13. Castles in the Sky…

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It was great to catch up with our friends, Sue and Paul in Calella, share a meal and listen to Spanish music with Flamenco dancing. Surprisingly they were the first UK residents we had spoken to in 4 weeks so we had a lot to say!

We camped a little way along the coast from our friends, in a delightful campsite. So much better than our last, with a great welcome from the staff, the guy who showed us to our pitch was a dead ringer for David Hasselhoff. The tents, caravan’s, motorhomes with their respective paraphernalia, washing lines, blow up lilos, etc, did give it a cramped feeling-but I suppose it was the peak of the summer holidays. The facilities though were top notch. Apart from swimming pool, kiddy pool it also had a separate pool for lane swimming!

After a few days of fun it was time to leave Spain, we head back on the AP7 that would blend into France’s A9. Drivers diverting beforehand into petrol stations to top up with cheap Spanish fuel.

We thought we’d cross over the Pyrenees so left the motorway and stayed at a campsite by a lake. This was a municipal site, there was a small restaurant that was having a Brazilian night. The female DJ suitably attired blasting out Latin rhythms for most of the night. Our set meal was a type of cold Fajita-bit strange really.

Back on the road our aim was to go through the Lot and Dordogne Valleys with the next stop being Carcassonne. Having been weeks in the dusty and arid southern Spain, it was lovely to see green grass again. The next two days were to be a feast for the eyes with Castles perched high above leafy hills.

The first castle we saw was Queribus it was enshrouded in clouds, the first overcast day we had seen in weeks. Ali directed me up the lane to the castle, a narrow twisting turning track that Django rarely managed to get out of first gear from. With the cloud that gave it a mystical air, it loomed high above us. Regrettably, part laziness, part having a long way to drive, we skipped exploring the castle. It would have been an amazing view.

We drove on with sun breaking through, we passed lovely villages. Stopping at one called Villerouge with a, smaller traditional looking castle and indulged in a couple of coffees.

It was then onto Carcassonne, famous for its medieval citadel, La Cité, with numerous watchtowers and double-walled fortifications. It was lovely to wander through the cobbled streets, (and have a drink) but it was quite commercial with many gift shops and restaurants and haunted house. We might never have been able to enjoy this had it not been for Mayor of Carcassonne, Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille who saved the La Cite from dismantling in the mid 19th century.

For the first time the temperature had dropped during our trip, in fact the morning we continued our trip there was a cooling breeze. We were following a route from the guidebook ‘The back roads of Spain’ we tried converting the written directions from the page, to our map, onto our Satnav-it wasn’t working…we just winged it.

Next stop the small but rustic village of Penne, looked like it had sprung up on the backlot of a movie. The centre piece being the ruined Chateau of Penne.

The next few Chateaus we came across would be very different. The village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie was perched literally adjacent to our campsite by the river Lot. On a warm evening we climbed the steep cobbled streets (aren’t they all) to the ruined castle atop. That was the only thing that was damaged as the rest of the village was chocolate box pristine. With very few shops and 3 or 4 restaurants-one with which we took the waters and quenched our thirst. One noticeable thing about this area was the number of white moths that were about, sometimes looking like snowfall. Alison couldn’t resist swimming in the Lot River, I wimped out at the freshwater swimming again.

We pressed on to one of the most impressive towns with a Chateau at its summit – Rocamadour – but first where to park the camper? Coming to junction entering the town the sign said ‘deconseille’ with a picture of a motorhome, ‘that must be the way to go’ we said, on following the sign it took me to a hair pin bend, then the hazard of the tourist train, then the narrow, low, rough walled tunnel, before getting to the car park with a 2 metre high barrier. The sign actually meant ‘Not recommended’ so I had to battle my way back up the tourist train, then the narrow, low, rough walled tunnel, and the hair pin bend!

When we stopped to look at the town nestled against the rock, we were amazed by the skill and engineering of it. Deciding not to go in the Chateau we walked the zig zag path down the hill passed the church to the street at the bottom, filled with shops and restaurants.

We had broken camp three days on the trot, always tiring, it was time to stop for a few nights. This was to be Beynac, another Chateau, that with others nearby were instrumental in the 100 years war between the French and the English in the 14^th century.

Another hot day, we climbed to the top, perspiration dripping off us, why are we not losing weight? Alison was excited, as this was location to one of her favourite films-Chocalate, with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. We entered the Chateau, the views from here of the Dordogne and of the other chateaus of Castelnaud and Fayrac were terrific, as was Marqueyssac with its amazing gardens and its topiaries that we were to visit.

The river Dordogne wides and meanders through this beautiful valley. We found out over 6000 canoes a day use the river in peak times.

Stopping at Beynac coincided with my birthday. Although Ali wanted me to have lovely meal overlooking the Dordogne, the lack of choice made me retreat to comfort of a plain hamburger that was on the campsite. We did chill to glass of wine as the sun descended over the flowing river which was perfect.

We continue our journey further north.

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