Oldies On Tour

We must have tired the dogs out, they gave me a lie-in, we went for our normal walk, then Geoff went to get some croissants in the village, (we really are being naughty now), very enjoyable.

I have been trying to do the internet, to get the logs posted, very difficult around here, as no internet café, or Wi-Fi around, so decided to use dongle, which is expensive because of the roaming, so have almost caught up to-date, but need to get photos on, will have another go later.

It is very windy here at present, we cannot have our awning out, or some of the windows open, and we were a bit worried about travelling on the bikes, but we decided to go for it.

Bagnols-S-Ceze

Bagnols-S-Céze is only 7km away, and although at times we were being blown sideways, we made it ok. We walked around, and found this fantastic old fashioned butcher (Boucherie) they sold everything, we bought some steak, pork chops, kidneys, brawn, and pâté, as we are determined not to starve over the next few days.

We wondered all around, they had lots of side streets, with

Bagnols-S-Cezé

little shops and cafés, a couple of squares, with people just meandering around, another lovely town. We stopped for a couple of beers, and then headed back to camp, trying to avoid being blown off our bikes by the gusts of wind.

We had a quick lunch of the duck pâté and the brawn,( not quite like my Mum used to make) but similar, then we started the job of packing up again, I went and cleaned Pinky, before she was loaded on the trailer, Geoff had done his yesterday. Whilst Geoff was doing the bikes, a French man was talking to him, and they were getting on quite well together, speaking in French, so he must be improving.

Sooty diving for stones

All jobs done, back to the river for the last swim, lots of people around, and Sooty showed off his party piece, but this time he swam under water, but forgot to breathe, so looked very startled when he came up. Once again he started transferring

Sooty is down there somewhere!

all the stones, and kept the children on the riverbank amused.

We moved further down where the weir was overflowing, and Bella thought she would try and come down the river, suddenly she got swept away, fortunately Geoff was further down, and managed to drag her by her ear to safety, we thought at that point it was time to come away.

Back at home, we opened a bottle of special French wine, we had bought when we were with Catriona and Mike, and settled down to a the steaks we had bought earlier, not a patch on our restaurant in Spain (Gallego’s) but a good second, and an end to another lovely day.

The dogs were up early again, wanting a walk, so I took them down to the riverbank, they loved it down there, and had a good run around, we will go back later for a swim.

We had some breakfast, and have decided to go to Orange today, it is 13 miles away, the weather is not quite so warm today, which is good, yesterday it was in the high thirties.

We took the dogs for another walk, this time Bella and Sooty went in the water, Sooty chasing a stick, Bella just going around in circles! She is mad that dog. Back to Rosie, and we were off to Orange, it was a lovely quiet road we took, and we soon arrived parked our bikes, and now ready to explore.

Theatre

Went to get camera out, must have left it on the table, so we will have to go back again. Getting old is driving me mad!! We decided not to go to the theatre, but instead look for a new camera for me, as mine is broken, will send it back later.

We found a camera, and purchased a new Olympus one, nothing too posh, but it has everything on it, so it will do for me.  Then when the guy was looking for the battery he could not find it, so we said we would come back later, good excuse to have another meal out, which was lovely, the whole meal with pudding only came to 24 Euros, and that included drinks, cannot be bad.

It is market day here, which is a shame we did not have a camera, as the stalls were packed in, loads of people around, it was fascinating just watching whilst we ate our lunch, especially when they were packing up, and big vans were trying to get down

Orange

tiny streets to load up, and go home.

Back to the shop, they had found the battery, it was hiding in the box, so I now have a new camera, will be back taking photos tomorrow.

Home to find some really grumpy French man, having a go at us, for having the generator running, I wanted a cuppa, plus he complained we about us leaving the dogs, well they were so tired they didn’t want to go anywhere, Geoff and he were going at each other, and neither could understand what they were saying!!

Bella and Sooty

We took our two hard done by dogs to the river again, where Sooty has a new trick, he was diving down under the water to pick up stones, carry them to the shore, and go back for another one, it was really funny to watch him put his head under the water, and eventually surface with a stone in his mouth!  Bella just kept on going around in circles, they both loved it, Geoff and I paddled, but there were children playing on the weir, and using it as a slide,

River Cezé

what a lovely place this is.

On way back we called into the wine cellar, this time to try the white, but none were what I called really nice, and they were a lot dearer than the red had been.

I am still pinching myself, this is such a brilliant thing we are doing, and we have seen so many brilliant things, long may it last.

We think we have seen everything there is to see in this area, we have made good use of the bikes, now we are heading north. Our neighbours have rolled in there blind, and moved anything out of the way they could to allow us to leave early. We were up at 6ish, I walked the dogs, whilst Geoff did the toilet, topped up with water and moved the trailer, we were set to move, ticket in the first machine, and after a struggle the barrier went up, now the big gates, well my card would not work, it was bent, and the magnetic strip had been torn!, a nice man offered to help, went to get his card, meanwhile another French man offered his, so eventually at 8am we were released from the sardine can. Hopefully Italy will not be as crowded as this, we could not even roll our awning out fully, let alone, sit outside and eat, glad we have moved on, although I have enjoyed the sites we have seen.

