Wednesday the 15th was a quiet day in camp with only a little resting to do plus catch up with emails and Blog bits and pieces and watch out for more snakes. When Noel started visiting Australia back in the late 70’s he was warned always to look out for snakes as they are pretty dangerous out there and also the famous Funnel Web spider which likes to wait under toilet seats until the prey arrives and then has a big bite and if you are not damn quick to the hospital then generally its curtains and so ever since those days Noel always checks the loo seat before sitting down. He doesn’t like snakes either having been taken to a snake temple in Penang where all the these very dangerous snakes are drugged by a continuous smoke but the snakes are all over the floor and hanging from the ceiling and et al, and the only way is going forward and no going back, a bit like a very dangerous IKEA store, and ever since those days snakes and spider are not his favourite things. Oh well let’s move on to...
Thursday 16th June and it was pouring with rain overnight and also when we woke up and so decided to use the caravan facilities for shower etc. Normally we use the camp site facilities, for one thing we don’t have to give it a good clean afterwards and also its often good exercise getting there. Noel went in first and the shower was great and then it was Jennifer’s turn and she also wanted to wash her hair. But first I must describe the workings of the caravan water system.
On the site is a water tap to which you connect your hose to which then goes to a large tank by the side of the Caravan with like a cistern valve and so as the water flow ‘s out to the caravan the tank starts refilling again, but in this case the cistern is only about a quarter to a third full and so as to ensure that the main tap was high enough to keep up with demand from Jennifer’s hair washing etc Noel went outside the van in the pouring rain to check the tap and noticed that it was flat with no water running through it, and so the water in the cistern would be soon gone and so he rushes back to the van to tell Jennifer to stop showering etc. By this time however Jennifer had started on her hair with shampoo and now there was no water. A further quick look along the hosepipe confirmed that that there had been a big leak in the pipe which would take time to fix but as Jennifer was still standing in the shower getting cool and covered in shampoo there was needed a temporary quick fix solution which resulted in Noel using another hose to fill the cistern whilst standing in the pouring rain getting saturated whilst Jennifer finished her hair and showering etc. What a great and wet start to the day!!
Forgot to mention that overnight the storm and no doubt lightening somewhere put pressure on the camp electrics and so with a power surge after the lightning hit, us and many other caravan’ers had their RCD cut in and turn of the electrics to save the wiring and equipment etc.
Oh the joys of caravanning.
The rest of the day was quite boring after this but the storm also killed the internet connection on site and so no updates on anything.
Friday 17th June- A day trip to Villefranche-de-Rouergue
For some reason we awoke early and thought well lets go and so by 0900 we were in the car and off, wow this is unusual for us.
So we went the country route through Labistide-Murat and then on to Vers where we checked on a caravan site by the river Lot. It’s a lovely site but Municipal run but also to get to it there is a low bridge and what with angles and heights of vans it’s unlikely we could get ours in but perhaps one day if we get a smaller van we may use it.
Then along the River Lot which looked really beautiful in the sun and with St Cirq Lapopie on the hill overlooking the river it was really a lovely sight. The houses in this region are built in this very warm coloured brick and with their red slate roofs this part of France is really very beautiful. No photos as they have been taken on earlier trips.
We crossed the river at Larnagol and then headed up to Calvignac where we noticed that the local ‘Marie’ has been stripped inside and a major rebuild project is underway. This building is very large and not used for some years and perhaps its being converted in to a house or flats but one thing is for sure they will have a really magnificent view over the Lot valley, umm that would be nice.
Then on to Villefranche and by this time we needed a technical stop and what could be better than McDonalds who always have good loo’s and free wifi.
We had a lovely walk around town and it was very quiet as it is not yet the main tourist season and then on to the Globe Cafe overlooking the River L’Aveyron where we have been many times in the past years and just as we sat outside to eat it started to rain a little but the large trees protected us and so we enjoyed the full French lunch with a small carafe of ‘vin rouge’
Then some shopping at a new large Leclerc on the outskirts of town and by this time the rain had stopped and it was getting quite warm (29 degrees) and so headed back home via Fijeac and finally arrived back around 5.30 pm only to find several more caravans have arrived and one has parked next to us and blocked our view down the site. I started talking about snakes but they still haven’t moved yet but perhaps tomorrow if/when we BBQ that should do the trick.
A quiet evening and it was cool and so we sat in the van watched another episode of ‘Spooks’ which is a great series and shows off London rather well.
Let’s hope the weather stays Ok for tomorrow’s BBQ.
