29th July- All bikes , Moules and frites

After a tiring day yesterday we were both quite looking forward to trying out the new fold up bike around the camp site.

The 'bike in a bag' is I suppose a bit like a 'chicken in a basket' but we slowly opened the bag and positioned all the bits and pieces in the correct order and then took it in turns to ride around the site area watched by our neighbours with considerable interest and humour. We both agree that the bike seems to be very good to handle and is not to heavy to ride compared to our existing bikes which currently reside at home in the shed. Certainly being bright orange it is not possible to miss when going round and round and as it has a semi automatic gear box ie, it changes up by pushing a button but changes down when you push the lever we thought is very good. We believe it might need a bit refining and minor adjustment as the first of seven gears slightly slips but the other six gears all seem work fine.

So following the various walks to do emails and riding the bikes we covered quite a bit of ground today which made us quite ready for the 'Moules and frites' night at the bar this evening. So at about seven oclock we headed off to the bar with our direct neighbours and finally there was a group of six of us, the other two being a couple with a very large tent who were also quite close to us. We had a mixed party with two neighbours being teachers at a school in Corby and the other couple was the Sales Director of Nissan Uk and his new wife (the fourth) who is an aroma therapist and they live somewhere near Reading. He was telling us that he is very lucky to drive one of the best cars in the world the Nissan GTR as a company car and he also offered to let me drive it sometime when he is back in Uk. He did not have the car with him as the car is not designed for carrying camping equipment and so he borrowed a Murano for this trip.

The food arrived and some of the party had the alternative to Moules which was grilled chicken but the Moules were good although there appeared to be more casings than actual Moules inside and it was about 60% with Moules and 40% without, I wonder where the Moules went?. Anyway the garlic gravy was good and with some dippy bread and plenty of frites it all went down very well indeed

The table conversation ranged from 'kids growing up and the challenges this brings' to getting married for the fourth time. The other couple John and Sue had been together unmarried for sixteen years although John had been married twice before. Therefore the Groves who are approaching 40 years of marriage next year were the odd bods out it seems. We then discussed the challenges of living in Japan and Noel told a few stories about working with the Japanese which caused some good laughter.

The band did a good job of playing slow and interesting mood and R & B music and after a while we all started to dance when they changed to 'Status Quo music' and we hopped the night away and the wine continued to flow rather extensively and so it was a really good night had by one and all and then back to the caravan around 1230 and it was considered by all a very successful evening.

28th July- Back to Brive

 

Those reading this blog will have noticed our earlier discussions with regard to a previous visit to Decathlon in Brive and also several shops where we looked at fold up bikes. Anyway we decided to go back again today and take another look and perhaps take a test ride.

We were a little late starting due to the late evening from yesterday but anyway we took all the side and country roads to Brive. There are so many beautiful towns and villages on this route that Noel would be months photographing them if he tried. When we arrived at Brive we filled up with fuel at an Esso Express station where the fuel is the same price as supermarkets and then headed of in search of the station. Why you may ask?. Many years ago we used to use the auto rail from Boulogne to Perpignan and it used to arrive in Brive at 0500 hrs in the morning and there was lots of clattering and noise which woke you up as they moved bits of the train around and what with the bright lights of the station you could not sleep. So this trip was to actually look at the station and it is a very nice one indeed and surrounded by the usual bars and restaurants and also sex shops. What is it with stations that around the world they attract shops trading on the seamier side of life?

Finally we arrived at Decathlon and last time we were there the fold up bike was a bright green, but that had gone an replaced by one in bright orange. We learnt from the shop assistant how to fold i and an unfold it and then went for rides around the large store. There is a sort of a track which around the shop you can use for testing and it is often crowded out with kids haring round on skateboards and similar and so can be a dangerous area.

Well after the mutual testing we have decided to purchase one and see how we get on with before getting another one. We revisited Carrefour down the road for lunch and then headed back via a different route with more very interesting towns and villages which we really must visit sometime, perhaps next week.

It had been a very warm day with temps around 30 degrees centigrade most of the time and so when we got home the first thing was a cup of tea and then a little zizz.

Noel visited the bard to check on email etc and only to find that the deisal that we had purchased in Brive has been charged twice again? This is becoming rather silly and and so a rather rude email will be on the way tomorrow.

There is sometimes nothing like home cooking and so tonight we had Quiche Lorraine and Branston baked beans, what a feast. And so to bed after a good day and the final part spent reading

 

27th July- A night out in St Cirq

The weather started out a little grey again and gradually improved throughout the day and it was quite warm. Our friends David and Lorraine have a house on the South side of the Lot Valley and so we arranged to meet them for a meal in the evening at the historic old town of of St Cirq La Popie. We have visited this town many times over the last ten years and it is a beautiful place to visit with the houses clinging to the rock of the mountain and the river running in the valley below.

I have taken many photos of this place over the last few years and so decided that whilst on holiday this year we would only take plhotos of new places that we visit rather than repeat photos that already appear in our photo album. Anyway, enough of this small talk.

Mid afternoon we headed of down the valley passing Vers and Bouziers and finally reaching St Cirq in good time to find a car park in a better place than last time we visited. See lasts years Blog for details.

We found the open air bar where we agreed to meet and David and Lorraine and Chloe their daughter turned up a short while later and we had a great evening catching up each other lives. David has a new Merc whilst gaining air miles at an alarming rate, better him than me, I have done that and it gets boring.

We had dinner on the terrace at a restaurant we visited last time called Gourmet Quercynois and the food yet again was really very good indeed and Noel had the Cassoulet and Jenifer had the pork with honey and herbs. It was a sober night as we both had to drive a distance to get home which we did around midnight. An evening to be remembered but at 8pm we drank a toast to other close friends currently on holiday in Spain. Roger, sorry we were actually 20 minutes late with the toast but you can blame David's Singapore Rolex watch for the occurrence.

