{"id":5114,"date":"2024-06-09T20:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T20:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5114"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:34:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:34:48","slug":"6-la-brouquere-gondrin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5114","title":{"rendered":"6. LA BROUQU\u00c8RE, GONDRIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I forget, I’ll have to tell you what I remember I forgot.\u00a0 Going right back to the first week in Spain.\u00a0 We were driving inland towards Cabuerniga, when unannounced, I turned off to the left into the hills.\u00a0 You have to realise that, at this stage, we hadn’t had enough of mountains!\u00a0 The road petered out at Lami\u00f1a.\u00a0 All onward routes into the hills were either dead ends or looked like they might become so very quickly.\u00a0 So Lami\u00f1a became our destination.\u00a0 The Bar Casa Manolito was the obvious choice for a coffee.\u00a0 It was, after all, the ONLY place in town.\u00a0 Inside there were five blokes (including the barman), two ladies and two kids.\u00a0 Probably plus a dog, but I’m not sure about that.\u00a0 Possibly that was the total population of the village.\u00a0 The TV (compulsory in bars) was blaring away.\u00a0 The newspapers were all in Spanish (no surprise there!) with not enough pictures to tell what was going on.\u00a0 The kids were fairly rampant.\u00a0 But the coffees were OK.\u00a0 Before leaving we made the required visit to the loos.<\/p>\n

While Glenda was in the ladies minding her own business, the window burst open and the two kids jumped in.\u00a0 I wasn’t there, obviously, but I understand that there were four feet in the sink before Glenda realised what was going on and pushed the little darlings back out.\u00a0 The window was at least three metres above the back lane where they landed.\u00a0 They were much less active after that episode!\u00a0 At least two twisted ankles and a developing hatred of tourists!\u00a0 Well, it was Spain after all.\u00a0 Expect the unexpected from mountain children isolated from the real world for months on end!<\/p>\n

That was then and this is more nearly now!<\/p>\n

Time for a new place to visit.\u00a0 Camping La Brouqu\u00e8re.\u00a0 We stayed here last year for two weeks, but they are really busy this year.\u00a0 Glenda says they received glowing reviews in the British press early in the year.\u00a0 One of the best little campsites in France.\u00a0 That might have had a bearing, but there was us, one other English couple and two Scots campers.\u00a0 Everyone else was Dutch.\u00a0 Maybe a lot of Netherlanders read my blog last year.\u00a0 I must play things down a bit!<\/p>\n

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On pitch 11, with a lovely view out the front and back.\u00a0 But our meter is showing that the electrics are not earthed.\u00a0 “Impossible, no one else has complained in the ten years this pitch has been operational!\u00a0 Your meter must be faulty!\u00a0 We will check it”\u00a0 So Woulter and Pom get busy.\u00a0 “Ahh, no earth connection – your meter isn’t broken!”\u00a0 Dismantling, first our supply bollard …<\/p>\n

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… then the feeder bollard the other side of the road where they find earth wires completely unconnected.\u00a0 Never joined!<\/p>\n

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Well, now we have an earth.\u00a0 Everything is hunky dory.\u00a0 We are expecting a massive discount for making the site a safer place!\u00a0 “Dream on” says Woulter.\u00a0 We are still dreaming!<\/p>\n

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The site is overrun by at least five species of orchid.\u00a0 This one is a bee orchid. \u00a0Rare at home.\u00a0 Dirt common here!.<\/p>\n

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We might need Barry to interpret this flag signal.\u00a0 We think it might say “Brief Message from the Van-guard, show-cette \u00e0 l’Amiral Chemise, the view out the yfront is brarilliant, but the electrics were pants”<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Or not,\u00a0as the case may be!<\/p>\n

Our back garden with pyramid, lizard, purple, bee and tongue orchids.\u00a0 Careful where you put your feet!<\/p>\n

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As seen from a “bracing” pool …<\/p>\n

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… and from the other side of the valley!<\/p>\n

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Not a million miles away, Larressingle is a fortified village.\u00a0 The lady running the little caf\u00e9 just inside the main entrance said she remembered us from last year.\u00a0 You won’t remember, but we spent ages getting her to tell us her grandmother’s secret five-cheese recipe for croque-monsieur.\u00a0 Excellent coffee!<\/p>\n

