"This is not a Holiday!"

Neither does the sun usually burn off the cloud until at least 11 am so we have been doing our bits of business and admin in the mornings. We have had some memorable queues at the Post Office, but have sorted out a dodgy Satellite box, fridge hinges, wardrobe doors, broken sunbed slats, inflated bank charges, warped bike wheel, dead aloe vera and the internet! Last Wednesday we took the bus to the capital Puerto del Rosario.

Not a great success on the "tasks" front as the big shops we wanted to visit did surprisingly take siesta. This left us stuck on an industrial estate with no transport.. Never mind - the city is being spruced up and it's pleasant to walk round. Cruise ships such as the Aida - above - now visit, and there is a trail of new sculptures, such as the one shown, which seems particularly apt!

Gathering Winter Fuuuuuu- e -l!

Bob has just received his first annual Winter Fuel Allowance from Her Majesty's Government! Thank you - it will pay for some sun tan lotion or cold beer!

We have been here three weeks now. The weather has been largely lovely and we have had a day each week on the famous Oliva Beach at the "two hotels". The photo is from archive as we no longer take valuables (like cameras) there!

We have also enjoyed many afternoons on one of our roof terraces in temperatures up to 32 degrees C. The sun is setting at around 6pm so you have to be quick!

Wednesday 7th November - a date for Rangers to remember!

We returned the car to Hertz Stansted - a rather more satisfactory procedure than picking it up! - and had a meal at the airport, then took the courtesy bus to Holiday Inn where we had a fairly good value overnight deal! There were a few football fans around!

Next morning we were back at the terminal and as we worked our way towards the plane (having to yield a jar of horseradish source as a security menace) we realise we were bound for the came place as 200 Rangers fans. It was the Rangers-Barcelona match that night (Some Euro thing - we know nothing - we are not from Barcelona!)

An unforgetable flight! Fortunately short! We had the Northerh Irish contingent all around us! *"What! Ryanair is a Feinon company?") Complete with song sheets, and an immoderate line on Celtic, the Pope and the primacyof the good Queen!

The airport in Girona was awash with more of the 20.000 that attended! We got out and visited Yvette to disconnect her batteries, talc her wipers and swap luggage! Then back to the same hotel to watch the TV commentary on Rangers fans in Barca, have another over-elaborate meal and prepare for a 4.15 taxi!

UK for a week - not a lot to say!

Within an hour of landing we had paid 8 Sterling for 2 coffeees and 2 Danish pastries amd had a row with Hertz about their hidden charges for car hire. "Rip-off Britain!"
It was good to see friends and family, nonetheless!
We stayed in York with Chris and Penny, enjoying some real British ale, but not enjoying the food-poisonong (allegedly) acquired at the College training restaurant!
We went to Suffolk and saw Rose, Ray and Paul
Then to Croydon (good value Travelodge!!!) from where we saw Chloe and Chris twice, and went to Hants to have lunch with Ruth's parents & sisters (and John - Lois's partner!)
We picked up the post from Balham and bought a cheap mobile phone on Tooting market.
That's - for us - just about all you you need to do in UK!
So we left!

Hola y hasta pronto Girona (or the equivalent in Catalan!)

We could not find a hotel very near the airport in Girona (we have now.. !) so stayed at a very old-fashioned but friendly place in the Husa group. From it we visited the long-term parking place (Punt Central) and confirmed our reservation. We ate in their restaurant (a bit over-fussy!) and left next day. We looked round a neighbouring small town and took Yvette for a good wash and polish before her long winter rest! We used the Punt Central service back to the airport thinking we would leave the bag/s in Left Luggage. There is no such thing! - presumably as a consequence of the Madrid bombing - you do not find Left Luggage anywhere in Spain!

So we went into the city centre by bus - took an urban bus to a central point and had tapas in a nice lylle place on their Ramblas! Then we killed time until being thrown out of the bus station and then went back to the airport to doze until a 4.30 check-in for our Stansted flight back to Blighty!

Le petit ete!

