Clinics and X-rays.

Thursday 28th April.

A little tale of the Greek health service.

I think I mentioned that Phil tripped on the ferry six days ago and took quite a fall. Two days ago she complained of pains in her back and ribs and at first thought it was indigestion or maybe a problem with her gallbladder. Yesterday the pain was so bad that we decided she needed to see a doctor so I asked the owner of the campsite, Spiros, if there was a doctor in the nearest village. His wife phoned and discovered that the doctor didn't have a surgery yesterday but Spiros said he was going through to Pylos, the nearest large town and he would drop us off at the health clinic and pick us up an hour or so later.

We arrived at the health centre and within five minutes Phil had been examined by two doctors who both thought that she had either bruised, cracked or broken a rib in her fall and the fact that it wasn't too painful at the time meant that in the last day or so she had moved in a way to aggravate the injury. But the doctors were concerned that the lung may have been bruised and they were concerned about an infection. An X-ray was needed but unfortunately the machines had been removed from their clinic due to cuts and we would have to drive to the hospital at Kalamata, 60kms away over the mountains. They apologised for the lack of equipment, gave Phil an injection for the pain and me directions to the hospital.

Spiros picked us up and brought us back to the campsite, we got the van ready for travel and set off. An hour or so later arrived at the hospital and the security guy told us where to park the van (no parking meters or charges). We presented ourselves to reception and after a while were shown to the emergency ward. We had notes from the clinic but the doctors asked the details again and then sent us off to the radiology department. The radiologist asked Phil where she was from "England" she replied. "And what is your name?" She told him - "Aah, that's a Greek name" he said. Whilst taking the X-rays he asked if Phil would be back in the UK in time to vote on the Euro referendum. She replied that she hoped she would. "And how will you be voting Madam?" Phil replied that she would probably vote to remain in the European Union. "A big mistake Madam, you will just be voting for big business and the banks. The EU is no good for us." Five minutes later we had the X-rays and the radiologist told us to take them back to the doctors and as we left - "Don't forget Madam, vote wisely and feel well soon."

Back to the doctors. The orthopaedic doctor told me show them to the surgeon. The surgeon looked at them, informed us that Phil had a broken rib and said the orthopaedician would deal with us. The orthopaedic doctor looked at the X-rays and said he couldn't see any broken ribs! ( I had a look too but couldn't see anything but ribs which all seemed to be in the right place!) Anyway, broken, cracked or bruised it's all the same. Pain and discomfort for a month or so and paracetamol and some heavy duty pain killers prescribed. I asked the doctor if Phil would be OK for a bit of light housework but the joke didn't really translate and it wasn't so funny when I had to explain it!

At every stage at both the clinic and the hospital we were dealt with kindly, professionally and efficiently although the surgeon's bedside manner could be improved although in his defence he did look a bit frazzled. Having said that we don't know the last time these folk were paid and how many cuts to the service they have had to endure recently. We were charged for nothing but the medicine.

So Phil is struggling a bit at the moment and in quite a lot of pain so we'll stay here now for a few days until she feels a bit better. I'm holding up well under all the additional workload, strain and worry. Went for a paddle today to take my mind off things. Mind, the sea was a bit cold!

Pat

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Methoni and Finikounda

Tuesday 26th April.

We are parked up this evening at Camping Finikes (36.80185 21.78188) a few kilometres along the road from Finikounda. We stopped at this campsite two years ago but it was a little later in the year and it was fairly busy, now there are just three other vans here and a young Greek couple in a tent. A disadvantage is that the restaurant is not officially open but the owner told us when we arrived "Let me know what you want, cutlets, chicken? and I shop for it and my wife cooks it for you. Maybe some stuffed tomatoes and peppers? Maybe some mousaka? Let me know. Greek people don't eat much this week, it's Holy Week before Easter but if you want something cooked you let me know ok?" Well, we've got food for a few days but I said if his wife was cooking mousaka he could put our names down. An advantage of the place being virtually empty is that we get a pitch overlooking the sandy beach,our own private toilet and shower, electricity and all the WiFi we can eat. And this really is a lovely beach:

 

With some nice flowers:

And a nice view:

Before we arrived we went to the village of Finikounda for a few supplies and afterwards stopped for a coffee at one of the beachside tavernas, "Sorry, no Fredo Cappucino, we have no electricity." No problem, we'll go to one a little further along by the harbour. But, no electricity there either "Power cut all around" the elderly lady behind the bar explained, so we settled for a Greek coffee and a Coke. I waited for the coffee to be made and the young guy there said to wait outside on the terrace and he would bring it to us. "But you're on crutches" I said; looking down as if it was the first time he'd seen them he replied "Ah, yes. No problem, my mother will bring them out" indicating the elderly lady shuffling about making my coffee. " No, really, I'll carry them out, you put another euro in the electric meter".

