From Mum's to Millau

Bonjour,

We got the last of our jobs done at Mum's including an emergency plumbing job on the kitchen sink which decided to block up but I am glad it did while we were there as it meant me getting on my hands and knees (Alan has a replacement knee so kneeling is not easy) in the cupboard under the sink until 10pm dismantling the pipes and re-assembling them all the next morning after Alan had given the pipes all a good clean and flush through.

One of our last big jobs was to give the van a good wash and polish, it wasn't that bad but it was nice to give it a bit of TLC as it's been our home for nearly 8 months now. Julie updated her financial spreadsheet ready for the next leg of our adventure while sitting in the garden next to the pool, yet another great office location!

When we arrived at Mum's we both weighed ourselves as we know we have both lost weight as we are both down to a couple of pairs of shorts that fit and even they are hanging off us! I have lost a stone and Julie half a stone which is purely through a more healthy diet, plenty of exercise and I guess me not being sat in my digger and Julie behind a desk for most of the week. Mum did her best to fatten us up but we weighed ourselves before we left and another couple of pounds had been shed  from all our jobs!  We tucked into a lovely lamb Sunday roast with roast spuds and Yorkshire puddings polished off with almond tart and ice cream which was fantastic as we had been craving a nice roastie!

When we left Mum's back in January on route to the Alps we went cross country via the Tarn Gorges and got a very misty glimpse of the impressive Millau Viaduct. It's in a beautiful area so we decided that it would be a good place to have a stopover in Millau itself on our route cross country this time towards Italy. We found ourselves on the South side and directly under the viaduct so pulled into the visitors centre for our lunch and had a quick look round. It's a great feat of engineering and was actually designed by a British architect and took 3 years to build and opened in 2004, the photo below gives a bit of info about it.

There's no shortage of campsites in the town on the banks of the River Tarn so we pulled into one and set up camp overlooking the river and the paragliders above us.

Our van is under the tree on the right hand side, we took the pic from the footpath opposite.

We had a ride out on the bike through the Gorges De La Dourbie and the scenery was just amazing, we then went up to where all the paragliders take off but it clouded over a bit and the wind picked up so there weren't many taking off. It's quite a busy place, the viaduct is the centre piece so must have brought quite a lot of tourism to the area.

After two nights we moved on and have just spent 4 fantastic nights at the Gorges Du Verdon recommended to us by Marc & Kitty our Belgian friends on a site right next to the Lac Saint Croix, words and pictures cannot describe it's beauty, it's like a picture postcard so we will have to do another interim blog update as soon as we have sorted out all the pictures so watch this space.

That's it for now.

J&J

x

Earning Our Keep....

Hello it’s the Midgets here again checking in!

We arrived here at Mum & Alan’s last Saturday which we thought would be busy travelling on a Saturday during the French holiday season but as we don’t go via the the toll roads but use the national roads instead we managed to miss all the traffic and get to see some more amazing scenery on route.  Once again our sat-nav took us a different route to Mum’s which it seems to do each time!!!!.

We said to Mum & Alan if there were any jobs to do around the house/garden don’t hesitate to ask, well with that they reeled off a “To-Do” list of jobs that we could start on to "earn our keep" while here!

1. Fix a leaking toilet cistern 
2. Sharpen the ride on mower blades which involved Julie & Alan holding the mower on it’s side while I got underneath removed the blades sharpened & refitted them

3.  Quick test of the ride on mower which turned out to be mowing the whole bottom paddock

4.  Shift a heap of pre cut logs into the log store and then split and stack them

5.  Repair/replace some leaking pipework in the pump house for the pool

6.  Cut and strim the rest of the huge garden around the house

7.  Replace some glazing bars on the front window.

In between doing all our jobs we did some of our own jobs including cleaning all the “Toys” out of the van and also gave the van a proper deep clean inside to remove the sand/dust that got blown in at La Franqui, we just need to give it a bloody good wash & polish before we leave here in the next few days.  

