Verdun plus old books.

Purples and yellows plus all imaginable shades of green and brown. An old fashioned meadow complete with it's myriad insect and in particular, butterfly life. Tall big leafed green plants with pools of water from early morning mist nestled in their cup like leaf and stem intersections. Frogs and toads leaping and splashing out of harms way as soon as I, or Tanya, appear in their acute sphere of vision as we walked down by the drainage ditch. White clouds moving firmly across the sky allowing frequent sun warming of body and land

"Heaven". I think to myself.

Then, as I raise my eyes to the 'Butte de Montsec' on the hill above the little village of 'Montsec' here on the edge of 'Lac de Madine' I am reminded and I reflect.

98 years and 2 months ago in this very same place where I am experiencing Heaven, man was acting out, with his latest technology, and in vicious and brutal reality, 'Dantes Inferno'. The American war memorial, 'Butte de Montsec', is on a strategic hill that between March 12 & 16 in the year 1916 saw not only thousands of humans sacrificed but also enormous land, village, plant and forest sacrifice too.

We are completely alone here below the village of Montsec on a small forest track on the edge of this beautiful meadow. I've granted myself time today to stop, slow down, reflect and meditate on this very paradox of beauty and horror. Of how I can only enjoy such peace, beauty, silence and completeness if I remember and honour always the full and rushing rivers of ancestral sacrifice carrying me here and onward on my journey. To put it simply, If I stop remembering, If I stop appreciating and immersing myself in this beauty they have bequeathed, in this moment, to me, then what in 'Dantes Inferno hell' did they sacrifice themselves for.
.........

Another beautiful days ending. This one amid the obscenely weed free wheat, rape and barley fields above 'St Mihiel' On the river Meuse. There is a wee astronomy observatory next to us owned by the local association of astronomy enthusiasts. One of them, M'sieur Ronald arrived just as we had parked.  

"Est no problem." 

He said, in answer to my 'out of courtesy' query re parking up for the night.

M'sieur Ronald then proudly escorted me on a grand tour of the observatory with its  home made domed and opening fiberglass rotating roof. The large and old, but with excellent lenses, telescope then gazes out at the stars. Some wonderful photographs were on display and despite the language difference I think we did really well. You need a fairly good grasp of any language to discuss solutions to winter humidity affecting star gazing telescopes. We managed quite well though and I have a feeling purchase of a larger solar panel will be on the agenda of the next association meeting.

We started the day further north in the 'Verdun' battlefield just North East of Verdun itself. What can you say. More 'Dantes Inferno' everywhere you look or tread. Sections of trench left as they were. Areas, lots of them, left pockmarked with shell craters but now with grass and flowers growing in them. The whole area, apart from the tourist sites/memorials/forts etc is now attractive forest. I actually stayed deep in the forest last night and latish this morning was very gently, and with commendable understanding, moved on by the local police/forest ranger and reminded camping is not allowed as the whole area is regarded as a memorial site.

We spent the morning taking all this in. This afternoon we rang the bell of change and drove back South to 'St Mihiel', itself having a horrendous 1st WW story.  We  came instead to see part of its rich earlier history. There was a large and wealthy Benedictine monastery here. The buildings were put to other uses after the Monks left. However the library of ancient handwritten and early printed books remains to this day in a magnificent library. It was damaged and looted during the French revolution but now is a priceless archive of historical books. A complete and welcome contrast to the 'Dantes Inferno' I had chosen to immerse myself into for the last few days.

As I gaze out now at the ever darkening orange, red, pink and purple sunsetting sky I notice there is not a sound. Apart from a gentle and occasional snore from Tanya. I've one more day, tomorrow, Sunday in this area then 9am Monday, in Verdun, Tanya gets her Vet clearance for the UK and we head to Calais and a 6pm ferry to Dover on Tuesday evening.

This has been some trip.

Another Virgin! Then Cows!

