A Postcard From Foix

Foix Castle, (Ariège)

20th July 2001

Enjoying our holiday .. It is warm and sunny, but there is still snow in the mountains above 2000 metres.
G, R & J.

We had spent a week with our friends in the Pyrenees and had started the drive towards some other friends who were staying in their holiday house on the West coast. The drive would normally take about five hours so we left quite early on the Sunday morning. The sun was shining and the motorway was very quiet and we were looking forward to a pleasant drive. After we had been driving for about an hour the red warning lights suddenly came on and the temperature gauge went up to maximum. We were near a motorway rest area so we pulled in and when we stopped water poured out of the car. Panic!! We hoped it might only be because the engine had got very hot and after letting it cool down we filled it up with water and we started off again. After about 30 miles the same thing happened again. We felt sure it was the water pump. We had AA motor insurance but what do we do – call them out at once or try and get to our friends’ house. We decided on the latter. It was all motorway with plenty of rest areas and water supplies so we kept on driving for a while, stop, fill up with water, off again. Thank goodness for mobile phones, at least I was able to phone our friends to let them know what was happening and also for some moral support! Of course, we had Judy with us and she was very happy with all the unscheduled stops, every time we stopped she thought it was to let her run around and play with her ball ..... Being a lively English Springer Spaniel, Judy really enjoys time out.

The journey took about 8 hours but at least we got there. We called the AA and they arranged for the car to be collected and repaired in a local garage and we can claim on the insurance. We were without the car for a couple of days as the garage had to order a new water pump so it was a good thing we were staying with friends and not in some hotel. Still in spite of all this we had a good time.

As I said, we spent the first week in the South West, the Pyrenees. It was nice to see our French friends again and it was very relaxing, just walking in the mountains and visiting the local markets. One day it rained so we decided to drive to Andorra (all that duty free shopping...), a drive of about an hour up into the mountains between France and Spain.

As the road was climbing we noticed that cars coming down had snow on them – when we arrived we could see why. There had been a sudden snowfall, about 5 or 6 inches, everything was white, very pretty in the countryside but in the town everyone was sliding around. Lots of people were in shorts and sandals. Snow that had accumulated on the awnings in front of the shops was melting and great chunks were falling on shoppers underneath. Very bizarre weather for July, the local people said that they had never experienced anything like it. The next day the weather was back to normal, hot and sunny, although the snow stayed on the tops of the mountains for a few days.

Our English friends on the West coast bought their holiday home last year. It’s actually inland from the coast, the sea is about half an hours drive away and there are many resorts with wide sandy beaches. They are near an area of marshes and canals, the “Marais Poitevin”, a beautiful place to visit, very peaceful and green, lots of brightly coloured dragonflies. The trees form arches over the canals and you can hire boats. We did this, a flat bottomed boat like a punt – Judy came too. At first she got quite excited and I was afraid she might try and jump in but after a while she settled down and went to sleep.
Bye for now
R & G
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