Category: vanlife

Heading west

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I am spending a lot of time on the West Coast of both England and Scotland this summer, so my journey from Ellen’s was a brilliant scenic drive through my favourite Peak District and Yorkshire Dales, out to a little village, ‘where the fells meet the sea’.

I am staying at Ravenglass on a beautiful wooded site. No squirrels as yet sadly, but I have been feeding a very tame robin.

The drive in past the edge of Eskdale and Wasdale was just stunning, and the site is within walking distance of the Coastal Path along the estuary.

The village has lots of cute cottages, with lots of greenery.

There was also a very sobering display outside one from a local man who has collected beach plastic. A horrifying, and fascinating look into what has been discarded,  just look at all the lighters!

This area has been settled since Roman times, and is also famous for its miniature railway, once used to carry granite from Lakeland mines, and since 1960, preserved solely as a leisure railway. 

I was lucky enough to see one of the engines being turned, and visited the very well interpreted museum there.

The poster display on the platform was excellent, love the vintage styles here.

I have visited the Lake District many times before, but its beauty always amazes me. I had never been to Wast Water before though, the deepest lake, next to England’s highest mountain, Scafell.

I once climbed Scafell, as part of a charity event where we did Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis in a weekend. However that was about 30 years ago, with much younger knees, so I settled for a walk around the lake instead.

The weather has been really good, better than forecast, with only a little rain, and lots of chance to sit outside with a good book in the evenings, and look at the sun through the trees.

I am hugely glad to be here anyway, as in Spain they are having a heatwave and it’s been 44 degrees there!

So much nicer at 19 degrees with clouds and a fleece on!

I have one more full day here, then it is time to head to Scotland to meet up with my sister Jacky for a little explore of the coast of Dumfries and Galloway. So exciting 😀 Although I enjoyed last summer’s east coast adventures  the prospect of even more lakes, hills and mountains over the next few weeks makes my little heart very happy.

I shall see you soon, to share more of this western beauty. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Wandering and pondering

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I have just finished my only re-enactment event for this year where the weather was kind, the company wonderful, and there were excellent bands to dance to. It was the 40th anniversary of the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival, and I am so glad it went well.

Before the festival I had a brief visit to Worcester to see my sister  and hear the happy news that my latest great neice arrived safely.  My sister will give her the little mouse I posted about last time. The baby’s name is Mia Poppy, which is so pretty!

I spent the following week at the lovely Blackmore Caravan and Camping Club site  at the foot of the Malvern Hills.

The weather was really good, despite one wet night, where sadly my trusty Vango tent in the picture above leaked.  It has served me well for 3 seasons but has had to be replaced by a lovely new larger one, which I have named Eugenia. 

I spent most of the first afternoon making Katy look pretty, with her new bunting, cushion, and the blue campervan tin.

I spent a lot of time just relaxing in the sun and reading, the views from the site were great, so it was lovely just to sit and think. I did have a drive to one of the many quarries in the area, Gullet Quarry, and a walk in the woods.

I also tested my OS app on a full route of footpaths around the campsite, which worked brilliantly.  The views of the Malverns were gorgeous, and there were so many wildflowers.

I really appreciate the diversity that the different climate here in the UK brings. The little roses smelt wonderful.

I ended the walk at the local Catholic church  with a very lovely door and entrance porch.

I am doing some writing on the road, and it is nice to have wanders like this to think through plot lines and possible developments.  Much of my travels this summer will be this type of walking with planned trips to coasts, lochs and waterfalls.

I leave for the Lake District tomorrow, so hopefully will have some lovely views to share soon. Weather forecast is variable but I love moody clouds anyway! Until next time have fun  take care,

The green, green grass of home

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My next stop was to revisit some of the places that I used to go as a child. I grew up in the south west of England, in a town called Cheltenham, famous for its Regency architecture, (think Bridgerton sets), and for holding the Gold Cup horse race. Like most children, I didn’t really appreciate the place very much, I never really felt as if I fitted in very well, moving to Yorkshire definitely felt more ‘me’.

