Carcasonne to Barcelona

We started the next day with Carcasonne which has a medieval walled city before heading south to see the Cathar castles, however we only just made it in time to see one from a distance and will be going into another tomorrow. This part of France is sparsely populated, the driving times are long due to road conditions and the shorter daylight hours are all making it much harder to get things done at the moment but we're making the best of it.

Unfortunately the wind blow up really bad overnight and in the morning we were really unsure what to do. I wasn't sure it was safe to drive and didn't feel confident to drive or walk up to the castle.  So we tried to wait and see if things would improve, they didn't. We decided to just get out of there and drive down to the coast in the hope things might be a little better.  The wind was still just as severe but at least on the coast it didn't bring rain and the temperature was nicer.  We went to Collioure which is popular with tourists and there was definitely much more buzz about the place.  We happened across some sort of paddle boarding race in the harbour which was cool.  The continued to be fierce through the night but we had parked up in such a way to let another squeeze in next to us and when we got back we found someone had done exactly that.  This would usually be a bit close for comfort but they were a very effective windbreak, so they got to rock and roll all night.  When they left in the morning we realised what a blessing it had been.

The third continuous day of unabated gales was at least sunny, we drove around the peninsula which was slow going but took by some nice scenery.  We visited Cadaques which is like a traditional fishing village.  It was very attractive and although very difficult due to narrow and steep roads we ended up driving around.  Later in the afternoon we checked out Empuriabrava which was a recently built resort with canals constructed in a wetland (which being wetland destruction i'd usually dislike) which was very funky to see.
Mercifully in the morning the wind had eased to just strong.  Our plan on this day was to get to Scotts place (Scott is a Kiwi that we met in the street in Billund, Denmark) which is in the countryside outside Girona.  We visited a lake on the way and we saw some seaplanes which was interesting. Scott has just moved into a mobile home that he has put on a 5 acre section he bought.  The section has two ruined stone buildings on it, quite a few trees and has a slope to it. We spent a fun couple of days at Scotts, he generously helped us with a few things: borrowed a battery charger, took us round places to find a tyre and car alarm places, and lent me a ladder which allowed me to scrub the roof of the van which was in a sorry state.  We also managed a walk around the old town of Girona with Scott as our tour guide.  We walked up to the town walls and got great views of the attractive city.  We also learnt a lot more about Scott's job as a pilot.

Cadaques

Girona

We drove back to the coast and we visited a resort town called Tossa de Mar which we both thought was pretty nice.  It had a walled old town, the remains of a Roman Villa complex and an excellent beach (the sort of place that must teem with people in season but currently feels very sleepy). Then we ran down the coast to El Masnou to the (extortionately priced 37.50/night) 2 star campsite that would be our base for visiting Barcelona. Unfortunately our first choice Camping Barcelona which is actually further away along the coast closed for the season at the end of October so we were 2 weeks too late.  Unfortunately because our WIFI booster was stolen in our latest break in we had to use the campsite Wifi outside the office rather then from the comfort of our van (as the signal did not reach as far as our pitch) so we spent a very cold couple of hours enjoying decent download speeds.

Tossa de Mar

Motorway Madness in Marseille

Our next destination was/is Arles (to see the Roman Arena) so we plugged it in the Sat Nav but I forced it to take the scenic road around the coast where we stopped at a beach and had another swim and lunch.  Unfortunately mid afternoon in the middle of a motorway (3rd lane from the verge) in Marseille our rear passenger side tyre blew out.  So all our brand spanking new breakdown gear got some use and long story short we got the spare on. By this time it is late on a Saturday on a bank holiday weekend so it looks like we will have to wait till Monday for a new tyre.  We made our way very gingerly to a stopping place for the night where we were joined by 3 other motorhomes.  For all our touring troubles, on arrival at the aire, we were confronted by a sight that put things in perspective.  As we were pulling in we saw an ambulance head the other way and when pulling into our space we noticed why, a motorcycle appeared to have left the road into the ditch and fence.  We both hope the two people will be okay and it reminded us why we have never been on motorcycles.

We pretty much had to wait out Sunday (through a combined fear of breakins and having no spare tyre), which was unfortunate as it was a nice day.  We did however make a walk down to the town (Sausset Les Pins).  There was the Sunday market on which was interesting, unfortunately strong currents make swimming here inadvisable. Since we had down time we decided to sand and paint the wing mirrors.  They came up alright since I'm very inexperienced with a spray can.

