Roland does the pilgrimage

Today was one of the days which I have been really looking forward to and I wasn't disappointed. I did a portion of the el Camino which is a pilgrimage (yes, christians have them too!) to Santiago de Compostela and as it turns out towns like Pamplona owe their roots to the pilgrimage because they started out as stops on the pilgrims way. I know it may sound a bit strange as to why an atheist would want to do part of a pilgrimage and I don't have an answer for that; I just do!

Roncesvalles is the first town on the route from France to Spain and as luck would have it, I have a personal interest in Roncesvalles because that is the location where the original Roland met his end at the hand of the Moors while defending Charlemagne's main force. The story is told in a poem called 'The song of Roland' and although I have heard of it before I didn't realise that it all happened at Roncesvalles.

The ride down from Roncesvalles was going to be about 40km but about 20km from Roncelvalles, on the way, Caron suggested that I ride the remaining 20km up to Roncesvalles and then do the 40 down. Sounded like a good idea to me at the time! Riding the el camino backwards turned out to be quit tricky because all the signs are set to be seen by someone going the opposite way so I eventually lost the path but by then I was pretty close to Roncesvalles in any case. The path up was pretty tricky and one section I would rate as unrideable; think slippery mud, wet smooth rocks and roots on a steep path which has a fall from left to right. Although I didn't attempt this particular section I did attempt a similar but much less steep section soon afterwards and was rewarded with a mud bath when my back wheel just slid out from underneath me. All the way along the el Camino one meets pilgrims trudging their way to Santiago de Compostela dressed up in foul weather gear because the weather here just can't make up it's mind.

Me at what is a popular start on the pilgrims road to Santiago de Compostela

I met some kiwi's doing the pilgrimage as well as a french couple and their daughter who was hating every minute of the route, not to mention her parents who basically forced her to join them on it.

The towns that the Camino went through are really beautiful, well cared for and just very picturesque but the people may be a little strange; we saw some people walking their sheep on a leash, just like a dog. Maybe the sheep has a habit of biting people?

At one point the path went right through a ploughed field and even though it wasn't very steep, because of the mud it was just impossible to get any traction. Even where the field flattened out and it was almost level I could only just get enough traction to go forward.

Eventually arriving in Roncelvalles we had some coffee and an potato omelette in 1/2 a bagette which went down very well indeed. While sitting in front of the roaring log fire we met some dutch pilgrims who were doing it on the road rather than on the actual pilgrims road but at 8 or 9 hundred km's who cares, it's a long way! It had snowed in Roncesvalles yesterday so there was snow on the hills and little bits on the ground and I think that it must be quite wet year round judging from the moss on the trees in the square next to the pub.


The way down was quite tricky because it was so slippery and wet and there were a couple of times where the bike was sliding around underneath me which is a very disconcerting feeling. The ride down was punctuated by freezing rain storms followed by bright warm sunshine so it really alternated between miserable and fantastic.


Caron and I tried to meet at each village where the el camino crossed the road but this turned out to be quit difficult and we kept on missing each other but we finally met where I had started riding and had to take a photo of 'pilgrim' mellman and I on the el Camino.


After descending down to Zubiri which was quite hair raising I jumped onto the road and rode the rest of the way back to the campsite mostly because I was absolutely filthy with mud and the thought of getting in the car and then having to clean up afterwards was worse than just carrying on. We saw at least 6 professional cyclists training for the giro or the tour de france going up and down the road to roncelvalles so it is obviously quite a popular training ground. All in all, 60km and 6:03 hours of riding of which 4:30 was actually one the move. Quite a good days ride!

Back in camp it took me the best part of 2 hours to wash my bike, all my clothes and me before life could take on a semblance of normality and the hot showers never feel this good without the pain and cold of a hard ride.

To finish the day we navigated the old fashioned way into pamplona to yamaguchi park, named for the city with which pamplona is twinned, which is absolutely beautiful.

We walked across the park to a supermarket, bought some food for the next couple of days and on the way back a gunshot rang out from quite close to us. I don't think anyone was hit because I could hear the bullet departing but it was not what I was expecting in spain. Two minutes later we heard sirens, I presume in response to the gunhot. Everyone else in the park carried on as if nothing had happened so I'm not sure what was going on.

San Sebastin to Pamplona

Started the day with a luxury breakfast at pension alemana while watching the city wake up, specifically the antics of the moped brigade. It isn't unusual to see girls in short skirts and high heels on their way to work and the way they weave in and out of the traffic would have me reaching for my riding jacket and all they're wearing as protective gear is some kind of a jacket.

A really nice holiday day, all we did was drive the A15 from San Sebastian to Pamplona and set up in the one and only campsite which, thankfully, doesn't seem to be too bad. The showers are piping hot and they don't have the horrible push button taps that other campsites use so you can have a hot shower for as long as you want and the water pressure is great which means awesome showers! I think I'm going to have a couple just because I can.

