A doll interlude

All those not interested in dolls and doll-making can skip this bit. I do know there is at least one doll maker looking in.

It's not all lazing about (Well,a lot of it is). I have finished a doll. This is the Julie Arkell challenge doll - supposed to be. Not sure whether I've succeeded. I struggled for a long time when she was more Milly-Molly-Mandy. Think it was the shoes. Anyway, there she is with elements of Julie A.....buttons, knitting, bits of newsprint, but I think others rose to the challenge better than I did with this one!

We do have another doll on board. The fishy lady (not a mermaid) is a kind of mascot, made in Italy by the shores of Lake Trasimeno after seeing fishermen landing fish.

We prefer to have her rather than the huge collection of cuddly toys that a few campervanners seem to favour!

  

At the campsite

4.30p.m. and we're still relaxing - well, it is 30 degrees in the shade. I'm glad we're not driving today. This is the pool which we haven't used yet, but may do later. Not too busy at this time of year.

A bit of relaxation

We're enjoying our weekend at this campsite. Had a bike ride yesterday to the nearest resort, Le Vieux Boucau. An easy ride on cycle tracks all the way. We came here a couple of years ago. It's a (fairly) newly created place, and although I don't tend to like new places, this one is extremely well done, making good use of all the natural features. It's built around an inland salt water lake.
When we were last here we didn't have bikes with us and looked enviously at all the people cycling round the lake. So this time we were able to put that right.

Here's Maurice obeying the letter of the law. Unlike most of the French cyclists.

Down to the coast

When we woke up on Thursday we were shrouded in mist. We drove down to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, one of our favourite places, even on a not so good day like today. There was fine rain, so this isn't a bad photo, considering. It's the classic view of the House of the Infanta, where Maria Teresa, Infanta of Castile stayed before her marriage to Louis XIV in the local church.

We were very taken with this campervan - inside a furnishing fabric shop. The uphostery matched the paintwork.

An unexpected treat -takeaway chips from a beachside stall. No wonder I'm not losing any weight! No, it was a treat to eat something I hadn't cooked myself. And....French chips are always delicious.

After driving through busy Bayonne - not used to civilisation and traffic now - we found a campsite at Messanges. So a few days relaxation coming up. Also we thought you might be missing us by now. Yesterday, Friday, we cycled down to our nearest beach for a paddle.

The whole of the Atlantic coast is like this.It's a very long beach!

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

On Wednesday we were still on the Compostela trail

Walked to the old town via the walls.This is the view the pilgrims had as they saw the mountains and the road to Spain and Santiago de Compostela.  

We entered through the Porte St. Jacques and came across the free refuge for pilgrims.Maurice looks as though he needs a refuge on this photo, don't you think?

Exciting to see pilgrims with a donkey! This was as we reached the bottom of the long, steep main street and the Porte D'Espagne, which leads staight over the Pyrenees and into Spain.

Here is Maurice coming through the gate and feeling frustrated that he is not travelling on to Compostela.

We turned a corner and came across the donkey again - attracting a lot of attention, mainly because of the noises it was making.

This was the doorway of one of the refuges. You can probably make out the shell on the rucksack. (Symbol carried by pilgrims)



French roundabouts are fascinating. No two are the same. This was covered with a profusion of wild flowers.Any ideas, Margaret?



A coffee stop in Cambo, and we admired the Town Hall, complete with Basque script.

Another roundabout here - this time a cockerel.

We moved on and endured a very hot afternoon. At 31 degrees even the French were complaining. We were glad to reach this aire on the Col d'Ibardin. During our meal we were visited and observed by these horses, and then a herd of cows.

We were pretty high up here, so we had our first view of the Atlantic. (Our 'van is the one with the awning.)

Tuesday May 24th.

Here I am by the fronton in Laruns, enjoying a stroll before moving on. Almost every town and village in the Basque Region has one of these, where they play their national game: Jai Alai (Pelota).

Maurice on the walls at Navarrenx...........................

................while I kept an eye open for intruders.

This is where we had our picnic.

This is Sauveterre, where it was too hot to follow the town trail provided by the Tourist Office!

We finally made it to the aire at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port............more about this fantastic spot tomorrow....

More mountains on Monday

We're back online again after a few days driving in the mountains - I've gone round enough hairpin bends to last me a lifetime! Had a spectacular run on Monday up to the Col de Soulor and then a hair raising drive up to the Col d'Aubisque. (The last time we came over this one, a good few years ago, was in thick fog!!)

No, Maurice didn't suddenly shrink. These three giant bikes (See next photo) are to mark the fact that the Tour de France goes over this Col. The French are so imaginitive.

We were going to make a phone call from here but the queue was too long.............

The sheep were fascinated by the campervans.

Eventually, and many hairpins later, we found a good Aire at Laruns. Just a huge car park really, but marked out for 'vans and thoughtfully placed just near the main street. Main thing though - the view.

And this is Maurice!

Hi! Shenagh has allowed me a slot on her blog just to update you with a few boring facts as we're about half-way through our trip now. Here I am outside two of my favourite shops, the others being Aldi and Netto......
Shenagh, like the queen, doesn't handle money, so I generally do the shopping.
We've travelled 1508 miles in three weeks and we're still taking it easy on a campsite at Lourdes but will be moving on and using aires again tomorrow (Monday).                                           
The price of diesel has been around 1 euro 35 per litre, except in Andorra (1 euro 09). We've been paying around 11 euros when on campsites, inclusive of electricity.Using campsites has enabled us to get online as Wifi is often available, and usually free, although you have to take your laptop to a point near the reception or office to get the signal. That's not a problem as long as your battery has enough juice. We bought a mains inverter (120 W) before we set off, hoping to use it to keep the laptop charged up as we travelled along (via the cigar lighter socket) but the fuse blew!...........must sort that out.
We have a satellite TV set-up which runs on 12 volts as well as mains but we're too far south to get much on Astra 28E, so we're limited to whatever we can find on Astra 19E: lots of stuff in German, some Spanish, some French, some Arabic.........and BBC World.  Should be able to watch The Apprentice again when we get north of Bordeaux.

We hope to do a few more mountain passes (weather permitting), spend some time in the Basque Country, and travel north along part of the Atlantic coast. Let us know if there are any more boring facts you'd like to know!

A couple of fun things to finish with...

Good to know that reading is allowed.

Lourdes

Not our first visit to Lourdes, but it's an interesting experience....especially the abundance of souvenir shops reminiscent of Blackpool! By the Grotto, however, the atmosphere is quite different.

The queue to get to the Grotto itself was very long! Near this spot is a row of taps where people can fill up their containers of all sizes. I liked the way this African woman was carrying her 20 litres on her head!

In front of the basilica there was a service going on with an impressive array of prayers and singing in many languages.

So, a couple of days relaxation at the campsite here (and probably a bit of clothes washing!) and then we'll be on the road again. Will add more when we can.
Any new followers - you can see previous posts by looking at the archive section.