Last night we stopped at Methoni, which we visited before and which has a beautiful semi-restored castle on the headland accessed by a stone bridge of 14 arches and a simple but beautiful church surrounded by fields of wild flowers. A stone paved bridge leads to the fortified islet of Bourtzi dating back to the C16th with a tiny harbour. Unfortunately Phil has a badly bruised (broken?) toe after tripping on the ferry so we didn't revisit the castle this time. You can read more about Methoni here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methoni,_Messenia

We stopped at a campsite recommended to us by some folk we met last year (36.81815 21.71488) just 500m from the town. It's a large site but it's been neglected and there were a couple of guys there painting, strimming and generally trying to get the place ready for the summer season. But it had everything we needed although the electricity went down in the middle of the night. It's about five miles from where we are now so this electric outage must have been a big one. When we arrived at the campsite today we asked the guy if he had electricity. "Yes, because I have a big generator" he replied with a smile.

Today's free gift:

Pat

 

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Greece!

Sunday 24th April

We are parked up this evening on a campsite near Glifa in the northern Pelleponese (37.83729 21.12860).

We sailed from Ancona on Friday and, unusually for Greek ferries, it wasn't one of our better journeys. When we checked in we asked if we could upgrade our cabin to an outside berth and if we could make our return ticket an open return. The guy said to arrange the cabin when we got on board but if we wanted to change our return ticket we would lose the early booking discount for both journeys, out and return! He then told us to ask for electric hook up for the van when we boarded and to use our Greekferries loyalty card to get discount on food and beverages. We then sat on the quayside while every other vehicle was loaded, lorries, cars, vans, trailers and then finally the half dozen motorhomes were called forward. We parked, as instructed on the lower deck and I asked for electric hook up. Nobody was interested and then finally I was told there was no electric where we were parked, cue half a dozen motorhomers screaming blue murder. Reluctantly the guy showed us a socket about 100 metres away from the nearest van!

We went upstairs to reception where nobody was interested in our problem. I went back downstairs to see the main man responsible for the loading, as advised(or I would have done had I not got lost!) Meanwhile Phil tried to upgrade our cabin. She was told somewhat abruptly to come back in two hours. I returned from my trip round the bowels of the ship and went searching for someone (anyone) with pips on their shoulders to vent my anger. Man with pips studiously avoided me for five minutes and finally asked if I had a problem. Problems explained and he said he couldn't do anything about the lack of electricity but we could upgrade our cabin for €40. I explained that I was probably going to throw away defrosted food from our fridge when we landed worth far more than €40 and under the circumstances did he not think it appropriate to offer us a free upgrade. We settled on €20.

Down to the cabin, a few deep breaths, time for a beer. Up to the bar "sorry we don't give discount on drinks with that card". ok, I thought, that's not unreasonable although €4.50 for a beer was a bit steep. By now we're hungry so it's down to the restaurant. Shuffle along the queue plonking food on trays, arrive at cash desk and proffer card. "Sorry, we don't accept that card on this ship". Phil took a step back and a deep breath. I explained, as politely as I could, the problems we'd had over the last few hours to the cashier, whilst acknowledging that none of them were of his making or his responsibility. He gives us a large discount on our meal.

