Category: Travel (Page 16 of 21)

Summer Update 2018 – Toulouse

3 October 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I posted anything, but, we have been busy! Plus I have had an issue with the website, Gremlins invaded so I’ve had to change things a little; archive pages will be added but the site shows our travels going forward from the Summer of 2018.

A summary of the two months of July and August before we continued with our travels around the South of France………. we had two weeks in the Toulouse area, drove back to the UK, took a holiday, drove back down through France and rejoined our trailer and our travels!

La Romieu, Toulouse

After leaving the Biarritz area of France, we moved inland for 2 weeks to stay in the Toulouse area, in a small village called Le Romieu. In our second week we met with an old friend Louise, her three children and parents and we explored the local towns. David excelled in the BBQ area, coping with cooking for 8 people and still providing cold drinks on demand! Louise, Dylan, Tyler, Isis, Jill and Ivan were lovely company on this rural campsite, it was a brilliant week.

BBQ at Chez Samson with Jill, Ivan and Louise, Chef David is hiding!!

Cooling arrival drinks for Jill, Ivan and Dylan.

Free evening of music and fireworks!

La Romieu has it’s own history in the form of a collegiate cathedral built by a local who became a cardinal, as he realised the town was on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella in the north of Spain. He built the church and it’s surrounding buildings in SIX years, quite a feat considering the average time to build a cathedral is 70 years!

View from one of the Cathedral towers.

Grounds of La Romieu.

The grounds of the church displayed a collection of photographs of local people, this lady is a local farmer’s wife and is 101 years old!

Samson at night.

Le Romieu at night.

A local village house.

Our nearest towns were Condom (yes, really!) and Lectoure. Condom is the home to a famous resident, D’Artagnan, one of the Musketeers as well as a fabulous cathedral and a river, where we took a boat ride one sunny day.

Making friends with D’Artagnan and his pals.

Condom’s church has a complete stone quire, very rare.

Exterior of Condom church.

Lovely parents Ivan and Jill!

Boat trip on the river.

Happy days xx

Lectoure is a more traditional hilltop town, traditional local produce markets, ancient Roman remains including a natural spring fountain and beautiful narrow cobbled streets.

A traditional old house.

View from Lectoure.

We took a day trip into Toulouse and explored the city by tourist bus, the best way when it’s hot outside and time is limited.

Toulouse main square.

We also spent some time with the owner of a cognac distillery, where he explained how it was produced, showed us his private collection and let us taste his wares. We wandered around his estate to work off the effects of cognac at 11am before purchasing a bottle or two. The owner only makes a batch every 6-8 years, when the harvest is a good quality and does not sell to the commecrial sector, only private individuals and visitors to his farm. He was entertaining and informative and quite charming, well he would be after a few bevvies!! !

Sunset over the lake at Larrouleta campsite.

Francais Chaud, Hot France!

1 October 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

I know that England is having a heatwave, well, so are we in France!! Finally the weather has improved, not without the odd evening thunderstorm, but the temperature is up and the sun and blue skies are a more common theme these days.

France has struck us as being very English, the rolling countryside resembles the South Downs, English language and accents are common in towns and supermarket queues, lots of British people live and holiday here, the residential gardens are kept full of roses, hydrangeas and lavender, and tea is drunk here more than coffee! They have bric-a-brac markets and supermarkets are full of British products like marmalade, Tetley tea and familiar cereals. The language is easier for me than David, having sat O Level French at school some of it occasionally comes back from a tiny corner of my brain. The only difference is that British people are friendly and willing to provide a service, unlike the French!

However, before we left the coast for Gers, we visited a few local places nearby.

Urrugny

We stayed at this campsite just outside St Jean de Luz, below Biarritz, for 2 weeks. We explored the area, drove back 10kms over the border into Spain and topped up with cheaper fuel and fridge contents!

Sunset over the lake at Larrouleta campsite.

David considering the lake….

The fabulous heated pool.

The local church was an eye opener, traditional design outside, inside it was almost theatrical in design with a heavily decorated ceiling, three wooden balconies around the edges and a spectacular art deco organ added in 2000.

We visited a local chateau, where the latest generation of the family who built it still live in attached accommodation but the main house is now used as a hotel, or a museum, although the house is used for family functions. Most of the walls were decorated with old tapestries and paintings of the head of the families that had lived there. The gardens were full of herb beds as well as beautiful pink hydrangeas and roses and a perfectly manicured lawn!

The local privately owned Chateau.

