End of the Loop

Summer is kicking in as we reach the foothills of the Pyrenees and the temperatures are rising quickly. We spot a walk up a nearby hill that looks like it is under the shady cover of trees, so we head up. It’s shaded, but not as shaded as we thought and we arrive at the church on the summit hot and sweaty. Taking some time to cool down, we ring the church bell and enjoy our final views over Spain.

Andorra does its best to kill the van, with heavy traffic travelling slowly up steep inclines. We stop for fuel because it’s 99 cents a litre but not for anything else, it’s a far too crowded for our liking. I’m sure there are more interesting areas in Andorra to explore, but if the van is not happy then we can’t be. We take the tunnel rather than the mountain pass. I’m sure the van would have been fine, but Rosana reminds me that it’s an old van and it’s not liking the hills here much.

It’s a steep and twisting descent into France and we head for Carcassonne, a beautiful fortified city and inspiration for a board game that bears its name that we like to play. It’s one of the busiest places we’ve visited for a while and very touristy, but we still enjoy our visit. We wander the castle walls and head into the castle itself, taking in the long history of the town and learning about the development of the castle.

We head along the Mediterranean coast. The Monaco F1 weekend is approaching and a lot of exotic machinery passes us at high speed. We’ve come this way for a different reason, to view a new van that we like the look of. After viewing, we really like it, but unfortunately it’s just not going to be economically feasible to import it into a post Brexit UK. We console ourselves by walking the coast, exploring old quarries and WWII bunker ruins.

In beautiful Avignon there’s an open air classical concert, free for anyone to just sit down and enjoy. Not really our style of music, but we join scores of visitors sat on the town square steps for a while and take in the relaxing atmosphere that seems to prevail in the town.

We reacquaint ourselves with the Romans in historic Orange, the amphitheatre really is quite spectacular and still in use. The town is a pretty place to wander and we are accompanied by the sound of organ practice in the Cathedral. We end the day camped by the historic Arc d’Triumph on the edge of town.

Do you ever wonder what your postman gets up to in their spare time? Me neither. They probably aren’t turning their vegetable garden into a palace because they found a rock that inspired a dream. But they might be, that’s what Joseph Cheval did. Palais Idéal is hard to describe.

An unhinged mix of ideas, Gaudi-ish in places, it’s certainly dream like. It takes themes of nature, mythology and architectures of the world , while also capturing ideas generated by things he’d seen in the postcards and magazines that he delivered. It’s all over the place but weirdly cohesive. We wander around it, through it and over it, every angle a different idea. Madness and brilliance.

Nestled in the peaceful surroundings of a forest we find a V1 Flying Bomb memorial. France is full of these dark reminders of a recent history that many are already forgetting the lessons of. Part museum, part memorial, it’s a thought provoking walk amongst the trees and the killing machines, technical advancement that will go on to be used to put people on the moon and the satellites we can’t live without in orbit. These would have come eventually, no doubt, but funny how quickly our species is capable of developing things so much faster for war.

Sat having a beer in Dieppe we realise I’ve got my dates wrong and we need to leave the Schengen area a week earlier than previously thought. So much for a relaxing dawdle up the coast. After a visit to the Operation Jubilee museum, housed in a once stunning theatre house, we quickly make our way to Calais, managing to catch the Black Wolf motorcycle festival in Le Treport on the way for some music more to our tastes.