Here Comes The Sun

We’re coming to the end of our stint in central France. The weather has improved and we’re basking in sunshine now – a marked contrast to our arrival in the driving rain. We’ve had more fun and games with France Telecom who cut off the phone AGAIN in the same way as before. When the engineer came out to fix it he told our hosts that there should never have been a line in the first place, and that the line engineer would have to look at it. Fortunately (because otherwise we wouldn’t know where we’re staying tomorrow night) the line engineer put the line back on today, but how long it lasts, no-one knows…

I’m going to miss this place. It’s been the most incredible insight to (a) starting up a new farm and (b) starting up a farm in France. Wherever we choose to settle, it will definitely be worth doing a WWOOF in the area with an English host first! Brendan and Mandy have been excellent hosts, and I've got quite attached to the girls (it's what happens when you stay away from your nieces for too long!)

So it’s 9 hours on trains down to Marseille for the weekend where we’re going to see Steve Hogarth on one of his solo gigs – we missed all the UK shows last year so we thought we’d make an effort. Then on Monday we travel from Marseille to Elne, just south of Perpignan right on the Spanish border. As well as growing and selling fruit and veg, they hold music workshops and make musical instruments out of cucurbitaceous plants. It all sounds very intriguing…

We’re also trying to plan until the end of the year. Hopefully Barcelona will be the November stop, with somewhere in the south of Spain to follow. Then it’s up to Paris to see both Fish and Marillion, then home for Christmas!