Narbonne (and back to Montolieu)

22nd October

47 miles

Rather than visit Narbonne by public transport then take Matthew to Carcassonne airport directly, we decided to drive to the outskirts of the city, have a look around, then go back to Montolieu on Wednesday evening to be handy for plane the next day. Glll consulted the 'Aire de Camping Car' app. It brought up a car park in the Casinp supermarket on the edge of town as somewhere to park up for the afternoon. This French web-site, based on an interactive map, is great because it shows all kinds of useful stuff like day time parking places as well as places to stay overnight. The problem is, it is pretty clunky and slow to load, so unless you have a really good signal it won't work. The supermarket car park had a  motorhome  service point too, so I took the opportunity to ditch the grey water. You are never going to be able to say that about your local Morrisons! France really is motorhome friendly.

Despite the annoying blustery cold wind, Narbonne was still an interesting place to visit. We had been before, but apart from the unmistakeable outline of the cathedral, none of it looked familiar. We decided that we must have parked at the opposite side of the old town and stayed close to the river basin. Today our path took us through the park of 'Heroes of the Resistance'. Beside the modern fountain - which was more less spouting horizontally due to the wind  - the city authorities had placed a sturdy glass fronted cabinet full of books, which people were free to read on the spot, or take away. I suppose it must work as a city wide informal book club. Wonderful! Civil society in action. Vive la Republique, let's have a revolution!

Between gusts, the fountai ns mamaged to spout upwards

Free books in the park

We fancied a pizza for lunch, but wandered around to avail. There was every kind of restaurant, but not an Italian. I suppose it did give us  the chance to wander up and down the plane tree shadowed quays and explore a few of the narrow medieval streets behind the handsome facades. Finally we did find a suitable restaurant in the square beside the Bishop's Palace. We were shown to a table upstairs, I had a view of the pedestrianised square below, and amused myself people watching. The street life here can seem so civilised, the lunchtime ritual, seemingly unhurried, a sacrosanct institution. Perhaps it seemed so special because eating out is a bit of a treat. The pizzas were pretty good too, considering it was French, rather than an actual Italian owned place.

Narbonne's old quays

Waiting fot the pizza

Art Decor Monoprix store in the square beside the restaurant

Winking chef and Archbishop's Palace, not everyday you can write that...

 Then back to Montolieu, to be welcomed back by the remaining comrades of the Republic of the Retired. The wind was still blowing hard, so instead of re-erecting Matthew's tent, he used the over cab bed in the van. Aside from the wind, it would make it easier to make a quick getaway to drop him at Carcassonne airport in the morning. The van seemed much smaller with three adults in it. In the event an extra body was probably useful, as the temperature plummeted overnight, and the thermometer read ten degrees in the morning, half of what it had been just a few days ago. Autumn is catching up with us. We got out the Spanish All the Aires book and the road atlas of the Iberian peninsula. Time to move on and follow the sun.

Almost bare trees, Autumn heads south