Promenade en Provence

We left Grenoble early in the morning, in pouring rain, togged up in our winter woollies. Bob laboured onwards and upwards through dense mist, over the mountains (we must have missed some sensational views)into Haute Provence. Yay! Sunshine again.
Distracted by yet another local market, we delayed our arrival in Aix en Provence and stocked up on a delicious array of taste treats.
On down to Aix where we rendevouzed with Katie in the town centre. Bob is great in these situations, small enough to fit into any normal park, we were lucky to find a park en centre ville and stayed there for the next 24 hours. Very cheap inner city accomodation. Aix is a lovely city, very elegant, but lively. Full of the usual old winding alleys, lots of cafes and a big market down the main street.
We farewelled Katie later in the day. She had to babysit, and set off in festive mood to watch the French v NZ match all decked out in our NZ gear. Thousands of French people, a few condescending South Africans, a smattering of very friendly Australians and us! Quelle dommage! Say no more! We have retired our All Blacks gear and even temporarily hidden Bob's kiwi sticker. There was dancing in the streets afterwards. The crowds went wild, rocking buses and stuff so we thought it better not to advertise our allegiance too much at that point. C'est la vie!
Took off on a tour of Provence for 2 days with Katie. A bit of a whistle stop tour. We visited Cassis , completing a long walk to the Calanque de En Vau, where David used to climb the vertical rock walls. On to Marseille, where Bob triumphed yet again with a park metres from the old port. Had a compulsory Bouillbaisse on the quay surrounded yet again by mad rugby fans. Found Marseille very big and overwhelming so moved on in the morning through the Carmargue, lots of white horses, black bulls and pink flamingoes - great. Boring terrain, but great wildlife. Onto Nimes and the pont du gard where Katie impressed us with her knowledge of classical Roman sites, places we had never heard of!
Back to Aix to meet Katie's family - very pleasant. we moved on to explore a bit more of Provence - mostly Luberon ( a la Peter Mayle of A Year in Provence). Really dry landscape and overwhelmed with tourists and English residents; We were a bit disappointed and didn't hang around long.
On to another night in a town square. We are always discovering new things. The latest is that most town centres have carparks with a loo nearby. The standard of the loos vary considerably - from OK to simply dégalase. We are now firmly in squat loo country - although i have figured out that disabled people can't use squats so that is the one to head for. Squats might be more natural and so on , but they are obviously much harder to clean so no one bothers! Katie tells us that we talk far too much about toilets and associated things, but they have become an important part of our life living in a compact 'camping car'.
We have been making our way across Languedoc, stopping at villages and locks on the Canal du Midi. It is still very busy. Lots of boats and long delays at the locks. can't imagine what it is like in the height of summer.We are now in Carcasonne - very historical and attractive. Dominated by an old walled city on the hill, all restored and interesting to wander around although full of the usual tourist shops. have been whiling the last couple of hours away eating Cassoulet and enjoying the local vin rouge. We have treated ourselves to a couple of nights in a luxury camping ground, lots of hot water and only a short walk to the old city etc. All goes well, we continue to have a wonderful time. Am even getting the hang of the French keyboard now! Great to get responses to the blog. If we don't have your email address we can't respond. Our email is lynch.watson@gmail.com