24/09/08 - Asterix and the Great Carnac Menhir's.

A grey morning greeted us as we set off for a patisserie to get our
bread for breakfast - just like the rest of the French population. A
few croissants, pain au chocolat and baguettes later we were
sufficiently full enough to drive through the rain for a couple of
hours around Nantes, and north towards Brittany.

A symbol of a castle on our map meant we took a stop at the village of
Missillac, where we found the stunning setting of Chateau de la
Bretesche - sitting on the side of a lake with neatly manicured lawns
and trees guarding it. Ignoring the 'guests only' signs, we drove on
in and took a stroll around the area - only getting told off when we
entered to the Chateau's courtyard. Oh well, we to close enough for a
look.

A bit of lunch and onwards into Brittany and The Megaliths of Carnac.
This was an area of several kilometres long where about 4000 menhir's
(meaning long stones in the local Celtic language of Briton) have been
set into the ground in long parallel rows. It is thought these were
placed here during the Neolithic period (5000 - 2000 BC) and are
linked with burial rituals.

Of course, with these impressive stones being here for such a long
time, a number of legends have evolved - including the one about Saint
Cornelius who was pursued by pagan soldiers, which he then turned
around and transformed them all into stone.

But Dave and I worked out the best theory - as we are in the heart of
Asterix and Obelix country, and Obelix always carried round a menhir -
it must have been him who put them all here. Surely he would be the
only one strong enough??

A quick walk around the rows of menhir's, then a visit to the museum -
where we even found Asterix books for sale!! Then we were off down
the very narrow Quiberon Peninsula to our camping spot near the
seaside town of Quiberon. We finished the day with a walk along the
rocky coast followed by a very red sunset from the comfort of the
van!!

23/09/08 - Bridge spotting.

The plan today, was to get some miles behind us, as we head north. In
saying this, we still had to take the scenic coastal road and not the
motorway.

Around Gironde - a big inlet that reaches down to Bordeaux, past a few
of surf beaches and up to Rochefort - luck would have it that we
stumbled across France's last operating transporter bridge!! This
wouldn't normally be much to excite us, but Dave is a bridge engineer
so the question of whether we should stop to check it out was rather
simple.

How to describe ... this is a structure with two towers about 90
metres high on each side of the river, with a joining 'bridge'
crossing the river sitting high up on top of the towers. Then cables
hang down from the 'bridge', supporting a platform, that used to carry
cars, but now only tourists, across the 270 metre wide Charente River.
At first glimpse, this metal structure looks like an object that
wouldn't be out of place in a port, unloading cargo off ships, instead
of spanning a river.
The rest works just like a ferry - you drive/walk onto the 10 square
metre platform, and then the cables guided by rails, carry the
platform across the river. Simple!! In 1900 when the bridge was
built there was still a lot of shipping traffic going up and down the
river, so it was necessary to have enough height clearance.
We paid our €2 each for the privilege of a return trip across the
river, where on the other side we found a pretty cool bridge museum!!
It was rather interesting reading about the different ideas for
crossing rivers and seas over the centuries.

Back on the road we arrived at the very pretty harbour city of La
Rochelle. This very white city (due to its limestone buildings) was a
major port from the 14th to 17th century, and was the setting off
point for many French immigrants to Canada. Its tiny old port is
guarded by two 14th century towers, that at night used to have a chain
stretched between them to stop any ships entering the harbour.

We took a quick walk around the towers, and along the city walls
before finding an outdoor cafe and enjoying a drink in the afternoon
sun, taking in the atmosphere.

22/09/08 - Biking among the vineyards.

A chilly morning was had amongst the grapes, but soon we were on the
move and off to the supermarket, before heading back to St. Emilion to
hire our transport for the day - bikes.

Kerryn was armed with the list of wineries that looked like they may
be accommodating to a bunch of amateurs like us, so we headed into the
countryside. First mission was to make it up a hill to get the view,
then feel the wind as we flew down the otherside with vineyards and
chateau's all around us (just a point - a chateau doesn't mean a grand
castle type house, just the estate that is on the vineyard - although
some were pretty nice, and all were very old!!).

A nice picnic lunch of baguette, cheese, ham and all other things
French, beside a pretty little lake, then it was time to taste some
wine. After being told by the first vineyard that tastings and tours
were by appointment only, the second was kind enough to enough to let
us in. We decided our host was very French, you wouldn't call him the
most welcoming man, but we got to taste a couple of vintages from the
vineyard that has operated through 9 generations in the same family.

A bit more biking, then another tasting by a very welcoming French
lady and a young Québecan translator. It was very interesting to
learn about the different blends of grapes they use - 70% Merlot, 20%
Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. We took a stroll amongst
the vineyards tasting all of the grapes trying to distinguish the
different types, followed by a walk past the big vats which housed the
previous two years harvests. The 2006 brew is due to be bottled this
week - in time to make room for the 2008 harvest.

Of course with all this great service and education, we had to buy a
couple of bottles to add to our collection - the general consensus
from our two visits from Marea, Kerryn and Dave was that the older
(1998, & 99) bottles were alot better than the more recent vintages
for the fact that they have been able to age a little. It was only me
who thought the opposite - I guess that makes me a poor connoisseur of
fine wines?

21/09/08 - Welcoming in the new harvest.

Marea seems to have a thing about sunrises at the moment - she was up,
and heading up the sand-dune at about 7:15 this morning, even though
from our experience in Spain it would still take another half an
hour!! Still, as cold as it was sitting up there - when the brilliant
red sun made its appearance, it was worth it! Though we couldn't
convince Dave to get out of bed!

Today's plan was to head around Bordeaux and into the heart of wine
country. It was quite neat just driving the country roads, surrounded
by rows and rows of vines that had nice big juicy bunches of grapes
currently sitting on them as the picking season is just about to
start. Kerryn and Daniel compared the bunches of grapes to udders on
an aging cow - heathens!

