Champagnac de Riviere. 26th Oct-4th Nov

This will be the last update from France. We spent the last week on a site here in Campagnac de Riviere. We were last here in May, when all the leaves were green and our travels were just beginning. Now the leaves are brown, yellow, red and orange. We arranged to come back here so that Harry could see the vet to check she was "fit" enough to travel back to Britain!! As you can see from this photo she is very well and very fit. Some days she has walked for miles up the mountains.



Here is Cicely on our last site in France. Bob and Di the British owners have been very kind and helpful and they have a beautiful site in a very lovely part of France. In the bottom photo it shows Ian and Harry on the cycle path to Chalus. The area here is great for cycling, but unfortunately as I write this it is raining outside, so no cycling today. We have been very lucky on our trip to only have a handful of rainy days, so we can't complain!!
To finish off I want to put down the dates and places we have stayed at over the two months I was not able to write up the Blog.
19 - 26th Aug. Thiers

26th Aug - 7th Sept Bourg d'Oisan -The French Alps

7th Sept - 14th Sept Jonquiers - near Chateauneuf du Pape

14th Sept- 21st Sept Agay - Cote d'Azur

21stSept-28th Sept Limoux - near Carcassonne

28thSept-12th Oct Bertrand du Comminges in Pyrenees near Lourdes

12thOct -26th Oct Capbreton -Atlantic coast.

Will end now and write again when we get to Jamie's house near Bath.
Lots of love to all, Ian and Christine and Harry.

Atlantic coast, S. France

We had a wonderful two weeks on the Atlantic coast.
The food here was amazing - all fish, especially shell fish. The tiny fishing boats went out twice a day and brought in such a variety of fish.




This photo shows some of the fish caught. We were able to walk into the village and buy the fresh fish. We tried some that we had never heard of but they were all good.
The meals in the restaurants were also fantastic, and such good value. Here is me just about to start a Plat du Mer, which consisted of so many different shell fish and fish.






While we were down there we went into the mountains between France and Spain. This one is La Rhune, over 3000feet. At the top you could see the Atlantic coast in France and Spain. We went up in a little Petit Train and enjoyed the walks up there. We are going on into the middle of France near Limoges and will start to move up north for the ferry on 5th Nov. Harry has to go to the vet to be checked before we get to the port. She has also loved her time here. We are now looking forward to seeing the grandchildren again. We are going to Jamie, Siobhan Hamish and Aoife in Somerset first and then up to Edinburgh to see Ross, Elaine Becky and Gregor.

Capbreton, 12th -26th Oct 08

We spent a wonderful, sunny two weeks in Capbreton on the Atlantic coast near the border with Spain. We were able to camp right by the beach. The beaches stretched for miles in both directions and we were able to walk along them for hours and hours. Harry loved it although she was very wary of the waves. These photos do not show the true height of them - some were over 15 foot high. We could sit in Cicely and hear them crashing on the beach.
We did try to swim in the water but the waves just threw us back. Although the beaches were very quiet, the sea was not. Hundreds of surfers came everyday to surf, from first light until the sun went down. This stretch of beach at Capbreton was used for the World Surfing Championship and is thought to be one of the best places in Europe for surfing.
This is the photo from the top of the dunes by our camp site. We walked into the village for fresh fish from the tiny fishing boats that went out fishing everyday. I have never seen so many varieties of fish before. We tried lots of them!!
The cycle paths were also very good and we were able to cycle most days and forget the car. Harry really enjoys her trailor and it always puts a smile on faces of people when we pass with her on the back of Ian's bike.
Here are some of the surfers on the waves. It was great to sit and watch them and wish we could be in there with them.

Our 7th month

We have not been able to get on the Blog for nearly two months, mainly because we have been in camp sites away from any big towns. We have now found a cafe with WiFi and will send a quick update.
We are now into our seventh month away and we can't believe how well everything has gone. Cicely has been fantastic and we have got so many requests to see inside. We have not seen another one in all 21 sites we have been.
Ian and I have loved every minute of our time here. We are a little fatter due to the amazing wine, food and cheese!! Although fatter we are very healthy and have not had a day of feeeling under the weather. We are very fit and tanned and we walk, cycle or swim everyday. The weather over the 7 months has been fantastic. We have only had a handful of rainy days.
Here are some of the places we have been to in the past two months. The top one was taken at the casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was a different world there- so much money and wealth. Not our favourite place but worth seeing. While on the Cote D'Azur we also visited Cannes, Nice and St Tropez. Our favourite place there was the little village in the mountains where we camped. The wild boar visited us each night.
We also camped near Carcassonne, an amazing medieval city. It was like a fairy tale castle and was used in the filming of Robin Hood.

We spent two weeks in the Pyrenees which was wonderful. We visited Lourdes which was amazing to experience. Thousands of people visit the site every day.
We were very near the Spanish border and spent two days exploring the mountains along the border. In Catalonia we walked through a valley - Val D'Aran and it reminded us so much of Glen Rosa. We climbed up to the snow. The weather was again fantastic- very cold in the mornings but very warm during the days.


16.10.08 We are now down at the Atlantic coast, camping right on the beach. There are miles and miles of sand an
dunes. It is one of the best stretches of surfing beaches in Europe. We tried to swim in the water but were battered by the waves. Photos of here in next Blog.

Robbie, Emily and Arran's farewell.

27th July - 7th August. We spent a wonderful 10 days in and around Razac D'Eymet, the home of Emily's Mum and
Robert. The weather was fantastic, the food and wine was even better. Although we were all sad to see them go away
we all realise that they will have a wonderful life in New Zealand. Our thanks go to Robert and Sarah for their hospitality, which was great.
Hamish and Aoife loved the swimming pools and became very confident in the water.

