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Well we are back in the UK and it's freezing raining with snow forecast.. Eh!..

We had a great time in France thanks to Bill and Bonny letting us leave the car and trailer at their place, which meant we could let the Tom Tom loose to take us down the small back roads through France, enabling us to see all the little villages that are tucked away, and obscure out of the way Aires to stay on instead of boring motorways we use when towing the trailer on the back of the van..

We spent most of the time in the (excuse the spelling) Dordogne? area, it was very good and picturesque with lots of things to see and places to visit, and all it took was a visit to the local tourist office wherever we ended up at, we collected some brochures of interest around the particular area we were at, then off on another adventure..

I think what we will do is tot up how much the 4 months have cost us in fuel, tolls, gas and camp site fees.. Cost of food will not feature as this is a cost we have where ever we are.  I will let Sandra work that one out!..

I have taken quite a few photos of where we visited but they are on the lap top, when I have a bit of time I will sort some out and put them on the blog..

Ok here's to the next trip which might be to the Farnes in Northumberland, or back to France to Help Bill dig his lake deeper....

New Blog..

We have left Bill and Bonny's place and have moved on to “Future Scope” near Limoges, we will spend a night here on their Aire and will have a look round tomorrow Sunday, it is open 19 am till 20.30 so it will be a long day.

We will then go down to the Dordogne for a couple of weeks touring round, as we have left the trailer and car at Bills to collect the week before we set off to the UK..

Bill & Bonny's pad..

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Well we have left Mequinenza and Spain for the luxury of Bill and Bonny's pad in France, we have been here two days and have the luxury of sleeping in a proper bed with en-suite facility's.

It was made obvious in Mequinenza we were not wanted when the Guardia Civil civil threw us out of our pitch and told us to vamoose!... We sent a text to Bill and he just laughed and said come down to our place in France, so we have..

We will be on our way on Saturday morning but we will leave the car and trailer at Bills place so we can explore France more easily as we still have a month until we come home, so it will be good to have a look round, and Bills place is still not too far from Dunkirk and the ferry about a ten hour drive..

We are not to bothered about leaving Mequinenza as I have two PB's with the big carp and this catfish!!!!....

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Well we moved on. We went further North to N.V.Cerveisa at the top of Portugal on the Portuguese Spanish border to visit “Coto Chris” off Yorkshire Divers forum..

We arrived on the 15^th of Feb at about 7 pm.. I t was a very nice ride up but the tolls were very expensive. We had a brilliant time on our stay, the weather was perfect, the town was perfect and to top it all Chris and his family were the most welcoming and easy going folk and made our stay one we will always remember and I hope we can welcome them to the UK as Sandra and I feel we have known them always....

Monday the 20^th Feb we set off again for Spain and had a good two day trip with one stop off for the night in the mountains, all was well but for one thing the silly buggers who do the Spanish road works had cut a slot in the road surface, maybe to put a cable across the road but just left it open the full width of the road, there was just a sign for road works but nothing else!. We hit it with a bang, the upshot being the Carver water heater shook itself to bits and started leaking water all over the place, the carpet was wet through, I didn't notice it until I stopped for some fuel and found water streaming down the outside of the van. A jar of coffee in the cupboard spilled its contents all over and the car door on the trailer popped open so you can tell the force of it all..

Tuesday 21^st Feb we arrived in Mequinenza and tried to get onto the camp site along with Bill and Bonny, it was not very good so we made a quick exit and came down to our usual spot on the lay by under the castle which is on top of a large hill just behind us.. Bill and Bonny left the camp site and came down to park with us and stayed until Friday when they left to get back to France to their home there, they say they will be going back to the UK at the beginning of march as they have to sort out the car tax and stuff!..

I have fished every day but have only managed one fish so far a carp of 24lbs 7 oz which is one more fish than anybody else has managed. There was a couple of English lads who called round asking if I had caught anything as they hadn't had a bite all the time they had been in Mequinenza, and guess what Keith comes from Hull and the other Paul lived in Aldbrough for a few years, they both fish the lakes at home, small world..

The weather at the moment is brilliant and very hot, but today Sunday the 26^th of Feb it is windy and if it stays like this we will not be able to put up the dish for Sky.. I have been watching the weather forecasts for home and it seems to be warming up nicely for our return at the end of March..

Steve can you go over the caravan before we get home and turn on the water and check there is nothing amiss? .. You can put the heating on by turning the thermostat in our bedroom on the end wall to the “on” position and check the boiler is set to heating and hot water and the small lever on the clock is set to constant, if everything is OK then put the lever on the clock to timed and everything should be OK for our return.. I do not know if the gas bottle outside is still full but if not there should be two full bottles. You can turn off the empty one and turn on the next bottle and switch over the outside valve for the other bottle that is connected..

We are going into Fragga tomorrow to the Vodafone shop to get some phone credit on our Spanish sim card, so you will have to use the Spanish number again instead of the Portuguese one, I will also get a Spanish dongle so I can get on the internet as the free signal in the town is too iffy and keeps coming and going, cutting out at every opportunity...

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And looking up at the mountain and the stag,,

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A couple of pictures taken from the top of the mountain overlooking Ceviera..

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We arrived safely here in NV Cerveira and what a beautiful place it is, had a walk round this morning down by the river and then round the old town.. We only had one interesting episode when I took the wrong turn in Porto which is a big city, and you guessed I chose the rush hour traffic to do it in!..  Anyway the nice Lady on the Tom Tom took charge and extracted us from it all phew!..

Some big hills round this part, one entailed first gear for about 2 miles, but the van coped well  better than me I was glad when it leveled out enough to put it into second gear...

I will take some picture and post them later, I can't be bothered at the moment as we are both chilling out as the sun is very warm and we are crashed out in the van with the radio on...