However the area is very beautiful, and as the Cotswolds kept coming up on my Instagram feed, I decided to spend my camping time there, before coming back to Spain. I was very lucky with the weather, the week was mostly very sunny, so much so that I got sunburnt, and I was able to visit some stunning places. The Cotswolds have a lot of natural beauty, quintessentially English with rolling hills and lots of farmland.

However, the area is also famous for the beautiful houses built of the local stone, which is a gorgeous honey colour. There are so many cute villages here, it was hard to chose where to visit. The Trust has so many properties in the area, and I tried to see as many as I could in the week.

My first stop was Hidcote, famous for its garden more than the house.

Lawrence Johnston, who created it in the early 1900s, was a passionate gardener and plant collector, who travelled widely to collect specimens. There are only a few rooms open in the house, but it looks like a gorgeous place to sit and plan your travels, aided by your map of the world, complete with the Empire in red!

It was such a brilliant day to visit, the garden looked stunning, and I just loved all the delicate rhododendrons and lilacs everywhere.

Even though I love living in Spain, one of the things I do miss are the seasonal plants you get in England. We have the most wonderful cactuses, and bougainvillea year round, but there is something very special about spring plants that only have a short life.

Like many gardens, Hidcote has a series of different areas, with gorgeous walls, gates and architectural features.

I was especially lucky, as there was a stunning exhibition on by an embroidery artist, Olga Prinku, that was a complete surprise. I usually try to find a special textile treasure at each house I visit, and her work is just amazing. She embroiders on tulle, using found materials and dried flowers. I have never seen anything like this, so beautiful and original.

I especially love these ‘dandelion clocks’.

She had also done some work specifically inspired by the Hidcote garden, one of the box hedges.

I camped at Chipping Norton, just on the border between Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and the campsite was lovely as always, such nice clean facilities and welcoming staff. I love sitting watching new people arrive every day, and admiring all the different sorts of vans, and this visit I had some neighbours who had a very cute little pod caravan.

My second Trust visit was to the village of Bibury. The village is the location of a Trout Farm, and I remember visiting that, and paddling in the stream as a child. It was full of Japanese tourists, as apparently the Emperor of Japan visited once and loved it, so it has become very popular.

As well as there being many beautiful houses in the village, the Trust looks after a place called Arlington Row, a 17th century terrace of weavers’ cottages near the river, as well as Rack Isle, between the Arlington stream and the main river.

Again there were so many lovely spring flowers, ever the weeds are pretty here.

As it was quite hot, I spent more time at the campsite that week than travelling. I was quite happy after all my long days of driving through France to just sit and read my book and watch life on the camp.

There were a couple more visits later in the week, which I will tell you about in the next post, but it was a lovely relaxing time, and I am so glad I went back to the area. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a location that offers some of the very best of the southern English countryside. Until next time, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Home is where the needlework is

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I had chosen to break up the journey back from the shuttle to my sister’s in Worcester with a brief stay in Surrey, so had to pick from a number of lovely Trust houses in the area, as there are so many there. Its not an area I have ever visited before, but is definitely on my wish list to go back to, along with Sussex, and the rest of Kent that I didn’t have time to visit last autumn. It is just so beautiful in that part of the country, a very different beauty from my lovely Yorkshire, so green and wooded and just so pretty.

The first stop, on the way to my campsite was Polesden Lacy, which is in a stunning location with views across to the neighbouring hills.

I was also thrilled to see some rhododendron, my first for about three years. I used to love seeing them in the spring in Marsden, usually they have all gone when I get back in June. They are such beautiful flowers, and it was brilliant to see cowslips and blossom as well.

This beautiful house was used as a party house, not a home, and this is reflected in the way that the house was decorated. It had very much an art gallery feel, with some gorgeous paintings, and a very well constructed Tudor style corridor and plaster ceiling. The ballroom shows you the kind of opulence that the guests enjoyed.

However it was the little personal touches that I liked best. The writing desk with its set of dictionary and thesaurus, along with the sponge for wetting your stamps, and the seating diagram for dinner. Those give you a real sense of who was there, a sense of the place, which is what the Trust aim to do, rather than just be a collection of beautiful things.

