Travels in the Van 2023: Week 9

Part 2 

Monday 12th of April 

It has stopped raining after many days as we leave home, but it's raining hard in Bristol where we enjoy a rare lunch with Will (child no. 3) and his girlfriend Felicia and Hannah (child no. 2) our driver today, who's been visiting from Brighton where she lives. The month at home has been busy, catching up with friends and family, and trying to win the favour with the cat, who much prefers it when Sam (child no. 1) is in residence. It's strange to be on the move again. Don't they say never go back somewhere you've enjoyed, because you'll never recapture the experience? We'll see. 

We catch the airport shuttle bus from Bristol after a long lunch and arrive a record four hours before the flight. It's nice to have chillout time and people watch – especially families, having just spent time with ours. What's not so nice is that the flight is delayed by the bad weather and when we are aboard the captain warns that there may be another 1 1/2 hours wait, if they don't give us a slot in the next 10 minutes. They do, so we're off. 

We get into Barcelona late enough for the trains to have stopped running though. A further delay on board is due to the police being called, as five passport have been found in one of the toilets. I still can't quite work this one out  - why?! 

Thursday 13th April - Barcelona

Our overnight hotel is right above Barcelona Sants railway station, usually ideal for the airport. We’ve stayed there before and this time it’s ideal for meeting Mandy, our Spanish niece, who is coming to spend the day in Barcelona with us before we pick up the van and she heads back to Madrid, where she's studying. The sun is shining at last, and we do our own walking tour of the city. The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom, a bright vivid purple. It's busy, but not high-season busy. The highlights are; the provision market (notice a trend?) probably the best so far in terms of visual presentation alone, and a fabulous paella in the Plaza Royale. We're all exhausted by the walking as we leave Mandy back at the station ready for a kip on the train. No such luck for us, we have a drive ahead. We're aiming to cross the French border before dark and take it in turns to drive, with Gyles Brandreth and Susie Dent’s podcast keeping us awake and chuckling. 

Friday 14th of April - French Border 

The French deserve a medal for their motorway Aires. This one, Le village des Catalans, is very civilised. We get enough sleep for the first time in a couple of days and watch the place slowly come to life as the morning brings its first visitors. 

We're starting in Languedoc, but are a bit alarmed by the weather forecast again, rain and strong winds, this is now becoming a trend too. We stop en route in Carcassonne for a bit of exploring by bike, but end up doing the only thing you can in France over a rainy lunchtime and that's to get out of the rain and have a three course lunch - totally living the life - with international company on the next table, French, Italian, Maltese and Dutch. The clouds lift, and we set out to explore both halves of the city. A close watch on the weather sees us in the preplanned sanctuary of a deep porched doorway, prime position to watch the gargoyles on the cathedral spitting and spluttering during the next cloud burst. We could harness the rain for public art installations in towns and cities throughout the UK. Back of the van we phone ahead to the campsite and find that it's closed, so divert to another one. The drive from Mamezet to Brassac is up a narrow winding Valley steeped in textile industry architectural history, old mills and factories. Brassac is a lovely French town, the campsite on the river, kids playing rugby in the rain, and we're glad to be there, but we’re the only visitors and the shower is disappointingly lukewarm. It blows a gale all night, and for the first time ever, the tiniest bit of rain gets in. It's also three blankets and jumpers-on-in-bed cold. We have the heater on as we eat rice and lentils and drink beer. 

Saturday 15th April - Brassac

We’ve planned a bike ride in the morning. So we have a cup of tea but as the kettle boils again for coffee, disaster strikes. At least now we know how many weeks of daily use it takes until the Camping Gaz runs out. It's always a bit of a mission to track down a supplier and we're a long way from big towns. Hurrah for Mr Bricolage in Castres. It's warmed up a few degrees by the time we're back and ready to ride. A nice circular one and there's something about the terrain that’s reminiscent of Wales – in winter. It's lovely, but spring has not sprung here. No new leaves on the trees or the vines. The land that Spring forgot.

Sunday 16th April - Brassac to Roquebrun

We are not sorry to move on the next day as a youth cycle race is starting from the car park next door. The temperature is 5° and they're all in shorts! We stop at the town patisserie where Richard queues with a couple of old men for bread and is rewarded by the charming smile of Madame baker, which apparently is the warmest thing about the whole stay. It keeps him warm for the next half an hour when we stop to enjoy a second breakfast and coffee before setting out on Le route des Laqs, a good 2 1/2 hour ride which could have been great had it been sunny.

As we drive on the temperature rises, the landscape changes and suddenly it's springtime in Languedoc. We're only 80 km south-east but it's totally different. Roquebrun on the River Orb is in full bloom, and with some relief we sit outside a bar, the swallows up above, the smell of Mimosas in the air, and pizza in a little artisan pizzeria. 

Monday 17th April - Roquebrun

No additional blankets needed for a good night sleep and waking to a clear blue sky is a delight. Richard heads out for a run along the river. He has running targets as well as cycling. I reach a milestone too - 100 days of my 7 minute HIT exercise regime, which pleases me, and do the first daily 10 minutes yoga since we've arrived back. I also by chance, complete a 30 day mindfulness course. Makes me wonder how I'd be faring if I didn't have these little daily rituals. It's only now that the weather has improved, that it strikes us just how grim it was. First ride in shorts today, perfect cycling weather. Loads of wildlife and and lovely little French villages and pretty, car free roads.

Tuesday 18th April - trip into Bézieres

Today, we explore backstreets in the ancient city of Bézieres I am hyper-vigilant and notice ancient street names kept alongside more modern ones, and peeling paint and old doorways and dirt. The history in those streets and alleyways is fascinating. Around one particular corner the street looked Dickensian. But there’s an edginess too. I start to see things that may or may not be true, the drug pushers on corners, the pain and hardship of someone on a bench, that girl outside a corner shop and what might have been going on… I’m very aware of being a visitor on a nice bike, riding through other peoples lives. As always I meet peoples eyes, nod a greeting and smile. 

Wednesday 19th April Roquebrun to Olargues

The antidote to feeling overwhelmed by the world is a bike ride. The best bike rides take me down country roads and lanes, moving through the world, just fast enough to feel the wind and slow enough to catch a glimpse of something in the undergrowth with a bushy reddish tail, a commotion up above - a stalk being mobbed by wild ducks along the river, buttered coloured butterflies with a flash of blue in the grassy verge and the pattern of leaves and sun through trees and the smell of earth in the warm air. The vistas leave me breathless. Human tracks and marks on the landscape at one with nature’s secret byways.

More history as we climb up narrow passageways in the medieval village of Olargues. There’s a clocktower high above the village, it’s magical, one of those places where the veil of time is thin. The turn of a corner could find you in a different age or parallel universe.