The road from San Sebastian is spectacular to say the least with load of tunnels and high bridges; I saw one that was 360m high not to mention the cuttings. It really was quite a drive that had our ears popping from the altitude changes. The three photos below were all from the one place and gives a good view looking south of the north of spain.



Other than the drive, there's not a lot in pamplona so once we had set up camp we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and relaxing which makes a nice change after the rush through france. Something we really didn't expect to see in Spain or actually europe was vultures which we could see quite clearly because they were flying next to the A15. We have also seen fair number of hawks and falcons which was also a bit unexpected.

We have decided that we can't keep up the rush, not to mention the 3000km of driving, so we have canned the southern spanish destinations as well as the voting in Madrid. I really would have liked to vote but it is a 1200km round trip to Madrid from here and that is just a bit excessive. Because of this re-arrangement we actually have a few days to spare so we are staying in places just a little bit longer and are maybe going to add a couple of places on.

We thought that we had left the rain behind but not so. It has been raining on and off all day but it has been relatively warm so most of our stuff has dried out. The campsite has washing facilities so we did all the washing which has come in the nick of time as we were down to the last few items of clean clothing.

Travelling like this certainly gets one back to the simple pleasures of life that get lost somehow when living in a house like being warm, comfortable and dry and having clean, dry clothes to wear. Oh, and fast broadband internet and unfortunately I have to admit that iBurst is quite fast compared with some of the experiences here.

Bordeaux to San Sebastian Donostia

It's not raining! Hooray, we get to pack up without being rained on; the ground is still all muddy so it's not that easy but at least the rain has stopped. Today we head for sunny spain, at least we hope it is sunny. We had to stop and take a photo of mellman in the vineyards of bordeaux for posterity, not that posterity would care at all.

It was great to have had a break from long distance driving but it is time to get down to spain. We decided to take a break along the way and see the highest dunes in europe at pilat just next to archachon which will have some meaning for those neal stephenson fans out there.

I, of course, had to climb to the top which is more difficult than it sounds even though it is only 100m high and there is quite a nice view out to sea but other than that; it's a dune. Coming back down I joined Caron for a cup of coffee and a picnic lunch. There were lots of families around and life seems very care free here.

The south west of france seems to be pine tree territory, literally hundreds of kilometres of pine plantations and driving past them there were often trees which have been blown of or sometimes snapped off halfway up their trunks. I vaguely remember something about wind storms in europe and I assume that this must be a result of that, if it as it was some storm!

We took the toll road south which was a little unusual for us but the scenery is so uniform that there was no point in taking the scenic route and the toll road charges weren't so bad, 2 or 3 EUR but in the space of a couple of hundred of kilometres there were 4 tolls so it starts to add up.

Crossing the border was a non-event, there was even a sign telling motorists not to stop; that all borders were like this!.

The sun came out to greet us at the dunes and continued to shine for the rest of the day; Caron the sun baby was lapping it up and even I, the sun monk, really enjoyed the feel of warm sun on the skin.

Arriving in San Sebastian was totally confusing, what they have done to the roads makes them next to undriveable. There are one way streets and two way streets all mixed up, sometimes with signs indicating this and sometimes not. Intersections may have robots, yields or nothing at all and trying to work out if you have the right of way is impossible as far as I can see. Add to this roadworks and bus lanes and kamakazi mopeds and maybe a little tiredness was a little stressful. The information wasn't where the GPS said it was but we eventually found a hotel, Pension Alemana, which was a bit more expensive than we were looking for but frustration was setting in so we took it. At 79EUR what you get and what one gets for a hotel in south africa is pretty much on a par so it's not really that expensive, just for us.

Once we had settled in we went for a walk along the promenade which is spectacular, the bay has two beaches and is shaped like a lagoon with two bluffs and an island between the bluffs. The small harbour is on one side and it seems like the whole town turns out for an evening stroll. There were old people in wheel chairs, children, dogs, cyclists and runners all mixed up together. The cyclists and the runners have a reserved lane along the promenade which is sensible one wouldn't want someone in a wheelchair being run over by an overenthusiastic cyclist! There were also lots of people walking their dogs and in one instance their ferret but there wasn't any dog turds to avoid. Not sure what they do with them but they're nowhere to be seen.

Returning to the hotel we found the lavautomitique to do some washing but it looks decidedly closed or failing that, dodgy so caron vetoed the wash and we head for pamplona first thing tomorrow morning.

