Day 10, Monday and the weather's changed

It's cold and dull - had we been transported back to the UK overnight? This is not the sort of weather I anticipated in the Med region and we weren't thrilled. To make the most of it we went back to the little town of Valras Plage we liked the look of yesterday after we'd been on the beach. However it had been very crowded so we didn't see much, and there had been a local 'do' on. We thought it was a drum majorette competition but not sure, and there were bicycle races so everywhere was packed.

Monday was market day and much better suited to our needs than bike races. What a beautiful array of food. We didn't have anywhere near the selection and quality of fresh food that the French people enjoyed then, (better now, but I'm still impressed by French markets all these years later). There were stalls of cakes and biscuits looking very tempting and appetising. There were dustbins (clean!) full of black olives, stuffed olives, gherkins, onions, pickles, all sorts of exotica. Fresh veg stalls with every type of home grown veg and a big stall with loose herbs and spices. I got cumin, coriander and cordoman seeds which are really hard to get at home unless you go to Upper Parli st. Lots of clothes stalls, some dear but some reasonably priced, well same as UK. But the shoes were a triumph! I got some high heeled, pointed toes for 25F, abour £3 - probably fall apart quite quickly but who cares - result!

It stayed cold, dull and windy all day; in the bar le patron said there had been snow on the Pyrenees for the past 3 days so not a hope of it turning warmer in VP. He said it was the worst weather he'd had in 7 years of running the site. Trust us to choose the hideous weather year to trek to the South of France and camp.It seemed it was no better the other side of Marseille which had been our original destination before the car fell apart. That all seems an age ago now.

Expenses Francs
Milk and Bread 4.50
More bread 1.25
2 coffees/Orangina 9.00
Veg & salad 6.00
haricot vert 3.25
Pork chops 10.70
Cheese 5.80
Vin 3.00
Camping fees 22.10
herbs/spices 7.00
bar evening 23.00