Collouire & Boule d'Amont

Day 16 Cavillon to Perpignan. Vendredi 28th. (Continued)
We found the (small) camping ground in Perpignan. The lady at the 'front desk' was really friendly, and we were really hopeful about the campground, but it seems that we are the _only_ people who are not permenant residents, so it's a bit like moving in on someones front lawn and using their (dodgy) bathroom without really asking! No-one is particularly friendly and a few are downright weird! But anyway, that's ok! We went to a cool Tapas place in Perpignan tonight which was great - the sardines in particular were excellent!

Day 17. Perpignan to Collouire & back. Samedi 29th.
Today we are to have lunch with our Irish friends Gemma & Kevin. They live in a small town in the Pyrenees (at the base) not far from Perpignan. Or so we thought... We cycled around Perpignan city for about 30minutes trying to find the tourist office. No matter how many signs we followed, we just kept ending up in circles and lost! So we stopped that and decided we didn't need a map, we just had to look for the signs and hope we found the right way. We managed eventually to find the 'bike path' heading out of the city. Now when i say bike path, it's a bit of an exaggeration. The bike paths here in France vary dramatically. Some are just a verge on the side of the main road, others are wide enough for a car to drive down, and totally septerate from the main road. Others have gutters that you need to totally stop to get on and off, and you _always_ have to give way to cars coming from even the most minor road! We were totally spoiled in the Luberon too, with cycle signs at every corner and no need at all to think about which way to go. So when we had a bit of difficutly getting out of Perpignan and then finding the right way to the coast, it was a bit of a shock! We realised we were going to be late so called ahead to our hosts, and then got about riding along the (very beautiful) coastline (a beautiful lake, beaches, the rising mountains ahead of us, all in glorious sunshine!). We made it to Colloiure quite late (about 1:20) and luckily managed to find Kevin quite easily (he was waiting on the road for us!) and had the most fantastic lunch with them on their lovely little balcony apartment! Kevin had to go to play Boules mid afternoon, so we only had ashort time with him, but we enjoyed most of the afternoon chatting with Gemma before heading off to the train station about 4pm to check what times the train went back to Perpignan - if we had known that there was a train here we certainly wouldn't have cycled the 50km we did to get here! After that we wandered around Colloire - the most beautiful little town I think we've seen on our entire travels. Now we have been getting used to these pictaresque little french villages, but this one is _really_ gorgeous! It's on the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountain range that seperates France and Spain, and also lies on the Mediterranean - a sheltered little cove with a massive fortress and a little chapel right out next to the water built into the rocks. There is a fort up on the hill above and a windmill (like you would imagine fitting in in a dutch village!) also on the hill - apparently it is still used! We had a great wander around the town, and went to buy some anchovies, which the town is renowned for - apparently the fish have to be processed by hand as they are very delicate. We then headed back to Perpignan on the train, which only took about half an hour - much better than the > 3hrs it took to get there! All part of our great adventure though!!

Day 18. Perpignan to Boule d'Amont. Dimanche 30th.
We had a lazy morning today, stocking up on fruit & veg for the week in the Gite in the Pyrenees, and just having a few coffees in the local cafe. We had a train to catch at 12:11 so made it to the train station early in order to be ready on the platform. Although there was a great rush and stress to get over to the platform (down stairs, across, then up stairs again) with two bikes, trailer, guitar, bags, panniers, our lunch, etc etc, we made it onto the train, only for nothing to happen for the next 30minutes or so. Then they finally told us that there was no conductor - this meant the train couldn't go. Who knows if he had slept in or what, but it was a mystery to us! So eventually we decided to get off the train and have lunch on the platform - yummy but not exactly the best location ever!! Then we were told that we had to get on another train (this was just better than the - you'll have to catch a bus' alternative!!!. So sigh as we did, someone helped us and we got all our gear onto the other train. We eventually left the station an hour anda half after it was meant to depart! Luckily we had the phone number of the guy who owns the gite, so we sent him a text warning we would be late. As we were on the train we realised that we could easily have ridden to Ille Sur Tet, but as we hadn't been able to find a map of the area the day beofre, we didn't know this, but it didn't matter. Sam and Jamie met us at the train station and we headed off up the mountain to Boule d'Amont, where we will be staying for the next week. The gite is beautiful, and the town is amazing! We had a beer in Le Troubadour, the house that is part of the gite, and apparently it could be around 500 years old! Amazing!! We checked out our little gite, which is really nice - small kitchen, small bathroom, area for bed and dining table, somewhere on the floor for Jasper to put his matress. Pretty good really. We didn't do much, just chilled out, and then cooked dinner, leaving some leftovers for Jasper, and then played a bit of scrabble. We were expecting Jasper to arrive around 9pm, so about that time Angus went out to see if he could see him. To our aenourmous surprise, he had Zoe with him - we were extremely surprised and thrilled!!! She is staying with us until Thursday when she will fly back from Barcelona! What a great surprise for us. We sat up chatting for quite a while ;-)

Day 19. Boule d'Amont. Lundi 1st.
Our first full day in Boule d'Amont was sunny and pleasant. We didn't do much this morning (well Zoe practiced lots and we sat around trying to get the internet working and went and did the shopping at a nearby village - this one has no shops!!) and then after lunch we decided to go for a walk, as I had managed to find a map in town. We set of for Serrabonna, a location that used to be a village, but now just has the priory left, which was built in the 10th-11th Century. It was a good walk, mostly on narrow tracks, winding through valleys filled with beautiful green plants, trees, and lovely views of the valleys in this area. We walked for about 1.5hours to get to the Priory, which is on an elevated position on a valley ridge and has lovely views. The priory was restored in the 18th century and has been open to tourists since then. It is made of schist, which is similar to slate, and there are lots and lots of detailed sculptures and columns that are carved our of pinky marble - it is really lovely. We also enjoyed the small herb/veggie garden at the back of the priory. We stayed a little while and then decided to head back, as we knew it was a decent walk back. Unfortunately Jasper has a bad knee, so Angus & I went ahead to get the car and went back to pick up Jasper and Zoe. The fog had really come in, and it was a bit surreal. Zoe made a fantastic mexican meal tonight - very messy & yummy!!

Day 20. Boule d'Amont. Mardi 2nd.
Today we again had a bit of a lazy morning (although we did do yoga in the morning overlooking the beautiful valley), and a leisurely lunch together. It was a bit overcast today, so I thought it was perfect for photo taking. So in the afternoon when the boys went for a cycle I took a few photos on a walk (see photo album). We made a massive paella tonight - very tasty!

Day 21. Boule d'Amont. Mercredi 3rd.
A cool day again. Today we taught Jasper a bit of yoga with Zoe playing in the background - very nice! The boys then cooked up pancakes, dutch style - very yummy!! Then we decided to set off on a walk up towards the Trinity Church. It was pleasant walking but not on the small trails we had used the other day. We also walked up from the church to the remains of a castle on a hill, now in total ruin. After sitting and enjoying the view for a while we decided to head down. As we were leaving we noticed some blackberry bushes, and decided to eat a couple. Of course this turned into a full on gorge of berries and then we decided we should take some back with us, so we actually filled two small water bottles with berries, and we plan to cook something with them tonight! It was hard tearing away from the berries, but we guesstimated we had eaten a punnet at least each, so enough was enough!!! We had a late lunch of leftover paella (we think it had improved!) and then a quiet afternoon.

So, the gite here... www.letroubadour.info has all you will need - it is beautiful, simple, isolated. Really lovely get-away and worth checking out if you're in this part of the world!!