JUNE 2014

Sunday 1^st June 2014. We started June just as we had ended May...with a market. La Palmyre has a market every Sunday so we set off after breakfast and headed to the beach. It was a bright but cloudy day so we packed our beach towels and a lunch too. After an hour enjoying the market we decided to head further along the coast as it was too cloudy to sit on the beach. We followed the cycle path along the coast until we came to the next sandy beach but when we saw the sign for the naturist beach we decided this was probably not the best place to stop for lunch and carried on further up the coast. We had an enjoyable ride along the coast and stopped to enjoy the chocolate brioches we had bought at the market before heading back to La Palmyre.

La Palmyre beach

 By the time we got there the clouds had blown away and we sat on the beach to finish our lunch. I lay back to enjoy the heat of the sun and it was the sound of my own snoring that woke me up an hour later!! On return to the campsite we bumped in to a lovely couple, Lesley and Paul, that we had met just briefly when they had arrived at the campsite at L'Houmeau just as we were leaving. Talk about small world! They invited us to join them for a drink and we spent a very enjoyable hour chatting over a glass of wine (beer for the men). Every now and again you meet people where you instantly feel at ease in their company and Lesley and Paul where one of those couples. It was a shame we were leaving the next morning but hopefully we will meet them again next time they come to France when it will be our chance to return their hospitality.

Tuesday 3^rd June 2014. Yesterday we moved to the lovely Aire at La Palmyre. It had been almost full the day before when we had cycled past but as the weekend was now over we had it virtually to ourselves.

The Aire at La Palmyre

It was in a stunning location adjacent to the beach and as it was such a gorgeous day that is where we spent the afternoon. This morning it was overcast so we left early and headed for our next stop, another lovely Aire at Mortagne Sur Gironde. It was set on the harbour in a lovely peaceful location. The added bonus was discovering they had free Wifi. I spent a couple of hours on-line, updating my blog and checking campsite reviews as we had decided to spend a few days on a site when we got to the Arcachon area. The weather forecast heading in to the weekend was for glorious sunshine and high temperatures, better suited to swimming and sunbathing rather than cycling. While I was busy Glynn got the bikes out of the garage and discovered he had another puncture. In spite of being busy I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and capturing the moment to add to the others I had taken.

Puncture no 4!

Glynn smiled for the camera, or was that a grimace? I decided I might have to start taking bets on how many punctures he will have had by the time we return in October. Although it was windy the sky had cleared and it was a gorgeous afternoon so we decided to explore the area. After all the incredibly flat landscapes we had been cycling in we now had hills to contend with and as we headed out of town we soon found ourselves climbing higher and higher. The amount of cycling we had done recently paid off as I found I was able to climb the hills with ease, albeit in a very high gear. The views across the valley were amazing and we spent an enjoyable hour climbing and descending the hilly terrain. Even with a full on head wind I was flying down the hills at an incredible speed. I am a big fan of lengthy bike rides on a fairly even terrain whereas Glynn gets more excited by shorter rides on the hills so for once it was nice that I actually enjoyed the challenging climbs, maybe in part to the increased fitness from having covered so many miles lately. We headed back to cook dinner and spend the evening relaxing. We managed a brief skype session with Darryl and Lisa to check everything was okay at home and our friends Sharon and Glynn (no 2) but the Wifi was struggling and we got cut off so we gave up and sat chatting and reading.

Wednesday 4^th June 2014. After reading my Lonely Planet guide to France I suggested we head to St Émilion to spend a night before heading towards the coast near Arcachon.

Spot Herman hiding amongst the vines!

We set off for a France Passion site just outside the town and just 90 minutes later we were parked adjacent to the vineyard. In every direction there were acres of vines as far as the eye could see. After a quick cuppa we headed over to the shop for some wine tasting. We spent over an hour learning so much about the whole process of wine making and all the things that can affect the quality of a crop and it was fascinating. We tried three different vintages of the same wine to show us how the taste develops and splashed out on the older vintage to enjoy on our wedding anniversary on 7^th June.

