The end

Well back in wet and cold England again after a fantastic trip away. The ferry back was great and relatively calm for the Bay of Biscay although Mrs. P might not agree having gone to bed early without any tea as feeling a bit woozy!

We had a beautiful sunset on the ferry and were entertained by two big schools of Dolphins jumping about in the wake of the ship some getting quite close. I reckon there were well over 50 in view at one point. We also saw a few schools of Flying Fish take off as we passed them or maybe they were being hunted. They would just appear as a silver shimmer and then drop back into the water.

Viv "Bradley Wiggins" on the beach near Souston

Ripping up some surf in Biarritz

Sunset at Biarritz with the Spanish coast in the distance

Sunset over Biarritz, the storm passed well inland fortunately

Waiting to board the ferry, nearly all over.

Sunset over the Bay of Biscay

Camped at the Peanut Farm

Pitched up on the peanut farm

A peanut plant with peanuts on the roots

Monday 7^th October

Well it’s nearly all over as we are currently parked up on the ferry terminal car park for the night ready to get the boat back tomorrow.

As we got up this morning a small van pulled into the car park with a chap selling fresh bread from the back of it, I reckon half the campsite queued for bread.

Had a nice run down the coast from Biarritz to Bilbao, the French and Spanish don’t mess about when it comes to building roads in hilly terrain they either go across it on great big bridge, cut a slot in it or tunnel through it. So the journey down has been quite impressive added to which there are great mountains to the south of us. It reminded us a bit of the journey home from Greece around the Italian and French Riviera.

Saturday 5^th October

We are presently camped up on a Municipal site on the outskirts of Souston near the beach, about 5 minutes away on the bike.

After the thunderstorm Thursday night as we were getting ready to leave we heard a tractor staring up in the barn at the back of us, then Alain the Beekeeper arrived to check we could get out and hadn’t got bogged down which was really nice of him.

As the weather wasn’t up to much we decided to head for the coast, the landscape changed again with lots of pine and oak trees and some beautiful spreads of purple heather and bracken and the odd large lake.

Visited the beach to find the sea very rough and the locals making the most of the surf, not sure if we will get the chance to go in if it stays that rough and the sun doesn’t come out.

It poured during the night and the big disadvantage of camping under trees is that the drips carry on for ages after the rain stops, just about long enough for it to start again. We have been lucky though so far in that it hasn’t rained all day once.

I got up and cycled into the village to get the shopping and some sausages on the local farmers’ market then had a trip out to the beach whilst Viv was in the van making jewellery.

Saw my first ever Short toed Treecreeper on a pine right next to the van, also Kentish Plover and Yellow Legged Gulls on the beach with the odd Egret, Kingfisher and Heron.

Succumbed to the call of the sea and went for a surf in the afternoon as board hire place right next to the beach but a bit too rough for me really as the waves were breaking really close in so only managed one very short run. However, I had an enjoyable couple of hours floating about on the board and on the odd occasion being tossed around in the washing machine like surf. Viv washed me down with fresh water in the car park afterwards.

Spent Saturday night a few miles away on a Peanut farm it was really nice to be back to the solitude of the France Passion sites again after the crowd at the Municipal last night. Just us in a big field at the back of the farm house with Black Redstarts for company and the usual Collard Doves everywhere down here.

I don’t think the farmer’s dog has seen or heard a guitar before because as soon as I started playing he came over and started barking at me, it wasn’t just my singing as he barked even when I just played an instrumental. However, he gave up barking before I stopped playing though and wandered back to the farm.

Sunday 6^th October

Woke up this morning to find farm covered in mist that was slowly lifting as the sun started to break through. The temperature rose from 17 degrees to 25 between 9:00 am and 10:30 am as the sky cleared to a beautiful clear blue.

We phoned Gareth and left him a birthday greeting, funny to think last time we were in this area he was only about 14 or so years old.

