Travelogue - Port Vendre and the Mediterranean

We bathed breifly in the brisk Mediterranean at Port Vendre, sped down to Spain and met Hadley and his mates in Montpellier.

From Cathar country we drove south east past Perpignan to the area where the Pyrenees meet the sea - a rocky coastline with little coves and stoney beaches, fishing villages and the blue, blue sea. We spent a night in a laid back little fishing village called Port Vendre - it is a working fishing village and we were able to watch boats coming in and out of the harbour, fishermen mending nets, smoking, talking and unloading their catch, wonderful to walk around, smell the sea and hear the sounds of French, Spanish and I guess Catalan. There are also a number of large very expensive yachts tied up in the harbour and plenty of tourists on any available beach. This part of France considers itself to be Catalan, their French has a different accent and there are signs and posters talking about a separate Catalan. We watched a large group of people dancing folk dances to a small orchestra under the plane trees in the main villlage square - lots of fiddle and accordian and a few brass instruments. Folk dancing is one of the ways the Catalan traditions are maintained in a French society.

Ashur plunged bravely into the cold water and we drove back up the coast to Montpelier -flat, sandy beaches, stunning, still blue water but incredibly crowded in the middle of the tourist season and some awful looking coastal developments - units and small houses, no high rise.

We spent a night in Montpelier and met Hadley and his cousin Elliott and their mates there. They arrived from Paris on the Very Fast Train looking a little shocked but enjoying themselves in a new country - Wonderful to see Had again after 7 months in the wilds of South Africa.

Montpelier is a beautiful city, lots of young people, warm climate and a feeling of excitement and space - the centre has been largely pedestrianised so it is hell to find somewhere to park near an inner city hotel or even to unload gear but a wonderful place to walk around. We parked our car overnight in a city car park and in the morning when we attempted to leave we arrived at the pay station without having paid for our ticket and there is no place to pay at the exit barrier - cars started to build up behind us and the toots started, panic !! - Sue pressed the "appelle" (call) button and a voice came out "oui" - Sue stuttered with some French - saying how do we pay ? Or something like that - there was an inaudible sigh from the disembodied voice and the gate just lifted - obviously the powers behind the machine thought this is not worth the hassle and we parked for free.