Six Months Gone & Enjoying Every Minute.....

Bonjour,

Welcome once again to the weekly Blog.

As we write this it’s almost exactly six months since we left the UK, it’s flown by and we have enjoyed every single minute, let’s hope the next six months or so don’t go too quickly just like when you get to half a tank of fuel and the second half always seems to go much quicker……we certainly are very lucky to be living the dream.

We have decided to stay here at La Franqui camping, as we said before we went and looked at some other sites but they just didn’t tick all the boxes and also the kiting conditions and beach here are fantastic. When the wind is off-shore it is super flat and you can tack along the beach for miles and always know that if it does all go wrong there is a rescue boat on hand to recover you and your gear and then when it blows on-shore you get some serious waves to play in/on. We have been out a few times in the last week but a few days ago it was on-shore, mid afternoon and the wind really began to kick in so we grabbed the small kites (5m & 6m) and walked down the beach, it must of been blowing 30-35 knots, everything and everybody on the beach was getting sand blasted by the coarse sand so we decided to give it a go as it looked amazing.  As we began rigging the kites the bloke who runs the kite centre (Tot) came along the beach on his quad landing people that were now overpowered on their bigger kites as the wind just kept building, he pulled up by us and said be careful as the waves are getting bigger, I just said it’s fine just like the UK, to which he replied yes but here is hotter he was right it was 32 degrees so out we went into the angry Med it was brilliant.   I came in for a break after a while and while standing on the beach Tot came back along smiling and giving the thumbs up to Julie and I as we were amongst only a handful out (I think we have earnt his respect and shown that we know what we are doing). That evening after getting us and all the kit rinsed off we headed into La Franqui and found a lovely bar overlooking our playground and treated ourselves to a pint and a bite to eat, or should I say a very large bite to eat!!!! 

The campsite has begun to fill up a bit more day by day but the majority are land yachters and kite buggy dudes as the beach here has a huge salt flat area which goes for miles but most of the land yachters are old boys then you have the buggy dudes who are also old boys but think they are young dudes (no comments on this).  One in particular who was pitched up opposite us was a 75 year old french guy in a motorhome with matching trailer with all his land yacht kit in, he was a real character chatting away to us on a daily basis in french and Julie and I only getting the odd word here and there but you always seem to end up laughing together. He unloaded his yacht and put the parts together and fitted the pod to the chassis which had F16 printed on it getting ready to rip up the salt flats then he disappeared into the motorhome then reappeared in a flight suit as if he was Top Gun, Julie and I just looked in amazement and I had to grab the camera and get a picture of this La Franqui legend, we didn’t catch his name but we called him Pierre after the famous french fighter pilot (some of you might know the joke about Pierre…!!)

We have been out exploring on the mountain bikes/motorbike finding some amazing views and scenery as usual.  After talking to a fellow motorhomer he said there was a path that led out from the village along the cliffs over looking La Franqui then round to Cap Leucate then onto Leucate itself. 

We did this one morning and when we reached the point we were greeted by 3 paragliders playing on the thermals on the point (must learn when I can) it was amazing to watch them and brought back memories of our paragliding in Meribel.

We have bagged ourselves a nice pitch which offers some protection from the Tramotona wind and also the Marin wind but as you can see we still have to secure stuff down with large rocks and bungees as you never know which way and how strong it’s gonna blow!!!

Still no “Campsite Cat” here but Julie found this little fella who belongs to a French lady in a caravan, apparently he’s a Rag Doll breed and only about 4 months old.

I am going to leave you all this week with this funny story (but not at the time) that happened to us the other day. There we were kiting quite happily up and down without a care in the world with our lovely little Decathlon beach brolly protecting our stuff from the sun on the vast beach when we decided to come in for a drink.   Just as Julie landed my kite the wind decided to rip the beach umbrella with the sand anchor attached and begin to propel it across the salt flats then with that Julie SHOUTS at me, THE KEY, THE KEY then I realised that I had attached the camper key to the frame under the brolly while I was getting changed into my wetsuit but had forgotten to put it round my neck and tuck it down my wetsuit as I normally do so it took off with the brolly.   So with that I began to run after the tumbling brolly still in my kite gear across the salt flats hoping that a land yachter or buggy dude would see it and catch/stop it but surprise surprise no, then I began looking how far is this going before it gets wrecked or caught on something so I can catch it up but Decathlon build their brollies too strong !!! After well and truly running out of puff I just watched it carry on tumbling into the distance while I walked trying to keep sight of it hoping the key was still attached, thinking why oh why didn’t I put it round my neck, then it seemed to stop tumbling so I began to run again then finally reached it as it come to rest in some bushes about a MILE from where it had took off and to my relief the key was still attached unbelievable and the bloody brolly only had a slight slice on the material with no other damage…then I had the mile long walk in the head on wind past all the land yachters & buggy dudes who were probably thinking nutter why did he go all that way for a cheap brolly not knowing that my motorhome key was attached…WON’T DO THAT AGAIN (take a look at a La Franqui beach picture, add a mile, that’s how far I ran & walked!!!)  

Once again we were forced to go to the little bar in the village for a pint to get Wi-fi to post this blog, cheers everyone, enjoy!

J&J

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