We're on our Way 'Home'

Tuesday 12th March to Friday 15th March 2019 Parking Co-ordinates 41.23161, 1.69432 T4rdis2 at dusty Vilanova From Tuesday to Friday morning we continued our time at Vilanova park, but with each passing day our feet were becoming more itchy than ever and we were increasingly keen to set off on our journey home.  Now, this wasn't particularly because of the area - that was quite lovely with excellent walking and cycling available right from the site, and the site itself had fantastic facilities!  However, it also had very noisy cooing wood pigeons that you just wanted to shoot, lots of dust and more noise from the wood yard behind it, and worst of all, loads of pollen that fell on us profusely from the many pine trees that provided a tad too much shade!  And I suppose it would be easy to say that all of the above made me sulk  which in turn made John determined to do something about it!  And much to my delight that something turned out to be the planning of an early escape on Friday (16th)! Parking Co-ordinates for Montserrat Train Station 41.61561, 1.84438 So on Friday morning, after saying goodbye to one or two of our fellow campers, we left Vilanova and started our 1270 km trek to Caen to catch our ferry home, but that day's journey was only to be a short 51 miles.  We made our usual pit stops for fuel, food and LPG and then started an uphill ascent into the foot hills of the Pyrenees to the train station at Montserrat where we planned to wild camp for the night and also catch the train to visit the Montserrat Monastery. T4rdis 2 in the Free Train Station Car Park at Montserrat - we were not alone! And it was during this ever changing climb that provided new views and vistas around every corner that we got our first glimpses of some of the weird rock formations as the road wound it's way up with craggy rocks on our left and a very long drop on our right - it was very reminiscent of some of the French Alp passes! We arrived at the Montserrat train station at lunch time, had a quick snack and then paid our €22 return fare to get to the top of the mountain!  We could have driven up and the fee to park up there was only €6.50 but  'Our Tour' had informed us that parking at the top was very likely to be 'wonky' (and we haven't got our levelling ramps with us) so for the little extra cost we decided to play it safe and stay on level ground at the station! Additionally, the rewards on our ride were quite good because as the train rose up the hill the panoramas from the windows were far reaching and quite breathtaking to say the least! However, once there the Monastery and it's surroundings didn't quite turn out to be what we expected! There were more spectacular views, there were both modern and ancient sculptures to admire, we got to see the black Madonna and the sun shone on us for the whole time we were there! Inside Santa Maria de Montserrat  Abbey The Black Madonna But the whole place seemed to have lost something in it's transformation from an ancient pilgrimage site to a modern day tourist attraction, and even on a weekday it lured loads of coaches full of folk who closely followed tour guides and rudely 'hogged' areas with little consideration for other guests.  And additionally, although there were lots of religious artefacts in the shops most of it was just tat and there seemed to be little or no 'religious atmospheric presence' about the place! Outside the Abbey Having said all that we weren't disappointed with our visit, and on another occasion we may well go back because there are several hikes that have caught our eye that start from the Abbey level and rise even further up to the Sant Jeroni pinnacle. And additionally, after reading Jason and Julie's blog I wonder if we came at a less touristy time of year we may feel the true 'devout aura' of the place! Sant Jeroni pinnacle Us Admiring the Views Saturday 16th March 2019   Mileage 110 miles from Montserrat in Spain to  the little village of Les Cabannes in France Parking Co-ordinates 42.78493, 1.68312 After a very peaceful night in the Montserrat train station car park we got underway and one of my first tasks was to pay a €4 toll as we entered a section of the motorway! - This took me a bit by surprise because usually payment is required as you leave and not at the start your motorway journey, and the machine was also a bit complicated thus resulting  in my fumbling for first card and then coins  while a queue of more knowledgeable Spanish drivers built up behind us!  But 'Hey Ho' we're tourists - what do they expect  ! Then once sorted we continued to follow the C16 as it twisted and turned leading uphill and down dale while it bypassed lots of pretty villages, took us through numerous tunnels that reminded us of Norway, and eventually also passed us by the massive Lake Panta de la Baells where the little chapel of Sant Salvador stands in it's cool calm waters. At this point we were still in Spain and as we drove through what almost seemed like an amphitheatre of high rugged towing cliffs we decided to stop for  coffee before entering our last Spanish town which was Puigcedra.   