Not a lot to report on today. Quiet night at the aire. We showered and set off for Honfleur. Did part National Route (toll free) and part motorway. We set off in blue sky and sunshine but halfway to Honfleur we hit grey skies and rain. 😕. We sauntered along and got to Honfleur about 2pm. After lunch we walked into Honfleur and wandered around the town, visiting streets we had not seen the first time we were here. There was an Artisan market in a large hall which was very interesting, lots of local produce / wine. Paul bought some cognac from a producer who was very happy to talk about his cognac. I went into some very interesting shops selling weird and wonderful things.

We dodged the showers and eventually made our way back to the van. Although it was very windy Paul managed to get his satellite dish up for long enough for me to watch the Strictly result show. 😋

Last night in the van. I’m looking forward to seeing family and friends again but not looking forward to the cold wet weather and the back ache again.

It’s been a great trip. We’ve been to some lovely places. Here’s to the next one!

Good nights sleep, very quiet. Paul took Lottie for a walk to the Boulangerie to buy 2 croissants and a baguette for lunch.

We set off for the Super U in Poitiers but the car park was too small so we headed for the Auchan which had an enormous car park. I should have realised that having a car park that size meant that it was an enormous shopping centre. It was a bit overwhelming when I got inside, it was also very busy as it was Saturday. I emerged nearly 2 hours later, I didn’t even get round to some of the aisles, I’d given up.

After lunch in the car park we headed off and stopped at a Gifi shop, it’s a bit like a Tiger shop, full of lovely things at reasonable prices. That was a nice shop. Lots of space to browse.

We then decided to find an aire nearby. I found one at Le Grand-Pressigny, a free one with electric (important for my hairdryer!). The journey there was very pretty with hardly any traffic.

The aire is great, right next to a Municipal campsite (closed).

We parked up and then walked into the village which is very pretty. There is a very impressive Chateau which we wandered around (the outside) and it also has a Museum if Pre History which probably accounts for these life size models

(Lottie didn’t quite work out that they weren’t real, so barked away at them)

We found the boulangerie for our bread tomorrow, and ordered a pizza for later at the local bar/pizzeria.

Views of the village and chateau :

The pizza was delicious

Not an enjoyable day today really. We got in the van at 8.30am and got out at 4pm (we did have one quick wee stop and lunch at a services) took us 3 hrs to cover the first 70 miles up to the Somport Tunnel, through the tunnel and down the other side of the Pyrenees, before reaching a straight bit of road. Then it was all motorway. Paul did the first 80 miles and I did the rest, including the Bordeaux ring road which goes on forever. Despite concentrating really hard on my driving and keeping within the white lines (Paul’s pet hate when I wander), when we were going around the Bordeaux ring road, which was chockered, and he asked me to help him with google maps, my concentration did lapse and – horror of horrors – I veered onto the white lines. He pointed out that the lorry next to us had far wider wheels than us but he managed to keep away from the white lines….. bit like a red rag to a bull that is, the rest of the journey I drove with one set of wheels in the gutter 🤣

We managed to get lost in the final 20 miles but Paul got us back on track.

Finally we arrived at our overnight stop, an aire at Lignieres-Sonneville. And what an amazing place this is. A small but perfectly formed French village, very old, with a chateaux which seems to be used by the village : Town hall for the mayor, it has squash courts, an art space, and tennis courts. The village has an old church, a hairdressers, a charcuterie, a boulangerie and a bar/restaurant/ shop. All you would need.

The aire is in the tree lined gravel car park next to the outbuildings of the chateaux which house the squash courts etc. We have a (clean) toilet, water and electric and it’s FREE. Amazing. I felt I ought to contribute so I’ve been to the boulangerie and bought a couple of things and also bought some bananas in the shop.

It’s a great place for Lottie, as long as I keep her away from the ducks and swan, she can wander around.

Only 159 miles tomorrow (Saturday), hopefully a better day.

Photos of our overnight stop / village :

We were up early, sorted the van out and then both walked Lottie over to the supermarket to get some bread. On the way back we saw 3 squirrels chasing along the tall pine trees. Yesterday we saw a red one but these today were nearly black. Outside of the campsite there are square road signs with squirrels on.

