Chilling out in France

St Cirq Lapopie another tourist town overlooking the river Lot with lots of interesting old buildings & plenty of shops!!.
Rocamadour is a beautiful old town built into the rocks. Very popular with tourists.
We visited a local flower festival at Tournon but came away empty handed. Every street in the town was packed out with various stalls-lots of bargains to be had.

Met a super English couple living nearby- John & Liz-a retired primary school teacher & a CDT teacher!! They live in a beautiful farmhouse to which they invited us back for lunch

George & Derek unwinding on the terrace & discussing the merits of the local vin rouge.

Every Sunday morning there is a thriving market in Montcuq with Loads of stalls selling things from clothes household items to the local produce like bread cheeses vegetables & of course the local wines.

The Cafe du Centre is a popular meeting place for coffees. This day there was a folk group entertaining the tired shoppers.

Just browsing in this picture -didn't buy a thing!!

Monfrague

On our way up through spain we spent 3 nights at Monfrague National Park- a huge expanse of spectacular landscape.

It was a perfect place for trying out our new binoculars looking out for numerous birds & animals.

We then travelled onto Salamanca a beautiful old town & Haro another lovely Spanish town where we parked up next to Jean & Alan whom we'd met at La Rosaleda.

Leaving Pinar.

Our last week at Pinar was very busy.


We went for a forest walk with Ann & Bob & ended up overlooking Cape Trafalgar.


We also visited an old monastery & dovecote. Apparently the doves were fed to the fighting French during a war !!

Derek managed to fit in a last game of golf with Trevor & Elaine. Josh & Mary walked round the course but Josh did enjoy his ride in the buggy.

Hear no evil see no evil speak no evil!

We returned to our favourite restaurant for lunch with 6 friends.

Easter

Apparently , in Spain the idea is to change an absolutely idyllic location into something akin to a refuge camp.

Then you make as much noise as you can, wait until midnight & then start the allnight disco. On Sunday they leave!!!!

Our van is hidden amongst this lot

Also on site there are lots of bungalows which are great, here's one of them.

Montenmedio

Horse carriage trials at Montenmedio, this is also where Derek has played golf. The competitors were from all over Europe, most being of Olympic standard.

Horse Ballet at Jerez

Enjoyed a fantastic afternoon at the National equestrian centre in Jerez.

Watched a wonderful display by the horses & riders.

Donana National Park

Day out with Bob & Ann. Boarded a boat at San Lucar (near Jerez) which took us on a trip up the Guadalquivir River on the edge of Donana National Park.
Saw eagles, vultures, ibis. flamingos. spoonbills, egrets & others.
Stopped for a walk in the park where we watched wild boar & fallow dear grazing in a clearing.

Mother's Day

Celebrated Mother's Day with a champagne brunch. Gordon & Annette worked wonders on the barbie

BBQ at Pinar San Jose Feb 2008

Gathering of 25 folks for a BBQ on our pitch
Masterchefs Trevor & Derek slaving over hot bbqs

Elke & Gunter our friends from Bosel,Germany

When will that food be ready?

It's Shrove Tuesday! So Margaret & Mary churn out dozens of pancakes to the hungry masses

Billy & Josh look on in hope for more scraps

Cadiz Carnival

It's 11am the streets are completely full of rubbish from the party the previous night. The cleaners do a fantastic job & the city is soon ready for more festivities.

Didn't take long to get into party mood!

Sherry was the order of the day

Derek even dyed his hair for the occasion!

The girls also entered the spirit of the day

There was a fantastic atmosphere---the Spanish really know how to have a good time.

During the day the crowds were entertained by dozens of choirs dressed in colourful costumes pulled around the city by tractors.

They were all very good singers & extremely expressive

Considering how packed the city became with lots of drinking & merriment there didn't appear to be any trouble anywhere & no policemen in sight!!!

Early evening everybody gathered for the carnival procession which took over 3 hours from

start to finish.

THE EVENING PROCESSION

Scores of fantastically decorated floats