Moving on.......

So, it's New Years Eve tomorrow and we're moving on from the Pyrenees. We're saying good bye to Helen and Phil and Ronnie the dog. We've had a good 10 days here.

 

I'm flying home to England, visiting my parents in Ringwood, so I may see some of you around, and Dave's staying in France around the Dordogne area.

We're starting our next house sit in the Dordogne near Perigueux  on 10th January.

Happy New Year to  you all.

xxx

Christmas in the Pyrenees.

We've stayed quite local this week and have done some really long dog walks. The foothills here are picturesque, miles of rolling hills with the more rugged, snowy peaks in the back ground. It's very rural and we never see anyone while out walking, but we haven't seen any wild boar, eagles or any Pyrenean Brown bears either!  Boring!!
On Christmas Eve we went into Aurignac, the local village, a pretty, medieval hilltop village, to stock up on goodies.

 

Christmas Day was quiet but cosy in front of the wood burner. We ate too much and Skyped family and friends.

Yesterday we went right into the heart of the mountains, past some stunning scenery. We went up into the nearest ski resort, St. Lary Soulan. It was a beautiful sunny day with a fresh dump of snow. Everywhere looked like a Christmas card scene and it would have been great to ski, but I didn't have any kit with me, so had to make do with a nice walk in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

It was all very scenic and we found a lovely track through the trees. Worth coming back to for a ski holiday one day.

 

Heading for the snowy mountains!

Having had two and a half great weeks in Marseillan we finally moved out on Thursday to start heading for the Pyrenees. Our first stop was at the fortified town of Carcassonne, somewhere I'd always wanted to visit. It was very, very quiet, mostly closed for the winter, but good to walk around and admire the buildings.

 

Quite how I managed to chop the turrets off the castle, I'll never know!! Much smaller than either of us expected, but impressive.

 

From there we drove on to Mirepoix where we stopped overnight. I walked into the town the next morning in search of a boulangerie and found a beautiful market square.

 

 

Then we drove on past some lovely towns all with babbling rivers pouring down from the mountains, and around every corner we were treated to superb snow-topped, rugged mountain views. We arrived at Bouzin and met Helen & Phil and their dog Ronnie, where we'll be house sitting for the next 10 days over Christmas while they're back in the UK.

This morning we woke up to a crisp white frost, which turned into a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. Had a long dog walk enjoying the mountain scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

Beziers and the Millau viaduct.

On Thursday we put the bikes on the van and drove to Beziers. It's about half an hour away and it's the closest airport to fly into for this area. Avoided the town but admired the church from afar.

 

It was a warm and sunny day so we cycled along the tow-path of the Canal du Midi for a while, past a flight of nine locks. The canal was really quiet so we couldn't watch any barges going through but we had a look at the disused water slope, which , in its day could have lifted boats past the locks if they didn't have the time to go through them.

 

 

A bit of a boys' toy but quite interesting!! Then we had our picnic ....... then I got a puncture!

 

Next day, another walk in the sunshine along the very long, very sandy beach at Marseillan Plage.

 

Today, Monday, we've been to Millau to look at the viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world. There are lots of vantage points, and it looks impressive from every angle. It's on the A75 motorway between Paris and Montpellier and spans the Tarn valley, but its strangely quiet. It'll take a long time to pay for itself.

 

 

We were very impressed with the Tarn valley area. Sheer rock faces with the river Tarn winding along the bottom. Would love to come back in the summer with a canoe.

The village of Peyre is one of the 'Plus Beaux Villages de France', and was easy to see why. Beautiful honey coloured stone houses built into the cliffs overlooking the river and the Millau Viaduct.

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Marseillan!

We've been here in Marseillan for a week now and we love it. Every day has been cold but sunny  with blue sky. It's on the south coast where the Canal du Midi reaches the Med. Everywhere you look there is water, either canal, lake, sea or river. There is so much going on and is still quite lively despite being winter. We've explored on our bikes in the town and been along the tow path to the beach.

 

We've also cycled along to Agde which is another lovely town on the canal......

 

 

...... and to Sete in the other direction. Always on the water's edge, seeing flamingos, a kingfisher, and lots more long- legged, long- billed fish catching birds.

 

The old town of Marseillan itself has a maze of narrow winding lanes, and this is where we're staying. It's very quaint, almost medieval. They're putting up the Christmas lights at the moment so it will be looking very festive soon.

 

 

A very big thank you to David and Jackie for making this part of our trip become possible.

THANK YOU!

