Sep 24, 2017 - Recovery Day Banyuls sur Mer

Had a lovely lie in, the descent breakfast in the hotel. Went looking for a pharmacy as my cold had developed into my sinuses (little sleep last night),but being a Sunday and a small town no pharmacy was open. Checked out the train station as I need to collect my tickets for tomorrow (booked online) but the station was all locked up. Eeek! A local woman assured me there would be someone there tomorrow morning. Accommodation Sol Hotel Breakfast. Yoghurt, fruit, cheese, ham, hard boiled egg, tea, orange juice Lunch: brilles squid and...

Sep 23, 2017 - Day 34 GR10. Col de l'Ouillat to Banyuls sur Mer

Day's Overview A very big day. Roger and Lesley sent us a message to say it had been a really tough day, which we receive about an hour into the walk. So we tried to focus all day and stay on track so to speak. Despite our bid descent from the Pyrenees down to the Mediterranean we were still going over 7 passes today and 6 high points along the way. The GR10 is never easy!! Left the accommodation with a climb immediately through pine forests. Up to a communication tower on the border of France and Spain. We passed through different types...

Sep 22, 2017 - Day 33 GR10 Las Illas to Col d'Ouillat

Day's Overview Long walk. Hot day at times, through various terrains and some cork forests. Stopped at Le Perthus, a sad border town selling cheap alcohol,tobacco and food in bulk in the supermarkets. We were looking for snacks due tomorrow but everything sold in huge lots. Had a drink at a bar on the french side of the street then moved on for our picnic lunch in a forest above the town on the Spanish side. We found a refreshing water fountain there and sat by it. Trail markings were bizarre in that area. The french couple Pascal and...

Sep 21, 2017 - Castelnaudary & Bram, et. al.

9/20/17 Wednesday We picked up the boat and got under way at about 3:00 pm on 9/20/17. After 14 locks, we set pins in the bank at about 6:30 pm, drank 2 rose' bottles, ate bread and meat and cheese previously purchased at Spar market in Castlenaudry for dinner next to a field of sunflowers, with views of snow in the Perrenes mountains. What's not to like about that? And previously the lunch in Castlenaudry was incredible at restaurant recommended by LeBoat people; we ate while boat was being preped. The first 4 locks were crowded, three...

Sep 21, 2017 - Day 32 GR10 Moulin de la Palette to Las Illas

Day's Overview Left in lovely sunshine but not too hot. We had a long day with a lot of climbing and even more descent. We left before Stephane and the french couple who also stayed last night. We stepped ii out a bit as we didn't want to arrive too late. After an hour we came to a small hamlet with a water point , so filled our supplementary bottle as we knew we were unlikely to come across other water today. There were loads of tadpoles in the trough that the water flowed into!!! As we were leaving the french couple arrived. I decided...

Sep 20, 2017 - Day 31 GR10 Gîte Refuge de la Batère to Ecogite Moulin de la Palette

Day's Overview Said goodbye to Andrew ( who will be walking at twice our speed) and the Belgian guy who is doing a 4 day walk in the region, and set off on our long descent of about 1200m. We wanted to get to the bottom of the descent before midday as we wanted to visit the pharmacy at the town there (Arles sur Tech) before it closed at midday. After a while we came across a 'dolmen', which was in a sort of hippie community spread through the forest. The dolmen was uninspiring (although clearly not to the hippies as there were quite a...

Sep 19, 2017 - Day 30 GR10 Chalet de Cortalets to Gîte Refuge de Batère

Day's Overview It was FREEZING when we set off. The temperature was around zero and the wind glacial so effective temp must have been well below zero. There was black ice on the terrasse outside the Refuge door. But the sun was out and with the wind behind us and wearing multiple pairs of gloves and almost all the warm clothes we have, it wasn't too bad. But we were very cautious where we were stepping so as not to slip. The ground was frozen. Without yesterday's fog we could now see the Mediterranean a long way in the distance, across...

Sep 19, 2017 - Heading south....................and not stopping!

One of the reasons we love the camper van life so much is the flexibility. Our second home can go anywhere and we make a “home” wherever we end up. So earlier this week, we checked the weather in Belgium and it was horrendous (see photos). No point in hanging around and fighting heavy rain and 60 KM/HR wind, so we headed south……………..and just kept driving! We ended up in the town of Troyes in France……………what a discovery! Over 1,000 medieval timber-framed buildings and we had never heard of the place. You just have to love Europe! And then...

Sep 19, 2017 - Toulouse

Even getting into Montreal by 4:00pm had bad traffic dealing with construction. Parked car at hotel and took shuttle to airport. A very big airport. We boarded, flew, landed, bused to city (Tououlse) and had 3 hours to walk around prior to checkin at hotel opposite train station. Joe and Doris are due to arrive in town from London later today and connect . Tomorrow is an 8:15 am train to Castlenaudry. PS - Zena is still in Carrabassett Valley with a dog/house sitter, so the blog title is technically inaccurate for this excursion.

Sep 19, 2017 - The long trip to the start of Dubrovnik to Venice adventure

Having been enticed to take this trip by the offer of a 20% discount by the company that ran the cairns to uluru camping trip, i think the discount disappeared in air fares! To get here (which at the time of writing, is Paris...another 6+ hours before i make it to dubrovnik! Yes paris! The cheapest option was with Etihad then Air Croatia, stopping first in Abu Dhabi, then here. First stop long enogh to stretch the legs and move around a bit. This one, not long enough to get out of the air port given the time to get to the city, then the...

Sep 18, 2017 - Day 29 GR10 Refuge de Marialles to Chalet de Cortalets

Day's Overview This was our last day of going over passes that are more than 2000m. Although we still have plenty of climbing to go. We set off in dry weather with a forecast of rain turning to snow. All others in the Refuge were wanting to climb Canigou, which seems to be a very sought after high point in the area, with views in all directions. Weather wasn't conducive for them. We had no intention of climbing it! A dog followed us from the refuge for several hours. As he was wearing a collar with a Garmin GPS and a large bell we thought...

Sep 17, 2017 - Day 28 GR10 Mantet to Refuge de Marialles

Day's Overview TO BE UPDATED FOM MY HAND WRITTEN JOURNAL Distance 15km Time 7h15min Elevation Gain for the day 1100 Descent for day 900 Highest Point for Day Col de Mantet 1761m Accommodation Refuge de Marialles Meals Bfast teff , yoghurt etc Lunch. Dried sausage , cheese, compote, rice crackers Dinner. lentil soup, pork and vege stew and rice, fromage blanc with syrup and nuts Day's Cost €57 including picnic and wine Weather Freezing initially then a lovely sunny day. Chilly at end Highs Lows