Foothills of the Pyrenees in Basque Country

Sunday 11 March 2018 - Day 7

After climbing Dune du Pilat yesterday, when we woke up this morning we still had sand where sand ought not to be!  A good shower and change of clothes sorted that out.

Nido is parked up on his own in an aire in the village of Sare (or ‘Sara’ in the local Basque language) in the foothills of the French Pyrenees.  Although it’s by a road, the passing traffic is minimal and we have great views over the hills.  It’s still blowing a hooley, as it was this morning when we battled outside the van to empty and fill fluids before setting off.  The birds are singing and a couple of dogs in a house across the road are having a good shout at the passing cars!

Our journey continued south, following the Atlantic coast but inland, through miles and miles of pine forest, broken up by the occasional group of cork trees.  We ‘baguetted up’ at a supermarket along the way and stopped for lunch in Seignosse. Hitting the outskirts of Bayonne, we turned off inland towards the east, with the foothills of the French Pyrenees on our right.  We could tell we were in Basque country by the multi-lingual road signs in French and Euskara, the Basque language.  It’s supposed to be like no other language, but sounds a little Greek to us when you say it out loud. The drive took us along winding roads, up and down through small, Basque villages, gradually gaining height.  The satnav guided us to the coordinates of the aire in Sare, only to find it had been converted into a ‘park and ride’ car park. So back down the hill we went and followed the main road until we saw the ‘Aire de Camping Cars’ sign, which is where we now sit.  

We walked up the hill into the village.  Sare is a quiet, typically Basque village sat on a knoll-top, with traditional half-timbered houses and a Basque church with its three tiers of balconies.  There were a number of small bars and restaurants, along with the usual boulangerie and boucherie.  The community is well catered for, with a municipal swimming pool, medical centre, primary school (we looked for the lunch menu but couldn’t see it displayed outside, like most schools in France!) and also a lovely looking senior persons’ home.  In the village there’s a large Pelota Vasca (or jai-alai in Basque) court.  This is the national game, a form of handball played on a walled court known as a fronton.  There’s also a version involving the use of a txistera, a kind of hand-held whicker basket which allows the ball to be slung at the wall at speeds of up to 200 kph - it sounds very dangerous!  The court, with terraced concrete seating all around, had the look and feel of a gladiatorial amphitheatre.  I would guess it’s amazing to witness a game in full flow.

The village sits on the GR8 footpath and we saw a number of hikers. The aire is also a car park and is used as a starting point for circular walks.  Looking at the maps, I think this would be a great place to start a tour of the Pyrenees, travelling west to east, popping out the other end at Perpignan. It’s definitely an idea for a future trip.

With it being Mothers’ Day, Cathy had a well deserved snooze, while I cooked a Pork Keralan Curry with rice, enjoyed with a glass of wine and a great view over the Pyrenees foothills.  Tomorrow we cross the border into Spain and hope to bag a pitch on the aire in San Sebastian.  We’re really not city people, but it’s an opportunity not to be missed and part of the adventure.  Plus, after a week on the road, we’ve earned a night out….tapas here we come!

A nice little resting spot

The French like to pollard their trees

Sign for the communal loo! 

Sare village

Part of the GR8 national footpath

The village Pelot court - it's as big as a football pitch

A game from the past (in St Jean de Luz)

Shorts and Sand....Bigly Sand!

Saturday 10 March 2018 - Day 6

Nido is parked up at a new aire in Mimizan, on the Atlantic coast.  It wasn’t our first choice as the one we wanted to stay at, next to the beach, has been closed down.  This one was the older, cheaper aire (in my Camperstops 2015 book) that has been completely redeveloped.  It’s further away from the beach and village and more expensive.  But, hey, we’ve had a few free nights so it all evens out.

We caught the 0900 ferry from Blaye to Lamarque, with the crossing taking about 20 minutes.  It’s not that cheap, but it was a good experience.  On the other side the feeling was much different; we were ideep in Bordeaux wine region, with many family Chateaux and lovely single storey buildings with red tiled rooves.  Our first stop was a Lidl in Arcachon to top up with groceries, including a couple of the infamous ‘bricks’ (cartons) of Spanish wine - €2.19 for 1.5 litres - I’ll let you know later how it tasted!  Next stop was the Dune du Pilya, the largest sand dune in Europe.  It peaks at about 110m above sea level, 2.7km long and 500m wide.  I had scoped out some possible parking spots on the side of the road on Google Earth, but driving past them they looked a bit too sandy and I didn’t want to get stuck, so I doubled back to the large (and expensive) car park.  Logistically, I hadn’t planned well with it being Saturday, but even so it wasn’t too busy.  It was warmer this morning so it was out with the shorts! A short walk past the grockle shops and we reached the base of the dune.  The path was clear from the many who had already climbed, so it was just a matter of following in their footsteps. We stopped a few times to admire the view (aka get our breath back!).  It was windy so the sand was being whipped up around us as it poured over the top of the dune - I’m sure we lost a few layers of skin!  Once at the top we took a few photos and looked out to the Atlantic, before bounding down the steep side - now that was fun.  It was a good experience, not one to repeat, but ticked off the task book of life.

