No barbecue - no problem: PANCAKE PARTY!!!! Voulez-vous crepez avec moi?

Because it is not allowed to barbecue on this campsite we had to do something else, so we came up with the idea of organizing a pancake party.

We arranged it that Danielle was setting up some tables and chairs, Miranda and I went shopping and two fathers and Joke baked the pancakes in their tents.

The mothers making the lemonade:

and John bringing Joke's pancakes to the other pancake-makers.

Lucille bringing the pancakes to the children:

and the fathers coming down with the rest:

A happy kid: PANCAKES!!!!!

Around 18.30 there were about 20 children enjoying the pancakes, with peanutbutter sauce (yak), sugar, stroop. Some lemonade with it and they were happy.

Wesley, my assistent, enjoying a well deserved rest with pancakes.

John got them to do the musical chair after Danielle brought out the music. Don't ask me the music we were playing, but it was a good rythm and John got the children moving around. At first Danielle could not understand a thing about what they were doing, but once she got it, she was in the mood for it and took the second turn to stop the music, enjoying it very much. Also Serge came down (better late than never, most of the kids were gone) and I even had a dance with him.More pictures will follow later, because of course at that time my camera stopped working, but the parents promissed to sent me their pictures.

A round of ice creams and all bellies were full.

pffff, happy that the party is over.......... (thanks Miranda for the help and the fun).

A nice happening for the kids. Thanks to all the parents who helped to make this happen.

In the time between writing and publishing we had yesterday an enormous rainshower with hailstones!!! and thunder. Now the temperatures are going up again, every day 1 degree more, running up to 38 degrees end of the week.

And: yes, I did it! I booked a tandem flight! Friday at 11.30 I will be flying in the air above the Verdon canyon and the lake, landing at the beach. I will order the pictures and a short movie of my flight and put it on the site around saturday. Scared, but in the meantime excited!!!!

Update will follow soon.

Take care, hope to meet somewhere sometime again.

M, M and J, Dinner, St. Maxim, St. Tropez, Sillans la Cascade, etc

Wow, I see it has been really a long time ago since I wrote something.

Not because nothing happened, on the contrary, I have been very busy with trying to get everything organized before the real season started.

And it did start! From the 15th of July I had all tents occupied with guests.

In the meantime also Tweetie was fixed again, at least, I hope/wish she is fixed, because ever since I took her from the garage I have been only twice out for shopping, still haven't made the critical stage of driving 250 km after repairing.

It is great to have so many guests on the site: many families from Denmark, Holland and Belgium, loads of children and I believe everybody is having a good time here.

Finally also the new sanitary block is open and working! I thought I was used to a lot after living 13 years on Crete, but also the French way is definitely NOT the Dutch way, for sure not MY way, but as said, eventually everything is kind of sorted.

The tents are fantastic to work with and also the guests are pleasantly surprised at arrival. Everything brand new, the tents, and the inventory and also the emplacements look nice, under the trees, shady but with still a possibility to sit in the sun. Not that many guests need that, because it has been very hot all the time. After passing their time at the swimmingpool in the sun or having been on the road to see the beauties in the area, they are happy to have a 'home' in the shade.

I had a lovely time while Marius, Marian and Janine were staying here. They took very good care of me: in time a coffee, a sandwich and every evening my dinner was waiting for me. Thank you guys! We also went two times out for dinner.

The first time we ended up in a beautiful romantic splendid surrounding with a waiter who thought he was funny.

In the beginning he was, but after one hour we were more then fed up with every time the same jokes (on costs of some victims) and no respect at all. A shame, because the place looked fabulous and the food was great, but : never ever again to meet that horrible man.

On Tuesday we all went for a drive to St. Maxim. Just out of the village we found a spot to leave the car and we spent some time in the sea and on the beach.

Waiting for the taxiboat.

Then off to the harbor, where a taxiboat took us to St. Tropez.

The harbour of St. Maxim.

Leaving St. Maxim.

Arriving at St. Tropez.

Boulevard St. Tropez.

A St. Tropez Ice cream!

St. Tropez Boulevard.

A St. Tropez Panama hat, in front of some of the 'small' dinkies.

Leaving St. Tropez.

The next time we went to Le Terrasse in Regusse, where a Belgium chef is the owner. What a meal! We could not finish it, great taste, big plates, no space left for desert. M, M and J went back the following day to go in the afternoon for his home made deserts.

Yesterday I finally saw the chance to 'escape' from the site and went with Esther and Wouter and the two girls to SILLANS LA CASCADE. A little drive of about 15 minutes, a walk of again 15 minutes, but WOW it was worth it!

A waterfall of 40 meters height and a path following downstream with so many places to rest, to swim, to have a picnic.

It was very busy with people, but because the area is so stretched it didn't feel like being crowded, still enough little places with rocks in the water to rest.

The place to go to leave the campsite behind for a while, to reload the battery, completely Zen.

Sitting on a rock, listening to the waterfall, with a little angel (Sofie) in my arms, the best meditation ever..................

This weekend a big change-over of guests. Most of them will leave tomorrow morning very early, because it will be busy on the roads, and I wonder at what time the arrivals will all be in.