Being in Spain, we just *had* to have tapas for supper and went to two different bars and I must say that I really enjoyed it. The bars have plates of tapas on the bar tops and you get a plate and load it up and get a small glass of 'vino' and then stand around and munch and drink. It's very sociable and there were whole families in th bar, along with groups of girls and boys having a night out, along with some less salubrious looking individuals. All mixed up, it was great! Each tapas is 1 to 2 EUR but generally a 2 plates plus the two drinks is about 15 EUR which isn't too bad. We went out later at night and walked, had some more tapas and finished the evening off having coffee and watching some unfortunate's audi being towed away.

San Sebastian by night, it was very picturesque.

St Emilion and a Rest day at last!

It's still raining, it's now 48 hours of almost continuous rain and there is mud everywhere in the campsite. We are very happy that we have brought our blowup camping mattresses since they raise the foam mattresses just that little bit of the floor of the tent and stop, at least mostly, the damp seeping through the groundsheet and then through the tent groundsheet and then into anything we have in the tent. We are starting to get desperate to find a laudromat but they're not so common around here.

Unlike the british who have houses so small that there is a laundromats everywhere, the french have free-standing houses and not need to use laundromats which is bad news for us! The campsites mostly have washing machines but not tumble dryers - go figure!

We are generally getting in about 10 hours of sleep a night which is unheard of; especially for me. Today our only objectives were to go to St. Emilion and have a wander around and to do as little driving as possible. Our first stop was to find a petrol station which proved to be more difficult than expected and it was only on the fourth attempt that we found one open, the french seem to take sundays and easter sunday in particular pretty seriously. Today we paid 0.88 EUR per litre and the first station which was closed thankfully was charging 1.15 EUR which is a huge difference in price; we were quite taken aback. A bit relieved that we now had fuel we drove to St Emilion which is one of the premier regions within Bordeaux and had a bit of a wander around doing a little bit of wine tasting here and there.

We're not sure what these actually are but we think that they are fed by spring water and they're quite pretty albeit a bit cold to actually have a dip in.

We decided to splash out and have lunch in one of the bistro's. We both had omelettes and coffee and plate of chips to share. It was great to eat in a restaurant again but at 32 EUR for what is a fairly simple meal it is no wonder we aren't eating out all the time.

Just next to where we parked the car must be the worlds smallest vineyard but one has to see where they get planted. Just about every available space has vines occupying it and unlike south africa, the farmers are not allowed by law to water them. They have to be rain fed, it seems a bit wierd but that is the way it is.

We finally decided on some wine to purchase to take with us to share with the Naude's when we get to Venice and ended up spending almost twice what we were intending but I am sure that we'll really enjoy them in a few weeks time.

Back at Rauzan, we wandered up into town and paid our 2.50 entrance fee into the antique fair which was just like a giant jumble sale with heaps of absolute junk and the odd bit of really nice stuff at astronomical prices; I saw a 18th centure armoire (big cupboard) for 2700 EUR, yes, that's right - about R35 000.00 for a cupboard albeit a really nice one. We also saw some shadeports - french style which requires a little imagination because it only has leaves on in summer.

We spent most of the afternoon huddled in the bell of our tent hiding from the rain and reading in between cups of coffee and making carons vegetable soup which we had for supper.

Just before bed I walked up into town and took the picture below of the ruined castle.


While we were driving around we passed groups of cyclists and walkers dressed up appropriately and out and doing it; in weather like this south africans just wouldn't be caught outside let alone pursuing the sports which they enjoy. It'll make me think twice next time I cancel a ride or a walk due to the weather, I think we are really spoilt by the weather we have at home.

The electronic brain

Having the GPS has been marvelous but sometimes it's behaviour has been erratic to put it mildly. There was one particular section between Rauzan and St. Emilion just as one crosses the dordogne river where I think the maps and the position were all out of kilter because it had us ploughing through fields or swimming in the river or driving down the wrong street and it took a little while to figure out exactly what was going on and when to ignore the instructions and when not to. At one point, the voice stopped giving instructions because we had made so many wrong turns that I think it went into a sulk.

Rain, Rain and more RAIN.

Ok, it has now been raining for 24 hours and the weather is risking the wrath of Caron. We had a very nice evening in Magaudie which already is and will become an even nicer campsite in the future but had to pack up in the rain which is not so pleasant.

We drove down to Sarlat going through Salignac, yes saligna with a 'c' which had a very picturesque castle shown below but to be honest, there really isn't a shortage of these. Of course the castles make johannesburgs walled suburbs look somewhat trivial and unpreposing.

Sarlat turned out to be fantastic, we happened to hit it on market day which is like a flea market but with a lot more things to buy, specifically food related. We went to the 'easy planet' internet shop to pay our blood money and was pleasantly surprised to be charged only for the 3 cups of coffee which we bought there while we posted and downloaded. 45 minutes of internet time and we were both feeling much better; me because I had caught up with the blog and caron because she had two cups of coffee in her. We walked back through the market just enjoying the spectacle which wasn't dampened by the fact that it was raining quite hard. The people here are so used to the rain that what would have us south africans scuttling for cover is simply ignored as if it wasn't there.

