Category: Flowers

Vuelta Frustrations, South to Storm and Beauty

After spending the night after the race on the mountain we left very early, just as it was getting light.  We were back at Rio Luna nice and early – had a shower and took it easy for the next few days.  A couple of nice walks with the dog, and watching more Vuelta stages on tv in the bar.

I got quite upset while watching one stage as the organizers shortened the race before the final climb due to the f’ing protestors.  I will say again and again – it’s a race, not a political event – f-off!

We left the campground on the Wednesday morning heading south past Leon.  Just before the city Colin said ‘oh my – what is that’ – it was a little dog racing towards us right on the motorway.  He slammed on the brakes and the car in the exit lane to our right just managed to avoid the little fellow.  We pulled right and put on the hazard lights – I jumped out the side door and started running back down the motorway after the dog.  All of the oncoming traffic slowed and a couple of folks stuck their heads out saying ‘he went that way!’.  I tried to catch him but he was a very fast runner – obviously panicked – and I am not.  I jogged along calling ‘puppy, puppy’ for about a mile then had to give up.  As I didn’t see him dead on the road I had hope that he’d managed at least to get off the road and down to a field on the side.  Going back to the campervan I was very sad – the little guy was so cute, perhaps a Yorkie or something, and I would have been so happy to catch him.  A short while later we passed a car accident – looked like a motorcycle had been hit and the rider was strapped to a board ready to go into the ambulance.  Maybe the little dog had escaped from the car after the accident.

We got to Valladolid and after stocking up on supplies at Lidl we found the time trial course, which was the same as when we were here two years ago.  Finding the same spot we’d been in before we settled down for the afternoon – but that didn’t last that long.  A police car pulled up and started asking questions – basically they were on the lookout for protestors and were trying to head off any trouble.  I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to show them the pieces of cardboard painted with the palestinian flag that I’d pulled off the poles on the mountain stage we’d been at!  In any case the police made us leave our spot and led us – with lights flashing – to a parking area a few hundred meters back, which was fine.

After a nice quiet night Colin gave me some bad news – the route of the ITT had been shortened due to the fucking protestors so they would not be coming past us after all.  We saw our Belgian friends leaving the route, then we took the time to let a couple in a UK campervan know as well before just heading back south to the house.  God damn ignorant protestors – I’m so fed up with them!

We got all the way back to the house in one day – a bit of a long drive, but no problems along the way.  The bougainvillea are all blossoming again, the window boxes are flourishing, and it’s plenty warm enough for swimming so all is ok here.

We got to watch the final few stages of the Vuelta on tv, and more than once again the f’ing ignorant ‘free palestine’ protestors had a negative impact – I wish the police would just arrest them all and throw them in jail for a few days (or at least until the race is over!).

The Renault and the campervan are both in different shops getting things done so we’re down to just one vehicle – which is fine for the amount of driving we usually do.

We’re having the house painted by our ‘neighbour across the valley’ – she’s a lovely little lady and is always smiling and happy.  Her son lives in the house that shares part of our driveway.

We think that the police have finally caught the burglars that have been terrorizing our valley for the last several weeks.  Colin will have to watch the local facebook group chat page for confirmation.

One day we had a torrential rainfall – so hard it wasn’t even large drops but more like a waterfall.  The wind was also very strong and coming from the south – we found out that two of the smallest windows that face that way need a bit of weatherproofing as they leaked live sieves.  I spent about an hour mopping the floors in both the snug and the office, and one of the walls is going to need cutting and re-plastering on the inside.

I’m not sure if we’ll get any more swims since the recent rains and much colder nights, but it’s still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the view.

All Clear! On the Road Again…

We took a couple more day trips for lunch – once going south to the town of Riberac which was quite nice.

There’s an old castle/fort above a lovely park, and some nice restaurants around a large square.

…

…

The campground in Mansle has been as full as I’ve ever seen it, with many folks staying a week or more.