We introduced ourselves to the farmer and he showed us round the farm, it looks like the whole set up is run by him, his brother and their sons. Just at the back of us was a field of peanuts and next to us a small patch to demonstrate to visitors what they look like. The plant itself is nothing special with very small yellow flowers. However, once they have flowered a shoot comes out of the flower down into the ground and the peanut grows on the end of it. He picked a plant to show us and we ate one of the fresh peanuts, really nice and different to the dried stuff we are used to. Viv bought some peanut sweets one in chocolate and the other in toffee. He said he was the only person he knew growing peanuts and that is was quite difficult to harvest them so maybe that is why no-one else is growing them.

As it was such a lovely day we decided to head for the coast and ended up driving into Biarritz past all the beautiful people posing in their designer gear as they walked about. We found a nice little camping car place right next to a beach so parked up and went surfing. I did much better today as decent waves although the board took a bit of getting used to and it was much busier more like Croyde on a holiday weekend with boards all over the place. The lass in the hire shop only charged me 5 euros for an hour instead of 10 which was really nice of her.

We are currently parked up in the camping car place with electric hookup and a beer as we decided it made sense to stop here tonight rather than go up into the hills and then come back down again early as we have 107 miles to Bilbao to complete tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Gareth we are having a drink to celebrate for you, 29 years ago there was about an hour to go before you entered the world.

Photos 4th October

Camped up next to the lake on the Kiwi farm

Coypu and Kingfisher lake next to the van

Alain the Beekeeper cleaning his hive

The sky as the big thunderstorm was building

The start of the 13 hour thunderstorm

Thursday 3^rd October

Decided to head straight to Doazit in Landes about 40 miles north of Bayonne to make sure we are nearer the coast and Spain for the weekend. It seems funny driving past all the towns and cities I associate with French rugby teams like Dax, Pau, Toulouse, Bayonne and Biaritz.

The country side is gradually changing now with more conifers about and ferns and bracken a bit like miles and miles of Thetford forest.

We camped the night on a Beekeepers farm next to a field of maize and just as we arrived there was a Honey Buzzard circling overhead. After lunch met Alain Laluquer the farmer who has been keeping bees for 15 years and he took us round his workshop and spent over an hour explaining how he makes his hives and how the honey is produced, all in French! Each colony has one queen and 15,000 workers and he gets about 12kg of honey from each compartment of the hive. He changes the queen every three years for a new young one to keep the colony fresh and active. Afterwards we got to try the two types of honey he produces, Acaia and Chestnut and bought some to take home.

As we were cooking a thunderstorm started in the distance and gradually just built and built until all we could see to the east, north and west were thunder clouds with massive lightning flashes. As it got dark the storm just continued to build until it reached us and it thundered all night with some massive cracks and lightning that lit up the whole van every few minutes. It just went on and on and poured with rain and we timed the last roll of thunder and lightning at just gone 10;30 the following morning, some storm.

We are currently at the coast in a small town called Soustons and hope to go to the beach later if the sun comes out.

Tuesday 1^st October

Camped on a mixed arable farm tonight 80 miles south of the Pyrannees, the landscape here is changing to rolling hills with fairly steep valleys but the rivers are starting to run south to north coming off the mountains. We crossed the last of the big rivers running east to west when we crossed the Garrone and headed on down south.

The farm we are staying on grows soya beans, green lentils, sorghum, onions, garlic and sunflowers for sunflower oil and the white cattle that are all over the place. I cycled up to the top of the hill at the back of the farm and looked at the mountains to the south, some of the peaks are over 10,000 feet high and don’t look like they are over 80 miles away, I would love to be able to go down and climb them.

The farm is a couple of miles from the nearest village, Maubec that was founded in the 10^th century and is on the top of a hill with walls built on a limestone cliff around it. Most of it was destroyed when France was engaged in religious wars but quite a bit remains and it was very pretty like a lot of the perched villages and towns we have seen.

