Who's a naughty Bongo then?

On the Wednesday we got some help from the lovely lady at the reception of the campsite who phoned around several garages trying to see if anyone would even consider taking a look. Eventually she found somebody based nearby who would take a look, so we headed back to McDs for wifi to get some more French phrases that hopefully covered the issues we were having. We went to the garage after lunch and after about a quarter of an hour he came up with the suggestion that it was possibly the transmission of drive shafts but he couldn't help. Back to square one...

At least in France with Chris having some grasp of the language we thought we may have a chance of getting it fixed, in Italy where we are able to order two beers in Italian and little more we would be really stuck. So we've come to realise that we are going to have to head to Blighty to get this resolved as there's a specialist in Weymouth who knows everything there is to know about the drive system on the Bongo and they do, apparently, speak some English though they do have funny accents. So Italy and the marathons will have to be written off and we are planning a route of juddering back to the channel, on the plus side if we do break down it's less distance to recover the vehicle!

Once (if) it gets fixed we'll work out what to do next, whether to head back over to Europe (I believe that there are beer-related doings in Germany in October :o) or bum around Wales/England and good 'ol Scotland for a while. Let's see what happens.

Back to the while though. There is a chocolate factory about quarter of a mile from the campsite. The smell from it is just fantastic, so we will go for a visit on our way back to the van today. Smells of chocolate, hillsides covered in vines and the sun is shining, so sick van and changes of plan aside things really are not too bad!

Did we mention how good the wine is here :o)

28th September - Tain L'Hermitage and a sick Bongo

On the Sunday it was windy. Like very windy. You know, the sort of wind that we get at home on top of the Pentlands when you have to lean to one side when running over the hills in order not to fall over sort of windy. In many ways we felt at home :o) It was a shame for the triathlon folk (which we kind of missed anyway) as it would have been hideous to run, never mind cycle in that wind.

We wandered about in the morning failing to find the start of the triathlon but did manage to locate a coffee. Well done us. We didn't fancy a long walk or cycle of any distance ourselves so decided to take the Bongo out, go get some (more) diesel and head off to Chateauneuf du Pape. Go on, just try to say the name without doing the Del-boy impersonation. Anyhow, things started to go wrong about then; we had thought that the road noise had been a little louder in the van over the last trip but thought maybe different road surfaces etc. would account for that. At first we thought a tyre may be going flat as there was a lot of noise and major vibration when going anything over 15 kph. We stopped and looked at the tyres and all was well but we knew something was afoot. Not too sure what to do we vibrated off to Chateauneuf du Pape at lowish speed getting blown about by the strong winds, oh what fun. We made it there in one piece and stopped for a coffee again - it's never too early to have another coffee - then took a quick look around. A great wee place with vineyards on the slopes and land around and a ruined chateau at the top of the village. Funnily enough nowhere in the chateau gave us shelter from the wind, how does wind do that?

Before leaving we visited the Maison du Vin to find out a little more about the appelation and found a 500 page book that did just that! We got some info from it (like the goood years and the ones to avoid) and sauntered off to buy a couple of bottles which we did from a lady who still works on the vines herself and uses old fashioned methods to produce traditional wine that is of good quality. Having now already enjoyed the contents of the bottles it is safe to say she does a good job!

Back to the Bongo. The journey back to the campsite was again slow and juddery and we knew we had to do something about it, though being Sunday nothing could be done until Monday anyway so we thought we'd better go for a beer at our current local as that would help. It did, and all was well for us, if not the Bongo.

Monday was asserted to be garage day. The nice reception lady at the campsite told us about a local garage that would be able to speak English as our French isn't up to all of "Hi there, we seem to have a problem with the transmission on our grey import Mazda and whenever we accelerate all hell breaks loose. Can you take a look?" and associated return questions so we thought we'd give it a shot. They were not even prepared to take a look but pointed us at a Ford garage (The Mazda Bongo was also badged as a Ford Freda - who thought up these names?) near Avignon so another 10k rattle later we got there. Not the friendliest bunch it has to be said. The basic upshot is that they only really do basic services and that they didn't have the correct machine to "plug the Bongo in to" which equates to "we are not real machanics and unless a computer tells us what is wrong we can't fix it, and besides you do not speak enough French so there!" Thanks entirely to another customer who spoke perfect English we got pointed towards another bigger Ford garage about 20k away.

The next garage was much more friendly and with a mixture of French/English/pointing etc. after a drive in it they at least understood the problem we have and put it up on a ramp so they could have a look and a good poke about, but couldn't find anything wrong. On the plus side, there were no rusty bits either! AseEverything looked fine they said they'd phone Mazda to find out more about the Bongo (as they have never seen one) and see if they could help further,and we would call back later to find out the result. We did and they can't/won't. Bum. Andy called the Bongo Fury mob back in the UK to see if there are any Bongo friendly machanics in France; the quick answer is no but there is one in Germay and another in Spain... On the plus side from the call and chat we are pretty sure we know where the problem lies. On the minus side it looks like the gearbox (an automatic job made by Nissan as it turns out, at least we have the part numbers) which will probably not be good. All we need now is a local auto-gearbox specialist who understands what we are on about.... There is one on the south coast of England. A little disheartened we both went for a short run which always helps. Andy decided just to run at marathon race pace but ended up going somewhat quicker; maybe worrying about a sick motor is good for speed training? After the run we ate and headed out for a beer only to discover that nowhere is open for beers on a Monday night in V-L-A, yet a restaurant that hadn't been open at any other point was actually open, how strange. We did find a wine bar and the wine here isn't too bad you know...

