Last blog in France for a while!!

24 + 25 May – Mostly swimming and relaxing although we managed to do the laundry at a laundrette and download a blog in the town of Frontignan. The bikes are really great for getting around and there seems to be good cycleways wherever we need them.

26 May – After a huge shop we set off to Millau and the famous viaduct. The drive up the A75 was impressive. The road is a feat of engineering (tunnels etc) even without the viaduct. We drove on the old road to the town and enjoyed a bike ride around the village with the viaduct in the background.
We paid the toll (9.20 euro) and drove towards the viaduct but stopped at the information centre and discovered that we could spend the night there. The views of the viaduct from the north end are spectacular. We walked up the path to the view point several times, including a visit at night.
The imagination and audacity to even try and build a viaduct across the huge valley is unbelievable. Photos do not do the viaduct credit!!

27 May – We had a long drive today zig-zagging thru the Midi Pyrenees valleys. We had lunch at the ancient’s city of Carcassone. The old city is totally surround by fortifications and walls. Inside it has restaurants and tourist shops. Still very beautiful however. We headed south and inland into the high Pyrenees gorges to end up tonight in an alpine village. We were going to drive to Andorra tomorrow but have decided another 100kms on these mountain roads is not worth it just to say that we have been to another country.
Our navigation with the GPS is improving. Val takes a lot of time and effort to make sure that we are on track. Sometimes the language, arguing and name calling is unbelievable and that is just Val talking to the GPS.

28 May – Today we walked up a narrow Gorge de Caranca and climbed up to Col and then along a path hacked out of the cliff face. A bit scary!! Did not really appreciate the drops until we looked back up the cliff. A beaut 2 hour walk. We intended to catch a narrow gauge train to the next village. We asked the locals and it all seemed OK until the train did not arrive. We walked back to “Lefty” and after consulting our phrase book realized the train was in fact a bus on Fridays. Bugger!!
As it was raining we decided to head out of the mountains and down to coast to our next camp at Collioure, near the Spanish border.
The camp is set on a headland with private coves. We have a view of the sea.

29 May – We set off on our bikes to the village of Collioure. The town is a fortified harbour. It was very picturesque, with lovely restaurants and shops set around the harbour in the beautiful old buildings. Two bands (mainly brass, woodwind and percussion) wandered around the town competing to draw the largest crowd playing, mostly jazz, and having a great time. One lot were dressed in Abba outfits.
Back to camp and down to one of our private coves for sun bathing and many swims in the warm clear water. We had a meal at the camp restaurant. The local rugby championship was being played on the TV. Perpignan, (just up the road) v Clermont-Ferrand.

30 May – A lazy day catching up with laundry and house work. Not much in a 6m motor home. Back down to our cove for sun and swimming.
You may find I keep change from the past tense to the present tense. That is because I only update the file I keep this in from time to time. I hope it all makes some sense and is not too boring!