Duilhac sous Peyrepertuse

After a fantastic nights sleep where I at one stage actually got too hot we left the B&B and set up camp in 'Camping de la Cite' which is a pretty awesome campsite. Even though the wind is still blowing stongly, our campsite is so sheltered that it is hard to tell that there is even a wind at all. It was definitely much nicer to set up camp when it isn't raining and given the price of the B&B's we might actually do this more often.

The Cathar castle of Peyrepertuse was about 75km away from Carcasonne but that is about a 2 hour drive there and another 2 hours back; the kilometres don't come easily like they do in South Africa. The drive there was very picturesque as we wound our way up into mountainous terrain from the relatively flat areas around Carcasonne; loads of vines and what looks like natural bush. It reminded me a lot of Graskop.

The Cathars were a sect which was declared to be heretics and a crusade was mounted to wipe them out which was duly accomplished but it took 20 years to do so and one of the reasons was that they had dozens of castles like the one we visited today. Personally, if it was me trying to attack these castles; the Cathars would be alive and well today!

You can just see the castle built onto the top of the cliff and the cliff on the other side of the hill is almost as bad. The castle is actually a set of two independent castles, each with their own keep and even now with it half demolished, it is an impressive building.

This was only one of a string of Cathar castles which were rebuilt by the kings of France into border forts and each castle was able to see the two neighbouring ones. In the photo below one can just pick out the one neighbour.

It is hard to capture the height and steepness of the castle but hopefully this gives some inkling of just how steep it actually was.

After visiting the castle we sat and had lunch in the parking lot and watched a couple with their two children, one very young, going up. We were discussing what a mission it must be to drag unwilling two year olds up and around a castle when they all arrived back after only 5 minutes, the wife clearly out of sorts with the youngest. They got in the car and drove off but we saw them about 15 minutes later driving back up to the castle sans youngsters. No idea what they might have done with them!

Heading back to Carcasonne we have decided to stay an extra day here so tomorrow will be a real easy holiday. We thought of everyone back home voting and we're quite sorry we didn't get to cast a vote and we can't wait for the results to come out. I'm desperately hoping for Cope and the DA to make a big impression on the ANC's majority.

On the way back to the campsite we passed through many picturesque towns, this is just one of them!

Getting back to Carcasonne, this is the view from just outside our campsite; tough life hey!

Travel day!

We, the royal we, as in i slept very soundly last night. Caron, on the other hand didn't have such a good night. One of the children in the tent next door was a bit sick and coughed and cried most of the night; I didn't hear a thing but it was enough to keep Caron awake so yesterday it was grumpy Roland and today it will be grumpy Caron. We're very glad to part ways with the campsite, it's expensive and not that great but it's the only one relatively near to Barcelona which is open.

A long days travel broken by some welcome breaks. The first part was from Barcelona up to Andorra which I have wanted to visit for some time but I've just never managed to get there. Now I know why, it's not that easy to get to. We stopped for a real lunch, hamburgers for Caron and I had trout which was okay but definitely not what one would expect of a top restaurant; which it wasn't! Andorra seems to specialise in a few businesses; from the shops on the main road through Andorra they would be banking, perfume, electronic goods, fuel, jewelery/watches and of course cigarettes. Basically any goods that would attract large taxes either in France or Spain. The fuel here is 0.78 which is 0.10 cheaper than in spain and 0.25 cheaper than in France so no wonder Andorra is know for smuggling.

We had lunch while we waited for the bank to open at 15:00; this lunch siesta thing is really actually quite annoying but when it did open we exchanged our travellers cheques which we have been having some trouble in cashing and were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to pay commission. In Las Ramblas, Western Union wanted to charge us 8.1%.

There seems to be only one town in Andorra and this is it.

Just behind where I took the above photograph was this sculpture which just made me think of the obvious Queen song!

The road from here on climbed and climbed into really snowy territory until we left via a long tunnel; I would say about 3km to add to the 5km tunnel we went through to get into Andorra. Quite amazingly tunnels.

One way down, the road ahead looked like this but once we hit the bottom of the valley the weather lifted and for a period it was really nice, we even saw the sun.

