Apologies, its catch up time. My parents came to visit and my evenings have been a wonderful mix of board game family time. I was also hit hard with the blues for a couple of days, but that fortunately lifted for our mock xmas today!
Yesterday we took the pups to an old quarry called Les Carrières du Bon Temps not far from Nime which has a series of short walking trails. It’s nice being able to let the pups off their leads to properly chase about. They weren’t really tired enough though as we tested 4 adults and 5 dogs in a single van, it was mayhem with Ernest trying to rape Frodo (labrador) and Elsa (lhasa apso) telling them to all bugger off. Fortunately they calmed down long enough for coffee and xmas cake.
We then drove on to a wonderful women led vineyard Château de Fourques EARL, it’s been past down the female line for 4 generations. We had a lazy afternoon playing games and sleeping before a quick wine tasting of their produce and a trip into Montpellier to see their evening light show and xmas market.
Key landmarks around the city were lit up in time to music, and the three day event was hugely popular; the streets were heaving. It was certainly a nice way to wander and see the sites in an unusual and striking way. Mum stayed behind to rest her sore feet and swears all the dogs behaved themselves whilst cuddled on the bed with her.
198 – Where did the day go?
I was so slow getting my arse in gear, I’ve no clue where the day went. Certainly we had a late lunch hunting for a place to stop (so many of the car parks have height barriers, its very hard to park near attractions which meant we had to drive through Sete and Anges, and instead continue until we found an official campsite in Saint Marie Le Mer. It was just a carpark with extra paid facilities (annoys me…stupid timed showers), but it had both a bio and standard supermarket nearby so we stocked up on lots of yummies. Parents introduced us to Rummikub and we both love it (it’s not maths so I needn’t have worried lol), and a fun geography game which proved I still can’t remember half the places I’ve been and have no clue about the places I’ve yet to visit 🙈🤣
199 – Yay Fake Xmas!
With parents leaving tomorrow we decided to have a fake mini xmas today. Its basically an excuse to eat wonderful roast and play more games. Santa knocked on my window in the morning with fresh pastries from the bakery which I scoffed in bed with a cup of tea.
Mark saved his having already had breakfast but this proved fatal as the pups found it and snaffled it while we were out. Wow was Mark in a bad mood! 😱 The morning was chores – food shop, trying out mums mini Hoover (her van is much better equipped but my hand sweep works just as well lol), making nut roast, flag stickers on van, failed attempt to pressure wash van, fixing toilet). We then had coffee and ate the last if the xmas cake (cheered Mark up) and drove on to the tiny village of Cabanes in Spain.
Oddest bit of this journey was seeing all the working girls evidently dropped off at regular intervals along the main road. Stood in knickers, cropped jackets and pleasers at 2pm on a Saturday. I’m not sure what protection they get but hope they are safe.
On our little campsite there is a central green and the dogs had a great time chasing balls and each other. We played itchy feet and ghost blitz before prepping xmas dinner. Mark and I wandered into the village and tested our Spanish lessons trying to buy more ingredients – my brain is still mixing up several languages, but we muddled through 🤣
The roast was an epic success, and great team effort. I can’t believe we lasted 6 months without a roast dinner and proper apple crumble. After another evening of Rummikub, we are all snuggled up with hot chocolate feeling content. Our mock xmas was perfect family time.
SofaWolves 