I took several pictures of stalls but I thought that I would show the one all you meat lovers at home would appreciate the best. I know that this will have george salivating!

A short while later I spotted a serious cheese which I needed caron next to to give some relative size. We couldn't help but think of Laurel while we were were walking through, from the people to the clothes to the market itself; this would be her natural home.

When we got back to the car having spent a very enjoyable hour or two in the market this was parked just a couple of cars behind us. Now, I ask you; who would pimp a citroen!

From Sarlat we drove down towards Bordeaux following the Dordogne marvelling at the castles and chateaus that seem to be around just about every bend. We stopped next to the dordogne for a brief lunch of baguette and the brie cheese which we had bought at the market before carrying on down to bordeaux.

After a very pleasant drive and morning the afternoon wasn't so great as we had a bit of a job finding a decent campsite. The one we went to looked like an upmarket squatter camp but a squatter camp non-the-less but we finally found a campsite run by yet another dutchman. What is it about hollanders and running camp sites?

This evening we are camping at the Vieux Chateau campsite just on the outskirts of Rauzan which is very picturesque if a little wet which meant that we had to pitch camp in the rain. The rain here isn't the buckets we are used to at home, it is more like a continuous drizzle; just enough to actually get things wet but we are now warm dry and comfortable after a supper of soup and baguette. We are camped just below the battlements of Chateau Rauzan and we took a stroll into town where they're holding a 4 day antique/junk sale. We had just arrived when we were approached by the gendarmerie who wanted to know if we had seen a tall man with lots of hair come running past about 5 or 10 minutes ago. Even though we couldn't speak french and they couldn't speak english we managed to communicate enough to answer their questions. It would seem that someone stole some of the antiques from the sale! The crime seems to be following us, maybe we are crime magnets.

Tomorrow we are going to see the chateaux around St Emilion which I am really looking forward to.

Good Friday ain't so good!

A long drive ahead down to the bordeaux region ahead but to start the day had some fun with Mellman whom we caught having a wallow in the Loire below one of the chateaus.

We stopped at an intermarche store and filled up with fuel and some things eat over the next day or so. Having real problems finding replacement fuel for the stove which would be a real problem. Even though we have the instruction manual with the fuel described in french, we still can't find it so we bought some 'lamp oil' which the salesman said was equivalent as a good salesman ought to. When we were in the store I saw some bottles with turpentine on them so maybe the 'white gas' I bought last time isn't actually turpentine although it sure smells like it. This evening I tried out the lamp oil and the white gas. Both work but the lamp oil only just, the white gas actually works quite well although you have to be extra careful how one lights it as it takes much longer to heat up. At least it is an adequate replacement although benzine is definitely a better fuel.

Driving through the countryside we left the gentle rolling flatlands of the Loire Valley behind with the large green fields and interspersed forest remnants and climbed onto the 'massif central' which is a lot like the natal midlands but colder. We went to an out of the way campsite but decided not to stay there because it was just a little bit rustic for us. So far we have been just about the only tent in the campsites, there have been a fair number of campervans and caravans but not much in the way of tents. The other thing that is noticeable is that we are by far the youngest people touring around, just about everyone else seems to be ready to expire. Maybe I'm just thinking that I look younger than I really do!

Had another fight with the internet today and came away from the battle having lost by about 55 points to 9. I did manage to download my email and send all the replies which I haven't been able to do at any of the free internet access points and I was almost but not quite, able to post another blog. I got as far as clicking on the 'post' button when the connection died and refused to resurrect itself. This time we had gone to another Formula 1 which, amazingly, did have a wifi hotspot and I thought my time had come but alas it had more tribulations in store for me. At one stage the %^&*( thing would take me to a login page which is fair enough but when I logged in, it would tell me that I was already logged in but wouldn't go to the page I originally requested and nor would it give me the option to log out. A real catch 22 situation and my view of 1st world technology is plummeting by the day.

Finally, we ended up at a very pleasant campsite run by some dutch people who speak very good english and it was such a pleasure to be able to communicate reasonably effectively. In desperation to get the internet back, it really has turned out to be an unexpected security blanket, I tried our sims in the gsm modem but it didn't work. I'm not really surprised but, even at the exhorbitant data roaming fees, it would still have been cheaper and more convenient than using wifi (I think!).

What I never want my bicycle to look like!

The chateau of the Loire Valley

We spent the day visiting two chateau and I think two is enough. We visited Chambord which was a royal chateau and simply huge but not nearly as interesting or elegant as the Chenonceaux which was built by one of the kings mistresses; with the kings money of course! Caron says that you can see the womens touch in the architecture and that quite often mistresses wielded more real power than actual queens which seeing as the queen at this time was Catherine De Medici means that it must have been quite a powerful woman.