26th July- Weather is still off

 

Boy, was it grey and miserable this morning, and it rained a little overnight but anyway after a light breakfast it was time to do some shopping in Gramat and it rained most of the way there. Well after about one hour shopping we came outside and it it had stopped raining and the sun was shining and it looked like that a nice 'rest of the day' was on its way.

Well we got back to the site in time for lunch and then Noel walked down to the bar to get a Wifi signal. The trouble is that on the way down to the bar you bump in to people either walking or sitting by their caravans and/or motor homes passing the time of the day and willing to talk and so this simple walk of about ten minutes can take upwards of forty minutes just to get there,let alone get back. This morning conversation's discussed yesterdays Formula One Grand Prix where Ferrari ordered Massa to slow down to allow Alonso to pass him to a very long discussion with the elderley couple who have a Ssangyong Rexton 4x4 which is something we looked at before buying the Land Cruiser. He is delighted with the vehicle which is basically a Mercedes with Ssangyong badge. It would also appear that Ssangyong also make diesel engines for Mercedes in Korea and then ship them to Germany for inclusion in Mercedes badged cars. However when discussing yesterday's activities this elderly couple informed me that having seen in the local village Carlucet huge preparations for an obviously important function they had decided to investigate. Apparently every ten years the village gets together to take a large group photograph of all the village residents. Anyway as they had also illegally attended Saturday night function visiting the party which included a medium size but a very out of tune orchestra and where most people spent the evening dancing for hours without ever visiting the Bar and so they joined in, at the bar mostly, and had a good time. So anyway on Sunday they went down to see the photograph being taken and were pretty much forced to take part and although they kept on saying we are English nobody seemed to be the least bit concerned until after the photograph had been taken and the photographer went home by which time some of the locals wanted to know which house they had bought to qualify them for the group village photo.

So being honest they explained that they were staying at the caravan site up the road and this caused a little concern with the village elders, as now they had a big village photo with interlopers and this was the first time this had happened, and what to do now as not only had the photographer gone home but so had most of the villagers and so there was no chance to take another photograph. Well they continued drinking at the bar for another little while when the local heads approached the couple to say that this position was not correct and must be rectified for it to be a genuine photo and so to make it a sort of 'correct' photo they had agreed that they could purchase a small part of the local village green for one euro and if they paid up there and then they would be considered as residents and so one euro exchanged hands and everybody was happy. Great story but on the first part is true and the rest (in italics) comes from time on your hands when you have pretty much nothing else to write about.

Tonight was a fish called 'Julienne' nt Wanda which was well supported by some oven chips and vegetables and only slightly tinged with some chardonnay.

We now have new neighbours who arrived yesterday with a big Audi Q7 and a spanking brand new Bessacar Twin Axle Caravan which must have cost £25K or thereabouts and guess what they are both teachers and so indirectly being a Taxpayer and they, being Government Servants, that actually Jennifer and I must have paid or contributed to their car and van through taxation and therefore what really nice people we must be when their outfit cost more than ours, and they have a much better inflation proof pension then us. Oh the way of the world.

I also noticed today that Tony Haywood will soon to be the ex CEO of BP or as the Americans call it 'The BRITISH PETROLEOM COMPANY' and no doubt will get a poor settelemt of about £ 1.2 million plus a £10.5 million pension fund plus allowed to keep his £ 2.7 million BP shares. Noel where exactly did you go wrong???

25th July- Another grey morning

It was our original intention to visit the market in Limogne but when we awoke the weather was grey and so an hour's trip to a market where there would be no real colour, no sun etc, meant that we had to spend an extra hour in bed deciding what to do.

However we tough that a walk would do us a lot of good and so decided to visit another village we have been through many times called La Bastide Murat which is the home of the Duke or Murat, of the well known Murat Family, well but well know down here in these parts maybe. So off we went and low an behold there was a market in this town as well and so we wandered around and bought some green beans and strawberries which we planned to use up later in the evening. The place was jumping and so we walked around to study all the wines and vegetables and yogurt's on offer whilst the sun slowly rose and cleared the clouds.

We went for a coffee in the local Hotel and watched the crowds go by and the queue for the bread was amazing and there must have been about twenty people waiting in line and so when we finally decided that looks like a good idea all the bread had been sold. Oh well we said we shall go to the Carrefour Contact shop on the way back to the site and purchase some milk and break and only to find that the closing hours meant that we missed it by 30 minutes, Oh well that's life.

So back to the site we went and after a quick Brie and Camembert an biscuit lunch we headed off to watch the German Formula One Grand prix on the bar TV. A good race only screwed by the team orders from Ferrari for Massa who had led all the way to apparently be told to slow down and allow Alonso pass by. This was terrible and no doubt there should be a steward's enquiry and stop this rubbish. Let hope that Ferrari get to lose both positions One and Two for failing to follow the rules of 'No Team Orders'

By the time the race was finished we made a quick phone to our daughter and then headed for the empty swimming pool where we did sufficient laps to exhaust us after longish walk around town this morning. A quick shower followed by a cup of tea and the we put on some pork chops in the oven and later joined by a few chips and eventually some green beans. Prior to this Noel had noticed a distinct lack of white wine and so a quick trip to reception resolved this dire state of the nation.

The food was great and in the meantime a number of new caravans turned up and parked themselves fairly close to us and so being the nice people we are we offered the new arrivals a cup of tea whilst they set up their van. Finally a couple of hours of reading and then off to bed to ready ourselves for a new day tomorrow. Gosh it's a really tough life here..

24th July- Not a lot really

 

It's very grey really this morning and a bit off-putting but typical Lot Valley weather which is always a bit different to the rest of France type weather.

A quiet day on site with not to much happening really and apart from about four sites being vacated and being refilled pretty much the same time a few hours later with a mixture of caravans and motor homes.

