This Year's Great Trek North

We left Fuerteventura on Sunday 25th April (nervously bidding farewell to Chloe and Charlie who were ash-stranded until the next day). Our flight to Barcelona was completely unaffected, but the airport had plenty of anxious and angry Brits. In parrticular it seems that Thomas Cook locally had made a desperate mess of repatriating the stranded, so that seats were empty whilst flight-only customers were being dumped. We got a rundown on this from our insider, and it did sound bad! So interesting in fact that we had to run for the plane and were last on!

The journey from Barcelona airport to Girona airport was tedious: shuttle bus, two trains and a coach, but it all worked and the sun was shining as brightly as it had been in the Canaries. The train station at Barcelona Nord bus terminal is a mess and has no lift. We had been dreading carting all our belongings up the two flights of stairs, but a British party jumped in and helped, and in getting the coach, which runs every 15 minutes we saw shades of ash-chaos with pushing and shoving to get on. At the airport hotel we came across an Irish couple that had just discovered the theft - in the Reception area - of 2000 euros in cash plus all cards. What can you say?

In the morning we rang Yvette's winter guardian and he was with us in five minutes, taking us to their new off-site barn. A truly wonderful service!  She started first time and although there were a few electical  and other glitches all was well.

We had very few fixed points in planning the itinerary. This how it panned out:

• Girona
• Canet-en-Roussillon: 8 nights
• Carcassonne: overnight
• Brive: 2 nights
• Perigueux: 2 nights
• Le Queroy with George and Gregory: 2 nights
• Royan: 7 nights
• Orleans: 2 nights
• Metz: overnight
• Karlstadt, Bavaria

.. and the details!

In beautiful weather we crossed the Pyrenees and headed for Le Brasilia in Canet, but we had already decided it was not yet tent conditions, so we took a brand new mobile home instead. This was slightly over-budget as the cheap deal we used last year was not yet operational. In fact the site had only been open five days. The staff remembered us and were very friendly and proud of their new water park.  (see artist's impression!) It is supposed to evoke the Seychelles. By the time we were ready to risk our still cold- and cough-ridden bodies in the water the weather had changed - dramatically - and we saw no more of that feature!

The first hint that all was not well on the meteo front came when we took the bikes in for annual service on the promenade. We had a minimal discussion with the owner about the wind and he said there was some heavy rain on the way by Friday. There certainly was, and it turned very cold. We rummaged out warm clothes we had not expected to need, took to eating inside and worked our way through accumulated TV programmes. This included our take on watching the final UK leaders' debate: taking the laptop to a free WiFi cafe on the cold sea-front, downloading it with our special VPN deal over a beer, taking it back to the campsite and watching it in their huge deserted bar area over a pichet of red wine whilst the rain pelted down and 100kph winds blew. By Sunday there was some let-up and we managed a short ride along the prom where there was a huge brocante (car boot sale without the cars) along its entire entire 2 km length. We got back to the site just before the storm. This time it was even worse and by now the ground was sodden, so mud was added to the list! Nor did the meteo indicate that it would stop soon or that anywhere else in France was much better. By Tuesday morning we wondered if it was even safe to drive as planned. We waited and finally decided it had improved slightly and we would go some of the way towards the Dordogne. It was hard-going but we got to Carcassonne looking forward to the (very) simple comfort of the Premiere Classe hotel, only to find the credit card automated booking machine was having a bad day too! In a supermarket car park we finally admitted defeat and Bob looked out jeans, socks and trainers before racing inside to kill time over a hot chocolate. We re-acquainted ourselves with the delights of Campanile buffet dinners (although we think they have become a little meaner since last year). Next morning it had stopped raining so we set off for Brive. It was cold but OK for the main drive, but 20 or 30 km south of Brive we turned off to look at pretty riverside towns. The rain started, then the SNOW! Admittedly this was at some height, but it was shocking and quite frightening. Brive is not an interesting plaace, but we stayed two nights and did a lot of looking round for places that might be good for camping and or canoes in better weather. It was here - in one of Premiere Classe's disabled-friendly rooms that we passed UK Election Night - with the BBC radio commentary and the web-site. There is nothing to add about the outcome!

For Friday and Saturday nights we were based in Perigueux. We made some long car excursions out into beautiful countryside, but it was far too cold and potentially wet for cycling. We also made a list of pretty and small towns that were worth a visit in better weather, and we spent a few hours in Perigueux itself- a gastronome's paradise! Fortunately for those of us "not on holiday" - the restaurants were mostly closed!

