Ondres Plage, France (Day 3)

After yet another beautiful sunset the previous evening, Angela awoke around 4 am.

The sea now calmed, drifting back and forth, sucking at the sand. The voices of the cicadas could now be heard, no longer drowned out by deafening breakers as they hit the shore. John woke to a beautiful sunrise on his side of the pop-up roof.

The young couple next to us left to spend a night in the Loire, before heading to Calais and taking the Le Shuttle through the tunnel back to England on Wednesday. Angela smiled about the wife's reaction when her husband suggest we look in the rear of their van at the bathroom area. Why do our partners do that? It means us woman are on constant alert that our facilities must be clean, tidy and in order. John normally wants to open the rear door of  Marge whilst Angela is having an intimate moment with her Boxio, which results in her shouting, 'I'm on the toilet!'. Did you all hear that? The Aire was both popular and entertaining. The Dutch couple opposite ran a vac over their three dogs before setting off. As you do. As for us, we wished we hadn't spent so much time chatting as the gas strut on the opposite side to the one John replaced bent as he lowered the lifting roof.

Fortunately we had a spare, but come on. What a holiday this was turning out to be. Stress levels were already high, what with Marge playing up. And all a couple from Yorkshire had to worry about was would they be able to plug into an electrical supply each night in Spain and Portugal. Uh, probably not, unless you can find a campsite open. And why do you need to? Oh, of course. You need to be able to use your Ninja air fryer, which is a game changer. Certainly changing your figures! 32 c this afternoon. We know. Marge, please hang in there.

We left after lunch and stopped at a garage claiming to be a 4x4 specialist. Which they really weren't. There was a Land Rover 110 TD5 parked outside. Good start. No they couldn't help. The woman in the office saying, 'we hate Land Rover'. O.K. After trying another garage with a shop attached like Halfords, where we thought we would be able to buy coolant, we couldn't, we were directed to another garage and shop about 12 km away. We'd like to say a very big thankyou to the young man at Noraauto who helped us with advice. And when the last container of the coolant Marge required sold of the shelf, he went out into the workshop and bought a large part used one in which he gave us for Free. Yes, gratuit. We were now in the town of Labenne. About fifteen minutes from Ondres-Plage, and as it was late afternoon by now it made sense to return to the Aire where we'd spent the last two nights. A couple from Preston who'd we'd become friendly with were surprised to see us return. We parked Marge back in our parking space next to a English registered VW transporter van and settled in for the night. Steady heavy rainfall set in for the night. It hadn't been a great day, and little were we to know it would get a whole lot worse. Our English neighbour turned out to be a serial all night you-tuber. The viewing stopped at 2 am, but resumed at 4 am, and he was still watching when we awoke at 8,30 am. That's inconsideration for you. We would, and should have move, but once the roof is up, and the awning put out, and Marge is settled on her levelling ramps it's a bit of a carry on to move. So we just had to stick our fingers in our ears, almost suffocate ourselves by covering our heads with our pillows, and tough it out. And the man (ianz_trips) was no youngster, probably at least our age, so Ian if you read this PLEASE buy some headphones!

More cabins arriving for the campsite being refurbished next to the Aire.

Ondres Plage, France (Day 2)

So warm during the night. What is it with the weather? Us, we prefer the warm nights and dry, warm sunny days. So if it could stay like that for the next month, that would suit us fine. After breakfast this morning John removed Marge's engine cover, gave her the once over, and tweaked her a little. That's your lot Marge. Don't be demanding any more attention please. It was yet another beautiful day, and now we'd decided to stay in France it made no sense to leave Ondres-Plage. You can stay at the aire here for forty-eight hours, so that's what we're going to do. The cost of staying here, includes use of the services, water, waste and toilet emptying. But there was no tap on the drinking water, only a connector which completely baffled the English. Who had an attachment that could extract water from it? Well John did. So we replenished our supply, and that of another English couple. They too had returned from venturing any further in the Pyrenees because they had a "replace brake pads" warning light appear on the dashboard of their Mercedes sprinter van. We were worried about going up hills in the Pyrenees. They were worried about coming down. Once again it is hot. We know, who'd have thought? We did yet more washing and once again used the lifesaver jerry can with its shower attachment to give ourselves a rinse. This was Angela's first time, and being a little coy, wanted the shower curtain fitted securely, so the French family opposite, (who of course were one of the few people not to leave the aire today), couldn't see her 'model like' figure.

In her dreams! All went well until John stripped off and jumped in before Angela was dressed. Well that's it. Everyone's seen my bum now! Late afternoon, once the main heat of the day had passed through we walked down to the beach.

Huge angry rolling waves broke onto the foreshore and chased us back up the beach. The sight was spectacular. The Atlantic coast of France is popular with surfers. But not today. The sea was just so menacing, frothing and foaming at anyone who thought about entering into it. Back at Marge a young English couple were parked next to us. They were returning from Spain and Portugal where the weather hadn't been so good. Lots of rain. Their business building and raffling campervans.

We talked all things campervan, solar, lithium batteries, invertors and compost toilets. The lady loved their loo! It's not just Angela then. As we ready for bed we can here the waves continue to roll onto the beach. The thudding as they hit the shoreline likened to claps of thunder. Tonight we're glad not to be on an overnight sailing back to England from norther Spain. Tomorrow, we will move on.

Angela has a couple of ideas of routes we should take, but of course we must check the terrain. Can't expect Marge to exert herself too much.

Ondres Plage, France

This morning when we rose it felt cool. We're very near the border of Spain, but too close to the mountains. We came to south west Europe for the some warm sunshine. When we travelled this way in 2019 in was warm and sunny, and we're still optimistic it will be. A mass exodes from the campsite this morning. All the tents and vans that had arrived as we did two days ago left. By midday so had we. The nanocom diagnostic device was connected to Marge's ECU, and Angela had not only the job of monitoring two readings on it, but also navigating using a map. Remember them? Right Marge, no antics please. As we took the route we'd been told by the lady at the tourist office would not involve climbing over hills, but following a river most of the way to Bayonne, we set off.

All seemed to be going well. Marge got a little heated a few times, but nowhere near the danger zone. A decision has been made that we will stay in France and travel through the flatter areas. We are away yet for another month so tomorrow morning we'll plan exactly where we will go. Obviously we need to try and stay south for the better weather. We were glad it was a Sunday as we drove into Bayonne. The roads were quiet, and we didn't really know where we were actually going to stay tonight. On the road in we passed the Jaguar Land Rover garage we were going to take Marge to tomorrow. But John has changed his mind on that, fearing we'll be fleeced. That is why we have decided to tootle around nice flat safe France. It's close to home, and we do love it here. We're back on the coast again now, staying at Ondres-Plage near to pricey Biarritz.

The aire is just over sixteen euros, but it's nice and we've secured a really good spot in a corner with shade and bushes, one a strawberry fruit shrub with a lovely aroma of strawberries of course.  When we arrived mid afternoon it was hot. Very hot. And very sunny. Where is this strange land? We handwashed some clothes, and within two hours they were dry. Excellent! This evening John bared all, and took a shower using our lifesaver jerrycan. The French people opposite, nosy whatnots, tried to sneak a peak, but John strategically placed his shower curtain, and well the rest is history.

At nine o' clock, after watching a beautiful sunset that left a sky of burning embers we sat outside Marge. Angela in her shorts. Who needs to go to Spain. We're fine just here. Hopefully Marge will remain stable now. John has been in contact with the man we bought the Land Rover from, trying to find out any information that might point to Marge's ills. A message from him tonight read, 'Keep on truckin' with the old girl, oh, and the Land Rover!