We packed up on Tuesday morning having made the decision that we needed to limp north to either a) find someone to fix the Bongo and then hot-tail it to Italy for the marathons or b) head back to Blighty early to get the van fixed. This would be a real pity in many ways, though we have already been in France for getting on for two months now and who knows, perhaps we could go to Wales instead of Italy? They do both have mountains after all. The plan initially is simple. We do shortish hops, try to find someone to fix the van, do another hop. Although we have breakdown cover the van needs to no longer work at all for that to kick in; knowing it may die isn't enough, so we'll plod on and see what happens. We started to head north deciding to avoid the toll roads to keep the speed down. We then realised it would take an extra two hours for a journey that should take less than two...time to take the tolls we thought. And here's a thing - 15 kph up to 113 kph in the van is awful, terribly noise, the entire thing shakes, the end of the world may just be happening. 114kmph to 132 kmph is just the usual derv engine racket but totally smooth otherwise. We now realise that we don't need to limp home, more do it in little sprint sessions. It was still very windy however and the higher speeds made for some interesting lane choices, not all at the drivers request!

Our route took us back through C-n-d-P as we had to get more of that wine. Priorities as always. We finally made it to Tain L'Hermitage (having originally gone to the nearby village of Tournon sur la Rhone and left quickly as the circus is in town, right beside the campsite we were aiming for) and what a lovely place. Hillsides covered in terraced vineyards, some ridiculously steep. We think we'd better find out a liitle more about the area and are now thinking that even if the van isn't strong enough to make it to Italy maybe pottering around France for a while searching for garages may not be a bad idea. There's plenty more appelations for us to learn about and get to know on a more wine based level :o) Besides, our current campsite has a cycle path running past it that goes from Switzerland down to the sea; there's plenty cycling and running and drinking to be done.

Let's see what the next few days bring, be it a working van, journeys north, east, south or the UK on a breakdown truck; whatever it should be interesting!

25th September - Avignon (delayed post)

This time we had managed to pack up the tent the night before without any rain, so we got away nice and early and made our way across to Provence, in particular, near Avignon. We decided just to find somewhere near our destination and our first attempt found a campsite that was closed, then we came across the small town of Villenueve Les Avignon. After a slightly hairy drive around very narrow streets (through the middle of the historic centre!), we came to the municipal campsite in the area. We had a look around, and thought it was ok, but with no bar/restaurant/anywhere to sit if it rains, and a cold sanitary block, we decided to look elsewhere.

Chris had found a place in a village about 10 miles outside Avignon that had good reviews, but when we got there, it was completely deserted. Unlike Les Mathevies, this didn't work in its favour! So we headed back to Villeneuve Les Avignon and gave the municipal campsite a go. We walked into the town, found some nice bars with locals drinking in there, always a good sign!, and decided to eat out as it had been a long day, and had a very nice meal for a reasonable price, so all in all, felt this was a good decision. This was made all the more apparent the next day. Andy's cold had really taken hold by this point, so rather than go for a run, we both went out for a gentle cycle, and thought we would check out some of the other campsites nearby. There is an island in the middle of the Rhone which has a couple of campsites at either end which, on paper, sounded good. We went to look at the first one, and as we descended to the river side, thought "This looks lovely". Then we entered the campsite and thought "This doesn't". So we left. We then went on a nice cycle around the island, had a bit of a detour (well, we haven't done that for a few days) then found the other campsite. This one was HUGE. But also deserted. Marie Celeste came to mind. We think it was very much a holiday camp, but with no-one there, it wasn't nice. One of the main reasons for looking at other campsites was for a bar to sit in if the weather forecast turned out to right and the rain arrived. Chris had mentioned after the first night that we could always just, well, sit in one of the local bars (now that we were somewhere that had some nearby!). We both decided that this was a much better option, and having originally been against the municipal site, now decided to stay longer. The main downside is the nearby TGV railway line, but hey, you can't have everything.
Villeneuve Les Avignon is a lovely town - a big bonus considering we didn't know it existed! It has a fantastic fort, more lovely medieval buildings and narrow streets, and a really nice feel to it. In a complete coincidence, it also has a local market on a Thursday, so we spent a great morning wandering around there and bought more lovely food and saucisson! This time we got five saucisson for ten euro; best we've done previously was four for ten :o) We also got a serious amount of olives with an equally serious amount of garilc and chilli and herbs which have been much enjoyed.

On Friday Andy finally made it out for another run as his cold was moving through though still definately in place. He only managed eight miles at a pace that could be described as "light" but at least he's running again with a marathon looming in just over two weeks. A PB will not be on the cards (thanks to a cold, climate and a training schedule that consists of two months eating and drinking around France) maybe he should concentrate on an impressively bad PW instead? Chris cycled meanwhile including going to one of the local boulangerie (did we mention it is one of the best ones we've ever seen?) and managed to find the local "Desperate Housewives" estate, well everywhere has to have one! We then wandered up to the fort for a look-around and to enjoy the fantastic views and had a beer afterwards at our new current local on the way back for some great steak that we'd picked up at the market the day before. Shockingly we also had some more wine.

