Nefiach, La Garenne, La Couvetoirade, Faverolles, Dry, Camping St Claire

Sunday 20th April 2014 - Thursday 24th April 2014

It is Easter Sunday, the plan is, Kathleen will attend church at 10:30 in Nefiach, I will wait for her, and we will leave at about 12:00.

The Priest is late in arriving (an hour late!), slept in again?

So, the plan almost works, we just leave a bit late!

Sunday, La Couvertoirade, Mid-Pyrenees (N43 54.766 E3 18.970). 

The Aire is part of a Car park for a 12^th Century Knights Templar Village. 

3Euro per each time you leave (there is a barrier on exit, which costs 3Euro to open it), no facilities except toilet. 

The village in an amazing state of preservation!, and is open to wander around freely. 

Rather high (approximately 800 metres), so rather chilly at only 12C. 

The aire is convenient as a stop over as it is only about 3 miles off the A75. 

Tip, if you use this Aire:

when you leave, if you are heading North, do not follow the signs to A75, for some reason known only to the French it takes you on a cross country route for about five or six miles, to rejoin A75 South of where you left it, with a massive hill to climb! Just go back the way you came, to the A75 services at the top of the hill!

Monday. Faverolles, Auvergne (N44 56.339’ E3 8.858’). 

We first checked out Ruynes en Margeride (N45 0.075’ E3 13.437’), which was just fine, village perhaps had more going for it than Faverolles. 

Decided to check out Faverolles (which is less than 5 miles from Ruynes en Margeride, both of them are just a couple of miles off the A75), on the basis, it has a toilet. When we got there, toilet was locked. Not sure if that is because it is Easter Monday, and the person whose job it is to unlock it, is on holiday? Decided to stay at Faverolles anyway, perfectly pleasant, with stunning views. Nothing open, not even the bar, presumably because it is Easter Monday.

Tuesday Washing up disaster. 

As we are preparing to leave, and Kathleen is washing the breakfast dishes, suddenly, (hot) water starts gushing from under the sink unit. 

Quickly we turn off the water pump and water heater, to kill the water pressure, but, not before the contents of the food cupboard are soaked, and the kitchen floor is awash. It turns out, the “push fit” water hose for the taps hot water supply has come adrift. This gives us a problem, we cannot turn the water pump on, that means no water from any of the taps, no shower, no toilet flush.

An hour of mopping up and we are on our way at last.

Neris Les Bains, Auvergne (N46 17.207’ E2 39.137’). 

An excellent aire. 

Located alongside a campsite, for 7Euro / night, you get toilet, shower, usual aire services included, 10amp electricity. Maximum stay is 3 nights. 

Neris Les Bains is a spa town, a sort of French version of Harrogate.

The Aire is located next to what used to be the Neris Les Bains, railway station. 

What a magnificent building it is. But sadly, it had a very short life as a railway station. It was build 1929-1931, then enjoyed a short period of use, before the outbreak of WW2. Services were suspended until the end of WW2, and, when they restarted in 1946, they never achieved profitabilty, with the result, the French version of Dr Beeching closed the line for passenger traffic in 1957. The station is now a exhibition centre etc (I suspect that means an under used liability for the local council).

Once we are “settled in”, I manage to fix the water leak, so we have a functioning water system again. Kathleen assures me, she had every faith in my ability to fix it, why do I not believe her?

Before leaving on Wednesday, we have a walk around the very pretty lake, just alongside the aire.

Wednesday. An Aire, just south west of Orleans, in a village called Dry (N47 47.896’ E1 42.857’). The aire has the usual services. 

The village is a sleepy little place, but, it is most certainly not “dry”. It has a single cafe (Cafe du la Paix), which doubles up as the bar, restaurant, newsagent, tobacconist.

Thursday. It is back to one of our old favourites, Camping St Claire, Neufchatel-en-Bray.

Every time we come here, I suspect, I say the same things!, but, this is an excellent First or last stop after / before Calais, the site is superbly well kept by the owner, it is only 120 miles south of Calais, so, an easy drive.

 There is good cycling and a town with plenty of shops to stock up on wine etc.

There is also a sort of French version of Quick-Fit, which is useful when I discover we have a puncture in a trailer tyre. Fortunately, I did buy the optional spare wheel!. The bad news is, tyre is not repairable, so, an unexpected 23 Euro to spend.