A few miles south we pulled into a car park at Plage de La Lagune, amongst the pine trees and close to the beach for lunch.  We had a good walk along an almost deserted beach, with the Atlantic surf pounding away. Obviously a paddle was had - not too cold.  Onwards we stopped again at Lac du Nord, a very large lake with the typical beaches, swimming areas and marinas. We took a cup of tea down to the beach and enjoyed the peace and quiet and the warmth (it was up to 20’C). So although disappointed with the aire, at least we have electricity tonight and will have a lazy start to the day tomorrow, before continuing our journey south.  I suspect we’ll have one more stop in France before crossing the border into Spain - no point in rushing.

PS - the ‘Chateau de Lidl’ takes some getting used to, but it improved after a glass and is in keeping with our budget!

Our lift to Lamarque

Just follow in their footsteps

A quick breather

Blaye - Gironde Estuary

Friday 9 March 2018 - Day 5

It’s the weekend - yay!

We’re parked up in Blaye, on the Gironde Estuary, under the imposing walls of the Citadelle de Blaye.  It's a basic aire with no facilities, €3 for 24 hours, with a great view over the estuary and town, plus the Citadelle behind.  Our friends Steph and Ian (who got us into this camper van life!) recommended it as a good place to stay.  Plus it avoided the stress of driving around (or in to) Bordeaux.  There’s a ferry just one minute away (I can see it from here) that will take us over the Estuary to Lamarque and onwards to the Atlantic coast, then we’ll bimble down to Spain in slower time.

Last night’s aire was supposed to be €7.70 per night, with someone coming around to collect the money….only they didn’t!  So we had a lovely, quiet overnight, with free electricity and water. The money saved will go towards the cost of tomorrow’s ferry - all part of the adventure.  This was the first morning the cab windows weren’t covered in condensation, an indication of the increasing outside temperature.

We arrived at Blaye at about 1130 and after lunch explored the Citadelle, which is free to enter. Although the shops and tourist information office inside the walls were closed, the hotel restaurant and small bistro were open and doing a good trade.  There’s also a campsite inside the walls (for tents) open from 1 April until the end of September.  It was a bit cloudy and grey with the odd ray of sunshine, but still warm enough to wander around in a t-shirt.  The Citadelle has stood the test of time and it’s clear to see how easy it would be to defend any attackers.  It was built by the great military engineer Vauban, but has never seen action.  It was however used as a military HQ in WW1.  It’s definitely worth a visit.  Blaye is a typical ‘waterside’ town, with plenty of places to eat and shop, although many are closed at the moment until the new season kicks in.  Blaye was a port of the Gaul Santones in pre-Roman times and the Romans built a fort on the current Citadelle site.  The town played a crucial role in the wars against the English and the French Wars of Religion.  

The aire is now rammed with very large motorhomes, all French except one Brit - in a massive Concord towing a smart car.  Our little Nido looks tiny in comparison.  Most are driven by the older generation, who gather in small groups to have a chat and a look around. An older, beaten up but obviously well used motorhome pulled up alongside us. We had a very friendly smile and wave from the young, boho couple.  Their cat, sat on cushions in the window at the back, gave us a bored look before settling down again and their two dogs have taken charge of the cab seats.  The neds have been flying past the adjoining road in their tinny hatchbacks, yelling out of the window and doing doughnuts at the end of the road….before going home for their tea!  It just goes to show that it takes all sorts to make a world; there are clearly some characters gathered here tonight.  For dinner, Cathy made a lovely tuna, potato, egg, onion and lettuce salad, accompanied by the last of today’s baguette and a glass of rose.  I suspect we’ll be tucked up with a good book by sundown - that’s how we roll!  The alarm’s set for an early start tomorrow, so we can catch the 0900 Ferry and keep heading south.  Onwards to the sea!

Can you see Nido?

