Seven months in Spain and a fair few more to come.

Once again its been a while since we last updated our blog but it is with much joy and excitement in our lives that we have this opportunity to inform you that after spending seven months in Spain we have been successful in obtaining our Spanish Residencia. This basically means that Spain has now become our main base and the place where we will reside for the majority of the year.

Andalusian Flag

This might come as a surprise to some of you but after arriving here in the middle of October in our dear little VW Campervan (Elsie) on what we thought would be a two month stay we have loved the lifestyle, the weather, the people and the options that this nation with all of it's history affords us.

So lets rewind a bit with some highlights of the last seven months and we shall do this via a list view as below.

Biking along the Prom at Torrox Costa

- We sailed from Portsmouth on an overnight ferry to Santander in northern Spain Elsie (the VW Campervan) packed up ready for a two month stay before a return to the UK for Christmas.

- Prior to the trip we had agreed with our good friends in England that we would aim to stay in their 'holiday home' in Andalucía for a couple of months making our way slowly through north and western Spain on our way there.

- Soon after arriving in Spain the nation was sent into a second lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus and instead of a slow journey taking in the sights and sounds we made our way directly to Torrox on the Costa Del Sol.

City Walls at Avilla

- Thankfully we had a few days of travel before the announcement and were able to visit the towns and cities of Burgos, Salamanca, Avilla (with its wonderful city walls and historic Christian heritage), Toledo and even Cordoba (and it's amazing cathedral which we will have to revisit sometime in the near future)

Pueblo Blanco 

- We arrived in Torrox Park in torrential rain but were thankful that the sun returned by the next morning and were able to explore the three parts of Torrox (the old 'Pueblo' with it's traditional whitewashed houses set on a hill, the modern 'Park' where we were staying and the Costa, which is as expected set on the Mediterranean coast!) 

Time with Arry

- Amazingly our youngest son had been travelling in Portugal and was due to meet up with the yacht he was working on in Malaga so he was able to join us for a night before sailing off across the Atlantic to Mexico. 

- After we'd been in Torrox Park for a few weeks we began to think about the options that we currently had for the next phase of our lives, which as with many other people, had been deeply impacted by the lack of opportunities to travel to those far off places where we had more recently been sharing the Leadership for Life programme. 

Winter Solstice sunset from our apartment

- With the Covid-19 virus showing no sign of let up, the continued restrictions in the UK and the thought of spending Christmas and New Years in a caravan in a field in Buckinghamshire with the possibility of not even seeing family if we were back in England, we decided that the options that living in Spain for this next phase of our lives gave us we would apply for residency here.

- We weren't too hopeful that our application would be accepted as there were many factors that we didn't tick but after visiting a local lawyer we were advised to move quickly due to the 31st December deadline that was in place following the UK's exit of the European Union.

Monika, Ralf and Lucy

- The first thing we needed was a longer term place to stay, our friends holiday villa was just that a place for them to holiday and to offer to friends and their family so we looked around and found a wonderful apartment overlooking the beach at the el Morche end of Torrox Costa which has been a godsend and not something that we will ever take too lightly.

- After opening a Spanish bank account, registering for our NIE at the local police station and informing the local municipality of our permanent (semi permanent) address, all before the 31st, we then had to wait until we had actually been here for three months, thus showing bank statements, receipts for items purchased locally etc, before applying which we did in the middle of January 2021.

Beach Bars

- During those three months we were enjoying walking in the mountains, shopping at the local market buying all our fresh fruit there on a Monday morning from a dear old couple who we have struck up a firm friendship with, running on the beach, eating tapas at local bars and creating friendships with both locals and expats.

- This is the longest time we have spent in one place since leaving Grabouw, South Africa, in 2015 and the third longest period of time in one place since we got married 33 years ago. 

Yoga

- Maz has started Yoga on a Wednesday morning and has made some good connections with likeminded people there and she spends around an hour a day learning Spanish via an app which she is steadily but surely mastering.

- I have been struggling with achilles and back problems which have limited my longer runs but have taken up playing 'Padel', a racket sport similar to Tennis but played on a smaller court with glass sides where the ball is in play like Squash, and have English, Danish, German and Spanish friends that I play with at least twice a week.

Sledging in the Sierra Nevada 

- We have ventured out to the Sierra Nevada to visit the snow at the ski center there and even bought a sledge which we really had fun with before Christmas. We have also bought a Paddle Board (SUP) which we take out on the sea as and when the conditions are in our favour (i.e not too choppy!)