Robbie and Emily tried to relax before their long trip first to Hong Kong and them New Zealand.

Lake Annecy 9th July

We went to Lake Annecy on 9th July, cycled round the lake and also had a swim in the lake. Lake Annecy is beautiful. Here are a few photos of our trip there.

We also met up with Ian's sister Margaret and her friend Linda who were on holiday in Angon, on the lake. We had a lovely meal with them at their hotel. We will meet up again with Margaret in Cahors.
On 12th July we went to Chamonix, Mont Blanc. When we arrived there it was very dull and rainy but this soon cleared away and we had a beautiful day there. We went up 1000m on the little red cog-wheeled train to the Mer de Glace, the glacier under Mont Blanc. We then walked about 500 feet down to the ice caves.

St Julien en Genevois 1st July - 22 July

Our camp site is very near Geneva (only 10 minutes away). Behind the camp site is a range of high hills, The Saleve. We had some fantastic walks up there. Here is a photo of one of the views looking over towards Geneva. Lake Geneva or Lac Leman is huge about 200 miles around it. We went into Geneva and had a great time there. There is a huge fountain in the lake - Jet d'eau which you can see from the camp site.
While we were up in the Saleve we watched lots of handgliders jumping off the mountain. I do wish I had the
courage to attempt it!!




As you can see from this photo Ian has had his beard cut. I managed to get hold of it and "trimmed" it for him. I think he looks good. He is also working on his tan!!







We have had some amazing weather very hot and sunny but also some very fierce thunder storms and heavy rain. This is a view from Cicely when it was raining!!

Chantemerle les Bles - week two

On Monday we went to the home of Bruno and Patricia and their 7 children in Tournon, for lunch. We had a wonderful time and the lunch was fantastic. Bruno had also invited a friend, Helena who could speak perfect English which helped us all a great deal!! Thank you to Bruno, Patricia and Helena for making us so welcome. They were able to come to the camp site on the Wednesday for drinks and a sing song with Bruno's guitar. We were so pleased that they could make it seeing they have such a busy life with two full time jobs and 7 children.


After our lunch which lasted four hours they took us swimming in the River Doux. It was amazing, the weather was perfect and the water was very cold but refreshing. Ian and I managed to go back to the river a few times during the time in Chantemerle.

This photo shows a mountain range we visited near Chateauneuf sur Isere. There are very high cliffs and we had to drive through this little tunnel cut into the rocks.




We loved the camp site at Chantemerle les Bles. The owners were very friendly and helpful. They could not speak English and as we speak very little French we were able to learn fron each other. We recommend visiting this site and area.

Chantemerle les Bles 16 June - 1 July

We left Sommieres safely with the help of a very friendly Dutch couple who helped us through the trees that had caused us a problem when we arrived. Thank you Zandra and Demis and their little boy Vincent and Grannie.



Our next stop was Chantemerle les Bles near the Rhone. This was a beautiful site used mainly as a stop over by the Dutch and Germans going south. We loved it so much that we decided to stay for two weeks, which wasjust great as we were in no hurry to get anywhere. The site a beautiful pool which was unheated and very cold when you first went into it, but just fantastic after a lon bike ride in temperatures of 30 degrees+. At the end of our stay the water was much warmer. We were the only British on the site and we had to try and improve our French!!



In the two near by towns Tournon sur Rhone and Tain L'Hermitage there was a Music Festival which lasted all day outdoors throughout the towns. There was a variety of music styles. This was a music school concert which was excellent with dancers. The little ballet dancers were great. At the festival we met a French Canadian over in France on tour with his group Deuxieme Take. We went along to one of his concerts in a hilltop village, Chateauneuf de Galaure. It was great sitting outside listening to them with a fantastic view and swallows flying overhead.
Guy indroduced us to a guitar player who, although he could only speak a little English invited us to lunch at his house with his wife and seven children.

Domain de Massereau.

11th June - 18th JUne. We travelled down south-east to near the Med coast. We stayed in a vineyard near Sommieres in Camargue region. We were able to go and see how the wine is made and were able to taste it as well!!






In the near-by village we were lucky to see the "running of the bulls" -the Abrivado. In ancient times the bulls were taken through the villages from their winter pasture to their summer pasture. They were accompanied by the white Camargue horses. Some were selected to go to the arena for the "course a la cocarde" and the bandido. The bulls are not killed as in Spain but it is a contest to see which of the razeteurs can get the ribbons of the horns of the bulls.







We went on the Cevennes Steam Train in the hills of this area. The train went from Anduze to St Jean du Gard. Harry did not like it very much as it was too smoky and we had to give her a bath that night. We went down to the beaches on the Med coast but the weather was not too good on that day. The rest of that week was very hot and sunny.

Beynac, near Sarlat

4th June - 11th June, we stayed in a beautiful village on the banks of the Dordogne river. We woke up each morning to this view of the Chateau. The whole village is built on the cliff and it was a long climb to the top where the chateau stood giving amazing views of the river and valley. The chateau was built in the 12th century.
We went to the market in the next village. There are markets in every village and it is very exciting to just walk about looking at all the stalls and tasting the produce!!





The river Vezere is also surrounded by very high cliffs. The imposing Roque Saint-Christophe cliff, towers some 300 feet above the river and stretches more than half a mile. It is made up of 5 terraces which were hollowed out 60 million years ago by erosion. People as long ago as prehistoric times have made their homes in these terraces. It became a fortress where people were safe from their ememies.



We took a trip down the Dordogne in a traditional Gabarres. This is the view from the boat of Beynac. We did want to go on canoes but there had been so much rain the week before, and the river was too high
fast following. We will try to do this later.