If not this might help

This aire is now full with huge motorhomes

Soldiers' barracks - nice gaffs!

The sun is shining

Wednesday 8 March 2018 - Day 4

Blue skies this morning.  I bravely tried to switch on the heating, hot water and water pump all at the same time - 12v electrics said no!  Quickly dressed, I crawled into the garage (ie the narrow space under the bed, accessed from the van's rear doors) to reset the breakers (twice!) until it settled down.  Lesson learned when not on electric hook up.  Still, the shower was lovely and with fresh, clean clothes (it's surprising how long they can be worn when you're not around other people!), we hit the road.

Today was a short run to the medieval town of Niort. The aire is lovely - about 15 individual pitches separated by stone walls and hedgerows, each with unmetered electricity - charge up all the things!  The aire's by the river Sevre Niortaise and, although very close to the main town, is quiet and feels safe.  We enjoyed lunch with the van door open, soaking up the warm spring sunshine. This was especially enjoyable given that it was currently snowing back home in North Wales!  

A little bit of Niort history:  it's built on two small hills. The most interesting part is the 'mainly' pedestrianised areas, full of stone-fronted or half-timbered medieval houses (by 'mainly' I mean there's less chance of being run down by the cars speeding through the narrow streets than on slightly wider roads!).   There are a couple of large cathedrals - not our thing but useful for orientating ourselves.  The most striking building is Donjon Castle, built by Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine around the end of the 12th Century, then added to by Richard the Lionheart. With its round turrets it looks like how a proper castle should do.

It didn't take long to wander around the town, so we strolled by the river before returning to the van to chill out for the rest of the day.  I did manage to sneak a small bottle of Pastis into my shopping trolley today, so some of that may - *ahem* - evaporate tonight!

Plan for tomorrow (I know I'm not supposed to be planning but we need some idea of which way to point the van!) - reach the Atlantic coast somewhere south of Bordeaux.

 

A proper looking castle

Troglodytes in Turquant

Wednesday 7 March 2018 - Day 3

We slept well.  I tapped in the co-ordinates for Niort, to give us somewhere to aim for and we left in cold rain.  Today was about getting much further south to reach the kinder weather, although I think it might take a few days to get to it.  So it was a fairly uneventful journey, stopping off on the way for some lunch, opposite a roadside restaurant and watching the French 'white van' men pile in for the 'menu du jour'. Being British, we of course had ham butties with a packet of crisps and a cup of tea!  

No dry cheese butties for these French workmen!

We covered more ground than expected, so south of Le Mans I pulled over to see where we could spend the night.  Just south of Angers and in the region of the town of Saumur, there were a few aires dotted along the river Seine.  I picked one - Dampierre sur Loire - and we drove to it, but it looked a little unloved, surrounded by wheelie bins.  So on to the next one about 3km along the river - Parnay - but a similar feel.  With it being out of season, many of the aires have the water and electricity (if provided) switched off, so they do look a bit unkempt.  I decided to head for an aire we'd stayed on before outside the castle walls of Thouars, which was about an hour away.  Not long after moving off, we looked over and saw a number of cave houses built into the hillside.  They seemed an interesting place to explore, so I turned into the village - Turquant - and pulled over to find somewhere to park....right in the aire!  We were the only ones here initially, although now there are five vans packed in to a fairly small place.  The Camperstops book says it can take 20 vans - that would be very cosy.  I watched a van pull up and fill with fresh water (many aires have the water switched off in the cold months), so I walked over to the local bar across the road to get a jeton (token) for the water meter.  After dinner we had a walk around the village, nosying at some of the lovely modern houses built into the caves.  This is a wine region - Anjou bordering on Touraine - so a number of local wine makers were advertising from their cave homes.   We enjoyed the leg stretch and some evening sunshine with birdsong. It feels much more like Spring here.  We just made it back to the van before the rain. Tomorrow we'll make the short hop to Niort, so we can spend most of the day exploring its medieval streets.

Some thoughts on finding places to stay. Data roaming has been really useful, allowing me to check where we are on Google maps.  I've been using the Camperstops book to spot possible aires from their map in the book, then going online to use the Campercontact app to check it out and read the reviews.  The app data is naturally more up to date than the book and the reviews of those who have visited before have been especially useful.  I also have most of the aires loaded as POI on my Garmin satnav, along with wild camping spots provided by Our Tour and Our Bumble - thanks guys.  I've also referred to the 'All the Aires France' books.  However, they're now in two large A4 publications and take up a lot of space, so I don't think I'll buy those again.  Camperstops is my book of choice (they also have an app), combined with the Campercontact and Park4Night apps.  With it being out of season most of the aires are quiet, although this one is busy tonight.

