Globetrotting Crates

 On the last leg of our Spanish/French road trip we stayed at Vendome for 2 nights. A nice relaxed riverside campsite a short walk to the town centre.  Vendome is a lovely town and  is one of the main towns along the river Loire . The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms. The town has a rich medieval  history and many historical monuments. We were very impressed with the beautiful spring flower beds we saw in the parks. Next stop was Camping du Chateau at Falaise in Normandy. A small well kept municipal campsite overlooked by the Château where William the Conqueror was born. Falaise is a good place to stop en route to Caen, a cheap campsite at £13.50 per night including electricity good Wi-Fi and very clean modern facilities.  Easy walk into the interesting town with quite a few bars and restaurants. We felt quite at home with both the above campsites as we had stayed at both 3 years ago. And so on Thursda...

 We arrived at Camping Huttopia close to Sarlat on Saturday 9th April, it’s quite a large site with some lodges. Once again shared facilities and no Wi-Fi on pitches. The site is situated on a hill and an easy 10 minute walk into Sarlat, walking back up the steep hill is another matter! Sarlat is a beautiful medieval town in the Dordogne, with a big indoor market in the Sainte-Marie church with it’s massive door (see photo).  We were too late for lunch, as we arrived just as the restaurants finished serving and after walking back later in the evening we were also too late for dinner forgetting that the French eat earlier than the Spanish ( in Spain we were always too early!). Mr C wasn’t in a particularly good mood!  On Sunday we ensured we were on time for lunch and sat outside in the sun enjoying a three course lunch and rose wine. Monday was a similar kind of day. The weather has been fairly good with sunny days but colder at night.  On Tuesday we set off again bu...

 On Tuesday we left Spain for Argeles sur Mer ( near Perpignan) and skirted around Barcelona in fairly heavy traffic, there were many lorries on the road to the French border, speaking of which we drove through without any checks whatsoever.  Argeles sur Mer is at the foot of the Pyrenees and you can see the snow on the mountains, it has a lovely sandy beach and lots of campsites in the area. We arrived at our chosen Camping Le Dauphin near Argeles sur Mer only to find it is not open until Thursday! (someone hadn’t checked opening dates). Out came the ACSI book to try and find another site. In the event this worked out better as we found a nice little site a stones throw away from the seafront with its many bars and restaurants. The site has the unimaginative name of Camping Europe. Although the facilities are very clean they are shared, not a fan of this set up but it is still often seen in France. No loo roll and no toilet seats either.  We settled in then went in searc...

We got off to bad start when we set off for Sitges on Saturday morning, someone set the sat nav to walk instead of drive (oops) and we ended up going through the centre of Valencia to get on the right highway. Much swearing later Mr C still wasn’t aware of the gaffe - well, he will be if he reads this. Although dry and sunny, the drive was very difficult due to high winds, we were pleased to arrive at the lovely campsite a short walk away from the centre of Sitges. On Saturday evening we ate in the campsite restaurant and had Paella, the first one of our trip and it was very good indeed.  On Sunday much to our disappointment it was cold, we walked into Sitges and partook of some Tapas, we had visited Sitges over 20 years ago and little has changed during that time it is a lovely resort. On Monday we caught the bus into Barcelona, the bus stop is right outside the campsite, it takes just under an hour to the centre of Barcelona. It was lovely sunny day although on the cool side. We ...

 After another rainy night we woke up to bright sunshine which followed us all the way to Valencia. The lovely weather stayed with us! We stayed at camping Coll Vert where there is a bus stop right outside the campsite and there is a frequent service which goes directly to Valencia. Apart from that, the site has little else to offer, outdated facilities and very cramped pitches. We ventured into Valencia for the two days we stayed there. It is a wonderful city with beautiful buildings every corner you walk around has a surprise in store. Valencia is one of the oldest and the third largest Cities of Spain it also has one of Europe’s largest markets.  The Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper is believed to be kept in a chapel inside Valencia’s cathedral. The heraldic symbol of Valencia is a bat. Legend has it that one night during the times of the Reconquista the Moors were planning a surprise attack. As they got closer to the Christian army, they distur...