Our destination was the charming medieval village of St. Emilion -
situated on a hill, giving a great view of the vineyards all around.
First stop was a walk through an underground cellar where thousands
upon thousands of bottles of wine lay in the cool atmosphere. The
oldest batch we could find were a few bottles from 1965. It was
definitely very trusting of them to just let us roam about down there.

We were told that at 4pm something was going to happen from the top of
the Castel daou Rey (King's tower). We found the perfect viewpoint -
from an outdoor restaurant with great views looking across to the
tower. Marea and Dave took charge of the drinks menu, and pretty soon
we had a couple of reds and whites ordered. We were feeling very
French with our fine view, setting and lovely afternoon sun. However
upon being served, it became apparent that 'Pineau des Charrentes -
Chateau de Beaulon blanc/rouge 5 ans' does not mean a 5 year old glass
of white/red wine, but instead a highly fortified desert wine!! All
the same - they were some beautifully sweet, strong drinks - and the
waiter did tell us that an afternoon desert wine is perfectly
acceptable to enjoy the sunshine. Then again, he could have told us
anything and we would have believed him!!

By the time we had finished our drinks, nothing yet had happened up on
tower, so we took a free tour into an underground area carved out of
the limestone rock between the 9th & 12th centuries. Down there was a
Monolithic Church, Catacombs, Trinity chapel and Hermits Cave.
Unfortunately the tour was all in French, so halfway through we snuck
ahead to the tour half an hour in front of us, and got outside just in
time to see the celebrations on top of the King's Tower.

Again, all in French - but from what we could gather, the 30 or 40 men
in red robes waving out to the town from the tower were the Master
Sommelliers (wine experts). The ceremony finished with whole town
yelling out 'alleluia' repeatedly, and then 10 bunches of helium
balloons that looked like bunches of grapes were let off into the sky.
I think what we witnessed was the greeting of the new harvest, with
the picking season starting this week.

Our camping spot, courtesy of our book of free spots, was in among the
vines of a local vineyard. Our thank you to our local's hospitality
was the purchase of a couple of their product to enjoy for a very
pleasant evening with bread and cheese in the last of the setting sun
- beautiful!!

20/09/08 - Double the trouble.

Another first today, it was dark enough this morning that we had to
turn the lights on - summer is coming to an end!! Of course the other
reason was that there wasn't any sleep-in today as a quick drive up
the road to Pau airport was required as Kerryn is re-joining us along
with our token Englishman - Dave. That will ensure a cosy van for a
week.

A little investigation of the map, and we decided our plan for the day
would be to head north-west and find a beach somewhere up the coast.
Travelling through Grenade-sur-l'-Adour we found a very typical French
local market in full swing - this should be a bit more fun than a
supermarket. A few veges, meat, bread and €30 of cheese (I think it
was a case of too many chiefs, not enough indians) later, we continued
up through the flat plains of the area until we reached Biscarosse
Plage and our first glimpse of the deep blue Atlantic Ocean, with some
pretty impressive waves rolling in.

A picnic on the beach with some good cheap tax-free Italian bubbly, a
swim in the relatively warm sea and bit a sunbathing was the order of
the afternoon. Just down the beach from us, the National French
Championships for freestyle jet-skiing was getting started. We only
saw a few of them practicing, but it was pretty impressive watching
the jumps, twists and backflips as the riders used the waves to launch
off into the air.

We only managed another 15 minutes of driving before we reached the
highest sand-dune in Europe - Dune de Pyla. At about 110 metres high,
and 3 kilometres long, this sand-dune is quite a sight and it's a real
slog to climb!! But once we made it to the top, the reward was a
brilliant view over the other side to the sea, and of course a
magnificent sunset. Finally, the last treat as we returned to camp -
a run down the dunes. We probably contributed to the problem that all
the local campsites have with the sand-dune. Apparently it is
swallowing up everything eastwards at a rate of 4-5 metres per year.

19/09/08 - A different kind of Tourism.

One last day in the mountains and for once our view is spoiled by mist
and clouds - sort of makes you thankful for all the great weather we
have had.

We did drive up to the village of Cauteret which is the setting off
point for lots of walks in the French Pyrenees National Park, though
we didn't venture much further. We took a walk through the cute town
where we found a street market in process and the local delicacy -
Foie Gras. Made of goose liver, where the geese have been force fed
to ensure an en-larged fatty liver - charming. The taste was ....
interesting, and we did manage to eat all of the tiny expensive can
that we bought - with the help of some fresh local pain (bread) and
fromage (cheese) du Pyrenees. Yum!

Then it was down the valley to Lourdes. Lourdes was just another
sleepy village until 1858 when a young woman - Bernadette saw a series
of apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Since then Lourdes has become an
important pilgrim place where the faithful and especially the sick
come to take the waters and seek their own miracle.

It felt quite weird walking the streets of souvenir shops, as the
tourists around us were definitely a different breed to what we had
been used to on this trip. Some of the souvenirs were rather
interesting too - 5 or 10 litre plastic containers so you can take
some of the holy water home??

The weather was slightly sunnier down in Lourdes so the first stop was
a funicular up the Pic de Jer for a 360° of the town and surrounds.
We enjoyed the 1 hour walk back to the carpark then headed into town.

Our next destination was the Grotto and sanctuary which has been built
up around the original place of Bernadette Soubains' first apparitions
in 1858. After taking in the grotto and lighting a candle for absent
family and friends we enjoyed a walk around the area that has been all
set up for the 150th jubilee celebrations that go on throughout the
year - we just missed the pope's visit by 4 days (probably a good
thing considering the crowds I could imagine).

By now it was late and we were too tired to drive on so we parked up
with all the other campers at a supermarket in Lourdes.

18/09/08 - Pats last few hills.

It was a bit of a driving day today. Although when you look at the
map, as the crow flies - we haven't gone far at all. Just gone over
the hill really.