As we sat down to our drinks, hordes of school children were being drilled by an ancient chevalier.\u00a0 Or possibly by a school teacher in fancy dress.\u00a0 All 50 kids were issued with swords (probably plastic) and trained to shoulder their weapons and, taking three steps forward, stab a mysteriously absent foe.\u00a0 Their battle cry was pathetic, till teacher said “Imagine you are attacking Les Anglais”.\u00a0 That improved their voice significantly.\u00a0 The question I had was, why hold the swords in their left hands?\u00a0 And I still don’t know.\u00a0 I wanted to shout that “Les Anglais ne sont pas terifi\u00e9s!”\u00a0 But Glenda wouldn’t let me.\u00a0 Maybe she had a point.\u00a0 They might be plastic, but I bet 50 plastic swords in concert could inflict some damage!\u00a0 And the kids had been worked up into a frenzy after half an hour of practise!\u00a0 So we waved goodbye, and left!<\/p>\n

Friday is market day in Vic-Fezensac<\/p>\n

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A nice market.\u00a0 But we must try harder to get to these functions a bit earlier.\u00a0 The last hour is not the ideal time to visit. \u00a0But today, we are combining the market where we didn’t buy food with a visit to La Fal\u00e8ne Bleu in Lannepax for lunch.<\/p>\n

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… and very good it was too.<\/p>\n

Back at camp we find Woulter in work mode.<\/p>\n

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You can tell he’s in work mode.\u00a0 The ear defenders and strimmer in hand offer a clue.\u00a0 But the defining point is the little cross on his shirt.\u00a0 Sonja had got a bit annoyed with him gardening in his “best” shirts.\u00a0 She has marked all his work shirts like this!\u00a0 I think that’s an excellent idea.\u00a0 Glenda is going to get busy with a magic marker as soon as we get home!<\/p>\n

Before leaving La Brouqu\u00e8re, we have two more visits to make.\u00a0 Jan and Gran, two caravanning friends, had arrived at Camping Florence at La Romieu.\u00a0 We arrange to meet by the Four Musketeers outside the cathedral in Condom.<\/p>\n

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Cath\u00e9dral Saint-Pierre de Condom.\u00a0 Magnificent!<\/p>\n

Next up was Auch.\u00a0 We have been close many times, but have never visited – at least not within living memory!\u00a0 It’s Saturday!\u00a0 It’s market day!\u00a0 We arrive to an “interesting” parking situation.\u00a0 We managed to avoid the tempting, vacant space in the payment section of the carpark and wedged ourselves between two French cars as far out of the traffic flow as possible.\u00a0 “It’ll be fine here, just move another centimetre forward!”<\/p>\n

And we were directly into the market in front of the Cath\u00e9dral Sainte-Marie.<\/p>\n

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… and on the left a nice little restaurant (Bistro Baland) where Glenda had what her brother would call a balanced diet!<\/p>\n

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After lunch we walked 100 metres and found ourselves drawn into a cultural centre (La Maison Gascogne) where a lot of interesting activities were being promoted.<\/p>\n

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Car restoration, needlework, woodwork, all sorts of semi-magical healing options, weaving, weird harp design to mention just a few!\u00a0 As we arrived, we found ourselves on the catwalk runway of a fashion show.\u00a0 Literally, ON it!\u00a0 Everything from micro-dresses to more exotic costumes were paraded past us …<\/p>\n

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The picture of the micro-dress has been edited out by the sub-editor!\u00a0 But illustrations of extraordinarily complex and delicate “weaving” …<\/p>\n

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… and circular harps have survived!<\/p>\n

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The section devoted to psychoanalysis and other wonderful treatments of the mind attracted me – but not for long.\u00a0 Offers of instant analysis of my mental processes were too scary to even consider!\u00a0 The nearest any of them are getting to my brain is to sell me a new hat!<\/p>\n

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We are out of here!<\/p>\n

Farewell to Sonja and Woulter and their part time assistants at La Brouqu\u00e8re, Pom (?) and Claudia …<\/p>\n

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… and we are off to pastures new!<\/p>\n

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… just don’t mention the bloody ants!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I forget, I’ll have to tell you what I remember I forgot.\u00a0 Going right back to the first week in Spain.\u00a0 We were driving inland towards Cabuerniga, when unannounced, I turned off to the left into the hills.\u00a0 You… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-and-france-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5114"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5436,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5114\/revisions\/5436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}