The Camper Chugs On....

On the way back from northern Spain, we called in at Agde on the Med. Every bit of the French Med I've ever been to has been crowded, busy and a disappointment. Maybe this would be different. No. it was bloody horrible and I couldn't wait to leave. Which we did. Immediately.

We ended up in the Tarn Gorge. Beautiful, much more like it and a two minute walk from the river.

Down to the river and I quickly caught a few chub. Saw a few barbel, but not as many as I'd expected. Managed to get a nice one around 5lb on the second session. I was fishing, when out of the corner of my eye I saw what I took to be an otter. It obviously hadn't seen me and actually swam under my rod, no more than eight feet from me, where it became apparent it was a beaver, not an otter. Incredibly, in the next half hour I saw a total of five of them. Managed one poor photo, but a great sight.

Lovely river, as you can see.

I set out on a bike ride up the Tarn and Jonte gorges. What an incredible place.As usual the photos don't do it justice. So quiet too, with very little traffic. I took a very ( very ) steep, small track up the side of the gorge, just about translating the warning sign ( roughly, no safety barriers / falling rocks ). What a fantastic, exhilarating ride. Totally silent, apart from the griffin vultures and ravens circling above. On and on it went, with some extreme switchbacks and far steeper gradient than the previous ride in the Pyrenees. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Like the selfie ? No ? I thought not.

A few days later we were in the Aveyron region. I love it here, it's the arse end of nowhere, great scenery and not too many people. Nice campsite right on a 500 acre reservoir. You could fish and be served chilled wine/beer and cheese from ten yards away. How civilized.

See, I told you so. When we arrived, the wind was pushing strongly into our bay. I was convinced I'd have one of the huge carp that reside in this lake. On went an eleven year old Nash pineapple boilie. Sure enough, after an hour or so the rod bent over and I was attached to a very heavy, angry carp that was ripping line off and heading for a load of sunken trees. I put a massive amount of pressure on, just managing to keep it out of the snags, but just as it seemed I was going to land it, the hook pulled out. Oh dear. I was not pleased.

Next day I took a canoe out and saw four of the biggest carp I've ever seen. They were huge.

Unfortunately, that was to be the only carp I hooked, as the weather changed and it became very hot, with a strong wind, unfortunately of my back. Oh well. I managed some really good sized roach and tench though, so still had some fun. Lovely place too.

Time to head north for the ferry. We stayed on the banks of the Loire for a night, where the detritus of the recent floods prevented me fishing the river. Well, I fished, had three casts and three snag ups and then gave up.

We had a bit of excitement in Belgium when I drove on the wrong side of the roadt on the outskirts of Antwerp, being roundly abused and laughed at by drinkers outside a bar. Somehow we ended up in a campsite in the city, but it wasn't such a bad choice, as within two minutes we'd found a nice riverside bar.

A great trip and I love the old bus already.