I had one night at the Horsley Camping and Caravan Club site, this used to be a fishing lake for a large house, and was used as a recovery camp after the war, when the soldiers used the lake for swimming as well. I love the way that the Club preserve the history of their sites, many have links with WW2, and have been army camps or hospitals.

I was in a lovely little woodland camping area, and in the morning was able to watch two woodpeckers while I ate my breakfast. There were also lots of ducks and some baby geese had just hatched.

I have recently bought some new plates for my van, I had been looking for some nicer ones since last year, when my friend Sharon joined me in Mablethorpe in a rented van that had lovely plates. When in Yorkshire we found some similar ones and we split the set of four. I am very pleased how well they co-ordinate with the little rug in the van, and the National Trust rhubarb and rosemary scone that I got as a take out from Polesden Lacy was delicious!

The following day was a bit damp as well, so I only stopped at one house on the way to Worcester, but had a lovely drive through Oxfordshire, past Henley and along the River Thames. My chosen house for that day was the Tudor Greys Court, and it was such a contrast to Polesden.

Bought by the Brunner family because they loved the view, the house and outbuildings, along with a walled garden, were just full of personal touches, including some wonderful books in the library.

These aren’t the most beautiful of books but such a lovely eclectic set, with titles such as Nonconformity, The Making of the Earth, and Russian Literature, they look like a wonderful read!

The best thing about the house was the wonderful amount of needlepoint there, done by Lady Brunner. I especially loved the blue and pink rose design that she had clearly taken from the fabric used in the bedroom. There were so many lovely pieces, cushions, rugs and a hat pin pincushion in her bedroom.

It was a really gorgeous property, and also very much a home, full of little treasures such as the quilt made by a volunteer that was on one of the beds, and the cupboards still full of the housekeeping supplies they had used. Although I love visiting the grand stately homes, this one has to one of my favourites, not least because I know who made all of these wonderful things.

I spent the weekend after that at my sister’s, celebrating my great niece’s 2nd birthday, which was lovely. I have never seen a child so excited about candles on a cake! Then it was off for another adventure, and another new campsite, which I will tell you all about next time. Until then take care, have fun, stay safe, and thanks for visiting.

The best aire of the trip.. with bonus goats!

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My final two nights in France took me north to the shuttle at Calais. I had wanted to revisit Arras, about 1 and a half hours from Calais for many years as we stopped there briefly on the way to Disneyland with the children about 25 years ago. Arras is where the green flag is at the bottom of this map.

I remembered that it was a very beautiful city, full of Flemish influences, as it is near the border with Belgium, and there was a lot of trade between the two countries in the medieval era. Arras was actually briefly part of the County of Flanders in the 1400s, and was also at one time part of the Spanish Netherlands, until it became part of France again in 1640. Much of the town was sadly destroyed during Word War 1 so has been rebuilt, and there are a series of medieval tunnels under it that were used to help defend the city.

It did not disappoint, and neither did the lovely aire that I found in advance, more on that later. I arrived just before lunch and then it was just a short walk though to the Place de Heros. This, and the neighbouring square, La Grand Place, show European architecture and culture at its best. The beautiful buildings, all the little shops and bars looked so lovely in the afternoon sun.

There was even a fab patisserie, sadly I was so full from lunch I didn’t have any room for the delicious cakes they had there.

At the end of the second square, there is the stunning town hall and belfry, topped with a golden lion, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was originally built starting in 1463, but had to be repaired after war damage. It is such a gorgeous building, resembling a cathedral, and you can go up the tower of the belfry if you want to.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and I’m so glad I got to visit again and have a wander. I had noticed that it was on my route back to Calais when planning, and when I saw it had a very nice aire thought it would be a perfect stop.

The aire was within a short walk of the town, just off the ring road and although it was in a busy location, the place itself was beautiful and peaceful, bordered one side by some small holdings, I could see turkeys and geese from my park up, and on the other by the River Scarpe.

On the banks of the river path there was a small herd of goats, fenced in between the aire and the path, who were having great fun talking to visitors. The aire had lots of space, toilet and shower, and was only 13 euros without electricity. It really was a wonderful stopping point and I would recommend it if you are in the area.