St Émilion

We then took a walk into St Émilion which was only 20 minutes away. The town was a lovely maze of steep, narrow cobbled streets with some beautiful historical buildings and we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the town. Almost every other shop was a wine merchant offering wine tasting and it would have been an easy way to have a cheap day out but we resisted. Well almost... but the guy didn't really give me a chance to say no!!

The view from St Émilion

As we sat chatting later that evening the old boy who owned the vineyard got himself a ladder and was collecting cherries from the tree just in front of where we were parked. I joked to Glynn that when he went to put the ladder away I was going to sneak out and pinch some cherries.....we were delighted when we got up the next morning and found he'd left a bag of them on our step.

Friday 6^th June 2014. Yesterday we drove to Audenge via Bordeaux and what a nightmare the ring road was. It reminded me of the M25 on a bad day. This was the first time we had been caught in traffic and we crawled along until we eventually came off on to the A63. We could see that there was major roadworks going on just as we turned off so this explained the unusually slow traffic. I had picked the campsite at Audenge because of it's brilliant location for cycling round to Cap Ferret. The campsite had a slightly worn out appearance with pitches which seemed to have more weeds and bare patches than grass but as we were only planning on stopping 2 days it didn't matter. The main thing was whether the shower block was clean and it was and there was the added bonus of free wifi. A lot of the campsites we had stayed at had been very quiet but this site was almost full. Unfortunately, as it turned out, a very large group of Eastern European fruit pickers arrived just after us and proceeded to set up their tents close by. The reason I say unfortunately is that this particular group appeared to require very little sleep. They were a happy bunch but at midnight I am no longer interested in their happy disposition and funny enough I am even less interested at 6am!! 

Puncture no 5!

Once we had levelled Herman and connected him to the mains we decided to go out for a quick ride as we wanted to check if the cycle paths were suitable for our road bikes as the distance to Cap Ferret was a bit far for the mountain bikes. Guess what?? Glynn had puncture number 5!! I made a cup of tea while he got his rapidly dwindling puncture repair kit out. He has become a bit of an expert at fixing punctures now and in no time we were off. The cycle paths were so good that before we knew it we had done another 22kms, a nice warm up for the next day!

Now what better way is there to spend a beautiful hot sunny day, forecast to reach 35° than to lay by the pool and relax.....but we never were sensible so after our rude awakening at 6am I had made a packed lunch while Glynn got the road bikes out and checked for punctures!! The route was largely flat with nothing more taxing than a couple of hills as we cycled through woodland just before we reached our destination.

The Pointe at Cap Ferret

We cycled right round to the furthest point and were rewarded with a beautiful view across to the coast where we could see from Arcachon to Pyla Sur Mer with the Dune de Pilat looming large in the distance. We sat on the beach and while Glynn retrieved our warm squashed sandwiches from underneath everything else he had piled in to the rucksack I took some photos. It was now getting incredibly hot and we still had the return journey to do. After a relaxing half hour on the beach we decided we ought to head back as the breeze from cycling was preferable to sitting in the intense sun.

Fantastic cycling paths away from the traffic

My hands were really starting to hurt from where I'd had the carpel tunnel operations and I was struggling to find a comfortable hold on the bike. In hindsight attempting such a long ride probably wasn't the brightest decision we had made, added to that the fact that even with my padded cycling shorts and the small fortune it cost me having my bike set up to optimise my riding comfort I was struggling to sit comfortably and had to check that someone hadn't actually pinched my seat and replaced it with a razor blade. It was a great relief when we got back to the camp. My Garmin showed we had done 87kms and unlike the trip from Revin in France last year I had absolutely no desire to carry on to reach 100kms. Glynn was particularly pleased as he hadn't had a single puncture (his bad luck with punctures shows no favouritism to any particular bike and he gets them equally on his ride bike too normally). We headed straight for the pool when we got back, exactly what we should have done several hours previously. If there is one thing Glynn doesn't do its freezing cold swimming pools and this one certainly wasn't heated so while I gradually worked my way in, inch by painfully cold inch, he dipped his feet and declared that was enough for him.

Saturday 7^th June 2014. Our 11^th wedding anniversary.