 

 

 

Leaving Italy

Wednesday 27th Nov started off quite bright and sunny so we decided to try to explore the Amalfi Coast. It's breathtakingly beautiful, very steep, very spectacular and very Italian, but the roads were so narrow and twisty and a bit stressful in a campervan (can't imagine what it'd be like in the summer?), so  we abandoned it halfway round and headed north towards Rome.

 

This photo doesn't do it justice, but there weren't many parking opportunities. The villages are quite literally clinging to the hillsides.

The Italian driving is something else!! There don't appear to be any rules, and if there are, nobody obeys them. The only exception seems to be that using your mobile phone whilst driving IS compulsory! With that in mind we thought it best to avoid the Rome ringroad at rushhour! Instead we took a detour and covered about 100 miles of very potholed roads in the wet & dark. Horrendous!

On Friday it was still cold so we decided to save Rome for another visit and headed off north towards the French border.

The A12 was a very scenic drive mainly following the coast to the west, past the islands of Giglio ( where the cruise ship is being salvaged after hitting the rocks last year) and Elba, with snow topped mountains to the east.

 We also went past Pisa, and could just about see from the motorway the Leaning Tower. From La Spetzia to Genoa was especially picturesque. We stayed overnight west of Genoa on a weird site, somewhere between shanty town and refugee camp, but safe and friendly at least.

On Saturday we drove all the way to Marseillan in France where we will be spending the next three weeks.

Sunday was cold but sunny with bright blue skies. Great to be back in  'la belle France' !!

Mount Vesuvius

This morning we took the train along to Ercolano Savi which is the station for Herculaneum. First of all we got the bus up to the top of Mount Vesuvius, then we had to walk the final bit. It last erupted in 1944 and you could see the trails of lava flow down the mountain side. At the top it was bitterly cold but very spectacular. The crater is enormous and you could see the clouds of steam coming out in places.

 

 

From the top there were fantastic views over Naples Bay and the islands of Capri and Ischia.

Having wandered around the crater we then got the bus back down and went to explore the ruined town of Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was also buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD but a lot of it is much better preserved, even wooden things.

 

 

This mosaic is from before 79AD, hard to believe it's in such a good state.

 

These jugs had wine in and were in a tavern, still on the original wooden shelves.

 

That's enough culture for one week! The sun is supposed to be shining tomorrow so we're off to explore the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento around to Naples.

 

Up Pompeii!

We had a good drive from Bari to Salerno through wall to wall olive trees! Never seen so many olives.  We arrived in Salerno in the pouring rain and couldn't find the hotel, although we knew it was on the sea front. I went to ask some policeman for directions, and was pretty impressed to get us a police escort to the hotel foyer!! Haven't lost my knack yet then!!

Next morning we left in a hail storm and set off for Pompeii. Back in the campervan, we checked into a site in an orange grove right at the entrance to the Pompeii excavations. I had to find my coat today, it's the first time I've needed it since the spring! We went for a walk in search of a supermarket and couldn't believe what a dump Pompeii town was. Then we went for another walk in the other direction and found that actually Pompeii is a really nice town. So pleased we went for the second walk or we'd never have known.

Today we've been into the ruined city. Dave thinks it'll be nice when it's finished! It's much bigger than we expected, it really is a whole town and you can see houses, the forum, theatres etc.

 

Even for the uneducated like ourselves, it's an amazing place with lots to see.

 

 

                               No sign of Frankie Howerd anywhere........" Ooo no, titter ye not !"

 

That's Mount Vesuvius in the background, fortunately not erupting! Tomorrow we're planning to visit Herculaneum and take a trip up to the volcano.

Thanks for all your comments, keep them coming. x

 

Goodbye to Kefalonia!

This week the temperature has dropped slightly, down to about 21-22 deg C. It's still tee shirt weather most of the time and the sea is still warm but it's cold getting out. Then the rains came..... and wow! does it rain, so we've decided to move on.
At the moment, (Thursday evening) we're on the ferry to Bari in Italy. We'll arrive in the morning and then head west towards Salerno. From here we'll see the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii or Herculaneum, maybe Vesuvius and Naples. Then on for a look around Rome and The Vatican.
We've treated ourselves to a hotel and are looking forward to some home comforts after a long stretch in the campervan.
I'm looking forward to the next few days as I've always wanted to visit these places. Watch this space.....

The pine marten

We had a fantastic early morning swim in ' Dave's swimming pool '.  It's a place in Pessada near the harbour which is really deep and a great spot for diving in off of the rocks.