Chusclan

A slow trip north, has taken us to Chusclan, it is a very old village in the middle of the countryside, dating back 2000 years. We are parked in an Aires, opposite a co-operative wine producer, so we will be visiting there later.

We sorted ourselves out, lovely site, and it is free, which makes it even better, very well laid out, with all the facilities that you could need, accept electric and showers, but we can have those anyway, as water is plentiful.

After lunch we went for a long walk into the village, it is lovely here, very narrow

Chusclan

streets, pretty houses, with a couple of squares, the village has a lot of history, but it now survives on the grapes, and most of the inhabitants work at the wine cellar. We sat in one of the squares which was deserted, and had a beer, it was lovely just to sit and ponder what life had been like years ago.

River Céze

On the way back we walked along the river, we were trying to find a safe place for the dogs to go in, as the water was running very fast, as there is a weir, we decided we would explore on the bikes later, as although Bella is a strong swimmer, we did not want to have to go in after her.

On the way back, we called into the wine cellar, (that didn’t take long did it) you could taste the wine, before you bought some, so we had tasters from four bottles, before Geoff decided on 9 bottles of

Co-operative wine cellar

one kind, and 12 of another, we are meeting up with Mark in a couple of weeks, so he can help to drink it.

Back to the site for a cup of tea, then on the bikes to find where we could swim, did not take long, only half a kilometer away, so we will take the dogs there tomorrow.

What a lovely day, the more time I spend in France, the more I love it, especially away from the commercial bits.

Today is Monday, so it is chores day, I did some hand washing, have not done that since we were on the boat, so it bought back some fun memories. This campsite, is very compact, on a good day they can have 60 vans in, we are next door to a French couple, and Geoff tries out his French on them, but not sure if they really understand, as there are a few nods, in response. They have a King Charles spaniel, which actually makes Bella look good, they are always calling it, and trying to find out where it has gone.

Geoff did his chores, water, toilet etc., I did the general cleaning, then we walked the dogs, before leaving them with the air conditioning on, whilst we went out on the bikes.

Aigues Mortes

Today we headed for Aigues-Mortes, it is a walled city, similar to Carcassonne, it was lovely, lots of ice-cream parlours, a big square with restaurants, the whole place was buzzing, vibrant colours, the only problem was, my camera battery has died, so we have decided to go back another day.

We stopped at the restaurants, and decided on one, 13

Aigues Mortes Square

Euros for three courses, but we had to buy the wine, it was superb. I sometimes have to pinch myself, that we are able to travel around like this, and see such fantastic places. Whilst we were eating our meal, a fine mist of water would spurt out above us, just to cool us down, have never seen anything like it, but it was very effective.

Having had our lunch, we wondered around the City, stopped and bought an ice-cream, I had lemon meringue, Geoff had rum and raison, I guess this is the reason for putting on weight!! There was

Biscuit and sweet shop

a nougat shop, and biscuit and sweet shop.

Nougat shop

Back on the bikes, we tried to go back a different route, but somehow ended up on the same route, still we now know where there is a good supermarket, so we will be going shopping tomorrow. Back at the campsites, the dogs were fine, think they like the air-conditioning.

Rest of the day, was spent, just being lazy, the trouble with drinking at lunch time, it knocks me out, still it was a lovely day.

Bella and Sooty for some reason woke us up at 6.30am, think one of the other Motor homes were leaving early. So I took them out for a lovely walk, whilst Geoff prepared for us to leave. Quick cuppa, then away by 7.30am.

Stopped for breakfast on route, we only have 119 miles to go; we are heading for La Grande-Motte which is on the coast near Nimes. We arrived about 10am, and it was

Camping in the summer!

another crowded site, but this time, a lovely French Man smiled and said he could find room for us, which he did, we unhitched the trailer, and Geoff parked ‘Rosie’, we then found out that the site we had been given is for three vans not just one, so we had to move around again. Well when we arrived we thought the site was crowded, but by 2pm we were packed like sardines, in fact not sure how we can escape, until others move.

Cosy isn’t it!

We sorted ourselves out, had some lunch, then we went for a ride on our bikes, we followed the signs to La Plage, the beaches went for miles, and there was no spaces to park, not even for bikes, we then noticed that they were parked on the cycle tracks, so that is what we did. We walked along the waterside paddling, a lot colder than Spain, but still

Our new beach towels, thanks Jane

lovely, the beach was clean,with white sand, and you could see for miles, crowded but it is summer, and a week-end.

Back to our bikes and we went into the city centre, down to the Port, lovely marina, with unusual buildings around. Typical seaside resort, very clean, with bouncy castles and lots of bucket and spade shops.

On the way back we stopped for a wine or two, which was lovely, accept they put ice in it!! A very pleasant day.