Early sumer holiday, 9 June 2025

La Roche-Posay, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

It was a lovely morning this morning, and, despite having to pay an extra €6 for out staying our booking, we didn't hurry. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk before breakfast to try to find an open boulangerie (successfully, eventually), and afterwards went for a quick walk along the river. I went down to the river while he was emptying the loo and so on; it really is lovely there.

We knew that tonight we would be parked up in a supermarket car park (which does have services, but no electricity), so we decided we wouldn't hurry, and looked up interesting things to do en route. We found a Lidl that was open (today is a public holiday in France) and stopped there for me to redeem my coupon for a free baguette, among other things. The first interesting place we called at, though, was an ancient Roman site at Bouchaud, which was up a very steep hill ("It's only about 50 metres," said the Swan Whisperer, encouragingly. Quadruple that, and you might be about right!) but worth seeing when you got there.

Also lovely views of the countryside roundabout. The visitor centre was closed, but we didn't know whether that was normal Monday behaviour or because of the public holiday. 

We had lunch there and then headed on across country - simply glorious views the whole way, and mostly lovely straight roads - to here, going slightly out of our way to visit a tourist trap called Angles-sur-l'Anglin; this had a rather spectacular ruined castle and was obviously a Thing to Do on a Bank Holiday, as it was rather crowded, so we couldn't stop. Then we drove down through La-Roche-Posay to this Super U out the other side. It will be convenient for the morning, is all I can really say about it! 

Early Summer Holiday, 8 June 2025

Cognac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

This morning slightly spoilt by the discovery that I had made a mistake booking the Camping-Car Park, and our stay both last night and tonight was due to end at 08:30. I thought at first I would have to pay an extra night's fees, but, in fact, one only has to pay €6, like you do when you just use their services. Anyway, I got in touch with them and enquired, and they kindly refunded me the €6, which was nice of them. But I do wish they wouldn't advertise their sites as having WiFi when they do not, so annoying!

Anyway, when we were ready we used the services and headed on. Our first port of call was a Super-U for bread and one or two other things - I ended up buying more cheese than I intended, but we didn't eat it for lunch as I bought leek tarts which we had with salad. We stopped to have this in a little village which rejoice in the name of Pissos! And on the same direction-board, but unfortunately underneath rather than above, a village called Ychoux! It occurred to me that if one did the latter, one might well do the former by mistake.... And the Swan Whisperer said it would go well with Cognac, where we are staying tonight.

As it is Pentecost, I might have found us an English church to join in with, or perhaps we might have headed north via Pau, but it is also our own church's anniversary, and we had a very old friend taking the service, so we decided to watch the YouTube stream instead, which we did before eating. 

When we arrived, we filled the WoMo up with water and then had a cup of tea, before heading out to see what was what. We decided that we were early enough to do a tour at a Cognac factory; we thought at first of going to Martell, which is just across the road from the aire, but the visitor centre was up a very steep hill, and anyway, it was nearly their closing time. So we went to Hennessey instead, just along the road.

It was fabulous! The last tour of the day was about to happen, so we joined that. First of all they take you on a short river cruise, mostly to show off the extent of their domain, but also the one remaining mediaeval city gate, and the Chateau (now a museum). The boat dropped you on the other side of the river, where we were shown a short film outlining the history of the company - the 8th generation of the family are still involved! Then we were shown a graphic of how the wine was made - it is a very acid grape to control the proof of the wine, which must be between 9 and 10.5°. This is because any stronger and it would interfere with the distillation process, which we learnt about next. The first and last litres of the distillate are recycled, I didn't quite gather why. The result is eau de vie, which we were allowed to smell, and it smelt gorgeous. This is then put into barrels to mature for a bare minimum of 2 years, and some of the rarest brandies are there for even a century or more! The barrels are kept in cellars known as "chais", not "caves", and there is some ritual involved when a worker places his first row of barrels, and they get their name inscribed on a barrel which has a bunch of flowers left on it and have to bring in cake.... 

The guide then went into considerable detail about the blending process, and I got a bit lost, but I gather the tasting committee meets every morning at 11:00 am and tastes a good hundred cognacs throughout the day (they do spit it out!) to get the finished product just right. And then we had our own tasting. One was the VS, matured between 2 and 6 years. It was horribly harsh, and would not be my drink of choice! Then we tried the VSOP, matured for a lot longer, which was much nicer on first taste, but still a bit harsh. We then tried it on the rocks, which was lovely, and finally a cocktail known as a Henny-Rita, which was like a margarita only with Cognac. The Swan Whisperer loved it, but I thought it a little too sweet for my taste.