Saturday afternoon and we sailed into Patras. Quick stop on the quayside to set the SatNavs and we were off. They've built a smart new flyover as you exit the docks to take you onto the motorway heading toward Pyrgos but between the flyover and the motorway there's a stretch of single carriageway road with a couple of sets of traffic lights. The second set weren't working. That was fun. Eventually we reached the campsite here, pulled up to the reception area and saw the elderly lady owner waving at us from the restaurant 50m away. We drove up and remembered why we come to Greece. "Welcome" she said, with a lovely smile. "Find somewhere you like to park, we are not busy so take a nice spot and then come back and see me". This we did and when we returned she asked if we had just come off the ferry and when we affirmed that she asked which one. We told her and she shook her head solemnly "Ah, Minoan lines. They've been bought by Grimaldi, not so good now I think". How true. We ate in the restaurant and had delicious Moussaka and were asked if we would be staying until the 1st May so we could share in the "Greek Easter" celebrations. We ate there again tonight, had a delicious rabbit stew and when we left she gave us a jar of homemade lemon preserve "delicious with cheese".

Greece is much maligned as a nation who don't pay their taxes, have too generous pension schemes and only have themselves to blame for the economic situation they are in. There's some truth in that but they are also the nation that pull folk from the sea who are escaping from war zones, persecution and poverty and then care for them and share what little they have with them. We've never met such welcoming, hospitable and generous people. Whether we stop at campsites or tavernas or just on a beach or small harbour I've lost count of the number of times someone comes along and offers us a gift of food. We come to Greece because of the Greek people.

This beach is 50m from the van:

After decorating our pitch, Phil thought she'd sit down with a coffee:

Tomorrow we head a little further south toward Methoni. Not entirely sure where we'll spend the night but I'm sure we'll find somewhere and when we ask if it's OK to park up I've no doubt we'll get the usual response, "Of course, park where you like, this is Greece - sleep well

Pat

 

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Jesi

Thursday 21st April.

We are parked up tonight in a car park in Jesi (43.51880 13.24182) where the local townsfolk have been kind enough to provide fresh water and facilities to allow us to dump our waste, and it's free. Thank you Jesi. We've been charged a lot more for worse, or fewer, facilities in Italy so it's nice to get a free night before we sail to Greece tomorrow.

We needed a supermarket stop before we left and we usually stock up with basics at Lidl for two reasons, firstly because I have a database of locations and secondly because it's cheap. But we've found the quality and variety of food at Lidl in Italy leaving a lot to be desired so today we visited a "Simply" supermarket for a few bits and pieces and we were so impressed that half way round I had to go back and swap the basket for a trolley. We weren't going to buy any cured ham but the guy on the deli offered us a slice from the piece he was cutting for the guy in front of us in the queue. Delicious, so we had to have some of that. The salami looked nice so we had some of that too. The Pecorini looked good so into the trolley it went, together with some other soft cheese, yoghurt out of the tub, mixed seafood for a pasta sauce, three tins of berlotti beans on special offer and a bottle of Chianti (always buy the one with the cock on the label).

Shopping done we found our parking spot and after lunch set off to explore the walled medieaval town. It's a couple of hundred feet above the car park but the thoughtful folk here had put in a lift for those of us who didn't fancy the steps. I doubt you could spend a fortnights holiday here but we were pleasantly surprised with Jesi. We walked from one end of the town to the other along a pedestrianised street, stopped for an ice cream (half the price we paid in Florence) visited a couple of churches, an art gallery and the Cathedral. We might have done more but the tourist info office was closed as was the only museum we found. The Cathedral was particularly impressive, occupying one corner of the Piazza Federico 2nd, the largest Piazza in the town on the site where the Roman forum once stood. No marble was spared in the construction of this Cathedral. Here's a bit about Jesi.

http://www.italythisway.com/places/jesi.php

The Cathedral:

One of the side altars:

A pair of C13th columniferous Lions just inside the main entrance:

Not sure of the original purpose of this building but it's private apartments now:

Obligatory alleyway photos as promised:

Not sure of the Arsenal connection with Jesi but it's good the kids get a chance to learn how to "play the Arsenal way":

 

 

We sail from Ancona tomorrow at 4.30 in the afternoon, arriving in Patras at 3.30pm the following day. This will be our third year visiting Greece in the springtime and whilst we love all of Greece I think we are restricting ourselves to the Pelleponese and the Mani this visit and we particularly want to visit Mycenae. We're booked back on a ferry on the 9th June but we've got a lot to sort out in the UK when we get home so I think we may be leaving Greece a little earlier than originally planned. We'll see.

