I liked Uzerche.
A pretty little town with wonderful buildings with an 'old town' at the top of the hill that was picture book perfect. Narrow cobbled streets with shuttered little houses on either side. A nice cafe at the top of the hill... All in all a nice find and I was pleased to have gone there.
The camper stop was a smart car park just above the river and on the other side was a panoramic view of the whole town. So nice.
This was pretty much the view from the front window...
The camper stop was a smart car park just above the river and on the other side was a panoramic view of the whole town. So nice.
Yeh, a nice town.
It was (and remains) still freezing cold outside so my desire to find rock to climb has been put on hold in favour of soaking up the journey, the scenery and getting used to the van. Yesterday's change of the batteries seems to be working... But,...
As I left Uzerche I reached forward to adjust the angle of the sat nav and it died. It literally just stopped. I tried the button but nothing!
Just outside Uzerche I stopped, swore a few times while trying to get the thing to come on but nothing happened. After a brief period of cursing I resorted to the old ways. I read the map!
The sat nav is a TomTom Go, loaded with the van dimensions to avoid those nasty narrow streets, and all the wild camping, Euro camper stop locations, tap location, and pub stop overs, as well as all the wifi spots, petrol stations etc etc etc. In essence then, this little gadget is a life saver and so far had been doing a grand job of finding places to stay and avoiding the motorway tolls. So now I was on the motorway. I didn't really want to be on a feckin motorway!. I took a ticket and set off again. An aire appeared so I pulled in and had another look at the map (I'd bought a small scale map to use in conjunction with the sat nav and the detail was hard to make out.. The eyes you see...more of that later).
New plan made (exit next junction) I duly arrived at the wrong bloody window at the paegge station. Of course. I knew this would happen! A very nice lady took my euro card and paid the toll, explaining that this lane was for prepaid ticket holders... In a nice way :)
You know, one of the regrets I have is that I arsed about in French class at school. I still remember some of the basics but now, later in life, I can see just how useful having a second language would have been. Learning Greek is hard but at least it means my head is tuned into learning again, and trying to pick up language in particular. One issue that's made me smile is that when I'm trying to talk to someone I nearly always drop into Greek before rebooting into pigeon French.... Very confusing. In Spain this will be even more difficult as my Spanish is even worse than my French... Could be fun.
Thankfully my friends house is south of Toulouse and Muret in a little place called Labarthe-sur-Leze and finding it was fairly straightforward, especially with Google maps in support. I also managed to avoid further tolls/embarrassment along the way :)
It was nice to see a friendly face and after a coffee and a tour of the house, we sat and caught up on all the news before heading to Dave's local climbing wall for a quick blast on plastic...
Even though the shower in the van is really good, it was nice to luxuriate under a good hot shower at Dave's without the need to turn it off as fast as possible to conserve the water. We sat after and chatted more about life in general, sinus problems, women, and getting older. We both hated turning 50 and both are trying hard to stay fit and healthy and keep climbing as hard as we can. Dave is climbing well and manages to stay strong.
We compared our glasses, he had a sexy new pair with 2 pronged arms that looked very funky indeed. While we try and carry on as age slowly wears us down, there is certainly no denying that our eyesight is 52 years old.
During the evening we both chatted on Skype to Themis, and I sent an email to the guy I bought the sat nav from. Themi had been busy on the web earlier in the day to find solutions to the sat nav issue. It seems these Tom Tom's are basically shit and many have had the same issue as me. Themi found out how I can reset the device, hopefully without losing all the info on the SD data card.
I drank most of a nice bottle of French red wine and after checking out some of Dave's photo's it was time for bed.
This morning (Thursday 5th) is another bitterly cold one. I was up at 7 playing with the Tom Tom, which after a reset, seems to have been reborn and risen from the ashes of my anger and disappointment to live again, in tact. Fingers crossed. While Dave is upstairs packing for a business trip to Brussels, I'm enjoying his warm hospitality and abusing his internet :) writing this blog and chatting with Themi on facebook... The marvels of technology!
Today the journey continues east and south via Carcassonne and Perpignan to a camper stop on the French coast somewhere near Figueres. Its probably going to be the last day in France. I've been in touch with a couple of mates I met in Kalymnos. Gerhard is in Perpignan till Friday or Saturday and coming south then, and Steve is in El Chorro having a ball and will meet me near Valencia next week all being well.
The forecast for the crags west of Valencia is good, warm and sunny. Once over the border I'll be wifi only for a while. No more THREE to use so the contact with base (Themi) which has been as per normal so far and has proved vitally important for us both, will become more difficult and I know I'll feel a bit more 'out there'. In the end driving through France has been a good thing, its given me time to adjust to the van, to living this way and to the slowly worsening communication that will follow until I can organise a Spanish sim for the phone. It will come as no surprise to those that know her, but Themi has been amazing. With me in spirit, I know she's there, my support team and best friend. Spain will be a bit more difficult but between us we'll work it out.
It's a steep learning curve. I've had to grow up a bit and learn to do stuff that in my otherwise spoiled and easy life so far would not have caused any problems at all as I would probably have 'bought new' or paid someone to do it. I think this is all part of the attraction of the trip. To get real and taste something different, something more basic, to see what I'm made of and how I cope.