Just before we left the site we said goodbye to the English couple that we had a meal with last night, and the Germans next to us. It’s very strange that some places you go in and out without connecting with anyone, but others – such as this site – you go in for 2 nights and end up hugging your neighbour when you leave, and waving to other neighbours you’ve chatted with.

On the way to the vet Tom Tom tried to take us under a 1.9m railway bridge so we decided to park up and walk. Lottie trotted along quite happily, even trotted into the vets but after 5 mins of looking around decided she didn’t want to be there and tried to get out the door as fast as she could. The vet spoke very good English, was lovely and it was all very relaxed, apart from Lottie trying to climb up my arm. She wouldn’t take the worm tablet with a treat so the vet opened a tin of dog food and let her lick it off her fingers before burying the tablet in a chunk of food on her fingers. Down it went. And a reasonable price. The vet was a good find for future trips.

Our last view of the Mediterranean

We had 190 miles to do, up into the Pyrenees, for our next campsite. The first 120 miles were motorway, then we stopped and I drove. It was easy going until the last 30 miles which were up around the mountains, hairpin bends, a few places where there was only room for one vehicle. Paul hates me driving and is a nervous wreck at the best of times when I’m in the driving seat but after a few miles of mountain roads he was clutching his seat, wiping his sweaty palms, giving sharp intakes of breath every now and then, watching the mirrors constantly to check I was in the correct road position and going whiter and whiter (which was quite a feat as he is so sun tanned).

But we made it to the campsite in one piece without hitting anyone/anything or having anyone hit us.

And what a campsite, it’s beautiful. It was recommended on Facebook and I’m not surprised, it’s in a fantastic setting of the mountains. The older gentleman on reception was friendly enough but when I asked him in Spanish if he spoke English the answer was a loud ‘no’. A bit later into the conversation, if you can call it that, I asked, in French, if he could speak French, but again – no. However I’m sure that I heard him say ‘nous partir’ (when you leave) when I took out my card to pay. 🤔

The bathrooms are amazing, all dark wood and big tiles, very Spanish, none of your Formica here.

Paul said he had a blinding headache and felt sick (from my driving no doubt 🤣) so I took Lottie for a walk along the river/stream below the campsite. I’d bought her some new balls at the vets (Kong balls, not cheap) so I took one with me. The path was wide and about 8 feet above the water with a very steep drop so I figured Lottie wouldn’t be going down that. Wrong. At the first gap in the vegetation she was off down the side of the river like a mountain goat, with the new ball in her mouth. The trouble is that as soon as she gets in the water she lets go of the ball. I’m at the top of the bank shouting ‘pick up the ball Lottie’, Lottie’s desperately trying to pick up the ball which is bobbing up and down in the water and going downstream. She’s following it downstream, I’m at the top of the bank shouting by now ‘leave the ball Lottie, just come back’. The water’s getting deeper and faster, Lottie’s got herself into the middle of the stream onto a rock and is looking at me helplessly with her big black eyes, I’m nearly crying, imagining her getting swept away. I decided to try calling her once more and if that didn’t work I would have to climb down the bank and get in myself.

Luckily she found a way across the stones and water and clambered up the bank. I immediately put her on the lead and felt very relieved.

No satellite up here so we watched past episodes of Fleabag. Paul loves it but I can’t get into it.

Early start tomorrow, many miles to do.

Views of the campsite:

How’s that for a campsite shop?!

to get to the campsite I had to drive down a very steep narrow road and over this bridge :

View from the site

Didn’t sleep well last night. Just before I got into bed I saw a big ant on the bed, I quickly got rid of it. As I was reading my kindle another ant walked across the page 😳 I was out of bed in a flash, pulling the bedclothes back, putting the lights on and searching in case there were anymore. I couldn’t find any but several times throughout the night I woke, imagining ants crawling over me.

On the internet I had discovered that there is a coastal path running all the way down through Catalunya. We decided to go for a walk and try and find it. We didn’t have to walk far to pick it up, just out of the site, turn left and a short walk to the Tamarit Castle, then up through some vegetation, following a well worn path. Along the way we found a quiet beach, which we returned to later. The views were beautiful, we walked until we came to a wide flat path, followed it for a short while before turning around. There were a few others walking as well but other than that it was extremely quiet.

