This is just a test message to see if all of you followers now get a prompt whenever we update our blog!

Work is in progress and we are looking forward to venturing off again as soon as possible!

Please will you let me know if you get a response from this update?

Regards

Dean & Angela:-)

30th July 2009

We are now back home in Oxford and the van is in storage. We will be restarting our blog when we begin our travels again which will probably be mid to late September 2009.

We are currently planning our new route and will definately be in Germany for October as we are going to Angela's brothers wedding.

Can't wait!

Watch this space!

8th July 2009 – Pegasus Bridge

We felt really proud today when we visited the Pegasus Bridge memorial, as the Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry played a massive and vital role in the operation. It held special memories as Dean’s dad had played the bugle and more recently our brother –in-law has also played there.

Recently, John also ran a tough charity 65 mile marathon to Pegasus Bridge for Project 65 http://www.project65.net/

The museum was well worth going to as it explains the build-up, the kit they had to wear, how immensely difficult it would have been for the glider pilots to even get to their destination, and what happened once they landed. One reason to be really proud of our armed forces, irrespective of politics.

7th July 2009 – Mont St Michel

This was a place I’ve always wanted to go to as I visited it when I was at school, and had such good memories. I was not disappointed as the narrow streets, snaking up through the grounds were just as I remembered.

It was great to come back with Dean for him to see what I kept going on about! Like a big kid he bought a T-shirt from one of the shops, and we went for steak and chips in one of the cafes. It was a bit bloody for my liking but Dean was in his element.

We spent a good few hours walking around and then set off for Arromanches, and did a detour to visit a German war grave called Mont-de Husines. It is something we forget to take on board, but it was a very sobering experience especially when you see graves for ‘Ein Deutscher Soldat’ with no name. There were 11,956 soldiers buried here alone.

Lest we forget.

The Aire at Arromanches was the tightest we’ve ever been on. The ‘van next to us could not open their habitation door at the same time as ours was open, we were that close!

We were very lucky to get a spot as people kept turning up trying to squeeze in wherever they could. It was worth it though as it is about five minutes walk away from the beach, where you can see the remains of the Mulberry harbour and the museum is just off the beach.

It is difficult to imagine what the scene would have been like 65 years ago.

6th July 2009 – Cancale

The home of oysters! As we were now in Brittany the weather had taken a definite turn for the worse and today was no exception.
However, being in the town renowned for them we were duly obliged to wander in and purchase some for Dean to try. Not liking anything about the sea, I declined. After all the excitement it was a bit of a letdown as he neither liked them nor disliked them.
The beds where they harvest them were available to view, but I wasn’t feeling very well that day so having to smell seafood all morning wasn’t the best thing to do! We went back to the van and watched Babel (excellent film) after polishing off the remains of the contents of the fridge.
We also managed to book an earlier ferry home as we need to get a few things fixed.

5th July 2009 – Dinan

What a fantastic town! We’d spotted a write up in the French book we’ve got but the setting was amazing. The Aire is situated right underneath the viaduct in what is classed as Port Dinan and is within five minutes of Dinan proper.
The weather was perfect we set off around the town (a tad steep) looking at all the old medieval buildings, taking loads of photographs and just taking in the atmosphere. Everyone was so friendly and we ended up in a restaurant on the harbour front, Dean eating Moules Mariniere avec Frites and I had the Salad Paysanne.

Dean watched the locals to see how they ate the mussels and was chuffed to discover you eat them using the shell of the previous mussel to pick the next one out. He felt like a local!

3rd July 2009 – Beauvoir-sur-mer

On route to our next Aire we passed fields and more fields of sunflowers, their heads all pointing to the sun. The Aire was easy to find and again there were Dutch, German and French on site all giving bits of advice. Here we also watched Andy Murray bow out of Wimbledon, but at least he has a realistic chance of winning it next time!
We wandered into the village which again was covered in wonderful flower arrangements, then we stopped for our usual coffee and meandered back to the ‘van.

2nd July 2009 – La Rochelle

We were now making our way back up the West coast of France and our next stop was La Rochelle, a medieval fortified town. You are able to take a tour around the ramparts but we did not have time, so we have made a note to return there in the near future. The Aire was in the main car park where French parking skills leave a lot to be desired, so we did not want to be away for too long!
As always, a lovely market was taking place and the shops were heaving with tourists. We made our way back to the ‘van to spend a relaxed evening.
With our experience we’ve now gained, we’ve realised we need to invest in a scooter to get around. The ‘van is too large to get into the pretty villages, so we would be able to pitch camp somewhere and then do a tour of loads of places. Research has begun!





29th June 2009 – Labenne

Moving on from the Pyrenees, we headed for the Atlantic Ocean and ended up at Labenne. It was a large site with ‘entertainment’, but the pitches were nice and large.
We have subsequently decided that although we like the beach scenery and Dean likes to dip his toes in the water, the campsites are a bit too “Hey Macarena” for our tastes! Having said that, it was so hot over the next few days all we could do was sit in the ‘van watching Wimbledon tennis in as little clothing as possible...nice?!
One evening we walked up to the beach about half an hour walk away, and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

24 June 2009 - Luchon

The day started off well as we received the news we've been wanting to hear for months, that Dean has got his redundancy from BT! After 19 years of work, we decided to mark the occasion by going out for lunch. We dressed smartly (well, smarter than we normally are but still scruffier than when we were at home) and walked into the village. It is quite large and there are some beautiful areas of it, along with the thermal baths.

