Mon 26 th Feb .
Rain today so a lazy day with the usual dog walk, and back via Competa and the supermarket for supplies. We are starting to eat the remaining contents of the freezer ready for our departure on Thurs. A nothing day ……
Tues 27th Feb.
Very cold in the night - had to stoke up the log fire yesterday evening furiously! We had originally thought we would not use up our truck load of logs we had delivered but looks like we’ ll have to raid the owners supply as we are nearly running out!
We set off on the familiar dog walk (can’t be bothered to get in the car and wind our way down to the autoroute - that can wait til Thursday)
We were surprised to see a covering of snow on the hills above Canillas - it must have been cold last night!
Sunny in the afternoon so spent time on the terrace relishing our last couple of days of sunshine.
Weds 28 th Feb.
It was extremely windy in the night and despite this Graham and Millie set off on a hill walk whilst Carol commenced the cleaning ready for departure.
Halfway up the climb I began to think this was a bad idea with the wind gust howling through the rocks and stubby trees but carried on. There were places where I crouched down for fear of being blown away. At the top following the track round the hills it alternated between being sheltered when in the lee and then full blast when we (Millie and I) were exposed. Millie oblivious but delighted the wind was blowing cones around for her to chase. Meanwhile I had nightmare visions of a dog being swept up in the air. Scary!
We carried on like this. At one point the track was blocked by a fallen burnt pine tree and we waited for a lull before negotiating a way round. There are many burnt trees up here that I’ve seen on all the walks. Not deliberate to provide a scorched earth policy I don’t think. I was glad when we descended into the safety of the forest and eventually the levadas and easy walk back.
After a hearty brunch of eat-ups the wind had completely gone.
Thurs 29 th Feb - Happy Leap Year.
And so the end is near as we make our final journey…..
A 5 hour drive to Pinto a suburb south of Madrid.
Snow on the mountains en route via Granada.
Passing miles and miles of olive groves as far as the eye can see…if you want to know what driving through southern Spain is like, it’s like driving through 200 miles of olive trees planted in a mixture of concrete and dried mud.
Through many tunnels through the hills
Pinto was a nice place to spend a night, even though Graham got accosted by the cops waiting outside the hotel. I don’t know whether it was the British plates or the illegal parking that got their attention. However they were nice enough and practised their English and even gave us a cheery wave when they spotted us later as we were circling endlessly looking for a parking place. Fortunately the boutique hotel didn't have the advertised restaurant as we found an excellent local but dog friendly bar/ restaurant near a park and enjoyed a pleasant meal and beer. Millie being a hit with the locals. Early to bed … on to St Jean de Luz tomorrow.
Fri 1st March. White Rabbits!
Another 5 hours, the terrain changing from flat and boring to more mountains as we head into the Pays Basque. We set off with a temperature outside at 9 degrees which was chillier than we’ve been used to, and when we got out the car for our lunch stop it was 0.5 degrees - very much a shock to the system. Carol had to change out of her trusty Crocs and put socks and boots on!
The terrain changing ..
Passing further snow capped mountains and over the border to France.
We are staying a couple of nights in the fishing village of St Jean de Luz just south of Biarritz, at the traditional sounding Grand Hotel de la Poste.
And a fine old place it is with a grand staircase and lovely reception rooms. The room is far larger than our budget one in Pinto and we all approve ! Especially as it has a bath - the first bath for 4 weeks … and Carol loves a bath.. Luxury!
After freshening up we headed into town for a meal in a recommended Bistro … and so to bed.
Sat 2nd March.
A day off travelling and time to explore … this is not the quaint fishing village we anticipated but larger and more touristy - lots of fashionable boutiques and many many ham shops….
This one had a queue winding along the street whilst the one opposite was empty - must be the place to get that very special ham.
We had a wander around the rather grand looking market hall.
A tasty display of goats cheeses caught Carol’s eye.
And on to the grande plage…
On which dogs are banned … but we sneaked on anyway ….. “ They don't mean us Graham”
Back through the quaint streets which have a definite Basque vibe.
We bought some chocs from this shop called Paries. On the way back a woman approached Carol and asked “ Ou est Paris” - strange thing to ask she thought “ Pardon je suis anglaise” she responded. The woman pointed to the bag containing the chocs - Oh ou est Paries ! Sounded just like the northern capital to Carol but mystery solved.
And Graham couldn’t resist some regional patés and wine as presents for our friends in Surgères who are putting us up.
Sun 3rd March.
Today we headed on to Surgères in Charente Maritime where we once had a holiday home. We will stay a couple of nights with some friends John and Judith that we knew when we had our house in France before heading on to St Malo on Tues 5th to catch the ferry home.
Mon 4th March
Today Millie had an appointment with the local vet for her pre return worming treatment. John kindly accompanied us to translate any bits we couldn’t communicate. Staff and vet were amazed at the amount of paperwork involved in the progress. Millie was placed on an examination stand where after a brief examination the vet placed a large dog treat and smaller tablet. Millie after a suspicious look ate the treat and predictably rejected the tablet. Graham then managed to help Millie swallow the poison (ie. Force it down her throat). We held our breath as the vet navigated the paperwork and duly signed and stamped the appropriate section. And being a French vet he could help himself and had to produce a couple of extra certificates and copy prescription to add to the stash of officious paperwork.
Thereby followed another leisurely restaurant lunch as a reward for all of our patience.
Tues 5th Mar
Before heading back to the ferry port we have one last visit to see our ex neighbour Chrystine. She is an eccentric fun lady with a rather mad dog Krakot and a few adopted semi-wild stray cats. She treated us to sweet aperitif wine and homemade gougères whilst filling us in with the local gossip …. at least that’s what we thought she did as she doesn’t speak much English and our French is decidedly rusty. It was lovely to see her again as we also swapped news of our respective families.
And we also found time for a brief visit to the supermarket Leclerc to buy a few bottles of wine to take home…
Later after a nervous wait for the dog paperwork being closely examined and a brief look at our passports we embarked the ferry as our French/Spanish trip ended.
Reflections.
Would we do this again …..damn yes we would! We think we would like to do similar next year as a winter avoidance strategy.
Would we rent a villa high in the hills …. damn no we won’t !…well not so far up as Carol’s knackered knees would definitely give up the ghost, and Graham’s nerves were shot after the many trips up and down the windy narrow roads.
We look forward to researching our next adventure come Autumn….. Watch this space …..
Postscript.
Graham’s found a way to include a video in the blog without signing up for Youtube. However, you probably don’t want to scroll back and see them so we’ve put a links to it here too.