Also we managed to get the rest of the wheel covers that help protect the tyres from harmful UV sun rays sewn up using Mum’s sewing machine which I made a start on but Julie was constantly hovering over my shoulder saying do this, do that, not like that, you need to hold that, pull this so I gave up and let Julie take control and I must admit she made a cracking job and was much better & quicker than me with all covers fitting nicely (even though I reminded her she got “unclassified” in her “O” level needlework exam at school!)

We had a few bits of post redirected here from the UK i.e. tax disc for the van, kite insurance and some other important paperwork for the van and also a parcel which was meant to be here but on checking it had been sent back to the UK as the courier said that the address was incomplete (although it wasn’t) so after a quick phone call to the UK it was re-sent but after a couple of days and a few more jobs (we think Mum & Alan may have given the courier company a back hander to delay it so we could get more jobs done!) but still no parcel so after another check it was eventually at a depot in Toulouse but again they said they couldn’t deliver it as the address was incorrect so Julie got on the case and managed to track down an English speaking bloke at the depot and asked him to send it to Mum’s local post office in Miradoux a village 8km away but the funny part was Julie giving him our e-mail address, it was quite amusing as she was going through the alphabet in French and trying to think of French words e.g. “J-Janvier (January), “N-Novembre (November) etc etc so it took a while but we received the email and eventually collected the parcel from Miradoux - many thanks to Alan for taking us to collect it.

It has been lovely to spend time here with Mum & Alan, usually we are here in the Winter so it’s been great to spend time out in the garden and around the pool.  It’s a beautiful house and is actually up for sale (we would love it but sadly it’s too far away from the beach) as it’s just too big for them now and they want something a bit smaller.  If you know of anyone who is interested in a completely renovated Gascone Farmhouse with large gardens & own pool in a rural location surrounded by farmland and open views then check this link out for more details http://www.housesoninternet.com/MIP-1092

As usual Mum has been spoiling us rotten with great food, this is what she knocked up while we were typing this blog, it really is a great motorhome stopover for us but this could be our last visit if they do sell but we are sure they will have plenty of jobs for us in their new house!!!!

It’s fantastic to see that so many of you are still interested in & reading our blog, we are amazed that so many people take the time out to keep up with our adventure.  We have now had 7,800 + views so are still averaging about 1,000 hits a month.  It will be a great record of our travels and full of memories & special moments.

That’s it, got to go the Pizza is ready!

J&J

x

Farewell La Franqui

Welcome once again to our weekly blog,

This sadly is the last blog from La Franqui as we now must start our journey towards Italy and beyond, this place has served it’s purpose of keeping us entertained and has also been a nice place to avoid silly season and the high prices of almost the whole of the south of France.  Whilst here we have cycled, paddle boarded, walked, land yachted and kited our “Flip Flops” off with 20 days out on the water in about every wind condition there is on every size kite we have, and along the way have met and made so many new friends. 

We also celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary and we thought of no better way to spend it than to do a 50 mile bike ride along the Canal de La Robine which runs through the Saint Lucie nature reserve with it’s fantastic lakes dotted along the way either side of the canal.  The route starts here in La Franqui then hugs the canal all the way up to Narbonne where there are some very nice old parts to the City as you can see.  Then to finish the day we headed into La Franqui to treat ourselves to a meal and a pitcher of Rose wine at our favourite little restaurant, “Le Golf” over looking the beach.

Marc & Kitty our Belgian friends who we had helped out last week with their pitch problems kindly invited us round for dinner one evening. I asked Marc what was on the menu and he replied “fish and salad” as he had heard Julie talking to Kitty about how she needed to eat more fish!!   Well it’s not at the top of my list of favourite food but after asking Marc if it was very fishy he said no it’s beautiful, so I thought just go with it as it is nice to try new things from time to time.  Sunday evening came and we all sat down kids included to this feast of fish (Dorade) which we later found out to be Bream which Marc cooked on the BBQ with lemon & garlic and a dressing he had made to go with it. I must admit I was surprised at how nice it was and the 3 whole fish soon got eaten along with the salad.  As a way of us saying thank you we had earlier popped into Leucate village and bought a fresh fruit tart for dessert which the kids seemed to get excited about.  It was a very nice evening just chilling and chatting and one thing we all laughed about was the blue jobs (man things) and pink jobs (girl things) that need to be done around camp and in the vans.   Marc jokingly said yes LA & LE i.e. LA washing machine, LA hoover and LA cooker for the girls and LE Kite, LE Motorbike & LE Van for the men which when you think about it it makes sense!! but I am sure it’s not correct!!  Marc & Kitty left a few days ago and we helped them pack down their tent so Marc had enough time for one last kite with us.  It was a great session with perfect wind and the three of us had a nice little area to ourselves, it was just a fantastic end to their holiday and Kitty and the children had a good time on the beach too.  

