A Weekend in Wales, Saturday.

It really was the most glorious morning. The forecast had been for a cold front to come in overnight, but I don't think it did. It was fresh, but sunny and bright, and I lay in my bed and watched the sheep on the hill, and dozed until about 7:30.

The Swan Whisperer got up and went for a run, but I just enjoyed my tea. After breakfast, though, we went for a walk up to the Horseshoe Falls,

where the water feeds in to the start of the Llangollen Canal, only used for pleasure boats now, but it also provides water for Crewe, among other places.  The valley is very busy, with our road one side, then the canal, then the tow path, then the river Dee, then the railway and finally the A5, all within a kilometre or less.

We cane back to the van for the Swan Whisperer to get changed into smarts, and then set off back down the road to the hotel, only a couple of hundred yards away for the lunch that had brought us to Wales. Not very enjoyable - I didn't know anybody, the food wasn't great, and it was horribly noisy, but I enjoyed watching the steam trains across the river,

and later we walked up to the station and had a look round,

before coming back here, whereupon the SW went for yet another walk (where does he find the energy?), and I read and drank tea.  We didn't need much supper, of course, but enjoyed cheese on toast.

A weekend in Wales, Friday

This evening finds us in a nursery gardens near Llangollen, from which tomorrow we can walk down to the hotel where there is a formal lunch with the Swan Whisperer's former colleagues, though quite why here I don't know.

So we set off about noon, and it was the usual slow going out of London. We stopped at Oxford services for lunch, and then it was fast until Birmingham, and then crawled past it, Telford, Shrewsbury, Uttoxeter and really until the turn-off for Llangollen. And people wonder why we prefer motoring abroad.

This is a Caravan Club certified location, very pleasant.  The owner is a Lay Reader and has offered to take us to the open-air service on Sunday morning, which should be lovely.  Meanwhile, the forecast is for it to be cold tomorrow, so we have bought plenty of warm clothes.  Enough, I hope, to do us this time! 

April Holiday, final day

We woke up this morning at the Aire du Baie de la Somme, and the Swan Whisperer went out for a run.  We had hoped to have a proper breakfast in the restaurant, but it was not open, only the café, so we got a coffee and something to eat while taking advantage of the free WiFi. 

Then we drove up to Calais, bought diesel, shopped, and came home on the Shuttle.  The drive to London was swift and smooth, and then it was a matter of unpacking and putting away and so on before I had to go to a meeting.

So we are home for a week, and then off to Welsh Wales.....  Meanwhile, I'm going to add photos to the other posts in this holiday.

April Holiday, Days 12 and 13

I couldn't post last night as we were staying with a friend, and while she has WiFi, it did not work in the garden and I could scarcely write a blog post while chatting!  And there was almost no mobile signal.

We woke up yesterday morning on this farm in Concèze, in the Corrèze department, and the Swan Whisperer decided to go for a run - and got lost!  Fortunately he found himself just as I was setting out to rescue him, so that was all right.  I have an app that marks where one has parked, so you can always get back, but I don't think he has that.

We decided to go to Périgueux for the day, and spent several happy hours there, wandering around the historic streets, visiting the Cathedral

and having a cup of tea on a café terrasse.  Then we set off north again to drive to our friend's house, which took about 3 hours. We had a lovely evening with her and her cats, and after a rather late breakfast this morning set off for our long day's drive north as far as the Aire du Baie de Somme, where we are spending the night before heading home tomorrow.

April Holiday, Day 11

I think that, next time I plan a 2-week holiday, I shall incorporate another rest day.  I just didn't feel like exploring and driving today, but no real choice. We set off quite late and drove north towards Cahors, after which we turned off to go to various villages recommended by the guide book I bought the other day. But it was a fine Sunday, and everywhere was crowded with tourists, and I just felt meh.... So we came to this farm where we - and two other vans - are spending the night, and we bought apples, and the SW went for a walk, but I want an early night, I think.

April Holiday, Day 10

Sadly, the clear skies under which we had gone to sleep this morning clouded over during the night, and the Swan Whisperer was lucky not to get wet when he went for his run. However, it didn't start raining until he was safely in the shower.

We said goodbye to our hosts at about 10:00 and set off towards Foix. Our first port of call was a supermarket, in Perpignan, to stock up for the weekend - only apparently Monday isn't a bank holiday here, they don't transfer May Day. Thursday is a holiday, Ascension Day, and they used to have 8 May (VE Day) and Whit Monday, too. This year that will be on the 16th, I suppose - it's always  the last Monday in May whenever Pentecost is in the UK, and has been for the last 40 years or so.

Anyway, apart from fresh bread we have enough to do us until Tuesday morning.  We thought, as we were in the area, that we would go a bit further south still and visit the Château de Gudanes, which is being refurbished by an Australian family.

Nobody was at home, but I'm glad we saw it, anyway.  Then the Satnav said it was only another 2 hours to where we had tentatively planned to spend the night, if we didn't mind paying motorway tolls, so we headed off.  Not nearly such an interesting drive, of course - the first bit, while on good enough roads, had been full of hairpin bends and mountain scenery and so on.  This was just boring motorway, mostly round Toulouse (felt that way).

We are now on a farm outside Montauban, so technically still in the South of France. It is still cold and windy, and we might have to have hot-water bottles again tonight, having not wanted them the past two nights.

April Holiday, Day 9

This morning found us at Carcassonne. We needed to check out by noon, or pay another night's fees, so we were up betimes and after breakfast we went out for a walk to walk up to the Cité, which was horribly steep but well worth it, not least for a glimpse of the the snow-capped Pyrenees in the distance.

  The ramparts themselves date back to the Romans and beyond, but were extensively, although not authentically, restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19 th century.  It was good to get up there early, before the crowds, although there were already long queues outside the museum.  And, indeed, when we got back to the campsite, our neighbours were only just having breakfast! 

So we drove away down to Narbonne and then turned right towards Perpignan, a city which to me is a dream or a fantasy. When I was in what would now be called Year 8, we had to memorise a series of answers to various questions in French, one of which was "Où se trouve Perpignan ?". I forget what the only acceptable answer was, but the question has stuck with me.

We stopped for lunch by one of the big sea-lochs with which this part of the world abounds

and, unfortunately, when we actually arrived in Perpignan, I was rather too sleepy to enjoy it.  But I have been there, and it is real!

We are parked up for the night on a farm about 10 km out of the city, which is part of the France Passion network. Beautifully quiet, we are the only van here.

The owners were very friendly, and we appear to have bought some wine, but it is very good. They devote different sections of their vineyard to different grapes, and are very much small-scale producers.

Dinner was home-made; couscous with chicken and enough vegetable stew to do us again tomorrow, when we shall have it with merguez...mmm....