Hola,

On Wednesday 29/07/09 we left Avignon and headed in to rural Provence, We spent 3 days on and around Mt Ventoux (the windy mountain), just missing the tour de france's penultimate leg, you could still see all the painted messages on the roads, we rode only part of the climb, Bedion a small town at the start of the climb is a cyclist mecca, lycra and road bikes everywhere for cycling's version of the marathon.

Saturday we called in on Anne and Alan, Oonagh's aunt and uncle at their home in Aubignan and stayed the night, it was great to see them, it was really nice to have a change of conversation and some proper home cooking, a welcome treat and were not disappointed. They showed us around the local area, there are vineyards after vineyards with the grapes just starting to ripen ready for september harvest,(september must be a thirsty month, having to do all that wine tasting) and the local towns and villages (rural france at its finest). we had a great evening staying up to an unheard of time 0030hrs.

Sunday started with a treat after a night of storms (we like to bring the weather with us), Alan cooked us a full english breakfast, they wished us Au revoir as we set off to the Narbonne regoin, We got a campsite for 1 night only in Fluery, so Monday we moved on still heading south along the coast, it turned out to be a long old day, everywhere is packed, Alan had warned us this was black weekend when the whole of france is on the move, but we didn't think it would be as bad, 10 hrs later we are in Spain having the same problem, we had to move about 30 miles inland to find a place to camp for the night, most sites are full until 23rd Aug, when they declare summer is over.

Tuesday we set off early on the chance of finding a new site.Eureka 1st site and straight in, little holland, full of Dutch, eating cheese and saying "ya for shaw" in a quite little village called Pals, huge beach, supermarket and a handful of bucket and spade shops, we decided not to chance it anymore and booked to stay for the week (the futures bright).

NB if you going to the south of France in August BOOK in advance.

Adios the Chaffers