Unfortunately this didn't last and we drove through a monster storm just before Carcasonne where we were going to camp. We couldn't find the one campsite and the other was closed so we ended up at a small B&B which is proving to be a real win, it sure beats setting up camp in the rain. Just having a little luxury is hugely amplified due to the camping experience.

Although the auspices weren't great at the beginning of the day, Caron hasn't been grumpy at all today.

Gaudi' Day

Not the greatest day of the trip but not because of what there was to see and do, I think the stresses of the last few weeks before we left combined with the normal travel stress have started to come out so I was like a bear with a sore paw. I have a headache which just won't go away, I think I've had it for three weeks now; it's not bad but it's there and it's really annoying.

Ok, started the day by going to see Sagrada Familie which was the church which Antoni Gaudi was working on when he died in an accident. It is like no other church which one has ever seen and as impressive as it is from the outside, the 11EUR to go and have a look at it inside is well worth it. They're actually still building it 120 years later and it is being built by public subscription which would be a fairly amazing concept in South Africa. Because of the length of time, one can see the architecture change so I'm not sure how much is or isn't Gaudi's creation but I assume that the overall plan has been kept in line with what he envisioned.

This is the view from the front of the church and Gaudi was obviously fascinated by geometry because just about everything is elipsoid, round, triangular and square and endless variations on these themes. One of his distinguishing features was his love of everything not vertical, not square, round and flat and it gives his creations a beauty that is almost other worldly.

His trademark mosaic's with glazed pottery was, I think, derived from the Moors but the way that he has used really has to be seen in real life. Photographs just don't do it justice; the picture below is taken vertically upwards of the ceiling inside the church and there is mosaic work around the black holes.

The school house which now houses a sort of historical display seems to have been one of Gaudi's early creations and I found it really simple but absolutely fascinating; I don't think that there is a straight horizontal or vertical line in the entire building.

After the Sagrada and paying 6EUR for two hours parking, we went down to Las Ramblas and the Barri Gothic which is the old part of Barcelona.
After a bit of a job trying to find where we actually were, we walked up Las Ramblas which is definitely on the seedier side but fascinating and vibrant. There were lots of mime artists, gymnastic perfomers and musicians performing. the one below was particularly good, I didn't believe that it wasn't a statue at first.

From Las Ramblas we meandered through the Barri Gothic and tried to find some undergound roman ruins but they were closed so I spent some time in a square watching and listening to a musician while Caron went into the 'archives of aragon' which left me cold but Caron seemed to have enjoyed it.

While I was waiting a bicycle tour group descended on the square like a gang so the square must be famous for something, I'm just not sure what.

From there, and another 6EUR for parking, we tried to navigate to Parc Guell which is another Gaudi creation which is on quite a steep hillside overlooking Barcelona's centre and after taking yet another wrong turn we went up a hill so steep that we only just managed it in first gear.

Here's Caron in the covered walkway which made me think of breaking waves and as you can see, vertical columns were not a requirement in Gaudi's world.

The centrepiece of the park is an area supported by 89 fairly substantial columns which has a crennelated edge with a built-in, mosaic covered, seat running right around the edge. A bit difficult to photograph but Caron has done well with the one below.

While we were walking around the edge, the girl below was posing for pictures by her boyfriend so, since she was posing, I thought I would snap some too.

Driving in Barcelona gives a whole new meaning to complexity; just as an example they sometimes have traffic lights per lane so on a four lane road there would be for traffic lights, one per lane. At one stage the four lane highway split into four 'on ramps'; the GPS tells you to bear left but which left is she friggin' talking about and as it happens, it wasn't the one on the far left. The road maintenance and construction didn't help matters at all either. Even with the GPS, I managed to miss turnings fairly regularly which didn't contritbute positively to my already fragile mood.
After doing some shopping at Carrefour which is just like Pick'n Pay just bigger, we headed home quite tired. When we got back I watched a family of four children and their parents play a game of soccer while I drank some wine and calmed down; it reminded me of going camping in New Zealand as a youngster. They even have the same brand of tent that we used in New Zealand which is really a coincidence.
To end the day, I had a cold shower; not on purpose of course so I was very happy to close my eyes and draw the day to a close.

Roland and Caron go to Mass!

Yep, that's right we actually sat through an entire mass having been enticed in under false pretenses. I can just hear Carl and Dad chortling!

