Wine, Wedding and Wanderings

Blog 41 then, and here goes. Probably be a game of two halves this one as I doubt I'll have enough Gs to upload this entry until early next week (not the case as it turned out).

I am writing this from our lovely parking spot back at Steve and Claire's place in Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche ahead of their wedding tomorrow. It's nowhere near as hot as it was way back in July when we last visited for the tour that rolled through the village. Indeed today its a wetter and much colder affair, fingers crossed we have a better day tomorrow. Equally things are a tad on the noisy side as we are (literally) in the middle of a building site as a new sewer system is being installed - one that the residence neither want nor need, but have to pay for regardless! Hey ho, watching the JCBs has been quite interesting so far.

Last blog saw us back in Spain, in the Rioja region. After a good day sorting things out last Friday, we left the campsite on Saturday morning, with our first stop being the local Lidl to make the most of the cheaper food prices in Spain. The van is well and truly loaded, but hopefully we will be all good on cereals, rice, tinned beans etc for some weeks to come. We also made our last fuel purchase at €1.18. Being in Spain was a pleasure from a cost point of view, but we have to move on.

Our last Spanish port of call was to be Pamplona, and a cheeky parking spot outside of the Fire Station. We managed to snag the last parking spot and after a quick lunch we walked up towards the city walls. As is usually the way, we ended up coming in the slightly crummy end of town, but did stumble across the loveliest tea shop I've ever been in. Of course we had to sample our last café con leche!

Once filled with caffeine, we found our way and had a lovely afternoon seeing the cathedral, café Iruna which was one of Hemmingway's haunts back in the 1920's, plus the citadel - complete with volleyball game in the grounds!

Our final stop was of course a bar - a former post office this one, with a lovely feel and tasty wine too.

Thankfully our night at the fire station passed without any blues or twos, and the next morning we readied ourselves for crossing the border back into France.

Jase had picked a journey across what was billed as being one of the more picturesque crossings through the Pyrenees, albeit keeping away from the really high passes. It started out along some nice country lanes with rolling hills all around. The next thing we knew we had a load of parked cars left and right, and being a Sunday and near a river, we thought maybe it was a fishing competition or something. A little further on, and no the road was closed completely - without a single warning sign! Luckily the policemen were very helpful and explained there was a rally hill climb going up the pass we wanted to use, so the road was closed until 3pm. But in good news, we'd only missed the first part and it was completely free to spectate! We headed back down the road, parked the van up and after a quick cuppa and pastry we headed off to watch. The stage was live as we got there so we could only watch the second run from the start line, but once that was over we were able to walk up to the second hairpin where we watched the cars come back down and then do their third and final run up the hill - essentially a timed effort over the 6km climb. There were all sorts of cars, everything from a very fancy Porsche through to loads of BMWs and rather surprisingly a Seat Ibiza Diesel! Of course my favourites were the Clio Cups - definitely the coolest car I've ever owned. Anyway, it was a great way to pass the time, and took Jase back to his days of rallying.

Once the race was over (and one of the BMW's was pulled out of the ditch!) we were able to get on our way. Of course this also meant going up the very same climb, complete with plenty of rubber marks to follow! The border was right on the top, with views over to the snowy peaks of the "proper" Pyrenees.

Our destination was planned to be Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port which was just in France, but a well known exit point on the Pilgrims route that runs all the way to Santiago de Compostela. We'd been following bits of the route all the way through Spain, and especially in Pamplona. On arrival in Saint Jean, and with the site of a good few Pilgrims readying themselves for the journey up and over, we had to stop and explore more. We found a good parking spot at yet another disused station, and headed in for a walk around. Definitely Pilgrim central - the crossing point into the village is known as the gateway of the journey - you can start from many places all over Europe, but most routes converge here for the push over the mountains. Almost every building was some sort of accommodation, offering very cheap places to stay for those on the journey - and the same with meals too.

Monday morning, and having enjoyed our 5.30am alarm call when the train fired up, we decided to stay another day in Saint-Jean and take on a bit of the Pilgrims route. We'd spotted a 8.5km route that ran to Arneguy. After getting a few supplies, we headed off on our way. It was a little surprising and disappointing that the first mile or so was on the side of a very busy main road, but this did turn into a nice country lane that we followed all the way. Scenery was stunning, and with nothing much more than the odd car, plus pigs, sheep and cows for company it made for a great walk. We stopped for our picnic at Arneguy and then turned for home.

By the time we'd got back to the van, we'd racked up 14.5 miles, 37k steps, 155 flights of stairs and at some point crossed back into Spain - we were well and truly shattered, although pleased with our achievements.

Tuesday morning and both feeling more than a little sore from our walk, we decided to put in a bit of a driving day, heading for St Emilion. The journey was good with nice mountain views for the first part, and then all along the Bordeaux wine route for the remainder.

On arrival at St Emilion we parked up at a possible spot for the night, and headed into town. Definitely wine town this one, but pretty pricey to say the least. Having already done plenty of sampling in Rioja, we decided to give this one a miss and enjoy the town instead.

Back at the van, we realised that the road was incredibly noisy, so headed slightly out of town to another railway. This one was active, but with the line being worked on, they were on rail replacement bus services only. We had a much quieter night there, with the exception of the dustbin men at 5am, followed by the construction train at just after.....!

Wednesday morning and VE day in France which is a public holiday. The weather was pretty poor today so we decided to continue driving and get towards the Vendee region and nearer to Steve and Claire's. Jase had found a great canal side spot at a town called Marans, and we found a nice spot with a great view.

Thursday (yesterday) morning and after a very windy and wet night, the morning was thankfully a bit drier! We headed out for an explore along the canal, river and town. We were handily parked next door to a supermarket, which also had the town's unofficial free Aire.

After lunch we headed off for the final bit of the journey to Bealieau-sous-la-Roche. On arrival at Steve and Claire's we had a great catch up, and met Claire's lovely mum and dad, both whom speak good English (thankfully for me!). We had a fab roast pork meal last night plus a delish cheese board. It was during the cheese that we realised that for many a year we'd been committing a French Faux Pas - apparently you are meant to slice the cheese from the side, not "cut the nose" off! Equally, anymore than three is considering ruining your taste buds, and finally no one goes for seconds....! Who knew?!

Anyway, the wedding is tomorrow, and we have a meal out this evening as well to look forward to. We will head off Sunday towards Brittany to do some of the bits we missed out last year. The weather is supposed to be settling down from tomorrow - here's hoping as we've got the heater on and it's May for goodness sake!

Til next time, stay safe all

J&J x