Then, of course, but came the hard sell in the gift shop, but we were immune to such blandishments and came away to eat asparagus, pork chops with pasta and an apple-and-onion mixture, followed by home-made yoghurt with strawberries. The strawberries were a bit tasteless, not a patch on the French Garriguettes, which I'll buy some more of later in the week. Tomorrow is a public holiday, and I don't think most shops will be open. 

Early summer holiday, 7 June 2025

Arjuzanx, Morcenx-la-Nouvelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

There was a lovely sunrise when I woke up this morning - I don't think my photos quite do it justice! 

I don't quite know why, but we decided to go back to the huge Acampo in Tinxudan to do the necessary shopping. Frankly, I'd have preferred it had we stopped in the first out-of-town shopping centre we came across, which looked to have a far more manageable supermarket! The drive there was lovely, though, along a non-toll motorway which was really rather spectacular.

I dutifully shopped, although I couldn't find fresh orange juice anywhere, so bought a bag of oranges which we can squeeze ourselves instead - I rather prefer that, when plI can be bothered. Then it was lunch-time, and then we drove up a French motorway to this little place in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it's in a former lignite quarry, and there is a large lake with a beach.

It is a very pleasant aire, surrounded by woods, and the Swan Whisperer sat out reading while I tried to see if I could make my Kindle Fire behave (I couldn't. It will be replaced when I get home, by an Android tablet with its own keyboard and mouse! A birthday present from the Swan Whisperer!), and then did a short tai chi workout. It being Saturday, the SW has cooked supper, and I think I shall have an early-ish night as I am really rather sleepy! It is now too cold to sit out-of-doors - we had hoped to eat out, but it cooled rapidly as the sun went down, although it won't be dark for another hour or more. 

Early summer holiday, 6 June 2025

Pamplona, Navarre, Spain

So today was All About Pamplona. The Swan Whisperer went for a run first thing, only to reappear just as I was about to get into the shower, so I had to let him go first ("Then I can make breakfast!" he said). But it was not long before breakfast was on the table.

We set off about 10:00, not getting off to a good start as the SW misread the map and we went to the wrong roundabout to wait for the bus into town. And then when we were on the bus, it didn't stop at the stop we wanted, so we were "carried on to Crewe" and had to walk back, but it was actually a rather lovely walk across a bridge and through a park.

We didn't go in to the Plaza del Toros - I think it was closed, anyway - but had a quick look at the outside and then crossed the road to head into the Old Town.

The first thing we came to was the former palace gardens, now filled with booksellers round a large square. Then we found the local market hall, and had a look round there - and used the delightfully air-conditioned facilities - before walking up to the Cathedral. It cost five euros to go in, so we didn't, but by then I was needing a breather, so we went to the bar across the square and proved the truth of our daughter's comment that the only words you really need to know in any language are "two beers, please"!

 Once we - or rather I - got our second winds, we had a lovely potter round the old town, ending up at the statue of the bulls running,

after which we found a place to have lunch. This was a bit of a failure because although the food was delicious, there were no side-dishes, and they didn't bring me a spoon for the broth in my squid in its own ink,

and I didn't know what to ask for. The waiter did speak a little English, but not much. We only had - only wanted - a main course, and when we had had it (I couldn't finish mine, but didn't quite like to ask for a doggy bag), we walked back to the WoMo across a park and down a lift.

After a rest, I popped into the petrol station next door to see if they had any fizzy water, which they did, and fruit, which they didn' t, but did also get a baguette for supper, which will be bread, cheese and salad. Over 11k steps today - I hope I don't regret it tomorrow. 

Early Summer Holiday, 5 June 2025

Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

I fell asleep after my alarm went off this morning, which I hate doing as it makes me cross, sleepy and late for breakfast! Where we were parked up was on the corner of an enormous shopping mall, and I spent what was left of the morning wandering round a huge Alcampo, which is the Spanish version of Auchan. I didn't buy anything much - bread for lunch and one or two other things, including Himalayan pink salt that I haven't been able to get anywhere else. And a couple of very thin steaks for supper, but they were under €3 for the pack, so I pounced on them! And pretty much got my step count for the day in, going round that enormous superstore. 

We then headed off on the relatively short drive to Pamplona, which is in Navarre. I'm sure we have had Queens and so on from here - wasn't Berengaria a queen of Navarre, and I think there was a Joan of Navarre, too, but I'm not sure how she fits in! I Will have to look her up! It was a lovely scenic drive through the hills - in fact, the only photo I took today was on the drive. We stopped in a random aire for lunch, as it was getting late, and, of course, there was a much nicer one a few hundred metres down the road, but that's sod' law! 

