A lazy day - and a taste of sun
Trip Start
May 23, 2008
1
15
19
Trip End
Jun 07, 2008
Banyuls-sur-mer,
France
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
that), Ralph woke up and headed for the loos. I decided to do the same,
and then he got the hump with me for taking my time to get back. I was
picking up our rubbish that had blown all over the camp. I had finally
just dozed off when there was a loud bang and a groan from Ralph.
We
have a plastic container with suckers, that sits behind the sink and
sticks to the window during the day. At night, we remove it so we can
pull the blind down, and put it on the ledge inside the roof space,
against the canvas. We have done this every night for 5 years. Tonight
the wind made the canvas move, pushing the container off, and it made a
beeline for Ralph's head.
I shoved the whole lot under the bed
and longed for home. I'd just dozed off again when Ralph announced he
was bleeding. He had a deep cut over the eye. I'm not even going to ask
if it can get any worse now, because I know it will.
Of
course, soon after this it started raining, but it did more or less
stop as we got moving. We were late getting up after the disruptions of
the night, and despite the dismal weather, we decided to stay a second
night, just to save the bother of packing up and driving on. It wasn't
a bad day, all-in-all. We walked into town, going a different route to
the usual, just looking at the back streets and visiting the station.
You can get to Perpignan, Toulouse and Paris from Banyuls and Ralph
gets discretionary discounts as an employee of a UK train company. It
should take about 24 hours to do Bournemouth to London, Eurostar to
Paris and then down to Banyuls - and no packing the Bongo - nice. In
the other direction, the trains stop at Portbou, where you can change
and go on to Barcelona or wherever.
By the time we
reached the station, it was looking like it might rain again, and Ralph
announced that he had levelled the awning that morning(meaning the
central part would fill with water and potentially be damaged).
Dohhhhhhhhhhhhhh! You've got to watch him all the time!
Back
we went, up the hill, and I left him to climb the slope to the Bongo
while I hung around reception trying to find a bus timetable to go to
Port-Vendres and Collioure. 15 minutes later I climbed the hill to find
him connecting to electricity. And so the day slipped away. Never did
find the bus timetable, but we got to the seafront at about 1.30 and
installed ourselves in a restaurant ovelooking the beach, where a sweet
waitress told us our French was very good (you can rely on me to sort
out all the food and drink words in any language).
I
had an enormous seafood salad and couldn't walk it off even after a
couple of hours. We both love this place. The temptation to look in
estate agents windows overcame us, but like all seaside locations, it's
megabucks. We did find a flat with a sea view that was very affordable,
and it's massively tempting for a weekend (Bongo-free) getaway, but we
know we will hate the place in the high summer season. Better to live
inland and visit.
We've been talking camper vans all
holiday - our ultimate intention being to replace Bongo with a long
wheelbase high top conversion like Timberland or ih. You don't see many
of these in France, the locals apparently preferring their square boxes
with portaloo doors. That's always been our view of the coach built and
A-class stuff. The accommodation is obviously great, especially for
long trips, but they lack manoeuvrability and the entrance is so small
you are either in or you are out. With a van conversion you get a
patio door with the sliding side door, that allows you the shelter of
the inside while still feeling outside. Also, at La Pinede, we were
able to park Bongo in a tent-sized space with a view to die for (try
putting your Pilote there, monsieur).
Today though, we saw a
long wheelbase, high top Fiat Ducato conversion with a French number
plate. That's really interesting because we are thinking about buying a
European conversion, given that we do almost all our travelling on the
continent. On the strength of this I have decided to buy a French
motorhome magazine. So, soon it won't be 'born2bongo' or
2britsandabongo'. Maybe 'doomed2ducato', or '2reprobatesandarenault'.
No, get real. '2drunksandaducato'.
It's 8.20pm now and
the wind is still blustery and cooler than before. It's just started to
rain but probably won't last. Although it hasn't exactly been scorchio
today, it's been dry and warm, and we've recharged a bit. We've worked
out that we could get to Le Havre in a 12 hour drive (or 2 * 6 hour
drives), using the toll roads, so we don't have to leave until Friday,
but we are going to take a slow potter through the beautiful valleys to
Quillan and Foix, rather than the faster route via Carcassone.
Of course, there's still time for Bongo to blow down the mountain,
break down or any number of other disasters, so watch this space. For
now though, and despite feeling chilly in the strong breeze, we are
feeling more chilled than for a while. It's the Banyuls effect - check
it out.
