Monday morning and the trip back to France. We drove up to Argeles sur Mer on the French coast south of Perpignan. A lot of campsites are closing down at the end of September and we booked into La Chappelle until Saturday, when it closes at lunchtime. We set up camp and later on walked across a wood to the beach.There are no dogs allowed on the beaches here at all, although there was one beach marked a lot further down the coast where dogs could go. We found it difficult to walk anywhere with Ellie off the lead in Spain,  but here was a large pine wood and then a quiet road with no traffic and then a wide promenade that seems to go for miles along the front so we had a good walk down there. We then carried on into the town for some dinner, there were a few bars on the front that looked lively but when we looked for a meal, the places we had earmarked were closed, in fact it seemed a bit of a ghost town. We picked one restaurant that was open with a couple of people in it but had a poor meal, probably the worst we have had in France. We had said that everywhere we went, the standard of food was really good, even in very touristy places. The waiter couldn’t even print out our bill as the machine was not working so we had to go to the till to pay in cash and he couldn’t find enough change for us.

Tuesday

A disturbed night Pourquoi? I have no idea but we were both awake in the night for a while and le chien aussi. She has been sleeping in her cage in the awning and seems very content in there, although we do not fasten her cage and suspect that she sometimes goes for a little wander early morning before coming and talking to us through the fly screen to say its time to wake up and by the way its my breakfast time. She was shaking her head a lot and licking her paws again so I think it might be allergy to something round here. She also , after chasing the ball, started limping again, so is quite lame, but doesn’t understand the rest command. We spent some time today looking at campsites and routes onward and even (Oh no) planning our journey back home. We made a big !unch and had a snoozy afternoon.

Wednesday

We drove up the coast to Port Valeres, a very pretty village and harbour and had a wander round before having lunch. I had one of the fresh fish that the waitress brought for me to see that were from the fishermen across the road at the harbour. We had an interesting chat to the couple on the table next to us, she was French and he was English and they had been living in Essex for the last 30 years, here on holiday, but he had promised her that when they retired they would return to France.  She did say that the driving was much better in England than France, not sure about that but we have been cut up once or twice by stupid overtaking. We then drove up to Fort St Elme on the headland between Port Valeres and Collioure, which was a massive fortification built in the time of Charles V and was full of armour and drawbridges and weapons. He apparently ruled most of Europe and a good chunk of South and Central America in his day. There were some amazing views from the terraces surrounding the fort. We then drove onto the next headland where there was a lighthouse and enjoyed the views along the coast and down to Spain, which is about 20 Km away. We were amazed at the amount of boats and yachts on the sea, it was a beautiful sunny warm afternoon. Went to the bar on site for a drink later, there are lots of crying babies on this site, those two things are not linked.  So interesting stories of people now and people from the 1500s.

Thursday

We had a drive round the area this morning and a trip to the supermarket where as well as a few bottles of wine I found some frogs legs, which I had been searching a!l over for. Not to eat or buy but just because its so French along with snails, offal, pate, gesirs,croissants and baguettes to say nothing of the wine. Each region has its specialities and we have sampled some of them. We went to the supposed dog beach which had a no dogs sign so we went on the beach which also had naked people on it and there were no signs warning about that. Ellie enjoyed a romp in the sea. We drove to Colliour which has a very pretty harbour and had a fishy lunch. Lovely.

 
Roundabouts, I counted 40 on the map of argeles sur met, which consists of a Ville, town centre inland and a long sprawl of seaside development by the plages. All round the town, the local road planners seem to have bought a job lot of roundabouts (if that is how you purchase roundabouts) and scattered them at every possible junction whether they are needed or not. This made driving in down to the front with the caravan a masterpiece of manoeuvring, especially as at least twice between each roundabout, there is a pedestrian crossing, where people lie in wait, jump out into the road and expect you to stop.We have carefully worked out an escape plan for Saturday that involves the least number of roundabouts to get out of this place.
Friday
We spent the morning on the beach as after driving further down the coast, we finally found the dog friendly beach. Lying there with your eyes shut, listening to the short waves rustling the small stones at the waters edge on the steep beach and also the birds tweeting in the background, feeling the warm sun on your face; bliss.
We went back to change and then drove up to chateau Valmy for lunch at La Table, their in house restaurant. We had a delicious 3 course lunch with a glass of their rose wine. After lunch we indulged in a little wine tasting and purchased a few bottles. Later on we packed up the awning and as much as possible to get ready for off tomorrow morning first thing. The whole campsite is closing tomorrow and it feels quite sad as the end of the season is here.