The Dune de Pilat

We had decided to spend a couple of days by the Dune de Pilat so after a brief stop at Gujan Mestras to see the port we headed to our next campsite which was actually adjoining the Dune. The further south we headed the scenery was changing from vineyards to pine forests and the mainly flat landscape we had enjoyed for our bike rides over the last month was now anything but, with some very steep hills that I knew were going to cause me pain on my next ride.

The scenery from the campsite was breathtaking with golden sand, turquoise sea and the biggest dune I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to visit it you won't be disappointed. When we had viewed it from the point at Cap Ferret it didn't appear that spectacular but actually being on it was incredible.

Sunset on the Dune

We watched lots of people attempting to paraglide from the peaks and after deciding our legs weren't up to climbing in the soft sand we opted to spend the afternoon by the pool. We had planned on going out for a meal for our anniversary but the only restaurant in the vicinity was the one on the campsite and, although the views were stunning from the restaurant balcony the menu did little to excite our taste buds. I decided to cook a potato and chorizo frittata with a salad and we accompanied our meal with the wine we had bought from the vineyard at St Emilion. 

Ooops not quick enough!

I wanted a picture of us together so I set the timer on the camera, perched it on a tree stump and dashed back to sit down just as I heard it click. On the second attempt we managed to both be raising our glasses in a toast before it went off but unfortunately it wasn't until the next day that I realised the picture was out of focus. Oh well, we have the memories in our heads.

Cheers!!

Shortly after 9pm the sky suddenly turned black and bizarrely, after a beautifully hot 30° day we were now blessed with large hailstones that thundered on to the roof making conversation difficult. I fully expected to find our solar panel smashed the next day. As we could no longer sit outside we decided to play Trivial pursuit again. I was on a roll and quickly filled my tiles while Glynn only had two of his. I then proceeded to pass the centre square time and again without managing to land on it. Glynn caught me up and annoyingly landed on the centre square quite quickly. “Blue” I said before reading out the question. “What are Great Bear and Great Slave in Canada and Great Salt in the USA” Dammit why do I always pick the easiest question when he is on the centre square!! He grinned and said “lakes”.

Another sunset from the Dune

We decided to have another game and this time we both got our 6 tiles about the same time. After a few wrong answers from both of us on the centre square Glynn managed to land on it again. I opted for brown this time “Which was the only EC country to vote against hard-hitting messages printed on cigarette packets?” Double dammit, I had managed to pick the only question on the card that he knew the answer to. With another annoying grin he said “Us, the UK”. Now the actual word printed on the card was “Britain” but how could I refuse him the victory without appearing churlish? Although I did point out that the game was largely down to the luck of the dice as I had all six tiles on the first game when he had only managed to get two!! That means the score is now 4-1.

8th June 2014. We cycled to Arcachon today and what a delight it was.

The beach at Arcachon

It was quite a large town but was incredibly clean and well maintained and had the appearance of being new and fresh. We enjoyed a lovely stroll around some of the streets but as it was a Sunday there were crowds of people and only the touristy shops were open. We added it to our list of places to return to and visited the local boulangerie before sitting on the edge of the beach to eat the quiche and cakes we had just bought. We could see the point at Cap Ferret across the bay where we had looked over towards Arcachon and the Dune. We headed back and although it was only a 30km ride our legs, which clearly hadn't fully recovered from the big ride two days previously, protested silently but painfully on the climbs, slowing us down. I managed to keep going and it was only when we were back at the campsite and climbing the last really steep hill to where we were parked that I finally admitted defeat and pushed my bike the last 100yds. I blame it on my gears slipping at the crucial moment which made me lose momentum! It was a relief to get back and we opted for another afternoon by the pool.

11th June 2014. We have spent the last 3 days on a lovely Aire on the edge of a lake at Gastes, just south of Biscarrosse.

The Aire at Gastes

The view was stunning looking out over the lake with boats in the foreground and a lovely little beach to one side. We had originally planned to stay one night but it was such a beautiful and peaceful location and only €4.50 per night so good for the budget!! As with almost everywhere we have stayed a cycle path passed right along the edge of the Aire and over the last 3 days we have cycled over 70 kms exploring the area. Tonight we decided to play Rummikub as a change from Trivial Pursuit. 