We spent the most of the day reading and walking around the site and as it was a little cool for swimming we did not do to much exercises at all really which is something that needs to be corrected over the next few days. After a BBQ with steak and sausages and salad we decided to try the DVD on the TV again only this time the DVD worked well and the film was a poor choice on Noels part. After ditching the film called 'surveillance' we watched two episodes of Yes Minister as Noel has bought the complete set of all the Yes Minister as well as the Yes Prime Minister series which will give us hours of endless humour.

It's been a little cooler today and the weather has not been good and the couple opposite us have had to decide either to move on South, or stay or go but finally after lots of discussions they have decided to leave which is a shame as we believe the weather will improve significantly over the next few days.

 

 

23rd July- An easier day all round

 

A little less grey cloud than yesterday and it is a clear indication that the weather is turning again for the good. In the Lot valley it's not unusual for the weather to get warmer and warmer until such time as it feels it's had enough and so for 2-4 days you get a build up to a storm followed by the storm and then it dissipates and then starts warming up again.

We breakfasted light on croissants and pan-o-chocolate and together with a nice cup of tea we spent most of the time being nosy and watching all the people pack up their caravans around us and we feel that in the next few days we could be isolated here, great. For some reason in the middle of the night I heard this bang and poof and then the sound of running water. As it was quite light I assumed it was our neighbours disconnecting their water hoses ready for departure but after a minute or so the water kept running and so a quick look out through the bedroom window and I noticed that our eater hose had blown off the tap and water was running down the drain at a good rate and so a quick run around the caravan in pyjama's, turn off the hose, and back to bed and sort the problem later. As you can see there is lots of excitement when you caravan..

An easier day reading but as we breakfasted so well and really quite late we forgot about lunch and went straight to afternoon tea and strawberry flans, oh its tough out here I can tell you.

The German gay men couple have left being disappointed no doubt fed up that that the 'adults only' sign did not live up to their expectation. It's nice to see two guys with matching nipple rings. Perhaps I might give it a try at some stage, nipple rings that is!!

An afternoon of walking around the 30 acre site and then Jennifer made some chicken and bacon pasta flavoured with some herb cheese which we ate whilst watching the almost last remaining neighbours pack up their awning so tomorrow when they have gone we shall have a good clear view down the site to the last reaming stalwarts. There is another couple like us, both retired who came with the masons, most of whom left before we arrived, but as they like it so much here that they cannot make the decision of when to leave which they then keep putting off until tomorrow. At this rate they wil be here when we leave on the 9^th August. Quite a few people come and leave there caravans on site for months on end and use it for a few weeks here and there throughout the week, not a bad idea really and one that we may also consider for next year.

Let's hope its warm enough to re enter the swimming pool; it's not that it's really cold it's just that we like the sun to be shining. There was a couple with two girls of late teen age staying the Gite who used the pool all day long but now they have gone as well. When we went by the pool to do the email etc there was only two people there, it's such a pity.

 

 

22nd July- Somebody left the tap running up above

 

Overnight the rain came down most of the night as far as we can remember and in the morning it was grey and damp. The choice was to stay in bed the whole day or go out and do something which is what we did.

We left the site around 1030 am and headed off via Rocamadour, the village that hangs on the side of a cliff, before passing Turene ( another beautiful French town) where we arrived in Brive. Our only memories of Brive from the past is when we used to take the Car/Train from Boulogne down to Perpignan and it used to stop in Brive around 0500 am in the morning for those people wishing to visit the Dordogne to get off. This service used to run prior to the building of the excellent French motorway network where trains carrying cars are not really used today.

Brive old town is surrounded by less a interesting housing area and then you come to the Hypermarkets of Decathlon, International Sports, Carrefour etc and so as our intention was to stay out of the rain and visit the large superstores this is what we did. We have also been looking at purchasing some fold up bikes so that we can take them away with us on our trips but when talking to people on the site who have them you would need to be careful when purchasing to ensure that it is fully usable. An English guy across the road from us had a really good lightweight fold up but the negatives were it had no gears and because for weight saving it had a neoprene chain you cannot stand on and push down the pedals as it would strip the neoprene chain, so we do not want one like that. In Decathlon we saw a B-Twin bike which appears at first glance to be all that we need with easy gearing and quite light and comes complete with mudguards etc. The price here was Euro 249.99 and later when checking to see if the bike is available in the UK it was at £ 249.99 and so with the Euro against the pound at the moment it would be about £ 30.00 cheaper to by it here. No decision yet in this direction.

We then went next to Carrefour and they also had a fold up bike but much heavier and less efficient in many ways but it was only Euro 129.00 and also of a much lower quality and perhaps no spares availability in UK which the B-Twin would have. Jennifer then purchased a small back pack for our forthcoming Spanish holiday and it was marked at Euro 11.99 on the rack but when we came to check out they wanted 17.50 Euros. So after lots of gesticulating and using our best English they got the hang of the problem and after ten minutes we got back the overcharge and also an apology card for 3 Euros to spend.

Back home via Brive Old town where parking seems very difficult indeed unless you have very small car, the Land Cruiser is not a small car, and so we continued home and after a while got stuck in a traffic jam which we though had been caused by an accident as there were quite a few police around and then it became clear it was part of a cycle race, I don't think it was the Tour de France, and there were quite a few people at the side of the road clapping and cheering and so with true English tradition Noel used his best Prince Philip wave and shouting Merci through the open car window, This did cause some humour amongst the local population and was just a bit of fun.

We stopped in Gramat at the supermarket for some fish and as it was still a little cool still we also cheated and bought some oven chips and so tonight we had Fish and Chips and peas with some excellent Benedictine Tarter sauce with a glass of two of white wine.

We decided to watch another film tonight and then the DVD started playing up again and so perhaps it's not the DVD disk at fault but the DVD player in the TV ,damn and all that chasing around Cahors the other day may have been a waste of time.

Oh well the weather is promised to be better tomorrow and also four of our closest neighbours are leaving tomorrow and so we could soon be having the site to ourselves almost.