Park 4 Night said that you should check when you arrived at this aire to make sure there was a space, as people tend to pay when they leave and this throws the count off. And a nice Dutch couple had just claimed the last space! The Swan Whisperer went to help them with checking in, and I looked up nearby places to park up, but just as we were about to go, the Dutch woman came running up and told us someone was just leaving! So we dashed in and grabbed the space, and are here, we think, for the next two nights, although we might move on tomorrow afternoon, we'll see. 

I was still tired, and also absorbed in the new Richard Coles' Daniel Clement mystery, plus it was hot, so we opened up everything that could be opened up and then after a cup of tea the Swan Whisperer went for a walk. He actually went for two walks and missed his route coming back for the second one, which nearly made him late for supper! 

I decided it was too hot to cook more than was strictly necessary, so instead of serving the steak with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes, as I had first planned, we had it with salad and bread and butter instead! And very good it was, too! Followed by some Basque Coffee-flavoured dessert (not "Flan", delicious though that is) and cherries which need eating! We picked out all the bad ones and, when we had eaten our fill, the good ones went in the fridge! 

Early Summer Holiday, 4 June 2025

Txingudi Motorhome Park. Ventas, 20305, Gipuzkoa, Spain

We had hoped to go for a walk round CapBreton this morning, but the main car park was full, so it didn't happen. So, I after I had done a big shopping in a nearby Intermarché, we set sail for this motorhome park in Spain, very near Irun and so on. 

It was a lovely drive, through Bayonne and St-Jean-de-Luz,

among other places. Then we got to Hendaye, and turned left over a bridge and were in Spain! It was still another 20 minutes or so to the aire, which is your typical urban aire, no camping, but everything provided, including quite the best free WiFi we have had so far this holiday. It also has laundry facilities, which we are profiting from even as we speak! I hope we will then be able to manage until we go home, although I'm very much hoping we can do the laundry in the new facilities outside Carrefour in Calais before we go home, which would save a lot of time and stress! 

Anyway, the first thing we did was have lunch, and then, thanks to copious instructions from the extremely nice site manager via Google Translate, we set off to catch the bus to a place called Honorrabia, which was highly recommended by everyone! I had never heard of it, but it was well worth visiting - a walled citadel

(fortunately accessible by lift) with lots of steep narrow streets and a magnificent view. More photos than you will want to look at the are on Facebook! 

After wandering around very happily for an hour, we caught the bus back to the aire - actually to a huge shopping centre just by it; I might have to explore the enormous supermarket in the morning only, being Spain, it doesn't open until 10:0 am, and we may want to be away by then. We shall see. 

Early Summer holiday, 3 June 2025

Soorts-Hossegor, Landes, France

We didn't do much this morning; the weather has gone back on us a bit. So we didn't hurry, but used the services and then headed out to the nearest Hyper-U, but in fact there was an "everything" shop in the same area, so I went in there and was delighted to find a vinyl tablecloth to replace ours, which has worn out. There was also a Lidl, so I shopped in there, as all I wanted was bread for lunch!

We then drove on through Arcachon and the various other seaside towns in that locality, and then down the coast.

Why do seaside towns always have vast Moderne blocks of flats, as though visiting the seaside was something that only started happening in the 1920s/30s? I After all, the it was the Prince Regent who made places like Brighton and it's cheaper relative Worthing fashionable a hundred years earlier!

We were looking out for a place to stop for lunch and thought we saw somewhere, but it turned out to be a place where they were building a solar field, and no public access. So the Swan Whisperer reversed the WoMo - and got stuck! The soil was very loose, and we kept digging ourselves into it deeper and deeper! We tried using the mats from the inside - not too sure they will ever be the same again! Eventually the old one vinyl tablecloth came to our aid, and we got out, rather grubby! We now have no internal mats for at least the rest of the holiday (and I could have replaced them earlier, had I known!). Although they will probably be all right once they have been given a good shaking and brushing, and then put in the washing-machine at home!

Anyway, we finally stopped in a village called Pontenx-les-Forges, and I thought it looked familiar, and then I realised we had parked in the exact same spot to have our meal in February 2023!

Then on and on down minor roads to this aire in Soorts-Hossegor, where we have stayed a couple of times before. The WiFi isn't working, which is maddening of it, as there is very little phone signal. Just enough to upload this, I hope. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk round the lake, and has come back rather wet, as it rained! Of course, the rain is now away, but he is going to have a shower before supper. He says he wants to run round it in the opposite direction in the morning. No tai chi for me today because of the weather, but I hope to get a decent walk tomorrow.