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Published: October 27th 2008
Well, we’re nearly into Spain. We have settled for a couple of weeks about 50 miles north of the Spanish and Andorran borders in the foothills of the French Pyrenees.
We came via Carcassonne where we stayed for 4 nights at a charming site in the Minervois wine region. Surrounded by vineyards: sunny and Mediterranean.
The change in climate as we motored down from the Gorges Du Tarn was astonishing. In the space of about 30 miles we descended off the high limestone “Causse” down onto the plain around Beziers and the outside temperature went up about 6 degrees! For the first time we had to use the air-con in the X trail in earnest . It felt like we had suddenly hit the Med.
Carcassonne was a stopping point to break the journey but we ended up staying a bit longer as the site was good, cheap and had free internet.
The highlight was a cycle ride from the outskirts of the city down the pretty Canal Du Midi (It’s famous for running across France), into town and up to the famous “Cite”, a huge restored medieval fortress . Impressive to look at but full
of tacky shops and tourist eateries it was nonetheless impressive. Slightly shabby Carcassonne was busy with a wine festival. Lots of stalls of local producers offering tastings of the new 2008 “primeur” wines. Not free unfortunately : 1 Euro a little glass. We didn’t bother in case we wobbled into the canal on the way back!
We moved south on the 20th Oct and we are now pitched in a deep sided valley of the Ariege river at a small town called Tarascon, about 15 minutes south of Foix.
It’s mountain country here and normally I would be itching to walk up and around them but I have still got a sore foot . I reckon it’s a flare up of arthritis in my toe joints. I’ve had it in one form or another since the summer but it got worse at the beginning of October. Hopefully, I think it is easing a little now. To add insult to injury as well, we tried what is termed an “easy “ walk round here the other day . It wasn’t that easy! Talk about straight up and down! What happened to zig-zagging alpine style paths? It turned a
slightly sore knee ligament into a jabbing pain on the descent. Coupled with the sore toes, it has grounded me for the last week. I’ve been able to get some anti-inflammatory tablets from a pharmacy so hopefully they will speed up the recovery.
We have kept interested though with drives out.
Andorra is just up the road (literally), and we spent a surreal afternoon driving up the Col d’ Envalira stopping briefly in Pas De Casa . The views were very pretty but as for Andorra, it has to be the most bizarre place! (or the bits that we saw of it) . It has no VAT and it’s economy seems to be based around duty-free shopping and skiing in the winter. Its towns are stunningly ugly, an uncontrolled development of endless shopping centres and hotels . The shops all selling an identical hotch-potch of things. The same shop might sell anything from plastic buckets to a couple of Nintendo Wii s. There seemed to be a job lot of tins of tuna in town as well and many shops stacked them alongside sombreros and plastic shower scrunchies! As for cheap prices? Well, You would have to look
very hard to find a genuine bargain. I don’t call 130 Euros for a pair of Levis all that cheap really.
We bought a bottle of vodka and a Toblerone! The only genuine bargain we got were the MacDonald’s coffees and muffins for two at 4 Euros and the petrol. We filled up at 0.95 Euro a litre. Now that does make the visit worthwhile.
The night before last we went to visit some friends of Martin’s from work Terri and Brian Bilby. They are currently on career break from the force and are living in a lovely renovated property run as a B&B by their parents which is about 40 minutes drive from us. They welcomed us with a hearty meal and a bed for the night and it was a treat to have a big bed again!! I would recommend their hospitality and the area is beautiful .
Despite the glorious daytime temperatures, the nights can drop pretty cold sometimes now , especially in the mountains. We have a 2Kw electric heater and use electric for most things but an additional heater and 3 of the 4 cooking hobs are gas. We are using
butane Camping-Gaz at the moment and for the first time the other day in the early evening its pressure failed due to the cold ambient temperature in the outside gas locker. Propane is the gas of choice for winter camping as it operates at much lower temperatures than butane. Trouble is every country has a different system of LPG cylinders and getting hold a locally produced gas cylinder that will fit the adaptors on the van is no easy task!
We finally decided yesterday however that we must grasp the nettle and get some propane.
To buy the first bottle you have to pay a deposit and fill in a form . They are mainly sold at petrol stations and my previous experience with petrol stations and their surly kiosk attendants made my heart sink at the prospects of negotiating the deal! With no choice, we headed off to the local petrol station.
In hindsight, Saturday afternoon ,when all the locals decide to fill up their cars was not a good time .
The attendant lady, to be fair to her, was lovely and helpful . I had successfully told her in French I wanted
a propane bottle but had no empty one to exchange so would need a new one. I was happy to continue using my blossoming French but she tried to be helpful in using her limited English. What followed was an amusing pantomime with several impatient French drivers waiting to pay for their petrol as an audience! I knew I wanted propane (yellow bottle) not Butane ( red bottle) and confirmed several times I wanted a “bouteille jaune” she sat in the kiosk and we talked through the grille. She said “red in” and pointed to the floor in her kiosk. I took that to mean “ you pay for red here” so I said “ Oui, mais je voudrais Jaune” ( Yes but I would like yellow) She said “yellow out”.
Pardon?
“Yellow out” she kept repeating in English . She then came out of the kiosk and said “yellow out” then went back in and said “red in”. The tumble weed rolled through for what seemed endless moments. I felt very alone. The queue of drivers waiting to pay was growing. I tried not to give them eye contact! I turned to Martin and said I
think she’s trying to tell me the yellow bottles have run out and I can only pay for the red ones here. Then the penny dropped, Oh!! She means the red is for using inside the house, Yellow is for outside! ( I knew that of course all along, that is why I was here and had said several times that I wanted the yellow) but bless her she was trying to be helpful . About 4 customers were waiting to pay and the pumps were backing up! She came out again unlocked the gas cage and got me a yellow bottle. I paid by bank card and all was progressing until she remembered she had to fill out the form as I was buying the bottle for the first time and paying a deposit.
Derbyshire Constabulary has nothing on Elf Gas for wanting copies of the damn form. She rifled for what seemed interminable minutes ,through eight pages of various colours of a carbon copy pad before coming out of the kiosk again to get me to fill in my name and address. I glanced at the motorists. Bad move. Panicky I filled in the form and god
knows why, put Martin’s name and the campsite address. Then I had to sign the damn thing, so I signed it “M Bannister” and with profuse “Merci beaucoup” s beat an extremely hasty retreat, not looking back!
I can now cook on a cold night ! Hooray!
Just looked at the weather forecast as I published this Blog entry (Monday, sitting in Mc Donalds in Foix) and it's going to be -6 overnight in a few days and sleet for Saturday!!! Time to move south I think. The internet connection here is very slow and I'm having trouble uploading the photos. I will publish for now and add more photos later.
Au Revoir La France. D XX
P.S. Photos now uploaded (30th Oct )
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Gary Gorman
non-member comment
Good to see you're cooking on gas now
Great story Donna.Best wishes to Banno. Don't know whether you're itinerary will take in Majorca but we're there in Feb and can offer you bed and board if it fits in with your plans.Let me know. GG