- The weather has been wonderful, most days we wake to clear blue skies with the promise of sun and warm temperatures, although we have had some rain and during the winter months it has felt more like the 'Costa del Wind' rather than the Costa del Sol but as spring moves into summer the winds have dropped and we are actually grateful for the gentle sea breezes.

SUP!

- It's been a great time for us to chill out, read books (too many to mention here but we will update our list on the side bar for you to see what we have been reading), listening to podcasts and generally taking life one day as it comes. We don't earn any money but live a simple life which we are very much enjoying.

- The Covid-19 lockdown restrictions seem to have been easier than those set in England or France and other than having to wear masks when in public places we have been able to live a relative normal life which means we feel so blessed.

Christmas Day

- Obviously we have missed our family and friends immensely, especially over Christmas, which we celebrated on our own for the first time ever but that was a similar situation for many people so we didn't feel too alone.

- Lastly we have made two very good friends, Ralf and Monika from Germany, who are both Yoga teachers and along with their dear little dog, Lucy, we've enjoyed some special times with, mostly bumping into along the prom for an impromptu coffee or Tinto de Verano, watching films, eating some of Maz' amazing plant based food and we even visited Seville (Sevilla) last weekend where we enjoyed the stunning city with it's awesome architecture, history, bars, parks and shops!

New friends and good food.

Our lives seem so full at the moment, we do have a daily rhythm which starts off with exercise, stretching, mindfulness and even meditation we play at least three games of Backgammon and tax our brains with online quizzes as well as having a daily walk and continuing to encourage others who are in our sphere of influence be they in South Africa, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia or South Korea and we try to maintain weekly connections with our wonderful family via zoom and other medium who are so dear to us and whom we miss very much.

 

Walkers Run for Water - An 80km run in Spain

It's been a while since we updated our blog so as we enter into 2021 with further trepidation we wanted to encourage you with news of a run I (Tim) completed on the 21st December to raise funds to dig a second well to install a water pump in a remote village in southern Madagascar.

Off for an Ultra Run!

Yes you read the title of this post correctly I ran 80 kilometers non stop on the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere from sunrise at 8.30am here in Spain to sunset at just before 6pm completing the challenge in 8 hours and 35 minutes, raising near on half the $5,000 that we need to sink this well in the process.

I wanted to write this post as an encouragement to those of us who have just drifted into middle age and to show that if I can achieve something that I only ever dreamt of then let that be a motivation to us all that each one of us has amazing amazing potential inside of us that is just waiting to be released.

So before we go into my run and look at how I undertook what was the longest run of my life, beating my previous best by seven kilometers, I want to take you back to the summer of 2016 when I took up running again and look back at the motivation to do that.

We'd arrived back in England after a three month trip to Madagascar where we once again engaged with our wonderful friends working in the capital Antananarivo and the eastern port city of Toamasina. Our return was to help support Maz' sister as she supported her mum who was in the final stages of her battle against cancer, sadly Judy passed away from just after we had got back home but it was good to be there at the end.

After a visit to see our eldest son and his family in Bath I felt overweight and short of breath as I played football and attempted to chase our three precious grandchildren around the local park.

My logo care of Emily House

I'd always been a good runner in my secondary school years, often picked for the cross-country team, longer distance track runs and spending nights at the athletic club in Aylesbury, Bucks. I had also continued to keep my fit playing football for my local team until I was 40 years old but then we took the bold step and moved to South Africa to set up the Village of Hope, a home for children impacted by HIV and TB, and although I ran a sports outreach programme into the local community using football and netball to encourage the young people living in the formal and informal settlements where we lived I had become lazy, overindulging in a tad too many braai's (BBQ) and perhaps enjoying the wonderful South African wine a little too much! 

Back to that June day in 2016 I looked at my life, the choices that I was making and observed other people around me, some who like me had just let things slip and others who were pushing themselves as they neared their fiftieth birthdays I was worried that within a few years I could have further grandchildren and pondered on what sort of Granddad would they grow up knowing and what fun would we all miss out on if I couldn't even kick a ball with them.

My motivation to run, the current water
situation in Madagascar 

So a few days later I decided to dust off a pair of old astro turf football boots, put on a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts and head off for a run around the block a simple run of around 500 meters. By the end of the run I could hardly breath but undeterred I woke the next morning to undertake another round of that 500 meter loop.