In the centre of the Chambord chateau is a double helix staircase which is rumoured to have been designed by Leonardo Da Vinci who stayed his final years in this area. It really is quite impressive and at the price 10EUR per person, it ought to be. When we went across to Chenonceaux we decided not to go into the actual chateau and only to have a look at the grounds but the frenchies were one step ahead of us, we had to pay to get into the grounds and the chateau was thrown in for free so we paid another 10EUR each which brought it to nearly R600 entrance fees for two of us for one day.

I really enjoyed Chenonceaux (below), much more so than Chambord (above), perhaps because it is visually more attractive if a little less impressive in the size stakes.

On the way out from Chambord we caught a 'rare' sight of a wild boar which looks sort of like a warthog but bigger. They seem to get quite excited about this here and there are a number of animal sightseeing venues which, needless to say, we are avoiding like the plague!

Down in the kitchens of Chenonceaux I caught Caron at the butchers block, I don't know whether it was an expression of some unexpressed desire to be a butcher or if it was simply stress relief. It's a bit difficult to see but the butchers block is seriously worn down.

The great electricity and internet access debate rages on in my head. The going price to have both electricity at a campsite and internet access is about 10 EUR per day which I find exhorbitantly expensive but as a traveller, they pretty much have you at their mercy. Imagine paying R3000 per month to be able to charge a laptop and browse the internet! This annoys me but there is little I can do, I thought I would be clever and buy access to orange hotspots so we have access but we can't find any hotspots. In an effort to find one we went out of our way to a Formula 1 but it doesn't have an orange hotspot. The only one in france not to have orange internet access according to the proprietor who was less than accomodating and helpful.

I finished the day of with some stress relief and cycled from the campsite down to the Loire river and then along the river for about 10km which, because it is so flat, is quite hard work. So there I was cycling along the Loire with the fading sun throwing its light over the river and onto the chateau on the other side. There are definitely worse ways to end a day.

Travel day from Mont St Michel to the Loire Valley

Travel day! Although travel distances in France aren't big, we wouldn't think twice about a 300km journey, it takes forever because you can't go more than about 10km before having to slow down to go into a town. On the motorway the speed limit is 110, on country roads it is 90 in general and as soon as you hit a town it drops down to 50 or sometimes even 30. It is a little self inflicted because we have chosen to use fewer motorways and more country roads for two reasons, the tolls which soon add up and one gets a better sense of the french towns and countryside going through the villages; I think!

Our first stop today was Chartres Cathedral which is in, one would never guess, Chartres. The guide book says that it is in the middle of undeveloped farmland. Strangest farmland I have ever seen, loads of asphalt and buildings! The Cathedral turned out to be more interesting than I expected simply because it is just ginormous, the ceiling is 37m in height and the photo below is of us standing next to one of the many pillars. The 'wall' behind us is not a wall but the foot of a pillar just to give you a sense of just how big they really are.

What I found quite fascinating is that the monks had invented a sort of internet/TV equivalent in the 12th century, the labyrinthe pictured below was used by pilgrims in lieu of actually going to jerusalem on a pilgrimage. What they would do was crawl the labyrinthe from start to finish and that was considered to be the equivalent of and actual pilgrimage in much the same way as we use internet or TV in lieu of actually doing the real thing; it just isn't somehow quite the same!

Coming out of the Cathedral we had a stoke of luck because we saw an 'Internet' sign in the tourism office and went in to ask and it was FREE not the typical 6 EUR for an hour which is the normal charge. I am still smarting from paying for wi-fi access through Orange at '30 000' points of access which we have been able to find exactly one. The one at the formula 1 where we stayed after coming off the euro tunnel. So we made hay while the sun shone and published a whole load of days and we'll be making a point of finding tourism offices in future if we don't somehow bump into an Orange wi-fi access point.

We are now camping in the Loire valley between the towns of Blois and Tours at a campsite called 'Parc du val de loire' which is so, so; the showers leave a lot to be desired but at least they are hot. The weather has not been kind to us today and it is wet, windy and cold but we hope that tomorrow will be better!

We had the most awesome supper of onion soup, bread with a camembert like cheese, bordeaux wine and pudding and coffee. Camping like this really makes one enjoy some of the smaller things in life.

The car went much better today for some reason, almost no juddering at low revs so we hope that this will continue. I tried to buy more fuel for the stove but ended up buying turps instead of benzine; it's quite difficult explaining what benzine is here, even trying to do it in england was pretty difficult.

On our way down to the Loire river we passed some towns names that just have to be mentioned; La Sagne, obviously the home of lasagne and Dorat obviously the home town of Borat.

