And so it came to pass, after 69 days of waiting, Amy and
Ellie were reunited. I actually missed
the grand reunion, Mia saw it all and said it was very moving, but it was
lovely to see them together again and they were inseparable for the next 7 days
(24/7)!
We’d set off from the previous campsite with Kev’s words of
“we’ve never left camp so early, we should be there before 12” ringing in our
ears. This was before we followed the SatNav
which took us straight into road works.
A quick u-turn with 7 metres of van behind and we set off up the trunk
road, only to take another wrong turn (Kev was listening to the local radio
station and got a bit distracted!?!) Anyway,
we managed to get there before the J’s arrived so there was some semblance of
order by the time they reached the site (I’d just forgotten the baguettes but
that was only a minor hindrance with Lidl around the corner!)
We spent a relaxing afternoon around the pool as the
children frolicked in the water and zoomed down the waterslides. Excited chatting and drinking vino with
friends continued (as it tends to on that 1st night) later than it
should, and at 12.30 (eek) the next door caravanner poked his head out of the
window and reminded us (all in French) that it was very late, he’d been
listening to us for a long time and it really was time we went to bed!?! We reduced our volume significantly and
within an hour decided that yes it probably was time to head off to bed.
As breakfast the following morning didn’t occur until about
10 (Mia v kindly took on the role of ‘Pancake Provider’) we thought we might
have missed Monsieur Frenchy (or The Greyback as he became known) but oh no, he
was having breakfast en famille. Oh the
shame!!! Don’t worry we only had to
endure it for another 5 days.
Somewhat jaded we managed to grab beachwear and a picnic
lunch together and setting off in 2 cars sped off for Canet Plage. We were met by a beautiful expanse of white
sand, blue sea and sky. There was lots of
playing in the waves (Amy and Ellie were spotted holding hands and jumping over
the surf whilst the boys lay in the breaker zone being rolled over by the
waves) and diving for fish. We headed
back for a steak bbq and for the girls an early night (the boys not quite as
early!)
On the 26th we headed into Perpignan for
lunch. We’d asked Kev to go on Trip
Advisor and find a restaurant with good reviews and La Creperie au Theatre had
come up with several stars, so having parked our cars on a lovely boulevard and
then re-parked them in an underground car park having realised we could only
stay in the former for a couple of hours we ventured off. It was hot, it was after 1, the children
didn’t want to walk any further, it was hot (did I say that already!!) and
having walked through a lovely square with fountains playing, La Creperie
didn’t live up to expectations, so we all agreed to turn tail (much to Kev’s
relief) and headed back to the square for a lovely relaxing lunch. The children adored playing in the fountains
and the wall behind where we were sitting was so strewn with clothes drying by
the end, when I went to get “L’addition” and the waiter asked where I was
sitting and then said, “ avec les vetements” I knew it was time to go home!
The following day was planned as a market and beach day but
as we advanced towards the coast a brouillard or fog could be seen hanging over
the area and the wind on arrival at the promenade would give Ramsey’s easterly
a run for its money. A little
sandblasted we walked along the seafront to the market where after a couple of
minutes of browsing we sent the big boys off for beers whilst Mia, the children
and I parted with our hard-earned Euros.
They had a lovely time buying flip-flops, friendship bracelets, cherries
and ice-cream before being caught up by Tim and Kev. Having got the low-down from the local
Tourist Office we headed back to the cars (T/M+ children on the promenade),
(Kev, Ben and me on the beach – it was refreshing if not a little sharp on the
legs - the boys were running in and out of the surf and collapsing the sand walls
that had developed) and then to an inshore lake.
The position of the lake was beautiful, the Pyrenees as a
backdrop, however the lake contents were not to be pondered over. Anyway it was 35+ in the shade and it
provided a much needed place to cool off.
The children had the most fantastic time with Tim and Mia on the lilo,
they all got on so well and bickered and laughed so much!
That night on scooter, bike and foot, we wended our way up to
Canet old town to listen to their festival.
It was truly magical. The old
stone walls radiated the heat of the day and sandwiched between the town hall
and the church, a rock band blasted out their ballads. Everyone was having a ball. I chatted to elegant local ladies about their
jewellery, their family and line dancing (country is big in France although
these particular ladies couldn’t believe its popularity) and when ABBA’s songs
came on Mia and I raced onto the floor together. Great fun!
