Week 23, 24 & 25 - Goodbye Spain, Hello France!

Monday 25th April 2016
 had a drive out today to the small town of PUENTE LA REINA (The Queens Bridge). Few towns along the road to Santiago de Compostela evoke the past as vividly as here, taking it’s name from the graceful humpbacked pedestrian only bridge over the Rio Arga which was built by royal command (hence the name) in the 11th century. On Puenta La Reina’s narrow main street is the INGLESIA DE SANTIAGO (Church of St James) inside which, by the west door, is a guided statue showing the saint as a pilgrim, while on the edge of town another pilgrim church the INGLESIA DEL CRUCIFIJO (Church of the Crucifix) which was built in the 12th century by the KNIGHTS TEMPLAR contains within it a Y shaped wooden crucifix of a sorrowful Christ, said to be a gift from a German pilgrim in the 14th century.

Tuesday 26th April 2016
Happy Birthday Sue!!
After wanting to visit PAMPLONA for a number of years sadly it turned out to be less enjoyable than we hoped. We drove to a lively area where we tried to park, there was nothing to indicate any parking restriction but a local told us there was a fifteen minute limit, we eventually left the city and parked on the many carparks that circle the city. The walk to the city centre started well but when we climbed the steps into the centre with magnificent views from the top, unfortunately it all went downhill (metaphorically) from there. On our walk towards the CATHEDRAL through what should have been charming old streets the overwhelming impression was of decay and neglect, with virtually 100% empty shop units. Things improved close to the cathedral with the usual tourist shops and smart cafes, we had lunch in one (smart cafe) but were horrified at the price charged for a coffee, a fresh orange juice and two miniature filled rolls.

Wednesday 27th April 2016
We leave Spain today and travel into France our first visit since 2013 when we travelled with Dutch friend Dirkie from The Netherlands to Calpe in Spain. France has never been a favourite place for us as it closes early September and remains closed until April the times when we want to travel to Iberia. W e are hoping to spend a few weeks here and see it in a different light.

Our first site in France is a municipal site less than 100 km from the Spanish/French border, sadly we arrived at lunchtime so had to wait over an hour before we could enter what turned out to be a very lack lustre site called FLOWER CAMPING MUNICIPAL LE GALAN. The site was on the edge of town and after a cup of tea and a biscuit we wandered round the very pleasant CASTETS.

Thursday 28th April 2016
A drive to the seaside today, it seems ages since we have seen the sea but in reality it is less than two weeks. Sadly the place we chose, MIMIZAM-PLAGE, was very much a holiday seaside town, even to the “kiss me quick” type tourist junk - not really our cup of tea. We did however find a very pleasant spot on the way back to the caravan at LAKE LEON, still unashamedly out for the tourist, but much less “in your face” about it.

Friday 29th April 2016
Onward ever onward, today we have moved to FLOWER CAMPING LA VENISE VERTE a four star site that, as it’s name suggests is in the area of France known as Venise Verte (Green Venice). It seems a good site  - time will tell.

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Saturday 30th April 2016
The rain has been “persisting” down for much of today so a visit to Intermarche to stock up and then late afternoon it started to brighten up so we went of for a trot to a harbour near the town of CHARRON. The local boats although large were designed to float on a puddle, well very shallow water anyway, and their propellors/drive were mounted on hydraulics to raise them from the water. The area where the boats were moored and stored was very clean and tidy without the usual fisherman’s detritus so we were unable to discover what was being fished for but assume as the area is famous for its shell fish, particularly oysters and mussels, that was it.

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Monday 1st May - Saturday 7th May 2016
The weather this week has been very pleasant and we have been able to get out and about in the local area as far as LA ROCHELLE and the ÎLE de RÉ. Sadly on the day we went to La Rochelle I got a text from Lloyds Bank saying my internet Banking phone numbers had been changed and that if I had not done it I should ring them. I did and after a lot of backwards and forwards was told that they did not know why the text was sent and that no changes had been made to any of my accounts Hmmm! After that shenanigans we walked into town we me obviously still thinking about banks as I forgot to take my camera into what turned out to be a very picturesque town. It seems that the camera was not the only thing to get left behind, while shuffling in my wallet for the right card to respond to the text from the bank one of the cards got dropped and lost. It was a  credit card so not one we use when travelling (far to expensive with foreign transaction fees etc., etc.) so it was not missed for some days but fortunately we were able to cancel it and order a replacement.

The pitch we are on at Flower Camping la Venise Verte is without doubt the largest we have ever had, at just under 200 square metres it is “ginormous”.

We had a chat with the English couple in the pitch next door today, a very pleasant couple Lynne and David who have had an extended caravan tour each year for the last few years. We were a little taken aback to learn they already knew our names and something of our journeys. It turns out that when researching the life Lynne happened upon our blog and have been occasional visitors ever since - a very pleasant couple although I cannot ever forgive Lynne for being totally up to date on HER BLOG while as I write this we have been back in UK for over two weeks. Oh well we can’t all be efficient.

The Venise Verte  was one of the most pleasant areas we have visited in France and we hope to return soon.

Sunday 8th May
We are slowly making our way north and a move today has taken us to QUIMPER, just south of ROSCOFF. We haven’t decided where we will cross back to UK yet, Roscoff, ST MALO, CHERBOURG, all are possibles.

L'ORANGERIE DE LANNIRON, is a little strange, in that it combines a stately house, gardens, golf course and CAMPSITE. The campsite is a considerable distance from the entrance and like two other couples missed the reception completely - no matter we found a suitable pitch and set ourselves up then went looking for reception which turned out to be in the golf reception area.

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This site is within walking distance of the town of QUIMPER, and what a pleasant town. It is on the River Odet and has an interesting cathedral and medieval quarter. Unfortunately it must have been further than I thought as the day after I awoke with severe pains in the joint of my right big toe - GOUT? Well if it was it was, it was and (still is) bl**dy painful and effectively put paid to any sight seeing for some days. In fact on the first Thursday of what was to have been a two week minimum stay we booked a passage from Roscoff to Plymouth on the Pont Aven ferry and moved further north to within five miles of Roscoff to CAMPING DE TROLOGOT, a small site almost as close to the beach as it is possible to get and from the beach you can see Roscoff port across the bay.

© Stephen Ghost 2015