Animal Magic

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With Wendy firmly ensconced in the UK, a high level conference was had between your correspondent and Cusco. After several hours debate it was decided I got all the beer and the comfiest bed, while he got all the food and control of when he was to be allowed out for walks. With this in place, we set about our assault on Annecy. To be honest, the disaster index was at very low. We spent our days in the sun, wandering up and down hills to the town, around the lake, and explored the hills behind the campsite. Market day was Cusco’s favourite as he was able to enter scavenger mode for scraps and leftovers at the sausage stands!! He also enjoyed his lunch one day, when a group of Japanese tourists fed him mussels – rather unusual. Then Wendy flew back, I sobered up, Cusco cleaned the van and off we set again. I do have to mention, the welcome W got from him after a week away. When he saw her get out the taxi , he didn’t bark, but started shaking uncontrollably and then threw himself at her. Have never seen such emotion from an animal. The best part was the news that her scans were very positive and her consultant told her to carry on travelling !!!!

We bade farewell to the Alps and headed south to the med. Your correspondent has always suffered from recurring dreams of flamingos, bulls and white horses, so you can imagine my situation when we ended up in La Saintes de lar Mer – in the heart of La Camargue!!!!!! It was wall to wall nature and most of it moving, albeit in different ways from each other. Cusco took a long, hard look at a flamingo and seemed to be of the opinion that they did not look quite right in his eyes. He barked twice at the bulls until he realised they were rather large and so backed away slowly, always keeping eye contact until safe. The horses, he was completely indifferent to, and showed no interest. Wendy and I however, enjoyed ourselves immensely. A petit train was booked and after Cusco, with a display of growling and barking, convinced a pug that it was not getting on our carriage, we set off for a great tour of the area. With a beach at hand, the quaint – though touristy- town ten minutes’ walk away, warm weather, this was a pleasant 3 day stopover. The only drawback, was that for some reason, despite being surrounded by water and marshlands, we did not stop to think there may be mosquitoes around. Easily the most bites since the Amazon.

“Go west, young man, go west”, suggested John Babsone Lane Soule, so rather than upsetting him, we did so. Sending John and Wendy of the Valley ahead of us as an advanced scouting party, a campsite was chosen close to the beautiful town of Collioure. If, dear readers, you have never visited it, put it on your list to do so as soon as possible. John and Wendy had been here several times and had no hesitation recommending the site and area to us. We, in our turn, had no hesitation in thanking them for recommending the site and area to us, and so it goes.

They guided us to some great places to eat and led us through the small lanes of the town for the best views and best walks. Beer and wine were consumed, food eaten, lots of laughter and chat and walks up big hills, that John reasoned were easier to walk up when he hadn’t eaten a three course meal and a pitcher of wine. If there was a better way to spend our last few days in France, we would have had to look long and hard to find it.

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Comments

[Taffy]

Animal magic
Heavens another blog. Well done. Keep going.

[D MJ Binkley]

France
Beautiful