Monday 27th October to Sunday 2nd November
Author: Jack
Monday, and the day we leave for our mini adventure to Andorra and Spain. But not without one or two hitches. Last week the pool people came to check the pool following that extremely unfortunate incident earlier in the summer when the a certain person left the pool filling up all night and got water behind the liner! They came, checked the pool, declared that the water behind the liner was as a result of a tear in the liner, and that all the water that would have gone behind the liner when you-know-who left the tap on would have long since disappeared! Am not convinced myself but equally I’m not a pool expert (evidently!). So, today just as we were about to leave we had a second visit from them, this time with some sonar equipment to more accurately detect the offending hole or holes. All looked very impressive; the bill vouched for this! Anyway we left him to find the hole(s) and to fix them accordingly. We discovered when we returned that there was only one small tear in the liner and that this was apparently enough to cause the build up of water behind the liner. Hmmm. We’ll find out next summer.
As we were about to get in the car Iain noticed that one of the tyres on the pickup looked somewhat flat! Oh no. He decided that we really ought to get it checked. Just as well. Fortunately we reached Marmande and the tyre shop prior to the twelve till two lunchtime closure, and in no time at all they discovered a nail in the tyre. For just eleven euros the tyre was fixed and we were on our way, albeit somewhat later than intended.
First stop Andorra. I had had high hopes of Andorra being quaint and pretty surrounded by spectacular scenery. Not so. The drive up through the Pyrenees was indeed spectacular, and I am sure that when it is covered in snow it is quite magical, but Andorra itself has nothing more to offer than a very long and recently constructed shopping high street, full of duty free shops, every other one of which seems to sell perfume. If you don’t want to shop-til-you-drop then don’t bother. Apparently twenty years ago it was much more quaint, the pavements for example being made of wooden boarding, a bit like the towns in those western movies. All gone - replaced by concrete and by the look of it there’s a lot more to come, as half the place seemed to be a building site.
Totally unimpressed, we left earlier than planned the next day. At the border between Andorra and Spain we were stopped, and quizzed. The customs guard was quite amazed to discover that we hadn’t actually made any duty free purchases apart from a pair of trainers for Rebecca, which for the price seemed hardly duty free!
And on into Spain. Beck was really excited about visiting Spain, Iain was worried about not knowing the language (Iain: Not sure why really, it doesn’t worry me in France!) and I was looking forward to visiting the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres, should we pass by that way.
First impressions of Spain; expected more. Scenery pretty good generally but we had terrible trouble finding a town that looked inviting enough for us to stop for the night. So we kept driving and ended up spending most of the day in car, except of course for our picnic stop. We found a lay by with a fantastic view and no other picnickers in sight. Just as we settled down to the picnic, another car arrived, then another, then another, and then… a lorry...a lorry that had come specifically to discharge a whole load of gravel, then another lorry, then another. Well, so much for that. So we packed up and headed off. So far not so good, tempers were getting a little short; Iain was all for driving back home – and we hadn’t even got going. Fortunately this was the lowest point and the holiday then took an upward turn. We drove on to Figueres, found the local hotel, installed ourselves and hit the town. A lovely town, still quaint, with some lovely squares and at last the chance to sit outside (as the weather was reasonable) and relax over a drink or two whilst Rebecca went off in search of the perfect chocolates in the confectioners at the side of the square. We thought we might eat in the Hotels restaurant but then discovered it didn’t open until 8.30! Much too late. So we set off in search of a restaurant. Most were closed or were not opening until much later. In the end we found a Chinese restaurant open. Not quite what we had in mind for our first meal in Spain, but…oh well.
Wednesday morning and our visit to the Salvador Dali museum. Dali was born in Figueres and the town has thrived as a result. The building that houses the museum is designed with Dali in mind but the content was a little disappointing. But overall well worth a visit and Beck has now experienced first hand the wonders of the melting clock.
We bought food for a picnic and moved on, our intended next stop being Banyuls on the Mediterranean coast. Banyuls is famous for its fortified wine. But not much else it seemed. We checked in to a motel type place, definitely third rate, and went off exploring. Not much to explore. The town was a little shabby, the beach could have been cleaner and most places were shut for the winter. We did however manage a visit to the Banyuls cooperative and enjoy a very interesting tour, which included an appreciation of how the vines are cultivated. The appellations vineyards are generally situated on some pretty precarious slopes along the coastline making their cultivation pretty difficult; most of it has to be manual. However the ‘wine’ tasted more like Amontillado sherry and was not for us. But we did discover the wines of the neighbouring appellation of Colioure, which were very good and made us decided to take a visit to Colioure, just a few miles along the coastline
On Thursday we left Banyuls and took the Mediterranean coast road to Collioure. What a fantastic drive, lots of steep hairpin bends and fantastic views. Thank goodness Iain was driving. And when we got to Collioure we were equally impressed. What a beautiful town, situated in a bay, with a huge castle dominating it. Shame we didn’t find it yesterday. And what luck for me, there was an antique fair in the castle. Rebecca managed to suppress her horror at traipsing round all the stalls; Iain kept her occupied whilst I had a great time browsing. We were able to sit at a beachside bar and have a drink and enjoyed a great lunch in one of the many restaurants there. Definitely worth a return visit. We left after lunch and got back home early evening.
We returned home Thursday because we were expecting a plumber to turn up Friday to finally replace our very cracked and pretty dangerous downstairs loo! We had been waiting for ages for him to come and when he finally called to say he could come this Friday at first we weren’t keen as we had planned still to be away. But we decided it would be better to get back and get the loo fixed. We’d only been home half an hour when he called to say he couldn’t come! Can you believe it!
On Friday morning Iain busied himself putting up some shelving in the garage so that we could begin to get organised out there. After lunch we paid a quick visit to Mr Bricolage for more bits and then to a light shop to finally buy two light fitments for the lounge; which inevitably we had to order! And then we took Rebecca to the Chateau in Duras where they were holding a Halloween event for the children. There were lots of children there but I can’t say that it was terribly exciting. It would have helped if Beck had known someone or gone with someone. We didn’t stay too long and ended up in the bar having a drink!
Saturday was a Bank Holiday so everywhere was closed. So we decided to start the pruning in the garden. We have two trees (no idea what they are called) that have to be pruned back to just a few main branches. With our newly acquired tools from Mr Bricolage we spent many hours chopping and removing all the branches from the trees. Iain also spent some more time doing the shelving. And then I was treated to a delicious dinner cooked by both Iain and Rebecca. What did I do? Read magazines!
Sunday already and time for Iain to go back. But not before finishing
pruning the trees and filling up the log store in the utility room for
us. And here we are again, just the two of us whilst Iain goes back
to an empty house.