By midnight we were wending our way home and Ben J pointed out the
lights in the sky. Oh it must be lasers
or something. It was actually the
largest lightning storm over the Pyrenees I’ve ever seen. It was fantastic to witness and must have
gone on for at least a couple of hours before we went to bed and then came over
us about 4am as a deluge.
A relaxing pool day followed where les parents read lots of
books and the children frolicked and played in the water (dived, swam, slid,
played piggy in the middle, catch etc etc.)
Oh I haven’t mentioned that Mia and I went out for an early morning run
(oh so virtuous, but has given me the kick that I needed to get back into
it). Had a very giddy girls lunch (yes
you had to be there!?!) followed by a girls bike trip to Lidl where we filled
the children’s trailer with goodies for that night and the next couple of
days. For dinner Mia treated us to
grilled prawns on the BBQ, followed by salmon steaks for the girlies and
entrecote for the boys. Aperitifs were
escargot which all the children tried (well they were bribed with E1, but heh
at least they ate them) and the adults managed to swallow down. Kev’s was particularly tasty looking with its
antennae pointing out –uurrghhhh!
The following day we somewhat belatedly headed to Spain (as
you do!) via Argeles and the coastal road to Port Bou. We passed the old border gates (now somewhat
run down and graffitied) down incredibly steep hills and s-bends to the small
bay and town (which was really rather run down but at least we were over the
border). The boys unloaded us all by
the grey shale beach and parked the cars in a cavern underneath the railway
lines. It was a huge structure, some
30-40 metres high, like the side of an amphitheatre.
We lunched and swam from the beach. The children were telling us all about the
fish they could see, including a tuna!!! Ben G, Mia and I stole ourselves out
to the diving platform some 50 m from shore. It had started out with the whole gang of
children but little by little they dropped off until just the 3 amigos
remained. It must be said that it was
slightly scary diving into the inky abyss, but when your 8 year old son is
doing it, you just have to get on with it!
Back in France we ate out at a lovely seafood restaurant
overlooking a leisure/working harbour.
The children’s moules-frites were the same size as the adults, yet they
scoffed them down with gay abandon with Amy and Ellie picking up the
remainders. Mia’s calamari a la planxa
has to be mentioned for the sheer rubberiness and size. She has to be congratulated for the way she
tackled this dish, but be warned, choose wisely for this is not a dish for the
faint-hearted!!!! x
And so, the last day arrived..... After another leisurely breakfast (had they
been anything but all week!) Tim’s chocco rice was preferred to Kev’s chocco
shells (sob, sob), I booked a session sea-kayaking for us all at Argeles-sur-Mer. In boat 1 was Mia, Ames and myself, boat 2
Kev, Tom and Ben and boat 3 Tim, Ellie and Ben.
We had great fun riding the waves from the beach (peaks and
troughs). We girls got in a great rhythm
and left the boys for dust. You could hardly see Ellie for her pink hat and
large orange buoyancy aid.
There was a fair amount of squabbling going on in both boys
boats whereas the girl’s boat was a picture of calm and camaraderie!!! 300 m from shore Ellie and Amy swapped boats
and then when nearer the shore we played some games, one of which was to stand
up when your number was called out. I
swear I didn’t wobble the kayak, but somehow my no.1 paddler fell in!!!!
We afternooned on the beach, under umbrellas and in
chairs. The beach shelved quite steeply
with adults soon out of their depth in 3 m.
The boys dived from Tim’s shoulders and Kev threw them and the girls
into the air like seal pups (too much Attenborough) but they were all squealing
with delight!
A last supper was had and we chatted late into the
night. We’d put the children down to
sleep in our van. It made me sad when I saw Ben J give both Ben and Tom a hug
goodbye and then later to see Ellie lifted from her bed beside Ames after their
inseparable week together, so that she could start her journey home.
Whether it was the late night chats, the tawny port or that
we knew that our friends had an early start, when Tim knocked on the van to say
that we had Ellie’s hire seat and they had Tom’s we were both awake. A 5am seat swap is nothing between friends.
We’d had a wonderful week together and later that morning we
set off for the hills north of Toulouse for a week of low-key relaxation and
recovery.
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