Med to Manche in seven steps (some easier than others!)

Better late than never:- here is how Greyrocks progressed from Barcelona to the English channel in just three weeks or so, and seven carefully chosen steps. (and it is only a month overdue!)
We began as ever with a flight from Fuerte at a very reasonable residents' price, a swift pick-up by the Frontair Congress shuttle, an excellent all-in dinner, and the prospect of an efficient return journey to the airport next day. Booked early this is a real winner, even if the heating system had a fault and the room was like an oven, the TV was broken and the internet barely functioning! Still the driver did his thing and dropped us at the station, there were no "incidents" on the "line of fear" and our parking people were waiting for us at the station. Yvette was ready too:- gleaming and well-rested she got us over the border and the Pyrenees in no time at all and we were in St Cyprien  hunting for a private apartment we had booked for two nights because Brasilia would not be open for the season until the Saturday.



A long and winding road!
 

It was a short stay, but the flat was very well-appointed and close to the sea. We had bicycle trips in several directions, visited the big market and got in some fine standard French dinners, then moved a few miles up the coast to good old Brasilia at Canet-en-Roussillon on its first day of operation for 5 days in the cheap pre-fabs - this time in Colibri (humming-bird).    We stayed five nights and enjoyed some fine sunshine but chilly winds. We found some charming villages inland and enjoyed a Sunday lunch by the sea at Sainte Marie. We got the bikes serviced as usual and did very little else before moving on to Lattes for a week.






The Lattes "mob" - palms and snow!
 

Palavas; the previously unseen chair lift
in operation on sunny Easter Saturday!

Palavas: outdoor seafood - Yum- sorry Linda!

The weather for the week was variable!  On three days (including Easter Saturday) we went to the seaside in bright sunshine, but on two days there was heavy rain and we took the tram to Montpellier to go to the cinema after a brasserie lunch. One of many delightful features of the city is the presence of VO films:– one in the eye for the usual French practice of appalling dubbing! On the second occasion we even got in for a much reduced price by buying the tickets in the brasserie! The films we saw were OK (The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fading Gigolo), and it was dry inside!

We also sought refuge in an exhibition of Linda McCartney’sphotographs, which was fascinating and free!

We spent much of the home time trying to listen to Radio Caroline as it ran through its 50th anniversary Top 500 albums.  - although we missed huge chunks when the WiFi failed - a bit of a recurring them on this migration!

Next we went to Brive! This is not something one would do for pleasure, but Greyrocks has developed a model for migration motoring and it does at least have convenient hotels very close to the autoroute for an overnight. The main principles are a maximum of 250 miles (400 km) for a day’s drive and that if a place is worth staying in it should be for three nights. This policy was severely breached en route to Brive! Greyrocks started out well with the Millau bridge and a mysterious war monument beside the autoroute to add interest and a start on the cross-country bit between autoroutes near Rodez. A picnic lunch was consumed beside a reservoir and smug remarks were made about how well it was going and the possibility of finding anything interesting to do in Brive when we would arrive so early. Within half an hour it had all gone pear-shaped! A turn was missed and an opportunity to turn back was passed over because it looked as if there was an alternative, but the navigator had misread the map and an anticipated junction wasn’t one! We ended up having to go through the centre of Cahors having gone West with no northerly progress – and it started to rain! An excess of at least 80 miles (130 km) and two hours: – humble pie was consumed in the Brive B&B! (Greyrocks researched the war monument and found an account of its history that was so full and fascinating that Ruth sent a message to the blog author!)


Both weather and navigation were better for the next day! We were off to St Germain de Confolens to visit George and his lodger and son as usual. Our regular hotel in Availles was full so we picked a little bed and breakfast place run by a Dutch couple. It is in a very rural setting and has a campsite across the road, goats and a largely Dutch client base. The rooms (we stayed in both the French and the Turkish) are lovingly decorated and furnished but with great modern bathrooms, and a French breakfast is offered in a garden room with a (very necessary) wood –burning stove. Unfortunately we came up against what has turned out to be a serious communication problem in that Windows 8.1 (naïvely installed since last migration) will not connect to some WiFi networks and this was one of them, so we spent some of the time lurking in bars in Confolens to use theirs and came across a lot of ex-pat Brits. The weather was foul throughout and the bicycles stayed on the rack for the whole weekend. We were fed twice chez George but managed to take them out for Sunday lunch at their choice:- a Chinese buffet in St Junien! Heaving by 1pm!