21 st July- Stuart was right

The weather did change a lot overnight and it started to rain about 04.15 in the morning at which time I remembered that not all windows on the car were shut and Jennifer remembered the towels on the washing rack were also outside and so Joe soap was out in the rain closing car windows and moving washing about. Afterwards lying in a warm bed listening to the rain on the roof of the caravan is a really nice feeling.

As a grey day outside was set we decided to take a drive in the country but needed to go to Gramat at first to fill up with diesel as otherwise our journey could have been cut short. After about 90 minutes driving down country lanes we ended up in Cahors for a Pizza lunch and then a search for an Internet cafe. You may well remember the saga of the George Clooney film which did not work, well I got back on to Amazon and they will swap it free of charge providing the original film is back in their hands by 31 st July. You are required to print out a label and also another document to travel with the returned product. So we needed the Internet cafe for the label printing as well as a shop selling envelopes as well as a post office. Needless to say the various shops are all at each ends of the town and so after about one and a half hours fairly fast walking and asking a number of people where to go, we finally achieved our goal.

Our original plan was to come back via one of the supermarkets and top up our food supplies and also buy some fish for tonight but quite frankly the pizza's we had in Cahors really filled us and so no dinner tonight. Cahors is a very nice old and quite historic town with beautiful buildings set alongside the river and is one of our favourite larger towns in this area. We have been coming here for over 20 years and have vested the Lot region at least ten times and we still enjoy this area enormously

We drove back to the Chateau via the banks of the River Lot and noticed at the bridge in Cahors they have turned a spare piece of ground in to a beachside play area with relaxer chairs and umbrellas and an area for swimming and also changing rooms etc, what a great idea.

Our journey home took us via Vers and then North through the hills and rocky mountain sides and we got back about 6.15 as it started to rain again. So an evening of reading and blogging is planned whilst sitting nice and warm in the van listening to rain falling down.

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day weather wise.

20th July- It’s really quite warm

 

A really pleasant day as we awoke and the sun shining on the very dirty front windows of the caravan to the degree that it is now getting a little difficult to see out of them. The advent of dust from the road at the last camp site and the heavy rain we encountered on the way to the Lot valley has created its own window world. So first thing before the sun go to warm we got a hose and good wash down and dried off and boy there is a whole new world out there waiting to be seen.

This action fully exhausted us and this required a relaxing breakfast of yogurt and croissants with a nice cup o warm coffee to wash it all down. Then we did some reading until lunchtime where upon we raided the cheese locker and with rye biscuits the Brie and Camembert tasted great with a nice hot cuppa'

In the middle of the afternoon there was an influx of about four new caravans or mobile homes and one caravan was put in a space opposite us but for him to get the van in the correct space required some muscle as they did not have caravan movers. I believe they will have these fitted when they get back home.

We spent a happy couple of hours at the swimming pool and enjoying the sun before heading back to the caravan for a meal of mushroom omelette and salad, very tasty and quite healthy.

Later in the evening we headed down to the bar for a evening glass of wine and met up with the couple whose caravan we had pushed and they were nice enough to buy a glass of wine. Although apparently experienced caravaner's they had used to much power in their brand new van and blown the camp site electric plug and had to resort to gas for the fridge until they had sorted the problem. Anyway it was a pleasant evening but as we headed back to the van at about 1130 the sights and sounds of an electric storm on the way were quite visible and Stuart, or Landlord, mentioned that the weather for the next few days would be cooler with a high chance of rain and cloudy skies.

19th July- A lovely day in ‘Le Lot’

To get up and get dressed here is great. You jump out of bed and put on you swimming cozzie and you are set for the day unless leaving for some shopping which of course we did.

The search for a new chair has begun and so headed off to Gramat where we had been reliably informed there was a 'Lidl' store offering chair quite cheaply. The shopping in previous years in Gramat consisted of a small and very dark Leclerc, a French supermarket chain, and also the local grocer which sells all. Whilst looking for the LIdl we came across an enormous site where there was a new Leclerc about the size of Tesco Addlestone and also a Bricomarche connected by a petrol station, gosh we don't remember these from last year. However you could tell the complex was new as staff was very helpful and friendly and even the supermarket trolleys seemed brand new and more importantly they went in a straight line.

We checked out the Bricomarche first but no luck but then searching around LeClec we found a very comfortable chair at a reasonable price and this is now fully utilised back at the caravan site.

Noel did his usual Bank Checks and other emails and also started looking on web sites re flights to Japan as we have been invited to a the wedding of Yugo, who stayed with us for about a year approx ten years ago and the event will take place in early October in Tokyo. So maybe it's time to open up the 'piggy bank' but lets see as Japan is very, very expensive.

The afternoon was taken up with a swim in the pool and with a nice ice cream to keep us going. Tonight dinner was BBQ lamb steak and a shared Costco beef burger with salad and the food was a really great and all washed down with a glass of Chardonnay. We spent most of the evening reading and then watched a very old film called 'The Plank' which was made in the year dot with Eric Sykes, Tommy Cooper et all. It was still funny after all these years. What was also good to watch was all the old cars, Hillman Imp's, the original Ford Cortina and even an Austin Mayflower, who remembers that.

Then off to bed and get ready for the next hard day ahead

18th July- I have lost a day’s blog and Noel’s chair has broken –What a Crisis!

When reviewing the Blog we noticed that the Blog for the 16^th July was missing as now neither of can remember what we did but I guess it was not important. Probably more of the same really with the usual breakfast, Lunch and dinner with some swimming and reading and sleeping and so if we miss a Blog again just assume that is what we did.

