Spanish Sunshine 2023

 Monday 30 January Really enjoying this wall-to-wall sunshine - and it's getting warmer.  Beautiful views of the mountains on the edge of the Pyrenees as we are about to enter Spain. John navigated the motorways around Barcelona with ease - well he was a bit stressed, but that was because we had become accustomed to hardly any traffic and this was non-stop lorries in all directions.   We've come to Camping Estrella de Mar in Castelldefels, SW of Barcelona.  We stayed here in January 2020 to be able to visit the city by bus which was so memorable, that we've decided to do that again.  But this afternoon was for chilling out on our pitch, joined by this little cat.  He/she basked in the sun beside us for a while and was soon up on my empty chair when I got up for a few moments! At first glance my chair looks perfectly cushioned, but in fact it is a mish-mash of my passenger seat cushions and a pillow.  Reason?  Although we have 2 frames with us...

 Saturday 28 January Today we drove from Montech to Bizanet, a small village west of Narbonne - this time to a campsite as it was time to catch up with some washing!  The land is really dry and rocky around here, so a perfect environment for our 2 friends here! The goats were very interested in our bag of (clean and dry) washing on its way back to the van. The view down into the valley behind our pitch.  This was late afternoon on a dull day. Sunday 29 January What a difference a day makes!  Same view behind us, but with sunshine! After a brief drive around the village - we were looking for 2 geocaches at lavoirs.  We found one of them but couldn't find anywhere to park at the other.  So we continued on some very thin and bumpy roads - we think we have a lot of potholes - to a nearby Abbey which looked really interesting to visit.  So we parked up in the huge carpark and set off to the entrance.  But before we got there, 2 ladies stopped us and ex...

 Thursday 26 January Today we continued our journey south, travelling past some very frosty ground and stopping for lunch at a motorway Aire up high on the Causse du Lot.  About 20 years ago we did a cycling holiday in this area (in May when it was very hot) and had a spare day staying in a village close to this lake.  We walked around it then and had a picnic with a Canadian couple with whom we are still in touch. We decided against eating lunch at a picnic table..... .... then continued south to Montech. Friday 27 January Having a day off today - staying at the Camping-Car Park beside the Canal du Montech - then move on again tomorrow.  First off, we had a walk to the town, took a look inside the church - sat listening to the organist's beautiful practice for a while - the bandstand reminded us of home!  Then it was time for lunch - our first meal out this holiday.  Very nice 2 courses for 15€ My starter is cauliflower soup with basil and croutens - John ...

 Wednesday 25th January Another cold and cloudy day so decided to give the lake stop a miss and head for another Camping-Car Park that we'd planned to come to on our way home - at St.-Junien, west of Limoges.  (We may still come again then as we rather like it.)  As we weren't doing a long journey, we decided to deviate a bit and re-visit Oradour-sur-Glane. We first went there in 1981 or 82 (Peter will probably remember which) and were very moved by the sight of a whole village left just as it was following a total massacre by the Nazis on 10 June 1944.  Then, we just parked up by the roadside and wandered through the main street which had been devasted by explosions and burning - visitors in silence in remembrance.  Now, it has a visitor centre and you enter from there and although we were the only visitors this morning except for one other lady, it felt as though the household objects etc. had been put on display in the ruined buildings.  But the story an...