The End of the World!!!

Well as it's going to be the end of the world today I thought a post was in order. Now you all know that I live in the south of France near Carcassonne, what you don't know is that I am very close to Bugarach[see todays Telegraph if you don't know about Bugarach]. So if the world does end today I am in with a shout of jumping on a spaceship and escaping this mad world. We shall of course be going to an End of the World party first to make sure we go out with a BANG. The photos are from a Halloween party but could just as easily be what we can expect tonight!!

If the world doesn't end tonight I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a productive New Year, I have every intention of restarting my blog in January, but of course you will have heard this all before so it's a question of watch this space, if you have the energy or inclination!!!
So hopefully see you in January with news from a wannabe writer who needs desperately to get back to writing. Wish me luck!

Tales from a Campervan

Well I leave Blogger for a couple of days and it's all changed!!!! Lets hope it's simple otherwise I'm in trouble.
Anyway back to the Campervan adventure.
Wed 14th March 6.30pm collect van from owner in our village. Very convenient but the owner is a fairly odd woman [answers door in silk nightie not a pleasant site] takes a long time to go through paperwork then husband explains workings of van. Also takes a long time and after they have a stand up row as to how many gas bottles we shall need [he says 2 she says 3, he was right but we end up taking 3] and a short test drive it's gone 8.30pm before we get back home. Too late to pack up the van now so we open a bottle of wine instead. Everything we are taking is already packed in boxes so all we shall need to do in the morning is pile everything in and set off. When I say everything I mean half the kitchen appears to be packed up. Kettle, teapot, mugs, tea,coffee, sugar, milk, chopping board, sharp knife, jug, kitchen roll, toilet roll, washing up liquid, eggs, sausages, beans, wine, fruit juice -------------- and of course clothes oh dear!! The list of essentials seemed endless, but French requirements seem limited compared to English ones so we had to be prepared. And we didn't want to be shopping on our first day.
Thurs 15th March 10am and we're off, our French neighbours insisted on waving us off on our adventure. We just hope we have everything. First stop Blanes on the Costa Brava, a spot of 'wild camping', not as you might think parties but parking in a car park just off the beach, not a proper camp site. Friends who own their own campervan had given us lots of advice including places where we could wild camp. This was one of their suggestions.
Arrived Blanes 3.30pm:                                                                                                               246kms.
Walked along the beach front, found a nice cafe/bar and had a sandwich and the first of many beers along the way. Had a wander but there was a cold wind blowing  so back to camper. It seems quite surreal to be showering and changing in a carpark!!  Most of Blanes was closed by the evening so a mediocre meal in a very quiet restaurant followed by an early night we were both exhausted. Again a rather weird sensation to be sleeping in a carpark. Our first day over.

Frid  16th March 10am leave Blanes heading for Peniscola on the Costa del Azahar took the only section of Motorway for the whole trip to avoid Barcelona. We were sticking to the coast roads wherever possible. Got lost round Tarragona, eventually arrived in Peniscola at a regular campsite [one of only two that we stayed at] only 10 euros so very good value.4.00pm                                                    318kms                     Cycled into town for a couple of beers, as it was too far to walk back in for the evening we decided to eat in the campervan. My first attempt at cooking in the van, not exactly coedon bleu but it filled us up. Next morning OH's main job of the whole trip is to empty the 'cassette' [chemical toilet needs emptying every two days] and fill up water tank. Then we drove into Peniscola parked the van next to the fishing port and fish market and wandered round the old town. A fortified hill town, rather touristy but as it's early in the season, fairly quiet and very pretty. We would be happy to visit this town again.

Sat 17th March 11.00am we left Peniscola heading for Valencia.
Who needs GPS? Well actually we might not have got lost if we had known how to use the GPS in the van, but that's a story for another day!!!

Back to miserable weather!!

3 weeks of warm sunny weather in Spain and we have returned to cold wet gloomy days. Today I can even see snow on the hills. And I managed to come back with a nasty little cold and sore throat, luckily on it's way now but i felt quite poorly last week. Having only just recovered from the New Year bug it seemed a bit unfair to pick something else up.
We thoroughly enjoyed our mini adventure, 3100 kms in 3 weeks, and we got as far as Grenada, which had been our aim. Before I write up some of the places we visited here is a list of the books I managed to read[on my kindle]:
Anita Shreve: A change in altitude and Resistance
Diane Chamberlain: The bay at midnight
Rose Tremain: Trespass
Sadie Jones: Small wars
Sohie Hannah: The truth tellers lies
Jodi Picoult: Second Glance
and a real book David Mitchell: The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet. You can't beat the feel of a real book, it has a lovely cover too.