This particular virgin is a cracker though. She is made of captured and then melted down cannons from the French victory at 'Sebastapol' during the Crimea war. She towers above the very motorhome friendly city of 'Le Puy en Velay' atop her lump of left over volcanic rock. €3.50 bought me a ticket and like many others I was soon up her. (Sorry. Rather unsavoury but I could not resist a bit of humour.) And I mean right up her. Literally a spiral staircase and finally a steel ladder to a perspex dome where eyes view the spectacle below between the twelve celestial stars adorning 'la Vierge's' head.

I have to admit to enjoying and being impressed on several layers. Firstly the setting, high up atop this tower of volcanic rock, is so perfect. Second the actual statue really is a breathtakingly beautiful metal sculpture. Third; the engineering, which of course is fully exposed from the inside, reminded me so much of my old Navy days with the nuts and bolts and thick steel of post WW2 HM navy Aircraft carriers. The statue for a time enjoyed status as the tallest metal statue in the world, until that is, America unveiled Madame statue of Liberty. No matter, La Vierge, mother and child had a major refurbishment and paint job last year making her spotless and shiny new both inside and out.

'Le Puy' as the city is known, is, as I said very motorhome friendly with all five major car parks around the city having spaces for motorhomes. We chose the one by the station. La Vierge towered above with her back to us making for easy orientation as you walk around the old part of the city on the hillside below. In particular the Cathederal was splendid with its entry via a steep sweep of steps delivering you up, from those dark places below, to where your eyes immediately scan heaven-ward to magnificent alters, sculptures and stained glass. All this with Tanya snuggled in my arms too. No one seemed in the least bit bothered.

We had journeyed to 'Le Puy' over the high Ardeche courtesy of twisty steep minor roads. Well worth it apart from my one glaring error. We were dropping almost vertically and I was tired. Round one more impossibly tight zig zag and there it was. Straight in front of us. 'St Julian de Gua' with a small church clinging to the hillside but more importantly, a level and safe square to park Sadie right out front. Believe me it is hard sometimes in these mountainous areas to find a level'ish and safe spot to stop. I swung Sadie in just as an oldish guy wielding a bunch of keys emerged from the small, but, as I found out later, very beautiful mountainside church. In my excellent French I checked with him re camping por un nuit. He lived in the house right next to where Sadie was parked and was the curator of the church. I got a lovely smile and; 

"No problem. Ave un bon nuit."  

"Thats nice" I thought. 

It was about six forty so we settled in with first job feeding Tanya. At seven o clock the church bell, directly above us, chimed seven times. It was loud!
"Oh dear" says I. "Never mind I don't expect they ring it all through the night. Surely not".

Yes they did. Or at least the electronic bell ringer did. On time too with each half hour honored with a single chime. I heard every single reverberating ding dong chime that night but also, amazingly did sort of doze-sleep in between. Early morning arrived as M'sieur curator passed on his way to unlock the church and wished us a cheery, did I detect malicious, yes I'm sure I did, 

"Bonjour monsieur!"

"Oi! Clear off y'b*****s" 

That's me by the way shouting at a bunch of young cattle whose probing tongues and huge wet noses are getting a bit too inquisitive around Sadie. They've gone now. Frightened the b-jesus out of them I did, by suddenly emerging from Sadie waving and then opening out my umbrella. They're still stampeding, all four of them, but now over the far side of this fishing lake where I'm parked for the night. Doubt they will come back as its getting dark and they've now joined the rest of the herd and telling them their tale of woe.

"Yeeah ... go on .. go on .... you tell em .... tell em all don't go near that white thing over there. It tastes like shite and there's this bloody great big fiery bull monster comes flyin out of it all noisy and green and flappin. No kiddin, nearly had us it did. We're stayin over here with you lot now. I tell you that was Cowin well heffalumpily frightenin!!"

Must have worked. They did not come back and a very peaceful, bell free, night was enjoyed.

Andorra & France & more France.

"OK!" Says I. "We've no sat nav and we have a new country infront of us. Eeeezy peeezy eh!"  