Next post from the Pelleponese!!

Pat

 

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Gubbio

Wednesday 20th April.

As mentioned yesterday, today was Phil's birthday, thank you to everyone who sent congratulations. We decided to have lunch at Picchio Verde and what a good choice it was. The restaurant was just busy enough and the waitress spoke excellent English and translated the menu for us. Our meal was delicious although the portions were enormous! However we managed, just. Here's the menu:

The plan this morning was to have a lie in as we had nowhere to go until lunchtime but we are parked right next to a school and about 30 of the students arrived between 7.50 and 8.05. On scooters. And parked 5 metres from our "bedroom". To some of you 8am might be a lie in but to us it's an early start and I guess we'll have an early start tomorrow as well.

The weather today was glorious, sunshine and blue skies all day but yesterday it rained throughout our journey here. Italian roads, even busy dual carriageways, have more than their fair share of uneven road surfaces and "repaired" potholes. On one section of road yesterday a car coming in the other direction hit a "repair" and showered the van with dirty water. Just before we left Bolnuevo we had the van washed and polished and it was gleaming so obviously we couldn't leave it in the filthy condition it arrived in here yesterday. Bucket, sponge, cleaning cloths and an hour and a half later it was gleaming again and we'd worked up an appetite.

When we were here last year we spent two days sightseeing in the old town. We explored a little bit more yesterday where we came upon a sign declaring, in English, "Life is too short to drink bad beer", a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree so we followed the arrow to a small bar. With the help of one of the customers all the beers on offer were described and we sat in the sunshine with a half each and no sooner had we sat down than a complimentary Pizza was plonked on the table. Weatherspoons eat your heart out. We had no time this morning for further sightseeing and this afternoon we were so full of food we could just about walk back to the van but I managed to take a couple of the obligatory "narrow street" photos.

 

The streets and alleyways overlooked by the Ducal Palace have been well preserved and more recent developments have been constructed with the same stone and in the same style. All the old houses have beautiful old thick carved wooden doors and it seems as though it's a requirement of new developments to have the same and whilst the doors aren't always as ornate or elaborate they are still attractive. Gubbio really is one of the highlights of the region of Umbria and I hope we have the chance to visit again.

We sail for Greece on Friday so tomorrow we'll get a little closer to Ancona and set off for Jesi, which also has an old town so maybe some more "narrow street" pics.

Pat

 

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Florence, Cappanole and Gubbio

Tuesday 19th April.

This evening we are parked up in the beautiful town of Gubbio (43.35074 12.565033). We visited here last year and it was Phil's birthday then and it's her birthday again tomorrow!

We left Lucca last Friday and set off for Florence. We found the Motorhome parking area we had recommended to David and Linda (43.75245 11.24486) and when we arrived, sure enough, their van was parked up. It was about midday so off we set for the cultural experience and caught a bus straight away just outside the campsite to take us in to the city. Every transport utility has different systems and it was only when the inspector got on the bus and checked our tickets that we realised we hadn't done things as we should. The driver sold us our tickets but failed to tell us to validate them on the big yellow box. The inspector took pity on me and didn't fine me the going rate of €40 but insisted I bounced down the bus immediately to kerching our tickets.

Florence deserves, nay - demands that you go with some kind of plan. Our plan was to wander around oohing and aahing at the architecture and popping in to the odd cathedral and museum. A bit of gothic here, a bit of Renaissance there - a few paintings, a few sculptures and bob's your uncle, finish off with an ice cream and that's all the boxes for Florence ticked. Hmm, the more cultured amongst you will already have seen the flaw in that plan. Pre-book tickets? That would have been a good idea. Narrow the plan to specific museums? Another good idea. Set the alarm for 5am to get to the city before the crowds? Even better.

We could have queued for 90 minutes for the Ufizzi Gallery or the Accedemia but settled on a visit to the Cathedral (free) and a look at the sculptures in the Piazza della Repubblica.

Here's a few pics:

Look at the crowds!

