After a very soggy two nights camping on the coast north of Perpignan we travelled back north past Beziers and east to a little town called Aumes just outside the larger town of chasing the grape pickets and their lorries full of grapes as we went. My dad wanted a French revival having not been for a little while – he could feel the food and way of life calling him I think. He was planning on staying for a week and (after endless searching and negotiating) we found an apartment which looked great…..something which was later confirmed when arrived at the beautiful villa with an equally impressive interior. In England I am guaranteed to get sick when the weather turns at the end of the summer and apparently this is the same even when in warmer and calmer climates – I swiftly came down with a fever and tonsillitis. We have noticed the weather is certainly on the turn and so along came a lovely bout of tonsillitis which meant the villa was an even more welcome treat.

Dad brought a special little package with him when he arrived the following day….his dog Bobby!! A very well loved Lab/springer cross who was embarking on her first trip overseas! It was a lovely addition to the four days with Dad to have Bobby along and even though every French dog in a 10mile radius was trying to mate with her…and I think she had a pretty good time too!

Dad is a supremely good cook and so we spent a lot of our days scouring markets for ingredients and spoilt rotten by dad creations for dinner each night – roasted pigeon being a new and delicious discovery for me. As well as that we made sure to visit the Etang du Thau where there are stalls lining the streets offering up oysters and other shellfish. You can either buy and take away or lean up against the sellers stall and sip a glass of something local with your oysters. In Marsellain we visited a restaurant in the harbour and dad and Dave had oysters followed by an enormous plate of cooked shell fish. We then took Bobby for a dip in the sea before heading for a guided tour of the Noilly Pratt factory. If you have never heard of or drank Noilly Prat I urge you to do so now! Knowing my dad to be a fan but having not tried it before myself I was surprised by how easily it slipped down at the tasting at the end of our tour – not usually drinking spirits. A sweet vermouth made from local grapes mixed with secret mixture of herbs and spices it is only made in Marsellain and there are 30 employees using the same traditional methods of production that they have been for years. Needless to say dad has taken home a couple of bottles for us to have when we get home!

The villages all around us including the enchanting Pezanas were filling me with great joy, the old traditional buildings, markets, brocantes everywhere, coloured shutters, endless fields of grapes, old men in caps smoking cigarettes, full coffee shops and goats cheese everywhere! I think I have always fixed my memories and love more on Provence forgetting the south east but really there is so so much more to discover here and this is definitely an area I am adding to the future holiday list! Oh and did you know there were flamingos here!?? I didn’t – bloody loads of beautiful pink giants paddling about on the Etang du Thau shore….wild flamingoes in France is so utterly bizarre and perfectly normal at the same time.

So we left dad and dear little Bobby to their own devises and we made the journey north west towards Carcassonne where Dave’s friend from uni Trudi was getting married. We popped in to see the whole of the uni group attending at their villa and realised that it may take some time to get used to talking to so many people at one time! Our ability to make conversation appears to have diminished! We headed to the wedding venue where in a beautiful setting surrounded by vineyards Trudi and Fab just about managed to dodge the rain and say their vows. The French side of Fab’s (Fabrice) family where very French guests arriving en mass 20minutes after the ceremony was meant to start and then spent the next 20minutes kissing each other hello making the bride wait in the wings! After a lovely ceremony dancing and drinking where the main order of the day and night and I think we (Dave especially) surpassed himself rediscovering the dance floor!!

We awoke to sore dancing muscles and torrential rain which didn’t stop for 48 hours. We made or soggy way into Carcassone village where the rest of the group were in a villa and went out for a very cosy dinner in the medical village castle walls – all topping of a delightful two days. The only sudden realisation was…..it’s turning to Autumn…..is it going to rain from now on?…..??? The camper it 99.7% water tight so sleeping would not be an issue….but if it’s raining how do we get dry once we get back to the camper…..where do we put our wet shoes and can we actually drive in the rain!? We freely admitted we were suddenly a little it nervous…..as we had expected to be home by October we have not really planned for Autumn a la camper……?!?!!