Looking at the map it did seem pretty straight forward too with one main road running round and various zig zag smaller roads leading off to the numerous mountain resorts. Andorra is a small region born out of France and Spain granting autonomy to seven high and isolated mountain valleys and their villages. Skiing, walking, 4 x 4 excursions, and tax free shopping plus recently, 'tax haven' shady banking are its lifeblood. What I had not bargained for was threefold. The amount of traffic. The frenetic impatience of the traffic trying to get past the friggin motorhome. And finally, the 'bendy all the way' main road, apart from the high passes. Then of course the realization that Andorra is just one great big busy shopping centre.

I had no chance to look at the map which I need to do frequently. I am not good at retaining place names and the number of lefts and rights needed. No! My mind is definitely not Mrs Sat Nav. The result was;

"Ah sod it Tanya I'm hanging a left here and let's just hope for a spot to perch Sadie for the night".

Up up up we go. Then we go up a bit more and all via steep zig zags with a noisy rushing glacier fed torrent tirelessly digging an ever deeper and steeper mountain gorge seemingly, at times, underneath Sadie. We finally, puffing and panting, reach 'Civis' and thankfully just above this mountain hamlet, where the road starts to make even Sadie grunt, is a gray flattish shale floored area big enough for Sadie to park on. Phew!

The downside? As Tanya and I stretch our legs wondering how people manage in the incredibly steep mountainside houses we see from an information board we are inside the 'Parc Natural' where camping is forbidden.  

"Good job we live in a motorhome then ain't it! SEE!   Cos I ain't no camper I'm a Motorhome dweller. SEE!"

This tirade, directed at the innocuous information board seemed to work well.  Relieved, having cleared up this noticeboard error we headed back up the hill to Sadie feeling happy and secure. I felt even more secure when I saw the local police pass by in their 4x4 and not bother us.

The morning dawned and 7℃ registered on the clock/thermometer inside Sadie. Oh yes we were in the mountains alright. I opened the front windscreen blinds and let the strong morning sun shine through and warm us up.

"C'mon Tanya. Never mind washing or breakfast lets just go and walk up the road a bit in the sunshine".

 Yeah, yeah, yeah!! Midday it was when we got back! We were high in the Pyrennes. The sun was up, warming us and green mountain meadows full of flowers were beneath our feet. The snow line beckoned invitingly. What was not to like?

The path wound on up toward a snow covered ridge blazing white in the now high in the sky sun. I reluctantly decided however; at the first patch of snow, to head back. I was alone. I had no rucksack full of 'mountain stuff', my feet were in light trainers, my head was banging away with altitude affect and Tanya had to be carried over bits of the sharp shale path as one of her paws had become quite sore. And; I was desperate for a cup of tea!  What a beautiful walk though. What views and what a welcome cup of tea upon our return.

Time to move. Over the high 'Pas de la Casa' and the 'Col de Puymorens'  with  stunning views of the snow capped Pyrenean peaks. Pointless taking photographs. You just cannot capture such awe inspiring snow capped scenery with merely a glass lens on camera or mobile phone. No. The artist Godfellow painted such scenes for the intracys and emotions of the human eye, mind and heart.

Back into France after a brief stop at customs.

"Cigarettes monsieur?"
"No"
"Not even for friends?"
"No"
"Wine Monsieur. You ave wine for yourself and your friends?"
"No"
"What ave you spend your money in Andorra?"
"Gasoil, a pizza which is in the freezer if you want to look and some other groceries."
"I never ave theees before. You ad better go queek while I still believe you".
"Oh! And pleeeez, spend a leeetle more money in France eh!"

The postscript to this little 'Andorra' story is the Pizza was just about the worst Pizza I have ever bought. I'm afraid more than half of it got binned. I'd have done better spending the money on wine and fags!!