The Ponte Vecchio was pretty uninspiring unless you like jewellery shops but it takes a nice photo from upriver:

I've no idea why I have a photo of the top of this guy's head but, at least, everybody else seems to be in step:

So, we didn't do Florence justice but it's not going anywhere and there's always another year. To be honest, large cities hold little attraction for me now. Walking down streets thronged with other tourists and travellers, crawling round museums where you're constantly bumping into folk, all trying to get the best photos, the overpriced food and drink and the very concept that you "have to see it". But I've always been a bit of a philistine. We got the bus back to the van, this time making sure we validated our tickets, and met up again with David and Linda. We shared a bottle of Cava to celebrate their wedding anniversary and whilst Phil and Linda exchanged schoolgirl memories David gave me a few tips for the Düsseldorf Motorhome Show, which is on my list of places to go and told us of their travels in motorhomes in Australia.

After Florence we thought we deserved a couple of quiet days, that and the fact that we had an overflowing laundry bag meant a campsite (washing machine). So we set off for Cappanole in Umbria and spent the last two days doing not very much at all at a very tranquil campsite (43.44501 11.6184). A walk round the fields and pathways nearby where we saw the biggest Wisteria climber which looked like a tree as it had woven it's way through a couple of pines:

So this morning we set off for Gubbio and stopped on the way at Citta di Castello, which has a lovely old town with cobbled streets, alleyways, archways, a host of small churches and convents and an impressive cathedral and museum. Unlike Florence we were the only visitors. Unlike Florence everything closed at 1.30 until 3.30. But it was good to break the short journey and stretch our legs and the few chapels we managed to visit were beautiful.

Unfortunately it was raining during most of our visit but it cleared up by the time we got back to the van. A quick sandwich and a short drive to where we are now. As I said, we visited Gubbio this time last year and fell in love with the town, I also fell in love with the cable car but Phil can't say the same so we're giving that a miss this year. Rather than describe it again here's a link to last year's post, during which I got a bit excited about the situation in Greece at that time. http://withnoparticularplacetogo.blogspot.it/2015/04/from-lake-to-sea.html

And here's a pic of the guide from the tourist office:

Tomorrow being a special day we've checked out most of the restaurants in the town using a combination of trip advisor, menu viewing and asking anyone we met who spoke English "Where would you take your wife for lunch on her Birthday?" We've settled on this one: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187906-d1569285-Reviews-Picchio_Verde-Gubbio_Province_of_Perugia_Umbria.html

Full report tomorrow.

And here's a pic of our next vehicle - a classic, our vans in the background, partially obscured.

Pat

 

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France to Italy

Wednesday 13th April.

We are parked up this evening in a tiny car park for motorhomes at Saint-Laurent-du-Var (43.68548 7.18534) about 5 kilometres west of Nice. There are only 7 spaces here and when we arrived there were already 8 vans parked up. So we squeezed in, blocking the egress for two French vans, as you do! However during the course of the afternoon we've spoken to the occupants, one of which said he isn't moving anywhere soon ( big signs - Max 48hrs stay ) and the other isn't moving till tomorrow morning, "quelle heur?" I enquired. Ten fingers were held up which suits us. Even we can be up and on the road by 10am. There's nowt to do here apart from admire the headstones in the cemetery over the road but it's an ideal stop between France and Italy without having to pay campsite fees. We've stopped here twice before and always taken the last available pitch and I don't know how long our luck will last before we have to find somewhere else.

Bit of a rubbish drive here today, we could have taken the coast road - which looked pretty scenic - but instead elected to travel inland. Not too bad until we hit Frejus, lots of traffic and roadworks. Then the "route de Cannes" D97 which only gets up to about 320 metres but it's hairpins all the way up and back down again. Then Antibes. I always thought of Antibes as a glamorous resort full of the " beautiful people". We must have missed that bit but found the traffic and the crazy roundabouts. It was only a journey of 99 miles but took us the best part of 4 hours! We have an aversion to toll roads but on reflection it would have been less stressful to take them today.

Since starting to write this another two vans have arrived, one a massive Concorde at about nine and a half metres - a bus basically - and a smaller van a little larger than ours. There's going to be some shuffling in the morning I expect as people try to leave. At the moment we have a clear run to the exit but I suspect if anyone else turns up we'll be in trouble tomorrow.

Thursday 14th April.

