Where does inspiration live when you’re in a hurry?
Saturday 11th June 2022
After leaving the boat, Lindy Rodney and I headed straight to a large supermarket near Agde to refill Reggie’s now depleted fridge and cupboards and also to get out of the heat and into somewhere air-conditioned for a while. Then we drove on down to Marseillan Plage. Our first choice of campsite could only offer us one night with a move to a different pitch for two nights with no ACSI discount. So we moved on to the next campsite which annoyingly had put out a sign showing they were already full. It was a weekend at the end of a public holiday week, eeks!! We moved further on down the road and managed to get a pitch for three nights, phew!
We tucked into our first pique-nique lunch under Reggie’s awning, with Lindy hovering on a stool because we only have two chairs. Fortunately, we do have enough crockery, cutlery and glasses for four. At 3pm we walked Lindy down to the apartment she had booked for three nights; we don’t have beds for three people and I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate our snoring. For dinner together, we indulged in moules Provençale and grilled prawns with bowls of frites, followed by tasty ice-creams while we strolled along the promenade to the port and back to our beds.
Sunday 12th June 2022
After a week cruising down the Canal du Midi, we had rather a lot of dirty laundry, so we whipped one load into the campsite washing machine, strung it all around Reggie and then I left Rodney watching it dry. Lindy and I spent the morning mooching in and out of the shops in Marseillan. There was a lot of “Jeu ne peux parler Francais” and a lot of pointing and after one bikini purchase, we returned to Reggie for a tomato and buffalo mozzarella lunch with Rodney. When I took the rubbish over to the bins, I had a huge conversation with a lady doing the same. Well, it probably wasn’t a conversation because I made no contribution as it was all in French and I had no idea what she was saying. I threw out the well-practised “Jeu ne peux parler Francais”, but she continued on happily telling me something……I wonder what it was?
Just a short walk across the road and the three of us were hobbling across the toe burning sand into waves that attached to our legs with their chill. But, it was alright, once you were in….. as they say.
In the evening the three refreshed chums chose a restaurant serving tapas; it seemed like a lighter option and the cocktails looked good; which they were. The food was pretty good too, but the calamari was a bit too deeply fried, so we didn’t finish them, and we failed to eat all of the patatas bravas. A couple of German families had sat at the table next to us and decided to order the same thing when they saw ours being delivered on a huge wooden platter. When they saw our leftovers, one of the dad’s cheekily asked if he could have the calamari and potatoes. Lindy cheerfully handed them over, the two wives looked embarrassed and we all had a good laugh, including the cute waiter. Then a man with a large husky dog came over to talk to the Germans, the karaoke singers started, Lindy tapped her hands on her legs in time with the music and the dog took it as a cue to try and jump on her leg. We were all still laughing when we left the restaurant !!!
Monday 13th June 2022
Another load in the lavanderie got us all up to date with clean laundry, yippee! “Oh no!” Grey clouds and a black cloud spread over us and there we were with a large bag of wet clothes, towels, etc. So Rodney strung our washing lines under the awning and we hung everything in the shade below and waited for Lindy to turn up. The rain stopped just before she arrived, she hired a bicycle, and at 10:30am the three of us set off around the Etang de Thau to Marseillan. The velo route was lovely, mainly following the edge of the lagoon, passing many herons along the way. The village has increased in size since we were last here, 10 years ago, but the port area was mostly unchanged. We cycled through the village trying to find the post office, which turned out to be back near the port and by now the heat was really starting to build. We needed cold drinks and a bit of a stroll after the 5.3kms cycle ride, which was against the wind most of the way. Note: E-bikes are good against the wind.
At 1pm we plonked ourselves down at a table in Le Soleil Restaurant at the port and Rodney tucked into a 3L pot of moules mariniere, while Lindy and I fought our way through enormous salads. Looking forward to the return ride to Marseillan Plage with the wind against our backs, turned out to be foolish. The wind had turned around 180 degrees and we had to battle an even tougher wind all the way back to the beach. Note: E-bikes are brilliant against wind.
At 5pm we were all horizontal on the beach after our last dip in the Mediterranean to cool off. None of us was particularly hungry that evening so we nibbled on olives and a warm baked Camembert cheese, sitting outside Reggie. After plenty more chatting, we strolled along to the New Orleans bar to sit on swing seats and drink very decorative cocktails that glowed; weird. Of course, this turned into a rather late night by the time we had walked Lindy to her apartment and then turned our lounge into a bedroom in our home on wheels. No packing up tonight…we’ll do it in the morning.