An hour of along the valley and over a small pass (that cheated by
sticking a tunnel at the top to deny us a view), before we reached
Biescas, the first town that could be described as bigger than village
- however we still weren't able to find a supermarket. Not to worry,
we found a butcher, vegetable store, and pattiserie to cover all our
needs - we probably should have been shopping like that alot more
often cause you get so much more chance to try and stumble through a
view words of the local language.

Then it was up to Puerto de El Portale (1,794), and into France.
Almost down to Laruns, up to Col d'Aubisque (1,709) - all the way up
this road there was graffiti all over the road giving support to the
cyclist's of a recent (or lots of) race that obviously came up here -
possibly Tour de France? It definitely would have been a real good
hill to separate the men from the boys!! Then at the top (apart from
another amazing view), we had three oversize bikes sitting out in the
paddock looking as though they were just reaching the top. To make
the picture even cooler, about 20 dairy cows (complete with bells of
course) were all standing around the bikes. They were great at posing
for photos!!

Our next stretch of road had a sign all in French that we decided
translated to say that vehicles over 3 tonne could only go east to
west in the morning, and west-east in the afternoon - west-east was
our direction, so off we went. The road wasn't too bad - although I
still wouldn't have wanted to meet another large vehicle on some
spots. Once we made it to the other end of this section and took in
another great, but misty view - a couple of large campervans headed
along the way we came in the opposite direction - so I do wonder
whether we got the translation right, or did they just ignore the
sign?

Down to Argeles-Gazost, a very pretty French feeling village - where
we caught up on a little bit of internet, then, as we are back in
France we can continue to enjoy these designated free parking spots
that are dotted all around the country. This one was at the equally
pretty village of Pierrefitte-Nestalas, although it was very popular
as it seems there is a dog show on somewhere round here this weekend.
But we squezzed in after moving a few picnic tables about :-)

17/09/08 - Follow the green road.

Ah ha!! Finally we can say we have seen a sunrise. And some of us
didn't even have get out of bed to enjoy it!! Of course some of us
had to get up and be the photographer. Either way, it was fantastic.

The plan for the rest of day was hopefully going to be pretty relaxed
- keep following the green scenic roads. Can't go wrong!

Our road continued to wind its way through the rocky, dry but
beautiful terrain as we entered the Aragon province (I'm sure this
sort of area would have been just as good as NZ for filming the Lord
of the Rings - and with the namesake in the film, could really add
something to it?).

A quick stop round the typical hill top village of Benabarre. Then a
longer stop and stroll about in Graus - where we found the Basilica de
la Virgen de la Peña - an impressive church sitting up on the hill
behind the town.

Now it was time to turn north and start heading back towards the high
peaks of the Pyrenees and France. But before getting too far, we
found the bottom corner of the National Park of Ordesa & Mt Perdido.
This corner, just off the main road from Escalona, boasted the Añisclo
Canyon with its one-way road (for a good reason) that wound up the
canyon, clinging onto the cliffs that made for a very exciting bit of
driving. It was just damm lucky that we didn't have to worry about on
coming traffic also!!

A little hour long walk in the canyon ensured we were able to take in
the peacefulness of this place, then it was up and out of the canyon
where after many 'possibilities' for a decent sleeping spot - we found
'the one' just on dark.

16/09/08 - Chasing Celestial Objects

Feeling almost 100% better this morning, we set off to explore the
capital Andorra la Vella. Andorra is pretty much only known for it's
skiing and shopping meaning this country of 70,000 absorbs 11 million
visitors every year. It enjoys something of a tax free status too so a
lot of French and Spanish visit, to buy cheap cigarettes, alcohol and
other goods.
Andorra la Vella is the only village which has anything of an old town
and we had to look hard to find it. The majority of the place
resembled any one of the new ski resorts in the United States and has
none of the centuries old charm of the resorts of Switzerland, France
or Italy. Still, the mountains more than make up for the over
commercialisation of its towns, so we stayed until everything shut for
lunch! and were again on our way.
We'd deliberately entered Andorra from France in the north such that
we could drive the entire length of Andorra as far as its solo highway
would allow. Thus, we headed south into Spain, first stopping for
diesel, which at €1.046 was 15% cheaper than Spain.
With our newly aquired map of the Pyrenees, we chose all the 'green'
scenic roads that could take us westwards. We took in mountain passes
with varied rock formations, valleys with crops and groves, and such
magnificient views meaning we often stopped in the middle of the road
just for a photo. Not to worry, there is very little traffic or people
in this part of Spain. Pat is not even required to pull over so that
cars can pass, making us confident of finding a very suitable, quiet
place to camp for the night. And there it was; at the top of Coll de
Montllobar pass (1080), with amazing views overlooking the town of
Tremp and valley we'd driven through. But first we just had to drive
around a few more corners to soak up the last of the beautiful sun and
watch it set somewhere in the direction of Serra del Montsec (a
mountain range). Then it was back to our pass, where we had to get
the camera out again to capture the rising full moon, stained red from
the setting sun. Finally dinner and to sleep, where we have parked in
anticipation of a magnificient sunrise over Serra de Boumort (another
mountain range).

15/09/08 - Our 20th country: Andorra

It was almost disappointing as a clear, cool, blue sky day greeted us
this morning - why couldn't it have been like that yesterday when I
was scaling the peaks above us!! Never mind - A perfect day to visit
the tiny nation of Andorra!

First, Pat had to do some climbing - up and out of The Great Valley
via the French pass of Col de Puymorens (1915m), then down, then up
again to Port d' Envalira (2408m) and into our 20th country on this
trip. It is both our 33rd country in total, so we are about 1/6th the
way round the world now. Who knows when we will do the rest??

It was from the top of the pass, whilst taking in the grand view of
the whole of Andorra (where it would seem, there is a chair lift at
the top of evey hill) that our minds were made up. With such a
beautiful day, we'd bag the tallest peak in Andorra: Pic de Coma
Pedrosa @ 2946m!

Down, into the long winding valley that divides Andorrra, through the
nation's capital: Andorra la Vella, then on to Arsinsal where we would
set off from. With all the information offices closed for lunch, we
took a photo of the map on the board and got climbing!!

