Geoffrey Update

Today was going to be the day we were both dreading, we were up early so we could find a vet to put Geoffrey to sleep, but the little bugger is having none of it and is eating drinking and purring away like a kitten.

He still looks pretty ordinary but we just can't do it when he seems so content.

We are now back on the coast at a lovely little place called Sanary Sur Mur.

We haven't given it a good check out yet as we both had a crap nights sleep worrying about a 23 year old cat!  Most of the day was spent taking the dogs for a walk to the local beach and being told off by a grumpy frog for having them on the beach, we politely told her to 'f' off.  We wouldn't normally but sometimes needs must. Then it was in the pool for a couple of hours, then it was time to watch England in their final game of the world cup over a pizza and bottle of red.

We are here......

Gorgeous Gordes

 
We checked out of the campsite this morning, we had a most enjoyable stay there.  It was more our type of site, very informal and laid back …

I actually did a bit of planning this morning!  I surfed the web to check out the prettiest village in Provence, not only was Gordes voted the prettiest village in Provence but it was classed as one of  the prettiest villages in France.
Mr TomTom was given the co-ordinates and off we went.
On a sad note, we had also deliberated hard over the weekend and we had decided that when we saw the first vet we would pull in and have poor old Geoffrey put to sleep.  He isn't getting any better and at 23 he is just too old to do anything with.  It really isn’t fair on him to keep him in the state he is now.  It is a very hard decision to make but we feel like we are doing the best for him now …
It was only about a forty minute drive to Gordes and after about twenty minutes we came across a vet.  We pulled into the empty carpark and braced ourselves to do the deed.  It was 12.05, it shut at 12.00 and didn’t reopen until 14.30!  Bugger, we were all set to do it, so we carried on and didn’t come across another vet.   So, Geoffrey has another day …
We arrived at a parking spot outside the village, a few motorhomes were already there so we joined them …

It was very very hot so we had a nana nap in the van till about 16.00 when we thought it would be a bit cooler. The walk to the village was about 2.5ks, which is not far, but when the temp was still in the 30s it is a fair hike, and up hill. We started off with the dogs but after about 500 metres took them back to the van.  It was far too hot for them and the road was too dangerous for us and them.   We started off again, it is a very narrow road with no pavement so was decidedly dodgy.  We decided to hitch a lift so we stuck out out thumbs but no one stopped…..bastards!!
But it was all so worth it once we reached the village, what a view!


We had to laugh when I was standing close to the edge and an American voice bellowed to all and sundry  “This is nothing compared with the Grand Canyon” …

We walked down a few of the alleys but were still incredibly hot….
 
So we went into a church.  It was so cool, we just sat there for a while and cooled down.  This church has 8 chapels in it for some reason.  Elaine also lit a candle for Geoffrey.

More alleys …

We stopped at a bar for a well deserved drink till we saw the prices … £7.90 a beer!  We went across the road to a nice little bar with a fantastic view and beers for £2.50 instead!

It was now early evening so was much cooler so we headed off back down to the van, passing this very nice shop …

More of the lovely view, and if you zoom in you can see……

……the bar we were in earlier!
  
One final shot because it is so special …

When we got back to the van, we moved it up to the village as all the tourists had gone home so we got a park in the village next to a couple of motor homes.  We will stay in the carpark overnight - it is next to the gendarmerie, and they don't seem to fussed that we are here.
We took a final pic of Geoffrey … such a lovely old puss, but his time is well and truly up :-(

Fete De La Musique

Oh What a Night!

(Sat 21 June 2014)

As I said on an earlier blog we went into the town centre to check out what was happening last night.

Well it was going off big time, apparently on the 21st June (Summer Solstice) every town and village throughout France hold free musical entertainment in the streets, some are amateur musicians and some are professional bands.

The place was absolutely buzzing ...

This band were very good so we spent a fair while watching them.

In the crowd watching were a very good looking couple of young 'uns.  Elaine commented how the girl looked just like her niece (JB) who lives in London, but more about that later.