View of the castle from the campsite :

View from the other side at the start of the walk:

Views of the walk:

After lunch we walked back to the beach we had found and I went for a swim. The sea was lively and I was OK whilst I was the other side of the breaking waves but suddenly I found myself in front of the breaking waves. A series of 3 waves caught me unawares, the first 2 made me wobble but the third knocked me flat, I was very grateful when I came up for air. One of my boobs escaped from my swimming costume so I had to rectify that quickly, although there was hardly anyone around. But apart from that, it was very enjoyable and Lottie was very good, waiting on the beach, not like the last time I went swimming.

We had decided to have takeaway as we’re moving tomorrow but reception told us that the takeaway only opened at weekends, so we went to the bar/restaurant for something to eat. As we walked up to the restaurant we bumped into one of our neighbours, a lovely couple from the other side of London. We sat together for our meal and had a very enjoyable evening. We were sat out on the terrace looking out into the beach, virtually on the beach. When we started our meal there were still some people swimming in the sea. The castle was lit up and was a dramatic backdrop.

Paul’s octopus:

Our next door neighbours dog – a gentle giant

Random picture of Lottie asleep:

Although I got up early, it took quite a while to actually leave the campsite as we had to say goodbye to various people we’d become friendly with. We both agreed we had really enjoyed our stay and would return. (Then passed a dead cat on the road outside which was very upsetting ☹️)

Only 75 miles to travel which went very well, we chose not to use the autoroute as the ‘ordinary’ road was very good. We had a call en route from Mike, who is staying in our house. He told us we had a small leak in one of the bedroom ceilings, but he’d checked the loft and there were no tiles missing. It seems there had been a lot of strong wind and torrential rain which must have got up under the tiles. Just as well they were there with a bucket to hand.

We stopped at a Mercadona to replenish a few things, and stock up on chorizo to take home.

We arrived at Tamarit Beach Resort and were a bit taken aback as it’s the opposite of the small family run campsite that we have just left. This is a large – huge – campsite, 425 touring pitches plus a couple of hundred chalets/fixed tents. Big reception, with staff in uniforms, very friendly though. We were given a map with various empty/available pitches and set off, walking. Took us about half an hour to check out and choose a pitch, by the time we’d done that I was very hot and bothered, it was brilliant sunshine and about 28 degrees. Fortunately we got onto the pitch easily and Paul got his satellite signal. We picked this site because it’s only a couple of miles from a vet that we’re booked into on Thursday morning.

After lunch we cycled to Altafulla, to have a look at access to the vets, where we are going to park the van, could we get close. The route on the bikes was interesting, all off road but we lost the signs very quickly so had to find our way through gaps in hedges, through fields and avoiding muddy puddles. Eventually we came to Altafulla, found the vets and worked out where we would park the van. It’s quite an ordinary Spanish town, which we like, with a lovely frontage all along the beach (not dog friendly unfortunately).

Back at the site we sat in the sun and I read my book for a while. The neighbours are friendly (Belgium and German) and Lottie visited them to say hello 🙄.

One good thing about an all singing/dancing campsite is you know the toilets/showers are going to be good and very clean (we’d seen the cleaners in their white uniforms). They even have a road sweeper, apparently the chap spends all day cleaning the roads ……

After tea I took Lottie out and thought I’d look for the on site supermarket, ready for the morning when I collect my bread. But I couldn’t find it! I walked for about 25 mins and gave up in the end. I’ll have to ask in Reception tomorrow.