The following day it was just a short drive to Calais, I was aiming for an aire in Calais itself, but it was closed for renovation, so found myself back at the one I originally stayed in last October, the very first stop of the trip, at Wissant, just 20 mins drive from Calais. This aire is still free at the moment, although they are installing electricity and other services. It is quite large and backs onto a small area of woodland so is very sheltered.

It was a bit damp at that point, so after having a nice chat with my neighbour, from Belgium, who was on her way to where I had been near Barcelona, I had a quiet afternoon in the van. I was sorting my visits for when I got back to the UK, and while looking at the map book realised just what an epic adventure this had been.

You don’t sometimes realise what you are doing, until you have done it, but looking at the map I have travelled so many wonderful miles and seen so many amazing things. I have drawn my route in on the photo below, starting in October last year with the French coast part, and coming back via the Spanish one.

Thank you Katy, who is now fully rested and has had a good service, for being the best little vanlife van. I love her to bits, and can’t wait to be reunited with her soon.

Looking at the map as well, I think I’ll go for Belgium and Northern Germany for the next Europe trip, look how tiny Belgium is compared to how far I have driven in the last 6 months! Might even be able to pop into Luxembourg as well 😉

Then it was an early night, and an early start for my last sunny drive on French roads, onto the shuttle and voila England! Here is the now obligatory shuttle selfie!

The journey back in the UK started with the M25 with roadworks, which was a bit of a shock after all those lovely empty French motorways. However I had a brilliant week visiting family, and going to some of the areas we used to travel to when I was a child living in the Cotswolds. I will tell you more about that next time.

We have had some very unseasonal weather here, high winds and torrential rain, which have caused serious floods, so I have been mainly in getting house admin, and lots of knitting done. I have also added to my wool stash, with persuasion, and for a good cause, as the knitting group had a large donation from the husband of a knitter who had died, so I am putting that to good use with more charity hats.

Until next time, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting, over 1800 people last month, so a huge thanks to you all, it means a lot.

Stops by the river

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After leaving the park up near Guedelon I had quite a long drive to my next park up area, near Reims. At this point I was only a couple of days away from my shuttle booking, so had long driving days, with not much opportunity for sightseeing.

I had chosen a stopping point about halfway for lunch, almost at random, as there were some nice lakes and a river. I was planning to stop further on at a wildlife area but then spotted a wonderful medieval gateway, so parked up and had a wander.

I was in the small city of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, a popular area for boating, and water activities, and with some of the most impressive city gates that I have seen. They date from the 13th century, although one was rebuilt in the 16th century, and are set each end of the main road through the city. The city had a long history of being a defensive position for the kings of France in the early medieval period.

It was a beautiful walk along the river Yonne, not only were the gates very impressive, but there was a fortified tower next to the river as well.

As always there were some lovely buildings, with fabulous doors.

I love the detail on this old door, where the plants have grown over it and fallen off, leaving just the residue of their seed heads.

This is what I most enjoy about travel, especially the trips that I have been doing in Europe, so many unexpected lovely things en route. It has been such an adventure, one that I will remember forever.

As usual I had a choice of park ups identified for the night, but chose to go to a paid aire at a small town called Chateau-Thierry, on the banks of the River Marne. You can see the location just at the top of the map below.

It was a beautiful little place, with showers and toilet, as well as a washing up area, for only 8 euros a night. I spent a very peaceful night there, after a walk along the river.

I do so love spending time in Katy, she is looking wonderful now, with her new crochet bunting and new tins. I need to take a photo of my latest tin, and the last one, as I am now completely out of space, but in the pictures above you can see the new one that my friend Linda, in Spain, gave me last year, just below the fabric bunting. She collects vintage tins but passed that one on to me as she thought it was perfect for Katy.

It was so lovely, just sitting in the sun, reading and knitting. I am really enjoying my time here in Spain, but am so excited to get back to travelling in a few weeks, I have so many wonderful places to explore this summer.

Life here has been nice and quiet, with lots of crafting time. I am knitting quite a lot for charity donations, mainly premature baby hats, and in preparation for our Christmas fair for the food bank charity here. I shall be back at the weekend, with the last of the posts from France, of the final days of the trip.

Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

The old and the new, the stone edition

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As you may know, I have been a medieval re-enactor for the past 21 years. In that time I have visited many, many castles, in various states of repair, and been privileged to camp at some of the most beautiful ones in the UK as part of our events.

For us as re-enactors we spend a lot of time in what is know as experimental archaeology, which is taking the archaeological evidence that exists, and in our case evidence from written accounts and paintings, and trying to recreate garments, weapons, fighting techniques, encampments and battles. One of the places that has been on my wishlist, and that of I think every other re-enactor I know, is the castle of Guedelon in France.

Guedelon was started in 1997, as an experimental archaeology project, to try and build a castle, using only 13th century techniques. It is impossible to describe the scale of the project, I have watched documentaries on it, and seen lots of pictures, but visiting was a dream come true, and I am so glad that I realised that my route would take me near enough to visit. The castle is located near to Orleans, at the lower green flag on this map below.

Seeing it was amazing, from the nearby quarry, where all the stone is cut and moved, to the scaffolding and pulleys needed to work on the higher levels, just absolutely mindblowing.

There is no end date for the castle, as there is no idea when it will be completed. It was fascinating to see how they were working on the higher levels of the towers.

Aside from the castle itself, which is a feat of engineering like nothing else that I have ever seen, there is a whole village surrounding it, full of the craftspeople needed to support the stonemasons. Basket weavers, carpenters and blacksmiths, work as they would have done, making and mending tools and equipment to support the stonemasons.

There are a few concessions to modern heath and safety, such as face masks, eye protection and sturdy boots, but otherwise it is how it would have been circa 1315. In this photo below the blacksmith is using the giant bellows on the left to enhance the flames, that was fascinating.

My favourite part of the village was where the painters and dyers work. They are using only natural dyes and available minerals, to produce all of the colours needed.

The paint workshop had fantastic displays of how they grind all of the minerals to make the 15 pigments they are using. They are currently painting panels to cover the windows, and one of the finished rooms inside the castle had already been painted.

It was a very emotional experience for me, not only seeing the work that all these hugely dedicated people are doing, but also thinking about the many cultures that still use these methods of construction, for whom this is daily life, not some experiment.

Nearly 16 years ago I was lucky enough to be part of Project Nepal, a Scout led initiative, where after two years of planning and construction training, a group of 40 of us flew out to a Nepalese village and built a school hostel, using many of the methods that these craftspeople were using.

The quarry reminded me very much of the pile of stone that faced us when we arrived, that we sorted into size, and we used wooden scaffolding and mud mortar. We were working with the local people, and every day women from the village came to teach us how to use the mud mortar, and build the walls, while the local stonemason trimmed the blocks.

Due to time constraints we did have access to one modern stone saw, but as the fuel for that also had to be brought from the nearest road, five hours walk away, we could only use it sparingly. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and the two weeks I spent living in the village some of the best times I have ever had. Definitely a life changing experience. If you would like to read more about this, I have two pages on this blog, one on the project itself, and one on the time in Nepal, which you can access from the top of the main page.

The above picture shows the 8 women from the Scout group, and the local women we worked with, just before we left the village.

For my overnight stop after the wonderful trip to Guedelon, I drove a few miles so a very lovely little village, to another Park4Nite find, in the village of Triegny.

This was a brilliant park up, with a bonus toilet which I wasn’t expecting, in a very quiet, peaceful, and very pretty village. Although the park up is free, they ask for donations to help fund trips for the local school, and that you use the local facilities, which I was very happy to do. After a lovely restful night, and a trip to the village shop the next day, I continued on my travels.

I am coming to the end of blogging about my trip back through France, just a couple more posts and then I can get back to all the ones I need to catch up on. There may actually be some crafting posts sometime soon, as I have been spending some lovely time knitting, and at my sewing machine. I can’t remember when I last posted anything that I have made! I also have some fab Trust houses to show you from my time in Surrey and the Cotswolds.

I will be back soon with more French medieval gorgeousness. Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe, and thanks for visiting.

The old and the new, the textile edition

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It was while I was at my friend Cate’s checking my route on the map, that I realised I was going to pass very close to the town of Aubusson. For anyone who is into textiles, you will recognise the name as being famous for thousands of tapestries, made in this town and the nearby ones, and they had a museum! So of course I had to go and visit.

