ann and andy lawrenson

Hi All, we have had several very pleasant days out while we have been here, despite the weather being pretty iffy. We went to Lagrasse, which is supposed to be one of the prettiest villages in France on Tuesday. Tom and Sam stayed there last summer. Yesterday we went to the four chateaux at Lastours. These are right at the top of a mountain and Ann insisted on walking the whole way up. It took her ages and she can’t walk today but you have to admire her determination. I just wish she wasn’t quite so stubborn and was prepared to wear bandages and proper walking boots and carry a stick!

 As you can see from the photo the sunflowers are out and I have done the necessary on my left ear. All I need now is an encouraging brother to subsidise me to paint for a few years and life will be sorted! Nikki Luxford  has just sold another of my large sculptures on behalf of her charity One Step Malawi, which puts me two pieces ahead of van Gogh!

Sorry we can’t upload more photos. Upload speed is so slow they take about half an hour each. Congratulations to Chloe on doing so well in her talent competition playing guitar and singing, and much thanks to her guitar teacher. If she keeps it up it will be a pleasure for her entire life.

Leaving here on Sunday for a long drive to the Dordogne where we are looking forward to meeting up with Peter and Tatiana. All the best. Andy.

The campsite is called the Moulin de Saint Anne. We had to stay here! We walked up to the top of the hill to see the mill this afternoon. Our caravan is in the middle of the picture. It is still raining off and on but very restful. Did a bit of wine tasting yesterday. Very nice but pricey!

Well, we survived another storm of biblical proportions on the Thursday before we left Spain, with loads of flashing lightning and rolling thunder that continued for minutes at a time,before packing up and heading for Villegly, near Carcassone. The Beast behaved immaculately all the way, but I could hear the constant sound of Ann grinding her teeth with anxiety at the thought of being stranded at the roadside again. The journey went fine until about ten miles from our venue when we took a wrong turn as soon as we got off the motorway and ended up crawling round tight bends in tiny villages on the wrong side of the road. We eventually arrived at the site (very rural, very quiet, very pretty) with thunder rumbling all around and just managed to get set up before France welcomed us with a deluge similar to the one we had left in Spain but longer lasting and with much stronger winds. I had just gone for a walk when it struck and was soaked within seconds. It hammered down throughout the night, and apparently they had hailstones as big as golf balls just down the road. The caravan roof sprung a leak around one of the seals which will need fixing. Fortunately not over the bed! Today’s newspapers reckon that 70 per cent of the grapes have been lost over a swathe of country 20k wide. I feel an application for an EEC subsidy coming on.
We went out for a coffee this morning, which was exactly twice the price it is in Spain. The village seems very run down, and I would hate to be a paint supplier in France. You’d sell about two tins a year! All the best for now, Andy.

Hi All, When were in Africa I always reckoned that the best way to avoid being bitten by mosquitos was to sleep next to Ann. Fortunately for me European mosies seem to have similar tastes. Ann is waging a nightly war on the little buggers but is losing every time. The early part of the night is punctuated by constant cursing and slapping. The light goes on at about 3am and we slaughter as many of them by hand as we can. The walls of the van are beginning to resemble an abattoir! Thus far I remain completely unbitten.

Mosies excepted things are pretty good. We got completely flooded out last Wednesday and ended up in a swamp for a couple of days, but this is a really good campsite, even if it is a bit busy for our taste. We went to their entertainment night last night and it was just like Hi de Hi.

 The photo is of the castle at the end of the beach. The Beast is now repaired, more cheaply than we had expected, and Ann is walking further every day, although her ankles are still swollen after a few hundred yards. We have had a good trip out into the mountains, and are doing swimming and aquafit every day.  Even around here you only have to go fifteen miles inland to hit rural Spain, where the villages haven’t changed for decades.

Communications are still a major problem. My email only seems to deliver about half of the letters I send, Ann’s Hotmail is out of action as often as it works, and the download speed here is too slow to Skype anybody. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in a month’s time.

