Up in the Air - and Back on the Air

After the Lattes campsite we had one night in Perpignan (as did the Scttish rugby team) and then one in Salt near Girona. Thanks to Ryanair (Grrr) with its serious partial withdrawal from Girona airport we needed to avail ourselves of a new free service offered by Punt Central Parking. After saying goodbye to Yvette we were driven to Caldes railway  station which connects easily with the Barcelona airport Metro service. It takes a very long time, but works and is more leisurely  than the bus alternative. Then a packed flight and a pick-up by Windows Dave.
Home again - and a busy time of re-integration, research and repair! It was also the run-up to Bob's Big Birthday, but more of that later! The weather was wonderful at times, but did also feature a red alert for high tide, and some heavy showers. The atmosphere around town is more upbeat than we feared. In our absence:

• The old town re-paving has been finished and looks good
• The urn water feature has been removed after being smashed
• The Cafe Lounge has been under a couple of new managements and fingers are crossed
• The Temple Bar has moved
• Two new and very popular tapas bars have opened near the Shell Staion (one is the old Piratas)
• At the top of the High Street there are major roadworks to widen foot and cycle paths, but make the road one-way
• Our complex has the contentious artificial grass round the pool
• It is impossible to buy The Guardian and Independent

On a beautiful Sunday we made our first trip to the big beach, and caught sight of the International Kite Festival. Bob walked a long way further south for a better view - and here it is:

And back by popular demand... Ruth is once again on the radio, with a regular slot of Wednesday 12 till 2pm, and doing some cover slots, too! So tune in online to Hot FM for an eclectic mix of music and a teasing competition.

Languedoc for beginners

 So the second half of October was a blank slate. The weather predictions were slightly better for France than for Catalunya so after collecting the car we turned right rather than left from Girona, and headed into the region of Languedoc-Roussillon. The plan was to start at Lattes - almost a suburb of Montpellier but even closer to the sea (just west of La grande Motte), and then to come back south and stop at either Agde or Canet - the then favourite spots on this bit of coast. There was a slight thwarting of plans when we turned up at the selected campsite to discover there were two exhibitions on and so no space other than for tents. It was not tent weather, so we spent the night in a local Premier Classe, ate at the Campanile and went back the next day to Camping Le Parc to hire a mobile home. This was an excellent base, and the mobile was almost new and very comfortable. For the first week it was also very quiet - just a few camper-vans. We liked it so much that we booked a second week, making this the accommodation in which we have had the longest stay ever in France! It became busier, with the French half-term holiday, but still very restful. We stayed until it was about to close for the season.

Lattes is not exactly scenic - mostly huge shopping opportunities! It is also currently afflicted by major road works to make a new third tramway through the agglomeration - as far as the sea. This will go down the middle of widened roads, and will - in the spirit of Montpellier described in the Spring - be a grand projet to be proud of! If you don't understand how much better the French are at them take a look at this. Crisis, what crisis! On one of our cycling trips we saw a tram doing a trial run with dignatories and press in attendance.

The weather was - unsurprisingly - mixed! Here is the Metéos' map for one of those six or so days when we were definitely not going for a bike ride! This is when enormous French shopping malls come into their own, and when cheap Wi-fi with BBC radio plays and readings are de rigeur!  .. but there were also a handful of days when the weather was better than we had left behind in Greece! We much enjoyed the nearest seaside spot of Palavas - reached by cycling down the side of the Lez, and we also cycled  upstream to the centre of Montpellier on a beautiful day. There was a film festival in progress and we were once again impressed by this lovely city. We had just finished watching a series of TV programmes about Pathé so this building caught our notice!

 On the dodgy days we went out by car and visited other coastal towns. Le Grau was fairly quiet and attractive. On the way back a navigational error took us closer than planned to Aigues Mortes where there was a Camarguais show of some sort going on; and - of course - we saw a lot of flamingoes!

Star prize for energetic pursuit goes to Bob, who - on a perfect cycling day-rode to Perols and then alongside the Canal do Rhone à Sète ending up back in Palavas -a  ride of one and a half hours and flat as a pancake! He was then tempted by the dégustation of seafood - but resisted!