Our local village had a market this morning so we cycled over but couldn’t find it. In the Spar we bumped into the English chap who had arrived on site yesterday with a Hobby van (the one here for 7 weeks) and he told us where it was. Turned out to be quite small so didn’t spend any money. 😊

We had quite a chat with this chap and he was telling us about 2017 when a terrorist bomb exploded in one of the houses in the village. They were setting up the bomb to take to Barcelona but it detonated whilst they were preparing it, killing 2 terrorists and injuring about a dozen firefighters as there was a secondary explosion. This was at the same time as the bomb in Cambrils, further north, and the terrorist attack in Barcelona. Seems incredible that it happened in this sleepy village. 😯

He also told us how he goes swimming in the sea here. I said that I was worried as it seemed quite dangerous and he agreed that a lot of the beach was dangerous but there was a spot where there was sand underfoot and no big rocks. He usually goes swimming with his springer spaniel.

So earlier today we went off down to the beach with Hobby man, his wife and dog. (Out through a gate at the bottom of the site which we didn’t know opened 🙄) The water was quite rough and I had a few second thoughts but followed him into the sea, wading through seaweed and pebbles being swept along the sea floor. Lottie was barking furiously on the shore, it was much too rough for her to be in the sea. There was a deep step on the sea floor and suddenly I was out of my depth, swimming to stay afloat. Unfortunately it was also too rough for his springer to swim in, so it was just the two of us. Despite the stormy conditions it was good to be in the sea and it wasn’t cold at all.

After a while we got out, which was no easy task, the shore shelves quite steeply and the water wanted to take you out again. Once I was out I realised Lottie was very wet, apparently at one point she had tried to get out to me and been swept out to sea – by the time Paul got to her, the next wave was bringing her back in. He said she was braver than the springer. That’s my girl!

On the way back into the site we passed a Belgium couple, with a very fat cat under their outside table. Lottie detoured to wander over to the cat when the cat suddenly went berserk and tried to attack Lottie – claws out, teeth bared, hissing like crazy – I lifted Lottie out of the cats way, literally yanked her up by her harness. She was petrified. The Belgium lady explained that it wasn’t her cat, it was a wild cat that she had been feeding. And it wasn’t fat, it was very pregnant. Which might explain the unprovoked attack. Phew. We were told later that she had previously taken a wild cat home to Belgium.

After a quiet afternoon in the sun we showered Lottie in the dog shower, the best one we’ve seen so far. Not that she thought so.

The site has become very busy, many more English arriving. Paul has pointed out that there’s quite a diverse crowd here, Swiss, Finnish, Dutch, French, Hungarian, 2 chaps in a van at one end of the site and 2 women in a van at the other end of the site. I feel quite sad to be leaving, we’d just got into a very relaxed routine.

Tomorrow we move 75 miles up the coast.

Didn’t take any photos during the day so here are a couple of the campsite

Lottie woke me up about 5am as she had jumped off the bed for a drink and now required picking up and putting back on the bed (she can jump down but the bed is too high to jump up to). My head was banging, I haven’t had a hangover for quite a while so wasn’t enjoying this one. Dozed on and off until getting up about 8am to get some paracetamol.😩

Laundry day today, managed to get mine in before anyone else. We spent the rest of the day surrounded by sheets / towels / knickers hung around the pitch.

As we were both feeling slightly delicate we spent the day around the van doing odd cleaning jobs, and sitting in the sun. About 4pm we walked down to the beach with Lottie and the ball thrower, to give her some exercise (and us). We were on our way back when Paul threw the ball underhand from the thrower and I heard a whack and a yelp, yes he’d managed to hit Lottie with the ball, a really hard ball. Lottie immediately came over to me to be picked up and tried to crawl into my shoulders, which she does when she’s very frightened. After a cuddle we had to carry her back to the site as she didn’t want to walk. I had checked her over to make sure she didn’t have any broken ribs. Fortunately after a while she seemed OK.

We’ve had several new arrivals, the site is quite busy. An English couple arrived, they are back for the 8th year, they stay here until the site closes mid November. It’s interesting, hearing others stories. The French couple opposite are leaving tomorrow, we have said goodbye to them, lovely people. The German couple who were next to us yesterday with a 2 year old and a 13 week old baby, they left about 5pm so we said goodbye to them.

We can see why this site is popular, it has a lovely feel to it. It’s very quiet around here and it’s lovely just to be able to walk down to the (deserted) beach.