Anyway, today the 18^th Noel was comfortably sitting on his relaxer chair and when trying to get out the whole lot collapsed under him and perhaps lucky that he did not get poked by one of the aluminium legs. We purchased these ‘Concept’ fold up chair about three years ago but they have this annoying habit of losing screws or the just getting loose. We have complained to the manufacturer who promised to send us some more screws but they never arrived. So tomorrow we will try to find a new one so that we both can relax and read at the same time. We spent a good hour and a half at the pool today with a great temperature and there was only about eight or ten people lying around the pool enjoying the sun or plodding up and down doing lengths. Thank heavens for no kids as it makes the pool area really comfortable unlike last year when at certain times with kids screaming and running around the pool and jumping in to play volley ball thought of murder and mayhem come to mind, but not this year thank heavens.

It was curry night abd we had chicken korma and mushroom rice and all very pleasant before heading off to watch ‘Up in the air’ only this time it started OK but stopped towards the end and in the caravan lights you could see three scratches on the disc. Watch out Amazon its on its way back as soon as we get back to blighty.So tomorrow is set aside to look for a new relaxer chair and we shall start in Gramat.

Finally, for those who may be having bad weather is very beautiful here with temperature around 28/30 degrees Centigrade during the day with bright blue sky but cooling down nicely at night just in time for bed ,bloody perfect in fact.

17th July- A bit of cloud this morning

It was a little cloudy and overcast this morning but it eventually cleared away over the acres of this rolling site deep in the French Countryside.

The Chateau is owned by Stuart and Sheila Coe who purchased this property many years ago and have turned it into a fine place to visit and enjoy the quiet and the ever present sound of insects and other forms of wildlife. Up and till this year the site had been open to all ages, but after a particularly tough last year where they had some kids cause damage and upset to other residents they decided finally to make it an adults only site. However the word ‘adult’ in France,as according the French Law, means anybody over 14 and that was still too young a person that the hosts wanted. And so now it has been renamed as a Country Club for those over 18+ and this is exactly what they want.

The downside of this is that in Holland, the ‘Adults only’ badge tends to indicate a free sex club of sorts and so they are having difficulty getting the Dutch to book here but we believe that word will travel quite fast. But back to the site which has about 90 placements for caravans, motor homes and tents and about six very nice wooden chalets set in the wooded part of the site and four mobile homes which now look slightly out of place. The bar and restaurant are a very attractive area which overlooks the very large and mostly empty swimming pool which is in itself a great selling or marketing tool. Following the change to all adult they also have started investing in the site again with better site roads, planned changes to the chalets making them more suitable for adults viz no small children’s rooms and a nine-hole golf course planned to open next year. Noel has been asked by Stuart and Sheila to set up a BLOG, similar to this, so that they can communicate in a simple way with their customers to keep them informed of site developments rather than changing an expensive web site. Anyway back to us, late in the afternoon a jolly good swim in the pool prior to heading back for a shower and an excellent ham salad, with yet again some more wine. This really has to stop.

Later in the evening we decided to watch a DVD called ‘Up in the Air’ with George Clooney and although it is a brand new disc direct from Amazon and not even unwrapped there is something wrong with it and it would not start. Fearing that the DVD element in the TV had broken Noel grabbed the next nearest DVD to see if that worked but without looking at what it was. This DVD started fine and is called ‘Das Boot’ a German film made about the U-Boat crews in the Second World War where 40000 men signed up and only 10000 lived to tell the tale. However it was NOT noticed when placing this disc in the machine how long the film was. Anyway we started watching and enjoying the film and it went on and on and on and we looked at the clock and it was almost midnight and so we looked at the box cover and discovered that the film runs for 310 minutes, plus extra’s, and so we still had about another hour to go, so we stopped the film and went to bed. No doubt it will be part two tomorrow.

Finally a few more people have left the site today with the departures outweighing the new arrivals at this moment but as most arrivals are on late Sunday and Monday let’s see what happens

16th July- Another hard day at the office

Not too much to report today really. A brief trip in to Gramat to visit a small local supermarket for some essentials, wine and cheese, we were back home in the caravan by lunchtime and quite ready for the fresh brie and crisp bread laid on for lunch. The sun is shining away and the temperature is a nice 29 degrees of heat.

Following Noels swim and some emailing etc the BBQ was lit to finish off the chicken pieces that had been already partly pre cooked in the oven. With chicken you can never be to careful when preparing and we could have finished it off in the oven but putting it on some hot charcoal adds a certain taste which can sometimes only be described as ‘slightly burnt’ but a really great taste at the same time. Somehow Noel managed to pretty much finish off some cheap wine and so it was a good evening.

Unfortunately, a party of four has arrived with their caravan and tent and load of beer bottles and a dog and set up next to us so we hope that they will keep quiet or I’ll send the missus round to sort em out.

My troubles with the Fair FX prepaid Master card are slowly becoming resolved in that the problems that I have faced are not unique and it would appear as Fair FX has admitted but they are still working on trying to resolve it. Jennifer complains that when life is quiet I turn to checking on things which may not seem important eg.

We have a tracking system on the caravan provided by ‘Phantom’. The idea is that once it is turned on and that somebody, other than us, tries to move the caravan then it will notify us by mobile, we then notify the police and then pass the police ref number to Phantom who will then get the cops in helicopter’s, cars and warships to try and locate it. They say it works extremely well although over the last couple of years it has not worked to well for us and so whilst sitting here thinking about the world in general Noel thought it would be a good idea to ask Phantom to check on his caravan and tell hime where it is. Several emails later that say they GPS system tracker is working well but us as there is no GSM signal it cannot tell us where it is. This does not seem to make sense as if the GPS works why

they can’t tell us where the van is, we were informed that the GSM connection is only to send a message to us telling the van is moving. So my questions to them and pending a reply are , surely a GPS signal can tell you a location but if they say that if there is no GSM (mobile phone signal) then the system is flawed. Assuming there is no mobile coverage over several square miles than one presumes they cannot find it. I am looking forward to their reply.

15th July- Lets have another go

Sorry to bore you again but we must finish the story about our caravan plumbing. We have decided that the existing structure does not work and so following a light breakfast, a little later than usual we headed off to the Bricomarche in Gourdon. Bricomarche is the equivalent of Focus do it yourself.

