It’s nearly the end of September and we’ve been back in our
casa (house) in La Fresneda for a week or so. The 1,000 plus miles it takes to
get here in the motor caravan had its usual up and downs starting with a good
last UK night in Blake’s our usual pub in Dover – with live music. We made a
dash to the east above Paris using the boring but fast toll roads reaching Reims,
the first place we ever stayed at in our previous motor caravan, then spending
a nice night in nearby Epernay drinking Belgian beer rather than its main
product: champagne.
We then passed through the middle of France joining the
gloriously toll free (mostly) A20 with a couple of overnight stops at St Floret
sur Cher (see the chateau) and Cazeres. The latter is a town near Toulouse
where we had a few drinks with a well travelled man originally from South
Africa and the landlord of the pub who was from Spain. The Bistrot de Olive didn’t serve
food so the landlord sold us the makings of dinner but that’s another story.
Then over the glorious Pyrenees via Pont de Suerte and a
long drive to our village where we dined on tapas at our local pub Bar la
Plaza. As usual things have changed in the village somewhat. This time the
place was overrun by motorcyclists and we found that many of the empty houses
are now doing Airbnb. Our own house was difficult to enter (jammed doors again)
but otherwise fine and is looking rather nice with the climbing rose and serpentine
grape vine that we have established on its main wall.
The huerto continues to be invaded by armoured weeds, but we
have a mini harvest of little apples and big bunches of grapes are hanging from
the almond tree (no almonds though). Very few olives in the grove but that’s
OK, we don’t know what to with them these days anyway. The caseta still has
water ingress which is beginning to rot the beams but mostly OK. I blame the
builder for water problems and have told him (me) that he must try to fix it
(again) this time.
It is very hot and I am less inclined to work in the heat
nowadays: spending more time in the house and in the motor caravan where I am
trying to get the new fridge I fitted before our trip to function. Happy days.