On Saturday morning Chris went for a short run before breakfast, without a four legged companion but also without feeling so lonely this time. Andy made coffee. Then we cycled into Avignon itself and spent a really nice day wandering saround the streets - yes, more medieval architecture, and we gawked at the Palais des Papes (funnily, where the Popes lived for years), then wandered around some more, before cycling back to V-L-A for a beer before returning to the campsite. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday, and discovered that there is an Iron Man competition starting here tomorrow, so will try to watch that. Failing that, or perhaps on Monday, a trip to Chateau-neuf-du-Pape for wine tasting is in order!

20th September - Alet Les Bains (delayed post)

We have finally, with heavy hearts, dragged ourselves away from Les Mathevies. We had decided our next port of call would be near Carcassone. We had both come across a campsite a wee bit out of the town but on a bus/train route that had good reviews so headed for that. Despite knowing nowhere would match our time at Les Mathevies, this place was, well, a bit odd. The village could, and should, have been really nice - narrow streets with fantastic medieval architecture, a beautiful ruin of an Abbey and a natural thermal spa to mention a few of it's attractions. But it really didn't have a nice feel to it. The campsite, to give it credit, would have been fine if we had come across it earlier(especially with the backdrop of the abbey), but again, we were comparing it unfavourably. Mind you, the fact that it had a good, modern sanitary block with nice showers was definitely undermined by the lack of toilet seats (what is it with the French and no seats on the toilet bowls??) and, even worse, no toilet paper. This seemed even worse given that it was run by a British couple! And we realised that the nearby road was very loud at night - again, admittedly, this was probably magnified by our previous week in glorious silence, but we still realised our expectations had changed a bit.

The first morning our feelings of gloom were compounded when the bells of the Abbey started chiming at 7am! The campsite had rules that there were no cars or noise before 8am - unless you are the bells of the abbey, it would seem! Still, it got us up and about. So Andy went for a run up a nearby hill (three miles of struggle up, three miles of fun back down!), and Chris decided to run along the cycle path that followed the river. Well, she would have done if she could find it! She missed having Maisie there to ponder the why's and wherefore's of this with, so pouted all the more.

We then went into Carcassone. We originally tried to get the bus, but were mislead by a bus stop that, erm, the bus didn't stop at (as previously mentioned, it was a slightly odd place). So we took the van instead and luckily found a great place to park. The main part of Carcassone again could have been lovely, with old building and lovely architecture, but instead felt mostly run down and deserted. However, the old, walled part, of the town was a different matter and was almost fairy-tale like. We spent a good bit of time wandering around there and felt better about it all.

The next day, the weather wasn't great and Andy was coming down with a cold so didn't feel up to a long cycle. Chris had been thinking about trying to leave a day early and get our money back for the extra night, but in low season there is no-one at the campsite during the day which scuppered that idea. So instead we decided to go to see an old chateau a wee while away. Except it turned out to be 4 chateaux, each on a different hill peak, and they were brilliant! So a day that started off with a sigh and "What shall we do now, then" thoughts actually turned out to be really good. We were glad we stayed!

18 Sep - Running, cycling, lazing, caving and the arrival of the tax disc

The overdue nature of this blog is happily not down to any technical malfunction but down to be either very busy or too relaxed.

We are still in the lovely campsite near Sainte Nathalene in the Dordogne, but thanks to the arrival of the tax disc for the bongo (with many, many thanks to Geoff for forwarding and all other post-related-assistance), we must leave tomorrow (Sunday 19th).

Last Sunday Andy ran the loop we have previously cycled, and Chris took the shortcut avoiding the hill climb. This was an easy decision as she had been feeling the startings of a cold for a few days and was definitely under the weather that morning, so it seemed like the right thing to do, but it has to be said, it was an outrageous shortcut. What had taken us about half an hour the first time took her, erm, 7 minutes! Still, you don't want to push it with a cold coming, do you??? :o/ Whilst waiting for Andy to arrive at the pre-agreed meeting point, Chris had one of those wierd part french/part english/part sign language conversations with a couple of ladies looking for directions. Hopefully they found their way and aren't still wandering around the hills.... After one loop, Chris wimped out pleading the cold (virus that is, not temperature) whilst Andy went on another loop of the run.

Monday we both went on separate runs - Andy for another go at the now well trodden loop and Chris for a shortish run (on-going readers of this blog can probably guess where this will lead....), taking the campsite's dog (Maisie) with her. Andy ran his hilly lap trying to work out why he no longer posseses any pace at all having ruled out any possible bad interference from wine/cheese/beer/pain au chocolat and will have to ponder this further over further wine/cheese/beer/pain au chocolat and work out how to improve...

Chris and Maisie meanwhile, plodded along quite happily for a while, following the same path that Andy had headed off along, then at a sensible point, turned round to come back. Then, on the way back, Chris evidently went into a trance and forgot to take a turning. After a wee while of thinking "Hmm, is this the right way?" and getting no help from the happy looking Maisie, she decided to walk for a while whilst trying to work out where she was and what might have gone wrong. After more time (by which point it seemed to have turned into rush hour on this road), she was now convinced she had gone the wrong way so turned round - which, of course, resulted in having to go back up a steep hill. A little concerned about how long they had been out meant running was a better action than walking, but Maisie was a little less convinced. They eventually got back to the point where the turning was missed and headed back in the right direction. It was a hot day, and by the time they got to the next (faily shallow) hill, poor Maisie had gone from bounding ahead at the start to being dragged up the hill by the collar! They eventually staggered into the campsite from what should have been a 45 - 50 min outing to one that had lasted 1 1/2 hours... Poor Maisie. Mind you, she had apparently been running around the campsite barking all night the previous night, and this outing seemed to tire her out enough there were no such happenings that night.