On the other hand the self made curry I have just eaten here at 'La Sousa' campsite was, even though I say it myself, bloody delicious. We're here at 'Pont du Gard' North East of Nimes. The campsite decision was a no brainer. €18.00 they wanted to park Sadie for a couple of hours while we visited this impressive piece of Roman stone engineering. €12.10 they wanted for us to park up overnight here on the campsite with all facilities. The campsite is ten minutes walk from the Pont so Tanya and I enjoyed a good walk/explore of the area. The Pont is the last, very impressive and visually beautiful, part of a Roman built aquaduct that delivered water to the city of Nimes 17 miles away. Our walk was especially enjoyed as for the last couple of days the weather has not been good. As we walked though Monsieur Sun came out to play. I made the most of it by having a dip in the lovely cool clear water of the river Gard about five hundred meters upstream but in view of the Pont. Gorgeous!

We travelled up to the Pont today from the little rural village of 'Nizas'. Carol and Graham now live there most of the time as opposed to Salisbury which is where I met Carol while out walking Tanya. Their Labrador, Baily, is young and boisterous, just a bit too much for Tanya to cope with in the spacious confines of their very French home. I enjoyed a lovely evening with them and Tanya soon got over being shut in a separate room.

There was an added bonus too. With access to good Wi Fi I was finally able to sort Mrs Sat Nav out. We are now once again, 'an item' and looking forward to travelling intimate backroads toward distant setting suns forever and ever ...... Amen!!  (Hmmmmm! Or at least till the next Co Pilot sat nav update knocks her off her perch again!)

Bought & sold

"You've sold the house!" I exclaimed.

"I thought you were going to sell and upgrade to a better Motorhome". 

I said as I shook my head trying to take in the exciting news Lenny and Win were both trying to tell me at the same time.

Like three quarters of properties in Spain Lenny and Wins lovely villa atop the mountain overlooking 'Oliva' was for sale and had been for the past five years. I hear one or two stories each week in both Spain and Portugal of people with changed life circumstances stuck with property worth a lot less than they paid for it and is unsellable. In fact the more of these sad and poignant tales I hear the more I appreciate the simplicity, financial viability and flexibility of my motorhome way of life.

What I was hearing from L & W though was very different. Out of the blue a buyer had appeared and bought their Villa for the asking price. I have to say their Villa does stand out as Lenny, being a good gardener cum all round handyman, has over time, transformed the place to a very high 'buyability' standard.

The really exciting part though was that they had sourced another villa complete with smallholding. This was a dream for both of them and one they never thought would come true. Neither have any desire to leave Spain or the church and community links they already have. So finding this new place, not too far away, is a fantastic new beginning for them both.

The other good news is there will be plenty room to park Sadie and ..... wait for this ..... the seller has agreed to chuck in his little tractor plus implements as part of the deal. A tractor ...... !!  Oh yes! I'll be back there to visit next year just you wait and see!

I left L & W busy packing and all the other stressful stuff that goes with house moves. For Sadie, Tanya and I it was time to turn North. Time to hit the busy N340 and put a few miles behind us before the day was out. Just past 'Vinaros' was where enough was enough for one day. Hang a right and within five minutes we are perched atop the crumbling cliff face overlooking the blue and breeze whipped Mediterrainian.

Next morning I am sitting outside in the sun finishing my morning cuppa when along comes another dog followed by it's owner, a tall Dutch lady. We are soon chatting, as you do, and it is soon agreed I will pop across to her Villa to meet her husband and have coffee after my planned swim / snorkell in the invitingly calm early morning sun touched sea. A good swim it was too with Tanya, as usual, keeping her distance on the pebbly beach but faithfully staying put always a few meters from where I enter the water.

Our visit to the Danish couples very smart clifftop villa turned out to be another of the story's I talked of earlier. She was tall, fit, loved her walking, birdwatching (and baby bird rescuing!) and keeping the villa in tip top condition. She loved the place and the area. He, sadly, does not now enjoy the best of health which severely limits what he, a hands on physical work type of guy, can do. He feels increasingly frustrated and isolated. So they have the villa up for sale and plan to move back permanently to Denmark rather than the present arrangement of six months Spain, six months Denmark.