So on Monday morning we went looking for fuel (we were due to get fuel when the tyre blew out) and somewhere to change the tyre.  The first petrol station on route was very expensive but we had no choice and they had a service centre, so we put a little petrol in and tried to ask the service guys about the tyre.  Unfortunately noone had a word of English and we have no French so understanding was limited on both sides.  I was however able to interpret their gasps when I lifted the bonnet and showed them the blown tyre.  Anyway someone made a phonecall but they couldn't help us, however one of the guys very generously and patiently drew us a map to what turned out to be a major service centre and store (bit like Halfords in UK, or combining a tyre service with a repco store in NZ).  We bought a 2nd bigger jack so should something happen again it will be easier and about an hour and a half later and 85 euro lighter the tyre was replaced, however as like so many service centres they can't/won't hoist vans due to low clearance we will have to put it on the van ourselves.  Oh and today the weather is bad, we got to Arles (saw Pink Flamingos on the way) where we wanted to see a couple of Roman sites but it was teeming with rain, so we just had lunch in the van and drove past the amphitheater (we went into the one in Verona so we are old hats anyway).  We are spending the night at an aire (official stopping place for motorhomes) about halfway between Arles and Nimes in Bellegarde and will bus to Nimes tomorrow before driving up to Pont du Gard (a massive Roman Aqueduct).

The morning tricked us the sun was out early and we thought we were in for a good day, unfortunately when we went out it turned very overcast, a little drizzly and cold.  So we got caught out without enough clothes or our umbrellas.  However we tried to make the best of it busing into Nimes and seeing the Arena, Temple, Covered market and Archaeology Museum.  We also bought a few books in preparation for our trip to Morocco.

From Bellegrade we headed to Pont du Grad which is a massive Roman bridge, part of an Aqueduct system something like 50Km long that went to Nimes.  We spent the whole day there, walking trails and visiting the museum.  The brochure shows it illumination at night and we hoped that we could see that but for whatever reason when we went back after dark it wasn't lit up.

In the morning we changed our tyres around as the replacement had been in the spare well since the shop couldn't hoist the van.  Then we drove for a couple of hours inland to the Cirque de Navacelles.  We found out about it at Pont du Gard.  It turns out France has a Grand Sites scheme and this was one as was Pont du Gard.  It is apparently the largest canyon in Europe.  We stumbled on an information centre nearby and got all stocked up on brochures then went for a look. Unfortunately the sun angle made photos difficult but it was pretty impressive just like the pictures we had seen.  We then tossed a coin to decide if we drive down and up through the canyon or take the long way round as I couldn't decide.  The canyon won which was good because it turned out to be fine and the van did very well.  So we got to see the little village in the bottom and get views from the bottom.  There was a very nice sunset this evening and we saw a family of wild pigs run across the road.  The last part of our route saw us driving through an area that looks out over the flatland towards the Mediterranean and this provided nice views of the lights.

In the morning we saw an 11th Century Romanesque style bridge called Pont du Diable before heading to Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert which has a world heritage list Abbey.

Pont du Diable

Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert Abbey

From there we drove round to Lac du Salagou which is a man made reserviour and the area is on the Grand Sites of France list.  We had lunch there and chilled out for a bit, it is the most amazing maroon red soil and rocks.

Mid afternoon we went looking for Pont Vieux around Beziers (the icon on our map looked interesting) but we didn't really know where it was.  Once in Beziers we still hadn't seen any signs so I checked the Sat Nav and plugged in one of the bridges in town and fortunately that took us to the right area.  We didn't really manage to get the view we had wanted but got a couple of okay photos. Still don't really know what we saw so will have to look that up.

So obviously due to our recent lack of internet we are a long way behind, since we are posting this from the south of Spain but hope to catch up soon.

French Riviera

(Nicky) Following on from the theft in our last blog we also had a disappointing  40 minute call to the insurers but will fill in the claim and have to wait and see.  It is bad enough getting your belongings taken, but to know the insurers aren't even on your side sucks as well.  I also go over and over again why we didn't return for Dale's camera.  We thought we would just be an hour and that we could use mine instead, but we really should have had safety in mind.  If we returned maybe we could have stopped the robbery, who knows?  The sun has also come out and it has been a warm 20 something degrees every day since the break in, whilst we stay in the van and wait for news.  I have two thoughts, one that I want to go home, and two that I want to keep going.  We had been on a good run lately and were looking forward to going to Morocco in December.  The prospect of returning to the UK in winter isn't appealing, and the van really needs some work done (hopefully in Morocco) before we sell next year.  We are thinking that we will have to get some sort of car alarm fitted so will be looking into this soon.