The Lonely Planet promised a steep ascent for 1.5 hours to the halfway
point at Estany de les Truies (a lake) at 2260m. While enjoying the
scenery from here, all of a sudden across on the other side of the
lake these very large Bearded Vultures all started swooping down to
one spot where there was obviously something there for dinner. We
never did see the animal as there would have been at least 20 Vultures
ripping it to bits, but a couple of locals who were watched explained
that is was a deer that died the previous day from the cold, and the
poor sighted Vultures have only just smelt the animal now - obviously
it only took one to smell it, and once it swooped down, they all
came!!

At 16:00, after 2 hours and with the number of daylight hours
diminishing, Marea decided she was quite content with her exertions
and the recent excitement and headed back down. With promises to turn
back, should the hour get too late, Daniel continued to Pic de Coma
Pedrosa on his own.

The gradient of the walk didn't let up (I guess it shouldn't if you're
climbing a mountain :-) as the plant life got less and less until all
there was, just rocks and snow and incredible views all around!!
Reaching the top at 6:12pm ment I had 18 minutes to enjoy the feeling
of being on the roof of the Pyrenees - taking in views of France,
Spain and of course Andorra - it was fantastic!!

Then the return trip that almost followed the time schedule that I had
allowed - only the last 30 minutes was completed in darkness ;-). But
to be honest, by the time I made reached home I was quite shattered
and felt like I was coming down with the flu (or in Marea's words -
pathetically exhausted).

14/09/08 - Feeling the elements

It was rather hard getting up this morning as the night had brought
snow to the hills above us, and unfortunately the clear blue sky that
we ordered hadn't quite arrived yet!! A look across to the other side
of the valley, showed us that we should be over there instead, as
there was a big patch of sunshine that just wasn't budging - hopefully
it will wait for us.

A quick stop for bread in Puigcerdá turned into an hour's stroll
through the streets of the old, but obviously expanding town. Then we
headed up the Spanish end of the valley to the village of Meranges for
our next walk into the hills.

That patch of sunshine still hadn't moved, so at last we were able to
feel a little bit of heat from the day. Marea enjoyed it from the
bottom as she chose a restful afternoon, while I would have appeciated
a bit of shade, as the track steeply climbed up the valley.

At first I thought I was lost as there were no beehives as per
instructed, (I still couldn't find the damm things on the way down) -
but the remaining instructions started falling into place as the
walk/climb headed up past a group of horses with bells on, then out of
the sheltered area and into the high exposed spots. Time for a few
more clothes, as the cold wind whistled down from the peaks.

I managed to disturb a family of Marmots that all scurried across the
grassland disappearing, one by one, into an obviously large hole, if
they can all fit into it together! A quick stop in the Refuge Girona
to have a nosy around, then the last little climb to Engorgs - a
series of little lakes sitting at about 2,500 metres.

I sheltered behind a rock from the wind, and had a chat with a
Scotsman who was walking the length of the Pyrenees (now that would be
something cool to do!!) - it was then time to return before darkness
arrived. Easily done, as it was all downhill of course!!

13/09/08 - A great valley shared by two countries.

A beautiful sunny Saturday meant our carpark quickly filled up with
the day's tourists. Our plan though was to head down and back up the
other side of the valley to the village of Serrat, as Marea's eagle
eyes had spotted a poster advertising a festival there this weekend.
Unfortunately, on arrival we found that this mountain pueblo very very
quiet, with only a hint that bigger things could be taking place later
on.

So, for us, it was a case of taking in the fabulous view, then on the
road headed towards the border town of Puigcerdá. Our climb up to La
Collada De Toses (1,800m) was doubly exciting as Ange S's texts kept
us informed of the All Blacks v Wallabies score. Then after a lazy
lunch at the top, it was down to 'The Great Valley of the Pyrenees'.

I'm not sure if its just me, but when you look at the map and the town
of Puigcerdá sitting right on the border with France - I got the idea
that this was a town sitting at the top of the mountains - cause isn't
that where you would stick a border?? But no, sitting right in the
middle of this section of Pyrenees is this big huge valley that Spain
and France share.

Armed with lots of possibilities of walks around the area, we headed
to the French end of the valley where one of the walks started - that
by the description sounded like a good sleeping spot. A late birthday
phone call to Father Smith, then lots and lots of blankets cause it
definitely feels like summer is over in these hills!!

12/09/08 - Ascent by cog railway

Our morning view was non-existent, as the fog had rolled in overnight
making it almost impossible to see the other end of the car park!!
This gave a perfect excuse for another slow morning.

Once we finally made it on the road and picked up some groceries
(Marea found the freshest bread ever - yum yum), we headed into the
Pyrenees and the little hillside village of Queralbs where the sun was
starting to shine through. Suggested by our neighbouring campers in
Cadaques, nestled high above Queralbs lies the little ski area of Vall
de Núria.

Not accessible by road, we took the easy option up to Núria - by a cog
or rack railway (where the train grips to the line by a cog). The
railway was quite amazing - going from 1,180 to almost 2,000 metres,
the track seemed to cling off the edge of cliffs as it climbed up the
very steep valley. At the top the valley opened out into a couple of
nice big basins with what would be some brilliant beginner slopes -
I'm not so sure about more challenging terrain?

Anyway, it wasn't the season for playing in the snow. We had a nice
walk in the hills following a pathway depicting 14 very artistic
Stations of the Cross. We took a look around the large building
complex that housed among other things a skiing museum, then it was
time to start the decent by foot back down to Queralbs.

Following the same valley as the railway, our walk took in some
fantastic views of the line, over little arched bridges and down some
very steep zig zag sections. At one point our track decided to be a
bit mean to us, as after a big down section, the track turned one
corner and lead us upward for what seemed as much as we had been going
down!!

Nonetheless, we made it back to Queralbs before dark - with our
carpark emptied out sufficiently to find a nice flat sleeping spot.