Well, we escaped the car park after a bit of shuffling and set off for Italy. Driving through Nice, Menton, Ventimiglia and Bordighera took it's toll and after 42 miles in two and a half hours we gave up and stopped at San Remo (43.80302 7.74785) which is not really as far as we had hoped we get today but, hey ho. It's a lovely town but the Motorhome parking is basically a big car park and the filthy facilities, such as they are, a 400m drive away over dirt tracks. All this for €15!! Anyway, we walked into the town which is about a mile away looking for some lunch. Last year we found a great little pizzeria in a back street where the pizza was delicious and inexpensive. Due to my innate directional skills (I've been likened to a homing pigeon in the past, or a walking compass,which I take as a compliment) I found the place straight away. Unfortunately it was closed and shuttered! Recession victim? Just around a few corners we found a pretty Piazza with a pretty restaurant where we had a couple of lousy pizzas and a couple of drinks for an exorbitant price. We declined all offers of the "genuine" Gucci, Versace, Maschino etc handbags for only €30 from the itinerant street salesmen and I even refused a "genuine" Rolex for €20.

Friday 15th April.

We left San Remo this morning with a plan to drive to Finale Ligure, a pretty seaside resort which we've been to before and which wasn't too far up the coast, or to push on a bit further to Santa Margherita Ligure, the other side of Genova, and where we also stopped last year. One thing we decided was that we couldn't face the coast roads, driving through the resorts and taking half a day to get not very far. So the motorway it would be. Before we left we met an English guy who was heading for Florence and after a short chat wished him Bon Voyage and we set off. After 45 minutes we stopped at a service station for coffee and five minutes later the same guy and his wife arrived, David and Linda (Lynda?). Now, we've had some coincidences as we've travelled around - we've met folk from nearby towns and villages in England - we met a guy in Spain who lived a few hundred metres from us when he was a child. We've bumped into folk that we met the year before in Europe but today was a first. Phil and Linda went to the same school when they were teenagers! And only a year apart. They didn't remember each other but remembered their teachers and some of the school rules, mainly to do with acceptable skirt lengths!

Today was a special day for them, it was their wedding anniversary and I'm sure, should they be reading this , they won't mind me telling the story that they told us of how they met. Linda was at the RVI in Newcastle doing her nursing training when her and a friend saw a card on the notice board from a sailor looking for a penfriend (for you younger folk, penfriends were what you had before Facebook). Linda's friend dared her to reply, which she did and, if I remember the story correctly, it was David's friend in the navy who had put the card on the notice board and passed Linda's correspondence on to him. The rest, as they say, is history. What a lovely story.

So, after leaving the anniversary couple we pushed on and just before our turn off on the motorway stopped again and decided we would keep going to Lucca, where we are tonight in a large Motorhome parking area (43.83974 10.48831), it's clean and tidy, has the usual facilities and it's a five minute walk to the medieval walled town.

The drive today was great, we covered the best part of 200 miles without any stress. Between Loano and Genova there are quite a few tunnels and viaducts but from Genova through to Beverino Castello, some 60 miles or so it was just a series of tunnels, viaducts, tunnels and viaducts with hardly any "normal" road between them. An impressive bit of motorway engineering.

So, we've been in to Lucca, admired the buildings and gawped in the designer shop windows, enjoyed an Aperol Spritz and an Americano in the main square in the last of the sunshine, returned to the van and cooked dinner/supper and we're nearly ready for some shut-eye.

No interesting photos again but I think we're going to Florence tomorrow so there may be a photo opportunity or two there from what I understand.

Mind, I did see this sign today at the cafeteria on the motorway. All I can think is too many folk have been asking for a slice of pizza, a bottle of beer and a dodgy movie.