St Malo and Mont St Michel

We were going to go all the way down to Carnac to see the neolithic stones which are very similar to stonehenge just more of them but in the end decided that the 350km round trip just wasn't going to be worth it to see them so we drove along the coast to St Malo. St Malo featured in Neal Stephensons 'System of the World' as the pirate port which, as it turns out, was essentially true albeit state sanctioned pirates.

The old St Malo was a fortified city on an island similar to the photo of Fort National pictured below but on a much bigger scale. The buildings in the town are four or five stories high and only the top floors can peek over the walls. We walked around the wall for a bit before traipsing over to Fort National and back.

The tide was out and when it goes out here, it really goes out. At Mont St. Michel it recedes 18km, from the top of Mont St Michel which is about 600m one can barely see the shoreline in the distance. Back in St Malo, we stopped to have some coffee and a 'crepe nutella' which was every bit as good as I remember it from Avoriaz.

We're not having much luck with internet access, we can't find an orange wifi point anywhere and ended up war driving through towns looking for wifi hotspots. There are lots of them but no orange ones, this is not looking good. While walking around St Malo there was a statue of Surcouf the legendry pirate which was pointing out to sea but some smart alec had put a condom on his outstretched finger.


From St Malo, we went back to Mont St Michel and paid the 23 EUR entrance fee which is exhoritant but worth it at the end of the day. We got these audio guides which talk you around the attraction and give you loads of information about the history and people that have been there. Very interesting but there is absolutely no way I could have been a monk; aside from the chastity thing, to sit in prayer for 8 hours a day, have meals in silence and live in an abbey which is absolutely freezing just wouldn't have worked for me!

By the time we left Mont St Michel, I was feeling decidedly edgy and needed to get on my bike and get some endorphins racing around which is what I did, cycling the 35km to Mont St Michel and back. On the way back I saw this photo opportunity. Holland obviously doesn't have a monopoly on picturesque windmills.


Had another great pasta with pesto meal with wine, I'm really going to get used to this. Shower and in bed by 21:30 - this is the life!

Bayeaux and Normandy Beaches

An early start at Reine Mathilde at about 09:00; we collected our pain chocolat and our baguette from the reception as we were leaving and munched the pain chocolat as we drove. Mmmmm! It was really cold last night and although we didn't freeze we weren't far off it. Showering in the morning was a pain because the water turns off after about 20 seconds and it was really hot so you would be scalded while it was on and freeze as soon as it stopped. Emerged from the shower all pink and clean!

Seeing as we are so close to the Normandy beaches where D-Day took place we thought we would take a quick look at them. I wasn't expecting to find it paticularly interesting but I was wrong, it was absolutely fascinating. Firstly, to say that they were beaches is something of a misnomer; there were some beaches but on the whole it is a line of cliffs with rocky beaches far below. On the tops of the cliffs were fortified gun, mortar and machine gun emplacements and the allies didn't just waltz onto the land unopposed; the battle of Normandy sucked up 100,000 lives in total. Looking at the size of the concrete emplacements is mind boggling; some of the walls are 2 or more metres of reinforced concrete thick. At the first place we went to, Longues-sur-mer, of the 5 gun emplacements only one was really destroyed and another partialy by the 1000 tons of ordnance dropped onto them. That is pretty impressive!

Mellman the giraffe cannon ball gives an idea of the bore of the cannon. 150mm for those interested.

We moved on to Point du Hoc where a group of american rangers had to scale the cliffs and then take the gun emplacements by hand. Of the 250 rangers that landed, only 90 made it through the next two days unscathed although given my recent brush with firearms, unscathed doesn't mean unaffected!

The size of the shell holes is amazing as you can see from the shell hole below, just imagine digging this with a spade and then think that this thing appeared in a second.

We were running a little low on fuel so we pulled off the highway into a town but everything was closed for lunch and I mean everything so no luck there. Once again we were stymied by the french road construction and had to backtrack a bit and while doing so we had baguette and cheese on the banks of the l'Elle river which was very picturesque. Caron is finally learning to sit still and ignore me when I take photographs.

We arrived quite late at Mont Saint Michel, one of the must-sees for me, but decided not to go in so i took a few photo's and then went in search of a blanket and a camping site. We were quite cold last night so we really needed to buy an extra blanket seeing as we're going to be doing this for 3 months. We found a great campsite called haliosis which is too close to halitosis for comfort and finished the day with a supper of pasta and tuna in a tomato sauce washed down with some very delicious red wine.

Calais to Bayeux

The french build their roads like they build their cars - way too complicated; by far! If it wasn't for the GPS we would have been hopelessly lost within a couple of hours of departing. If it wasn't for the GPS we would have arrived a couple of hours before we actually did. It is very important to have up-to-date maps which ours clearly aren't and it kept on trying to take us onto roads which have been blocked off due to road works so we had to navigate the old fashioned way for while until the GPS finally forgot about the way it thought we should be going.