Our view from the Aire

Now this is my kind of game as I love anything to do with numbers and I particularly enjoy finding ways to rearrange the sets that have been laid to incorporate my tiles. After beating Glynn in 3 straight games he said" well that's 1-0 to you" as we packed the game away. Cheeky monkey, if it's 4-1 to him on Trivial Pursuit then it's definitely 3-0 to me on Rummikub!! Tomorrow we are moving on to a site near Messanges as we have been told that the villages along the coast there are beautiful to explore.

15th June 2014. We have just spent probably the best 4 days of our trip so far.

The beach at Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains

We have visited some stunning places but this area will take some beating. We stayed at a lovely little campsite called Les Acacias, just outside Messanges and we cycled to Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains, Soustons, Messanges, Léon and Moliets et Maa. The beaches were stunning as were the villages but our favourite by far was the beautiful little town of a Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains.

Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains

We cycled 110 kms on beautiful wide tarmaced cycle paths which were well away from the roads, winding through the pine forests before reaching the next village. We visited all the local beaches on our trips and each afternoon we returned to our campsite to enjoy lunch before spending the afternoons relaxing in the sun. We still hadn't sussed how to pick up French TV on our satellite so Glynn was delighted to find a bar just 1km away and we cycled there on the evening of the Spain/Holland game so he could watch the game.

Luckily for me I was able to pick up

The cycle path

a FON network and amused myself sending WhatsApp messages to my friends and family and planning our next destination. 

16th June 2014. This morning we set off to head to our next destination which was St-Jean-de-Luz, just past Biarritz. I thought things had been going a bit smoothly lately so I wasn't surprised when today turned out to be one of those eventful ones, reminding me of the first week of our trip. The problems started as soon as we set off. Glynn switched the fan on and.........nothing! The dial goes from 1 to 3 and then max/screen. He turned it on to each setting and there was nothing until he got to the max setting and the force of the air gave me a temporary face lift!! Oh well at least we could cool down now although it was quite disconcerting when I caught sight of myself in the rear view mirror just as he switched the fan off and I suddenly aged 10 years as everything dropped back in to place. Which reminds me, can anyone tell me why motorhomes with no rear window have a rear view mirror? We stopped at Lidl to stock up and we were soon on our way again. The views as we drove through Biarritz were stunning with the Pyrenees peeking at us in the distance and the beautiful bay below us to our right. It was like I imagined San Francisco to be with every road either rising steeply or dropping sharply with little in the way of level road in between. My calf muscles started to twitch in fear. With only 1km to go our sat-nav advised us to turn right. Glynn said "Are you sure, that looks a bit tight?" "Of course" I replied, "the sat-nav is programmed with the co-ordinates of the campsite and it says 7.5 ton limit on that sign". Now this is the first time our trusty truck sat-nav has let us down. Glynn took the turning and 100 yards in we saw that the road narrowed greatly and there was a sign showing a 3.5 ton limit. Well that's just dandy, sticking the stupid sign almost at the point of no return. As we stopped a French lady pulled up beside us on a moped, waving her arms about, obviously trying to tell us we couldn't go any further. Glynn pointed out that he had actually noticed that fact although the irony was lost in translation. She could speak some English and managed to give us directions that would avoid the narrow section. Now for a 3 point turn on a narrow road with a 25 foot, 4 ton Motorhome!! Luckily there was a side turning and Glynn manoeuvred Herman in an easy 3 point turn that soon had us facing the right way again. I set the sat-nav to avoid that section of road and it promptly reprogrammed itself to the exact route the lady had just described!! Without any further problems we soon arrived at the campsite......or so I thought!! 