Pat

 

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Hyeres

Tuesday 12th April

We are parked up this afternoon in a vineyard which is part of the France Passion scheme, (43.117223 6.083937) Domaine Bouisse-Matteri,which means we stay for free and have the opportunity to buy even more wine direct from the producer. This wasn't our plan. Hyeres looked like an interesting town and after consulting our various guides discovered that we could park overnight for free in the car park of the massive LeClerc supermarket. We set off this morning after another night of howling wind - it's been really windy for days now and it was starting to drive us crazy, trying to sleep with the van rocking and everything flapping. Looking at the routes the Sat Navs had shown us it looked like we would be skirting Marseille which was ideal. Even now I'm not quite sure what went wrong but skirt we did not. Now I don't know what you have heard about Mediterranean drivers but it's all true. I was cut up so many times at junctions and roundabouts that I'm surprised I didn't need a blood transfusion afterwards. It took us the best part of an hour to get through the city, miraculously in one piece and the sighs of relief as we finally got onto the A50 could have been heard in Paris. We stopped at the first aire for a coffee and a fag, set off again and skirted Toulon without further problems and arrived at Hyeres. Where there were roadworks. Route Barre! - the sign we dread. We could see LeClerc, we could see motorhomes in the car park, they were getting closer! And closer! Round and round we went and eventually we arrived, parked up and popped into the supermarket for a few essentials. Back to the van where we decided that although a supermarket car park wasn't the prettiest location we'd have some lunch, explore the town and it would be OK for an overnight stop.

Halfway through lunch (cannelloni as you asked) we noticed a couple of security guys coming our way, one with a walkie talkie and a younger guy with a clipboard. They went to the other four French vans first, knocked on the doors and said something to the occupants. Then they came to us, at first confused because our habitation door is on the "wrong" side but once they'd worked that out they spoke to us in a polite manner. When I explained that my French was tres mal and I understood nothing they were saying the younger guy explained in English that we were welcome to stop in the car park but only when the supermarket was closed, between 8pm and 8am. Looking around at the three quarters empty car park and our spot at the extreme far corner I enquired if that was because there was pressure for parking spaces. He laughed and said he was sorry but "My boss you know, it's what he says" Ok no problem but may we finish our lunch? Yes, take your time, have a nice day.

To be honest we didn't want to stop at another vineyard because although there is no obligation to buy anything I think it's rather rude not to and with the van groaning under the wine we have already we weren't really in the market for anymore. Still, we can always find room for a 5 litre box of Cotes de Provence Rose and we're parked in a field of clover overlooking the vines with the peak of Le Fenouillet in the distance so not too much to complain about really. And there's no wind! Unfortunately we're a little way out of Hyeres now so we didn't get to explore the town.

Tomorrow will be our last day in France and on Thursday we'll cross into Italy.

View from the vineyard:

Pat

 

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Farewell to the Camargue.

Monday 11th April.

This evening we are parked up in Carro (43.32943 5.039459), on La Cote Bleue, about 30 kilometres east of Marseilles and about 5 metres from the beach where the waves are crashing and we've been entertained this afternoon by the windsurfers:

It's particularly impressive when these guys catch the wind and a wave just right and perform a somersault! It's getting dark now and, if anything, the waves are a little higher and there are still folk out there making the most of it. I'm expecting to see a couple with lights on their heads soon. A bit like when I used to go fishing as a lad, just one more cast as it got darker and darker. In this case I guess it's just one more wave before they have to go home for their tea.

We enjoyed Saintes Maries de la Mer so much that we decided to stay another day yesterday. We explored a little more of the town and the beaches and then saw a group of riders clattering down the Main Street.

What you can't see from this photo, and what we didn't realise until they'd ridden past was that they were escorting about half a dozen Bulls between them! They were going at a fair pace too and forming a horseshoe around the Bulls. I guess they were taking them back from the bullring to the farm. It was another lovely day again albeit a little windy and we couldn't resist another meal in the sunshine. Can you guess which dish we chose?

If we didn't have to be in Ancona for the 22nd I think we would have stayed a bit longer in the Camargue but it's certainly an area we'll come back to. I'd never really thought about different kinds of light before but having spent a few days in the area I can understand why Van Gogh and Cezanne did so many paintings here. Everything really does seem vivid and bright.

Before we left we took the opportunity to visit a couple of vineyards where we bought a few bottles of the local vin des Sables, the wine is unique to the area and best known for its Vins Gris or grey wines. Many of the vines spend a small portion of the year awash in the tide and so require a lot of attention; always nice to know that a bit of effort has been put into a bottle.

We've pretty much hugged the coast since leaving Spain but there's so much more to visit inland. Arles, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence are all places that will have to wait until next year, hopefully.

Tomorrow we'll head west again, probably stopping somewhere near Toulon.

Pat

 

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