On the motorway there is a layby about every 50km or so which is usually quite nice but the french drivers are true to their reputation - rude and arrogant although outside their cars we have had quite the opposite experience. If you don't know where you are going you shouldn't be here is their basic attitude.

We were going to stop in Rouen to see where Joan of Arc snuffed it but we were running out of time so we gave it a miss. There was a long tunnel through a mountain and into Rouen so on the GPS we could see the streets above us. I'm not sure how the GPS showed us where we were while we were in the tunnel but it was pretty impressive!

The camping ground guide said that there was a french chateau which had been turned into a camping ground so we thought it would be nice to camp there but unfortunately it was closed but how is this for a driveway!

After a while driving through the french countryside which was quite nice anyway while the electronic brain had it's schizophrenic moment we finally arrived in Bayeaux to see the tapestry which is, I admit, pretty impressive. It's like a 70m long embroidered comic strip depicting the norman invasion of england which ended up with Harold with one in the eye.
Rumour has it that it was embroidered by nuns but I doubt it, nuns ought not have knowledge of some of the more graphic images in the tapestry.

We finally found the campsite we were looking for more by accident than anything else we couldn't find it on the GPS no the map so we headed in the general direction and followed some signs. I think that navigation is going to be combined effort between GPS, map, signposts and a little bit of luck.

The campsite is pretty great and there is a wonderful air of freedom at the campsite. I think I had a bit of an anxiety attack, not really sure why and I'm not even sure if it was; I was just feeling very anxious for no particular reason. Europe in spring is still cold and even with the jackets and beanies we were still a bit on the cold side.

Taking the chunnel

We did our final packing and then took our leave of john and julie after a very necessary period while we sorted ourselves out. Once again a very big thankyou for the hospitality.

We weren't very sure what to expect from the chunnel and as it turn's out it was quite a painless if long winded process. We left at about 10:00 even though our booking was for 17:00 because we weren't sure just how long it would take and thought that once we were there we could maybe explore dover or something. This was not to be, once you go down the offramp to the tunnel there is no turning back so we ended up waiting for about 5 hours in queues of various sorts. Firstly to actually check-in and then once checked in, in the parking lot waiting for our letter to be called. Each departure is assigned a letter and then when they are loading your departure they call your letter over the intercom which was difficult to hear firstly because it is plain just difficult and then secondy because my ears have been blocked for the last couple of days. Caron says that I don't hear so well in any case. Once out letter was call it was really simple, just follow the signs and drive into a double decker railway carriage which looks like the picture below.

I was busy taking the picture below when the french train people walked past and saw what we were doing - 'Ah! le artiste?' was the first french which we were to hear on this trip.

The trip is almost completely inside a tunnel so there is no scenery to speak of and the trip takes about 45 minutes before we finally made it into france. At last, our trip is really beginning! The GPS is absolutely fantastic and we found the formula 1 hotel with no problems at all.

Once we had finished checking in we went for a long walk into the calais and stopped at a restaurant for some soup and coffee on the way back which was great. It looks like the french have some significant security issues because almost all of the houses have roller security shutters over their doors and windows. It made me feel a bit better about our open air prison back in south africa. We walked past the 'pale of calais' which doesn't even feature in either of the guide books but thankfully I have my resident history boffin to enlighten me!

More preparation for the great escape

A great nights sleep, slept like the proverbial security guard!

The first order of the day was to arrange transport over the ditch and into 'old Europe' as the American's are fond of saying. I was expecting it to be expensive but we had one quote of over 200GBP which was quite demoralizing although we have settled on using the chunnel for 90GBP but it means that we arrive in France quite late in the evening so we've gone the safe route and booked into a formula 1 hotel for the first night. I've checked that the GPS knows where the hotel is so we shouldn't have any issues finding it.

We went to get a pukka MSR bottle for the stove today and driving by the GPS is simply amazing. We had absolutely no idea where we were going, just followed the arrow and miracle of miracles we found the shop we were looking for. Dead easy!

We stopped at a 'thorntons chocolatier', it sounds so much more sophisticated in french, shop and had a couple of hot chocolates and something small to eat. It was very nice but it actually cost the same as a full meal including drinks back in johannesburg. Caron has managed to lock up her credit card and it can't be reset without appearing in person at a standard bank branch - in south Africa! Fortunately it isn't our only card but methinks this is a significant flaw in the EMV implementation. Just wait until someone's one and only card gets locked and they're overseas; I predict a hissy fit of note!