They played some fantastic music.

Next up we stopped by a quirky little duet, the settings were totally unreal ...

Then it was onto the singing and dancing, Eurovision trash type music.  They were good to look at though, and the grannies were grooving their bloomers off ...

The street lights and buildings really make you feel that you are wandering around a film set ...

The teddy bears had a prime viewing spot ...

The final band we watched were absolutely fantastic ...

They reminded me of INXS, the greatest Aussie band ever.

The lead singer was just as flamboyant as the late great Michael Hutchence ...

They were playing in a narrow alley amongst the restaurants. 

It was the most surreal scene ...

They finished well after midnight so we had a final walkabout to see if any other good bands were playing.  Unfortunately there wasn't.  All that was left was very loud dance/trance trash music.

So we headed off out of town along the deserted streets back to camp.

When we checked in yesterday the chap said park anywhere and come and see me later, which we did but the office was closed.

Consequently when we arrived back at base the gates were all locked and we didn't have the code to unlock them!

The gates don't look very high in the pic below, but they were bout 12ft! There was a concrete wall next to the gates which about 8ft then a totally un-penetrable high wire fence.

I gave Elaine a leg up so she could sit on top of the wall then I planned to clamber over the wall, jump down the other side and help her down.

First part went very well. Elaine sat petrified on top of the wall (she doesn't do heights)!  The second part didn't go as well though as I forgot that I am now such a fat bastard that I couldn't pull myself on top of the wall.   I tried a few times and grazed the crap out of my arms trying to clamber over the wall.

There wasn't a plan B, so we were trying to hatch one ... then ... out of the darkness appeared the young, good looking couple!  Not only did the girl  look like Elaine's niece, but they were English and he resembled a front row forward from a rugby team!

"Can you give me a leg up over the wall?", says I.  "No problem mate".  He virtually threw me over the 'kin wall!  Meanwhile Elaine was on top of the wall telling the girl how much she looked like her niece ... as you do!!

Once I picked myself up I then helped the petrified Elaine lower herself to the floor ... we were in!

Once back in the van we had a couple of calming reds and went to bed at 02.30am.

It was undoubtedly one of the best nights out we have ever had anywhere in the world and we really had to keep pinching ourselves that we were actually there!

Another amazing aspect to the night was that although there were literally thousands of people of all ages on the streets singing, dancing and drinking, we didn't see any anti social behaviour whatsoever ... and only spotted two petite policewomen all night. 

As I mentioned on a previous blog this trip keeps getting better and better, I seriously don't know what can top last night.

St Remy De Provence

We were on the road quite early this morning, once again it was a very hot day.

We had no real destination so we headed inland and ended up at St Remy De Provence.

It was so hot we thought bugger the aires we will find a camp-site with a swimming pool. 

And so we did, nice little site, with a very nice pool.

After relaxing by the pool we took ourselves for a walk into the town.

It is a delightful little town.... 

Lots of art galleries and shops to browse around, not that we browse around art galleries as its not our thing, but if you, this is the place for you.

This day, 21st June, is also the day they hold their annual music festival, so musicians were playing all over the place.  A rock band was playing on one stage, which frightened Sammie to death, he is very sensitive about noise.  

We will go back this evening and leave the dogs in the van then we can listen to some music and have a couple of beers.

  St Remy is also the birthplace to Mr Nostradamus. He was born here in 1503, his house still exists!

There he is on a fountain ...

Once again there are a lot of tourists about I just take shots up the side streets they don't go to.

Had to laugh at this. Lots of little queens, on all of them the hand waves.  

I think its going to be very busy tonight, the cops were shutting off the roads to stop cars entering the town. 

I dont think I will get any shots like this tonight.....no people....well one.

The people in this area remind us of the people that inhabit an area of Sydney called Double Bay, very beautiful, immaculately dressed etc, we fit in well......not.      

Canal Du Midi

 Friday 20 June 2014

I had good night down the pub last night watching England lose again!  I watched it with a couple of lads and girls from Manchester, they had very broad Manc accents but all of them also spoke fluent French.  Funny to listen to.