Windmill in Turquant, vines in foreground

Run to the Sun Day One

Tuesday 6 March 2018 - Day 1 & 2

This is the first full day of our longest ever trip, following our retirement last year. We're planning to drive down the west coast of France, into Spain at San Sebastian, then decide our route depending on the weather - 'run for the sun'!  We've three months to enjoy our time away, so plan to visit different parts of Spain and Portugal, plus some new areas of France. We're SO looking forward to it.

Nido's parked at an aire in Forges Les Eaux.  I hadn't realised until we were close, but we've stayed here before, on our way back from a holiday trip.  It's a quiet spot and fine for a night stopover, as we're aiming to drive south until we reach the better weather.

We left home early yesterday, heading for the aire at the Canterbury park and ride.  On the way down we stopped at A&E Leisure (who converted our campervan) to get a small leak fixed on one of the water push-fit connectors; I'd noticed it the day before when filling up the fresh water and priming the Truma boiler.  The boss - Roger - was manning the service desk and he came out and quickly fixed the problem with a new o-ring and trimming the plastic water pipe.  No charge and free water top-up too!  They really are a great company if you're looking for caravan or motorhome maintenance and repairs in the North West of England. They also have a large accessories shop.

We continued our journey to meet our daughter - Nicola, and her husband - Chris, at the Milton Keynes stadium 'mall'.  They're moving to Washington DC next month (Chris has a job at the British Embassy) and had just returned from a week's visit to check out the area and look at potential houses to rent - they were very excited.  We enjoyed lunch and a chat before saying our goodbyes - see you next year hopefully!

Next stop was the 'aire' at the Canterbury park and ride.  This is an excellent facility - parking for about 30 vans with water and waste dump, all for £4 per night including a free bus into the city.  It was dark when we arrived and we were tired from our journey, so a quick cup of tea and an early night.

This morning we left and arrived at the Channel Tunnel a couple of hours before our booked departure time. We were able to get an earlier train free of charge, so were soon on the other side and pulling into the motorhome parking at Cite Europe in Calais.  Euros extracted from the ATM and a quick zip around Carrefour for some groceries, we had an early lunch before driving off.  We're heading towards La Rochelle/Niort as our first major stopping point, so for now just finding places to stop over once we (meaning me!) are fed up with driving.  Tonight's dinner was prepped at home so it just needs warming up, then I think we'll crash out early again once it's dark, ready to head south in the morning.

Hello 2018

Monday 1 January 2018

We don't generally celebrate New Year's Eve. We much prefer to wake up early and clear-headed on 1 January and welcome in the new year with a walk.  Today we were up in darkness at 0700 and drove half an hour from home to South Stack on the westerly side of Holy Island, Anglesey. The sun was just coming up and as we climbed up Holyhead mountain, the clouds disappeared and we we were enveloped by beautiful blue skies.  It was very windy but we nevertheless enjoyed the beauty and isolation of this lovely place. We descended the other side and followed the coastal path back to above the lighthouse, where we sat on a bench enjoying a hot flask of tea and the last of our Christmas cake.

2017 was the year we both retired; it's now 7 months since we kicked off our work shoes and started our 'Gap Life'.  It was several months earlier than planned, but I had some form of mental breakdown in February and, after much soul-searching (and several re-checks of my retirement finances spreadsheet), we decided to finish early.  We haven't regretted it.  Most of the summer was taken up with Trusted house sits, firstly in Penmon on Anglesey, then Callington in Cornwall and finally in mid-Wales.  We enjoyed them all.  Around all of this we were trying to sell our house and an offer was finally accepted in August. Luckily we also found a house to buy on Anglesey and so everything lined up.  We moved out at the end of October and into our new home in Llangaffo a week later, having spent a week on the White Lodge Caravan Park just outside Newborough, which is also home to the Marram Grass restaurant.  Since then we've mixed Phase 1 of the house refurb (decorating bedrooms) with getting out and about as much as we can.  Most days we visit our local beach at Newborough - a lovely, long sandy beach with views of Snowdonia and the hills of the Llyn Peninsula. We combine this with a beach clean and regular visits to Llanddywyn Island.  Phase 2 of the house refurb (replace the old LPG gas boiler) will start shortly.  