In France almost every business appears to take 2 hour lunch breaks, even campsites and just our luck we had arrived just after theirs had started. We decided we would go and check out the facilities and then have lunch while we waited for reception to open again. A man then appeared, quickly trying to swallow his sandwich and greet us at the same time. We apologised for spoiling his lunch but he was adamant it was fine and I advised him we had called yesterday and booked a pitch for 2 weeks. "Ah yes" he said and in no time at all we were flying round the campsite in a golf buggy, hanging on for dear life as he whizzed round corners and through gaps that I swear were narrower than the buggy. He pointed out various pitches and once we found one big enough we went back to reception to finish booking in. It was a relief to get out of the buggy.

The beach outside our campsite

I checked that it was €16 per night and 14 nights for 10 with the ACSI card. At that point I should have twigged something was wrong when he replied that it was €14 per night and 14 nights for 12 but I just thought they'd changed their terms. All booked in we then drove to our pitch and soon had the levelling ramps out and everything set up. After lunch we decided to explore and after wandering everywhere we still hadn't come across the swimming pool. It was at this point that I realised we were actually on the wrong campsite!! The one we had booked was just around the corner and they both had similar names. We decided to check the other site out before deciding what to do. We climbed the hill to the correct site and it appeared much better with much bigger pitches and a beautiful swimming pool area with a lovely bar and restaurant. Decision made we decided to head back and explain the error. As we set off back down the hill 2 large Alsatian type dogs suddenly appeared from a turning, looked at us and then started trotting towards us. Now this was not good for my blood pressure.

Stunning view down to the bay at St Jean de Luz

Glynn quietly told me to turn and start walking back and we tried to walk fast without running for fear they would chase us. Luckily they appeared to lose interest just as we neared the campsite which was a huge relief as that was a pretty scary moment I can tell you. We walked the long way round via the beach back to the other campsite and while Glynn started to pack everything away I went to reception to explain the error. I think the guy knew all along we were at the wrong site but clearly hoped to gain some extra custom and who can blame him. In no time at all we were checked in at the new site and as soon as we were set up again we decided a glass of wine was in order. We'd had enough excitement for one day so we were hoping that nothing else would go wrong.

19th June 2014. We have spent the last few days exploring the area and what a hilly area it is!! 

Deceptively steep little hill disappearing round to the left

No matter which direction we take we are faced with gradients the like of which we are not used to on our usual rides back home. Just outside our campsite there is a very short but very steep hill which has forced many a cyclist to dismount. I notice these things as I am turning out of our campsite and heading in the opposite direction!! After 3 days of riding in every other direction we decide we must try this little hill but not until we have done a few kilometres in the other direction first to get our legs spinning. As we head back towards camp Glynn suggests we carry on and tackle the “little hill”.

St Jean de Luz bay

I am already prepared and in the smallest chainring in readiness. I hit the bottom of the hill with my legs spinning rapidly and quickly pass through the gears until I am in the highest gear possible. There is a small group of walkers at the top of the hill who stop to watch so I am determined to keep going and much to my surprise I am quickly at the top. There is a sudden round of applause and congratulations from the walkers and I feel inordinately pleased with myself that I made it. I am almost tempted to take a bow but in truth I am too busy trying to draw air in to my lungs and oxygen back in to my muscles. I am definitely developing a liking for the challenges that hilly terrains bring although I didn't realise how quickly this would be tested....

20^th June 2014. Now that we had fought and conquered the “little hill” we decided to head that way to Guethary.

Puncture no 6!

Glynn got the bikes out and discovered puncture no' 6 so he dealt with this before we set off. I did ask him to smile for the camera but he politely declined! It wasn't pleasant starting the ride with the “little hill” on legs that hadn't warmed up but we made it to the top and were grateful for the coast down the hill the other side as our legs recovered. We enjoyed a very hilly but stunning ride with incredible views and after a quick tour of Guethary we decided to head back. We took a slightly different route out of town and were suddenly faced with a gradient that I knew I was not going to conquer. I gave it a good shot but I had already been struggling with my gears not changing properly and halfway up the hill my gears were slipping badly and I came to a halt. Glynn had also gone as far as he could so we pushed our bikes up the hill together. The gradient was so steep that we were on tiptoe just trying to get up the hill. I didn't think that any amount of practice would ever get me up a gradient like that without getting off and pushing my bike.