Les Pedres, Capmany (Spain); La Garenne, Nefiach (France)

Tuesday 15th April 2014 - Saturday 19th April 2014

Leave Benicarlo, moving North, the plan is to be in Narbonne for Easter.

We arrive at Capmany, Les Pedres (N42 22’22” E2 54’47”), only about 20 miles south of the French Border, and well located as a stopover just about 2 miles off the N11.

Very pretty location, in Pine woods (but not too dense, just enough to give a little shade) and surrounded by the foothills of the Pyrenees.

We are fairly high up here, I think, but, it is very hot, at 25C, and that lasts well into the evening.

Wednesday 16^th April 2014

In my humble opinion, this site is just fine for a stop over, enroute to/from Spain, but, the Reception staff and not particularly helpful or friendly, so, Kathleen is not happy.

We have a quick explore of the village it is very pretty, but, there is just a single shop / cafe, a Restaurant and a bread shop.

It is decided we will head for France, Nefiach, in the vineyards of Roussillion.

Other than being pulled over in a roadside check, just after the Spanish / French Border, by French Customs officers, who gave up on whatever they were checking / searching for, when our French was not up to the job or answering their questions, and simply waved us on.

If nothing else, it is a very scenic drive, winding through the foothills of the Pyrenees, with the snow capped peak of the Canigou Massif in view, despite the temperature outside of the van reading 25C.

We have a short hair raising section, when the satnav directs us along a road barely wide enough to  squeeze the van along it, through a vineyard, with deep storm drains, both sides,  ready and waiting for a slight steering error, to put a wheel down. 

Ordinarily, I would not have followed a satnav instruction to turn into such a small road, but, we are supposed to be very near the site, and, I therefore assume it is the approach road to the campsite. 

Two miles later, and lots of squealing from Kathleen, we emerge onto a slightly wider road.

La Garenne, Nefiach (N42 42’26” E2 39’28”) is a small but well kept ACSI site.

We cycle from the site to the village of Nefiach, about 2km away, along a traffic free track, there is a church, with a full complement of Easter Services. 

Kathleen is made up, all talk of going to Narbonne is forgotten. 

Even better it is only 12Euro per night!  

We will be here until Sunday, or even Monday, I suspect.

Mission accomplished, ie Church location and times established, we cycle on to the next village, Millas, for a refreshing glass of Rose. 

In France, they have "PMU bars", which are a bit like a betting shop with a bar combined. Very civilised. I notice that, the building next door to the PMU Bar, is the Bailiffs Court, very appropriate?

Suitably refreshed we, return via rather pretty fishing lakes, on the edge of the village. 

Thursday, we cycle to Nefiach for the first of the Easter Church services on the agenda, Stations of the Cross at 10:00 (according to the notice outside the church). 

We arrive 10:00 prompt, church is closed, absolutely no sign of life!

We cycle on to the church at the next village, Millas, same routine.

Here a young French couple, who are visiting from Paris, and speak good English, translate the notice outside of the church for us. 

Not that it really helps, we had understood it correctly, but, whatever the notice says, it is not happening!

We cycle back to Nefiach, it is now 11:15, the church bells are ringing, and a service is just starting, perhaps the priest slept  in?

I amuse myself for 45 minutes, including finding this quaint house (the one with the turquoise shutters), it is only one room wide and three storeys tall.

After lunch, feeling safe after attending church, Kathleen is willing to venture out on the back of the scooter. 

We ride along to the village of Ille sur Tet about two miles away.

We have a little explore, and visit the inevitable pavement cafe (only orange juice for me, the scooter has its draw backs!). 

Then I suggest we go a little further and visit the “Orgues Ille sur Tet”.

I am amazed when Kathleen agrees to this, early days to think this, but, perhaps she is beginning to enjoy riding on the back of the scooter, just as the trip is almost over.

We find the place, get parked, but, then we find I have forgotten to bring the camera, we will have to come back tomorrow.

Back to the van, via Carrefour to buy more wine.

Kathleen has instituted a little regime, to keep our drinking under a modicum of control, we do not drink on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday evenings.