By the morning of 23rd June, just a few days into my new found regime I decided that I needed to download an App to help me keep a note of my activities, mainly to motivate me but also to have a base point to look back on. If you click this link you'll be taken to my Strava page where you'll see that during that first recorded run I covered 2.62km in a total time of near on 15 minutes at an average pace of 5 mins 36 seconds per kilometer.

Water hole for a village of 2,000 people

Over the following days, weeks and now years I've extended my runs, starting with a 5km, a 10k in just under one hour by the middle of July and that was really that with the longer distances as I continued with runs around 5km-10km for just over a year. However on July 24th 2017 I pushed the boat out and ran with my Ultra running Brother-in-law, Chris, over my longest run to date a 14.8km run in France which took almost one and a half hours.

That August I turned 50 and on my birthday I ran a 10km in just over 50 minutes which I was very pleased with and with that in the bag I decided to enter into my first half marathon, again with my brother-in-law, and also my sister in Northampton, which I ran in just under one hour 50 minutes, I think I'd found my running legs but my distances really didn't go up again until I entered my first marathon over a year later.

My aim was to get over the line in under 4 hour's so I made up my mind that I would complete this with a run/walk strategy, thus ensuring I didn't burn out too quickly and giving my legs and body some time to recover as I tackled the tough Winelands Marathon held in the stunning South African town of Stellenbosch, more famed for its wines than it's marathon and guess what, just over 3 hours and 57 minutes since I set out I stumbled over the 26.2 mile (42.2km) line completely exhausted but I'd done it!

The pump on top of the first
new Well that we funded in early
2020

As you can see it took me quite some time to build up to a marathon distance and by the end of 2018 not only myself but also Maz had got into running regularly and we'd also changed our eating habits, inspired by the book Finding Ultra by Rich Roll we cut out all meat and dairy from our diets, a decision that we feel has both benefitted our health, weight, well-being and the well-being of the planet and those that we share it with.

Whilst in South Africa, we were based there to undertake some work for Emerging Leaders, working with local farms and the communities around those farms sharing the amazing Leadership for Life programme and seeing some very positive impact into the lives of those people who we'd come to know and love during our near on seven years setting up and running the Village of Hope, we both entered into the bi yearly 'trail series', runs up in the beautiful mountains that surround Cape Town which we both really enjoyed.

I wasn't without injury, during those first few years I really struggled with a bad back, slipping my disc whilst in South Africa which meant three months without running, continuing problems with my achilles and both knees, especially my left knee which I'm sure was the result of my 35 years or so playing football.

In early 2019 my crazy Brother-in-law challenged me to join him on an Ultra marathon, basically an ultra is any run that is longer than a marathon, technically I suppose it could be 43kms or 27 miles, but this one was going to be 73kms or just over 45 miles and would be taking place on the stunning island of Jersey which is situated just off of the north coast of France and although has long beautiful beaches to its west and southern sides has a very rugged north coast which was going to make the challenge of running it in under 11 hours very tough indeed....but once again we did it and although I couldn't walk for a couple of days after that event I was so proud of my achievement and to look back on where I'd come from just over 3 years before, however I vowed never to undertake another ultra distance again!

Since then I've tried to complete a marathon distance over a week every week and am not only feeling the benefit to my physical health but also my mental and spiritual health, it also means that I get out most days to take in some fresh air and to enjoy all that nature has to offer, be that on the pavements of England, fields of Zambia, sand tracks in Zimbabwe, mountain paths in South Africa, dusty streets in Madagascar, footpaths through the slums in Uganda, the beaches of Mauritius or the promenades here in Spain, I am blessed and I don't take that for granted.

Just the 75,500 steps!

So if I vowed never to do an ultra distance again why undertake the latest run here in Spain, where we are trying to gain our Spanish residency? Well that's a long story but it mainly comes down to the fact that I can't paint, I can't sing and to be honest I'm not very productive at all but what I have proved to myself is that I can run, and if I can run then maybe some kind people will sponsor me to push myself beyond my comfort zone so I can bless those who have very challenging lives each and everyday so to put my body on the line for just over 8 hours surely isn't too much to do.

If you haven't given up reading by now I'll just quickly let you know how I managed to cover the 80kms within the timescales that I had set myself. 

Firstly I made sure I had put some miles or Kilometers in my legs, training each day to do either some hill work, short sprints or longer distances. 