Fort Socoa

We decided that tomorrow would be a day of cleaning and servicing the bikes. After dinner we had a very enjoyable hour skyping with Darryl and Lisa, hearing all about their trip to the Le Mans 24 hour race the previous weekend. Glynn asked Darryl if he wanted the good news or the bad news and quick as a flash Darryl responded “you'd better not have got my mum pregnant!!” We burst out laughing before Glynn recovered enough to explain that we had decided to come home 3 weeks earlier than planned to allow enough time to get Herman serviced and sorted before we head to Goa. The good news was that we would be going away for 10 days or so almost as soon as we got back as we had booked in to the Lincoln Motorhome Show on 25^th September and would then spend some time in Sheffield and Leicester seeing family and friends. Glynn then asked Darryl how he was getting on with the gardening and his response was that it would all be done before we returned but could we just remind him a week before we were due home!

22^nd June 2014. We spent a relaxing day yesterday with a stroll to the supermarket in the morning to loosen our legs before spending the afternoon clutching a Dorling Kindersley Bike Repair Manual in one hand whilst trying to work out how to set up my gears. We have always taken for granted the proximity of the Bike Doctor in our village and have never attempted to service our bikes ourselves. This was clearly not such a good idea now we will be away from home for 5 months and it was a learning curve trying to decipher the step by step guide to adjusting a rear mechanism!

We must have done something right as we set of this morning to the town centre and I was able to access all my gears again, albeit a bit clunky in places.

Looking out towards Fort Socoa with
Spain & the Pyrenees in the background

It was a weekend of festivities in St Jean De Luz, a cultural festival that takes place at this time every year with fireworks and dancing, music and entertainment. Lots of people were dressed in red and black and we enjoyed the entertainment before deciding to head further afield on our bikes. We headed out on the coast road and almost accidentally we ended up in Hendaye. I say accidentally as we didn't intend to go that far but the road was a series of steep climbs and drops and every time we reached a peak I felt it was only right that we took advantage of the descent, free-wheeling down at speeds of over 40kmh.

Spain across the Bidassoa river

 Hendaye was a lovely town right on the Spanish border and we cycled to the banks of the Bidassoa where we could see the Spanish flags on the other side and hear music emanating from the bars along the banks. After enjoying a quick lunch on the seafront of a pannini for me and apricot doughnut for Glynn (he said he needed the sugar) we plucked up the courage to head back although much to our surprise the ride back was easier than expected and in no time at all we were relaxing by the pool. My Garmin showed we had done 42kms and burnt 1500 calories so it seemed only right that we redressed this balance with a bottle or 2 of fine French wine with our dinner! 

A fantastic example of flysch rock along the coast

25^th June 2014. We spent the last 3 days taking it easy and did some shopping, ironing and housework. The weather had been a bit mixed with lots of rain forecast so we didn't want to venture too far just in case. As it turned out we had nothing more than a few clouds interspersed with lots of sunshine in-between. Glynn took the mickey out of me as we were cycling back from the supermarket as my shorts had slipped and were showing the top of my thong. Now that is not a good look on a teenager so it definitely isn't a good look on a 52 year old!! I realised that with all the cycling I must have lost weight as my shorts were very loose and I was constantly hitching them up. I thought about what we had been eating and there was definitely a good balance of cheeses, french bread, chorizo, salads, fruit and vegetables so there was only one thing for it, I was going to have to increase the wine consumption to counteract all the calories burnt off cycling!! Sounded like a good compromise to me. Tonight we played Rummikub again and Glynn played much better, making me work hard to beat him. The final score was 3-2 to me making it 6-2 overall and 4-1 to Glynn on Trivial pursuit.