…

Colin had another couple of tests and appointments and all went well – even the extremely rude urologist was fairly polite the second time.  Finally we were free to return to Spain!  The birdies will miss us, and I hope the jasmine, passion flower and clematis manage to survive.

I drove the new BMW while Colin and Max were in the campervan.  It took a lot of will power but I managed to keep near the speed limit – at least most of the time.  Getting around Bordeaux was, as usual, a big pain but we did make it. We stopped for the night a little past Zaragoza and made it to the house just after noon on the second day.

We’ve enjoyed the pool almost every day, and had lunch out at Los Cerricos – not so many cats this time.

We’ve been spared the awful fires that are affecting many parts of Spain right now, but the dust from the Sahara is covering everything – there’s no way to keep it out of the house or off of anything.

Local Races, Doctors and Tests, Lunches and New Car

Most of the terrace plants are doing really well – we haven’t been at the house this long in past years so they’re getting tended and watered more.  The jasmine especially is very lush, and the two tomato plants have sprouted up like crazy.

Colin’s hernia operation went well – he has a follow-up appointment soon to make sure all is ok.  I convinced him to use my upstairs bedroom for a week while I used the spare bedroom/office/library.  Thus he didn’t have to go up and downstairs as much and all he had to do was move into the lounge to get to the couch and watch tv while he recuperated.

The ‘honey man’ is at the market every Friday morning – I’ve tried several of his products and all are delicious.  We also get what we can from the veggie people, and have tried scallops from the fish guy.

We took a drive to Confolens one day for fish and chips – it ended up being a bit of an ‘adventure’.  First of all we went in the campervan as the fish and chip shop is quite small and in case there wasn’t room we’d be able to park somewhere nice and eat inside the campervan.

There were roadworks on the way and the main diversion included going under a bridge with fairly low clearance.  We couldn’t fit under so turned around and ended up following another campervan that seemed to know where they were going, eventually getting across the river and into the town.  To top it all off the cafe was closed due to ‘it being too hot to open’!  

We’ve been to the little restaurant at Villognon several times now and always enjoy what we get, although I must say that the duck confit I had the first time was my favourite.

We helped out at the annual ‘kids’ races in Saint Angeau, parking the campervan at a side road near the finish line to marshall any traffic and prevent them from turning in either direction.  Luckily there was a french lady on the other side of the main road doing the same thing and she took care of most of the interactions with the drivers.  There was only one driver that was somewhat ornery, but at least he did as directed and didn’t try to run us over.

The following weekend we helped again at another race – the Paul Poux, which has about 300 entrants and covers three different routes of varying lengths.  This time Colin and I were at different places – he was right in Goue and I was just down the road at another spot.  I was very nervous about being alone and not being understood so I printed up four papers in french with phrases on them such as ‘there is a cycling race on’ and ‘you may only turn left when I tell you it’s safe’.

There ended up being many more cars than I expected entering and leaving my little side road, but every driver was extremely nice and co-operative and several laughed at my phrase pages.  Luckily the races had started early as it was getting very hot by the time we left around 10:30.

On our way to Aigre one day we saw that the restaurant in Villejesus had re-opened.  We were very happy to see that and stopped on the way home for a drink.  There’s a nice war memorial across the road…

…we went back several days later to have lunch but they wouldn’t let the dog inside and we didn’t want to sit on the outside area as it’s right on the road so ended up getting pizza from one of the places in Aigre.

The next weekend we helped out at yet another local race – this time the regional gravel championships.

There are many ‘white roads’ around here and it was a sunny and hot day.  We were assisting at the water table, handing out bottles as the riders passed.  I ended up taking over the opening of the bottles and setting them out on the table for the others to ‘hand’ to the riders as they pass – not as easy as it might sound in some cases.

Colin got a new car!  He’d been looking online for a Porsche Panamera but decided that the potential maintenance costs could get pretty high so we ended up at the BMW dealership in Angouleme.  He’s dealt with them for many years and ended up getting a lovely sporty coupe.

