Week 45 – The Mediterranean
A Gallery of the week of slow, of practical and of extreme beauty, amazing nature, old ruins, salt culture, birds, ocean
Af Cecilie Felumb Conrad | November 18, 2018
This week has been in a special gear. It began very practical and with a completely drained battery. We are in the process of learning to live in a bus, and getting to know the balances of the battery is a key. When we came back sunday night from the grand finale of “Le Gardien du Temple” our battery was down (we forgot to close the door to the refrigiator), and as we use solar-panels it was no better in the morning. Another thing defining the beginning of this week was, that someone backed into our rear bike rack and ruined it.
We managed to fix it with gaffer-tape and strips, so we could slowly and peacefully drive the 17 km to Decathlon, to buy a new one. I speak french, like conversation french. Not tech veterane-bus and rear bike rack adjustments french. I did not, but now I do. It was fun. But it was also annoying.
As we were parked outside Decathlon in a remote centre commercial with only cars sales shops and this sport shop, we realized just how happy we are to travel with everything we need. The place was actually quite nice, with a lot of grass and trees. We and that is with Jesper leading and working the most, worked on getting all the adjustments to work, and I had to get help from the nice people from Decathlon several times. We cooked in darkness, as we cook on gas, and Jesper took off to buy gasoline for the generator. And it started raining, and google maps send him out on a very muddy field, and it was no fun: He had to actually carry his bike and walk back to carry the generator and …. His shoes were all muddy and he was all wet.
So, he got back and started the generator for 2 hours to start saving the battery, and we all went to bed a bit tired and frustrated, but — we will never ever give up.
On Tuesday, we continued to work on the bike rack, and in the afternoon, we were finally ready to go. The day was beautiful with sunshine and the Pyrenees in the distance, and the grass was green, and the children were playing and the quietness of just fixing, cleaning, walking was soothing. When we finally started driving, we went to get diesel, gasoline and food and would have loved to get gas also, but as the systems are not compatible, and we are so close to going to Spain, we decided not to convert.
We landed in the darkness at Narbonne Plage, the small village Gruissan. So much water, so many harbours, so extremely beautiful.
Wednesday we found the perfect spot to park the bus, found a “laverie” so we could have clean clothes, and a “piscine” so we could have a shower. At the same time, we enjoyed the water, the half sunken ship right outside our windows, the ships in the harbour, the palm trees.
As the week moved on, we found a great balance of practical and adventure. Wednesday our old dog, surviving 3 times cancer, celebrated her 12th birthday, and we all went for a long walk in the old city, all the way up to the ruin of the old castle. Extremely beautiful. And a lot of fun. Even the small things as using the bathroom at a horse-race cafe, with horserace at a big screen and a man playing pinball. We also visited the beautiful old church Notre Dame (there are more Notre Dames, than the one in Paris), blown away by the beauty and clear energy. Taking a wrong turn we even saw a beautiful and fun gallery.
Driving back we were blessed with the sight of flamingos! We have longed to see flamingos in nature for so long, and there they were, the beautiful “Flamant Rouges”!
In the night we had an amazing thunderstorm, it is so cozy to listen to it from the peace of the inside of the bus, and we could in the morning find the very few and small places water can still enter. Good to know, now on the “to be fixed list”.
Friday, after my husband finished work, we visited the salt museum of Gruissan. Beautiful wonderful day. Finely adjusted between practical stuff, like everyday life, work and adjustments on the bus, and also going out to buy stamps for all the letters and finally the museum.
Saturday we went to the beach to make our own OL-finals, as we had seen such at youtube the night before. We did 100 meters run and long jumps, and had our feet in the water, and the wind in our faces, and it was just amazing. Our new friends, we met in Toulouse: Didier, Mima and Paolo came to join us, and we invited them for coffee, wine and dinner in the bus. It is so great to have guests in the bus. We had a local wine from a vine yard, where they water with seawater to get an extra salty taste and it was spectacular. We had so much fun and are so grateful to have made new friends here.
Sunday was another fixing day, work, staying home in the sun, talking on the phone with friends, fixing clothes, and hooks and bicycles and in the afternoon we went to the piscine and took the spa experience with wine bath, salt bath, massaging waterfalls, sauna, hammam, river flowing outside. The stars, the warm water, the peace in the muscles and the mind. And the new moon. What a great way to end a week.
The documentary we saw: Salt – tears of the Earth
Tak fordi du læser med
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