Next I made my plan for the run, my two previous ultra distances had been over some hilly terrain (I didn't mention that I had actually completed a second ultra distance, this was last June when I ran a 7.5km lap around Buckinghamshire on the shortest night of the year, completing the 56kms with some friends in just under six hours during the middle of the night, yes that was crazy but a wonderful way to celebrate the summer solstice and raise further funds for our friends who are struggling in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and Madagascar), this time I wasn't going to put the challenging hills in so I opted for an 8km lap (x10) up and down the promenade in Torrox Costa, lightweight I know!

At 8.30am I started my run, equipped with a drinks bottle and Maz on hand to bring down supplies as per the timings I'd estimated that I would run passed our apartment. I aimed to get through the first marathon as fast as I could and then worry about the following 38km once I'd got that under my belt. 

Lunch time

My first 12km I hit at a non stop 5 mins per km pace, the second 12km I slowed it down to a 2,5km run with a 250m walk which actually went really well so I continued that until I reached the full marathon point at my fastest marathon time of 3hrs 53 mins which I was really pleased with as I was aiming to undertake that at around 4hrs. 

After a short break for lunch, where Maz bought down a pot noddle to compliment the nuts, seeds and dried fruit that I had been consuming since the first hour, I knew that I had around five hours to keep going to hit the final 38km. I reached 50km by running 1.5Km and walking 500 meters in 4hrs 50 mins and kept that going till I got to 60km.

The sun has shone all day and it was quite fun to see the shadows created as I passed the lighthouse and also bars where people had been enjoying their pre-Christmas drinks and food whilst I plodded passed them with sweat pouring from under my Santa hat which I had worn since the start. 

The last 20kms were made up of a walk/run with 500m intervals with Maz joining me for the last 14km which was a great encouragement to me and I crossed the 80km mark with 35 minutes left before the beautiful sun dropped into the mediterranean sea to end a perfect day!

Nearly finished

The 80km run also allowed me to pass my 2,300kms mark for the year 2020 a feat that I never dreamed of achieving way back in June 2016 when I stumbled out of bed in the hope that I could one day run a 5km and be able to chase my grandchildren around the park in my older age.

I hope you've enjoyed the read and that you have been inspired to realise the amazing potential that lies within each and everyone of us, maybe you won't go out for an 80km run but I would encourage you all to at least take time to exercise your body each day and if you can think more about what you put in your body via your choice of diet, I can guarantee that you'll feel better both in your body (I lost 20kg once I made my life choices) and in your mind.

Lastly if you are able to spare a few pennies then please visit our Facebook Fundraising page by clicking on to this link and help me to make a difference to those we know who are currently facing a daily challenge of finding fresh water just to live.

And now the end is near the continuing story of our Tour de France - Week Eight

Wild camping by the river

If you remember last week I (Tim) was using a very wet day in north western Spain to update our seventh post that covers our recent trip to France, since last week we have moved much further south and I'm typing away with a view out over fields of mangos, avocados and other exotic fruits with the Mediterranean shimmering away and providing a stunning backdrop. Without further ado we'll bring you up to date with what was to be our last week in France for a while.

We left you in suspense at the end of the last post having arrived at our most recent France Passion (the web based platform that we were using as our bible and that connects mainly organic farms with motorhome owners, or VW Campervans like us, providing a free nights stay with the understanding that you may sample their produce with no obligation to purchase but hey who wouldn't want to top up on fresh tomatoes, or olives or wines that have been handcrafted in the very fields that surround you as you sleep?) a restaurant which wasn't open so after another peaceful sleep we both got up and had runs around the lake next to where we'd parked and further into the woods which were getting more frequent as we moved further north.

After we'd packed up, a performance that we were now bab hands at, gas off, porta potti away, rear awning and pop up roof down, we moved on towards Limoges and the charming towns that sit along the river Vienne and what was to be our first real wild camping experience as we couldn't find a suitable France Passion site along our intended route.

Maz cooking up a storm, again

We arrived alongside the river late in the afternoon and had spotted another VW camper a little further along the banks, the river wide and slow moving but from our vantage point we could see a little weir and below that some faster moving water where fishermen were dangled either worms or their fancy flies into the water hoping to catch some poor fish who was probably thinking about catching his own lunch for his family! 