Then we continued further North to visit George and son Gregory at the fishing enterprise near Poitiers. It was the first time we had seen them in person since Penny died in September, so the visit was tinged with sadness, but they are coping together, and we had some long conversations - not least about the on-going coalition negotiations :- George being lukewarm about the Lib Dems, to say the least. The foul weather continued! We saw nothing of the estate this time (no clients that week in any case), but did have several sightings of the hoopoe that lives in the lodge. In spite of it being the national bird of Israel we were very taken with it!

In Confolens several restaurants have closed and we found it very quiet, and in the village of Abzac there is now no source of fresh bread other than what is ordered and distributed from the residential home there. All rather depressing in terms of French social life! Anyway we ate at home on both nights, and spent time looking on-line for a part of France that might have better weather for our next phase. Nowhere looked good, so we were persuaded by G&G to try Royan - south of the Vendeee - a place that interests them in terms of relocation. We decided to take a whole week as we had not confirmed our proposed trip to Germany. It wasn't easy to find accommodation with the long weekend coming up. (There were 4 bank holidays in May in France this year!) After a struggle and a phone call by George we found Camping Le Royan with a mobile home for a fair price.

We drove down during the day through rain (again!). G&G followed later in the day and missed it, but it was very cold, windy and often wet during the time we were all there. Bob did some cycling with Gregory (and a little with George), we all attempted to fly a kite on the beach, and got a sense of the area. The town suffered badly from wartime bombardment, and was rebuilt to a regular street layout and with striking buildings such as the church. It was busy with French tourists for the long weekend. Very close is St George de Dindonne ("Ding-dong") - much quieter and verdant and with a wide beach. On our first visit we saw the local strolling band with clowns. Unfortunately all our activities were curtailed by the bitter weather, and we had to take shelter in bars and cafes. G&G had to leave after three nights, but before we saw them off we went to the local GoKart track. We stayed for the rest of the week , and the weather did improve somewhat! On the Sunday we took the bikes up the coast and undertook a (largely) published cycle ride with both coastal and forest parts. It was very busy with cyclists of all ages and many nationalities. Bob saw a teenage girl in an organised group stop twice in short succession to re-do her make-up

After a busy weekend things returned to a quiet normality for our remaining time - and so did the weather - dull, cold and windy! On Tuesday we set off for Germany. First stop was to be Orleans - straight up the A10. As we drove the sun came out. We stopped for a quick lunch in a service staion north of Poitiers, and as we got into the car someone pointed  to a rear tyre and we saw it was flat. Panic! We didn't think we could change the wheel ourselves and indeed were not sure where the relevant tools were, so we rang the number for our (Spanish-based) breakdown service. There was alot of to-ing and fro-ing with the phone calls, and the eventual discover that a service station is counted as equivalent to the motorway itself, so not covered! However the employee suggested we speak to a service-station person, and we found a man who was happy to do it for a modest tip. We had already emptied out the back of the car:- not a trivial task with all our life within it (including for camping). The spare tyre on this Doblo is an emergency-only affair stored underneath the car. We had to leave the motorway at the next junction and use intutition to find a tyre shop in Chateaulereut. This we managed and paid just 3 euros for a new valve and re-fitting of the original tyre. We had lost a couple of hours and added a few miles, but made it to Orleans. We stayed two nights there and made some trips around the Loire, finding quiet towns and villages. Then a long uneventful  drive to the final stop at Metz. We were within spitting distance of the German border.

"Be careful what you wish for!"

Well, since the UK Election we have had ten days or so of difficult access to news and internet: snatching headlines and out-of-date comment. We have come to realise that the "Progressive Coalition" we wanted (with a better agenda than Labour actually offered at the election!) just wouldn't work, either arithmetically or in the face of the malice of people like Blunkett; so we are watching with deep unease and scepticism. This will be the final excursion into political commentary (for a while):- back to the trivia and self-indulgence!

Home Thoughts from Abroad on Election Eve!

With apologies to our non-UK readers - this is very British and full of references you may not understand!

Well, we are in Brive, near the Dordogne and have had a revolting series of days for weather. This will be documented in an imminent blog, but we want to get down on record now what we want from tomorrow's General Election in UK.
We are entitled to votes because we have been on the Electoral Roll there within the last 5 years, so Chloe had our proxy and has (albeit inefficiently) voted according to our wishes.
These are aimed at securing what we think is the only helpful outcome - a Hung Parliament!
It goes (we hope in terms of our beloved followers) without saying that a Tory majority would be a disaster. Despite all the image manipulation they remain a very "nasty" party on all social issues, would savagely cut public service without care for those dependent on them, and have taxation plans for the richest that make you sick!
But we also want a result that makes New Labour squirm with shame. A couple of months ago Ruth read an article in the International edition of the Guardian by her former comrade Peter Hain and was so incensed she wrote a reply. It was too late (or weak?) to be published, but she also sent it to him at the House of Commons and got an unapologetic but polite reply. This is what she then said:

Hain’s pitch for liberals has too many holes!