So 2017 was a strange year. Exactly a year ago today we woke up at 0500 and drove to Anglesey from our home in Cheshire.  We enjoyed a beach walk then, followed by lunch at the Sea Shanty Cafe in Trearddur Bay; never in our wildest dreams did we think then that we'd be moving to the island later that year.  Life sometimes throws us curve balls.

This year we plan to have our first long trip to Spain and Portugal in our campervan, leaving around early March and returning around the end of May, ready to enjoy summer on Anglesey.  We hope it'll be a great trip and the first of many.  It will be a practice run for a similar trip at the end of the year, when we'll spend Christmas and New Year on the south cost of Spain or Portugal, perhaps mixing in a couple of housesits  during the trip.  In between we'll continue to improve our home and garden.  We're also planning to get involved with Keep Wales Tidy on 'Long Forest', a three year project to restore, manage and create hedgerows on Anglesey.  We also want to walk the Anglesey Coastal Path (in bite-size chunks!) and I want to explore many of the lanes on my road bike.  This first full year of our retirement should turn out to be a good one and we're very excited.  Whatever you have planned, make sure you turn some of it into action.  Do it now, because tomorrow may be too late.

In the meantime, here's some New Year's Day 2018 photos from this morning to get you in the mood for exploring our beautiful country:

Moving on

It's been a while since my last post, after our last house sit in Wales.  Some of that time was spent negotiating offers on our house; at the time it looked like it was going nowhere, but once we returned home one offer firmed up (and moved to the right side of sensible!). Since then it's been the usual, painful process of solicitors, searches, surveys.  When pretty much everything is now available online, I have no idea why it still takes 8 - 12 weeks to sell a house. Despite having first time buyers (so no 'chain pain') it seems to have been a long and torturous road.  The good news is that contracts have been exchanged and a completion date agreed.  We're pretty much up to date with the logistics of moving - funds in place, just about everything packed ready to go into storage (thanks to Cathy, who is amazingly organised when it comes to packing), address changes ready to go.  

Our house purchase (a lovely bungalow on Anglesey) is running behind the curve, mainly delays at their solicitor's end, but also our tardy surveyor, who 'forgot' to book it in, so losing us about 3 weeks on the timeline.  We'd planned on having a short air gap between selling and buying (listing our house as 'no onward chain' definitely helped), but we'll be living in Nido in the interim.  This was fine when we hoped to sell the house in the summer, but as winter fast approaches, the days shorten and the wind and rain becomes more frequent, the thought of living in a 6m x 2m tin box for longer than a couple of weeks isn't so enamouring! With contracts signed (but nowhere near being exchanged), we don't need to stay too close to here, so could head off somewhere for a few days.  But sod's law says as soon as we organise that, the bottlenecks will open up and it'll be time to move.  We're leaving our car at Cathy's sisters and will aim to find CLs or CSs with hardstanding and electricity; we don't want to sink into soft ground and we do want to be warm and dry.

It's taken nine months to shift this house, much longer than we expected, but we're finally started to get excited about moving to the Isle of Anglesey.  We'll be living about 3 miles from the coast and close to Newborough forest, beach and Llanddwyn island, one of our favourite spots.  The new place is only 20 years old so we can move in without a major refit (a first for us!), aside from some decorating and extending the drive to fit the van.  We're really looking forward to settling in, getting to know the local area and the wider island and finally starting the enjoy the benefits of early retirement; it feels like we've been in limbo for the past few months.  So our planned winter trip to Spain and Portugal has been put on hold to allow us to move and get the house sorted, although we are planning to head south around March next year for about 3 months.

We're looking forward to the next chapter.....Moving On.  We still can't quite get used to the idea that we'll be within walking distance of here:

Maesycrugiau, Carmarthenshire - 3 - 14 August

Our journey

Our next house sit was deep in the Welsh countryside in the county of Carmenshire, in the tiny village of Maesycrugiau, near the market town of Lampeter. We've been to this area before when we did a house sit south of Camarthen last Easter. We spent a few days making our way down in the campervan beforehand.  Our first stop was planned to be a C&CC temporary holiday site in Criccieth. However, on arrival, we were unable to get the van up the steeply sloping field, which was very wet underfoot. So Plan B was another THS just outside Tywyn, close to the sea. This one was in a fairly level field, although again quite wet. We'd planned to stay for a couple of nights; but while the campsite was OK, the town and seafront was very tired. We'd already booked a C&MC CL (5-pitch site) in the hamlet of Forge, just outside Machynlleth (CL is called Plas Forge) for the third night so we rang them and booked another night. On arrival I had a walk around to test the ground - more soggy field! But there was a long, gravelled road in and we were able to park on it at the bottom. It was a beautiful spot, surrounded by mountains and trees, with a river running alongside the site. We spoke to the owner and he told us he fed the kites each day at 3pm. About an hour before these large birds of prey started to appear, calling and circling overhead, an amazing sight. We walked up to the road to get a better view and watched them circle, turn and then, en-masse, swoop down to grab some meat. It was incredible to see so many; we counted 28 but the owner told us up to 50 came on one occasion last year! They stayed around for another hour or so before dispersing back to their own territory.  The next morning we followed a circular walk of about 7 miles; the owner kindly lent us an OS map. It was a lovely walk, a mix of lanes, forest paths, hills and open fields, surrounded by mountains in all directions.  We only met one couple walking, plus one man as we chatted to a lady who lived on one of the farms we passed through. It was a very warm day with plenty of sunshine. As we returned to the van the last of the kites were circling after feeding time and the rain started. Showered and fed, the man we'd seen out walking came into the site to camp.  His name was Rob and he's walking the Glyndŵr's Way, some of which we covered today. He was carrying his tent and belongings and had been walking for some days. We made him a brew and sat outside to chat to him; a really nice guy. We offered him some hot water and our blue bucket so he could clean up as this site has no facilities; we know how great a hot wash is after a long walk. Today we also had news from our estate agent that an increased offer had been made on our house, which we accepted - let's see if this one actually gets to exchange! So these last two days in the peace and quiet were very relaxing and I think we'll definitely be coming back to this past of Wales. 

The house and area

We're looking after a large detached house which, until the early 1980s, was the village post office and, in earlier days, also the telephone exchange.  The owners have been here a few months and have started a large programme of refurbishment.  There's a large garden around the house which attracts many wild birds, plus another landscaped garden with a pond just across the road, looking over the valley and hills.  They also have two acres of land. One is a young orchard with a polytunnel and some veg beds; part of our job was to keep them maintained and watered, plus enjoy the veg.  The other field is a wildflower meadow. They have plans to turn this into a small campsite.  The house is in a small hamlet in a village a few miles from Lampeter.  It's close to the river Teifi, which is a popular fly-fishing river.  It was very quiet here with no artificial light, so on clear evenings (not many as it rained most days!) the milky way was very bright.  We walked alongside the river and down some of the quiet lanes.

Cow eating the garden!

The pets


We looked after three lovely cats: Twizzle, Smee and Fidget.  They all had their own personalities and characters and were clearly loving the country life, often only appearing at meal times.  We soon knew we were in their gang, as they left us a few headless 'presents' on the kitchen floor!  They were easy to look after and eventually came to sit with us. Although not strictly pets, we also fed the birds plus put out special food for the hedgehogs to enjoy at night. Here's photos of the cats; Fidget lived up to his name and took an age to get his photo!

Smee - assuming the position!

Fidget is hard to capture - he found the Mac cover a warm spot!

Twizzle - he found Cathy's chair very comfortable

Our days

The weather was a bit mixed but we still managed to get a few jobs done.  This included stacking a huge pile of logs near the top wildflower field, weeding and cleaning the wooden decking. We also spent time in the polytunnel, watering, weeding and picking some lovely veg, which we enjoyed each day.  On the first Sunday we drove to Pembrey Country Park, on the coast, to meet up with some friends from Gosport who were camping in their caravan. It was great to see them again and have a good chat. They made us a lovely lunch and we enjoyed a walk along the beach with their dog Meg; however the very strong wind and rain on that day curtailed the walk.  We also had a sunny but very windy day out on the beach at Traeth Mwnt on the Ceredigion coast, close to Aberporth. I'd anchored off Aberporth several times in warships, as it has an MOD site that monitors and analyses high seas missile firings, particularly surface to surface missiles.  We also had a day out at the Dolaucothi gold mine, which included a great guided tour.

I stacked a huge pile of logs to season for their log burner

If you want to benefit from the warmth of a polytunnel, you need to water

Nido stands out in the car park above Traeth Mwnt

Traeth Mwnt

Blowing a hooley on top of the hill

And to finish

The owners returned after their 10 day break late on Sunday evening. I cooked a chicken curry, aloo gobi (using their home grown potatoes and cauliflower), and rice and we sat eating and catching up on our respective weeks. We slept in the van that night as we need to leave early the next morning as we'd arranged a few house viewings on Anglesey, basing ourselves at another Camping and Caravanning Club temporary holiday sites at Treaddur Bay.