I wouldn’t want to be getting in and out of the back seat as a passenger but the dog likes it, and the hatch/storage area is huge.  Apparently it’s really nice to drive but I haven’t tried it out yet – I’m fairly comfortable with the ‘old’ blue one (which we have kept) but will eventually have a go with the new one.

We made another trip up to Confolens and had success this time with the ‘english’ fish and chips.  The shop is quite small and there’s only sitting outside with space for about 20 people.  We were lucky as we hadn’t made reservations and it was the best fish and chips I’ve had in a long time.  Having delicious local french cuisine at one of the many restaurants we now frequent is one thing, but fish and chips brings fond memories from childhood.

We took delivery of firewood for next winter – the pile seemed so large when we started…

…but it only took about 90 minutes – with a small break – to stack it neatly on the lower terrace.

Colin had a follow-up appointment with the hernia surgeon and she was quite pleased with his recovery.  He also had an initial appointment with a urologist – he was one of the rudest professional people I’ve ever encountered.  First of all, when we were in the waiting area a woman came out one door and muttered ‘that was very rude!’.  When we’d gone in we realized why – the doctor was constantly saying very nasty things under his breath in french because Colin’s french isn’t perfect, especially when it comes to medical terms.  Part of the problem was that I understood much of what the doctor was saying and it took all of my self-control not to reach out and slap him, then dramatically storm out.  I really hope that Colin doesn’t need surgery as that doctor was horrible.

On a nicer note we got a small bird-bath for our feathered friends – it has a solar-powered pump that makes a little fountain so now they have a fat-ball feeder, a lovely seed feeder (made by Claire) and now a water source.

LEST WE FORGET!!!!

Since being back in Mansle we’ve gotten into a nice, if somewhat lazy routine.  I’m usually up pretty early, then after breakfast and a cup of tea we take Max down to the campground for a run about (him, not us!).  Then we go to one of the bars for a coffee/drink.

We’ve been out for some very nice lunches – my new favourite place is in Villognon.  I had the duck confit the first time and it was just delicious – we’ve been back a couple of times since.  Then for Colin’s birthday lunch we went to the Cheval Blanc in Luxe, and it was so good!  I think my favourite course was the cheese trolley but by then I was so full I could only sample a few of the twenty or more offerings.

We’ve had to leave Max behind a couple of times, and he wasn’t happy about it – witness the destruction left in his attempt to get into the garbage can to ‘help himself’.

On Easter Sunday we went to the bar for a drink and passed an old fellow carrying a bunch of ‘greenery’ – turned out he was on his way to the church.  We saw that most of the other folks were also carrying bunches – looked like weeds to us, but I think it was ‘palm Sunday’, although they certainly weren’t palm fronds.

There have been several heavy rainfalls, with the river going up and down each time.  The hippodrome has been flooded and even the road down to the campground was closed for a few days due to the overflow.

The local cycling club hosted a regional race about a week ago and there was a good turnout.  Colin and I manned the beverage table, and we got a delicious lunch first with all of the other helpers.

There were several motorcycle riders helping as well to lead out the various groups of riders.

It was a lovely day and we were very glad to have been able to help out.  

We ended up with lots of leftover coca colas (I did not have one – never in my life), but ran out of beer (not my fault either!).

It was VE Day yesterday and it was a big deal here – far more important than ‘May Day’ last week.

There were several different groups of service people represented at the local war memorial where they layed wreaths, then all gathered at the bar for a drink afterwards.

It’s the most crowded I’ve ever seen the place!

I know that in other places in the world the end of WWII was a big thing, but over here, especially places like France, Belgium, The Netherlands, etc it is a really, really big deal.  It hits you in the face at times like you can’t even imagine back in Canada.

Whether you’re seeing a large cemetery with hundreds of graves or a small roadside memorial to one unknown soldier – they are everywhere.  And each and every one is immaculately kept and tended with love by the local people.

LEST WE FORGET!!!!

Quick Trip Back and Forth

We decided to return to Spain for another couple of weeks as we’re not heading up to Belgium until late March for the Spring Classics.  Rather than go in the campervan we zipped down in the BMW, stopping at a hotel southwest of Zaragoza.