Happily, Maisie doesn't appear to be a dog to hold grudges, as a couple of days later she happily went out with Chris again for a much shorter walk - no wrong turns this time, and back when expected.

Wednesday we went off on our bikes to a small village near by. As usual, there were a lot of hills involved, but it was all worthwhile when we found a wee brasserie open who served Andy a very nice omlette and Chris finally got the steak tartare she had been after since we arrived in France. For those who don't know, it is basically raw steak mince with a raw egg. She wasn't brave enough to stir in the whole egg, but enjoyed the mince and was happy to have finally had the dish. After wandering around the village, we headed back and, as by now it was REALLY hot, we had to take advantage of the pool. We had lain there previously but not braved the water. This time, it was so hot that Chris took a brave pill and went for a whole two lengths of the pool.... Andy, however, was a complete wuss and did not more than dangle his feet in the water. During the day another couple had turned up (what???? In our campsite??? Shocking).

Thursday, however, the weather was miserable. So, we decided that if it was going to be dull and probably wet, we might as well be underground, so we went to visit some caves about an hour away. After queuing for quite some time and hoping it would be worth it, it was. After walking down to the bottom of the caves and walking along for a while, you are then taken through part of the caves by boat with a punter pushing along. We think he was quite a character, but as he only spoke French and so we only understood about 10% of what he said, we can't be entirely sure....... We were then taken around more parts (again, described in French, so we probably missed out on the finer points), then were taken back by the same boatman before making our way back to the surface. It was quite an experience - the formation of the rocks, rivers and wee lakes was amazing.

By the time we got back, we found another couple had arrived, and shock-horror, they had pitched very near us! The campsite really wasn't just ours anymore! Just joking, they were very nice.

Friday started off dull but dry, so we decided to go off on another cycle. We decided to try another route on the map we had bought and set off in the knowledge we knew where we were going. The problem is, although there are only two routes on this map, there are quite a few others in the area, and they are all marked with yellow markers. So at the furthest point (a photo of which is at the top of this blog), we happily followed the yellow markers, After a wee while, we stopped to consult the maps, and came to the conclusion that, once again, it had gone wrong somewhere. However, we worked out where it had gone wrong and where we probably were, and so worked out our route. Fortunately, we were right, and it was a good thing, as the real route would have been far too short. So we found ourselves back in the village near here and stopped for another omlette for lunch, with wine, of course!

On Friday night we ended up having a long chat with the couple who were pitched near us and after long discussions on various music festivals and listening to their stories of Glastonbury this year which they had gone to as a birthday present for his 50th and had had an absolute ball, we are now going to have to register for in case we are in the country next summer! Unlike T in the Park, the tickets don't go on sale until October, so we will have to hope that we are staying somewhere with wi-fi that day.....

Saturday was forecast to be very wet, so we had decided to go into Sarlat again to the market, taking the van this time instead of cycling. It was actually pretty nice in the morning but we stuck to our original plan and for the first time since we've been here actually got going fairly early. Having heard stories (and seen for ourselves last week when cycling there) about the nightmare of driving and, particularly, parking in Sarlat on a Saturday, we formed a plan of a way in and possible area to park in. It was brilliant (such modesty - Ed). We managed to park about 2 streets away from where the charging starts, no traffic problems at all and just a short work into the areas where the markets are. Much time was spent wandering around, Chris did some excellent ordering at a butcher's stall getting a fabulous piece of steak and other bits and pieces were bought. On our return to the campsite, Chris decided to go for a short run. Maisie sensed this happening and proved again she is not a dog to hold grudges, and was out the gate looking over her shoulder for Chris to catch up. Except Chris wasn't planning on company this time. Patrick (one of the owner's of the site) was at the gate, so Chris managed to entice Maisie back in the made a bolt for the gate, hoping Maisie would stay the right side as her owner was there. No such luck. As Chris made a run for it, she heard the distinctive sounds of Maisie catching up with Patrick's voice in the distance calling "If she joins you for your run, don't worry about it". Just as well! So without a lead this time and with Maisie leading the way, off Chris went, a little concerned, having heard yesterday how Maisie is a rescue dog who has, whilst being amazingly well trained by Patrick and Natalie, always retained an independent streak and likes to make a run for it given the chance. Most of the time tho', she stayed nearby and always came back to Chris' side if she did go off exploring. Until they came to the road. Chris had planned to go straight on, but Maisie decided she wanted to go left. Chris thought she should really follow, which would have been fine if all the cars in the area hadn't decided to drive along that particular road at the same time. After a few stressful moments, and with Maisie disappeared into a wood, Chris decided enough was enough and turned around. Maisie caught up, then when Chris went in the original direction she had planned, Maisie followed. By the time they turned back for the campsite, Maisie was flagging and trotted along nearby Chris quite happily. Until they passed a house which apparently has cats. Off Maisie went into the garden, with Chris calling for her to come back. Then the owner came running out, shouting. Chris realised the error of her ways in calling for Maisie, as she could now not pretend the dog was nothing to do with her! So Chris did the responsible thing and legged it. Fortunately, Maisie followed suit and they got out of trouble!