As the evening drew on we found a semi secluded spot in a car park by the river and bedded down for the night, which was very peaceful and we awoke with excitement in our hearts as we were to visit and have lunch with our good friends, Lisa and Rebecca, who had given up their jobs and life in Jersey (the channel islands) and bought a house complete with gite business just up the road from where we had camped out.

The grand tour

The place they had bought was awesome, it was so well appointed and renovated that it made us quite jealous and our minds which had been thinking about buying a place for ourselves in France were nudged that way even further. Rebecca and Lisa hadn't had the best of first seasons with their Gite business, what with the issues around the limited travel and therefore holidaying that Covid-19 had imposed, but they had had a few visitors and were currently hosting a couple from Belgium and the lifestyle away from the busyness of corporate business seemed to suit them.

Lunch with friends

It was great to share a meal together in their lovely courtyard garden, of which much of our view and seating arrangements was obscured by our washing which Maz had been able to do in their handy machine in their second gite whilst they had given us the 'grand tour'. We were sad to leave but we did have another engagement to make before we found our nights parking spot.

We miss these sunsets from the pop up
roof in Elsie

As we've said the lifestyle and cheaper properties in France had certainly got our attention so most days we were receiving updates from the internet on various places that were for sale so as we were passing we made a plan to have a look around a very nice home which was being sold as a full B&B business, all furnishings for under £140,000. 

Topping up Elsie's water tank from an old well

The home was also very tastefully renovated but upon chatting with the owners, an English couple who had lived and run the business for six years, we found out that their dream was to travel and they had found the B&B restrictive and wanted to sell. It seemed that the tables would have been turned had we bought the place, our fancyfree lifestyle choice of roaming instead of homing would be lost and we weren't sure we wanted to sacrifice that just to have somewhere to call home...we are continuing to look at the various opportunities as to live and own a home in England is now out of our price range so we are living in this dilemma at this time. 

We were now moving north at quite a rate as we had booked a ferry back to England leaving Dieppe to Newhaven on the forthcoming Thursday afternoon so our house hunting escapades would have to wait a while, with Brexit perhaps putting a spanner in those works too as the laws around freedom of movement are due to change on the 31st December this year.

Our rushing back to England was all timed to fit in with the birth of our fourth grandchild, seeing as we'd have to self isolate for two weeks when we got home due to the Covid-19 situation we wanted to be able to visit our son and daughter-in-law, and new arrival as soon as we could!

The flat lands were calling

As we travelled the countryside became flatter, wind turbines and fields and fields of harvested crops, oats, wheat etc, stretched out as far as the eye could see. This definitely wasn't an area we wanted to stop in too long so after a night just north east of Chateauroux at one of those very arable farms we headed to Blois via a very convoluted route which we'll pick up on later.

Le petit wine tasting

On route we stopped off at a vineyard of that we'd spotted on the map. The cellar was tiny, certainly the smallest vineyard we'd ever been to, but the welcome from the elderly father and his son (neither of whom spoke English and our French really hadn't improved much over the trip, however now we are in Spain we are realising that we do actually understand a lot more French than we thought and having conversations in broken Frenglish is much easier than Spanglish!) was as good as we'd experienced throughout the trip which was shown in their very classy white wines of which we bought a bottle or two.

Stained glass adorns the windows

We also stopped at the charming city of Blois which sits on the Loire, we parked up in a car park overlooking the river and as had become our norm we visited its cathedral and were impressed by the architecture and feel of the place.

Blois across the Loire

Now back to the story of the convoluted route. Unfortunately after leaving Blois we had the first major navigational error of the trip, not bad seeing as through we were 53 days into it, we'd put the wrong GPS co-ordiantes into GoogleMaps and had headed north west for perhaps an hour before realising we should have been heading north east, that said we made it to our penultimate stop with time to spare and found the huge farmhouse, which included our last stop and visit to a vineyard of the trip, to be empty save for a dog who was barking madly at us.

We phoned the host who apparently was in town shopping and when she arrived back she was only too willing to show us to our parking spot, under a few plumb and apple tress which had so many fallers that the wasps were eagly devouring and into her cellar which was another wonderful experience.

Our last wine tasting at France Passion 2020

After sampling her wines we made a plan to purchase a few bottles but when coming to pay she didn't accept credit card and we'd spent our last cash in Blois earlier in the day, so what was to be our last purchase turned out to be just one bottle which we think she was a little sad about but hey we're in the 21st century now and the other little cellar we'd visited earlier in the day excepted cards so get with the times!

