Monday 17th November

By the time we got back to Frankie yesterday afternoon two British vans had turned up so I invited them over for a few drinks as you do. While we were waiting I noticed some flashing lights outside so went to investigate and started watching a magnificent electric storm happening miles away, we couldn’t hear a thing.

Just at that moment a couple of French campers came along and started watching and we got talking and I invited them in as well. Colin & Helen were on their way back from Spain, Alec and Ann were on their way back to Scotland from visiting the Camargue and Michel and Aneka were exploring their homeland and on their way back to La Rochelle.

We had a great evening and mostly understood what we were all saying.

Next morning we got up early and went for a walk. On the guide sheet we had been given yesterday there was mention of a lovely gorge with waterfalls and rosemary covered hillsides just 1km to the east of Peyrepertuse. Sounded easy enough so off we walked following the little yellow markers, and we walked and walked and walked.

You could see where we’d been because we were looking very hard for the rosemary by pulling off leaves from the closest bush or tree and rubbing them between our fingers.

Here are some of the Juniper Berries but we weren’t sure what to do with them.

Here are the black acorns I told you about yesterday. We also saw loads of Thyme but no Rosemary. After an hour and a half we decided that we had walked rather more than 1km and we were getting thirsty and hungry so turned back.

This is as close as we got to Wild Boar. We did find some rosemary in the village, they had a small garden area with some growing. One thing which was very noticeable is the number of flowers still in bloom, Roses, Honeysuckle and Morning Glory.

In the evening we were invited into Alec & Anns motorhome for more drinks and nibbles. The aire was so nice and the weather so good that we didn’t really want to leave but there was no water or toilet emptying facilities so we left early Tuesday morning heading for Port Bacares which is just above Perpignan and on the coast.

Here is our pitch at Le Barcares 1 – Port (Number 38, Mediterranean). The harbour is in the background and the sea is behind the trees in the far distance. There are no services here either but this was a convenient stop between here and tomorrows aire and we have enough water to keep us going for a few more days. We took the bikes off the back of Frankie, made up a French lunch and headed for the beach.  The weather is fantastic and we had the whole beach to ourselves. There is a cycle path from here to Canet Plage which we hope to visit tomorrow and we have managed to hook up the free local wifi again and expect to be Skypeing again any minute now.