And it was here that Mrs Snoopy led us on another 'Merry Dance' through the town's narrow busy streets before she chucked us out into France, but that was without any evidence of a border crossing!! And at that point it was lucky that we didn't need any diesel because on the Spanish side of the border it had been around €1.20 but the first we saw in France was an eye watering €1.69 (£1.45)! We were just keeping our fingers crossed that it would get a bit cheaper when we came down out of the mountains. Our final destination for today was an Aire in the ski village of Les Cabannes and as we rolled into it we were very well satisfied with our choice.  There was no electric but it was spacious and sheltered by high hedges and the pitch we chose allowed us to spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in very warm sunshine with a very pleasant cool beer!  It felt lovely to be enjoying the freedom of being on the road again and that tranquil place just placed the icing on the cake! Sunday 17th March 2019  ☂☂ Mileage 138 from Les Cabannes to Condom Co-ordinates Condom Aire 43.9488, 0.36381 We left Les Cabannes under grey laden skies and set our course for the town of Condom, and initially we still had towering mountains around us and the area was quite 'Grotty'- that is there were lots of Caves (Grotts) available for public visitations!  But, that sort of expedition wasn't on our itinerary for today, but passing that way had allowed us to travel on a very small section of the Route des Cols Pyrenees which starts on the Atlantic side of France  and finishes on the Mediterranean side passing over 34 Cols on it's way.   We'd never heard of it before but a quick Google search identified that it was probably just our 'Cup of Tea' so it's now firmly on our 'to do' list for the near future! A View of part of Route de Cols Pyrenees Very soon after that we were sadly leaving the majestic mountains behind and it could almost be said that some of the motorway terrain that took over was a bit uninspiring!   But travelling like we do, (if you try) there is nearly always something beautiful to look at and today one of the things that caught my eye were all the different hues and shapes of blossom and magnolias that were declaring that spring had sprung in this part of France - even though some of the mountain tops were still glistening with snow! It was also on this part of our journey that we experienced another strange phenomenon - ☂It Rained ☂- and we haven't seen any of that for at least the last 3 months.  And another thing we hadn't seen for several months were the dreaded Gillet Jaune but today we spotted several 'packs', however all were of the friendly variety and not the hard core anarchists that you read about in Paris and other large French Cities. We arrived at Condom about 2ish but because the rain had started again, and because the town was quite a distance from the Aire we decided on another lazy afternoon - but it was a bit of a disappointment when we discovered we'd hardly got any phone or wifi signal!  On well at least we got another few chapters of our books read! Monday 18th March 2019   Mileage 79 from Condom to Cahors Parking Co-ordinates 44.43875, 1.43959 This morning as we left our overnight parking place at Condom and initially we had a very rough ride!  As with many French villages and towns the roads here were in a shocking state - but happily things soon improved as we left the town's precincts behind, and the rest of our journey was completed over mostly smooth and almost empty roads. Once again as we travelled there were loads of orchards in blossom and myriads of spring flowers (including some very pretty camellias), but as we neared our destination the landscape became dominated with  masses of vines and signs claiming ownership of them. But this wasn't really suprising because now we were well and truly in the Cahors wine region ( The Lot Valley) where there are 10,000 acres of vineyards which have a planting density of over 8,000 vines per acre.    You could say 'They grow a ''Lot'' of Wine here' - apparently enough to fill 30 million bottles per year - of which we have just one. 'Cahors' is also the actual name of the red wine that is produced in this area and it's protected by an Appellation of Origin control, but to earn that accolade the wine must have a content from at least 70% Malbec grapes and the other 30%  should either be Merlot or Tannat.    And surprisingly we also learnt that 70% of the vineyards in France are along a narrow strip of land on each side of the river Lot between Cahors and Puy L'Eveque where local soils are conducive to grape growing! A Picture of a Picture showing the loop of the Lot River that almost surrounds Cahors We arrived around 2pm, had lunch and then popped out for a nose around the pretty historic town and one of the first major structures that we got to admire was the 14th century six span arched cobbled Pont Valentre which majestically spans the River Lot! And that's almost yer 'Lot'  But just another few other interesting facts that we discovered:- Pope John the XXII was born here in 1249   Cahors was the starting point of stage 18 of the 2007 Tour de France!  And I found this Sculpture quite intriguing - but I've no idea what it represents!  Bye for now  and  P.S. the wine was lovely 'cheers' Click here to see our French camping Spots And click here to see our Spanish ones