Today is Thursday, but, it is decreed the “rules” can be relaxed, because, tomorrow, Good Friday, is a “Holy Day of Obligation”, and Kathleen cannot eat meat or drink alcohol, so, the Friday drinking evening is brought forward to Thursday.

As a non-member, it seems like a scam to me, you don’t actually give anything up, you just do it a day earlier? But, who am I to question the might of the Roman Catholic Church and 2000 years of doctrine?

Friday, we take the scooter and visit the “Orgues Ille sur Tet”, this time, with the camera.

The Orgues are a natural rock formation which have been produced by water erosion (the Tet is a river, this small stream is just a tributary, not the main river, but, the literature says, at certain times of the year, this becomes a raging torrent).

Most of the erosion of the rocks is produced by rain, rather than the actual river. The rocks are "soft" and sandy, and are eroded into these fantastic shapes by rainfall.

I have not found a translation for “Orgues”, but, I assume, from the appearance, it is “Organ”, or “Organ Pipe”, since that is what the rock shapes look like.

Benicarlo, Camping Alegria Del Mar, contd

Sunday April 6th 2014 - Monday 14th April 2014

Church for Kathleen is followed by lunch at the Marina.

Unusually, the waitress does not speak any English, a mix up in my pidgeon Spanish means we get two glasses of Tonic (no Gin) to drink while we peruse the menu.

I am very disappointed, I thought I could at least ensure I did not go hungry or thirsty in English, French and Spanish!

Clearly, I need to work on my Spanish, perhaps that will be a project for the future?

Back at the campsite, a very jolly French man arrives. He is travelling alone, and it seems to be his lifes mission to speak to us, but, only in French. We manage a surprising amount:

• explain how he can find his way to Peniscola
• understand that he has a soft tyre on his bicycle, and no pump to blow it up with, so, do it for him, using our electric air compressor.

Must discover his name!

I am determined to coax Kathleen onto the back of the scooter, my latest ploy is to tell her I will buy her a bottle of Tanqueray Gin, if she goes with me to the Supermarket, on the scooter.

Such an offer, she cannot resist, and is soon clambering on the back of the scooter.

 I am not sure which is the biggest threat to health and well being, riding pillion on a motor scooter or drink a bottle of Tanqueray Gin?

By Tuesday, the site is beginning to fill up, two German caravans arrive, followed by two Italian Campervans.

On our return from our cycle ride to Peniscola, we find we have been joined by a little group of three, who are a "team" doing a cycling challenge, to raise funds for Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund the Royal British Legion and Ssafa. 

One of them is cycling from the Royal Marines base at Exeter, to Gibraltar, and return! The other two are his support team. He reckons he is cycling 120km per day, and from what we hear of their conversation, that appears to be on a diet of McDonalds and KFC.

Their donations page is www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ctcrmgib2014, the target is to raise £150,000, he has a long way to go yet, but, full marks for trying!

There is a rather nice beach side bar / Restaurant just outside the campsite (Bar Mar Chica), our French/English neighbors, Tony and Barbara invite us to go along there for a very pleasant lunch on Saturday, as a "good bye" since we will be leaving on Tuesday.

Sunday is Palm Sunday (for the unitiated, the Sunday before Easter), Kathleen heads off for church, but, I have just got myself settled with my book, when, she returns. It would appear all of the Mass times have been changed, and there is to be some form of service in the open air, in Plaza de la Constitution. We head there, and sure enough, there are hundreds of people gathered.

Service over, we retire to the Marina for a very pleasant lunch.

It is clear there are going to be lots of elaborate celebrations in the week leading upto Easter.

Some, to our eyes, look rather unsavoury, such as these people dressed in what appear to be KKK outfits, although, I am sure, they are not in anyway associated with that particular group!

Monday is spent clothes washing, shopping, and loading the bicycles and scooter onto the trailer.

The day is rounded off having a trial run on our English neighbor's (Adele and Graham) electric bicycles (rather fun), followed by several glasses of wine, and, a lot of chatting.

  

Benicarlo, Camping Alegria Del Mar

Wednesday 2nd April 2014 -  Saturday 5th April 2014

Oh dear, it is overcast, no sunshine, worse, the weather forecast says it is going to be like this tomorrow too!

Have we moved north too early?