The village is festooned with lovely flower arrangements, and their roundabouts are works of art!

We chose a smart looking restaurant and sat at a table outside so we could watch the world go by. Angela wasn't quite sure what she ordered, but it turned out she hadn't ordered enough...only a starter! So she had to watch Dean enjoy a lovely plate of steak.

The dessert of Creme Caramel finished off the meal, washed down with the rest of the wine followed by coffee...not the one we ordered! It's a very chilled out affair as they seem to be in no hurry to get rid of you, although the waiter did remind us of Jack out of Will & Grace!

It was a real treat for us as we don't normally eat out, and then we mooched around the lovely independent shops. Dean got himself a T-shirt and we bought a load of postcards so watch this space...

23 June 2009 - Luchon

Having bought a map of the area yesterday, we set off into the woods above the campsite to walk into Luchon via the scenic GR86 route. As it was over 30 degrees it was a bonus that the walk was in the woods as it gave us plenty of dappled shade.

It was a bit steep at first and we're both out of the habit of walking, but it soon levelled out and our lungs got used to the extra effort! We could look out across the valley on quite a few parts of the walk, and also watched the para-gliders coming into land - it seems a very popular pastime over here, especially in the ski resorts.

We were on a mission to get back to the 'van as Andy Murray was about to play his first game at Wimbledon....didn't realise he wasn't going to be on until 4pm! One great bonus about travelling is that we can watch as much of Wimbledon as we like, rather than work getting in the way...weather permitting ;-)

21 June 2009 - Luchon

Having left Bolquere we spent a few nights in Varilhes where we caught up with a few things, namely updating the blog!

We then travelled onto a site called Pradelongue in a village called Luchon. It is right in the middle of the Pyrenees, and will be a good base for ski-ing. There is still snow visible on the higher mountain ranges, but it is lovely and sunny with fresh mountain air down below.

On Sunday when we arrived we walked into the town and sat watching a jazz band playing, while having a few beers. The village has a really relaxed feel to it and we were looking forward to coming back to explore it further.

17 June 2009 - Bolquere Aire

We left Nefiach (after Dean washed the van down) and headed for our next destination. It was our first journey into the Pyrenees and we were lucky to have such good weather to enable us to enjoy the spectacular scenery.

Photographs do it no justice whatsoever, but we made the effort!

The Aire we were heading for had disappeared under a load of new ski chalets being built. We carried on further into the village and spotted another couple of motorhomes parked up, so we followed suit. Having checked with the French chap who had been there for three days, we decided we wouldn't be moved on and got settled.

We'd been to Carrefour so sorted out all our goodies.

Bolquere was like a ghost town as it is a ski-resort and thus out of season. It was strange seeing the pistes without snow, the chair lifts just swinging there...

This shows the bottom where three pistes meet, we think of varying levels of difficulty.

As you can see from the picture below, we had a wonderful view out of the motorhome and all for free!

As the afternoon wore on we kept hearing bells, so Dean went out to investigate and came across a herd of cows complete with bells hanging from their collars. We'd already seen goats with bells in Clermont-Ferrand (lost the photos) but not cows. Anyone who knows Angela will know why she did not accompany Dean on his investigations...

During the evening we spotted a few birds flying around. A Linnet, A Bullfinch that Dean filmed on the camcorder eating the seeds from a Dandelion and a bird that is a scarce visitor in the UK, a Black Redstart.

15 to 16 June 2009 - Nefiach

This ended up being a lovely relaxed family run campsite, just to the left of Perpignan. It was a bit of a haven as we were able to get a load of washing and cleaning done - not easy in a motorhome!

We had the duvets hanging from the awning, washing dangling from the cycle rack strung up to a tree, Dean getting stressed as we were under a False Acacia tree that was covered in bugs that spat all over the van! I guess secreted is a better word..

All we needed was a couple of milk churns and a scabby dog, a large propane bottle and some coils of copper wire and we would have been moved on in Britain!

However, jobs all done we then discovered that we were parked opposite a Hoopoe nest (a scarce visitor to the UK). The two parents kept coming back to feed the babies with grubs, and it was lovely to sit and watch them going about their business along with a glass of wine.

On site there was a bar/restaurant run by the owners so we treated ourselves to a pizza, a jar of aoilii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiolii) and chips! How fantastic was that?! We loved it then drank some more wine and beer.

We were so quiet the owners forgot we were there, so we had to go and interrupt them to ask for the bill.

The next day we walked into the village to buy a few provisions.....but as we keep forgetting the French close between 12 and 2pm, the other shops we needed were closed this day also!

We walked through the side streets of this lovely little hamlet and came across this lovely church. Attached to it was a post office where we purchased some stamps for our post cards (sorry if you have not received one yet!). Walking around the side streets we noticed a lot of houses had the Catalan flag flying.