At one time it must have been quite the place – lovely gardens, and thermal hot springs/spa.  The room was nice, but there wasn’t much sound-proofing.

Breakfast the next morning was nearly the best we’ve had – next to the one place in Mutters, Austria a few years ago.

We made it to the house mid-afternoon and it was especially nice that the piece for the pellet burner finally arrived and it’s up and running again – how nice it is to have heat!

We’ve arranged for the driveway to get done, although they still need a week without rain to be able to do it properly.  The pool is as full as it’s ever been with all the rain – no need to get the tanker truck up this year!

We had a couple of nice lunches out at the bar in Los Cerricos – happy kitties getting bits of swordfish and pork tenderloin as usual.

We only stayed two weeks before heading back north again, experiencing only one highway delay due to a truck losing a load of oranges.

Just past Pamplona they’re twinning one of the tunnels – it is quite a busy road as it goes to Irun on the coast.

Just before the French border, in the small town that gets a lot of French visitors for the cheap fuel, tobacco and liquor, we saw the results of an accident.  There was one car stopped and four people crouched on the road next to a bike-rider – they’d already gotten a neck brace on him and also on his left leg.  He was conscious, which was good, but I started crying anyway – you never want to see an injured cyclist lying on the road.  A mile or so beyond the border we passed an ambulance racing towards us to take the cyclist to the nearest French hospital.

The Basque folks are still defacing road signs, and there are still remains of burned tires, etc in some places left by the farmers’ protests months ago.

My little Sly guy back at the spanish house is very happy that the dog is gone again – he spends most of his days stretched out on the heated rug in front of the pellet burner now, and goes outside whenever he wants to.

There’s a new dog at the bar – an adorable little black chihuahua named Valentino Bello – I think someone gave him to them – not as a replacement for Snoopy, of course, and he does seem to be settling in quite nicely.

Some Delicious Lunches, and an Unwanted House Guest

We’ve been to a restaurant just outside Ruffec a few times now – it’s an old water mill that’s been nicely redone into a lovely restaurant that has really excellent food.

There’s a little white resident dog that wanders around – very cute but could use a bath.

After the first restaurant visit we popped up to the nearby town of Civray – it was a very important town for the resistance in WWII.  Since it was just past Remembrance Day there were still some beautiful flowers around the base of the war memorial.

The town also has a very old church that goes back to the 1100’s.  As usual I went in for a look while Colin and Max stayed outside.

There seemed to be many different styles of decorations, some of which were quite lovely, but overall the effect was a bit of a mish-mash.

We made a couple of visits up to the charity shop in Sauze-Vaussais – mostly for jigsaw puzzles and books, although they also have hundreds of DVDs and CDs.  It’s almost all Brits that volunteer there and shop there, and as it’s a charity for animals dogs are welcome.  Max always gets fussed over where ever we go.

Max still loves going to the campground for his daily run-around – he ventures off on his own and runs back and forth to us from time to time as we walk too slowly for him.

The rain every few days has kept everything nice and green…

…and the town has put up their Christmas decorations.

The Penalty Bar has had two very nice lunches – the second one was my favourite as it started with Coquille St Jacques, followed by whole baby chicken, then a lovely cheese plate and dessert.  I accepted a shot of cognac but Colin had to partake of it for me – he also had my dessert.  The lunch was followed by karaoke – Edith has quite a good voice but the other folks that got up and sang left a bit to be desired.  One lady was somewhat ‘entertaining’ as I think she had a more than a bit of wine with lunch, but she looked like she was having fun.

The local cycle club is celebrating its 130th year and had a really interesting display in the town library.

We did have one little bit of ‘excitement’ with a small visitor.  Colin noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye one evening – it was a mouse!  As we didn’t want to kill it we went to the garden centre the next morning and got a ‘live trap’ that we set with some of our precious cheddar.  It was a very crafty little thing, however, and three times managed to get the cheese out without triggering the flap.  We were finally successful in the end by baiting it with a  couple of half-open hazelnuts.