It was (and remains) still freezing cold outside so my desire to find rock to climb has been put on hold in favour of soaking up the journey, the scenery and getting used to the van. Yesterday's change of the batteries seems to be working... But,...
As I left Uzerche I reached forward to adjust the angle of the sat nav and it died. It literally just stopped. I tried the button but nothing!
Just outside Uzerche I stopped, swore a few times while trying to get the thing to come on but nothing happened. After a brief period of cursing I resorted to the old ways. I read the map!
The sat nav is a TomTom Go, loaded with the van dimensions to avoid those nasty narrow streets, and all the wild camping, Euro camper stop locations, tap location, and pub stop overs, as well as all the wifi spots, petrol stations etc etc etc. In essence then, this little gadget is a life saver and so far had been doing a grand job of finding places to stay and avoiding the motorway tolls. So now I was on the motorway. I didn't really want to be on a feckin motorway!. I took a ticket and set off again. An aire appeared so I pulled in and had another look at the map (I'd bought a small scale map to use in conjunction with the sat nav and the detail was hard to make out.. The eyes you see...more of that later).
New plan made (exit next junction) I duly arrived at the wrong bloody window at the paegge station. Of course. I knew this would happen! A very nice lady took my euro card and paid the toll, explaining that this lane was for prepaid ticket holders... In a nice way :)
You know, one of the regrets I have is that I arsed about in French class at school. I still remember some of the basics but now, later in life, I can see just how useful having a second language would have been. Learning Greek is hard but at least it means my head is tuned into learning again, and trying to pick up language in particular. One issue that's made me smile is that when I'm trying to talk to someone I nearly always drop into Greek before rebooting into pigeon French.... Very confusing. In Spain this will be even more difficult as my Spanish is even worse than my French... Could be fun.
Thankfully my friends house is south of Toulouse and Muret in a little place called Labarthe-sur-Leze and finding it was fairly straightforward, especially with Google maps in support. I also managed to avoid further tolls/embarrassment along the way :)
It was nice to see a friendly face and after a coffee and a tour of the house, we sat and caught up on all the news before heading to Dave's local climbing wall for a quick blast on plastic...
Even though the shower in the van is really good, it was nice to luxuriate under a good hot shower at Dave's without the need to turn it off as fast as possible to conserve the water. We sat after and chatted more about life in general, sinus problems, women, and getting older. We both hated turning 50 and both are trying hard to stay fit and healthy and keep climbing as hard as we can. Dave is climbing well and manages to stay strong.
We compared our glasses, he had a sexy new pair with 2 pronged arms that looked very funky indeed. While we try and carry on as age slowly wears us down, there is certainly no denying that our eyesight is 52 years old.
During the evening we both chatted on Skype to Themis, and I sent an email to the guy I bought the sat nav from. Themi had been busy on the web earlier in the day to find solutions to the sat nav issue. It seems these Tom Tom's are basically shit and many have had the same issue as me. Themi found out how I can reset the device, hopefully without losing all the info on the SD data card.
I drank most of a nice bottle of French red wine and after checking out some of Dave's photo's it was time for bed.
This morning (Thursday 5th) is another bitterly cold one. I was up at 7 playing with the Tom Tom, which after a reset, seems to have been reborn and risen from the ashes of my anger and disappointment to live again, in tact. Fingers crossed. While Dave is upstairs packing for a business trip to Brussels, I'm enjoying his warm hospitality and abusing his internet :) writing this blog and chatting with Themi on facebook... The marvels of technology!
Today the journey continues east and south via Carcassonne and Perpignan to a camper stop on the French coast somewhere near Figueres. Its probably going to be the last day in France. I've been in touch with a couple of mates I met in Kalymnos. Gerhard is in Perpignan till Friday or Saturday and coming south then, and Steve is in El Chorro having a ball and will meet me near Valencia next week all being well.
The forecast for the crags west of Valencia is good, warm and sunny. Once over the border I'll be wifi only for a while. No more THREE to use so the contact with base (Themi) which has been as per normal so far and has proved vitally important for us both, will become more difficult and I know I'll feel a bit more 'out there'. In the end driving through France has been a good thing, its given me time to adjust to the van, to living this way and to the slowly worsening communication that will follow until I can organise a Spanish sim for the phone. It will come as no surprise to those that know her, but Themi has been amazing. With me in spirit, I know she's there, my support team and best friend. Spain will be a bit more difficult but between us we'll work it out.
It's a steep learning curve. I've had to grow up a bit and learn to do stuff that in my otherwise spoiled and easy life so far would not have caused any problems at all as I would probably have 'bought new' or paid someone to do it. I think this is all part of the attraction of the trip. To get real and taste something different, something more basic, to see what I'm made of and how I cope.
Keep going,my pride!! Σ'Αγαπω!!!!
ReplyDeleteΚαι εγο σ αγαπω μορο μου. Χ
DeleteHope your TomTom keeps working. When I bought my first satnav, I bought a Garmin as I had read that TomTom aftersales-service was rubbish. So far, not had to use it for the Garmin! Enjoying your Blog Mike. We are heading to a wee place west of Carcassone in May and may look up some of your towns/villages.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, I posted at 10:55, not 02:55!!!
ReplyDeleteMe too Malcolm. It's vital for my sanity of nothing else!!
ReplyDelete