 In the evening we had a lovely greek meal in ΕΛΑΙΩΝΑΣ tavern. We had a 'saganaki' starter, which is fried halloumi cheese, served with a wedge of lemon, followed by 'beef stifado', a beef and red wine casserole. Lovely!

I'm trying to read a few words in greek with Dave's help. Not that I know what they mean, but atleast if I can read them it helps a bit. So many of the characters are completely different. It's a fun challenge for me. This is how Kefalonia is written in greek :  Κεϕαλονιά. (Love Microsoft Word!)

Dave thinks he has a pine marten living on his boat! So I did some research on the internet and found out that they mark their territory by poohing  in the same place in a big heap, and that they sharpen their teeth by gnawing away at hard plastic items. This would explain a big pile of poo in the boat cabin, and the teeth marks on the plastic vent covers! Shortly after it had gone dark I went outside and saw a dark creature the size of a cat with a very bushy tail scale a 2 storey vertical wall onto a tiled roof, and then in the light of our torch, it came right back down the same wall and run close to us, before disappearing into the trunk of an old olive tree on Dave's land! Seems his suspicions were correct. If anyone knows how to get rid of pine martens, please let us know!


 

Myrtos Beach, Assos and Fiskardo

The weather has finally collapsed, but only for a few days luckily. Thunderstorms at night and a mixture of sun, clouds and rain during the day. We drove up to the north of the island and visited Fiskardo. Usually buzzing with yachty types, but very sleepy out of season. Had a good walk around the headland to some ruined lighthouses and an old church. Then found a drop dead gorgeous beach called Emblisi Beach. It was so beautiful we decided to camp there overnight.

The next morning we had a lovely walk/climb around the rocks to the left of the bay. Found some megaliths (? , don't think that's the right word!!), but they looked impressive so we added our bit to them.

 

We watched a greek guy snorkelling from the beach and he came back with 4 pina, that's what he called them in greek, I've never seen them before. They were like mussels but pinkish brown and the size of table tennis bats. He was going to eat them raw with vinaigrette.

Dave paid a visit to 'Jan's open air barber shop' . He bought some clippers and today was the day!! Luckily he never thought to buy a mirror! Well, at least it's shorter!

We left to go to Assos where we stopped for lunch, and then on to Myrtos Beach where we camped overnight and watched a thunderstorm out at sea. Assos

Myrtos Beach

 

Next day we visited Lixouri. Very remote, not a lot there but as always we found a lovely spot for lunch. Petani Beach on the north coast.

 

 

Ferry wasn't running so we drove the long way round back to Pessada and stayed there. We're going to go to Ithaca later on when the weather picks up again.

 

 

 

Off exploring tomorrow.

Well, it's November now but the days are still warm and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. We changed our clocks the same time as you so we're still 2 hours ahead but it is dark by 6.30pm so the days are shorter.

We've done more of the same this week... a bit of pottering about, meeting up with some of Dave's friends, then down to the beach. Yesterday we visited St. George's Castle which dominates this part of the island. It's in ruins but offers some great views of the coastline and across to Zakynthos. The day before I cycled to it to check the opening times. Not far but incredibly steep so a good work out.

 

Tomorrow we're going to leave the dolls house apartment in Spartia in the south on the coast (nr. Mt. Ainos), and go exploring around the island for about a week. We'll head up the west coast to Fiskardo in the north of the island and across to the next island called Ithaca. (Ithaki).

 

 

Looking forward to seeing the north of the island. It's very traditional as it wasn't damaged by the big earthquake in 1953. Neither of us has been to Ithaca before.

I've started Skyping some lessons now, though in French. Haven't started in English yet but hope to soon. So far so good.

Beach barbecue at sunset.

Spent this afternoon trying to start Dave's Pajero ( again!), but to no avail so we towed it up to the garage where they'll give it the once over. Whilst looking in the boot a very large and very fat ugly lizard appeared from amongst the clutter in the back and gave Dave a big shock! Don't think it was happy about being disturbed!
After that we took our dinner down to Trapezaki beach and had a barbecue and a swim as the sun went down.

 

The campervan was just behind us in the trees so once it had gone dark we went and made a coffee, then sat and drank it under the stars. Lovely!

 

 

The Doll's House and the Canoe!

The apartment we're staying in is fine. It's owned by two very nice people and Dave spends time chatting with Dionisis about life in Greece. They are keen to have us staying here, and we're grateful for the internet, but it makes me laugh a bit to think we're staying in a doll's house! The fixtures and fittings are tiny, I don't know who they're intended for but it obviously wasn't for Dave! This is him trying to wash up....