We spent some time in the afternoon cleaning the car, packing and then repacking several times and then went out with John and Julie to an Italian pizzeria for a
farewell dinner. The table next to us had 28 people at it, 26 women and 2 men; talk about being outnumbered. When it came time to pay for the meal we called for the bill but john had surreptitiously already paid it. We're not really sure when he managed to do it because we definitely didn't notice him doing it but he was very pleased with himself, grinning like a cheshire cat that got the cream! John and Julie have been very kind and hospitable to us while we have got all the threads of the trip together.

On the way home we drove down the high street and there were girls in 'little black number' type dresses. I was cold in jeans and a fleece jacket so I don't want to know how cold they were; what people will suffer through to look good!

A long day's night

I can't get 3G without paying 5GBP per megabyte, yes that's right, per megabyte. How utterly frustrating so I'm not sure how I am going to keep my diary up to date, maybe I will write it offline and upload when I am able to find an internet cafe; I'll just have to play it by ear.

The flight was pretty uneventful and taking a couple of sleeping tables elevated my class up to an equivalent of first class which means that I actually slept for about 6 hours of the flight. We were traveling in premium economy which, I have to say, was really nice! It has just that little bit of extra leg and arm room so you don't feel quite so cramped. When the meals came around the hostess offered caron a choice of beef curry or vegetarian pasta which I thought was very civilised. The vege's are taking over; entering the mainstream as it were! When caron ordered the vegetarian pasta it turned out that there was chicken in it; strange vegetarian fare indeed. Maybe the cook was the fabled namibian farmer.

Disembarking at the famous terminal 5 was very efficient and totally uneventful, even the baggage all arrived pretty much as we got to the baggage travelators and the immigration had a two person queue and before we knew it we were out and found John who was waiting for us.

We had a bit of a job getting all our baggage into johns car but remarkably we actually managed it although I had to lean forward the whole trip to john and julies house because we couldn't quite get the seat into the normal position. This meant that I had to duck if we saw any cops because apparently it is quite illegal to drive like this here.

Arriving at johns house we met our transport for the trip which has yet to be named but since it looks a bit like a single humped camel will probably be something camel-like. John had kindly taken the day off so we spent the day driving around trying to find various things that we either couldn't fit in like foam mattresses or had been disallowed like the bottle for the MSR stove. The stove proved to be quite an issue and, despite what the shop assistant promised, it HAS to be a genuine MSR bottle so we ended up spending 10GBP on a bottle which we can't use. Shop assistants don't seem to change from continent to continent but by the end of the day we had most of the other items required.

We went for a drive in the dromedarius and within about 100m we knew that there was a rattle which was going to send caron ballistic so John and I spent a few hours locating the source and fixing it. It turned out to be a loose shock absorber which was quite easy to fix. We also fixed the spare wheel back into it's holder underneath the car so we don't have to have it floating around in the box and we also fixed the bicycle into the back of the van in what I hope will be a safe and secure manner. The photo below should show the ingenious method of method of restraint along with a stowaway who has followed us from south africa.



We were very glad to get to bed at about 21:00, not a moment too soon.

April Fool Day, 2009

After about 4 years of planning, the day of departure has finally arrived and as usual, the last few days have been more than a little hectic. Especially given our brushes with the criminal elements of late. We've been having repairmen of all sorts traipsing through our house trying to get it back into shape so that rosie can live in it safely for the next few months. One of the things that has been at the bottom of the priority list has been what our exact itinerary will be aand we still don't know. We know the broad strokes but we're going to have to make it up a little bit as we go along.

Going for this long and especially since we will be doing a fair amount of financially enforced camping; luggage is a real problem. Even more so since I want to take my bicycle along for the ride. After carefull examination of the BA website we found that in addition to the normal baggage (2xhand luggage + 2xchecked luggage) we could take 'sports equipment', one piece maximum of 23 kg. The bicycle box I borrowed from graeme weighed 16kg on its own so that wasn't going to work so I had a cardboard box made and the bike, the box and a couple of sleeping bags ('packaging' to anyone that wants to know) it came to 22.5 kg. In the end all our luggarge was within 0.5kg of the maximum allowed which is quite and achievement.

From the photo you can see the bicycle on the left in the big box; I had my doubts as to whether they really would allow it on the aircraft but surprise, surprise - they did and no questions asked.


We weren't so lucky with the benzine bottle for the cooker even though it was open and empty; it hadn't been washed with soapy water! I ask you with tears in my eyes; so we left the bottle behind but have managed to get everything else through.

An unexpected disadvantage of traveling with a bicycle is that one can't see over it when pushing the trolley and I accidentally ran into a person in a wheelchair who had crossed my path. Felt a bit bad but I'm over it now.

I'm currently sitting in the news cafe waiting for caron to return from a foraging expedition for cancer sticks and we should be boarding the plane in about 10 minutes.