We were woken about 3am by torrential rain, thunder and continuous lightning. I knew that I had to get up and close the roof lights, but you just dread that moment when you pull back the blind and the water that’s collected then drops on you. Yuk . Lottie was petrified so had to have lots of cuddles and reassurance. It seemed to go on forever but eventually we got back to sleep, and when we woke about 8am it was all calm.

I cycled to a local supermarket to stock up on a few necessities. By the time I got back, the sun was out. We spent a while doing odd jobs that needed doing. Then lunch before a doze to catch up on sleep missed last night. We then took Lottie down to the beach for a walk / chase after the ball, to try and wear her out a bit as we were due to eat at the restaurant. This was our first meal out, which was actually my birthday present, as I’d said I would have a meal out rather than a present.

We went up for a meal in the restaurant about 7.30 and were served by what we think is the father/grandfather of the young chap who can speak several languages (the father/grandfather is very limited in his languages) Also in the restaurant were the young German couple from next to us. They have 2 children, 13 weeks old and 2 1/2. They arrived about 3am this morning and fortunately someone was awake and opened the campsite electric gate for them. They were very grateful, as you can imagine. This was at the middle of the ⛈

We had a lovely meal, fish for Paul and steak for me. We asked for a rose that was dry and we got one. It was so nice we had 2 bottles of it ☺️

We tottered back to the van to watch the last part of Strictly.🙂

We woke up to rain so took our time before making a decision as to what we were going to do with the day. After a while it seemed to stop so we decided to cycle to a nearby town, Ulldecona. I put the cycling route into Google maps and off we went, about 8 miles each way. The first few miles were great, it remained dry and the road was extremely quiet which meant that Lottie could run alongside us. But we were aware that we were heading inland, uphill, towards the mountain with a big black cloud around it. As we cycled around the mountain the rain started, I had a light showerproof coat but Paul had nothing so was soon very wet. We won’t even mention Lottie who had had a shower last night and had started out very white and smelling lovely 🙁

We soon got around the mountain, the rain steadied to a constant drip, and we headed towards Ulldecona. At this point I still thought we would make it. We could see a HUGE fast road ahead of us. Paul commented that he hoped we weren’t going on that road. No, I said, confidently, we’re going underneath it. So, we got to the part of the path that went underneath the road and we were faced with a massive puddle/lake across the whole width of the path. We were about a mile and a half from the town, very wet and I told Paul that I was happy to turn around and cycle back. No, he said, I’ll try it first. So off he went and cycled through the centre of the puddle/lake. He reached the other end and said ‘you’ll be fine, it’s about a foot deep so you will get your feet wet’ 😯 After taking a deep breath I set off, with Lottie in her box, and Paul shouting instructions such as : peddle! / make sure you’re in turbo / put your brakes on – what???

Anyway, Lottie and I made it across, just, with only 1 slight wobble, and very wet feet.

We turned a corner and were faced with more water 😳 but I couldn’t go back through the puddle/lake we’d just come through, so with Paul going first to test how deep the puddles were, I followed. One after the other, they seemed to go on and on, water everywhere. Eventually we came to a road and I told Paul that even though we were only about half a mile from the town the last thing I felt like doing was going into any shops or sitting at a cafe – I was soaked to the skin (as was Paul) and filthy. So I found a road back to our original road and we set off in the pouring rain. By the time we got back around to the coast side of the mountain the rain had stopped and the sun came out. At the first supermarket we saw I went in and bought some doughnuts and ate a whole one in about 2 seconds. I was very pleased to get back to the campsite. I don’t think they had had any rain at all.🙁 17 miles and not many that were pleasurable really. Paul said to think of it as an adventure.

We had some late lunch and collapsed in a heap.

At some point the English chap who

knows it all popped by and we ended up arranging for he and his wife to come by for a drink later as he wanted Paul to explain something about tv satellites to him. They duly came round, and whilst Paul and Alistair talked tv satellites, I had to sit and smile at his wife whilst she talked non-stop about her and her husband, all the places they’ve been, the big house they had, etc etc etc

I shall be glad to get into bed tonight. More rain forecast for tomorrow. I might have to do some cleaning.

I took a picture of the entrance to the campsite, you can see how far away the beach is (in the middle of the photo )