Colin let him out under a bush next to the parking area in front of the house – I hope he finds a warm dry place for the winter, as long as it isn’t back in the house!

We left for Spain on Dec 24th and had two quite long days of driving, although the traffic wasn’t bad and there was no ‘border’ check entering Spain. We arrived at the house on Christmas afternoon and it was so warm on the back terrace that I ended up in shorts and flip-flops – although it is not always so nice. It does get quite cold at night, although not yet below zero. I’m still getting lettuce, chard and collard greens from the garden and look forward to planting more than just the one raised bed in the spring.

Across Northern Spain and on to the Vuelta

We finally got out for some bike rides, going several times to Aunac for coffee.

We also got a load of nice dry firewood for the winter…the pile looked huge,

but between the two of us we got it neatly stacked in about an hour and a half.

We try to take Max down near the campground at least every couple of days so he can run around off-lead – he’s got a lot of energy!

After Colin having a bone-scan and getting his most important prescription filled we left for Spain again on a Thursday afternoon, making it along secondary roads almost to Bayonne.  We stopped for the night at an Aire, then took a very convoluted route following the GPS to cross the border south of Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle.

We ended up on a very winding road up and over into Spain, then finally hit a more main road north to Irun.  What followed was a long day of driving along a motorway, heading further and further west all the way past Gijon.  We planned to find a nice quiet town or village near the ocean but got a bit of a surprise.

The coast is lovely, but must be a magnet for the locals as the beaches were totally packed and there was absolutely no place to park, especially for a campervan.  The town of Lluanco for instance, had a beautiful beach but was so crowded we immediately gave up and drove around the point and a bit further on the motorway and then away from the coast to the town of Pravia.

We crossed the river and found a very nice parking area off the main road and stopped for a well deserved quiet night.

The next day was a much shorter drive westward along the north coast to Foz, stopping at Ribadeo for fuel and groceries.

We’ve been to the campground just west of Foz a few times now and they have decent wi-if and nice hot showers, although no laundry.

I did get to see the last part of the day’s Vuelta on the tv in the bar – they’re still somewhat south but are coming north in a few days.

It wasn’t too terribly far the next morning to our destination of Baiona (where Tuesday’s Vuelta stage ends) and we arrived early afternoon.

Once again we found it very crowded and nowhere to park.

We hadn’t intended to stay the night anyway so ended up trying to back-track along the route to what will be the last climb of the stage.

Well…talk about an excersize in frustration!  The GPS was useless and because my mobile wi-fi device was out of data we basically drove around and around the general area and finally gave up and stopped for lunch at one of the few places that actually had room for a campervan to park.  We watched the day’s Vuelta stage on their tv until we noticed that they were closing up and we had to leave without seeing the end.

After trying once again to find the route the GPS led us up a perilously narrow road that we had to stop and back down very very slowly.  I got out and directed Colin as he had to keep on a very precise line to avoid falling off the pavement on either side.  Luckily we made it safely and headed back to a large park we’d seen along the way and settled in for the night.

The area has large amounts of open land upon which both cows and horses roam freely so drivers must be aware – several of the horses came around in the evening to browse near the campervan.

Lazy Days in Sunny Spain

The trip back to Spain in late June was pretty good and we made it in two days as usual.

We stopped not far from the border before crossing over to buy some sheep cheese from a local producer, and it was delicious.

Getting back to good weather was great, and having the sun shine every day was wonderful.  We had a few high winds, and as usual have been dealing with water issues.

We ended up getting the tanker truck up to top up the pool, and also the lower tank as getting water from the co-op is kind of hit-and-miss at times.

We thought we were going to lose a bunch of the new oleanders but we got the water delivery just in time.

Also, the pump from the lower tank to the upper died so we had to get a new one – the new one was defective so had to be exchanged for another one, and that one only lasted a week or two.  Luckily the store we got it from is very kind and took the pump back and we got a different kind from another store.