Thanks to Bernard for reminding me about St Joan, I hadn’t connected a Spanish festival with a French saint. Still, bearing in mind that she was burned at the stake, a massive firework display was probably appropriate!  All the best, Andy

Started the day with a swim in the sea, then did aquagym in the pool followed by more swimming. After a siesta ,we  went for a walk along the beach.

I should be getting quite fit by now.

The car is repaired. We’re mobile again and had a great day exploring inland Catalonia. You only need to go five to ten miles inland to see the non commercial real Spain. Lovely scenery, very little traffic and pretty villages.

Well, I’ve no idea who St Joan is, but the Spanish certainly go big on him (or her). After the traumas of Sunday, which Ann’s previous blog barely touches upon, we were fairly desperate for a day to recuperate. Fat chance! Loud explosions began at about 7pm. The Spanish have worked out how to create an unbelievable amount of noise by setting off large bangers in massive metal waste bins. Decorations appeared all around the site accompanied by loud music and delicious cooking smells as groups of up to thirty people got together to eat all around the campsite. The sky was full of technicolour explosions for several hours, even before the main display which took place on the beach at midnight. The Spanish attitude to fireworks would have English elf n safety bods wetting themselves. Hundreds of people simply descended on the beach or any other convenient open space and set off explosive devices whenever and wherever they felt like it without the slightest concern about where they were pointed and who they might hit. We saw two year olds being encouraged to hold rocket launchers and five or six year olds wandering about with lighted tapers and pockets full of bangers. Didn’t see any injuries but the local beach safety hut was accidentally burned to the ground! At about 12.30 three canoes came into the beach carrying costumed figures bearing lighted torches which they used to set a long strip of the beach alight. Everybody then hurdled the flames to bring good luck for the rest of the year. Loud random explosions continued until after 4am, and we began to realise why the incessant shelling at the battle of the Somme drove people mad!
We got the Beast fixed today, and are hoping that it holds together this time. We are both fairly stressed as a lot of small things keep going wrong (this is the third time I’ve tried to post a blog this week and it has failed twice previously). Ann’s ankles are not healing as quickly as she had hoped, we had a huge thunderstorm which flooded our plot completely, we have left some stuff that we should have brought with us in Jalon, and the noise on the site is horrendous. On the other hand we have met a lot of people from several different countries lately who have shown us real kindness and consideration, which tends to confirm one’s faith in human nature. Hopefully we can pick ourselves up and get things back on track soon. All the best. Andy.

There was an enormous bang from the front of the car on the motorway going up to Tamarit Resort, Tarragona.
The exhaust has blown again! This time at the front of the car. We limped slowly into the next services and we were told there is no chance of any emergency service on a Sunday, and Monday and Tuesday are public holidays. (They are always having fiestas in Spain) We were at a loss about what to do next.
We had been reading all these articles in the press about how gangs are preying on foreign tourists with various scams on the motorways along the coast. We were feeling pretty vulnerable.
Our faith in human nature was restored when a lorry driver from the Ukraine came over. He spoke no English or Spanish but he spent an hour and a half doing a temporary repair for us. We communicated in hand signals only. Whoever he was, we will always be grateful!
We arrived safely to find the Tamarit Park is not quite the same quiet place it was in September. The site is full, the pool is crowded, the beach is busy,and there will be fireworks and dancing on the beach at midnight tonight!

We spent today cleaning, sorting and packing. This time we really are leaving Jalon. We seem to have been saying ‘Goodbye’ to people for ages.

Quite looking forward to being on the road again!

Alun’s friends are Andy and Ann who both enjoy trips in their caravan

Their travel plans were suspended when Ann was upended so they had to hang on in Jalon

His talents he tells us are many and sparkling, they include all forms of art and debarking

But to Ann’s great amazement when down on the pavement, they unfortunately don’t include parking!!

Brilliant Alun, Thank you!!