Looking on the bright side, it gives us the opportunity to explore, find the supermarket etc.

Things go from bad to worse, Thursday, it rains all day.

Friday dawns with the wind blowing fit to knock you off your feet, at least it has stopped the rain!

By Friday lunch time, wind has calmed to a gentle breeze and the sun is splitting the heavens, after a brief trip to by essential supplies, time to lie in the sun.

Kathleen gets busy introducing herself and, or course, gathering "the gen".

There are two French registered vans here, but both sets of occupants are English (OK, one is Welsh, so, I suppose I should say British). They are living in France, one pair (Tony and Barbara) in the Foix area of the Pyrenees, the other in the Limousan (Steve and Sue).

Now, I am not a dog lover, but, Tony and Barbara have a dog (Chloe) which hates cats. It does an excellent job of chasing any maurading cats. Suddenly, I am warming to Dogs!

Saturday brings a fine and sunny day, we cycle to Peniscola (about six miles along the coast). It all looks rather familiar, we have been in the area before, and have cycled in the opposite direction from Peniscola to Benicarlo.

The castle at Peniscola is, I believe, the location used to film at least one of the scenes in El Cid, for those of you old enough to remember the Charlton Heston version.

I suppose even the youngsters among you will be familiar with the film, from annual Christmas repeats.

The film crew of course had enough clout to have the cars removed from the scene, sadly, I did not.

There are impressive views from the castle walls, over modern Peniscola.

It is all very pleasant, not only the castle itself, and of course the obligatory churches, but also the old town, within the castle walls, which is a maze of small streets, lined with tapas bars.

I am not sure how authentic this is. 





I would think if the place was like this in the castle's hey-day, the defenders would have been permenantly too drunk and full of food, to do any defending! 

Altea, Alicante

Tuesday 18th March 2014

We depart Camping Roquetas, promptly.

Uneventful 200 or so miles to our next destination, Arena Blanca, Benidorm.

This turns our to be a poor choice, it is right in the middle of Benidorm, or, as I prefer to call it, Blackpool, with sun. Not to my taste.

A hurried reprogramming of the sat nav takes us to Cap-Blanch, Altea, Alicante (N38 34'40" W0 3'54"). An ACSI site, initial thoughts are, it is a bit big, but, it is right on the beach, so, we will reserve judgement.

Altea is the next town north along the coast from Benidorm, but, it appears to be quieter, or, more boring, depending on your point of view.

Wednesday 19th March 2014 

At the last site (Roquetas de Mar), our Motor Scooter (Yamaha xMax250) attracted a lot of attention, particularly from French Campervanners. I do not know why, it is perfectly standard and common model of scooter.

Here for some reason, it is the trailer which is attracting attention. We must have had at least twenty people come across and ask about it, mostly Dutch and German, but, a few Brits including Teessiders Keith and Judy, and a chap called Alan who hails from Nottingly, where the trailers are manufactured. 

If this continues, I think I will have to request commission from Armitage Trailers! (www.armitagetrailers.com/index.htm).

We have very pleasant English neighbours, Malc and Sue, who have been here for a few weeks and are able to give us a list of places to go.

Today we settle for a  cycle along the coast to explore the old town of Altea, and check out the church.

The town is on top of a hill, very steep! and very quaint.

Plenty of places for me to have a drink, whilst Kathleen is at Church on Sunday, I note, and, plenty of places for lunch, afterwards! 

Thursday 20th March 2014 

Not content with finding one church, Kathleen wants to find a "back up", just in case, so we search out a Tourist Information Office and obtain a map.

The map allows us to find the nearest Supermarket, and an alternative Catholic Church.

I unload scooter, and, go exploring, to find the route to Calpe and Denia, which, it turns out, is rather scenic, if you ignore the enormous quarry, at about the halfway point, which appears to be demolishing an entire hill.

Friday 21st March 2014 

After the trauma of hair washing, drying and straightening, we head off for a walk to lighthouse at Faro El Abir.

From the campsite, it is about five miles, there and back.








Most of the walk is within a National Park, very well kept, and very scenic.






Afterwards, we have what is, for Kathleen, an adventurous lunch, Tapas, consisting of Patas Bravas, Garlic and Cheese Potatoes, Tortilla, Meatballs in piquant sauce, with a bottle of Rioja of course.

