3. Mar, 2020

3. Mar, 2020

TUESDAY 3-3-20

Last night I finally managed to get internet connection, though this was by using  my old 3G MiFi unit and another fresh SIM card. We have yet to sort The Chef out. If we haven't succeeded by the time we get to Benicassim then we'll get somebody to sort the problem for us there.

This morning we were able to enjoy a nice hot shower, though not before I repositioned the vehicle as we had spent the night on a slope and the waste water would have needed to flow uphill to reach the grey water tank at the rear.

Once we were scrubbed and fed and The Chef had bought today's baguette from the petrol station we set off the short distance to Carcassonne. Thankfully the motorhome designated car park (GPS: N43.20534º E2.37189º) was still available to us and had plenty of space. The maximum parking charge was twenty Euros for a twelve hour period and overnight between 22:00 & 08:00 was free. We were pretty sure we could complete our visit in the day and be back on the road again later spending tonight at another Truckstop.

The city of Carcassonne which has been inhabited since ancient times, was protected against the Late Roman Empire by a Gallo-Roman wall. Despite these fortifications the city has been occupied on several occasions.

The Trencavels were one of the most powerful families in the south of France during the 12th century. Pope Innocent III launched a crusade against the Cathar heretics. The besieged Carcassonne surrendered on 15th August 1209. In 1226 the Viscount of Carcassonne was attached to the royal estate and the town became the capital of the royal administration. The city then took the form of the fortress that can be seen today.

The modern part of the city is located outside of the walls, and close by the Canal du Midi, which I believe is the canal which joins the English Channel to the Mediterranean Sea, and on which boating folk often make the trip to the Med.

The Camperstop was very conveniently located for the entrance to the city, which has narrow streets stuffed with the usual gift shops and eateries. The Chef even spotted an establishment selling fish & chips.

As for Carcassonne itself it was a bit like the opposite of Dr Who's Tardis, in that it looked big from the outside but didn't seem all that big inside. We paid for two tickets at €9.50 which entitled us to view the chateau and ramparts which killed a couple of hours before it started to rain, which was perfect timing.

The Chef wanted a couple of bits and we needed some bottled water. There's no doubt about it tea and coffee tastes better made with it, so we made our way back to the car park, paid our parking fee of €6.50, then drove to the local Carrefour supermarket which fortunately also sold cheap fuel which was most welcomed after paying toll road prices.

Then it was lunch in their car park before hitting the road again. Within half an hour or so the heavens opened and we had the heaviest rain we have encountered so far, though fortunately this time without the strong winds. It was so heavy I had to put my fog lights on because of the spray. Never mind, we soldiered on and are now parked up about forty miles north of Barcelona, and are now being rewarded with a bit of warmth and some lovely sunshine.

Tomorrow we will make our way to a campsite next to the sea from where we will journey in to Barcelona city over a couple of days I'm guessing. I think when we arrive there tomorrow we will begin to feel that the 'holiday' has started and we can get in to our stride, as the work element of the trip, that is in getting down here will be behind us.

2. Mar, 2020

MONDAY 2-3-20

We had a lovely peaceful night hidden away round the corner from the main Truckstop parking area. Today's plan was to make our way to a Truckstop on the Toll Road in the Carcassonne area, a journey of about 250 miles. Yesterday was a very windy wet day and today was no different. In fact I think the wind was even stronger today and at one point a huge gust pushed me part way in to the next carriageway which caused me to slow right down for a while and sit behind the HGV's.

As we headed south we began to wonder if they had closed the Millau Bridge due to the strength of the wind, if they had it would have added a big chunk to the journey as we would have had to wind our way down the mountain, across the gorge and then, like a mountain goat climb back up the other side.  We stopped for lunch about twenty miles before the bridge and we had a bit of luck. I had already managed to dump our grey water down a drain at the truckstop this morning, and the aire we had stopped at had a toilet block. My eyes lit up and before we left I had dumped the black water in to a cubicle containing a Shanks Squatter and loaded forty litres of fresh water from the taps outside used by the HGV driver for food preparation. That now took the pressure off us as far as facilities go and there should now be enough water for a nice hot shower in the morning.

Fortunately the bridge had remained open and we gladly paid the toll fee of €8.90 which is money well spent as it saved so much time and grief.

We seem to have burnt more fuel than we would normally expect to, but given that we have had to contend with very strong head and side winds as well as gusting it's little wonder.

We arrived here at the Truckstop near Carcassonne at about 15:30 and were soon greeted by a thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail . We had managed to get off the road just in time. The cunning plan has always been to go directly to a Camperstop on the outskirts of Carcassonne, as listed in the 2016 edition I was using to put the trip together. Unfortunately the 2020 edition isn't due out until later this month which was no good to me and so I invested in a 2019 edition. It was then that I noticed that the Carcassonne Camperstop was no longer listed. That may have been an oversight by the local mayor or the publishers, but on the other hand they may have chosen to no longer offer the facility. Hence the reason for us stopping short of the city. Had we gone straight there and couldn't spend the night there we'd have had to come back up on to the toll road just so we could stop at a Truckstop.

The plan now is for us to go straight to the Camperstop in the morning to park up. If they still permit overnight parking then we'll spend tomorrow night there having spent the day looking round, and maybe even a second day there. But if overnight parking is now banned we'll just park there for the day and leave town in the evening heading back to a Camperstop.

The only outstanding problem now is our lack of internet access. It is so frustrating both The Chef's and my MiFi's were tested with new sim cards in them back at home and they worked just fine - but not now. It's something very straightforward to sort if you know what you're doing, but I don't, even though I have spent a great deal of time trying to sort it.

It will have to be sorted of course, but in the meantime we have no way of knowing what's going on in the world, nor can I begin uploading this tosh to the blog.

We are now almost at the end of the 'work' period of the trip, that is, getting us down here to the start point. It's been rather taxing but hopefully it will be worth it, though with no news update regarding the coronavirus outbreak we could discover on entering Spain in a day or two we've just driven in to a giant leper colony with no way out.

Fingers crossed.

2. Mar, 2020

SUNDAY 01-3-20

Well it wasn't a bad night I suppose. We had a lorry park up in a bay fairly close to us which ran its refrigeration unit all night, but at least it was a constant low key noise as opposed to a loud clattering one which comes on intermittently throughout the night, so that was bearable.

After scrubbing up and a quick breakfast we hit the road. My word what a wet and windy day. Even the overhead gantries on the toll roads warned of severe winds. After having lunch in the Orleans area the weather got worse and I spent the afternoon fighting the steering wheel as the wind continued to gust. For some strange reason there have been loads and loads of motorhomes going in the opposite direction, many of them giving us the 'Billy No Mates' wave. Why they do it I have no idea. Back home we drive a Renault Megane, but I sure as hell don't go along waving at all Renault Megane owners.

Tonight we are parked up at a Truckstop about twenty miles north of Clermont Ferrand bagging a few car parking spaces in a quiet spot rather than the HGV spaces which are all full. The theory being that the weather would be even worse if we spent it at CF at a higher altitude. So tomorrow we will set out for a Truckstop just down the road from Carcassonne having enjoyed yet another dramatic crossing of the Millau Bridge.

So a short posting today, mainly because not much happened and I can't upload it anyway, so I think having enjoyed another culinary masterpiece from The Chef this evening I shall continue to try and sort out our internet problem. In future I think we need to travel with a ten year old who would simply go click-click-click and the problem would be sorted.

2. Mar, 2020