Diary for the period 7 to 17 June

7 June - Pornic

What a day! When we woke up this morning it was raining again. We just went back to sleep thinking "what's the point of getting up".

When we finally got up we decided to go into Nantes to find an internet cafe so that we could update everyone with our progress. We spent 2 1/2 hours there by which time we needed to get back to camp. Getting back was rather difficult as we got very lost and basically just went in the direction of the sun hoping that this would take us back. Eventually we came across a bridge that we crossed the day before in the van and from then on knew our way home.

We got home by 20:30 and had a very nice braai. Later on when the rain had started again a cat came to visit and spent the night with us in the van.

8 June - Royan

We woke up this morning to blue skies so there was no excuse for not running. We ran along the beach and at the halfway point met a friendly, chatty, old French woman. We had a long weird disjointed conversation on the beach and then she invited us back to her house for coffee. She turned out to be a wonderful person and we exchanged addresses. As we left she packed us a little bag of fruit and cake to take with us. It was a joli experience! On the way back to the camp the tide had come in so we had to take a different route.

After having breakfast and packing up the rain started again, just as we were loading the bike.

We said goodbye to our furry friend and were off on our way again.

The weather and scenery changed a lot while travelling south, being a lot drier, and we arrived at the camp site to hot weather and bright blue skies.

That evening we had a braai and sat outside for the first time in ages.

9 June - Royan

Blue skies again again! So off for a run along a very long beach. After that John went off for his usual bread run and brought back something special - palmiers.

After breakfast we drove up the coast through a forest and had lunch in a very small, deserted town. On our way back we stopped at a beach to lie in the sun and warm up as riding on the bike today was very cold.

We returned to camp and relaxed a while and then rode into town to sit outside at a cafe and drink cocktails. I had a margherita and John had a blue lagoon, both decorated with all the usual shiny bits. It was great to sit outside and with an exotic drink and watch the world go by.

10 June - St. Emilion

Starting the day again with a run and a pastry reward we packed up and headed off to St. Emillion. It was a smooth journey as they are all becoming now (so long as we don't stop the van)!

We found the one and only campsite in St. Emillion, set up camp and headed into town in search of lunch. What we found was stunning - a beautiful medieval village with lots of outdoor cafés and, of course, lots of wine shops.

Lunch took us ages which was in keeping with French tradition. Back at camp we had a few beers and planned out wine route for the following day.

11 June - St. Emilion

We had a lazy morning and decided to do the wine route in the afternoon. First off we went into town to visit a pottery museum. It was in a series of caves under the town which had been previously used to store wine. I was in awe and really enjoyed the experience.

After coffee we set out on foot in the baking sun to visit a few wine farms. It wasn't long before the clouds built up and a light rain started. It was actually quite welcome as we were very hot by this stage and it was light enough not to soak us.

At the first farm the owner gave us a short tour and a tasting. He said that he made the worst wine in St. Emilion. We didn't know what to make of this. His wine was also quite expensive so we didn't buy a bottle.

The next farm was ´La Rose Cotês Rol´. Here we got our best impression. It was the son of the owner that gave us our tour. He gave us lots of information and was very interesting. At the end of the tour he gave us two different vintages to taste. We preferred the older one and so made our purchase.

Then we found ourselves at Vachon. Quite a weird experience as when we arrived the owner, family and friends were sat outside drinking. It felt like we were intruding. We just had a tasting here and bought another bottle.

Back at camp we had a shower, rested our weary bodies and drank a beer.

12 June - Orthez

After the usual morning routine we packed up and set off towards the Pyrenees.

We found a campsite in Orthez. We did the usual supermarket trip and being a Saturday were clever and bought three days worth.

That evening we were joined by two unusual characters - Daniel a 30-ish French bloke and Pieter a multilinual German in his 60's. The were seasoned travellers and brought a five litre bottle of rosé with them to the table.

The were quite drunk when they joined us and during the evening were speaking in languages that we couldn't understand and possibly they couldn't either! By the time they'd left they could hardly walk.

13 June - Orthez

After last night we decided to sleep in a bit. We set off on the bike and had breakfast in a bar on the way up into the mountains.

It was a lovely windy road up to St. Jean-pied-a-port. There we had coffee and walked up and around the citadel.

We then decided that we wanted to get higher up into the mountains and so found a small steep windy road on the map. As we ascended we entered the cloud and after a while realised that we weren't going to get above it. We stopped at what would normally be a view point but which today was a thick blanket of white cloud. Being in a cloud we were getting quite wet and so decided to return to St. Jean-p-a-p for lunch.

After a leisurely lunch with vast amounts of food and coffee we returned to the camp site at high speed for a lazy afternoon. I cuddled up with a book and John went to visit Daniel and Pieter. Later we went into town for a few beers and then returned to camp for a light supper.

14 June - Orio

Today was exciting as we were crossing the border into Spain!

Spain appeared very different, even just across the border - poor and dirty particularly when compared with France.

We made our way to a campsite, set up camp and then drove into San Sebastian. Here we walked around and then had a few beers in the sun. We were served by a waiter who we thought had a lisp but it turns out that the correct pronunciation of cerveza sounds like ´thervetha´.

The whole experience is rather weird and a little frightening as we don't know a word of Spanish and everything seems very different. I'm sure that given a few days we'll get into things and it will all become much easier.

15 June - Orio

Today we had a restful day and stayed at the camp and did some cleaning and organising.

In the afternoon we went down to the beach, played backgammon and caught up with our tans. Later we returned to the van, sat outside drinking beer and playing cards until late as we were trying a Spanish tradition of having our evening meal at 10pm.

16 June - Oriñon

Today we were heading for a town called Llandes but never quite made it!

We were driving though Castro Urdiales and the engine died. The starter wasn't working as usual so we just rolled to the side of the road put the hazards on, lit a cigarette and stared at each other in dismay.

After a while we hauled out the Spanish phrase book and pulled ourselves together. I was told what breakdown was in Spanish and to guard the car and John went off to seek a mechanic.

He arrived back with a mechanic who had a look, realised that the problem was with the solenoid, gave it a bang to get it going and told us to drive back to his workshop.

Once we were there he went off for lunch so we wandered around the town and had a few beers in the sun - neither of us was hungry. In a way we were glad that the problem had occurred here as now it would be sorted out properly (we hoped).

It seemed like ages before the car was ready and we got quite bored waiting at the street corner outside the garage. We left the garage quite late and didn't want to drive too far so ended up in Oriñon at a rather mediocre campsite.

17 June - Cudinella

Neither of us liked the campsite much so we decided not to do our usual two night stop but press on instead.

On our way we got lost in Santander and the car broke down again at a busy intersection! Exactly the same problem as before. John banged the (recently replaced) solenoid with the steering lock and we managed to get the engine started again - phew! I guess that the problem wasn't fixed after all.

It was a very long drive today so we were glad to find a good campsite. It's a great place so I'm sure that we'll be staying longer than usual.

The roads around here are very steep and windy. Thankfully John won't be going on a bread run in the morning as we can get bread at the campsite.

Our afternoon shop was rather interesting. We're miles from the nearest town but in a nearby village we found a ´corner shop´ where everything from vegetables to shoes was sold. It was quite difficult buying things as you had to tell the shopkeeper behind the counter what you wanted and we hadn't brought the phrase book with us. We eventually managed to point everything out and returned to camp for a supper of Spanish Tortilla.