Gascony - winter dreaming becomes reality

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Geo: 43.8694, 0.258891

I have said it before that the Internet has drastically changed our caravanning trips, as a tool for research, keeping in touch with nearest and dearest, as well as navigation, not to mention this blog which to all intents and purposes is my personal travel journal to look back on in years to come. When we decided that the time had come for the both of us to give up employment, our first extended tour in 2013 was hatched trawling the web for areas to visit, sights to see and campsites on which to stay. Whilst websites such as the Caravan Club, Trip Advisor, U.K. Campsite and Wikipedia were a wealth of information, I also sought out sites for other nomadic bloggers, some by caravan, others motorhome, some part-time like ourselves, some who had given up their home to travel throughout the year.

One such couple in this latter category are Steve and Sue Ghost who have a blog about their 'adventures before dementia' whereby, their home rented out, they tend to overwinter in Spain and Portugal, returning to the UK late Spring in time to get the car and caravan serviced before setting off again. Whilst at our last site, we returned one afternoon to find the pitch next to us occupied and lo and behold, as I had deduced, it turned out to be them! What a small world. We had a good chat over the following days to share experiences particularly since we spent most of our holiday in Spain and Portugal last year, including a stay on one their favourite sites near Evora in the Alentejo area.

However, all good things come to an end, so on Thursday morning we left 'Green Venice' for our next location in the Gers region of Gascony (in the southwest just short of the Pyrenees). I had considered a stay here last year after the Picos of northern Spain, but instead opted to spend more time there and took the overnight ferry from Santander instead. Over the winter, I did some research and Gascony was high up on the list of places to see this time around.

Now we have more time on our hands, we try to limit transfers to no more than 250 miles, and feel no guilt at using the motorways if the satnav should point that way. So it was that we took the route suggested which was towards Bordeaux where we encountered what must be our worst traffic jam which held us up by about 45 minutes. Once this was behind us we were fine and got off the A62 to travel the last hour through rural landscape and small towns, arriving at our destination, Camping La Brouquere which is near Gondrin. I had emailed the owners several times in recent weeks to keep them informed about our arrival details, and no sooner had we pulled onto the drive then Walter (Wouter in Dutch) was striding across the lawn to greet us.

Having shown us the ten or so terraced pitches with views of vineyards and farmland from which to choose, we soon set up then joined him and wife, Sonia (Sonja in Dutch), for a welcome glass of local wine and a run down of useful information about the site and local area - very civilised! On offer was the chance to join them and fellow campers for a reasonably priced group lunch the following day which we accepted as we had no intention of leaving the site that day.

At the designated time, we made our way along with two other couples to the terrace which had been set out ready, and soon afterwards Walter offered us a glass of 'floc', a local fortified wine in red or white, as an aperitif with canapés. Lunch started with a delicious bowl of cream of white bean soup, followed by salmon and creamed spinach served with wild rice, then a sort of extremely boozy syllabub, accompanied by local wine, with tea or coffee to finish - all for €17.50! More of the same, please! Needless to say, we did very little for the remainder of the day.

We needed to shop today so enroute to Lidl in Condom we stopped off for a mooch and coffee at Larrissingle, a tiny medieval fortified village. The village is entered by its only gate through the fortifications, across a pretty little double-arched stone bridge that was at one time a drawbridge across the moat (now dry) and through an arch in a tower. The defences are almost completely intact.

Within the walls of the smallest fortified town in France is the small church of St. Sigismond, Roman in style, but with some modern stained glass windows and fortified in design, a small chateau (largely in ruins, and dominated by the donjon) and various smaller buildings and houses, mostly set with their backs to the fortified walls.

On arriving at Condom, the band festival mentioned by Walter the day before was beginning to get under way, the roads busy with high spirited revellers, so provisions for the next few days purchased, we returned to the caravan for lunch. Exploration of Condom will have to wait.

Having enjoyed plenty of sunshine, though a little chilly when it briefly clouds over, we did have a few rumbles of thunder and light rain early evening but as I write this, normal service has been resumed.

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Comments

[David m]

You are showing others what retirement should be like. Continue to have a wonderful time.