11/09/08 - Into the Pyrenees

Wow - a sleep in till 9.30!! We should really be making the most of
things like this, cause it won't be long till we are back in the real
world!!

With the hot, dry Mediterranean wind whipping off the ocean, drying
all of our washing only took half an hour. Then it was Pat's turn to
have quick wash and get all the salt off him. We then took one last
swim in the Mediterranean, then headed inland with no particular
destination in mind, except towards the Pyrenees.

We stopped at the foot of Montserrat - a 1,236m mountain with some
very cool bulbuous shaped peaks, sort of made you feel like you were
back in the Italian Dolomites - except these peaks had been eroded
down to a nice smooth finish. There is a Benedictine Monastry
accessible via cablecar, but we were content to view its precarious,
though picturesque setting, from far below.

Onward in a northern direction until we turned off onto a side road.
The only thing we knew about this road was that it was marked as
'scenic' on our map. It certainly was scenic enough, as we passed a
dam and resulting lake, then slowly climbed up and down through the
forest covered hills. We passed a number of parking spots that could
be aright for a sleeping spot, but everytime we kept saying 'just one
more corner' - as surely in an area like this we should find the
perfect view to spend the evening looking over.

Finally, sick of driving - we got to the little Catalan village of
Alpens. It even had a parking area that overlooked the village - that
will do!!

A few hours later it looked like we might be regretting our choice, as
a neighbouring party was in full swing. Then luck came our way and a
massive thunderstorm & torrential downpour sent the party goers home -
good stuff!!

10/09/08 - Feeling the heat (33°) of a happening city

Our big day in Barcelona didn't start too well, when we got off the
bus at the wrong stop. The area that we hopped off at looked pretty
damm fancy, and huge - you can't blame us for thinking we had reached
the city centre - Placa de Catalunya. Instead we had only made it as
far as Placa d'Espanya.

Anyway, down one of the streets was a rather grand looking building
sitting up on a hill. This looked like it was worth investigating, so
off we went!! Getting to the top of the hill, we got our first views
of the huge mass of a very densely populated Barcelona. A 5 minute
walk along the hill, and we came across our 2nd Olympic stadium of
this trip!! The things you find when you get off at the wrong bus
stop :-)

Home to the 1992 Olympic games, Barcelona's Montjuïc Stadium doesn't
quite stand up to the grand size of what I imagine the Sydney or
Beijing Olympic stadiums to be. But I wonder if you can go inside
and have a look round for free there? We got a great photo of me
pretending to shoot the flaming arrow up to the Olympic cauldron (if
you recall the opening ceremony and how they got the flame up into the
cauldron) - but then seeing a picture of the actual event, we realised
there were two cauldron looking things high up above the stadium, and
we were shooting at the wrong one :-( The angle was all wrong for a
second take.

Down the hill, past the diving stadium that gave more great views of
the city, then down to the port area and the bottom end of Barcelona's
famous Las Ramblas street.

After checking out the Monument a Colon - a tall statue of Columbus,
we started making our way up Las Ramblas past everything from street
performers, food stalls, artists, souvenir shops, restaurants, flower
shops, news kiosks. In fact I think if you name it, they probably got
it. Except of course we still couldn't find a personalised named
souvenir with Marea's name (spelt properly of course) - I thought
Spain would be the place where Marea's name wouldn't be so unique!!

To either side of Las Ramblas are mazes of streets with shops which go
on forever. This would have kept Marea happy...if she was on her own,
sadly for her my patience for trolling through rows of clothes and
shoes does not exist!!

A must in Barcelona is to check out the work of the eccentric
architect Antoni Gaudí. After a longer than expected walk through the
streets, we found his masterpiece - La Sagrada Família. With piles of
'fruit' placed on top of the spires, little bridges erected high up
with solo religious figures sitting on them, the spires themselves
looking like space rockets, and futuristic looking 'legs' supporting
the bottom of the church. This late 19th century church looks like
something from the future, even though it official architecture style
is classed as neo-gothic.

Finally, to finish our exhausting day of walking (why is walking in
cities so much harder than walking mountains?), dinner was a
traditional Spanish dish - Paella. Rice fried up with seafood and
sauce - mmmm not bad. Although next time we go out for dinner, we
will have to sample another Spanish staple - Tapas!!

09/09/08 - Crazy Barcelona roads

Another day to remember. Marea was up and out of bed first!! The
drawcard - a chance to witness a sunrise.

Unfortunately, the beautiful sunny day of yesterday was replaced by
clouds today - so our sunrise was less than spectacular I'm afraid,
and looked more like a milky moon:-(

Once packed, we were heading south, past numerous working girls on the
road to the Catalan capital of Barcelona. We read that there were
camp grounds to the south of the city - we found one alright, but that
was while zooming past it on the motorway. Taking the next exit we
found a nice big sandy beach, but the only way into the campground
seemed to be straight off the motorway!!

Since we had missed the campground, we negotiated endless motorway
entrances/exits, roundabouts, dead ends before finally finding a
supermarket - then it was back slowly along the motorway where we
found the entrance again and got ourselves a nice front row seat
looking out over a golden sand beach to the windy ocean.

We hadn't achieved alot for the day, but I think the sun from
yesterday had taken all energy out of us. So a quiet evening was had
watching the waves roll in, and sampling these very

08/09/08 - Wild rocky coastline.

A beautiful sunny hot day today - didn't really help us get into gear
this morning. But by late morning we'd made it down to the Cadaques
information centre. There, we obtained some maps of the walk along the
coastline out to Cap de Crues. There was a road, but driving the van
out there was knocked on the head when we were told about the fines
you can get for taking a campervan on their precious road - I think
its to stop people being tempted to free camp. Other options such as
train, boat, scooter or bike were mooted but discarded, in favour of
our more cash efficient feet. But first, a snooze was in order.