We are really going to miss the campsite dog.

Andy meanwhile was pottering about doing "man stuff". On our way to this site we were experiencing some pretty alarming noises from our beloved Bongo. Whenever we accelerated or pushed hard there was a fairly horrid clattering noise to accompany us. It was definitley getting worse the more that we did the twisting, undulating (and narrow) roads around the area and all hills were pretty deafening. After some pondering, crawling under the van and some surfing (all hail the mighty bongofury.co.uk website forums, especially in the absence of Chris' Dad who would have been the first port of call!) Andy had decided the problem most likely lay with the drive shaft to the rear axle (well, the universal joint for that anyhow). After some more crawling about and spraying of WD40 (a _must_ have whenever going anywhere) the noise has abated and confidence has been restored in the van. We had considered going to the local gargage where they fix tractors/trucks and various aged French vehicles and little if any English was spoken but fortunately we seem to have avoided the need for this for now. Andy's other hardware related workings involved fixing the toast making device we have for the stove. It's got a couple of layers with a mesh that defuses the heat before the layer holding the toast. We seem to have melted the original mesh, how could we have eaten that much toast? Could this have had anything to do with Andy's continuing lack of running pace? Anyhow, more mesh was bought from a hardware store which Andy managed to cut and replace the hole-ridden original and all was well. Of course Andy had to make some more toast (with Nutella) to make sure it worked "properly". (What a danger-ridden-sacrifice - to be applauded - Ed) We discovered on our return that the post kindly sent by Geoff had arrived, so we could now move on. Both a blessing and a curse.

And so our stay at this site comes to an end. This was duly marked with the cooking of the steak bought earlier, which was fantastic, washed down with the other bottle of wine bought from the nice wee vineyard in St Emilion (2005 - a grand year). The site has been great and Pat and Nat and their kids Sasha and Ben have been lovely hosts, Maisie the dog has been a great companion too and the peaceful setting and relaxing atmostphere will be lucky to be matched anywhere else on our travels. The south of France beckons, Languedoc and its wines are the next on our list :o)

11 September - Peace and tranquility (and another flat tyre)

After the large campsite and the rain near St Emilion, we headed east to just a few miles outside Sarlat (still in the Dordogne region). Chris had come found a campsite which sounded perfect - small and friendly, and hopefully peaceful. It is indeed all of those things - so peaceful, in fact, that we are the only campers with the only additional guests being a very nice Dutch lady and her wee girl staying in one of the gites, and that is it! The photo attached is the view from our van - once again, life is good :o)

We arrived to find the site is run by an Australian and English couple, who are both really nice and very welcoming, along with their 2 kids and their dog Maisey, who became an instant friend :o) It's so quiet that we were shown around, taken back to the wee snug bar and sold some very cold, and very welcoming, beer, then left to choose which pitch we wanted. Andy went back to get the van whilst Chris walked around the likely choices with Maisey for company. Like we said, it's very welcoming!

Chris then went out for a short run. At least, this was the plan. After a case of mistaken identities with signs for nearby Moulin's, what was supposed to be a 20 minute gentle jog turned into a 40 minute much quicker, and somewhat stressful, run. Still, worked off some of that beer.

The next day, we got maps for cycle routes nearby. Once fully breakfasted we headed out on one of the routes, only to find that, after half an hour, we were back where we started... So we looked at the map again and headed off with more success. Andy is well happy as there are great wee hills to climb and descend, the route is mostly off road and would make for a great running route. One of the climbs on rough ground was too steep to cycle however so some pushing was required before re-mounting and completing the climb to the top where great vistas rewarded our efforts. We cycled to Eyrignac which has some pretty amazing sculptured gardens. Being a pair of cheapskates we only looked at them from the outside and bought our lunch in the restaurant overlooking the place which was a great spot. We both opted for omlette (with fritese of course) and a small beer to refuel ourselves for the rest of the journey. The rest of the cycle was mostly downhill, with Andy rueing that his mountain bike was still at home and that his (possibly ladies) all purpose bike struggled for grip and with no suspension was hard going, whilst Chris was having a hoot. We overshot the end of the route but still ended up near the campsite. Result.

Once back we got cleaned up and went in search of a supermarket in Sarlat. In rush hour. In a camper van. Through the middle of a beautiful but medieval town. We did locate a shop on the edge of town having gone straight through the centre and had seen enough of a glimpse of the town to know we needed to spend more time there, though not for today. Once back, however, Chris couldn't believe her eyes when she was her rear tyre was flat AGAIN! She got the wheel and tyre off in record time (having become quite adept at it by now), found the tiniest puncture ever seen, which accounts for why, thankfully, it didn't really flatten until after we were back, but couldn't find the cause. Assuming it must have been dirt either on the inside of the tyre or the wheel itself, the puncture was repaired and everything thoroughly cleaned, although putting it all back together was left until the next day. Afterwards, a very nice couscous, saucisson and salad dinner was prepared by Andy, washed down with the half a bottle of wine left from the previous night (yes, really, we did manage to keep half for once!).