 

..... and this is me doing some ironing!

 

 

The shower has been built to the same scale too !

 

Anyway, the weather is still hot and sunny and is due to continue. Yesterday we went to Trapezaki beach with the canoe. The water was so clear you hardly needed a mask. We parked the van right on the beach so it was nice to be able to have a cup of tea when we wanted one.

 

 

Today we put the canoe in down at the harbour and canoed around the coastline to a bay only accessible by boat. We went snorkelling and saw the usual fish. My favourite are the rainbow wrasse. They are electric blue and yellow striped and very pretty. I think this is one, or if not they are very similar.

 

Second week in Kefalonia

We've spent the week pottering about locally. Dave had some things to sort out so we've been into Argostoli several times. We've also found an English gardener who's worked wonders on Dave's plot of land. He's strimmed the grass and planted yucca trees along one of the boundaries. Next time he's going to thin out and prune the olive trees.
Dave's friend Paul has been out staying in his villa this week with his family. This villa is where we've stayed several times. It's a fabulous villa and can be hired through the Owners Direct website, ref. no. GR32. It comes highly recommended!

 

We went round yesterday for a barbecue which was great fun and today we met up with them again for a swim at St Thomas beach, it's another of my favourite beaches and is only a 5 min drive away.

 

 

St. Thomas beach.

 

The weather is lovely, most days at the moment it's between about 22 and 26 degrees C. Can't be bad for the third week in October! Sea temperature is still good too and we swim everyday.

Perfect Weekend!

Sat 12th and Sun 13th.   The storms have passed for now leaving beautiful sunny days. The sea is calm again now and the Med is looking like it should do! Yesterday we spent the day at 'The No Shoes' beach which is one of my favourites. 

 

Today we found a new beach and did some snorkelling. This evening we went out exploring on our bikes.

Arriving in Greece

Thurs 10th - Once we'd docked in Patras on the greek mainland we drove down to Kyllinni and got another ferry over to Kefalonia. It was great to be here, although it was very grey and pouring with rain. Stayed overnight on the beach in Katelios.
In the morning we went into Argostoli, the main town on the island. While Dave was in the bank I went to the harbour to see if I could see the turtles. They're nearly always swimming by the fishing boats, and I was really pleased to see them. They are huge, yet so graceful in the water.

 

We went to Spartia to have a look at an apartment we'd rented for later in the month, but did a deal with the owners and decided to take it straight away.

 

Fri 11th - We spent today on the beach at St. Thomas'. The weather was cloudy but the sea was really warm. It was quite rough so we had great fun playing in the waves.

 

 

Later on the sun came out and the beach looked a bit more like the Med is supposed to, even though it was still quite choppy !

 

 

 Needless to say we had the whole beach to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Along the Mediterranean coast of France.

Sat 5^th – We woke up to a beautiful morning so we drove along ‘la Route des Cretes’ which is a steep cliff top drive looking down to the bays between La Ciotat and Cassis in the ‘les Calanques’ area. Stunning!

 Next we explored Cassis town. It was beautiful, I couldn’t fault it. The beach was lovely, the port was buzzing, the town was lovely and there was a market going on. It had a really nice feeling about the place. I'll be back!!

Sun 6^th – Had bacon sarnies on the beach at La Lavandou, then walked along a twisty path along the rocks between the beach and the port. Carried on to Ramatuelle where we stayed overnight. The village is a medieval hilltop village and was very sweet.  Had a walk along the rocks, sea was lovely.

Mon 7^th -  We stopped for our pains au chocolat and coffee in the sunshine on the beach in the bay of St. Tropez, before following the spectacular coast road past Monaco and into Menton for lunch.

 

Kept on the coastal road into Italy, before a very long drive across the north of Italy towards Rimini where we stayed the night before dropping south down to Ancona.

Tues 8^th – On the ferry to Patras in Greece now. Fab boat, and glad to get to some wifi for a bit of a catch up. 

Wed 9th- It was great on the boat. We were booked as 'camping on deck' which meant we had access to the van. We couldn't use our gas though so Dave treated us to an excellent meal in the on board restaurant. Another great lightening show overnight. This morning is bright and sunny and we're passing the croatian coastline and greek islands of Corfu etc.

Still not very good at blogging! How does it read, do the photos come out? Can someone email me to let me know if I'm wasting my time or not. Thanks.