You may ask, “What is the population of France in 2014?” In short, A LOT!! …… 66 million and we know where they all are!!?……
Yep, they are down here with us in the South of France at the beach, in Cap d’Agde! Don’t know what the sand looked like as you couldn’t see any! Beach umbrellas and bronzed bodies everywhere! We managed to squeeze Bruce into a camping spot for one night & whilst we enjoyed the summer holiday atmosphere, we soon ventured inland again!
Tally – Ho Bruce!!….. onward and upward and upward…. and upward!!!!
The roads become narrower and zig –zag their way up the mountains!! We are in the Pyrenees – Sud Ouest (south-west) France.
Heavy morning cloud makes visibility very difficult as we approach our camping destination; La Mongie, in the Haute Pyrenees. Pulling off the road we can only see 10 metres ahead and make a judgement call not to go any higher. This is where we will wait the three days for the Tour de France!! Bruce finds a suitable position in an aire (free car park really), 1.5km from the small ski town of La Mongie. The book says “room for 100 camping cars”, we counted 152 on the first night, but when the Tour de France finally descended upon us, we guess close to 400 in our “spot”.
Fireworks welcome us to the medieval World Heritage village of Saint Emilion in the heart of Bordeaux vineyards! As well as our arrival, they are also celebrating Bastille Day!
The large “Kings Tower” where the fireworks were launched! Can you see us up there?
A day in the life of the intrepid travellers!! Mmmm…… Firstly, there are no alarm clocks…… we wake up hen our bodies have had enough “shut-eye!” Long days with the sun setting late …. 
It can be 10:30 before it is dark & much latter before we can seep! All this sight-seeing & exploring can be pretty exhausting at times…. No joke!! (We sometimes plan and research late into the night about where our next destination is and the route, etc. Continue reading A day in the life…
It’s bucketing down here – raining “cats ‘n’ dogs”! So much for Bev experiencing her first “summer” birthday!! Managed a two hour beach walk before the heavens opened……. It is still a pleasant 23° C though!
Bruce bravely ventures along “challenging”, narrow, winding mountain passes as he heads to northern Spain. At times we have to breath-in & pray when we approach oncoming traffic! Cliffs / rock overhangs, with many blind corners and bus/trucks rounding the bend at any moment!! With such large rock overhangs it is impossible for Bruce to hug his side of the road!?!
Hola! Hola! We couldn’t wait a week to share this blog with you…. How could a place be so intoxicatingly awe inspiring!?! Bev has taken soooo many photos the camera wants to go on strike!! (actually Strike if we were in France – but Siesta as we are in Spain!) Ha!! Choosing the best ones has been near impossible, hence there are many!… Hope you enjoy the picture show!… This has to be our favorite “find” to-date!
Continue reading Specatular surprise as Bruce rounds the bend
Washing and blog day under the gum trees at Camping Madalena, near Porto, Portugal.
It’s been fantastic with fiestas, religious celebrations & of course the Spanish king’s coronation ….. all quite by accident too!!
Our last week has been action-packed. Having extended our stay south on the Algarve meant we could meet up with “Aussie”” friends Will, Sandy and Sarah Leggat! 
They were staying in the world heritage town of Sintra, ½ hour west of Lisboa (Lisbon – capital of Portugal). Continue reading We Leggat to Lisboa
It was time to drag ourselves away from our “little heaven”___ onward and upward!! Farewell Amacao de Pera until we meet again!! Our favourite café barista, Leno, excitingly accepted our miniature koala & flag & said he has a collection of “items” from lots of countries and was happy to display one from Australia. He is a wonderful 20 year old Portuguese who would like to run his own café in the future. He seemed to have the passion, skill & friendly, outgoing personality that would be necessary too! As well as being our Portuguese “language tutor” he was a font of knowledge about the region.
