Special edition or special addition!!!

Here it is, our final entry - hopefully one you'll never forget!!


For those not in the know
Here is a poem of our trip, just so we can crow

Like all our other adventures we have done
Who knows how we came up with this one

An eventful weekend to London was the plan
Smashed up one vehicle but bought a big red van

You all voted for its name which we chose to ignore
We added our own touches throughout the winter core

Thus Pat was born, all set to run
Ready to be our home for the European sun

Skinny dipping in the Highlands is chilly
The fiords were alot more than just hilly

One day we ran out of fuel
Thanks to the bikers we continued without it being too cruel

How amazed we were to see a Puffin
It had us absolutely laughin'

We got pretty good at hiking
But some days we just went biking

Sometimes we made it up to snow
That had us going pretty slow

Medieval cities took us back in time
Communism made sure that people towed the line

Some of the roads were all full of dust
I hope that doesn't make us rust

In some big cities we chose camping grounds
Just to make sure we could see all around

Some of the cities had lots of heart
Especially after listening to some of Mozart

Walking in the Alps could be quite far
So instead we took a cable car

Seeing so much history has been an absolute treat
All the way, the nature could not be beat

A special thanks to all that gave us a bed and helped us recharge
When we see you in NZ, no favour will be too large

We have brought home a souvenir with us to keep
Don't worry there's no way this is tacky or cheap

Some might say it happened in Sweden
But the Baltic Storks may want to argue between them

Late March is the month it will be delivered in
By then, hopefully we'll have a job to keep it from being too thin

Marea already has big plans for when she's 60 and wrinkling
A return trip with her kids to make up for what little she's been drinking

Thanks for reading our blog, sorry if it got too long
But now we have a new subject in which to start another song.

01/10/08 - 14,554 miles later.

Wow!!! We're finished!!! Back to London in one piece. What a feeling
of satisfaction, sadness, joy, reality check, relief. You name the
emotion - its probably in there somewhere.

I think its a sure sign that we had seen enough of this great
continent and were ready to finish when we arrived at the ferry
terminal 3 hours early. That was alright though, we got put on an
earlier crossing meaning we didn't get round to spending our remaining
Euro's or stocking up on wine, gifts or chocolate:-(

A rather rocky crossing (didn't matter to me cause I was still feeling
dizzy and woozy before we got on the boat anyway), then a fantastic
view of the White Cliffs as we came into Dover and back to England!!

Marea adapted to driving on the left and got us home in record time
(poor Pat) where Marea's brother Liam has kindly put us up until the
23rd when its time to head back to New Zealand, and back to the real
world - a job!!

In that time hopefully we will be able to sell the van and see
everyone who is still over here. First job - to turn the van upside
down and give it a good clean!!

For those who have managed to follow this blog all the way through -
well done to you! Sorry if we've managed to put you to sleep with all
our tales of walks, mountains and driving. Don't worry, you won't be
getting any more day by day accounts.

But watch this space - there will be a special edition.... sooner
rather than later!!

30/09/08 - Just like a painting.

Two mysteries remain this morning - what is a Mairie? and what is
wrong with me? I felt fine in bed, but as soon as I stood up I got
all dizzy and almost fell over!!

As for the Mairie - we could see a desk through the window? And a
sign nearby did have the word 'chapel' on it, but surely chapels are
more interesting than this plain brick building??

Onwards then to Giverny - home town to the impressionist painter
Claude Monet. To give him inspiration for his paintings, Monet
developed a garden complete with lily pond, which we now have the
privilege of visiting. In Monet's time one gardener was employed full
time just to look after the waterlillies.

To stand on a Japanese bridge in Monet's garden and see what he saw
before transferring it to canvas was a peaceful (minus Japanese
tourists) and surreal experience. If you screwed your eyes up and
blurred your vision (or unfocused the camera) you could almost
replicate these impressionist paintings. But whilst all that was fun,
seeing the garden in all it's focused glory was a real highlight of
our trip and beat visiting endless art galleries any day!!

Time to head back to the coast towards Calais. En route we went past
a couple of large 3 or 4 story brick buildings with the words
'Mairie-Ecole' on them. Ecole means school - so does that mean Mairie
is another word for school in this area?? Thats what we decided at
the time. Although we have all since been enlightened by sister
Angela's expert research skills. A Mairie is a Town/City Hall. That
made our one desk Mairie a very very small place of official decision
making!!

Our final sleeping spot was on the very windy coastline at Berck. It
took three moves along our designated area of parking to find a
sheltered enough spot to ensure that the wind wasn't going to keep us
up all night and Pat didn't get blown over.

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29/09/08 - What in the world is a Mairie??

I'm not sure whether it was the mussels last night, or just a bug -
but I felt like total shit all day today. Luckily Marea has not
fallen the same way (touch wood) - so the driving duties were totally
hers today.