The wind here gave us one last show of what it’s capable of going from dead calm to 101km/62mph in a matter of hours.  We had a few new arrivals around us putting up their Decathlon tents and tarps to shade themselves from the sun and wind but we just couldn’t sit back and see it all destroyed as we had looked at the weather and seen a forecast of the wind so we explained the strength of the Tramatona and the direction that it comes from so the few that we did warn changed their camps and took anything that could catch the wind down or put extra ropes on it.  The forecast was spot on as we were woken up in the early hours firstly by heavy rain then the wind which just whipped up from nowhere to 101km gusts, all we could hear was people shouting and the knocking in of extra tent pegs all around, but the unlucky ones ended up at the bins …….

One of the people that we warned were and English couple, Rob & Sally from Taunton, that had arrived that day in a lovely VW California van and parked up opposite us, Julie went over and spoke to them and they were very appreciative and moved their van round and wound their awning in.  The next day they thanked us and couldn’t believe the strength of the wind and then we got chatting and it turned out that they too were wind junkies and were into kiting & windsurfing.  Before we left we had a couple of really nice evenings sat around the van with them sharing experiences, kite spots and many stories with a take way pizza one of the nights and a few too many glasses of vino as we just lost track of time and it was too late to cook!!  

We decided to stay one extra day and just have a chill out on the beach watching the kiters and having a leisurely pack down of the van which was nice.   Before we left we said our goodbyes to the guys at the kite centre, Julie in the bread stall, Phil our Irish neighbour & Paul & Miriam the Welsh couple with the Blokarts, Rob & Sally and a few other wind junkies that we had kited with and met along the way.  We really loved La Franqui so it’s definitely a place full of memories and somewhere we will re-visit in the future.

We are now on route to Italy via a visit to my Mum’s, it will be so nice to see her again and tell her all about our adventures so far.

So it’s au revoir for another week.

J&J

x

Blokarts, Butterflies & Belgians

Bonjour, 

Another week has gone by and we are still having fun here in La Franqui.

We have had a chance to have a go at something completely different this week but it is still reliant on the wind.  We had never heard of a “Blokart” until we came here and met Phil the Irish guy our neighbour and another nice couple from Wales, Paul & Miriam & Max & Nina from Germany who are all keen Blokarters.  We bumped into Paul & Miriam the other day while they were out on their Blokarts and we were out on the beach checking out the wind.  They said do you fancy a go it’s “lush” so after a quick safety briefing and a do’s & dont’s it was on was on with their crash helmets and a clunk-click of the seat belts and we were off down the beach.  The wind was quite light but I still managed to reach 25mph which when you are sat only a few inches off of the ground with three wheel barrow wheels and a set of handle bars it feels a lot more.  The top guys/girls can reach speeds of 80km/50mph+ and it’s a bit similar to kitesurfng really as you have to pick the right size sail to suit the wind.  Julie had a go too but the wind was dropping but at least she got the feel of it and Paul & Miriam said we are welcome to have another go anytime in exchange for some more tea & fruit cake at ours!

There are a few walks on a local map so we decided to go and do one around the wind turbines above La Palme which is only a few miles away.  One thing we discovered on the walk was that the route marking changes from blue arrows spray painted on the ground to a yellow dob of paint on a random rock or a yellow cross if you have taken a wrong turn to luminous stencilled footprints again on random rocks but two hours later we managed to pick our way through the many paths amongst the vineyards and hills overlooking the lakes/sea & coast.  