Autumn is definitely on the way here as the leaves are turning and the walnuts are falling and we can pick a basket load by the side of the road in no time. The sunflowers are looking a bit sorry for themselves though, some are still green but the majority that have not been harvested look black and shriveled with heads bowed instead of following the sun. I like the French name “Turnosol” which means flower that follows the sun.

Wednesday 2 October

Before setting off we bought some garlic, onions and lentils from Beatrice and Jean-Pierre Pointu the farmers and thanked them for letting us stay. Beatrice said they had only had two or three English camper vans all season which seems a pity as it was such a lovely spot.

We set off for Montgaillard with the intention of cycling around a trail relating to 17 ancient potters and their sites. We found the first no problem but after that got lost and cycled 12 miles around some very pretty country side in 30 degrees plus heat with some rather steep and long slopes and didn’t find sight nor  sound of a potter or pottery. We got by by scrumping figs, melons left in the field after the harvest and walnuts.

On the way to our next campsite we passed a small “Lavoir” in a village called Mauroux, it was a communal wash site built in 1550 and had a stone circle with a wooden roof and was fed by a small spring coming out of the hillside through two stone troughs. It was too good an opportunity to miss so saw two Brits dip their hot heads and feet in to cool off, the locals driving past must have thought us daft paddling about in their wash basin.

Tonight we are camped at Parleboscq on a farm that grows grapes, kiwi fruit and hazelnuts. On arrival the farmer met us and treated us to sampling the local Amangnac and wine, Kiwi fruit liquor and a very nice duck and mixed pepper and onion confit. Apparently it takes 10 kilos of Kiwi fruit to make half a litre of liquor. We had never seen Kiwis growing on trees before but they were full of large hard fruits that will ripen in another month or so.

After our tasting we went fossil hunting as there is a small cutting in the forest just behind where we camped that has shells and shark teeth dating back to the cretaceous period, we found lots of shells but unfortunately no shark teeth. This would have been an ideal place to have had Gareth and Leah with us as she has always been an expert fossil finder and I bet she’d have found a shark tooth. Gareth would have loved the site as we had a small irrigation pond next to us full of fish and as we got back to the van we noticed we have a neighbour a nice small Coypu who seems to like a tree stump about 20 feet from the van. We watched him swimming about whilst supping our beers and heard him calling as we settled down for the night. The following morning as we opened the curtains Viv spotted a Kingfisher sitting by the Coypu’s stump.

Cycling under the village walls of Maubec

The farm with mountains in the background

Sunflowers

Cooling off in the Lavoir

A few more photos 1st October

Mr Coypu just visable centre stage

Viv scoffing grapes with Msr Simon Fontanel

Me singing to Msr Fontanels dog, Casper

Not a bad picnic site, Msr Fontanel's farm

The family picking grapes for the table

Moissac

Some photos 1st October

Camped up at Sarah and David Meakin's wine and beer brewing

St Antonin Noble Val

Our host from the previous night Sarah standing her stall in St Antonin Noble Val

A vanilla stall in St Antonin Noble Val

Parked up at the Dairy farm for the night Lauzert

La Canal des Deux Mers, the canal crossing the River Tarn at Moissac

 Saturday September 28th

We went back into Villefranche de Perigord to try and get onto the internet as although it was free in the tourist office no-one seemed to be able to get on line. Having given up we went to the market but only four stalls so ended up chatting over a coffee with an nice English couple Rachel and David who live in Deal and have a house locally.

We were intending to visit Cahors but quite a big place and nowehere easy to park the van up and cycle back so pushed on south and spent the night on a small wine and beer producers farm run by an English couple called Sarah and David Meakin who produce their own wines and beers under the Domaine du Merchein. Sarah made us very welcome and gave us a tasting session despite only have just got in from a day at the market and having to be up early to run a another stall tomorrow. We bought a bottle of wine and a beer brewed with a couple of stalks of Saffron in it that sells well locally.

