The sun's gone down on January and the weather has been kind to us the last couple of days....

Yesterday (30th Jan) and today we've eaten multiple meals sitting outside bathed in warm sunshine...we keep lounging outside at every opportunity. The novelty of this in mid winter hasn't ebbed yet. Maybe we'll get over it in a while...we'll see!

We're on the northern side of the Pyrennees, spending a few days exploring the Basque region of France. We decided that it looked interesting, and so far it's rewarding us with warm sunshine and interesting places. It's a hard life .....

We're both down to one layer of clothes, and gradually exposing more skin to the sunshine. The tollers have started to lie in the shade some of the time, and dive into streams on walks. It's pleasant without being too hot for us, but if there's a significant increase in temperature...well we may head for the mountains rather than our current plans to continue southwards next week.

Many of the tourist attractions are closed for the winter, so it's obviously very popular in the summer, and so far we've only seen one other English motorhome, plus a few French and a couple of Dutch. The reports of massed English motorhomes down here seem to be exaggerated ...maybe they are even further south.

At present at St Jean Pied de Port, a historical town on the old pilgrims route, overnighting on the village Aire beside the Sports centre. The French are so welcoming to Motorcaravans compared to the English. A walk in the morning beside a mountain river should be interesting - to see if the tollers think it's hot enough to swim in meltwater!

Surf's Up!

Well, two more days driving southwards and Gary tells me we're in Acquitane. We're parked up for the night at Ondres de la Plage...which means we're by the beach...and the Atlantic breakers coming in are something to behold. For even the surfers I imagine it's a bit too much, even the locals are standing (with us) up on the dunes and just looking. A reminder that this is the Atlantic not the English Channel...the sound is amazing, a bit like a constant freight train in the middle distance.

Oh, and the sun has come out, with enough warmth that we've been peeling off layers and taking a medicinal dose of vitamin D....

The Tollers have gone from wriggling in the snow to wriggling in the sand dunes. And I'm digging out the scalibor collars against the southern sand flies!

Oh, and we've had our first glimpses of the Pyrenees...a new mountain range for all of us! Right, now off to dinner and then hopefully to watch UpHellyAa in Shetland on the live internet stream this evening!

Sunday in the Loire Valley

We made it through "le Tunnel" ...our first time under the channel, and waiting to board the trains, well they look like something out of a film set, almost prison like....the lack of windows, the dirty bland brown carriages....
But a short time later light flashed into the carriage, and the sun greeted us in France, sparkling off the snow. Yes, January, and more snow.

With my team of navigators alerted and switched on we set off...the team, in no particular order Katie, Tom and Gary...made up of one up date tablet, with bang up to date  Copilot software ....the smart one is female :-) Then there's the old guys, Tom whose maps are 5 years out of date, plus Gary who is the most adaptable and flexible...and the only one who can resolve differences of opinion between the other two!

The nice French motorways lulled us all into a sense of security, and we progress southwards towards Rouen. There's no hint of the recent "pongs" that have been in the news drifting towards England from a factory leak, thank goodness. At Rouen we drive out of the snow and then things get a bit more tricksy with the roads, due to French road closures - none of the navigation team are on "active traffic alerts!". Hey ho, with a bit of a diversion, and a drive beside the River Seine we find our way to the Aire at Oissel, parked up for the night beside the river just before the light goes.

After an evening with church bells every quarter hour, we sleep well and thankfully the nice people of Oissel don't carry on bell ringing all through the night. In the morning we wake early to find....a covering of snow - only a centimetre (we're in France, so of course it's not an inch), and little feline pawprints coming up to the van door - someone has been investigating us and the dogs water bowl!

 

Saturday we set off again, creeping gently out from the minor roads onto the well gritted main roads. I breathe a big sigh of relief, driving feels so much safer on the roads without the additional risk of skidding.

 

Several hours later the temperature is rising, and again we drive out of the snow as we head south. This time we're aiming for the Loire Valley and Camping LeCormier...from an ad in the Caravan Club magazine, and English (or as it turns out, Welsh) owned campsite open all year. Mike and Kath welcome us, and we fall in love with the place almost immediately. We're sited on hardstanding, beside the pond complete with ducks, hooked up the electric, wifi...and hot showers. It's a no brainer, we decide to stay two nights and have a day chilling out on Sunday.

 

 



Oh and we're "still" travelling with our fresh home grown flowers...guesses as to how long they'll last....

January 20th

With a smidge of snow on the ground still, and more on the way...we're installed in our home on wheels. Still in deepest Dorset, having moved out of our old cottage the grand distance of about 250metres. A few days to shake down the motorhome, packed to the gunnels...and to get to grips with modern technology. Doesn't actually feel very adventurous yet!
This has included venturing into the world of kindle ebooks at amazon. I'm still curious to know how a free ebook classic can be "out of stock" when I tried to download it....hopefully it'll be back in stock soon.
We're still settling into life in a small motorhome, just under six metres long but with all mod cons. Thank goodness we're used to this sort of lifestyle...but at the moment every cupboard, nook, and cranny is chockablock with things we think we need to take with us.

Excellent start....when I tried to preview it, the message "failed to load" popped up. I hope this isn't a hint of things to come with trying out modern tech life....that's twice now....do you think it's trying to tell me something??