Then, about 13:00, when most Catalans are turning in for siesta, we
headed off for what was a very long, hot excursion amongst the
terraced olive trees and rocky outcrops. However our walk did take us
around many inviting rocky beaches where we'd stop off for a quick dip
before continuing on our way. Marea even braved some small brown
jellyfish at one 'Nudista Playa'. Perhaps it was the jellyfish keeping
away the 'enthusiasts', but anyway she was very thankful not to
encounter any 'bits' hanging out.

After a final last push on we made it to the Cap de Crues lighthouse.
Here we wandered among the unique volcanic looking rock formations,
whose causes and effects we could only guess at. I think to be a
geologist would have been a most useful profession on this trip.

The walk back in the late afternoon sun was much quicker and easier
and our reward: one last dip before heading back to our campsite for
dinner.

07/09/08 - Not French or Spanish, but Catalan.

We had a lazy Sunday morning watching the canal boats do their thing
along the Canal du Midi. This canal is 240km long and was built in
the17th century to enable cargo vessels to sail from the Atlantic to
the Mediterranean without needing to go around Spain.

Although we were still a couple of hours from the border - it didn't
take alot of driving to feel that we had left France behind, and
entered into a drier Spanish landscape. To be accurate, we were
actually in the Catalan speaking area known as Catalonia - split
between two countries in 1659 when a treaty between Spain & France
agreed on their borders by spliting Catalonia down through the
Pyrenees.

Through Perpignan, then on to some very windy, scenic coastal roads.
Olive trees and vineyards were planted on terraces which must have
been built several hundreds of years ago. The views of the blue
Mediterranean were fantastic, but the damm flies were a complete pain
in neck!! Lets hope they are not like this everywhere in this part of
the world.

Finally, over yet another hill looking over the sea, we were in Spain,
where our gamble had paid off - gas prices were alot cheaper than in
France!! After filling up, we headed for the small seaside town of
Cadaques. We have been tempted by the lonely planet's discription of
Costa Brava (Rugged Coast) with its picturesque inlets and coves where
beaches are small and scattered and Cadaqués "the most picturesque of
all Spanish resorts".

We negotiated the narrow streets, avoiding those that threatened a
€150 fine to any campervans, to Cadaquès Camping. Our guide book
promised "soul satisfying mountain views and easy shore access".

After checking in went for a walk to Port Lligat to check out Savador
Dali's (the surrealist painter) house and then to the Cadaqués town.
Thiswas indeed pictureque and looking lovely with the harbour and
buildings all lit up.

06/09/08 - Walking with Pink Flamingoes.

The area around our non-descript town of Salin-De-Giraud lies the
Carmarge - a 780 square km delta of the Rhône river. A quick visit to
the information centre and we were equipped with what we decided was a
pretty, but not so accurate map. We headed out of town, found a place
to park and started walking alone one of the numerous dykes that
crisscross the delta forming lagoons that flocks of Pink Flamingos
call home.

We'd read that the best time to see the Flamingos was in spring, but
there were still plenty about, wading in the muddy lagoons, burying
their head in the water in search for food. They didn't come too
close to us, but hopefully we got some good photos.

Without too much help from our map, we found the end of the delta and
the sea where there were even more kite boarders than yesterday, there
were about 40 battling the choppy waves.

More photos of Flamingos, a diversion via a 'short' cut (it could
have meant a very long backtrack - but today we were lucky) - then we
were back to the van and heading to the western end of the delta
towards Aigues Mortes.

Established in the 13th century so the French could have a
Mediterranean port under their control - the little town has to be one
of the most completely walled towns we have ever visited. It was
pretty cool strolling around the old streets checking out the shops
for all the tourists.

We had another designated free parking spot all lined up thanks to our
camping book - right by the beach at Valrus-Plage. But upon arriving,
and reading our guide a bit more closely we realised it is only open
from October to April. Our next potential spot was in a not so pretty
area, but at least there were lots of campervans there. But on
parking we were told by the other campers that we weren't welcome
here?? It was then we had realised we had moved into a big group of
gispsies!!

Third time lucky though - this time at Villeneuve-les-Bains, right by a canal!!

05/09/08 - Pat's got new legs!!

We thought we'd been pretty good at checking out Pat's tyres -
'thought' being the operative word, because on inspection yesterday
evening we were taken by surprise by how worn two of the four back
tyres had become!! We'd been thinking about replacing them back in
the UK before selling Pat, but all of a sudden it had become a little
more urgent! Another inspection this morning even found some wire
showing through - woops!!

A quick swim in the sea, then we were off in search of a suitable
garage - we saw a sign that we concluded sold tyres; it had the word
'Hyeres' (seems similar doesn't it?) - but after few minutes of
tentative driving we realised we were heading towards the town of
Hyeres!!
We got some mispelt directions which we finally located on Tomtom and
after a bit of aimless driving round the town and we found a
specialist tyre shop...except it was closed for lunch. Oh well,
surely these tyres can last another 5 minute drive to the beach
whilst we wait.

The beach had a long causeway with a estuary on one side, and pretty
good looking beach on the other. The only problem was that you
weren't able to swim here - it was reserved for kite boarders. Not to
matter, these kite boarders were pretty damn good and were worth
watching. Towed along the water, by what could better be described as
a small parachute rather than a kite, it was possible for some to hang
in the air for 5+ seconds whilst doing their tricks.

Back to the business that we had come for - our French only speaking
tyre man didn't think too much of the state of our two better tyres,
let alone the bad ones. Anyway, the good news is that he had the
right tyres in stock and quite a few euros later we were back on the
road all safe and sound.

As for the expense well, before we started our trip we did throw some
numbers about regarding possible maintenance costs while on the road.
With our power steering bracket in Finland and today's exploits - we
are only about a third of the way through the £1,000 maintenance
budget - so can't really complain too much.

It was then time to make up a few miles. We waved out to Tana Umanga
as the motorway sped past Toulon, then somehow we got off the motorway
in into some very busy streets of Marseille. That took some time, but
we can at least say we have seen a snapshot of France's 2nd biggest
city and what seems to be a very big melting pot of many different
cultures, particularly from Africa.