It’s a clever move by Millbank to wheel out Peter Hain for an attempt to draw back the disgusted baby-boomers who – under an unfair voting system – will have to decide whether they can put a clothes-peg o n their nose and vote Labour. It is clever because we feel great nostalgia for the era of courageous, creative, moral outrage which Peter symbolised in the Young Liberals and anti-Apartheid campaigns in the early Seventies. Along with others I followed him over to the Labour Party, but along with many others had to leave some post-Smith years later when the reality of Blair-Campbell-Mandelson and - perhaps most offensive of all then to liberals - the various guises of Blunkett – became apparent.


Somehow Peter Hain lived with himself– and flourished – through all of that! Then came Iraq!! The apology he will have to utter to persuade hundreds of thousands to comfortably wish for an unfettered Labour majority is surely too great!


He tells us that Labour is committed to constitutional reform, but the record is of broken pledges on the electoral system, puny tinkering with the Lords and use of peerages to stuff the government with unelected cronies.


We have to campaign strategically for a “well-hung parliament”- free of the cringing sycophants who let Blair go his own strange, sanctimonious and disastrous way. The price of co-operation should be a respectable phase of “truth and reconciliation” - followed by the head of Brown, whose timidity and lack of repentance for the Blair years is also so offensive to the former friends of Peter Hain.

Now he has even gone back on the need for proportional representation - so no hope there!

Since then we have been cataloguing the sins of Brown and would add his two years of soft-pedalling with the banking community which allowed it to go its own way on credit policy. What he may have done as a rescue bid does not excuse his inactivity in the "prawn cocktail"  Blair years. OK, he did attempt some progressive taxation, and some other poverty-alleviating projects, and he himself is a social liberal, but what about nonsense like ID cards, growth in prison population, and the Straw-supported loss of civil liberties in Bush's "war on terror". He and they will have to answer for this!

So we will be listening on the internet in our cheap (fridge-less) French hotel tomorrow with an unchilled bottle of cheap Champers at the ready, hoping that history is made. We are angry, we want change and we will be back!

While the dust settled....

A spot of panic!
By the end of Thursday about the only place you could fly to from Fuerteventura was Spain. This was fine for the girls (with tickets to Madrid on Sunday), but there was then a problem. In due course Ryanair e-mailed to confirm the cancellation and the earliest they could offer for Madrid-Gatwick was Tuesday 27th, which meant they would have to fly to Madrid on the Monday night, so we did it, and bought them new tickets for that flight. So nine days extra in the sun for them when they should have been starting a new term at Brighton, and for us - instead of a clear run at a summer shut-down for the apartment - some unexpected guests.  In the end we handled it - but not helped by us going down in turn with the cold and cough Chloe brought over.
Out in the town there was a fair amount of chaos too, with thousands of people stranded on the island, At first they were taken to Caleta de Fuste to be nearer the airport, but that was then full and many were put up at Papagayo. Even those on "flight-only" were put up on full-board (but no booze) so as to avoid later claims for subsistence. Yet more folk wandering around town, spending no money, and no new ones coming in! It was a bit grim. Chloe and Charlie were the lucky ones. of course! We set them up for Uni work, kept their spending to a minimum and helped them over formalities.
An interesting event of the final week was our extra radio show. Bob had been working for weeks on a playlist that wa more serious than the froth Ruth often played in her weekly afternoon show. Auntie Val (she who must be obeyed) offered us an evening slot, so we developed this into a set of two tracks by each of some favourite artists (Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, Little Feat, Ian Dury, The Band, Neil Young....). Mike at The Casbah offered a pizza prize, and we formulated a competition. Bob remained silent throughout, and we had at least three listeners! Oh well! Pearsls to swine, perhaps!

In the final day or so the girls helped with the cleaning because we would be leaving 24 hours or so before them. We spent the final afternoon in good sun with Chris and Eileen, had a simple meal with girls at The Casbah, and that was it! We left the girls with a list of instructions on Sunday 25th.