Then the pool pump wasn’t working, but fortunately it wasn’t the pump that died, just a ‘condenser’ that was cheap and easy to replace.

Colin and I both had a health issue – he had a UTI and spent most of one day at the hospital to get a test, then wait for the results and get a prescription for antibiotics.  My illness was similar to what happened in the spring and I wondered if it was covid, or perhaps a sodium deficiency – many of the symptoms are surprisingly similar.  In any case I was tired and had no energy for several days but luckily it passed and I seem fine.

Max seems to like it at the house as he can easily jump over the wall and go exploring.  He has three favourite places to go – up the steep hill to the east of the house, up the track past the neighbour’s house (he gets their dogs barking so we usually know if he’s over there) or else down on the rambla.  

We don’t Iike it when he goes on the rambla as he has to cross the road to get there but he almost always comes running if he hears me whistle.

The Tour de France was better than usual, and Tadej Pogacar won in very convincing fashion, with Remco Evenepoel coming third overall.  Then the Olympic time trial and road race were both won by Remco – it was great to watch!

Saying goodbye to my fur-baby we once more had to return to France for Colin’s prescription.

It was quite funny going through the tunnel on this route – leaving sunny Spain and several km later entering foggy France.

Having enjoyed the sheep cheese so much we got some more on the way back, this time a more mature/robust one.

We took a slightly different route than when we came down, following smaller roads rather than taking the peage so we did see some new sights along the way, including some interesting roundabout displays…

…as well as some roadside statues…

Arriving back in Mansle we were glad to find that the almost constant rain we experienced in June had finally given way to nicer weather.

Cabin Fever, Then Green Light!

The town’s ‘beautification’ project is starting to show – some of the bushes are blooming and look just lovely.

The river has risen and flooded again as the rain just keeps coming and going.  The date of opening for the campground keeps changing – usually it is May 15 but with all the rain it’s been delayed – the most recent news is July 1…I guess we’ll see.

As we were both starting to get cabin fever we took a little trip to the coast for a couple of days, heading to the Ile D’Oleron (just south of Rochefort), which is accessible via a bridge.

We found a lovely place to camp that was about 100 meters from the ocean – almost all of the other campervans had dogs, and most of them also had bikes.

The island has many great walking and cycling trails.

At the north end of the island is the lighthouse.

….

We went to the town of Boyardville for lunch and you could not get fresher seafood – I bet the mussels were harvested that morning.

…

We spent another quiet night at the aire, then left for home around noon, taking the coastal road almost all the way to the bridge.

Colin had two very good appointments – one with his cardiologist and the other with his oncologist.  So now we finally have the green light to get out of town again!

Back to France and Not Getting to Italy

We had to return to France again so Colin could refill his most important prescription – they’ll only give him four weeks at a time because of the cost.

The trip back was pretty good and we took basically the same route as we did the last time at least until we got past Pau.

We stopped before the border to have a bite to eat at a nice pullout in the Valley of Aragon – a very pretty area.

…

Crossing the border we encountered evidence of the recent protests such as the upside-down town signs, although without the tractor blockages.

The flooding at the campground and hippodrome has mostly gone down…

…and the irises in our terrace boxes are flourishing.

We got a new pressure washer and I finally had a go at the terrace – what a difference!

…

I didn’t get Colin a cake for his birthday so I (quite reluctantly) made him one a couple of days later.  My first-ever cake was a success!

A lovely carrot cake with cream cheese icing – a bit too sweet for my taste but if I ever make another one I’ll use a lot less sugar.

We’ve had water coming into the spare bedroom with all of the rain – looks like we need some work done on the roof.  We have poly and towels over the bed and on the floor to try to mop it up.

We’ve been working on our ‘to-do’ list and the most recent accomplishment was hoisting Colin’s vintage 1965 Viking ‘Severn Valley’ that he raced on successfully in ‘65 and ‘66.  It’s now hanging proudly above the lounge.

And since we can’t make it to Italy as planned we’re watching the Giro on TV.