We searched Bricomarche high and low and found a suitable water pipe and then was just moving to the plastic plumbing section when all the shop lights went out at about 11.55 and then a few minutes later they came on again. We assumed a minor power cut as other parts of the mall were banging away full steam until 1230 and then after a short while a guy came up to us and said in his best French and said, I will say this only once ‘bugger’ off we are closed, well that’s what is sounded like. So we left what we were going to purchase on any old shelf and left the shop and wondered what we can do for the next two hours. Well along the block was an Intermarche Hypermarket and the same chain as Bricomarche, but this shop was positively open for business and so Jennifer started looking a ladies wear and Noel the hi tech section for about 30 minutes and then went next door to the supermarket restaurant for lunch of Pasta Carbonara which was excellent and that killed the next 90 minutes before heading back to the Bricomarche. We collected the stuff we had left and also bought some 4 metre plastic piping, which we asked the guy to cut so that we can get it in the car, and also some connecting pieces. We stopped at a small local store en route home and only bought a cheapish bottle of locally produced ‘Malbec’ wine which we intend to have for dinner at our planned BBQ tonight.

One hour later and all plumbed up we left for the swimming pool, Noel did some emails etc, and one email came back from the credit card company apologising for the problem which they are aware off but so far have been unable to solve and thanks for letting them know, but this still does not give me back an outstanding 100 euros of my money.Lets see what happens next.

We left the pool a little later than planned and decided it was too late for a BBQ and so we would save the chicken until tomorrow night when we have less pressing matters to attend to like going swimming and reading and sleeping etc.

A nice day and the temperature started to drop this evening and so at about 10 pm we retired to the caravan

NB No new photos as we have only visted same places as last year so look at leat year for photos of the area

14th July and its Bastille Day in France

A slightly interesting day today and after an early’ish breakfast we started work on our new fangled waste water and direct water connections and from instant success we went to failure in two short moves and so we have start all over again tomorrow. More details to follow.

The weather here is still great and we spent a bit of time fiddling with various aspects of the van and then did some reading and for dinner we had a very nice prawn and egg salad washed down with a small glass of wine, what again you say, but this is France and everybody drinks wine here. This evening at the bar/restaurant is ‘moules et frites’ but as neither of us are really impressed with Moules and as we had some rather excellent prawns that must be eaten today before they walk off by themselves it was time to say no and so we toddled to the bar around 8.30 pm and spent a very pleasant evening drinking wine in the company of a couple from Leeds, both retired and so we compared travel notes and also the various aspect of caravanning whilst finishing with our mutual thoughts on the UK Government and the world in general and we both agreed that being retired and over here was certainly a good move.

There was a two piece group who played, surprisingly, French songs all evening and they did a very good job for about 3.5 hours with only a short break. The night sky here is as clear as a bell as Stuart has refused to put in camp street lighting as it would spoil the amazing night views of stars and galaxies ( not the chocolate ice cream) . The couple in the caravan a short distance from us have a large, I nearly said periscope, but mean telescope and he is out there most evenings tracking stars and Air France jets.

Out of interest another couple down the road from us have beautiful cat, very similar to our daughter’s , and this cat is taken on his/her lead for a walk each day before travelling to the farthest extent of his/her lead before retiring at night in to his/her own tent.

A rather latish night for us as by the time we got back from the bar we were entering the next day, that does not auger well for us old folk!

13th July – Time to get the awning up

Although perhaps we had tested the wine to much the previous evening we still felt almost well enough to raise the awning.

From previous experience in putting up the awning it can take up to four hours from start to the finish including getting all the bits and pieces in place but this time we started a little earlier than usual after a light breakfast we started and low and behold we did it in nearly three hours. No most people may think this is far to long raising an awning but is rather large and rumour has it can be seen from space as its so large. Anyway by midday we were done, in more ways than one, and had a light but enjoyable lunch.

Then off to shopping in Gourdon about 15 miles away to not only pay a visit to Carrefour for some fish and other food stocks but also to look for some wood, to help prop up the waste water system, and some hose pipe clips to make some changes to the on board water system. Life is never boring with a caravan...

With regard to the waste water although the caravan is higher than the drain there is a certain amount of uphillness (if there is such a word) to address. We found a Building Construction Centre which was great if need four by two but we only needed little bits which found that were used to separate the various bits of wood stacking and so we took five pieces and the man at check out it was ‘Gratis’ what a deal. Then on to ‘Gamm Vert’ a large retailer of all things to do with gardens wheree we were able to purchase our pipe bits. Readers of this blog from last year would possibly remember that when we stayed at the site last time the water pressure at night is tripled to allow farmers to flood their fields and the Groves caravan at the same time. We have now purchased a solution but discovered our water pipe connection is not long enough. Such is life.

At around six pm we headed for the swimming pool and a well earned swim in the perfect temperature until we felt a little hungry and then headed via the ‘heads’ for a nice hot shower.

Tonight’s dinner was Noel cooked ‘Julienne’ white fish together with a nice handful of prawns with a salad and good bottle of ‘Bourgogne Aligote’ nicely chilled in the on board fridge and what a nice evening it was watching dusk settle in over this picturesque site.

Clearly another tough day in ‘Le Lot’

12th July- Where did this rain come from?

We awoke to the slight sound of rain but we were able to get packed up and off site before it became to strong. One hour later it was chucking it down as we headed down the motorway in the direction of Limoges.

Our journey was mostly by motorway and we stopped south of Brive at a parking area to have a light lunch in the caravan and a small ten minute kip before heading South in the direction of Cahors.

After leaving the motorway we went through the country lanes for about ten minutes and arrived at the site Chateau Le Comte in Carlucet and we arrived just about tea time as Stuart and Sheila were on the balcony with tea and ‘bikkies’ to which we joined. After a chat about this and that we headed in to the site and were surprised how busy it was and considerably more so than on our previous visits here. It would appear that Stuart’s decision to change to ‘Adults only’ has paid off and they now call this place a Country Club and later next year hope to have a nine hole golf club as well.