We left the gite at the appointed hour on Saturday 27th October, with Madame not even wanting to inspect our cleaning! After washing the linen at the laundrette we picked up the Autoroute and set off South. We decided to push on to Perpignan - through all the region that had been so awfully wet both up and back in 2005! We stayed at the Premiere Classe, of course - this time with (slow) Wi-Fi! We ate well and had a thorough re-packing!

On the Sunday we drove to St Cyprien on the coast and had a wonderful ride on the bikes down a coastal path in bright sun. Nice place - worth visiting again! Next day the local papers rejoiced in how good the weather had been for this holiday Sunday (All Saints). On Monday morning we checked out and re-organised the car in order to put the bikes into the body of the car as would be needed for the winter. It was a simple drive (on national roads - not Autoroute) over the border and we reached the booked hotel in Girona with little trouble!

Things get a little better!

As the week progressed we were able to do some cycling - the best beimg south of the Alpilles - an East-West chain of pretty high mountains which seemed to offer some shelter from the Mistral! We visited some pleasing little towns, and some glorious terrain.

On Thursday afternoon we realised it was going to rain! The gite owner had complained that there had been none for 5 months - doing damage to olives and other crops. It poured! We went to St Remy for a wonderful meal at the Logis de France and came home for more "Fortunes of War"! On Friday it was market day in the village. We waited for the rain to stop and went down after noon. One stall! Possibly because all the stall-holders were in the Auberge

which we also visited for lunch! We spent the afternoon with a Marmite de Pecheur! Mussels, prawns, lotte (translation "devil fish" and scrumptious!) in a massive shared pot with free wine, salad, cheese and dessert for 8 Euros each! France at its rural best! We lurched back to the gite and set the alarm for an early cleaning & departure.

Into the Camargue

Sheltering from the Mistral we made two car excursions down to the Med and through the striking terrain of the Camargue. The second had as objective Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, where Ruth had spent a memorable time in 1982 sleeping on the beach! No blue plaque and you now can't drive as near to the lagoon! The sun shone, the wind had moderated and we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon there watching hordes of tourists! (We - of course - are travellers - not the T word!) Loads of horses, some flamingos, some bulls - a lot of marshland!

Also a lot of Roma begging!

October 20-27: Notre gite mignon

Our little home for the week was in the village of Eyragues. The nearest towns were St Remy (see other post) and Chateaurenard (left) - rather small and quiet but with (bliss and rapture!) a laundrette and internet place! The chateau dominates although it had a bit of a battering during the Revolution!

The village had a small supermarket and - in theory - 3 or 4 restaurants, but until the end of the stay they had a touch of the Italian and published opening times were not valid in October. We were reduced to the Vietnamese (OK!)!

The gite was half-attached to the home of a couple of our age, who were expecting us to be Spanish because of our address on the booking form! Very nice people with plenty of ideas on where we could cycle, and with local knowledge on the Mistral. By the first morning we had realised the 15 Euro charge per week for heating was going to be used! We set off on the bikes and after half an hour agreed this could not go on! The wind up and down the Rhone was reducing the temperature by at least 15 degrees C! Hands and faces were frozen and even downhills felt like uphills! Meanwhile the sun shone! Many recriminations over who should have remembered about the Mistral, and whether we should abandon early and head for the Pyrenees - where we had famously hit freak floods in 2005! In the end we stayed and did more touring by car than was envisaged. We watched the local weather forecasts and our own DVD collection of "Fortunes of War"!

In the footsteps of Van Gogh

This is where Vincent painted some of his most famous works. Just outside the city is the bridge you will probably recognise.

Later in the week we visited St Remy en Provence, where he painted over 150 works. It is a beautiful town, with a well-organised VG trail, big market, a lot of good restaurants and a terrible one-way system!

A week and a bit in Provence - Part 1

We had booked our gite from the Saturday, so we stayed two nights at the Premiere Classe on an out-of-town shopping centre in Arles. Sounds bad, but great value and close to such delights as the Campanile, where simple French food is always reliably served! On the second day we cycled the very short distance into Arles and saw some of the sights. These include the Roman amphitheatre (where unspeakable things still happen to bulls) and a mass of Provencale restaurants.

