Out in the Midi sun!

 We flew to Barcelona for about 80 euros in total, and took the two trains to our pick-up point. On the first Metro we were mindful of both our own experience last year, and of information we had gathered from the TV ("Our man in..") about local policing policy, so could not relax, and did witness some very suspicious behaviour, and have a discussion with a young woman about it. We had a long wait at the connecting station and basked in bright sunshine, were transported back to pick up Yvette:- newly washed and ready to go!  We spent the night in Salt and then drove over the border - again in beautiful weather - to Lattes:- the new town on the outskirts of Montpellier where we stayed in October.
We just had time to unpack kit and bikes before going to get Chloe from the airport. She had a few days of leave to use up before the end of March, and had spoken of exotic places with guaranteed sun to help her recover from the rigours of exploitative employment in a famous UK chain of bakers! We persuaded her that there wasn't enough time for that, and that  it would be better  to meet us in the mobile home. After a few sunny days she was wishing her extra day's leave could be spent there too, so we changed the flight for a reasonable fee, and she managed five nights with us. (Easyjet are so much more reasonable than Ryanair in this respect!)

The weather was glorious! We spent time in a good range of the coastal towns - including one new to us - Carnon, where we shopped at the market. We hired a campsite bike and went together to Palavas, but it was very uncomfortable so later rides were just Chloe and Bob. We introduced Chloe to the delights of a degustation de coquillage, and she was unimpressed - particularly by oysters! On the day of departure we went quite early to the airport and waited for check-in, only to discover  that the French air traffic controllers' strike would mean a 5 hour delay. Asked not to leave the airport we bought a picnic lunch, found chairs from the car and sat in the sun in a car park. We received a lot of "Bon Apetits!" from the passers-by. Then we were bored, and lacking information. We decided to drive back the 10 minutes to the campsite from where we could monitor the flight online, so it was another game of Scrabble in the sun! Unfortunately we managed a navigational error on the way back to the airport, and Ruth did a major panic in trying to get Chloe to the gate on time.
Next day was our last one and the weather broke! No last sunny al fresco tables, no last bike ride, no last strolls round markets... etc etc, and that is how it has continued!