Saturday morning was the perfect time to revisit Sarlat, this time on our bikes, as there is a market there every Saturday. After breakfast Chris got her tyre then wheel back on her bike, again in record quick time, and off we went. We tried to retrace the route we took back the previous day from the supermarket, but after quite a bit of mind-changing and u-turns, we ended up just taking a scenic route back to the main road into the town. We decided to stick with it, but with a lot of trepidation as the previous day it had felt like a rally course the way some people were driving. Happily it was much quieter this time and so a lot less scary than we had feared. The looooong climb up the hill before the town was soon forgotten as we shot down the hill into Sarlat, which was as pretty as we had remembered. We spent quite a few hours happily wandering around the market which seemed to go on and on - each time we thought we had found the end, we'd walk up a different street and find more stalls. The streets and buildings are absolutely beautiful, so thank you Graham for your recommendation! After lunch and a few purchases (tried to keep to a minimum with that long climb back up the hill still to come), we had a small, cold beer, then saddled up for the return journey. Chris had gladly handed over the rucksack to Andy by this time in exchange for the much smaller and MUCH lighter waist bag, and off we went. Despite having shelved the weighty bag, Chris was still much slower up the hill, but we were both glad to find that, despite - we assume - being steeper in this direction, the climb was over very quickly and the charge downhill much more enjoyable, particularly for Chris who, for once, could stay ahead!

Once back at the campsite and showered, some serious relaxing was done by the pool, before another very tasty saucisson based meal was prepared by Andy. Tomorrow a long run looms for Andy, Chris may/may not join on her bike (and if she does, will take a shortcut to avoid another pushing-the-bike-session up that hill) but what's for sure is that some quality relaxing will happen. Also no plans to leave in the near future either, what a relaxing place to be!

8 Sep - Rain and wine

So it turns out that the "detailed" cycle maps weren't so detailed after all. They really did look good and had great directions on the back, the unfortunate thing being that the directions and indeed the map were the authors own personal take on the area and didn't actually match that of the real world. They did look good though. It was also raining a fair bit. We ran/cycled up to St Emilion and with much stopping and starting tried to follow one of the cycle routes. Even though the route was somewhat vague it was really cool to se the fantastic vineyards that you hear/read about or drink from in the vine. The first vineyard that we got to (Ausone) is the top-of-the-top with bottles sometimes in the four figures mark...these ones we only heard or read about! We made up our own versions of the route a few times, and after about 10 miles founds ourselves at a junction we recognised. At this point, it was raining again and Chris was hungry so she headed back to the campsite whilst Andy made up his own route for another 10 miles, which involved looking for the Chateau part of the vineyard we were interested in, but it seems very well hidden (not in a Harry Potter sort of way, as Chateau in these parts simply means the building that is part of the land the grapes are grown on and the wine is produced in - it can be a tiny building, unlike in the Loire! - Ed) so he gave up, before joining Chris for a very late lunch.

On Tuesday night we decided that, the next day, if it was raining, we'd go into Bordeaux for a look around and if it was good weather, we'd go into St Emilion to look again for a particular wine producer and also try to find one who would give us a tour without booking and also in English. Earlier on, we had managed to get a couple of spare inner tubes for Chris' bike (the previous ones were probably ok too, we now realise, but that is another long story) and replaced the perma-puncture rear inner tube, pumped it up and went to bed with our fingers crossed. When we woke up, it was neither raining or very nice, so we decided to go with the non-rainy plans (especially as, hallelujah, Chris' rear tyre was still inflated!!) and headed for St Emilion on our bikes. We went to the Tourist Info office (did we mention this is the best and most helpful tourist office we have ever come across?) to find out where we could go without booking and in English and got a very helpful brochure from which we found one very close to the campsite that would hopefully fit the bill, whilst still being a Grand Cru producer (oh dear, there is a danger we could be turning into wine snobs!) and then embarked on the next task - trying to find an exporter who also stocked a fantastic wine we had tried previously so we could get some sent home. We tried a few wine shops, none of who stocked it, and then went into a very nice looking shop next to the one which ran the class we had been on. They did stock it, but quoted a lot more than we though it was for sale on in the other. We did, however, do a few tastings for some other wines (well, it would have been rude not to....). Andy then nipped to the other shop to check the price, whilst Chris chatted to the nice lady in the current shop. Chris did tell her where Andy had gone, and the lady said that, if we were right, she would talk to her manager to see what they could do. The price difference was so great it at first seemed unlikely. Then Andy came back and quoted the offer he had got, which seemed unbeatable, but no! After Chris hanging subtely onto Andy's belt to stop him leaving the shop just in case, happily, we got a fantastic deal and they knocked a massive amount off the original deal. We think the nice lady needed a stiff drink herself afterwards! Andy then felt very guilty about the other shop and refused to walk past it again in case they spotted him...... That made for a few more scenic (rather than direct) walks around the town....

We then partook in a few more tasting sessions (a pattern emerging here, perhaps....) to find a really nice, drink-now, bottle of wine each using Euros kindly given to us by Chris' Mum for our respective birthdays. That aim was also achieved :o) We then freewheeled (carefully!) back towards the campsite with our precious two bottles in Andy's rucksack to the aforementioned vineyard. There we were shown around, and had the wine making process explained to us, by the extremely nice winemakers' Mum (!). The winemaker himself then appeared and did some wine tastings with us (the theme continues), so we felt obliged (aye, right! - Ed) to buy a couple of bottles from there too, before walking with the bikes (a lot safer than carrying the extra bottles as there was no room left in the rucksack!) back to the campsite where we even got to lie in the sun beside the pool for a while afterwards. All in all a very enjoyable, if in a tad expensive-but-productive-way, day.