There are two indicated trails round the city (Roman & Van Gogh..see next posting). We can add another: the trail round all UK-linked banks looking for an ATM that allowed PIN actions so Bob could sort out the blocked credit card. (Failed!)

Toulon again!

We had no idea when we arrived in Toulon back on 8th July that this would be our re-entry point to France

It took a long time for the ferry to manoeuvre into the harbour and we were intrigued by the way it was moored to posts out at sea.

We were soon off and on the road to Arles. The sun shone and we stopped for beer and a baguette in a little town in the mountains.

Good to be back!

Italy 1: France 5

The port of Civitavecchia turned out to be delightful! We had to hang around the terminal for some time before getting a ticket, and then we spent the afternoon at the laundrette (!) and in a sea-farers' centre with internet access. Bob also got a haircut.

Then it was back to the port for the Grimaldi ferry to Toulon. (They also sail to Barcelona, which could prove useful sometime!)

Yvette had to travel in the open air this time (with 9 French and 1 Italian car) as shown here!

We left Italy with few regrets! We could we being unfair but we did not like: useless road signs, aggressive driving, fear of crime, privately owned beaches, no cheap hotel chain, closure of facilities in Autumn...

On the other hand they have secured a smoking ban in restaurants, and the fast food is excellent! On the boat there was a long queue for dinner (serious French passengers!) The crossing was smooth!

All roads lead to Rome!

We decided to get to France a bit earlier than necessary as the military man on the TV weather said rain was on the way! See also next entry for our probs with Italy! We drove aross the "calf" of Italy on Monday and headed for the coast south of Rome. We were looking for a moderately large seaside town with quiet hotels and reastaurants, a laundrette and internet office, and some coastal cycling! Latina fails on most scores, but the rest of coastal Italy seemed closed! After lengthy inspections of the coast we ended up there in the rush-hour with little to help us find a place to hang our hats!
Eventually we found the Hotel Rose (in Holiday Inn chain) - very friendly & helpful and with one trattoria nearby (behind the bowling alley!)! Next day we drove to Sadaubia on the staff's advice and realised it met (nearly) all the previous criteria! It was built by Mussolini as a model new town and has an impressive length of beach backed by a lagoon. A lovely ride on the bikes but of course most places were closed!
Camera battery also flat so no pics!
(The "nearly" for town facilities refers to our quest with a bag of dirty washing for the promised laundrette that turned out to be a dry cleaners disguised as a tobacconists!)
That evening we ate at the same place and tried to book our next ferry. The receptionist couldn't find the ampersand sign on the keyboard so we had to set off next day without a firm booking! We will need a very good reason to return to the centre of Latina!
On Wednesday morning we set off for the exit from Italy and handled the Rome ring road fairly well to arrive at Civitavecchia 60 km north on a deserted Autostrada. Things were getting better!

Sunday at The Grove!

..still catching up.. weather here in Fuerte just too good!

not The Grove in Balham, but an olive grove near Torre Canne during a very pleasant bike ride on Sunday 14th October!

Pretty old and wizzened, but still fit for purpose!

A bit of luxury!

After some dithering we signed in at the Hotel de Levante in Torre Canne (nearest town: Fusano inland a little!) It was well over-budget but there was virtually nothing else around. This is the view from our balcony. We stayed two nights, eating more than once at a very good small restaurant and meeting a British couple older than us who had travelled extensively and had many tales to tell including their recent tyre-slashing and passport theft!

Sunny but windy on the Puglia coast!

.. and after that short break...

... we are now on broadband in our Fuerte home! (Very efficient despite what is often said about Telefonica)... so we resume the saga of our migration with our arrival in Italy on 13th October.

We were under-prepared for Italy - we had lost a fair amount of travel literature in the house-fire of 2004 and we were operating on a hunch that the Puglia coast would be interesting, so we went to Bari, docking in quite pleasant weather; and we set off southwards to see what we could find! Bari itself has a very elegant waterfront, and therefter there is a series of towns with attractive harbours. There was a short period of rain as we drove, and we were unsure how far to go before settling. Many of the places that would have been delightful in season were closed!