Cue problems. Value well down with very few highly selective buyers available. Their property is also in the front line of the clifftop erosion zone being about forty meters back. I learned that if a property becomes less than twenty meters from the crumbling cliff edge that's it. You can stay living in it but the property reverts to state ownership and jurisdiction with very little compensation. It all adds to the difficulty and firmly places stress and worry in that place originally labelled 'dream'.

On we go, with Sadie's wheels on less crowded roads now. We settle into a quiet and secluded spot for the night on a disused road, well you could continue to drive but you would son find yourself driving into the deep waters of the 'Panta de Rialb'. One of the two large man made lakes/reservoirs on the road from 'Lleida' to 'Andorra'. With water for the taking, and  swimming (quietly in the early morning cos your not supposed to according to the half submerged sign.) I took the opportunity to give Sadie a quick wash over. My goodness some of those flies do stick. At least I have a clear windscreen now.

But I don't have Mrs Sat nav on my posh Smartphone anymore. Her bosses sent a lovely big update with all sorts of new features like intelligent memorizing of your daily commute and a new street map for Puerto Rico. (Derrrrr!) You'd have thought she'd be really pleased with all that would you not?  

Ha! 

Well, being female she without notice and with immediate effect took offence at being told to do things differently. She shut down completely instead. Nothing! Nada! No matter what I do she aint having none of it! I presume divorce papers will be e mailed shortly. Ahh well; it was good while we were together and she knows she is always welcome back once she discovers it was'nae me ordering her about. Meanwhile, for me, it's back to good old paper maps and, as has already happened, getting frequently lost.

Hot & Cool.

"Phew! Thats better Tanya, 24℃. We will maybe sleep a bit better tonight". 

I started to shut down some of Sadie's open windows. Last night in 'Cordoba', Spain, it stayed stubbornly around the 29.5./ 30℃ all night. Even driving here today the air conditioning, which only functions when the engine is running, was having a job getting Sadies interior below 30℃. I try to keep in reasonably tolerable temperatures rather than invest in an environmentally unfriendly stand alone air conditioner. However; having decided to go directly East across Spain through Seville, Cordoba and the sizzling high plains I knew it had the potential to be hot hot hot. And it was hot, hot ,hot.,

We did despite the heat do a bike ride/walk to 'La Mezquita'  in 'Cordoba'. We were not able to go inside (Doggy issue as usual.) but through its exterior grandeur plus that of the surrounding old town you gained a real sense of this city's former status. Outside of its famed centre however; it is a city, a very nice city, but a city much like any other so we only stayed the one very hot night.

A day on now and here, high in the 'Sierras del Mundo' in the depths of a large Cirque we are at the head of the 'Rio Mundo'. It is definitely cooler. We walked to where the 'Rio Mundo' begins as it gushes out from way up the cliffside and falls in wind driven spray to the rocks below. There it transforms into a conventional waterfall at the bottom of which ripples a deep and deliciously inviting pool. Irresistible! It was a very cold but invigorating skinny dip and only just in time too. As I pulled my clothes back on a couple of late visitors to this popular tourist attraction strode around the corner. Phew!

We stayed overnight but left fairly promptly in the morning just before the tourist buses began to roll in.  On, on, on across the fiercely hot interior with its mile upon mile of Olive trees, towns and villages all showing signs of hardship and decay while sadly, retail parks on the edge of these towns stretched out along the ruler straight roads like wild west clapperboard towns full of their lookalike furniture, kitchen and bed stores.

The road wound down from the high plains and as we entered 'Ontinyent'. Guess what I spotted right below us in the deep gorge? People swimming and diving into the deep clear pure water of the gorge pools. Turns out the actual gorge is virtually dry these days but this particular set of very accessible and safe pools are kept flowing by clever diversion tactics being used on various local springs. Sadie was soon tucked into a blisteringly hot, and only one available, parking spot. Steve was soon fully immersed in the crystal clear, deep blue cool water. Correctly attired I may add. There were lots of people there but in no way was it crowded. Tanya was also dipped to keep her cool.