Chartres double towers

The night was warm, pleasant an quiet so after a leisurely pack down we headed north, checking our GPS co-ordinates a couple of times so as not to go off piste again, and made our way to Chartres, visiting it's magnificent cathedral with twin towers and stained glass windows which were apparently some of the oldest in the world and had inspired others to copy the tend. We also enjoyed a cup of coffee in the square around it, which was almost deserted, which felt sad but reflected the limited amount of tourists that we'd encountered on the rest of our trip.

The empty square around the catherdral

Our last night was spent at probably the most quirky of France Passion stops of the trip, the venue was a eco farm which also ran canoeing experiences along the river upon which it sat. The toilets were again dry, meaning that we had to use sawdust to cover our poop, and the water we needed for our shower had to be drawn from a deep well. To get the bucket to fill with water was quite an art and gives us a lot more appreciation for people who lived like this in the old days and whom still live like that in the communities where we normally spend time sharing the mindset leadership programmes with.

Our last stop at the Canoe center

During the afternoon we took to the water ourselves and enjoyed a leisurely (at least on the return with the flow) time paddling up the tiny river Eure to a watermill which was the perfect way to spend our final afternoon in France seeing as though we'd spent so much time exploring the banks along a large number of the rivers but never on them.

Paddling up the Eure

Once again we spent a relaxing morning before we realised that we needed to fill in an online arrivals form which would provide us with a QR code to show the border officers in England and for them to know where we would be spending the next 14 days once we'd arrived back.

We then had a quick lunch, packed up for the final time and made our way to the ferry which was to leave from Dieppe at around 5pm and depositing us on English soil in Newhaven some five hours late when upon arrival no border officer was interested in our QR codes which we'd saved to our phones and we passed through passport control and quickly onto the M23 and M25 on our way back home after what had been a most wonderful trip.

We'd spent a total of 54 days travelling, covering just over 4,000kms and during our time away we'd noticed a lot of interesting items placed on the middle of some of the larger roundabouts, these were probably designed to give a flavour of the town or village but some seemed quite random and included in no particular order but perhaps in some sort of date order the following:-

The stunning rose window

A large chair, a large hand, a windmill, a castle, a boat, some large bikes, random beach huts, a roman style archway, a face, big bright butterflies, a big bird, a wine barrel, a huge cello, a large great crested crane (national bird of Uganda), a waterwheel, vines, an iron man, a dove cote, a matador, a large horse, fountains, a star gazer, an iron man, a gateway, large mushrooms, a wooden barn, goats with cheese, a colourful hummingbird, statue of a man on a throne, a wooden cart, a bug hotel, a light aircraft, a stone seat and finally some wooden bridge strut although we weren't sure about that one!

Back in England, it's like being on holiday!

We hope you've enjoyed journeying with us, Tim, Maz and Elsie the VW camper who was fantastic and apart from replacing a day light driving bulb hadn't put a foot, or wheel/s wrong since leaving England some 4,000 kilometers earlier.

Our first meeting with Winnie

So in total we avoided any toll roads but found every road well surfaced and signs easy to read and overall we found the french people to be helpful, friendly and accommodating. We had a special time using the France Passion site which also meant that we interacted and made friends with real French people who were similar minded people that we wouldn't have experienced had we used hotels or even B&B's, to say we were pleasantly surprised is an understatement and we will be back Brexit willing!

P.S we did self isolate for two weeks and on the middle Sunday our family was added to by the arrival of dear Winnie who made our return to England all the more special. Till next time x 

Our Tour de France - Week Seven Working our way back up.

Our AirBnB Tent

Firstly we do hope that you are enjoying reading our post about our amazing 54 day trip into South Western France in our newly acquired VW Campervan called 'Elsie' during July, August and September 2020. Secondly all of the previous posts have been written whilst staying in our caravan, which is our main place of residence, in rural Buckinghamshire, England, but today I (Tim) am writing this post whilst sitting in a soggy campsite just outside of Salamanca in North West Spain, so with that bombshell you'd have probably guessed that there might be a Vuelta a España coming your way sometime soon!

Maz swimming in the Lot again

As the rain falls on Elsie's roof the balmy days of August seem just a distant memory so as I try to recall the events of our seventh week away during what was the week of the 22nd to 29th August 2020 please forgive me if I either ramble on our cut our time together shorter due to those gaps in my memory which are becoming more increasing in my older age.

