Day 82 – 25th July – Saturday, Manses near Mirepoix

Now staying a third night, this place is awesome. Went into the medieval town of Mirepoix and found a mad doctor who removed Ant’s staples before taking €30 off us, telling us about his youthful antics with the ladies in Eastern Spain and then pinching me on the dimples!... I don’t think anyone’s done that since I was about 9 years old.

Day 81 – 24th July – Friday

Went into town with Erik (Danish) for some supplies as we had been invited to join the English, German and Danish for a group BBQ in the evening.
Perry’s family used to be part of a travelling circus, as clowns, magicians and general entertainers. Perry’s son, Correo, has rigged up a tight rope on the lawn which I have become worryingly addicted to. So it’s only a matter of time before I will be writing about some injury or other.
We are so impressed with the kids here; Lukas from Denmark is only 11 and can speak at least 3 languages, the Belgian boys also speak 3 or 4! Puts us to shame it really does.
The BBQ was good fun, Correo entertained us with his impressive table magic and we followed it with a few drinks in the Apollo Lounge bar (which is a converted Airstream trailer inside a tent; pictured – very funky). Perry span some old records and Correo again amazed us with his juggling skills using glow in the dark sticks and spinners.

Day 80 – 23rd July – Thursday, Back in Southern France

Retro Airstream park near Mirepoix (http://www.airstreameurope.com/). What a find this place is. Only classic vehicles over 25 years old are allowed in – everything here is retro, chilled and very cool. It’s in the middle of nowhere on the Midi Pyrenees, run by an English guy, Perry, and his family of entertainers. The air is clear, the people are fantastic and atmosphere is perfect. We are staying two nights for sure.

Day 79 – 22nd July – Wednesday, Andorra

We spent most of the afternoon driving, heading north and away from the hoards of Brits abroad. We passed through some beautiful small Spanish villages before reaching the Andorran border about tea time….rush hour as it turned out!
We drove the 20kms or so to the capital and continued straight through. The city was full of car showrooms, perfumeries and duty free shops. We climbed right to the top of the Pyrenees and passed ski resorts, hotels and restaurants before settling at a place on the Andorra – France border called Pas de la Casa. We parked in a car park with about 30 other mobile homes and walked into town for a beer before dinner. Nothing too special, very pricey, (unless you want to buy cigarettes, alcohol, knives or a stun gun!) we had to be out of the car park by 8am, so we attempted an early night, but by 3am mobile homes were moving to shelter from the high winds that battered the car park.

Day 78 – 21st July – Tuesday. Montblanc.

We had parked Bee at the edge of the beach under some trees, so the mosquitoes and wasps were in abundance again. I woke with another 2 bites to add to my very itchy collection and only clocked up about 5 hours sleep. Decided to get on the road to Andorra and find a campsite on the way.
We travelled past the Delta de Ebro and crossed the Ebro River before getting stuck in traffic in L’Aldea. We then stopped at a Bonsai place just outside town and saw some awesome trees that were more than 120 years old. We eventually found a campsite on the hill outside the Medieval town of Montblanc. Reasonably priced (for Spain) and with good facilities. We have been here all afternoon hogging the washing machine. Everything in the van was covered in red dust from the hurricane, so we have washed the back curtains, the bed sheets, cushion covers and clothes etc. Hopefully clean sheets, an open tailgate and mosquito nets will bring a decent nights sleep.
Ant’s managed to scrape his head again down the washing line; I suspect by the time 8 days are up there won’t be any staples left to take out!