We are not too far away now. It is 10.pm and I am waiting for Sadie to cool a little before placing my head on pillow. In heat such as we are enjoying just now Sadie tends to act like a storage heater. She soaks up the heat of the day and then of course releases it as the outside nigh time temperatures drop. Take my clothes storage cupboards above the bed for example. Plunging my hand into the neatly packed socks and jumpers is like plunging a hand into a tumble drier full of clothes a couple of minutes after it has finished its heat and dry cycle. 

I know, I know ..... you all feel so sorry for me don't you .... !!

Reality & naked reflections!

"Hang on to reality and just fully take in this moment. It's a pretty rare moment." 

I thought to myself as I listened to the Prajna-Paramita Sutra (Buddhist Heart Sutra) being sung to me by Suzy who was sitting alongside me. The sun, high in the sky warmed the smooth, pure. outgoing tide washed sand beneath us. steep cliffs behind sheltered us from the brisk and eternal South West Algarve cool breeze. In front of us sparkled the blue, cold and relatively calm Atlantic ocean. We were both slowly warming up after our naked swimming immersion in this clean, bracing and wave rocked liquid gold. For me, being half Seal, I cannot keep out of the water, cold or warm. For Suzy though this daily 'cold water therapy' was healing and supporting her recovery from years of illness as was her very presence in this beautiful area. She lived in 'Paradise', the name of her house and plot of land both of which were wild and inside out. Inside her house was like being outside with beautiful wall murals and colourful mosaics while the rampant wild vegetation of the outside held you mischievously inside it's shaded haven of sensuous enclosing warmth.

I listened meditatively as the Sutra was gently and tunefully intoned to me. For a time, where we were on the spectrum of millennia seemed optional. Sea, sand, sky, two bare humans and only two sets of footprints visible on the smooth, beige expanse of beach.

Just a few days ago I had sadly dropped Barbara off at Faro airport and promptly disappeared into this wilder part of the Algarve for a few days adjustment to once again being on my own, something I love and for the time being have no intention of changing. This was reflection time for the beautiful fun and loving time we had enjoyed together.

As I felt the warmth returning to my body and listened to the naked intonations of this ancient Sutra I sat cross-legged and meditatively upright on smooth buttock imprinted sand. I could do no more than trust myself completely to the process and to the Universe, so benignly all about and cradling me. This was too big for a mere conscious and socially polluted human brain to make sense of. My full trust was given over unerringly to my unconscious and the unbelievably subtle and vast connection it enjoys with 'all that is'. Years of study and meditative practice were now bearing fruit. Right way / right path would appear, would show itself. I need not concern myself about that.

We rested as the warm rays of morning sun gained strength and the body's core finally decided it was safe enough to allow warm blood to flow to sea cold skin. Cold water therapy works on the principle of body being forced into optimal performance via the shock change from temperate air to cold water Done regularly, body and mind systems gain robustness and wellbeing. Works for me every time. I love the suffusion of good overall feelings that instantly arrive once the second or two of fear and shock of full immersion pass. As Suzy explained this therapy, a first for me, the beach was populating. A young naked family to our left with the toddler offering handfuls of sand to Tanya, who much to everyone's amusement, were carefully sniffed at before being rejected. To our right a very large elderly and brown as berries Portuguese couple giving another naked aspect to consider and reflect upon.

We slowly walked from the growing population on the beach and parted company at Sadie. It was time for me to move on. Sadie was eager, prepared and ready to roll slowly up the very rough track and transport us to our next adventure.

And the comparison. Well here I am now in the lap of luxury. I'm poolside in hot hot sunshine at Ian and Aju's very plush holiday apartment in the golf resort of Vilamoura. The complex is virtually empty and so far I have enjoyed multiple cooling swims having the huge clear blue cool pool all to myself. Once again. Heaven.

My exposure to the beautiful Heart Sutra has been noted however. 'Ashima's' hauntingly beautiful version, courtesy of Google Play store, is now quietly playing in the background on my smart-phone as I write this.

Thank you 'all that is' for two very different but equally reflective and beneficial experiences.