It all went incredibly quickly.

We arrived at the terminal and took Duna through to the animal checkin.  A slightly offhand French woman looked at her passport and handed me the machine to check the microchip. After a bit of faffing about and panicking I found it and the machine went ping.  And that was that.
‘Bon Voyage!’
We took the car past the ticket machine which weirdly knew who I was without having to punch in any codes, opted for the earlier departure, bought some last French pastries and drove onto the next train. It’s not like Eurostar – no lovely buffet nor fancy seats. You sit in your car in a narrow coach and after 30 minutes or so, you arrive in England!

We tried to drive to London without joining the M20.   After an hour or so of pretty Kentish lanes, we had a drink and a picnic outside the Good Intent pub where Duna had her first run on UK grass

Then we gave in and drove to London on the motorway. As we have to pay the congestion charge tonight we took the opportunuity of driving through the centre, over Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben and Buckingham Palace – all a bit strange and dreamlike after waking this morning in the French countryside with cocks crowing all around.
Now Duna is fast asleep on the lovely rug my friend Ana thoughtfully put out for her. and we will sleep in a real bed again.

The visit to the vet in Ardres.  Dogs get worried about that sort of thing! Especially when someone left their new lead on a bush in the last campsite so they are walking in towns attached to a long green cord.


But it was simple in the end – a dose of worming treatment and a squoosh of flea ointment. Tomorrow we will find out if the passport is all correct when we check in for the Channel Tunnel.
Ardres is a pretty town but I was shocked to see how many shops have closed and it wasn’t easy to find a cafe open for breakfast. I know you can’t get a croissant after 10am in France but we were nice and early this time.

We asked someone to direct us to some shops to buy food and he told us we needed to go to the big supermarket outside of town!
Sorry about the long absence – on the road, no wifi and no time to find it. But now we are nearing the end of the second stage of the trip!  Or is it the third stage?  Who knows – I don’t even know which day it is any more but I do know that tomorrow we take the train under the English channel.

Of course we are ‘here’ now and enjoying a lovely week with my family in the Tuscan hills. But more on that later and for the moment here is Duna camping

 and travelling

 She was the perfect travelling dog and only got fed up at the end of the 12 hour longest day.

 Two friends came to stay and Duna was in heaven. She’s not allowed on the sofa (see earlier posts about the battle to come into the house!) but when a visitor invites your onto her lap…..it would be rude to say no?

 

A weekend with nothing special planned. I woke on Saturday morning with the idea ‘ let’s pack the tent and go off somewhere for the night!’
Somewhere not too far away, but in the hills……
So we took the road to Vic and then went a little bit further on, in the area called Osona, famous for its sausages.
Once you are away from the frenzy of Barcelona/Granollers, the roads get quieter and you pass through wide open plains and then climb up round spectacular curvy bends.  There are huge rocks and hills with flat tops and vertical markings.  It’s not so far to go but suddenly you are in a different world.
Saturday was hot. We waited till late afternoon to walk but it was still steamy. Looking for a place to swim we ended up climbing down to the Gorges of Bartomeu. In some places you needed a rope to descend

Luckily the trees gave shade and the sound of water far below beckoned us on. Duna went wild with delight when we finally arrived at the bottom.
I decided to sit and snooze on the rocks and so missed finding the best part – a large pool  with deep clear water for swimming, brushed by swallows wings as they dipped down for a drink.  It was a bit of a clamber to get there and when the two adventurers went off to explore I was left in a totally quiet and peaceful place, only slightly spoilt by my anxiety when I realised that man and dog were well out of earshot and calling distance.

There is nothing quite like that silence which echos back to you when you call…and call….and there is no reply!
We camped near Rupit.  The site was OK but a bit expensive….and they didn’t speak Catalan……but peaceful and close to the magical town

    Rupit by night
It’s a medieval town built on a hill surrounded by water.

 There’s a hanging bridge which wiggles when you walk across.

 The sign tells you not to wiggle too much and that only ten people can cross at once.  But if you walk with legs splayed you get a good swing as you go!
In spite of being a bit touristy it is lovely

The church is dedicated to Sant Miquel so perhaps the St Michael energy line crosses here – there certainly is a good feeling and the people were very friendly

It had one of those little shops that sells lots of strange and interesting things.
Cowbells. Trumpets. Honey
In the window are Pets de Monja

Translation – Pet is the Catalan word for fart, a Monja is a nun!
 Sunday was hot again

We passed by the large reservoir that holds the water destined for Barcelona – El Pantà de Sau.
In the 1960’s a small medieval village was flooded and now lies under the lake. On our visit only the top of the church steeple was visible.
Here is a BBC video showing what it looked like when there was a drought in 2008.
On Sunday there were people swimming and sunbathing and fishing in the reservoir but the huge quantities of rubbish that lay around the edges put me off diving in. The water itself seemed clean but I collected a large bag full of plastic and glass, tampax applicators and fishing line and it made no dent in the horror of the scene.
So we went uphill and bought tickets to swim in a hotel pool.
We had it all to ourselves!