Perpignan

The French love a good statue. We bid farewell to Marshall Jeffres as we ride out of Rivestresse at 8am

We only had 15kms to Perpignan so we had a sleep in. Today marks another step on our journey for us as we’ve been biding time up to this weekend to meet up with our friends from Pau

We entrusted ourselves to the GPS since we had such a short trip and it led us beside the railway then veered off through a vineyard

***For crying out loud ! Will I never learn***

What should have been a shortcut was 4 kms of walking. It was too rough to ride

After buying some more shoes at a Le Clercs hypermarché,we still arrived too early so I passed some time with a little Spanish boy playing marbles

We weren’t allowed into our rooms until 3pm by which time he had worn me out. Half an hour later our friends turned up. Keen rugby fans we set off to try and catch the All Blacks match in a bar somewhere

Sarah ,Mateo and Polka. They stayed with us in New Zealand while we built a campervan for them about 3 or 4 years ago ( Polka had to stay in France)

Mateo introduced me to Ricardo, an aniseed liquor designed specifically to ease the pain of loosing. I think we should be buying crates of it. *Actually, there is a movement,trying to interest the NZ public into* *following bowls as our national sport*

This was their first trip to Perpignan also so we wandered around the Old City looking for a restaurant that Sarah had booked us into

A good number of old buildings had ceramic guttering and downpipes. *‘Well I find that interesting!’*

And oh ! It is SO much easier ordering a French meal when you have someone who knows the dishes.

The walk back to the hotel was beautiful. Perpignan has a canal running through the centre ville and is decorated with hanging giant flowers all with fairy lights in them

The Notre Dame gates into the old city were lit up in Catalonia colours ( *this part of France and northern Spain is Catalonian )*

Tiny bats were fly around under the bridge catching insects. It was late by the time we got back to the hotel. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better ,Sarah told us she had bought PORRIDGE with her and was going to cook us breakfast 😁

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Published by Wallis Don