A slow morning where the fog had taken over our view of the Mulberry
Harbour before we were off on the road to see if I could handle
travelling. We made it as far as Pegusus Bridge - just one last D-day
sight. Again portrayed on The Longest Day, three British gliders
landed here shortly after midnight on 6 June and took over the bridge
- ensuring German reinforcements couldn't cross to get to the beaches,
and also ensuring they didn't blow it up to slow the allies progress
inland.

It was quite amazing looking at the landing sights of the three
gliders. They only landed about 50 metres from the bridge, and 10
metres apart from each other - it seems unbelievable that they didn't
crash into each other on landing.

The majority of our afternoon was spent resting in the van besides the
Caen Canal and Pegasus Bridge - trying to figure if I can travel any
more today. Finally after a cup of herbal tea we took the plunge and
headed inland past Rouen, up the River Seinne - to the tiny (I'm not
sure if there is even a shop) village of St. Germain de-Pasquier.

According to our Camper Stop book here lies the smallest Mairie in
France. Apart from the fact that there is a designed free parking
spot here - curiousity got the better of us and we wanted to find out
what a Mairie is??

Upon arrival we have found a 3 by 2.7 metre brick building with the
words 'Mairie' on the front. The only thing we could translate from
the French information sign was its dimensions. It did have some
opening times on its door, but they could have translated to "open
Mondays and Wednesdays". As tomorrow is Tuesday, we may never be any
wiser!!

28/09/08 - Remembering the horrors of war.

Only 3 more sleeps until we finish our Grand European Tour and get on
the ferry to Dover. After some early starts the last two mornings,
Marea was taking it easy and hardly even glanced at the sun rising
over the sea. Our sleeping spot was about 6km north of Utah Beach so
about 10:00 we headed there to eat breakfast.

We then spent the day driving south-east around more of the D-Day
beach sites. We went back to Ste. Mere-Eglise for a visit inside the
church to view the paratroopers depicted around the Virgin Mary in the
modern stained glass windows. We walked around the heavily cratered
Point d'Hoc. Here the Allies successfully captured this important
strategic battery after scaling the high cliffs on rope ladders.
After two days of fighting, of the 225 Rangers who landed here - only
90 remained. We then stopped at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach,
where 9,386 soldiers are buried in what seemed never ending rows of
crosses. Also there, was a museum with stories about some of the
soldiers buried there - including a story about the four Niland
brothers of whom two were killed on the beaches, one went missing in
the Pacific - so the fourth was sent home to be with his family.
Sound a bit like Saving Private Ryan? - this was the story the movie
was based on.

In a way I think that I (Marea) found this a more rewarding experience
than Daniel, on who's initiative we visited all these sites. Like
visiting Gallipoli, having actually been to the site, makes the events
seem more poignant and real. As one who tends to avoid all war
stories, it is much harder to ignore, or forget, the hard evidence.

Note from Daniel - my problem was that every memorial we visited
seemed very one-sided. I felt a bit for the German soldiers killed
who would have only been following orders.

About 15:30 upon realising that this part of France shuts down on a
Sunday we headed to Port du Bessin in the hope of finding both lunch
and dinner! We were in luck, "Un kilo et demi de moules(€4), sil vous
plait" and a bottle of €1.80 white wine (for the mussels!); we were
set for dinner.

We took ourselves back to Arromanches to the same spot we'd parked two
nights ago. It was a beautiful afternoon to soak up the sun, and as
the tide was low we could see the Mulberry Harbour in all its glory.
When the tide was high two days ago we thought the artificial harbour
had lost most of its effectiveness and had been swallowed up by the
sea. But now at low tide it seems a perfect breakwater.

We wandered over to the Arromanches 360° cinema for the last screening
of the day. This was a 20 minute movie of old and new footage
designed to give us a view of what it was like to an ordinary soldier
during the first few weeks of the Battle of Normandy. The nine
screens set up in a complete circle ensured you a little dizzy as you
keep turning around to try and take it all in.

27/09/08 - The story of two invasions.

Another beautiful sunrise this morning as it came up over the hill,
and shed light on what remains of what was the busiest harbour in
Europe during the summer of 1944. Port Winston or Mulberry Harbour is
made up of huge concrete blocks that were towed over from England and
dropped into the water to create this huge artificial harbour. In the
1st few weeks of Normandy invasion, the Allies had no natural harbour
to use so this artificial one was used to unload all their supplies.

We had quick look around from the cliff edge and then drove down the
hill to 'Gold Beach' where we came across a memorial for Dave's county
- The Essex Regiment. Then it was time to head to Bayeux and travel
back 900 years to another invasion - The Norman Conquest of England in
1066.