The family dining table, complete with crystal glasses and one of 15 magnificent wall tapestries.

This is an original water fountain, pumped up from a well, into a lobby off the dining room.

The lounge, with Louis Vth chairs, old Piano, family portraits and another tapestry.

A portrait of the current owner’s great grandfather hangs above the fireplace. The wording engraved into the fireplace reads “We Gather, We Warm, We Cheer”.

The Trophy Room is full of local deer and antique furniture.

We visited another Chateau that was built in 1860 by a scientist with an interest in astronomy; he built himself a gothic style triangular shaped property which contained an observatory tower in one corner and a private chapel in another. As the building was perched on a hill there was no light pollution and just open skies. The day we visited was French only tours, so no point in paying out money to listen to something we did not understand!

Bayonne

This lovely riverside town was deserted on a Saturday when we visited, later in the day we realised why – everybody was in the next town Biarritz, at the beach! The riverside architecture was stunning, tall, wooden houses showed there was wealth in the area from a long time ago, and the River Nive which divided the town gave the old and new a separate feel; the old town was full of stone properties dominated by the Church; the new part was full of modern tasteful blocks of glass and metal apartments surrounded by greenery and cycle paths. On the bank of the river, we came across a beautiful old carousel, with some unusual characters as seats!

Biarritz

We revisited Biarritz, having been there September 2017, and found the beaches heaving with sun worshipers, surfers and swimmers. We sat in the same seafront bar as we did last year and had a drink, last year breakfast with fruit juice and coffee and pastries, this year a long cold drink!

San Sebastien, Spain

We also revisited San Sebastien just over the border into Spain, We had been there several times before but had not explored the tourist area around the old cathedral and “old town”. This time we meandered through the old streets admiring the cathedral, the architecture and of course, we had to stop for tapas lunch!!

Top, l to r: minced raw beef and mayo (David said it was awful!!); sardines and tomatoes; battered chicken and veg balls. Below: Mini croissant with ham; baguette with bacon and tomato; chorizo sausage in pastry; potato tortilla.

North, South, East, West, Where Does The Sun Shine Best?

25 June 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

This week we completed the circuit!!! We passed Zarautz in the Basque country in northern Spain on our way to France which is where we started in September 2017. We have travelled around the coast of Spain and Portugal in just 84 days short of one year, visiting at least 73 towns or cities. And we are keen to keep going!!

We have driven 11,152 miles spending approximately 2500 on fuel which averages out at £0.23 per mile, with prices ranging from 1.05 (about £1) a litre to 1.40 (about £1.30); we have spent approximately 18.50 a night on campsite fees including electricity and approximately 200 a month on tourism which we have classed as visiting monuments, castles, palaces, ruins and historic houses.

We have been to the very southern point of Spain (Cap Vincent), the most easterly point of mainland Portugal in Cabo de Roca (outside Sintra) and now close to the most northern point of Spain (which is O Porto de Bares in the county of A Corúna). We have been up mountains in the Sierra Navada, been down the bottom of deep valleys in the Ronda and on very flat plains in Zaragosa as well as on cliff top sites in the jagged northern coast. We have been 500m above sea level in the mountains, and in caves at sea level.

We have learned how to speak in Spanish but gave up learning Portuguese as it resembled Russian! We have eaten all sorts of different foods not normally found in the UK; liver and bacon in a sandwich being the oddest but tastiest! Nibbles varied from pinchos in the north, to tapas in the south to racions in the west; we have drunk red and white wines in Rioja, port in Porto, sherry in Jerez, beers in Basque Country and sidre in Cantabria.

We have met some lovely British people on the way and found the Spanish to be friendly, the Brazilians even more friendly, the French snooty and the Dutch inquisitive. Samson has always been a source of entertainment to everyone, if we had charged 1 for each photo taken of the rig, we would be millionaires by now!!! we have only met one or two other fifth wheelers but this week, in France, we have met a Swiss couple with a German equivalent! Two touring fifth wheels on one site is unusual so it created lots of interest!

However, we have enjoyed the weather, sunny and warm along the south coast running up to December, wet during our three months in Cadiz, wet and windy throughout our stay on the Atlantic coast and into the Bay of Biscay’s northern coastline, so the SOUTH WINS!!! As the sun shines mainly in the South, guess where we will be heading now??? Correct, Southern France then Italy!! ‘,

Caravia Cows in Asturias

15 June 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

Caravia Alta, Playa de Arenal Moris

Back up on the coast for a week, we parked up on a lovely hillside site in a village called Caravia Alta (Upper), we were given a spacious pitch all on our own! The real reason was to keep us off the grassy plots; motor homes and larger caravans were sinking into the soggy rain drenched grass and needed to be towed out! The beach was a good 200m walk downhill, the beach side bar opened at weekends and it was a really peaceful haven. Apart from the local cows in the surrounding fields, they had bells on!! The viaduct overhead was surprisingly quiet, you could hear the odd lorry, maybe it was drowned out by the continual mist that capped the mountains!