We then decided to be ultra-organised and pack up the Uno tent this evening, especially as it was forecast to rain from the evening onwards. We had managed to get everything organised, empty the Uno and pack up the inner-tent when the rain started. Could it not have waited five more minutes?! We have left the outer up to deal with tomorrow morning, most likely wet. Oh well. Tomorrow we are heading towards Sarlat. Not far, but apparently a lovely town, so we are looking forward to that. Oh, and it is due to stop raining tomorrow afternoon too and return to mid-to-high 20's the day after. Here's hoping!

BTW, it is absolutely POURING with rain at the moment.

6 September - St Emilion

On the Saturday we decided we really ought to move south so headed off towards the only campsite near St Emilion. No wrong turns, no being followed by police and good navigation from Chris got us there in good time. It has to be said the scenery as we got within around 30k or so of the site was just brilliant, with vineyard after vineyard and cracking chateaux (mostly metaphorically, some literally) everywhere and undulating land meant for some great vistas.

The site is somewhat bigger than the last, though we had been a little spoilt by the last place. We got in, pitched the Uno tent quickly and headed off to Libourne to one of the biggest supermarkets we've ever seen. Supplies bought we then lurked suspiciously outside the nearby McDonalds to pick up email and went back to the site for a well earned lie by the pool. Andy thought he'd practice for Italy by making a Bolognese though of course a nice St Emilion to go with it balanced things nicely.

Morning broke and both Andy and Chris went out for a run before breakfast, Andy going just a little further into St Emilion itself and came back with glowing reports of the small town. After breakfast we both went up to St Emilion to try and find the alleged Sunday morning market and for a general look around. We found the market but it was, how best to say, limited in choice. We decided to give it a miss and wandered around St Emilion itself. It has small, medieval winding streets, old ramparts, quirky wee shops and courtyards, wine for sale everywhere and loads of choice for food. We meandered around for a good while, deciding to come back and do some serious tasting etc. on Monday. Back to the campsite to bob about on a canoe on the lake for a while before more pool time. Boy was it hot.

So Monday broke and so did the weather to begin with. Spots of rain were falling as we both went for pre-breakfast runs, then some very short bursts of big rain drops accompanied by some rumbles of thunder, before getting ready for the two mile walk back up to the town (and finding the power had gone off in the surrounding area, almost reminding of us of home). By the time we got up there and walked around for a while it was time for lunch (with a miniscule glass of wine) before a wander around the Maison du Vin and a trip past tourist information where we saw we could do a beginners wine tasting course (starting in about 25 mins) so we thought "why not?" and went and bought ice cream as good preparation. The course was really interesting and good fun, helped by being run by an amusing Frenchman with a dry and self-effacing sense of humour, although it has probably done more to convince both of us that the only thing we really knew about wine at all was that we liked some of it. Now armed with our new-found knowledge we resolved to keep practicing the tasting, though we have taken tonight off wine to build up to it!

The weather had picked up enough through the day, though is meant to deteriorate a little over the next two days, but we like the area so much we'll stick around for another three nights at least. Tomorrow we will use some new found information about local cycle routes that take in some pretty cool vineyards for Andy to get a long run in, though Chris will be using Andy's bike due to ongoing puncture problems (long story) with her bike. We may search out a nice Grand Cru Classe while we're at it too...

Friday 3rd September (delayed)

We awoke on the 2nd to another lovely day with the intent of leaving pretty early. So at about midday we fonally left the area near Amboise...

We left the Loire are to head south, well southish after Andy helpfully went the wrong way on a toll road (only addedanother 55k and 8 Euros or so... on towards St Emillion. We pulled over after a toll to get a snack at which point two plicemen on motorbikes pulled up behind us. Queue brown trowsers for us both! Chris panicked that her French really wasn't up to this but luckily they were going to the van behind us. We then left pretty quickly!

We decided to break the journey up with a one night stop on the way and Chris chose one she'd found the previous evning called L'Etang, a wee place run by a Dutch couple with the catch line "tres tranquil, confort" and how right that was too. The pitches were huge, all surrounsed by woodland and peaceful. Helped alot by the fact that there wer eonly two other pitches being used when we got there! We felt relaxed from the start and decided to eat there as it was far too hot to do any cooking :-) The food was fab and the Dutch owner only spoke English back to us even when we spoke French and the English waitress spoke French to us all the time (unless we needed help) which all in all led to a great evening, overlooking the lake.

We awoke next day to mist. Not what we expected! We picked up Andy's pain au chocolat and mulled over what to do. You see, we really liked it in the site and quite fancied a chill out day just relaxong but we needed sun for that. After breakfast we patched Chris's tyre (the original patch was fine, it looked like we pinched the tube when putting it back on) and then the sun broke through.

Decision made we diceded to stay for another night so Chris went for a run and Andy, er, looked after the van. He did that by sitting on the sand next to hte lake and reading a book. Tough work. So after lunch we sat by the lake and had a beer, lay by the lake, had a beer, well you get the picture.

After repatching the innner tube we had a great Italian style dish cooked by Chris with one of the wines we bought from the vineyard a couple of days previously and a proper relaxing day was done.
We currently intend to head south in the morning, though time will tell...