Tonight we had dinner and drinks in the bar, Jennifer tried the Bison (poor animal I thought) whilst i tried the Lamb steak with some pommes frites and a carafe of wine, pretty good we thought

Tomorrow we will put up the awning and do some shopping.. but let us hope it stays cooler for this even as it its quite warm at the moment.

11th July- Last night in this town

The weather is still great and really had quite an easy day and started preparing ourselves for the move tomorrow morning to out new site in the Lot valley.

However this afternoon we went dow to the var to watch the Formula One British Grand Prix which was another good race for McLaren whilst Sebastian Vettel had another bad day in the office. An afternoon spent watching the birds and listening to Ipods and book reading was a pleasant way to spend the rest of the day before a light salad and then off to see the football.

The bar was fairly packed with about 20 or so Dutch, one Spanish couple and a smattering of Brits. The game was rather dirty to begin with Spain seeming to enjoy the majority of play but then the emphasis changed towards half time. Howard Webb who is perhaps one of the best referees at the games and of course the last BrIt to perform did a great job until the very end of extra time when the Dutch thought the sending of was not correct. Shortly after this they went one goal down only moments before the match end. Prior to this time it looked like it would go to penalties and according to the Dutch people around us that the Dutch are worse than the England side and so if it goes to a final shoor out they would most certainly lose. So why they all started shouting at the ref when Howard sent off a player with a red card I cannot quite understand. Oh well that’s football I presume.

10th July-Lets hope it doesn't rain

As we had to move the van this morning to a nearby site we were up at a reasonable time so as to ensure we did not get to hot during the move. But you guessed it as soon as we got outside and started to prepare the van for the move it also started to rain, not heavy mind you but more of an annoying level. Anyway we took about forty five minutes to move and set up shop again and as it was quite grey outside, but not cold, it was a time for the great English Breakfast of eggs and Bacon with a few tomatoes thrown in for good measure. This was followed by croissants and strawberry jam and a a very nice cup of real coffee, not this instant stuff. What a way to start the day.

Let us share with you a couple of stupid things which do create aggravation and could so easily be avoided. Noel has to make a payment on line through Lloyds Banks, yes here we go again. First of all consider the following. The Wi-Fi station is about 100 metres away and just reaches the caravan but can cut in and out if a bird or ant moves and to have this happen whilst creating this payment would not be good. So Noel walked the 100 metres and set himself up with a good reception and logged on to the Bank and started entering the data regarding payment details viz, name of bank, account and sort code etc etc and pressed the last button to confirm transfer when up came a screen with a new set of instructions of online banking which we presume are a security measure against others using your bank details when you are overseas. This new screen said there would be an automatic call to your choice of home or mobile phone and on the computer appeared a four digit number which you would need to enter on your phone to seal the deal. However, not knowing and also not advised about this new system and mobile phone requirements, Noels mobile phone was safely tucked up nice and warm in the caravan. The Bank would call you in 30 seconds and you could enter the number. But as my name is not Michael Johnson or similar there was no way for me to get back to the van and back and wait for the phone to start up.

The phone being retrieved having slowly walked the 200 metres or so I tried again only to find I had no phone signal, Wonderful. So I went bank to the caravan and tried again but this time the Wi-Fi signal kept cutting in and out and although I had a phone signal I could not log on. What a Bloody mess. This all happened yesterday and this morning i tried again with the same result only the phone stuttered in to life and then I lost the phone signal as well as the Wi-Fi signal.

Slightly earlier in the day when trying the signal from the caravan I checked on my credit card just to ensure everything was correct only to find that two payment had been duplicated and then as I was cut off by the Wi-Fi I tried again closer to the signal only to find that I had been locked out of my account and needed to completely re register.

Anyway after an afternoons rest and about four hours after my above exploits my mobile phone sprung in to life indicating I had two voicemails but due to poor signal strength I could not fully understand them, the voicemail sounded just like standing in St Pancras Station listening to the train announcements and the only person who can understand them is the announcer, and so got in the car and drove a couple of kilometres to a hill overlooking the local town and trred again. The two voicemails were from Lloyds Bank asking to me through an interrogation process did I really make a call to them and if so please say Yes and then add the number from the computer screen only I did not have the computer. What a very stupid game this and so it can all wait until all the Wi-Fi demands and mobile phone signals meet a useable quality.

I also had some trouble with the caravan motor mover. It’s a long and annoying story but having spent £ 60 on new batteries for my De Walt Drill and then another £ 80 on a new more powerful Bosch drill only to find that the set up of the mover is wrong. The most annoying this about this is that they came to service the motor movers two days before we left home. They still work OK than heavens.

The weather after lunch time ,turned nice and sunny but not to warm, I guess aound 28 degrees, just nice.

Anyway this evening we had delightful BBQ of Cumberland pork sausages and Costco rib eye steak cooked over some Carrefour supermarket charcoal. Mon Ami it was really good and washed down with some leftover Sancerre.

Tomorrow its the Formula One British Grand Prix and in the evening its the World Cup final where I think Spain will beat Holland 2-0 but let’s not jump to conclusions as I have been known to be wrong on this forecasts. Eg I got the England 6-0 win over Germany not entirely correct

T

9th July -Lets go sightseeing

Having decided to spend an extra day then we felt it would be good to do some exploring of this area. Upon leaving the camp site we noticed several signs indicating an event over the weekend which now appears to be a cycle competition with hundreds of riders blocking the streets and also what with road closures for this event and also because of major road works in Boussac our decision to wait until Monday seems like a very good decision indeed.

Although we can stay an extra couple of days we do have to move to another pitch right behind our current location but that we can do tomorrow.

We headed of for a tour of the Creuze region and through lots of very nice country side which is only a little bit hilly and perfect for the the many farmers who were most active reaping their crops of barley etc. We stopped in a small town for a coffee and bought some bits and pieces for lunch and then continued on to Croussac where stopped for lunch.