We had making our way steadily north but with a mind not to retrace too many steps that we'd previously trod. After leaving our friendly unfriendly French friend behind just outside Auch where if you remember we'd met up with a statue of Charles de Batz de Castelmore, more commonly known as d'Artagnan of the Musketeers fame we headed for Agen, again on the river Garonne to a farm that grew prunes.

New friends and Pizza

Agen is a very famous region for prunes, however although we stayed on the farm it was a little too commercialised for our liking so we spent the afternoon reading by the Lot, another river that we'd seen earlier in the trip, Maz also took another dip and although the pitch that we had be assigned was quiet it was also a little damp, this was perhaps due to it's close proximity of the river and the fact that it was under the shade of some very very tall trees. 

Packing up the next morning proved to be more taxing than any other with the claggy soil sticking to anything and everything so we moved on as quickly as it allowed keen to get to our quirky AirBnB that we'd booked in nearby Pujols, a pretty little hill top village over looking the larger town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot. 

We were greeted by our host and now good friend Christophe who showed us to our accommodation, a tent! Yes we know we'd been camping for over six weeks but we were captivated by Christophe's set up and also the lure of a pool which was to be at our disposal over the next two days.

Shower time

The tent was funky, a double bed set on pallets with a small front awning for sitting and chilling. There was an outside shower, with hot running water and also a dry toilet similar to the one that we had experienced at the France Passion stay near Auch a few days before.

That evening we joined Christophe and his daughter for a pizza and beers that he'd bought in for us to share and he explained about the good mountain biking, and therefore good trail runs that surrounded his place. The next morning, after a very very good sleep, I (Tim) took on the daunting hill that rose from the house to village of Pujols that was calling from above.

Busy hilltop villages

Later in the morning we both took a stole up to the village, which had been voted prettiest in France on a number of occasions. The streets were deserted and the restaurant's all but empty which gave us the whole place to ourselves, which once again was surreal and wonderful at the same time.

I really enjoyed the challenge of the run and walk up to the village but soon settled back into a day lounging by the pool, dipping in and out to cool off and trying to finish the epic Les Misérables which I had been reading on and off for the whole trip. Maz was in her element with the access to the pool enabling her to enjoy her favourite recreation of 'swimming'.

Summer days.

We spent a second night under canvas with a further run out to complete a segment that I'd seen on Strava a 680 meter dash up a hill that gain 91 meters in height over that period. My time was 17th best, 2nd for over 45's, which again I was pleased with.

Chilling Out

After we said our sad goodbyes we headed further north, this time to visit a newly acquainted friend who we'd met via email after we'd both read three books which followed the fortunes of a family who'd left their comfortable jobs in Dublin to buy a vineyard just south of Bergerac.

Once again the drive through the vineyards east of Bordeaux was spectacular and we think that those around Chateaux Feely, home to Caro Feely, her husband, two now grown up daughters and dog, were some of the most beautiful a well manicured that we had seen on the whole trip.

We had agreed to meet at 4pm for a tour of the vines, chat about the domain and a tasting. We were greeted by Caro who informed us that we could park Elsie and stay for the night, which was wonderful and saved us thinking about driving after a tasting and further sundowners with her and her husband Sean who both hail from South Africa, Sean's grandfather had actually tended a vineyard just outside Stellenbosch in the old days so we had a lot to chat about which was nice.

Dry loo

The three books, written by Caro, follow their story of wanting to produce great quality wines in an organic way. Therefore they use no pesticides or herbicides, which are basically designed to kill off pests and diseases that the vines are susceptible to but also cause huge damage to the environment and the micro environment with the run off water, containing these chemicals returning to the nearby streams, then rivers and finally the seas of our planet and which have been proven to cause cancers to the people working with the vines and drinking the wine that is produced by this forced and foreign farming system.

Caro Feely harvesting her grapes

Caro had warned us that there would be a bit of early noise the next morning as they were preparing to pick their Sauvignon Blanc at around 7am, so I got up early for another run, quickly showered and joined Maz and their small team who were picking these tasty white (green) grapes by hand. Maz and I really enjoyed spending that hour with Caro and her team but needed to move on as we had an appointment to make at 11am.

During our time in France we had grown to love the country, its landscapes,  lifestyle and even it's people who had been so helpful and accommodating towards us, therefore we wondered if this might be the place to buy a home to use as a base whilst also allowing us to continue the work we do running leadership programmes to some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. 