We woke up today with one of two plans, if the weather was good we were going to go to Montserrat and if it was anything else then we would go downtown into Barcelona. The weather was perfect so off to Montserrat we went. Arriving at Montserrat, the mountain range is just spectacular and just so different to anything else around here that it is a little hard to believe that it's totally natural.

the range starts at about 150m and the top is at about 700m which is quite a climb so we chickened out and took the furnicular instead of walking. We could also have driven up but we didn't know that at the time. Once we reached the main level we went to the Basilica because, the guide book assured us, we would be able to hear the choir at 13:00 every day. Not really my cup of tea but it was one of the things Caron specifically wanted to do on the trip. Looking at the posters and schedules sure enough, at 13:00 the choir should sing for their supper. Except for today! Today we have mass but we didn't know this so we sat through the entire service, delivered in spanish, of which we didn't understand one iota hoping for the choir to arrive but arrive, it did not. The ushers looked just like boy scouts with napkins rolled up and back to front around their necks, it was all very strange! Although the singing was a disappointment watching people wait in a 1000 person long queue to touch, kiss and take photographs of the black madonna was quite an eyeopener.

The photo isn't that good due to the light and I shouldn't have been taking photo's anyway, not that this stopped anyone else, but the people in the centre are paying their respects to the black madonna.
The basilica itself is amazingly ornate and unlike the cathedrals, quite warm. The workmanship that has gone into this basilica is really something to see and appreciate even if only for the quality of the workmanship.

After emerging from the basilica, we had a bit to eat and walked past a stall selling 'pastis fromage' which we took to be some sort of cheese flan or quiche but it turned out to be quite sweet rather than savoury. We would normally call it cheesecake so we had a large cheesecake for lunch; nice but not what we were expecting! After lunch we took a walk on one of the paths to a lookout and looking back at the monastery as a whole one would see the following.

Caron has developed vertigo during the last couple of years, starting with our barge trip when we went over a viaduct which didn't have any sides and it has got progressively worse since then. I didn't realise how bad it was; no wonder the trip through the mountains a couple of days ago terrified her!

A final photgraph of the two of us in front of the basilica kindly taken by some other tourists and then we were on our way back to camp where we wiled away the afternoon and evening reading, eating and drinking. The filter coffee we bought in pamplona a couple of days ago is definitely not up to scratch so if anyone sees Marcilla coffee on sale; avoid it like the plague!

Sun at last!

One doesn't realise how africanised one has become until the sun doesn't really come out for two or three weeks and then suddenly one morning, there it is again. I think that this is the first morning since we left england where we could be sure that there wouldn't be any rain for at least a few hours so we decided that we should dry everything as best we could so our campsite looked a bit like a gypseys camp for the morning. While everything was drying in the hot sun, we spent the time reading and generally relaxing until about midday when we really had to get going if we were to make Barcelona at a reasonable hour.

The drive to Barcelone was quite uneventful with the hilly terrain giving way to rolling hills and then eventually to pancake flat terrain which had a bit of a Karoo feel to it but wasn't quite as barren.


There were still loads of hilltop villages, some abandoned and some not so abandoned to be seen throughout most of the day.

Arriving in Barcelona, the sheer scale of the motorways from 60km out lets one know that this really is a big city and thank goodness for GPS. The roads here are quite a challenge with highways within highways (8 to 12 lanes with the inner 4 not able to change lanes to the outer 6 or 6) and over-ramps and under-ramps; we would never had made it, without a fight, without the GPS. We drove through a monster storm on the way into Barcelona which appeared to be following us. The catalans have a very interesting system for on-ramps; the lane joining the highway stays a full lane and the 'fast' lane peters out about 500m after the joing lane joins the highway. So, if you're travelling in the fast lane (which nobody does here; it's amazing!) you end up continuously changing lanes as each onramp is passed.

Arriving at the campsite, the one and only one open anywhere near Barcelona called le vedada, we pitched camp and got ourselves sorted out in record time because of the storm which was threatening only to have it miss us almost completely. We're getting really good at setting up camp, from arrival to finished I doubt it takes longer than 20 minutes.

