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
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