Aubusson tapestry was designated in 2009 as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity aspects, and the museum is just a small part of the preservation of the heritage, along with preservation of other aspects of the craft, and exhibitions in the area.

Aubusson itself is a very gorgeous little town, with an essential river running through it. As in my home village in Yorkshire, once famed for its woollen mills, access to water is vital for the industry, and you could still see the mills around the river area, as well as the buildings that now house the original designs, or cartoons, for the tapestries.

As well as examples of the heritage of the weaving, apologies as they were understandably in low lit, glass cases. so no good photos, what was really interesting was the focus on the process of weaving, and the tools of the weavers.

Tapestry has never been one of my favourite textile forms, I think because most of the ones that I encounter in National Trust properties and castles are faded, and the subject matter is generally not that interesting to me. However I have always appreciated the huge amount of time and effort it takes to create these woks of art.

It was especially lovely to see photos of the weavers, both from the display of the historical archives, and the weavers working on current projects.

They had two exhibitions of modern weaving, which were really impressive. The first was of illustrations from a Japanese artist called Hayao Miyazaki. I am familiar with these, through my son Jake’s interest in anime, and these were illustrations from a film called The Moving Castle.

The level of detail here is amazing, the colours are so rich and the way that they have been blended is stunning, look at how the cloud has been woven over the other colours here. Just amazing work.

The other exhibition focused on illustrations by Tolkein, again such beautiful colours. It was also really interesting to see the back of the Rivendell piece.

Seeing these modern pieces really makes you realise how stunning places like Hardwick Hall must have looked when their tapestries were first hung in the 1600s.

Abusson also offered a free park up, in a car park just outside the town, with free water, free electric, and a lovely backdrop of woods and a little stream, so Katy and I spent a peaceful night there, once again very grateful for the foresight of French tourist boards.

A lovely, and totally unexpected day, and I am so pleased that I managed to visit. My next post will be about another unexpected visit as well, to somewhere that had been on my wish list for around 20 years.

I have had a great week with Sue and Ange, here in Spain. We have had lots of pool time, delicios tapas, and been to visit Cartagena, one of my favourite local cities. They are now in Granada for a few days, visiting the Alhambra, and I will see them briefly before they return to the UK. Meanwhile I have a fox outfit to finish knitting before they get back, there was a major error with a pair of dungarees so they have had to be unravelled, and knitted again ;-(

I will be back soon with the next unplanned stop en route. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

29 years later …..

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I left Cahors for a short drive into the Dordogne. One of the reasons for choosing this particular route, aside from seeing the beautiful countryside and towns of this area, is that my friend Cate has lived here for many years. Cate is another friend from Huddersfield Polytechnic days, in fact she was the very first person I met, in my halls of residence, the day I moved in.

We have kept in touch for nearly 42 years, but haven’t seen each other since her wedding in Ireland, 29 years ago. As I have mentioned before, one of the best things about retirement is the time to go and re-connect with people face to face, last year Dave in Cyprus, and Helen in Devon, and Ange and Sue over the past couple of years in Scotland and Yorkshire, and now in Spain!

It was another stunning drive, as you can see from the map above I was driving into the heart of the natural park of the Perigord- Limousin region, and it is the most amazing countryside. I am definitely going to see about getting a dash cam for my next European trip, so that I can capture more of the scenery as I drive. France is especially beautiful at this time of year, although the weather was not brilliant, the wisteria was in bloom everywhere and the clouds just added to the drama of the rivers and wooded valleys.

I stopped in Souillac, a little town on the Dordogne, for coffee and a wander. At this point I had decided not to use motorways for the middle of the trip, excellent though they are in Europe I was keen to do more small roads, and this little town was a lovely break in the journey.

Cate, and her husband Billy, bought a derelict farmhouse and barn in a tiny village in the Dordogne, and have spent the last twenty years rebuilding it. The views are amazing, and they grow most of their own food.

We had a lovely, if a little damp, walk with her two dogs, though the country lanes here. It really is a completely idyllic place to live, and I can see why so many British people have chosen to move here.