13 t0 14 June 2009 - Port Barcares

The bicycles were finally dusted off and we went for a couple of rides, the first being along the designated cycle route that took us out to the other end of the village.

Some of the route was parallel to the Mediterannean Sea, and on the other day we took a ride out along the river that merges with it called the L'Agly. There were quite a few jellyfish in the harbour and we managed to get a couple of good pictures...and that prompted us to watch Finding Nemo that night!



When we got back we braved the beach, and Dean took a dip into the Med whilst Angela got comfy with her E-Reader!

12 June 2009 - Port Barcares

We’re using campsites from a Dutch camping club called ACSI, where you get discounted rates off season. One of the good things about it is that it states the campsites that will accommodate the larger vehicles, i.e. us!

However, this was the first case where we think they may have over-estimated their ability as the trees were low and the lanes very narrow.

We found one pitch that had plenty of shade, but shade means no satellite access! Shade was more important at the time as we were right by the Med (100m) and the temperatures were in the low 30s.

This was all after we’d caused a bit of a traffic jam as nobody told us we had to park up and wander into the site, so we ended up stuck at the barrier without the code to get in and two cars behind us so we could not reverse! We sorted things out in the end but it did not endear us to the site, and they didn’t seem to cater for motorhomes.

The only reason we stayed was we’d wandered down to the Med and it looked like a nice place to visit....and there were two cycle rides we’d spotted that we wanted to do. We stopped off at a little bar and had ourselves a beer and wine then wandered back to chill out.

11 June 2009 - Gruissan

The last couple of days were spent pottering about, reading and getting sunburnt! We both put sun cream on but were unaware how hot it was as there was a breeze coming off the Med.

Today, we went for a walk around the village and were pleasantly surprised. All around the edge of the chateau they had a designated foot/cycle path so we meandered along that then stopped for a coffee in a lovely little side street. You had to breathe in when any cars came through but it had a really relaxed feel to the place, and the shop opposite was owned by an ex-pat who warned us to get the factor 50 out as a heat wave was on its way – too late!

8 June 2009 - Gruissan

Not quite the first people there at the Caves, but nearly! We had been warned that the tour was in French, but they kindly gave us an English translation to follow as we went round in the group.

It was really interesting as it explained how the caves were formed in the first place, and how the natural vents (fleurines) were created that allows the airflow to be maintained whilst the cheese matures.

We were allowed to go into the working caves which were great as we were concerned it would just be a simulated model. Then the best bit – tasting!! Roquefort did very well out of us that day as we bought a selection of three different cheeses, but it was a real bun fight to get served as nobody bothered to queue...

This took up our morning, so we then set off towards a place called Narbonne-Plage very close to Perpignan about lunchtime. It took us longer than we thought and towards the end of our journey the directions we had were about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Dean had been driving for about four hours by now and it seemed as if we were going round in circles, in an area that was less than inviting but luckily we saw a sign for an Aire and just went for it! We didn’t care what it was like, we just wanted to park up, relax and cool down...

It was a real bonus as we ended up in a village called Gruissan, just below where we were headed. The Aire was equipped for 100 motorhomes and you could just park up where you liked and everything was easy, and it was right by the harbour so you could look at the boats that were moored up.

7 June 2009 – Roquefort (via Millau Viaduct)

We headed first for the viewpoint for the Viaduct and were not disappointed. Although it is a modern structure in the midst of beautiful countryside, somehow it seems to fit in perfectly. As you approach it in a vehicle it looks like the pipes of a Church organ.

As it is so high, on a cloudy day sometimes the bridge looks like it is floating in mid air as the clouds are underneath you. We were lucky as it was a clear day, albeit cold so we could see for miles.
For the ‘experience’ we decided to drive over the 2.5km length of the viaduct, paid our nine euros and ‘experienced’ a very mundane journey over it as you cannot see anything! When it was originally built they did not have the full barriers at the sides, but so many people complained of vertigo and side effects they had to put them in.

Roquefort was our ultimate destination, where we found the Aire at the Tourist Office and were the only ones there. The views around us were spectacular, and the sunset was amazing – such brilliant shades of pink, through orange to deep red.

We wandered into the village of Roquefort to visit the cheese caves but as this was France and a Sunday it was shut! Hence, we went and bought some cheese anyway (from the one shop that was open) and made a promise to visit the cave tomorrow.

1 - 6 June 2009 – Millau

As we had such a good pitch at Millau, and after our escapade with the fuel kiosk we decided to stay for another week. The time was spent relaxing, and we went for a walk along the Tarn one day.

One evening, Dean captured a fantastic video of a heron catching a trout and its subsequent devouring. There was also a resident red squirrel that we 'adopted and called Scamper' that used to visit us most days. We had previously bought some bird feeders that we put outside, and we could watch them all coming and going. We think it was something of a novelty for them!

The weather took a turn for the worse later in the week, so we decided it was time to move on at the weekend. As we were leaving, six car loads of Dutch people were travelling to Ibiza in 'Ducks' - known to us as Citroen 2CVs – to be hired out over the summer season and the proceeds raised donated to charity.