As we were getting ready for bed there was a really big thunderstorm brewing and I sat outside watching the lightning show as it got closer before bed with a glass or two of wine. As the lightning was flashing I could here Corncrake calling in the fields in front of us and just across the valley as it got dusk I could hear wild boar squabbling as they came out to feed but it was a bit too dark to actually see them. We turned out the lights in the van and watched the storm gather before we went to sleep but woke up later to the rain hammering on the roof and flashes and grumbles all around.

Sunday 29^th September

Visited St Antonin-Noble-Val  a beautiful medieval town that had a big Sunday market and met up with Sarah our host from last night standing her wine and beer stall to say goodbye. They have parties turn up the beginning of October to pick grapes, just a bit too late for us this year but maybe another time. The market was full of stalls all mainly local produce, I treated myself to a venison (Cerf) salami and Viv had yet another early birthday present when we visited a very good local potter Eric Fuare who makes porcelain ware both for use and decoration. He was very pleasant and showed Viv around his workshop at the back of his studio and they discussed glazes and other potty things.

We had a few places in mind to stay at and eventually ended up on a diary farm in Luzert parked up against the barn wall. We were met by the farmer’s daughter as she was out on a call as it appears she may be a reserve firefighter and dad is away. She chatted away and showed us around the diary where we bought some fresh yoghurt and goat’s cheese. The yoghurt was absolutely delicious so we bought some more for breakfast for the next couple of days.

Monday 30^th September

Drove down to Moissan a town on the River Tarn where the “Canal Des Duex Mers” crosses the River Tarn on a long aquaduct that has a cycle track by the side of it we cycled along. The canal runs from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and it is possible to cycle alongside it all the way, now that would be an adventure for a future year.

As we were cycling along the canal we spotted a large Coypu swimming along the other bank and cycled along watching it swimming until it decided to have a snooze in a little hollow in the sun.

Camped the night on a fruit farm just outside Moissac, the farmer took us to see them picking grapes for the table most of which go to Belgium and his wife gave us some fresh grapes, plums and green gauges. We also scrumped a few plums and big fresh figs whilst having a short walk. Our campsite was on a small hard standing opposite the farm but perched on the edge of the valley looking out across vineyards and orchards as we Bar-BQd as the sun went down.

Friday 27 September

We fancied visiting a small town called Domme just down river from where we had been staying and turned off as directed but missed the sign saying height restrictions until too late to turn. We drove up a really steep hill with some tight hairpin bends, until we met the town wall and an arched entry that was too low and a bit narrow for us. Unfortunately we had to turn around and drive all the way back down again.

Arrived early at Villefranche du Perigord on a Chestnut farm (Fermier du Chataigne) and after parking the van cycled the 5 miles back into the village to explore and look around a Cep market that had just started there. Looks like all the locals had been out collecting mushrooms in the woods and were selling them in baskets of about three and half kilos a time for between 10-15 euros.

Got back to the farm where Camille and Serge the farmers showed us around and explained everything then gave us a tasting session. We tried local chestnut honey, chestnut paste, jams, cakes and bread, flour and liquors. They showed us the mill they use to grind the chestnuts to make flour that is gluten free and the various machines to collect, sort, shell, sort the chaff out and dry them. It was really interesting and with the help of another French couple who tried to interpret at times we seemed to follow it all.

The following morning Serge showed us how they are treating canker and infection on some trees and explained how he uses small wasps to fight parasite infections.

We constantly appreciate how much more of the country side we have seen and the people we have met and places we have stayed via France Passion and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into the more rural areas of France. On the whole they have all been very welcoming and friendly and willing to spend time showing us around and explain things with a real passion for what they are doing. By visiting the farms we have been right into the minor roads and backwoods and sometimes hardly see anyone else on the roads for hours.

Cycling into Villefranche

The Cep market in Villefranche

Serge the farmer at his mill grinding sweet chestnuts into flour

Nets spread under the trees to collect the chestnuts