Finally, in the dark we made it to Salin-De-Giraud and another
designated free parking spot. This time the location was good, on the
edge of town away from any traffic!!

04/09/08 - Back to the seaside!!

It was up and over Col de Braus at a mere 1,002m first thing today.
Then down-down-down where a more and more Mediterranean feel came with
olive groves thriving and pink and terracotta houses perched on the
hillsides. Finally, after getting on the crazy French toll roads in
Nice, we got our first view of the sea since leaving the Baltic all
those weeks ago.

We got off the motorway at Cannes after going through two toll gates
with completely different prices that didn't seem to fit with the
distance traveled on each section of toll road - then finally we were
able to get up close and personal with the best of the French Rivera -
well at least we thought we had found the best part because there
wasn't a fancy yacht or apartment in sight - just a beautiful wild
coastline with red rocky outcrops on every corner, and little bays to
stop off and have a swim in the very warm Mediterranean. Fantastic!!

One unfortunate drawback to this magnificent part of the world is the
stories and warnings we get regarding car thieves. We have read that
the locals remove the plastic panel that covers the boot of their car
just to show the thieves that there is nothing to take!! I don't
think we are going to be able to convince anyone that there is nothing
in the van - so at the moment we are being a little paranoid in some
areas. I guess if its going to happen - its going to happen but we
today no chances were taken and we took turns going swimming.

Onwards to La Londe-les-Maures where our camping book showed a
designated free parking spot for campervans, no wonder it was free as
it was sitting right next to a busy roundabout!! I'm sure it would
have been fine as people do sleep, and cars don't go all night.
Anyway, we chose not to be cheap, and instead found a camping ground
only 5 minutes walk from the beach.

Unfortunately this area of coastline was not quite as brilliant as
just west of Cannes, but still the water was warm and there was an
endless array of restaurants sitting on the waterfront. With a big
pot of the local specialty - Moules et Frites (Mussels and Fries) we
had a very pleasant evening sitting alfresco at one restaurants right
on the marina, doing our very best at another French custom - people
watching!!

03/09/08 - Getting sociable with the Marmots & Chamois.

After yesterday's lazy evening we were up bright and early to do our
round trip which according to our guide book should take about 8 hours
of walking. Hopefully their estimates are favoured towards to slow
side.

The first hour and a half was a gentle climb around the valley, past a
mountain dairy farm and up to a rocky basin where hopefully we would
be able to find some of these rock carvings. While wandering amongst
the rocks our attention was taken off the task at hand for a while as
we seemed to have entered the heart of Marmot country!!

We had seen a couple of these furry creatures that look a bit like a
beaver in Austria and Italy - but here it seemed like every other rock
had one sitting out taking in the sun. It was pretty cool watching
two of them have a bit of a fight over a rock. They were both up on
their hind legs pushing each other round like a couple of kids.

Finally we found some of the Bronze Age rock carvings - they were a
bit difficult to make sense of, and all the information was in French.
But they seemed to be carvings of people, animals and other aspects
of day to day life.

With that hour side trip out of the way, and our sunny morning
disappearing thanks to some big black clouds coming over the peaks
above us - Marea decided to take it easy for the rest of the day so
headed back down, while I continued further up into the mountains to
Baisse de Fontanabla (Fontanabla Pass) at 2,568 metres. On the way I
came across a herd of Chamois grazing away up in the mountains. It
was neat just sitting back watching the young ones clamour about
amongst the rocks, while the big male Chamois didn't seem at all
bothered about my presence as he just continued to graze away only 20
metres away from me. I guess I should have been the one bothered as
his two horns were at least half a metre long, and he would have
weighed about 200kg. I think if he had taken dislike to me I would
have been the one coming off second best!!

Then it was over the pass, down a very steep rocky trail (I'm glad we
didn't decide to go the other way around) to the first of the three
lakes sitting in between the peaks.

More Chamois later, the three lakes passed, and a couple of English
walkers for company the trail began its descent down to the van. At
this point I had decided that the rain clouds were going to do nothing
more than threaten rain. But of course, 5 minutes later the rain came
down just to complete a very good day walking - oh and the 8 hours
that the guide said, was almost right - maybe 6 and a half when you
take off all the photo and lunch stops.

Back to the van where Marea was nice and cozy out of rain - we headed
down the valley giving our English friends a lift part way, then
onwards through the last of the Alps that were quickly making an
amazing transformation from alpine pastures and green forests - to fig
and olive trees, dry rocky arid slopes and a real Mediterranean feel
amongst the villages that we passed through.

More German hitchhikers later and we had found our camping spot
looking over the village of Sospel - maybe tomorrow we will make it
down to the French coastline??

02/09/08 - A medevil mishmash.

We didn't quite account for all factors in when choosing our parking
spot last night - I think we found the shadiest spot around, as the
beautiful morning sun warmed everything up except for us!! Once we
moved a bit to get the sun, and given the inside of Pat a bit of a
clean we were off down to the little village of Tende to find out what
there was to do round here.

All it took was a walk up the main street where we spied some very
scenic post cards showing off the local mountain landscape - this
obviously worth finding out more about!! The information centre was
able to explain that we had stumbled across Le Mercantour National
Park (once again fantastic organisation from us!!) - encompassing the
last of the Alps before they plunge into the Mediterranean Sea (quote
from the brochure).

A quick visit to the next door museum told us a bit more about the
area - including facts about a large number of Bronze Age carvings
that had been made into the rocks as part of an old religious
sanctuary.

After this we took a circuitous route back to Pat via the 'Medieval
Town' Wow what a discovery, from the road this town almost looks like
a slum. 5 and 6 storey buildings cling haphazardly to the mountainside
and washing is strung from mishmashed balconies. But take a walk
through the 'streets' and it becomes clearer that these are no
temporary dwellings but 400 and 500 year old apartments. Some have
basements carved out of the rock and there are nooks and crannies,
courtyards, gardens or terraces around every corner. And to top it
off (excuse the pun) there is a cemetery perched at the very top of
the town, with the most amazing views. What a way to go.

