been cloudy with some rain, but the clouds cleared and the sun came out, warm enough for SATS (Shorts And T Shirts) and paddling, waves rolling in and miles of lovely sandy beach, fantastic. Spent the afternoon walking along the beach to the town marina and back, then sat in the sun with a beer or two (wine for the girls) drinking to your health, especially to you Sally just about 4.15pm here, 3.15pm your time. A lot of German vans here, some big ones and a couple towing “Focus” size cars on trailers, one has a car and a moped on the trailer!

Thursday 7th October 2010

Decided to stay an extra night and spend the day cycling along the “Canal De Robine” which was only a couple of minutes away. Had a great day cycled over 20k from Narbonne out to the large bay on the coast. Lovely views and very quiet, only saw a few other cyclists and four or five boats on the canal. Stopped by a lock on the way out to watch boats going through and spotted a bar/restaurant on the other side. Stopped off there on the way back for wine and a chocolate desert with ice cream and raspberry coulis, it was delicious! Great spot by the lock, slightly bohemian crowd wearing very brightly coloured trousers! Lynn has started to use her gears and is now turning into a speed freak! Went to a Decathlon store on our return to the van (walking distance) and bought cycling helmets and a saddle cushion for Sarah, if it works Lynn wants one!

Whilst typing this a guy from another van has come out and started walking around having a nose and leg stretch. Nick he is the spitting image of your dad, even the way he walks and stands! We’ve nicknamed him “Nicks dad” and as Sarah and Lynn have the best view out the window (go figure!) they’re giving me updates on what his up to. Moving on to Narbonne-plage tomorrow to see what the coast is like.

Wednesday 6th October 2010

Tuesday 5^th October

Walked into the town (5mins) and bought fresh bread and Pain au chocolat for breakfast. Left nice and early and made our way towards Narbonne. The Aire was situated on the east side of town and wasn’t easy to get to. We had a cunning plan! Came through Narbonne from the north and headed east only to find the road we wanted was blocked “Diversion”, and the others Sally Sat Nav suggested were like farm tracks! Continued away from Narbonne for a while before turning round and heading back into Narbonne. This time we found the signs for the area we wanted and the Sat Nav kept it’s signal, driving through the city was interesting! Found the aire by a sports stadium, with a cycle track/footpath into the centre along the canal which only took ten minutes.

Spent the afternoon in lovely sunshine (high 70’s) walking around Narbonne, great walk in and very historic centre. Found a hairdressers in a small square and booked Lynn in for tomorrow! Returned to the van to watch the locals run round the sports field, some of them were very serious runners. Also rugby training taking place, Lynn enjoyed watching them!

Walked into the centre and left Lynn at the hairdressers whilst Sarah and I had explored the back streets, where we found the street with the expensive boutiques . Sarah enjoyed looking in them and found a lovely dress, asked how much, 275 euros! OK, moving swiftly on! Returned to collect Lynn who had managed to avoid getting her hair dyed orange! She had been out for a few minutes and had been asked by a group of students to assist with their task of seeing how many people they could get in a plastic hoop! You just can’t leave her on her own for a second! Took Lynn back to the boutiques and had a coffee before walking back to the van for lunch. Afternoon spent looking round some shops, food shopping and sitting in the sun with a glass of wine.

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!

Saturday 2nd October 2010

Saturday 2nd september 2010

Spoke too soon, cloudy/windy today and it doesn't look like changing for a couple of days! Went for a walk into the nearby village through the vines. Bought our bread etc and had a look round, small hilltop village, fantastic views. Came back for lunch and scrabble, Lynn now winning by two games! Em where are you! Sarah winning at cards! Chris get your horse moving, this is like "Custers Last Stand" and the indians are getting over confident!! Great to see some more "followers" Lynn says a big "Hi".

Friday 1st September 2010

Arrived at the campsite in lovely sunshine, only four other vans here all in a group, we chose a pitch overlooking the lake on our own! Sitting in the sun drinking wine within 15 mins of pulling onto the pitch! Much warmer than the last campsite, door still open at 8pm, much more like it.

Thursday 30^th September

Arrived at the campsite in Le Bastide De Serou on Tuesday and booked three nights. Campsite very quiet, found a large pitch (well using two normal ones!) lovely views, very sunny and near the loos!

Wednesday, we went for a bike ride along a disused railway line, told it had a couple of inclines but was basically flat. It began to go uphill albeit fairly gently from the point we joined it and continued uphill for two to three miles! Fantastic views and a lovely sunny day made up for it. Once we had reached the top we didn’t go far  down the other side as we realised we would have to come back up! Had a picnic lunch near the top and enjoyed the freewheel downhill.

Thursday, cloudy over the hills. Gave “Bella” a clean before going for a walk around the town, following a small map from the reception. Took us past old mills and along the stream that runs through the town and our campsite, about 9k.

Rainy afternoon, so relaxing in the van. Sarah on “SIMS”, Lynn reading and I’m doing the blog and sorting out the photos I’ve taken over the past couple of days. Planned our route to Carcassonne for tomorrow, only one suitable campsite close to it so we’re keeping our fingers crossed it’s OK!

27th September 2010

Hi guys, making the most of the free wifi and updating with todays visit to Lourdes! Thanks for all the comments it's great to read them. Mac if you're reading this thanks for putting the bins out!

Arrived at the campsite just on the outskirts of Lourdes yesterday, uneventful trip and the camp is grassy and level, bloody marvellous!

Walked into Lourdes today (yes in sunshine again) Lynn says I have to say sorry for that! So "sorry". The church and cave are great, very peaceful and in a fabulous location with the river running by it and the mountains as a back drop. However the town you walk through to get to it is like Southend seafront on steriods! Had a great time walking round the chapels and you can actually walk into the cave where Bernadette is supposed to have had her visions and collected the water with healing powers, this has been kept very simple. You can sense the reverence the people coming here hold it in.

Had a lovely lunch just outside the religious area, overlooking the mountains etc. Hoping to add some photos below! Will update again as soon as we can.