Cate was an estate agent before she retired so she knows the area very well, and took me to see some of the most beautiful places in the area. We went to the little town of Brantome for lunch, which has some gorgeous houses around the abbey and the river.

The abbey had the longest candles that I have ever seen. I always light two wherever I visit, one for the living, and one for all my friends and family no longer here.

We then went on to St Jean de Cole, one of the prettiest villages in the area, complete with a privately owned chateau. Cate had sold most of the houses in the village, and was based here during her career, what a gorgeous place to work!

I love the contrast of the blue shutters with the pale stone, and the wisteria on the houses here.

As well as the sightseeing, we had a brilliant catch up, and lots of lovely food. It was so nice to see her, and hopefully it won’t be 29 years until we see each other again! I know that I have said this many times before, but I am so lucky to be able to do this, and live this wonderful life.

My poor colleagues at the university went through a dreadful time last summer, with the closure of the department, and losing about half the staff to redundancy, and the same is happening again this year, with a further round of course closures and job losses. I feel so sorry for them, as I know how hard they have all worked, and it seems so unfair, especially after the stresses of the Covid years. I am eternally grateful to have been able to leave at a time of my choosing, and to have the life that I have now.

I will be back again later in the week, to share a surprise textile treasure, that meant a slight alteration to the route, that led to a wonderful extra visit to somewhere very special. More details in the next post. Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe, and thanks for visiting.

Sur le pont …..

stitchesoftime4 Comments

I was lucky enough to learn French from the age of 7 to 16. so my French is actually a lot better than my Spanish. One of the things I remember doing was lots of singing, including the song, ‘ sur le pont d’Avignon’… which means on the bridge at Avignon. I didn’t get to Avignon this trip, but I did get to see a stunning medieval bridge in the town of Cahors.

When I was route planning for this trip I had some fixed points that I needed to be at, but the rest was just looking in the general direction of where I wanted to be. That was how I found Cahors, which is the blue symbol just above Montauban on the map below. As soon as I saw it had an old bridge, and a park up, I added it to the stopovers list and I was really glad that I did, as it was a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

The town is on the River Lot, in a wooded valley, so the drive in was lovely.

The park up that the town council have created only has three spaces, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get in there, but there was a car park listed near it. I missed the sign for that the first time, and after a lovely detour up the sides of the valley, and some very steep roads, I spotted the sign on the way down.

This is why I love travelling in France, not only was there a large car park, but also a free bus into town in you wanted it. The park up also came with added chickens, sadly it was a bit wet the morning after so I didn’t get any free eggs for breakfast as they were all hiding.

However, I did meet some very nice fellow van lifers parked up next to me, a French man who had been fossil hunting nearby, the region is famous for pterodactyl fossils, and a French and Lithuanian couple who had just come back from 6 months in Spain. I love meeting people on the road, it is so interesting to hear about everyone’s travels. It is one of the best bits of van life.

The park up was a short walk from the river, so I wandered along the park beside it for a while, then into the town towards the Pont Valentre bridge. It was built in the 1400s, when Cahors was a very important town on the river for trade, and is a World Heritage site.

It is an absolutely stunning construction. There is a weir just beyond it, so boats pass through a lock under the end tower. You can take a boat trip up the river, and there were lots of people enjoying that and the little cafes along the river bank.

After the bridge there was time for a wander around the old town, there were so many gorgeous buildings, some in need of a lot of restoration, in the oldest part, and a beautiful cathedral.

It was a perfect day on the trip home, one that I will always remember. I was enjoying the driving so much, and it was brilliant to be off the motorways, and back on more rural roads. Just perfect van life!

I am back in Spain now, so fingers crossed my internet will stay stable and I can catch up with the many, many posts I have waiting. I have friends arriving on Sunday for a week, the same people I have just spent time with in Scotland and Yorkshire, so that will be brilliant. Before they get here I have to finish a dress and shoes for a fox, as one of them has just had a first grandchild. It is lovely to be back home, I would say chilling, but it is about 25 degrees, so a perfect temperature for relaxing.

I will return soon with more of beautiful rural France, until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.