Finally, after seeming to go halfway (not quite) to Nice to find a gas
station that was open - on a Monday lunchtime?? Then picking up a
couple of German hitchhikers heading up to National Park, we made it
to Casterino for a late lunch, and then headed for the end of the road
and the start of two walks heading in opposite directions - one to
some of the rock carvings, the other up to three lakes. Since it was
after 4pm, the decision was made to not make a decision about which
area to see. Instead we would make a whole day of it tomorrow and see
everything in a big round trip!!

01/09/08 - An hour long red traffic light.

One more month to go!!!! To be honest - I think when the end comes,
we are going to be more than ready to get out of the campervan and
back into the real world. As enjoyable as its been, we are here for a
good time, not a long time.

It was a relatively early start for us this morning, as we had to
brave the Milan rush hour traffic, get Robyn to the airport and see
her off back to London. With that done without too many problems, it
was off towards France.

Leaving the Alps behind, we worked our way across the Italian plains,
through villages that while they had some charm, in that it felt like
you were stepping back 50 years with their narrow streets and old grey
houses, they also could have done with a bit of paint and just a
general clean up all around.

By the end of the day we made it back to the Alps - this time the ones
sitting on the Italian/French border. After stocking up on groceries
in Cuneo we found a road that we figured would give us one more view
from the tops as we drove up and over into France. However - it
wasn't to be!! Our map didn't quite tell us that this road cheats a
little by giving us a tunnel to enter France by. Whats more, they
have a crazy system of letting cars go both ways through the tunnel,
while the trucks and campervans have to wait for at least an hour.
Then they let all the trucks/campervans go from the opposite side, and
then finally it was our turn. Just as well too, cause it was getting
a bit dark by then, but we found a parking spot ok, once we were
through on the French side.

31/08/08 - How much shoulder can you show off in church?

Since we are enjoying the best that Lake Como has to offer, we thought
we had better check out the main town of the area - the town of Como.
Situated at the far south end of the left leg of our lake, for some
reason I was expecting Como to be fill of rich swanky people and their
flash boats all over the place.

Unless we ended up at the wrong end of town, or could be because today
is the last day of everyone's summer holiday - Como was a little bit
of a let down compared to the smaller more authentic feeling villages
around the lake that we had visited. To be fair to Como, it currently
is in a state of development along the lake front which I'm sure will
give it some of its sparkle back.

We visited the cathedral in the town centre where a church service was
in progress. However it was deemed by the staff that Marea was
showing off too much of her tanned shoulders to be allowed in!! While
Marea and I waited outside for Robyn we were very interested in what
people were wearing as they went into the church - we decided that the
staff member just mustn't have liked the look of Marea. So we tried
again, with Marea hiding behind me - this time we managed to get a bit
of a look around ;-)

Then it was up to our new campsite, where the rest of the afternoon
was spent chilling out and getting the washing done. Our washing
would have been all dry by the morning, except a big thunderstorm
decided to come in during the night. Luckily Marea and Robyn were a
little more awake than me, and managed to save it from getting any
more wet!!

30/08/08 - Pretty little narrow streets of Varrena.

We were off on our daily excursion a little earlier today - just
before lunchtime ;-). The destination was across on the ferry to the
eastern side of the lake and the fishing village of Varenna.

Fishing on any grand scale may have finished long ago, but Varenna
still proved to be a very quaint, pretty little village with steep
narrow pedestrian streets/stairs running down to the waterfront and an
equally secluded terraced lakeside walkway.

With another hot day brewing, it was extremely hard to say no to one
of the cafes along the waterfront - where Marea and Robyn got
comfortable, while I felt compelled to take the 15 minute walk
straight up above Varenna to the Castle of Vezio. From the high point
of the castle; the Keep, the views looking over Varrena and up each
'leg' of Lake Como were fantastic!! Even if the haze from the heat
was setting in at the ends.

Back down to Marea and Robyn where we took a swim and Robyn spied on a
local wedding to see how they do it over here. As the bride walked up
into the church, everyone that was standing outside doing the same
thing as Robyn gave the bride a round of applause. Not sure if that
happens at home does it??

Finally, one last walk through the narrow streets back to the ferry
and across the lake to 'home'. This time we waited around for the
bus, but of course because it was the weekend the timetable was
completely different. When a bus did arrive - even the bus driver
didn't know his timetable!! That didn't matter though - what we
didn't know was that you can't buy your ticket direct from the driver
- so he let us go for free :-)

29/08/08 - Living like the Romans.

Our morning of go slow dragged on into the afternoon as we got right
into holiday mode. Brilliant!!!

In saying that, we did get the gazebo up to give us some much needed
shade, plus the front driver's speaker now works after a bit of
tinkering. Unfortunately I still can't work out why the leisure
battery is not charging off the main battery when the van is going??
We are coping with the help of the jumper leads, but the challenge is
still there to find the problem and fix it without the help of a
professional!! Don't worry to anyone interested in buying the van - I
will admit defeat and get it fixed properly before we flog it off to
you.

By mid afternoon we finally got ourselves into gear and took a walk
down into Bellagio. If you imagine Lake Como as a man with no arms -
Bellagio sits right in the groin area. This giving fine views across
to both opposite sides of the lake. A summer residence for Roman
leaders and then Lombardy's (the local province) noble families - you
really do get the feeling of ancient grandeur as you stroll around
past old villas, gardens, narrow pedestrian streets and outdoor cafes
lining the shoreline.

Once we had checked out a few of the shops (or at least the girls
did), we found a little swimming spot to cool off a bit, while Robyn
enjoyed a glass of wine in what had become a very hot day.

The only trouble with camping up above the town of Bellagio, is that
we had to walk back up the hill - this was after checking out the bus
timetable, thinking we had missed the bus by 5 minutes, then once
walking the bus roars past us!! Oh well - the walk wasn't that bad
:-)