Depicted in a 70 metre long tapestry made shortly after the Conquest -
the series of very well preserved pictures embroidered into the linen
cloth tell the story of how Harold (from England) betrayed William the
Bastard (from Normandy) and crowned himself, succeeding Edward the
Confessor to the English throne. This act was cause for celebration
though shortly after the appearance of Haley's Comet indicated all was
not well. William sailed to England, where the 14 hour battle of
Hastings culminated in Harold being killed by an arrow through his
eye. Thus William become known as William the Conqueror and King of
England!!!

Feeling a little more knowledgeable on England's turbulent royal
history, it was off to the train station to say goodbye to Kerryn and
Dave. Then back to take a look around Bayeux - a very pretty town
almost unscathed from the D-Day landings, and the first town in France
to be liberated. We took a walk around the peaceful, well maintained
4,868 graves of the British war cemetery. This included 8 New Zealand
graves of which we managed to find 2, among the many rows.

Then it was off up the coast to Omaha Beach where thousands of
American and German lives were lost in the most brutal section of the
D-day beaches. Now it is a very peaceful long beach with sand-sailors
(sailing up and down the beach in a little three wheeled cart with
sail) zooming around. But we could imagine thousands of troops landing
on the beach, then having a couple of hundred metres of nothing to
hide behind, as they ran towards the machine guns shooting at them -
horriffic!!

Our last D-day sight for today was away from the beaches in the little
market town of Ste. Mére-Eglise. It was in this area, inland from
Utah Beach that American paratroopers landed in the early hours of
June 6. Unfortunately they ended up scattered all over the countryside
and for those that have seen the movie The Longest Day, one
unfortunate paratrooper landed right on top of the church in Ste.
Mére-Eglise - getting himself tangled up and hanging from the roof.
Somehow he managed to survive as he got a bird's eye view of the
fighting below.
The famous church which still stands, now has a mannequin soldier and
parachute hanging from the church roof to remind us all.

26/09/08 - Some very impressive former islands.

A short drive through the quickly clearing fog for our first stop
today - St Malo. Once a fortified island at the mouth of the river
Rance, this walled town is now joined to the mainland by way of a
promenade and resulting beach. We walked along the beach to an
outlying fort, past huge breakwaters and got a feel for the extremely
large tidal differences in this area - this difference, between low
and high tide, can be 15 metres in height! We arrived when the tide
was quite low but postcard pictures of waves crashing over the
breakwaters showed us just why these are needed at high tide.

We then walked through the walls and explored this very impressive
granite town. Almost completely destroyed during the Second World
War, this is another example of careful restoration which has ensured
the town's narrow streets retain their charm.

Once we'd enjoyed a coffee in the sun, it was onward to France's
second most recognisable silhouette (the first being the Eiffel
Tower) - Mont St Michel (pronounced Michelle, not Michael as we had
been doing).

Another former island that is now joined to the mainland due to a long
sandspit, this 80 metre high island was visible to us from about 20
kilometres out. The closer we got, the more impressive it became,
with its Benedictine abbey towering above the tightly packed houses
that wind round the bottom, and the kilometres of tidal sand streching
far out to sea. In only a few hours, this sand would be completely
covered in water in a tidal change that perhaps could best be
described as 'where the waters rise faster than galloping horses'. We
got this description from the guidebook where it unfortunately doesn't
quote where it got it from.

We found ourselves a view point from a turret on the 'island' to
witness the tide come in - you definitely could witness the water
moving up the bay, although we decided we didn't need to sit up there
for the whole 6 hours of tidal change to get the idea.

It was then back on the move across the Normandy countryside to our
first view of the D-day landing beaches - where on the 6th of June
1944 hundreds of thousands of allied solders landed in the largest
amphibious invasion in history as they began the push across Europe to
defeat Hitlers Nazi Germany.

25/09/08 - A province more English than French??

Crikey this country is big!! Here I thought it would take about a day
to drive around the whole coast of Brittany, but the general consensus
of the crew was that we take the shorter route across country - and
that still took a whole day!!! With a few stops of course.

A quick look around Quiberon, before we headed back up the peninsula -
which in some places is only 50 metres across. Then we were off to
the other side of the Brittany coast - driving via through villages
and countryside which actually felt more English than French with
their stone buildings. This could be attributed to the Celtic origins
of Brittany, as large migrations from the Celtic lands of Britain
occurred throughout history to this region. It was only in the 16th
century that Brittany became part of France, and even today there are
groups lobbying for a separate Brittany state to the rest of France.

Our lunch stop was beside the Nantes-Brest canal which winds its way
through the rolling green countryside. A quick look at the Abbey de
Bon-Repos looking over the canal, where unfortunately all the
information was in French - then it was onward to our first sight of
the English channel at Cape Fréhel.

It was here we took an hour walk along the rugged coast, past a German
gun emplacement left over from the Second World War, to a lighthouse
sitting out on the cape. The view down along the cliffs showed a
castle sticking out right on the edge - stunning stuff!!

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!!