After the walk we jumped back on the bike and said let’s head back to camp along the beach instead of the road and on route we stopped at Port Nouvelle where there must have been 100 motorhomes parked up on the beach but as you can see from the picture getting a parking space is no problem.  France is so geared up for motorhomes, enjoying nature and the wonderful beaches too.  If we were in the UK it would be a different story altogether with no entry signs & height barriers everywhere.

We also went into Port Leucate for a wander around the large marina, it’s a nice place too but a little busier but again not rammo for this time of year and there is still plenty of room on the lovely beach.

While sat down having our lunch at the van one day we were joined by this beautiful butterfly having a rest and a sunbathe on a pine tree next to our van, it was worthy of a photo as it was so pretty.

Our friends from Belgium returned from Spain to be told by reception that there were no available pitches that night and as they have two young children they were a little concerned on where they were going to stay and their little girl was crying and very upset that they had nowhere to stay.  Luckily we bumped into them and they told us there predicament so we said no problem we have a huge pitch you can park your van with us and eat with us that night until a pitch came available the next day.  After a shuffle round of the trailer & motorbike and checking with reception that all was OK we got their van in and sorted and the kids were then very happy.  Their little girl reminds us of our niece Lillie and is now Julie’s new best friend.  Their 1 year old blonde haired son has a nickname of “bam-bam” the little boy from the Flinstones, we will have to get some pictures for next week’s blog, they are such a nice family.

The up-cycling is still going well and John the English owner of the local kite shop did some stitching on his kite repair sewing machine for us and knocked up this first wheel cover prototype from the vinyl awning material I gave him and it’s looking good so he said he could stitch up the other three for us if we want.

We are aiming to leave here on the 15th so our next blog will be the last from La Franqui.

Au revoir for now.

J&J

x

Wind, Washing & Waveboards

Bonjour,

Still here in La Franqui and as we are settled into life here it gets quite hard to find stuff to write about for the blog each week. It can be a tough job too getting the blog posted sometimes as you can see from this picture! 

Normally on most sites we have visited they have a row of washing machines for you to use which costs on average €4-5 euros per load but the site we are on at the moment is cheap camping but expensive washing machines at €7 a load which is more than 2 beers in the village. Phil our Irish neighbour has a 240 volt travel/camping washing machine which Julie spotted him using and he very kindly said she could try it out anytime. One day last week she took him up on the offer and she was like a kid with a new toy!  It's not your all singing all dancing machine that you have at home as you have to manually fill and drain it and then you have to repeat the same process for the rinse cycle which meant a few trips for me to the tap with the watering can. There is no spin cycle either so a quick spin round your head, then hang out on the cats cradle which is our washing line and it's job done!! Julie did three loads as it doesn't hold that much but I think after the third one the novelty had worn off thankfully, as I could see her wanting one for the motorhome which would end up in my motorhome garage!!

The wind as always has  been relentless, and we have had more small kite days and lots of fun, some days we could have really done with some smaller kites. There seems to be a pattern here with the wind/weather which we have got used to now.

We have met a really nice Belgium family and Marc is a very keen kiter too so it's nice to catch up on the beach and talk about kiting and life in general. We got onto the subject of waveboards which is something I have always wanted to try. That evening he turned up at our van with a 6 foot directional waveboard and simply said "here try this" so after a beer and a quick tech talk I gladly accepted and a couple of days later in lighter winds I ventured to the beach with it.  Much to Julie's annoyance I took to it like a duck to water and loved it. Marc and his family are off to Spain for 1 week and then returning here and he has kindly said I can keep the board while he is away. So there is definitely not any room in the motorhome garage for a washing machine but I am sure I could squeeze in a wave board!

We bumped into Julie from the bread stall on the beach last weekend so my Julie sat chatting to her and watching the kiters while I was chatting to Marc. The people here are all so friendly and easy going and we have got to know a few of them now which is nice as there's always someone to chat to even though we are quite lazy and don't try speaking French but everyone speaks very good English. 

We told Julie that we had a blog running and had mentioned her and her bread stall in it and said it would be nice to add a picture of both Julie's together.

That's about it again for this week, the wine carafe is now empty so it's time to leave the office and head back to camp/home!

J&J 

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