Bike rides, Chateaux and a flat tyre

And so we left the comfort of the lovely Chateau Noizay. Happily, we were also now owners of an Uno drive-away awning (i.e. a very small tent with an awning cover which can connect to the van). It had arrived that morning, and although Chris had emailed the Chateau to warn them it was on its way (an email we have to assume didn't make it despite not being bounced back) and 2 birthday cards being sent to Andy at the Chateau (thanks to all concerned!), the staff had not been able to work out who it was for... So luckily we were in the middle of telling them it was on its way when the penny dropped.

We then found our way to a campsite south of the Loire, on the banks of the river Cher, just outside Chenonceau. After a wee bit of trial and error, and some head-scratching, we got the Uno set up and attached to the Bongo and were all set. We went on a relatively short rycle along the river (and went past a monk all set for a canoe trip - not something we have seen every day) the settled in for the evening, already very pleased with our Uno as we could just chuck in all the items we didn't need/want in the van overnight.

On the Sunday morning we were woken by the sound of hot air balloons taking off - not a bad thing! The view of mist rising off the river with the sun up hot air balloons taking off was fabulous, but typically the camera batteries had died! Anyway, after brekkie we drove into Amboise to walk around the Sunday market and are very glad we did! It was great, and we came back armed with some fabulous saucisson for next to nothing. Also, what is it about the French and roast chickens? there were loads of them at the market roasting away and equally big queues of folk waiting to buy them. Another big plus was the arrival of a circa 1998 TVR Chimera that burbelled past us to set up camp three plots down from us. Oh how we enjoy the sound of a large block V8!

The next day we cycled to Amboise (having missed a sign for the cycle route, we took the main road to the town - not really to be advised), this time to check out the chateau and the rest of the town. The chateau is pretty impressive (again) and contains, amongst other things, Leonardo Da Vinci's grave. How did he end up living there, we wondered. The chateau where he lived towards the end of his life was also in the town and looked very impressive, but also expensive, so we just went into the town and to the main chateau (where Leonardo is buried). Our eyes had almost popped out of our heads when we saw it on the way towards the town on Saturday, and it was just as good up close.

After some lunch, we cycled back. We went back via the cycle route which uses lots of scenic small roads and was much more enjoyable. We then went to the Chenonceau Chateau near our campsite (many chateaux in one day!). It was fabulous! Won't bore anyone with details, but what a place. Co-incidentally, it transpires that Mary, Queen of Scots, lived there for a while which was a pleasant surprise for us.

The next day started with a bike ride to Blere in the morning in order to get to their local food market. We managed somehow to find it and Chris picked up some lovely fresh scallops while Andy located some olives; always doing the important stuff! After cycling back and a spot of lunch with the demolition of the olives, some serious hard lying by the pool was required, so we did just that. A very brief wash of the pretty filthy Bongo was undertaken and then the scallops were cooked, washed down with, of course, the obligitory bottle of very nice local wine.
Wednesday was time for a few more running miles for Andy, so an earlyish start and a route following the cycle trail to Amboise was chosen. It was pretty hot again but there was a good (strong) cooling wind helped. We had chosen this route as out-and-backs really do reduce the possibility of getting lost; so far this has kept working for us but lets see as the weeks go by if this continues. We made it to near Amboise, found a great trail through a forest and had started on the return journey when Chris said "wait up, I think I've got a flat" (she didn't actually use those words, but stick with it for the Andy-style joke - Ed). Andy had considered his usual dubious humour by pointing out that she actually has a house (ok, not worth it - Ed.) but decided against it for once. So how hard can it be to fix a flat? We had about another 8 or so miles to go back to the campsite, why is it that these things happen as far away as possible. Anyhow, Chris gets the tyre levers out of her bag and struggles to get the seemingly cemented tyre off the rim. Andy helps enormously by hooking in the other lever which then usefully snapped in two. Oh. Fortunately Chris had her allen keys and we used one of them as a lever to get the tyre off the rim. Go us. The punture itself was courtesy of a wee thorn so was pretty easy to find and Chris patched it up and put the tyre back on and started to inflate the tye. The pump broke. Both of Chris' hands were still in contact with the pump, the problem being that the two ends of the pump were not in contact with each other (Chris managing to laugh rather than cry at this point, which is quite miraculous). We managed to put it all back together and continue inflating. The pump broke again. Similar to the previous breaking behaviour but a different bit this time. Eventually by holding various bits of pump together and being very gentle with the pump enough air was in the tyre for the journey to continue; it only took us 45 minutes to fix :o)

The rest of the run back was pretty dull by comparison, though fantastic scenery and good undulations made for an enjoyable 20 miles in total. Another tasty wee lunch and then we thought we should really get ourselves to a vineyard, having spent the last 2 weeks or thereabouts surrounded by them. As it was getting quite late, we thought we would cycle to the nearest one to save time. Great idea. Except, after getting the bikes unlocked, Chris then discovered the back tyre was very flat. Again. Still, at least the repair had held out long enough to get us back here - it could have been a lot worse! So we walked to the vineyard, had a few tastes, and purchased a couple of bottles of very nice wine. After stopping for a beer in Chenonceau on the way back we had a cracking steak (again courtesy of Chris) then settled up at the campsite as on Thursday we are going to head south. Still not quite sure exactly where, St Emillion is our next target but we may take in somewhere else on the way down.