It was around 2.30 pm as we headed back via Gueret to the site and stopped of in Boussac to by some charcoal and firelighters which are a necessary part of of tomorrow night’s BBQ.

We cheated and went to the restaurant for dinner and again it was good before walking around the site and stopped to talk to a Scottish couple with two kids who we noticed arriving the other day as their two hitch was squeaking like crazy and as I had the same problem when I first got this van I thought I would chat to them about. He did seem to realize what the problem was in that his dealer had not fitted the correct ALKO tow ball and this has now damaged the pads on the hitch which stop the van moving around which he noticed had started to happen. He was pulling his van with a Land Rover Discovery and here was another guy who was fed up to the teeth with his choice as it has to go back regularly to the dealers for some expensive reason or another, hey ho best to buy foreigh.

Another light show with thunder and some rain, but still not much really no doubt it will start to rain heavily tomorrow morning when we start to move the van to its new site 20 yards away.

8th July- Boy its hot here

The sun was pouring down when we awoke and together with the sound of birds singing their hearts out and so we went outside for alight breakfast of yogurts and Muesli washed down with a super cup of tea and then just sat there as the ducks from the lake paraded around the site calling at each tent or caravan looking for tit bits, very nice.

Our plan was to head in to town and find a supermarket to stock up with goodies such as milk and croissants etc and a Carrefour Market (a small store compared to the usual Carrefour, With the shopping complete we went back in to and set up relaxer chairs where we spent most of today apart from some walking around the site looking at who is there and also taking some photos for the album. I have not started uploading the photos to our Phanfare photo album as you have to pay for Wifi here and so I wait until we reach the next location. The site is quite large and the pitch sizes are very large indeed whilst the site is not so busy just yet compared to where we stayed for the first couple of nights in Northern France. After an exhausting time listening to the birds we headed of to the swimming pool for a while and then back for a light salad dinner washed down with a couple of glasses of Sancerre. We did cheat first and had a small beer and so we restricted ourselves to one glass of wine, or was it two.

Noel connected to the internet but trying to read the notebook screen with bright light is not the easiest but was able to send a couple of short emails and also monitor credit card usage. It was at this time Noel noticed that at the previous site when we had dinner that the lady had a problem with the credit card machine and had to do it twice and so now we have been charged twice. Life is not so simple sometimes.

We are both still a little tired as its so hot and we are considering to stay another couple of nights and move on to Chateau La Comte on Monday and then avoid the extra weekend traffic

Then off to bed with lightning and thunder and the promise of rain but it only dropped a couple of spots overnight.

7th July- Better late than never

We were a little late to get going this morning, around 10.30 am but never mind we should have plenty of time as the route plan says it will take around six hours and approx 290 miles to get to our next destination which is the site at Chateau Du Poinsouze which is near a little town called Boussac.

Our journey took us via Evreux to Chartres where the huge Cathedral dominates the skyline from every direction and then following the fast N road until we joined the A 10 north of Orleans and then connected with the A 71 which took us to Vierzon and finally on to the A20 to Chateauroux and then finally down some country lanes for about an hour until we arrived at Boussac at around 5.45 pm. It was extremely hot today with temperatures showing around 33 degrees centigrade and with bright sun it made it quite a tiring drive. This is the first time we have been to this site, part od our new plans to not always visit the same places, and first impressions were excellent. As the the first thing you need to do when you arrive is visit the wash block and this one is something else and worthy of most sport clubs.

Anyway it took us about an hour to get set up, each site has direct connections for electricity and water and waste water which make life very easy indeed before we headed of the the restaurant for dinner and a nice glass of Bourgeon Aligote which went down well with the ‘fish of the day’

With dinner finished we headed in to the bar to watch Germany play Spain and you could say there was hardly any competition for Spain who pretty much dominated the game and I think Germany only had two shots on goal whilst Spain was sending them from every angle.

Quite a tiring day really and it was still quite hot when we went to bed.

Tuesday 6th July An easy day today

The weather is really great here and the temperature shot up to about 30 degrees Centigrade. We spent the day generally taking it easy with a couple of walks around the caravan site and then in the afternoon a 4 kilometre walk out of the site and up in to the hills. This is nice country around these parts and we passed by a modern horse riding centre which was quite impressive.

Following an early tea we went to the bar to watch Holland play Uruguay and as there were quite a few Dutch in the audience I started supporting Uruguay and when the Dutch goalkeeper let in a typically British easy goal the Dutch around me started referring to 'English Goalkeepers' Anyway the Dutch won and tomorrow night is the Germans who play Spain. Based on the German performance so far I think they could go all the way, but let us see.

And so to bed

Monday 5th July Off to France again

We hate these early mornings but if you want to beat the traffic on Wey Road to extract the caravan and also avoid the morning rush on the M25 then it has to be an 0500 early morning call. We arrived at Dover after an easy run of about 110 minutes and had time for a quick pee before heading on board and breakfast. The P & O usually has a Langhams Restaurant on board their ferries but not this one the ‘Pride of Burgandy’ and so on the fast food self service Restaurant for the full English please with two slices. The boat was crowded with very excited hundreds of schools kids and so we paid the extra to get in the ‘Club Lounge’ for a little peace and quiet.

We left Calais around 1145 Local time and headed towards Liseaux and Camping La Brevedent which is a very nice site with a small lake but it was a little busy and as we had planned to not cook our selves this evening we headed to the Campsite Restaurant and had an excellent meal and not so expensive either considering we also tried the local plonk and also Calvados. It was a very warm evening but overnight it went quite cold and so at about 0200 hrs we were searching for another duvet to heat up the old couple but we slept very well indeed.

We have previously stayed at this site about 20 years ago, and enjoyed our experience and hence our return to this location. Tomorrow we shall take a few photos of the site whilst also take a walk around the area