2018-09-13 Chateau Moyau to Besalu

Previous Day :: Trek Overview :: Next Day

Chateau Moyau to Besalu

Chateau Moyau to Besalu

It is already 24°C when we are woken by the workers arriving to pick the last of the white grapes here at Chateau Moyau. Here it is all done by hand, about eight pickers begin on the vines below where we are camped (towards the Mediterranean) and over breakfast we watch the tractor take a trailer full of large flat trays stacked high and later pull them back up the hill full, followed by another trailer of empty trays.

It is very labour-intense here. We are away by 10.00am, to the next winery about 1km along the D168, to Chateau la Nagly. This is a much bigger winery, rather untidy, lots of farm vehicles strewn around and very, very dusty. We go into the Caveau and taste three whites and four reds, none of them are outstanding, not even the €18 bottle is particularly good. We do not buy. We reflect that this is the same land as Moyau and mostly the same grape varieties, but something is very different when it comes to their wine.

A group of three Canadians (from Calgary) come into taste, having sample la Nagly wine in the restaurant last night, and later we see la Nagly wine in the supermarket. We reason that their wine is mass-produced in those huge sheds behind the winery, and that’s the difference. We continue on the D168 to Salle de Aude, through the small village and stop at Intermarché and buy cheese, fresh fish and Cremant de Bourgoigne as they have a good selection including la Negly wines! The Canadians are buying and having their wine shipped home.

A little further along the D118 at Coursan, we stop again at SuperU as they usually have a good selection of wines. We buy more cheese and some Serrano ham, but the wine selection is very poor so don’t buy. It is about 12.30 so have lunch on the car park, it is already very hot, about 28°C.

From Coursan we take the D6009, a good standard (single carriage) road that follows the A9 paege to Perpignan. Perpignan is a large city, so after doing battle with the traffic, the roads and finding our way onto the D900, another good road. We head south following the coast at first, through Fitou (one of our favourite French red wines) and then across the Alberés coastal mountains, not as high or spectacular as the Pyrenees which we see on our right.

Just before the Spanish border we enter a small town, packed along its narrow main street with shoppers and tourists, there is even a traffic queue to get through the town. An old Roman fort, Fort de Belleregarde looks worth a visit, there is even a big car park, but we do not stop. Crossing the border into Spain (see video at the bottom of this page) we continue on the N11. The climate is hot and dry, the terrain is dry, dusty yellow scrub land. We see olive groves for the first time but no vines. We continue south for about 50km to Figueres and turn west here onto the N260. We go first to the small Catalan town of Navata and find an Aire, a large dry gravel and grass area, next to a Restaurant, but the restaurant is closed and, despite a good look around, we cannot find the water or disposal facilities, so drive on to Besalú.

Besalú is an old Roman town with a magnificent yellow stone Roman style bridge, leading into a beautiful old walled Medieval town. The Municipal Aire is opposite the Roman bridge, a super location, but a car-park style Aire for ten motor homes so no frills. There are about eight motor homes already parked when we arrive, but there is plenty of space, so we first empty the toilet cassette, as the new toilet ‘blue’ that we purchased on the internet is not very good at deodorising, very important in this hot weather! We also empty the grey water at the same time, but there is a problem with the valve when we try to close it. It clicks and makes a nasty noise! We leave it open while Mr C. fiddles and puzzles over it.

It is hot, about 31°C, and no shade (trees) anywhere on the Aire or nearby car park. The house opposite has several big dogs that are barking incessantly, it feels like hell! Eventually, Mr C. decides he cannot fix the valve without taking the outer coverings off underneath the step. It is about 7.00pm by this time, so I suggest we leave the valve open and put a washing up bowl underneath the pipe, after all this is what the caravaners do all the time (well a small container on wheels but the same principle), so we empty a storage bowl, put it under the pipe and open chilled La Clape wine of the Langeudoc and drink it with a bowl of prawns purchased at Intermarché this morning.

We follow this with kedgeree, made with a white fish called lieu noir also purchased this morning. I pour the fishy cooking water and rice water into a large pan and send Mr C. to the disposal drain to empty it. The soapy washing up water only half fills the bowl, it is a bit faffy but solves the problem. Later, at dusk we walk over the roman bridge and into the old town. It is not busy, in the huge square in front of St Pierre church only about half of the eating places are open and each only has a handful of people. We sit in the cool of the evening (it is still about 29°C but no baking sun) and enjoy watching families and couples wandering about.

[Later note: The motorised valve that opens to release grey water was broken. One of the limit switches that stops the valve when it reaches the fully open or closed position had failed to operate, so the motor kept running, gears turning and pulled the mechanism apart inside the case. We managed for the rest of this trek by catching the grey water in a large bowl. The repair was not easy, more of that on another page.]

Our trek through France and Northern Spain

Click any image to enlarge

Summary of motorhome journey through France and Northern Spain

 Driving South through Le Perthus into Spain