26^th June 2013. Well the rain finally arrived this morning, it was absolutely pouring down for hours so needless to say we decided to stay home!! I have nearly 70GB of music on my Ipod and I have been trying to find the time to sort it out for years but had only got as far as deleting the duplicate songs. We decided to go through the playlist by albums and delete anything we didn't like. It took the whole morning just to do from A to D but it was great fun and we were rocking out in the motorhome to some classic tracks. Glynn was adamant that the Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK” mustn’t be deleted, no accounting for taste!! We came across a soundtrack album called “Ashes to Ashes” which was a brilliant collection of mostly 80's songs with classic tracks from the Human League, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Ultravox so while we prepared lunch we played it in its entirety, enjoying the blast from the past. Glynn seemed slightly less than appreciative of my attempts at singing and any of you that know me will probably sympathise with him as one thing I was not blessed with was a voice like Leona Lewis! After lunch we watched “12 years a slave” which was a great movie and just as it finished the sun came out so we went for a walk along the beach. There were lots of people about who had probably all had the same idea after being cooped up indoors all day.  

 27^th June 2014. We decided to pop over to Spain today (like you do!!) to visit San Sebastián.

Monte Urgull in the background

We cycled to St Jean de Luz and chained our bikes up at the station before catching a local train to Hendaye which cost €6.60 return each for the 10 minute ride. We then got another train to San Sebastián which bizarelly only cost €4.70 return each and was a 35 minute journey. We spent an absolutely delightful few hours exploring the city which was a fascinating mix of old and new. We walked around Monte Urgull with the huge statue of Christ on top and back in via what appeared to be the older section of the city.

one of the beautiful side streets

It was a maze of narrow streets lined with beautiful tall buildings most of which seemed to be shops or café/bars. It reminded me slightly of Florence where the height of the buildings masks what is around the corner and you suddenly find a beautiful church in front of you begging to be photographed. One street seemed to be lined with nothing but tapas bars and as we had never had an authentic tapas lunch we decided it must be ticked off our list. It was fascinating to see all the plates of food on the bars and we ventured in to one to see how it worked.

Tapas anyone?

The guy behind the bar informed us that all the dishes were €1.80 and you just helped yourself to as many as you wanted. We ordered a beer each and set about choosing our dishes. I decided I wanted to try something I had never had so I opted for the salt cod with peppers in a batter which was absolutely lovely. Glynn opted for a battered ball containing cheese (have I ever mentioned that Glynn adores cheese? Especially those ghastly mouldy looking ones that stink likes someone's unwashed socks!!). We then tried another dish each and washed it down with the beer before carrying on with our sightseeing.

Looking out from the beach

We walked around the Bay of La Concha to the far end and then walked back along the beach. As the weather was glorious the beach was very busy and there were a lot of people in the shallow waters of the bay, swimming, canoeing or just standing there chatting trying to keep cool. After we left the beach we walked slowly back to the station and came across the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. We had really only seen such a tiny amount of what San Sebastián had to offer and decided we would spend a few days in the area next year as we were contemplating sailing to Spain in March rather than driving down through France.

The Cathedral

For someone who isn't keen on cities the list of ones I would return to is growing.

28^th June 2014. As we only had 2 days left on our lovely campsite at St Jean de Luz we decided to stay close to home and get the bedding and towels washed. Our next planned destination is Sare so that we can take the Rhune train to the top of the Pyrenees and enjoy the view across the Basque region, from France to Spain.

A stunning example of flysch rock

We are meeting friends at Anglet on 9^th July so we want to stay close to this area. We also plan on visiting Espellete, famous for it's peppers and Saint Pée Sur Neville too and hopefully we will get a few more miles in on the road bikes.

30th June 2014. Last week we met a lovely couple, Nick and Karel who have been retired for 5 years and have toured France extensively. We spent a very enjoyable few hours in their company, notebook in hand, picking their brains for places they would recommend. As a result we did a complete re-think of our plans and after their recommendation we have now booked ourselves a nice little campsite at Le Mas D'Azil to watch the 16th stage of the Tour de France rather than in Carcassonne itself as we had originally planned. The TDF passes directly through the village itself so it should be an amazing place to spend a few days and in addition there are grottos nearby to visit as well as just cycling and enjoying the incredible scenery. We have a long list of other places they recommended and have added them to our ever increasing list of places we want to visit. This now means we won't need to hang around Carcassonne area for 8 days after Bastille day so we will now head to Narbonne and Perpignan to take in some of the Mediterranean coast. As their current trip is coming to an end we are hoping to meet up with them in September when they return. 