To enable us to do this better we thought we should see if we could rent somewhere for the winter, helping us see what it might be like actually live during the less sunny times of the year and also to use as a base for us to explore properties that might come up in our price bracket.

Another few buckets in

Our meeting at 11am was with a lady who we'd contacted during the week around the rental of her three bed cottage just north of Bergerac and after enquiring as to where we might be able to park Elsie for the night offered us a free stay at the house that she rents out on a weekly basis during the summer. The place was wonderful, set out over two floors with a lovely kitchen, dinner come lounge big enough for a family, a downstairs bedroom with ensuite and two further bedrooms upstairs and an outside pool and terrace leading to a huge garden.

We made good use of the pool, chillaxing after a longish walk into the nearest village, but felt that the place was a little too isolated for the kind of winter living and walking that we wanted to enjoy so we turned down her offer of the six month contact and moved on after a peaceful nights sleep in a real bed (two singles!).

The following day we retraced our steps along the beautiful Dordogne river where we had travelled along over four weeks before. We were heading towards the stunning Rocamadour, a recommendation from Tim's parents who had visited many years before with his uncle (John, who sadly passed away earlier this year due to contacting this awful Covid-19 virus) and aunt who sang its praises as a must visit however we are getting ahead of ourselves back to today!

Watch out Maz is about

We turned up at an old farmhouse and were greeted by an elderly lady, bent double with age, and, who we suspected was, her grandson both spoke no English. The farmhouse seemed to be stuck in a timewarp with the 20th and 21st centuries passing it by as we entered through a low door into a dark but inviting farmhouse kitchen with cooking pots sitting above a the burning embers of the fire which obviously provided the warmth by which to cook and probably heat the house.

As was the custom of the 'France Passion' sites we were tempted by their wares which sat on the large oak kitchen table that took center stage, large tomatoes, squashes, jams and best of all fresh walnuts were purchased by Maz with what little change she had in her purse. 

The old lady informed us that we could pitch up in the field next to the sheep but before that encouraged her grandson to take us to see the views of the Dordogne and the idyllic village of Floirac that sits on one of the many paths towards the Camino Santiago. We left the farmhouse and made our tentative way in Elsie down a dead end sand road that led to a a rocky outcrop not only to find the wonderful views but also the fact that there was no real turning space, not to be deterred Elsie did her level best to keep a stiff upper lip and with a wing and a prayer we shuffled back and forth with the ravine calling us but to know avail, we were made of sterner stuff and returned forthwith to the safety of the field and the smelly fly ridden sheep which seemed a better option that the valley of death that we had just escaped.  

Tim overlooking the Dordogne after running
down to the village and back

The next morning we both went out for a run, I made it down to Floirac and back up the steeeep slippery path, again in good time, Maz ran around a loop along the top road on a 7km run which she said she enjoyed and after a quick shower using our faithful 12volt shower pump collapsible bag combo we were keen to get on to see what all the fuss about Rocamadour was all about.

The journey only took around 30 minutes through countryside that reminded us of Derbyshire, spectacular in its own right but nothing that we hadn't really experienced before. However that was all to change as we turned a bend that revealed a huge valley of which we hadn't seen since the Pyrenees and down which a road led passed some impressive city gates and as we traversed further opened up to a carpark next to a river.

A line of people snaked back toward the cliffs and as the tree line opened up we could see a medieval town, complete with church built as if hanging to the edge of these cliffs with huge buzzards or some such carrion birds circling above.

Rocamadour

Instead of following the hordes (which we don't often do anyway) we followed the river and lower path into the valley with the cliffs now closing in around us. Up we climbed and made it to a smaller city gate at the back end of the town and had the whole view to ourselves as the other tourists either clambered on the 'train', a vehicle with carriages which charged a fortune and looked sort of like a train except it didn't run on rails, or made their slow way up the steps.

Rocamadour two 

Saying that once again the town was all but deserted and we kicked ourselves for paying for parking when there was lots of free space along the riverside which was free to park. We enjoyed a few sunny hours exploring, even walking right up and along a prom which again provided us with awesome views of the town towards l'Hospitalet where apparently my Mum and Dad had stayed when they visited.

We made our way out away from the town on the other side of the valley which once again helped us shape our experience, how and why on earth did they build such a place is still a question which goes over in our minds and as we settled into our lakeside spot at Domaine du Moulin de Lachaud a little further north we discussed the week, our highlights and perhaps even our thoughts about making France our home in the future.

Until next time.....