The local cows are beautiful and several have little calves alongside, they produce the milk for the majority of Spain, plus 70% of Spain’s cheese!

Several small villages nearby kept us out for the odd day, and my love of ancient and different buildings caught my eye again as well as the different “horreos” buildings in this area – not only are they are a different shape compared to those down south but they are much bigger and mainly made of wood not stone. Several we saw had been modernised and converted into what looked like “granny or teenage annexes”!!!

Villaciciosa

We went into Villaviciosa one day, the small market town was interesting; it had one church and several palaces and monasterial buildings but all were closed to the public except the one very plain 13th century church; it did have a good tourist office where we were given lots of information about the Jurassic coastal areas and that was about it. Seems this is a “sidra” (cider to me and you!) making area, apple signs are everywhere, but we have yet to see an apple orchard. However, several beautiful buildings were in the square…

We visited the Jurassic Museum, a modern building interestingly filled with dinosaurs (and I don’t mean David and I) and their relevant information…..well I’m sure it was interesting. It was all in Spanish. The replica monsters were well made and interesting.

Lastres

We then went along the coast to a small fishing village called Lastres, climbed to the top of the hills above the village and looked down to the port and the rooftops. Amazing view. We found a small chapel at the top, very plain apart from a small table and an unusual array of prosthetic limbs on a shelf!!

Miradour de Fitu

We had lunch before coming back along the coast road to go up a mountain to a Miradour de Fitu. We climbed a 13% gradient through the mountains for about 5km, through clouds to a height of (approx) 590m above sea level and finally reached a platform, which on a good day would have given us a superb view of the coast below. As it was cloudy, we saw a valley below and loads of passing clouds as well as a herd of very inquisitive cows!

Ribadesella

Finally we visited a lovely fishing town called Ribadesella, a town split in two by a meandering river, The Sella; every year the first Saturday in August the bridge forms the finishing line in most Asturias’ most famous festivals – the canoe descent of the Sella River. The historic town of Ribadesella was founded by King Alfonso X the Wise in the 13th century, it is made up of a medieval town on one side and Modernist architecture on the other.

The lovely promenade walk is home to several large Modernist style houses, all built to order by businessmen who made their money in the Americas around the early 1900s. Some are now hotels, some are still privately owned but all have a fabulous view of a wide sandy bay. This side is mainly made up of holiday properties, bars and restaurants and modern urbanisations. The other side of the river encompasses a small harbour of fishing and leisure boats and low rise blocks of residential flats lining the river side, with the small medieval town behind. A little further upstream are some caves and paintings claimed to be from 10,000 BC, as well as a museum containing the prehistoric findings in the area.

Related image

‘,

Valdovino’s Beautiful Beaches & Colourful Cottages

6 June 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We have moved to the north coast of Galicia and stopped for a few days at this small village on the coast. This is surfer’s paradise, the numerous river inlets where they meet the Atlantic forms beautiful endless sweeping beaches, some backed by sand dunes, some with rocky outcrops and fabulous rock pools and formations. The village also has a natural fresh water lagoon, formed by sand deposits, home to wild migrating birds.

The weather has not been great during our stay, it has rained constantly, only letting up in the late afternoon.

The village has a very modern lighthouse on the top of a cliff, built in 1992 as the last ever lighthouse built in Galicia, it is operated by remote control and the lamps are modern LED and halogen.

We also found some old look out posts, underground tunnels and storage areas which were once used during the wars to protect this coastline. There is a small chapel, accessible only in low tide, dedicated to the local fishermen, who lost lives when they fish or collect (by hand) barnacles found on this north coast, called swan necked barnacles, apparently a delicacy in restaurants!!

Also in this area, they do not have any issues with painting their Swiss style properties in a bright or pastel colour! They also have these odd buildings in their gardens; we have found out that they are called “Horreos” and are now a protected building, they were originally grain stores built in stone, on stilts or raised on a platform, with ventilation slats, topped with a concrete or tiled roof. Often they are painted to match the house colour.