The Calm before the Eruption

Early April saw some beautiful days! Even the cats at Africa's were relaxed! Here are El Negro and El Amarillo:

We had, nonetheless, to get some serious cleaning done in anticipation of the arrival of Chloe and her friend Charlie. For cheapness they were coming via Lanzarote on Friday 9th April, and there was anxiety about them getting the two buses to Playa Blanca, and catching a ferry before the last one at 7pm. In fact - thanks to Chloe's Spanish and a driver's use of a radio - they made an instant connection in Arrecife and sent a text to say they were on the 3pm. We were there to meet them.

They were due to stay for nine days. Charlie had been to Corralejo before with her family, but they went to a range of places, such as El Cotillo on the bus - where they got caught in the rain on the beach and were given alift all the way back, and to the various markets and Flag Beach on bikes. They also enjoyed the pool, which was starting to become tolerable in temperature, sunbathyed on the roof terrace until they were both burnt (we did warn!), cooked us a meal, and did some academic work. They were due to fly back on the Sunday (via Madrid). On Thursday the Icelandic volcano erupted and chaos ensued:- there was no way Ryanair would be flying them to Gatwick!

Rabbit, rabbit!

After Carnival and the Blues Festival - and with Chloe not due till the following week - we spent a quiet Easter long weekend. (In Spain the Thursday and Friday are Bank Holidays - but not the Monday) Schools were closed all week, and with improving weather there was a certain amount of horseplay round the pool on our complex.
On Good Friday we went down to the Hot FM studio where there were free coffee and hot cross buns for all who dropped in. The buns had been made at the bakery in Villaverde and were very tasty! At midday the weather was a bit dismal, but we went down to Africa's shack and spent several hours with Cakes Eileen and Fish Chris and the sun came out so strongly that noses were burnt:- a tourists' mistake that we should know about better!
The number of tourists was up - particularly those from Spanish mainland (the Peninsula).
This sand sculpture appeared on the town beach. Elsewhere there was a very large, ornate but gruesome crucifixion sculpture.

Blues and Bliss

The Carnival was followed - as has become the tradition - by the International Blues Festival.
It didn't really impinge on us for the first few days, as the acts were performing in the Municipal Auditorio, which is a fair old hike uo to the top of the town; but there was excellent feedback about the Dani Wilde group (US) and Le Caravan (local), with the latter featuring gypsy fiddle amonst other things.
We did see some evidence of musicians in town, and on the Monday evening we sauntered over to our local (and normally deserted) Cafe Lounge to see some Delta Blues, but it was packed out and overflowing.

However the last two days have daytime "Blues de la Calle" in the streets - mostly in the Old Town. On Friday we wandered round to see what was happening and ended up at the Blue Rock (just for a change) listening to Murphy Be Good, who is a local gutarist and singer who does a mean Santana. As you can see from the oiled Italian andonis spectators it was a glorious day, and we stayed a long time!
That evening there was a series of free performances in the "new" plaza,,where a very serious stage had been erected. We went down early to see local Eric from Imagine, and a Dane called Tim Lothar was fine,  but the star act was Wilko Johnson - ex-Dr Feelgood - whose gig list amused us!

Then on Saturday the heat was intense! There were bands around every corner, but we settled on one that had set up between Marquesina and the Cofradia de Pescadores (fishermen's brotherhood). No obvious name or place of origin, but possibly from Lanzarote, they had a vociferous band of supportes and groupies! We stopped for a drink at the Cofradia to the amazement of the Majorcian guy who "whips in" there and had been trying to get us to stop for years. The band played some excellent blues and then veered off into rock n roll. It was delicious, and eventually we decided to have some wine and tapas - not least so that we could see the ceremony on the little town beach in which Eric and Claudia from Imagine had their second wedding. (They we recently married in Germany), At a key moment the band struck up "All you Need is Love" and both sets of people waved gently. A magic moment!

That evening there were further performance in the Plaza. We positioned ourselves in the same place: at an unremarkable German bar with a side view to the big screen behind the artists. We asked about a bottle of wine and were told there was a lovely reserva. How much? 19euros! What?? "No- we will have the house at 9!" "I will ask if the boss will do a deal" He comes back with a price of 12 euros, and it was mighty fine!

.. and then the Spikedrivers came on! Utter bliss! A three-piece UK-based country-blues band that rocks! (Note the washboard on the lady's chest!) The audience (including us) was thrilled. If you don't know them, follow the link and have a listen! (We were so impressed we are planning a gig in Wimborne Minster, Dorset on Ruth's birthday into our June UK programme. Afterwards the following acts seemed tame. We went to La Pincha Cabra for late tapas and heard them out. All-in-all a great year for the Blues in Corralejo!