We camped close to a german motobike tourist called Daniel who was visiting Barcelona on his own so we got talking and ended up having supper with him at the restaurant. While we were eating we saw two of the camp dogs put their heads into his tent and come away with a salami and a breadroll each. Daniel was not amused but the dogs seemed pretty pleased with themselves!

Aiguestorres National Park

Well, today didn't work out quite as planned. We had a pretty comfortable night even though the weather was really cold and headed out for the park at about 10:00 and arrived about an hour later.

The brochures have pictures of azure lakes and green meadows but it turns out that we are way too early for that. The azure lakes look like the picture below; pretty but not quite what we were expecting!

This is actually a dam but the lakes are even higher and we canceled the hike we were going to do when we found out that we would have to do it in snowshoes which would have been fun but we really aren't kitted out to go out into the mountains and especially if the weather was to turn nasty which it can do quite quickly.

So, now having a full day of nothing we were mooching around and found the church of st. Joan pictured below which was interesting mainly because it was so utterly different to the cathedrals in that it was plastered and painted. Apparently this church is from the 12th century and is typical of Romanesque art and churches in this region.

It had a bell tower which we were able to climb up into which had magnificent views but was really chilly and windy.

Having done the churchy thingy we ventured up the other road through boi and ended up at a ski resort for a bit to eat and some coffee in the cafeteria while we watched the skiers coming down the pistes. Fantastic snow and I was tempted but Caron forbade me from going skiing although it has started me looking forward to next years trip.

From the ski resort we came back down and to the campsite and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sunshine or, when it clouded over, we went and hid in the dining room where it was warm and best of all, it had an internet connection!

We're looking forward to barcelona and hoping it is going to be much warmer and drier!

Travel day from Pamplona to Bonansa

Yep, that's right and not to be confused with the TV show Bonanza although you have to be pretty old to be able to remember that as a show. The trip here was just short of 300km but took close to 8 hours to complete although that did include a fair number of stops and detours along the way.

We tried to find a garage in pamplona but we kept going into the old city and that is a nightmare to drive in and even when we got into the, correct I think, street there was no garage to be found. We have a nasty squeal coming from under the bonnet which pretty much only annoys us when we start the car and even then not every time but I would like to get i checked out; I think that the new timing/fan belt might have stretched a wee bit. If I press on it it does seem to be a bit loose. On our way through one of the many towns we spotted a tow yard and stopped to ask and he pointed us to the Seat (Seat is a brand of car here owned by volkswagen) dealership which we found but it was only opening after siesta at 15:00 so we'll ignore it until we get to barcelona.

We stopped a Repsol garage and filled up, had some great coffee and bought some sandwiches for lunch. 'Cafe con leche' is really cheap here only 1.80EUR! Continuing on from there we decided to take the longer route up into the mountains and spent about 10 minutes trying to persuade our electronic brain not to route us the 'other' way. Having forced her to give into our wishes, we now understand why she so persistently routed us away from the road we were determined to go on!

Think precipitous drops on a road barely wide enough for two cars let alone anything bigger where 30-40km per hour seemed a little bit fast and taking one's eyes off the road for one second was not an option because it wasn't straight for more than a few seconds at a time. Add to this the sleet and the van's unsure roadholding and Caron had her heart in her mouth for the entire stretch of about an hour. But having said all that it was an amazingly scenic portion of the country although I have to say that living up there is just not an option. Going through this pass we passed a town called Fragin which can only be named that because it is so Fragging cold up here!


But we did manage to catch mellman the abominable giraffe lurking next to one of the many tunnels.

Having finished this detour we then went on another, unplanned, one by choosing the wrong campsite which would have meant another 300km round trip tomorrow. I wasn't feeling up to this so we moved on to the other of the two campsite possibilities and now I only have a 50km round trip to look forward to. Much better!
So, although I could have done without the unplanned detour, if we hadn't had the detour we would have missed the following sights which in hindsight I really wouldn't have wanted to miss.


By the end of the day we were both feeling a bit out of sorts so we pitched camp quickly, made supper and loads of coffee before a nice hot shower and then crawled into bed. We're sleeping with woolen socks and light fleeces tonight because we were a bit cold last night. When we woke up this morning the blanket was all wet because our breathe would condense and fall on the blanket near where our noses were poking out. Hopefully tonight will be better!

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.