Saturday 22nd March 2014

Weather forecast completely wrong, forecast, sunny 20C, actual, overcast, rain, 15C. A day of doing even less than usual, lying about reading.

Sunday 23rd March 2014 

Back to sunshine and 20C plus, that is more like it.

We go to Altea on our bicycles, but, this time we are fore-warned, no more attempts to ride to the top of the hill, or to carry / wheel bicycles up an apparently never ending flight of steps!

Church for Kathleen, explore old Altea for me, ending up in a very convenient bar, right at the door of the church.

An excellent lunch, in the old town part of Altea.

Chatting to Malc and Sue, for what remained of the afternoon. 

Monday 24th March 2014 to Monday 31st March 2014 

The site WiFi is free, the problem is, it is useless, so slow as to be unusable, and, as if that is not bad enough, it keeps on dropping the connection every five minutes or so. I have a Spanish Orange SIM card, to use with my Huawei Mobile Wifi (MiFi), but, whilst it worked very well in the Cadiz area, here, it is too slow to allow uploading of photographs, use of Skype etc.

So, to cut a long story short, I have been unable to keep the blog uptodate, so, the last week is being done from memory, appropriately enough, on April Fools Day!

We take a tram ride to Denia, which involves cycling the mile or so to the station, and leaving our bicycles there. 

The fare is a real bargain 4.25Euro each for a return trip of about 30 miles each way! The ride is so spectacular it is worth the fare, just for the scenery enroute! 

Denia is an attractive place, typical narrow Spanish streets, plenty of quaint little cafes, and of course an ancient castle.

On our way to Altea, we passed through parts of Benidorm, it was in our opinion, pretty grim, but, different people like different things, the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same, would it not.

But, you have to give things  a chance,so, on one day, we took the Bus  into Benidorm, with Malc and Sue , we were pleasantly surprised!

True, much of it is Blackpool with sun, but, there are some rather attractive bits, tucked away from the "full English breakfast cafes" and the karoake bars with the tattooed drinkers minus their tops spilling out onto the pavement, and the guys drinking their pints and watching the English Football on Sky. 


You certainly cannot complain about the beach, it is a magnificent stretch of good clean sand. It is easy to see why this place was one of the first package destinations.

There is even a little legend about the mountain you can see in the background.

It is said, a Giant, angry that he had been dumped by his girlfriend, kicked the mountain, in his temper, and left the nick you can see in the ridge, just to the left, the displaced piece of mountain, landed in Benidorm bay, where it remains to this day.



Malc and Sue are leaving on Sunday, so, we have a farewell meal at a very good Chinese Restaurant just a couple of streets from the campsite.

But, that Kathleen is a fickle friend, one minute she is sad at Malc and Sue's leaving, the next day, she has a new Norwegian singing partner.

The lady in question is called Vibeke Mykkeltveit, and they spend the evening entertaining the passing campers as they work their way through their respective song books.

Vibekke tells me, her first name is Dutch, and, means "little wife". As they sit singing and I slave away clearing up the debris from our evening meal, and, wash the dishes, I point out to her, that, in English, "Kathleen" does NOT mean "little wife".

Vibekke (pronounced a little like the English, "Rebecca", makes a living, or at least some money out of her singing, she has a website www.vokalmedisin.no, and some music / videos on YouTube. 


Tuesday 1st April 2014 

It is necessary to move  a little further north, if we are to avoid having too great a distance to travel for the Tunnel.

So, today, we are leaving Altea. 

Our English neighbour, Alan, is leaving too, he is heading home after almost six months here!

Alan is a regular visitor, so, we may well see him again, either later this year, or, next year when tentative plans to celebrate Malc's 70th here, have been made.

We head just under 200 miles north to Benicarlo, Camping  Alegria Del Mar, (N40 25'36" E0 26'17"), an ACSI site.

First impressions, site appears to be fine, you even get a free "welcome drink" at the bar. It appears just a little too "English", we will reserve judgment.

No sooner have we arrived, than we have yet another admirer of the Trailer! I really have to look at a commission agreement!

The good news is, it is within walking distance of the town, and the beach (rather pebbly, not sand), and the WiFi works!