We took the doggies for a walk before we left, the water was so clear and inviting.  We liked Port Vendres a lot, a very nice little town ...


We set the Tom Tom for Sete, but also decided we had better find a vet for Geoffrey the cat.  He has no ears because of skin cancer, he has skin cancer on his nose but that isn't too bad.  What is bad is about two months ago a growth started on his eyelid.  We took him to a vet in England but he said it would be a very dodgy operation to remove it, plus he is 23 with an overactive thyroid, so he jut told us to keep an eye on it (no pun intended).  The bloody thing must like the heat as it started growing really quickly - it was really big on his eyelid and looked like his eyeball was hanging out.  Elaine was bathing it numerous times a day when suddenly it all dried up.  Great, we thought, 'till a couple of days later when the middle fell out leaving this stinking oozing puss-y mess!  Once again Elaine has been bathing it but it stinks of dead tissue. So today we found a very nice vet who gave us some stuff to bathe it in but basically said there is nothing you can do about it, but bathing it as the flesh is dying.  The first thing he said when we went in was, "Do you want me to help him on his way!"  We don't at the moment because he is still eating and drinking and purring away and is showing no signs of distress.

Talking of distress for some reason this chap tried to drive across a salt flat, which are generally quite hard on top with the dried salt but if the salt gives way - oh dear ...


All of a sudden we crossed the Canal Du Midi!  We had a quick look at the map only to see that it finished (or started) very close to where we were ...


So here it is the start/finish of the Canal Du Midi ...

You have to traverse the lake, go through Sete then you are in the Med ...

So here it it guys, the starboard marker!  We looked out for NB Matilda Rose, but didn't see them, they are still  probably  a few days months away ...


On the bottom left of the pic is a sunken boat ... it's about 50m from the start (or finish) of the canal ...


Next stop was Sete city centre, this lift bridge crosses one of the many canals ...


It looked a really cool city so we tried to find a park for the night ...


We stopped here first, but there was only parking for two motorhomes and they were taken.  One of the motorhomes belonged to a very well spoken English chap, who said we could park across the road at the camp set up by the alcoholic Poles or alternatively there was a spot around the corner where the pikeys live in their vans…..We said thanks but no thanks and unfortunately had to move out of town. This is only the second time in over six weeks that we didn't manage to find a decent safe looking 'mooring', so no biggie.

The bridge was up that we drove over earlier ...

We left Sete driving over yet another canal ...

We found the last free spot in an Aire about 15mins drive outside the city at Balaruc les Bains.  There was another one just around the corner but it was full...


We went for a walk down by the Lake, Sete is on the other side ...


We had to have a pic by the Tromp l'oeil painting by the lake side ...


Apparently the chap on the roof on the top left of the pic is Salvador Dali ...


Balaruc les Bains is a very strange place!  We went for a good walk around, it was very strange, there were lots of people wandering around the streets all very well dressed, but there seemed to be bugger all there. We found a casino in a carpark that looked well out of place but that was it…nothing, no bars no restaurants no shops, yet there are 3 Aires here for motorhomes!  Then it got stranger, I noticed an empty plastic drink bottle on a car aerial, and thought, naughty little French kids, but, no, loads of them have plastic bottles attached to their car aerials ...


In the pic below 5 cars have bottles on aerials!  They were everywhere !  So, is it Swingers advertising that they swing or doggers advertising that they dog ... or is it to stop seagulls crapping on the roof?


We are now in Remy de Provence (but more of that in the next blog) - but we have wifi here so have just published yesterday's post!  We now realise why Balaruc les Bains was so popular ... it is a centre for Thermal pools and mud ... we were parked up right next to the Hesperides thermal bath, so we did experience a bit of it while dunking our hands in it last night !  We had no idea it was such a big do ... apparently 35,000 people go there each year !  Well, what do you know :)

Here is wherre we were ... parked up in a car park ... not really an Aire !