I particularly enjoyed the last two, very different books but I do like to feel as if I'm learning something new when I read. Second Glance mixes ghosts with Abenaki Indians and the Vermont Eugenics progamme of the 1930's, rather difficult to follow at times with the interwoven stories and characters, but worth the effort. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is set in Japan at the turn of the 18th century and is centred on the Dutch East Indies Company trading base on a tiny man made island in the bay of Nagasaki. Beautifully written and a wealth of fascinating facts about Japan at that time plus a good story.

Must go away more often with no internet, television or other distractions from reading good books.
Next post will be about Spain, lots of photos, and Tapas, such a civilised way of eating.

Cruising in a campervan round Spain.

Well not all the way round! We are hiring a campervan for three weeks starting tonight, something we have never done before and may never do again. The aim is to get as far as Grenada following the east coast on the quiet roads stopping where and when we feel like it. Nothing is pre-planned except we hope to be in Valencia for this weekend [for my birthday] and for a fiesta which lasts all weekend and should be very exciting.
If we can find wifi places then I will try and post some photos on the way, if not it will be when we get home just before Easter.
I am really looking forward to seeing the Alhambra and many other places all along the coast. Hopefully it will not be too busy at this time of year but still it should be pleasantly warm, and I may even get a swim when we get far enough south.
Anyway off we go on our mini adventure.

Whatever happenned to January?

And half of February for that matter!!!
I had such good intentions to restart my blog on my 4th blogversary but since Boxing day I have been laid low by a nasty cold virus that turned into chronic sinusitis followed by bronchitis. I haven't been sleeping which has left me exhausted. I haven't been able to run, a terrible thing for someone totally addicted to running, or cycle, or do much at all really. Even reading has been hard work!!!!
I have just had my third session of acupuncture and yet more homeopathic remedies, but for once they really have been struggling to overcome the nasty virus still clinging on. I am hoping that with more sleep I shall have more strength to fight back.
To add to all this we have had about 8ins of snow and freezing temperatures for the past week or so with no sign of a thaw yet. And I thought we lived in the south of France not the frozen north!
Anyway enough of this moaning I am determined to banish the virus and get my life back to normal [whatever normal is]. So as of today I will be back visiting blogs and posting atleast once a week. I just hope that you haven't forgotten me, sob, sob, and will still visit me from time to time.
I am planning an overhaul of my blog as it seems to be set in a time warp, a bit like me really, but I shall see what I can do. So by for now and see you soon.

I still love Italy

Some more photos this time of around Lake Garda and quite a few of Verona, another amazing Italian city. The first of the Verona photos is of Juliet's balcony, mmmm!!!! Absolutely hoards of tourists in the courtyard beneath the balcony many leaving 'love tokens' stuck to the walls and love letters in a souvenir shop dedicated to the star crossed lovers. All very tacky and really rather sad. But the rest of Verona was fabulous so much to see but only one day, so would love to go back. Lake Garda was fascinating, lots of villages dotted round the shore all accessible by boat, all full of character, and each quite different. Quite touristy but generally not over the top. And we had fabulous weather which always helps!

Next stop the Alps.

I love Italy

Just a selection of some of the photos I took in Venice. I was surprised by my reaction, I thought I would be amazed by St. Mark's square but I found it soulless, atleast when compared to Sienna. Many of the buildings were under wraps for restoration but it wasn't even that. It didn't help that we couldn't get into Saint Marks because of the queue winding for miles round the Doge's Palace. But it just lacked something. However the Grand Canal and all the minor canals were mind blowing. What a feat of human ingenuity? It resembled a busy motorway with boats zipping around in every direction and at speed. Oh but it must be a hard place to live, everything bought in by boat then trollied[by hand] to home or business. No wonder the numbers of permanent residents is dwindling, and of course putting up with the thousands of tourists who arrive every day must be very wearing.

I was further amazed by the size of the Cruise ships that were docked. More like floating tower blocks. We stayed for two nights on the Lido which meant we didn't have to leave our car in a public carpark. This was an excellent choice as the Lido is much more relaxed and less claustrophobic than Venice itself, and the vaporetto across to Venice gives a panoramic view of the city.

My one regret was that I had just read Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers [see a later review] and had wanted to visit the Church of the Angel Raphael. We found it [after a long trek] just after midday and it was closed til mid afternoon. We did not have the time to return, but maybe that will be for another trip. I would like to go back and explore further. Preferably earlier or later in the year when the weather would be cooler and with maybe a few less tourists. However I am delighted to have had the chance of a brief visit.

From Venice we drove to Lake Garda to spend a week with friends from England, photos from the Lake in my next post.