L'Abresle to Canet-en-Roussillon (South of France)

Saturday 22nd September (L’Arbresle to Canet-en-Roussillon)

Early start and ready to go by 8:30am (early for us), but could not find the owners of the house to return the key and to collect our $300 euro deposit. Pam went next door to the neighbour who spoke no English but managed to get across to her that we wanted to go and where were the owners? Fortunately they drove up (having been to the flower market to sell their flowers earlier) so after a bit of haggling we collected our deposit and were on our way. We had decided that as we had a 500km drive to Canet-en-Roussillon (which is about 20ks from Perpignan) that we would take the tollway (which we had been avoiding so far as we wanted to see the countryside and therefore the smaller roads). Drove through Valence, Orange, Nimes, Montpellier, Nabonne and arrived at Malibu Village (time share which we exchanged for our time share on the Gold Coast) at around 3ish. Did a quick drive around and then into Perpignan to the gare (railway station) to find out about getting the train to Montpellier for the game tomorrow. We were not too impressed with this part of the world as it was dirty and there were a lot of police around, trains were graffitied. Collected a timetable but then decided that we would actually drive into the game. Back to our new home where we found a wonderful restaurant just next door called Safari Joe’s. The owner, Joe Gilligan, is an ex South African and used to play Super 12 Rugby for the Cats before injuring his knee. Met a French lass, fell in love, started his restaurant business and always has the rugby on. This is great as our apartment only has French speaking shows and 3 channels with no Eurosport or BBC/CNN. Trying to find an English paper is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Do hope Australia is still there when we get back! Back to unpack and settle in.

Sunday 23rd September (Canet-en-Roussillon)

Drove to Montpellier, got a little lost even though the Garman (satellite navigation system)was doing its best. Garman has been a wonderful help the whole time but he got a little lost in the streets in Montpellier. We were looking for an area known as Place de la Comedie which we undersood had a lovely big square and big screen for the rugby. However, we got lost, headed into a tunnel, at the very last moment before we had to exit the tunnel (and therefore have no idea where we were as arman soes not work in tunnels) we saw a sign for Parking/Comedie. With the screech of brakes and a rapid right turn (on the wrong side of the road remember) we went down another ramp and into a car park. As it transpired this was directly under the centre square we were looking for and it took us 90 seconds to get to where we wanted to be. The Gods have been good to us! Had tried to catch up with Phil and Chris Johnson has we were both in Montpellier, but due to a combination of poor/nil phone reception we did not manage to catch up with them. Telecom’s roaming in the south of France has been pathetic. Here we were in the middle of Montpellier with “emergency only”. The square was magnificent with numerous very grand old buildings including the Opera House, park with large pond complete with dogs swimming, children playing, kids rollerblading, men play chess, mums walking their babies (all the prams seem to be much higher than in Australia which is good for backs). The most exciting thing to see however, were an abundance of yellow Aussie jerseys! This is the first time since we have been away that we have actually been in a crowd of excited Aussies, Kiwis and Scots. We had tried to get tickets to the actual game, but were unable to do so, so rather than pay extortionate scalpers fees we decided to watch the game on the big screen and positioned ourselves at one of the bars in the shade. The tram service to the actual ground left from this square which meant that as the Aussies left for the stadium, there was a bit more space. There were 2 games on the big screen this afternoon (Aus vs Fiji and N.Z. vs Scotland)so both Paul and I were happy. The Scots were there in force complete with bagpipes, kilts etc but the spectators were disappointed as Scotland had only fielded its B team as it was saving itself for the match against Italy next week. Met up with a great bunch of Aussies and watched both games with them. After the Aussie match the square started to become very full again so we were glad we had kept our great seats in the bar. (As it transpired Phil and Chris Johnson had come back to the square after the match and were probably very close to us but we did not see each other). Both Australia and N.Z. won their matches comfortably. A few of the people I spoke with who had been at the actual Aussie game said it was unbelievable hot at the ground and also that Australia were really just interested in getting through this match without any injuries, and were saving themselves for the quarter finals and semis. We left about 10 mins before the end of the NZ game as we had a 2 hour drive back to Malibu Village where we arrived in time to haveanother beautiful meal at Joe’s.

Monday 24th September (Canet-en-Roussillon)

The view from our room and all down the coast is of the Pyrennes Mountains. On the way down to Collioure (which had been recommended by Joe from the restaurant) we stopped for lunch on the coast close to Argeles-sur-Mer at a lovely hotel right on the beach called the Hotel Laguna. They were serving a magnificent seafood buffet which we happily consumed and then went for a walk along the beach, with Pam determined to say she had put her feet in the Mediterranean which she did! On to Collioure which was another of those wonderful, “turn around the corner and there is something spectacular” moments. We were very fortunate to get a park to explore this very picturesque seaside town and having a coffee while we looked out over the very blue waters of the sea. This tiny fishing village is dominated on the left by the Chateau Royal de Collioure which was originally a “Templar settlement” built on Roman foundations. The castle enjoyed its greatest splendour as the summer residence of the Kings of Mallorca. Vauban added its towering defensive walls in the 17th Century. The medieval church tower of Notre Dame des Anges once doubled as a lighthouse. Collioure was once Perpignan’s port but found fame when it inspired the Fauvist art of Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. Later both Picasso and Braque came here to paint. We took a trip on a little wheeled train up through the vineyards which had been there since 6 B.C. (try and get your head around that) on up to the foothills of the Pyrenees where we had a fantastic view down at Collioure and Port Vendre (Pervone to the French). Back to the village, a quick shop at the local Casino store and cheese, grapes and tomato as the appetiser and beef, tongue and vegetables for mains.