Chinon from the castle

The easy way up!

Chinon- a pretty town!

Then it was off North for four days in a carefully selected spot on the Indre: the plan being flat cycling country. We chose a campsite in Rivarennes for this. The mobile was sheer luxury – even having its own personal swimming pool (unused by us, of course!). The village did not have much to offer other than outlets for poires tapees – the local speciality, a shop that closed bang on 7pm (we tried at 7.02) and one restaurant that was closed on Tuesday(we tried on a Tuesday!) Still, there was only one other occupied property and the owner was very obliging and did our washing for free. It had to go in the tumble dryer because the weather was unremittingly bad! The bikes stayed on the rack again and socks had to be found from recesses when we made our trips out in the car. Desperation for Greyrocks migration is when it makes more sense to have a good lunch out and hunker down in the evening with the BBC i-player! There were two of those occasions: we went to Langeais but could only get from car to restaurant and back, and to Chinon, which was a bit brighter and we managed a bit of walking round – including taking the lift up to the castle. Our nearest town was Azay-le-Rideau. We had two evenings there and managed to eat in restaurants we thought were fine and good value only to discover them both slated on Trip Advisor! Ah well!

The final day’s travel on the upwards France leg was to Coquelles. This was to experiment with a new ferry company (My Ferry Link). It was May Day, so the narrative on this "April" post(!) stops here!



 

Surfin' FUE

"Einstein was a Surfer"

A previous post mentioned that there has been a huge outbreak of surf schools this year. Greyrocks intended to make more of this in the last post about the final week, but forgot because these photos were shot on a mobile phone and got lost.
The fact is that in the final phase of Greyrocks' season the strong wind was almost constantly between NNW and NNE, which is bad news for most tourists and residents, but bliss for surfers of all sorts. (Well - not for the increasingly popular form of SUP!) At our nearest point on the promenade there were frequent waves forceful enough to through up the picon onto the pavement.
Despite a total lack of experience of the activity Greyrocks has developed a fondness for it. Firstly the tourists it brings into Corralejo (many Italian, from the Peninsula or German) are exactly what the authorities don't want to encourage, but it has brought down the price of beer, and injected some budget places to stay. A great antidote to the ludicrous obsession with 5* All-Inclusive etc!


Paseo Maritima de Bristol Playa

Second it ties in with Greyrocks' musical find of the season. A great deal has been heard (and watched on YouTube) by Jimmy Buffett chez nous. The sentiments in the lyrics strike many chords with Greyrocks as over-aged beach bums (or "parrot-heads).. such as "It may be 12.30 but it's 5 o'clock somewhere!"
So when we saw this in the window of a surf shop it had to be captured and associated with this this.



Le Grand Depart

Chocolate and beetroot? - Yummy!

For Greyrocks "De-carnavalising" ran into Closedown,  Migration Packing, Last GP Visit and "The London Property Project". Annoyingly early April also saw the wind drop significantly and some gloriously sunny afternoons of which we could only take partial advantage. Still,  there were three social functions. Most significantly there was a Golden Wedding Anniversary party for Julian and Yvonne. (They were married on the day that Radio Caroline first broadcast!)
Following a trend Greyrocks thinks it established it was a "do" at The Blue Rock with a buffet cooked by Casbah Mike and a cake by Eileen, which was a glimmering and sparkling work of art. A great time was had by all!
A few days later many of the female folk held a Ladies' Lunch at La Plaza which morphed into cocktails at the other La Plaza. (En route Ruth dropped in at the Municipal Offices with an ancient laptop which they offered to deal with environmentally. Greyrocks had spent much of a morning previously getting out the hard disk and killing it with hammer and boiling water)
Finally there was a pair of birthdays the day before departure. Sensibly six of us held a little party next door the previous evening (well it started in the afternoon, really!) with Ruth trying in tandem to sort out some IT issues for Pete. On the night itself we made it to Rock Island to meet both birthday folk but came away early to prepare for departure. Technology fought back as a mobile phone sneaked its way into a pocket and got a 40 degree wash!

Next day (April 9th) Greyrocks flew to Barcelona.