So next we went to a campsite which turned out to be near a major horse racing track at Villeneue Loubet.  Here we stayed for 3 nights arriving just 20 mins before reception closed PHEW. We used it as a base for visiting Monaco, Nice and Cannes.  This was good as it meant we didn't need to carry around our valuable items but it did cost a bit.  Day 1 we walked 15 minutes to the train station and took a 45 minute train ride to Monaco.  Monaco was an amazing place, clean, tidy, relaxed atmosphere, it just had a feel of wealth and for that matter safety.  I can imagine where people might want to live there even if they had to pay taxes.  However we happened across some real estate windows and it pretty much cost 1 million Euros for a studio so there are some barriers.  We arrived near the main marina so were almost immediately confronted by the super yachts, they weren't the first we had seen but they certainly were impressive and there were a lot.  One observation I made was that in these marina/ports in the Riviera almost nothing seems to happen, what I mean is that you never see boats leaving or coming in and most boats have noone on them.  Just beyond the marina we reached the tunnel famous from the F1 racing.  We continued on to the Japanese Garden and had lunch at the beach before heading up the hill to a main street that took us to tourist info and the Casino Square.  We also checked out the nearby area where in the F1 there is a hairpin turn coming down a hill.  We spent some time watching the goings on outside the Casino, unfortunately unlike our friends Matt and Sarah we didnt see Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond in supercars.  We did however see some Rolls Royces and a purple Lamborghini.  The purple Lamborghini parked up in front of the Casino so que lots of photos and people touching it (very rude I thought, I hate to think of people touching our van let alone if I had a Lambo).  One Russian guy had a kid and the kid was waving some toy car around right next to the car and naturally it came out of his grasp, luckily in the opposite direction, it could certainly have done some damage had it struck the Lambo.  The father remained pretty much oblivious.  I would note it would seem that this was the safest car in Monaco as someone was always looking at it!  After Casino Square we headed around the front/back (not sure, otherside) of the Casino, which has a very nice terrace where you get great views. Then we checked out some more of the F1 track on our way to visit the Prince's automobile collection.  The collection includes several F1 cars, Monacos Royal Carriages and a variety of other vehicles, over 100 in total.  We finished up by visiting the Old town area which includes the palace and we took a few photos of the city as it got dark.  We have just loaded the photos onto the computer and it turns out we took 170 in Monaco!

 Japanese Garden

 Monte Carlo Casino

 The Purple Lambo Owner

 After owner goes lots oh looking and touching (rude much)

The next day we took the bus to Nice, this took about 50 minutes even though Nice is really not far away (getting around on the roads is slow going on the Riveira).  In Nice we walked the waterfront, climbed the hill next to the old town getting views to both sides. At the top we spoke to a family from Yorkshire while watching a Sardinian Ferry dock.  Then it was back down and into the old town, we caught a look at a few of the flower market stalls before heading over to the train station to get a train to Cannes.  Turned out the next train was nearly 1 hour away so we walked over to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral and sat there for a few minutes. Nice was not bad, the water looked good but the beach is large rounded stones and the whole area is developed and as it is notorious for crime against tourists so I'd recommend somewhere else for a long stay.

We arrived in Cannes at 4.25pm and went straight down to the Congress Hall where they have the film festival, then grabbed a walking route map from the info centre. We hit the marina, the old town and the main shopping and eating streets before catching a bus back to the campsite 2 hours later.

In the morning we went down for a swim at the local beach.  The water is unfortunately not the lovely warm Mediterranean you hear about anymore but you would be very happy with it in NZ and the air temperatures are good at the moment 20-24 degrees.  After leaving the campsite we stocked up on groceries and fuel before parking up along the beach where we sat out and had lunch.  In the afternoon we drove through St Maxime, St Raphael and Frejus before stopping briefly in St Tropez.  Our stop in St Tropez was brief as the parking rate was high and we are currently operating with a high degree of fear about the van.  In regards St Tropez for somewhere that apparently totally grounds to a standstill in high season due to being rammed with tourists and was busy the evening we were there I just wasn't digging it, I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

Our next tale of woe on it's way soon (unfortunately we struck some more van related trouble).