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Published: September 23rd 2009
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Sally's Dolphin
This shot was taken by Sally at our 50th birthday bash in Fortrose back in July. Blog entry dated 18th September
Luscious Lillie here, we are in a strange part of the world, for those that were in India last year it has that same end of the world feeling. As if everyone knows something you are unaware of and have taken refuge from ‘It’.
We are about as far south as you can go in France around Perpignan, at the edge of the Roussillion region, which is basically a salt water marsh lying just behind the beach. It forms ‘Etanges’ which are brackish lakes behind the coastal dunes, and are often below sea level, it has a strange otherworldly look to it which is oddly beautiful. I’m only telling you this so you will get some sense of the place in order to empathise with us. (Hard to do when you working hard, the weathers crap, and the banks overcharged you again. I know but try.)
Anyway when we checked into the campsite yesterday we were given some information about the sites amenities etc., usual stuff, also a set of instructions about how to evacuate the site in case of flooding, well you’ll never guess what?
In the early hours we awoke to the
mother of all thunderstorms, the likes of which I have never experienced in Britain. I thought I had seen the last of the Monsoon rains the previous year but it was ‘stotting’ off the ground forming puddles and lakes before our very eyes; all the while the lightning was flashing constantly which was able to penetrate my retinas even when my eyes were shut! The thunder was constant, no waiting or counting pink elephants in between to see how far away it was, it was here right overhead.
It was amazing at 12.50am when it started, not so at around 5am which was the last time I remember looking at my watch. I was doing fine until Alan made a comment about flooding, and my mind wandered back to the leaflet we had been given at reception, about evacuating the site, then I started to ponder our electrical hook-up, which trails into a socket inches from the ground. Thankfully none of these imaginative events took place and we awoke to bright sunshine. I was starting to think the events of last night had all been a dream…. xxx Liz
A couple of days before Perpignan we were in Narbonne
staying at a motorhome Aire 50 yards from a huge beach. Deciding to forgo the pleasures of lying on the aforementioned sands we took the local bus into the centre of Narbonne; cost 1 euro each for a 30 minute journey which would even meet my wee Yorkshire neighbours good value benchmark. Decent historic centre with the fortified Cathedral and narrow medieval shopping centre made the trip well worthwhile.
On the way from Narbonne to Perpignan we stopped at a 500 year old fort at Salses which turned out to be a real treat. The staff at the ticket office were so amused by my poor attempt at speaking to them in French that they tagged us onto a Manchester school trip of 6th formers ,who were being given a guided tour in English with privileged access to parts of the fort not open to the public. I won’t bore you with the details but if you are ever in the area then don’t miss it out.
We crossed into Spain on Sunday having decided to go over a Pyrenean pass going above 6000 feet with the mountains up to 10,000 either side of us. Liz couldn’t bear
to look at the drop over the side of the road which was on my side and at times was truly spectacular. It was wet and very cold at the top, though I had checked beforehand that the freezing level was still 1000 metres above the road we were on. We stayed in a very quiet campsite near Llovosi and in the morning drove on through some wonderful landscape as we came down from the Pyrenees into the Sierra Del Montac. On the road down I watched a 4 foot snake run (well, slither really fast), across the carriageway and under the wheels of an oncoming lorry and then off into the scrub. I had to blink to be sure I had seen it, but it really did happen. I also noticed a couple of squashed snakes further on, so something Darwinian could be happening.
As I write we have arrived at a remote campsite in Lake Caspe in Aragon region. It is full of fishermen convinced that this is the day/night that the massive Catfish that are out there, are going to fall to their bait. (Glad I didn’t bring my rod). Anyway it is a lively spot
for all that and the sun has shone all day so life is not bad.
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Jim
non-member comment
It's stopped raining
Lake Capse is in the head waters of the Ebro which seemingly is one of the top Carp/catfish fisheries in Europe. So prey tell me why you don't have your rods with you? Looks like the weathers holding, apart from the odd convective rain shower. Flooding. I'll give you flooding. Moray and Elgin got whacked at the beginig of the month so I've been kinda' busy. No salmon worth a dam. Jim...