The last 3 nights at our campsite were slightly marred by the arrival of a group of surf mad students who were probably keen to enjoy the start of their summer break by going a bit wild. I had already explained to them in my best Franglaise that bongo drums and guitars don't go down well at 2am and they had respected that however a new lad arrived to join them who clearly didn't share their respect and so it was that I went storming round to their tent at 2.30am and educated them on the best English swear words to use when totally pissed off. It did the trick and effectively silenced them however I was so mad I then couldn't sleep. How I wish I'd had an air horn as I would have used it outside their tent at 7am the following morning just for the pleasure of watching them being startled out of their deep sleep. Now I know that's not nice but when I am sleep deprived I do become a bit evil!!

Today we planned to move on to St Pée Sur Nivelle but first we were going to detour to Irun, just across the Spanish border to get some brandy and wine. Literally as you cross the border there is an array of shops selling alcohol, clothes, perfume, tobacco etc. With our brandy and wine duly purchased we set off again. As we drove past an industrial area I noticed a strong smell like a laundry and commented that there must be an industrial laundry nearby. When we had travelled a further 10 miles and could still smell it I started to suspect all was not as it should be. We pulled over into the car park of a supermarket and could already see the tell-tale signs of blue liquid dripping out of the back of the garage area. We must have been sending a fine spray of softener over any vehicle that had followed us since we left Spain so I suppose our claim to fame is that we are responsible for making the cars of St Jean De Luz area smell sweeter!! When Glynn opened one of the garage doors the smell was overpowering and the whole floor was swimming in 2 litres of fabric softener. Where he had stored the bottle on a shelf at the back it had slipped through a gap between the bike wheels and smashed the lid! I told him I was going to buy a new bottle and wandered off in to the supermarket leaving him to it. When I returned the entire contents of our garage where spread out behind Herman and Glynn was busy mopping out the garage. Glynn looked a bit put out and said "I thought you were joking when you said you were going shopping" . I laughed and replied "no, we needed some fabric softener and it didn't need 2 of us to empty the garage!!" I then helped him to wash everything down so we could reload the garage and in spite of our best efforts to clean everything the smell was still overpowering. We got lots of funny looks from people as they drove past and a sympathetic nod from a fellow motorhomer as if to say "been there and done that". We will now invest in a strap to attach above the shelf to hold everything in place!! 

The Lake at St Pée Sur Nivelle

We arrived at the Aire at St Pée Sur Nivelle and it was adjacent to a lovely lake with a man made beach. As it was a gorgeous day (and to escape the smell coming from the garage) we donned our swimwear and headed for the lake. We had been due to meet our friends, Peter and Carol, on the 9th July but they had called us the previous evening to say they would be in our area sooner than expected and would join us today. They arrived an hour later and as they had a tandem we got our bikes out and went for a ride around the lake. They both commented on the strong smell coming from the garage!! 

The lovely beach beside the Aire

We spent an enjoyable evening catching up over a glass of wine or 2!! They had kindly brought some things from my son that we had requested which included Glynn's birthday present of a Kindle Paperwhite. Glynn never used to bother to read much when I met him but over the years he had adopted my love of books and now he was annoyingly pinching my IPad at every opportunity to read my Kindle app. Although his birthday isn't until August 14th I insisted he opened his present early and he was delighted to have his own Kindle. Not as delighted as I was that he would now leave me alone with my IPad!! In addition Darryl and Lisa had sent him some puncture proof inner tubes for his birthday. I don't think I have ever seen a more appropriate present!!

Well what a fabulous month we have had. We didn't actually get round to using our road bikes but we did manage to clock up 49l kms on the mountain bikes. It is much easier to stop and take photos when on the mountain bikes and feels more leisurely whereas on the road bike I feel I need to clock up some serious miles and act like a serious cyclist. We continue to be blown away by the incredible sights we see but we are particularly looking forward to July and the upcoming Tour De France. We are also hoping to meet some friends from our village at the end of July when they come over to France on holiday so we are really looking forward to that.