The guests that are arriving now will stay for a 2 or 3 weeks period, so later on in the week I will not have arrivals 7 days a week and will be in the opportunity to go out a bit more. Still a few things on my wish-to-do-list: paragliding, rafting, visiting some places, but I think I will manage to complete the list.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope everybody is still happy and healthy.

Love, je t'embrasse

Rita

I thought Tweety was fixed...............

Hello my dear Friends,

First of all I hope everybody is healthy and happy. Would be nice to hear something from you also, my email is still working..........

Friday we (Naomi and I) went to La Ciotat, to see Carla, our colleague, at her campsite. It was a nice drive, we took the Route the Cretes, beautiful again.

On the beach we had some lunch, after that Carla gave us a tour de camping and around 16.00 we hit the road again.

First we drove to Cassis,

walked around a bit and decided to not have dinner there but at Regusse, a bit closer to home. But then......... on the road at Auriol, a very small two lane road, Tweety gave up again.........'Quick, Naomi, get out and push'. So, the two of us pushing the car towards the market place. A nice French woman helped us, so I could get in the car again to steer and brake. A few very clever French men did ask if we had 'pannee', grrrr, no I just stop in the middle of the road to make a picture, maybe???? Idiots!

And there we did the same routine again: find a terrace, a coffee and a coke, a cigaret and thinking...I saw a sign of a garage and walked over there. A young man was just closing the door and I asked him if he maybe had a battery, so at least I could get back to Montmeyan. No, he was only dealing in motorcycles, but there was a garage 10 minutes walk away. Then he looked at his watch, grabbed my arm and pushed me in his Smart car and off we went. Vroom vroom, just in time... the garage was just closing. Young man left, Merci beaucoup.

The man of the garage came with me with his towing truck to the marketplace and jumpstarted the car, but said: no way you can get back this way to Montmeyan. You need to recharge the battery, I can do that for you tomorrow morning. Hello, how do we get back to Montmeyan, with a bus? Well, you could, if you have 3 days time, you will get there eventually. Great help ha.

So, although I already had just a new battery, again I had to buy a battery to get home.

Obviously the garage here had not fixed Tweet y right: they only changed the battery but they didn't check if it was charging!!!!!!!!!!!! Another 188 Euros gone down the drain. Not funny anymore.

I went to the garage and the clever man told me I should not have put a new battery... I KNOW, m...., but I had to get back somehow, didn't I? At the first check he said the alternator (which charges the battery) was working, but at a second look he said: it is NOT working. Well, I am not a mechanic, but he was not telling me anything new now. Later he called to the campsite to tell that a new alternator will cost 377 Euro, but (because it was their mistake that I had to buy again a battery) he would give me 120 Euro discount! Thank Buddha, that my brain was working: I looked the part up on the internet and if I order it by a French company through internet it will cost me only 111 Euro!!! Now it is the plan to order it, have it fixed and PAY NOTHING!! Then I also want to give back the second battery and get my money back for it.

At first we were of course joking about it again: Naomi said to me: How do you ever get back to Holland? Well, I said, 7 fully charged batteries on the back seat will get me back!!! But, seriously, they have to fix it this time right!!! We are very lucky that Anthony and AnnMary are still here, but in two weeks time they are leaving..... We will miss their company very much, it is so much fun.

Yesterday morning we joined Anthony and Ann-Mary on their drive through the lavender fields. It is so fantastic, all shades of blue, grey and purple and the smell...........

I hope that again I could grab a bit the scenery with my camera, enjoy the pics. All the pictures you can see if you click on foto's in the top of the banner.

And, as you understand, also this a reason to come to Montmeyan!!!! See you soon????

Je t'embrasse.

Rita

One GIANT reason to come to Montmeyan

One GIANT reason to come to Montmeyan!

I can give you many reasons to come to Montmeyan, but today I was at the Gorge du Verdon, the Grand Canyon of France and for sure this only could already be a reason for you to come to Montmeyan!

Anthony took me and Naomi in his car for a drive along the upper side of the Gorge and it was breathtaking, stunning, majestic, more words, but still not the right words to describe it.

Being on top of the world, looking at what nature (water) is capable of, it gave me the feeling of being just a very tiny creature in this overwhelming power of nature, it made me feel humble, grateful, silent.

What about troubles, problems, miss happenings? You forget it all when you are just standing or sitting there, looking, gasping, listening, taking it all in.

I have tried to catch some of it with my camera, but it is impossible to catch it. Still I want to share it with you.

Last weekend I have been to Holland for a few days to be with my parents and sisters to celebrate the 60th!!! wedding anniversary of my mum and dad. A very strange feeling to be one moment between green and blue (the tents) and then being with my family.

We had a fantastic weekend, a wonderful dinner with the rest of the family and on Tuesday morning at 6 I had to get up to fly back to Marseille and back to the campsite.

Straight away I could start with the work again, because a few tents were going to be replaced and this job was finished last night.

Today the Gorge, tomorrow re-install the inventory in the replaced tents and finally I am finished with the pre-season work and the season can start!

So, as said, my dear friends, The Gorges du Verdon is a GIANT reason to come to Montmeyan, but other reasons are:

- a peaceful, quiet campsite where the butterflies greet you, the woodpecker, the nightingale sings his song, the squirrels play in the trees, the wild orchids grow around you, the sound of silence, the nice people you meet, etc. etc.

- just 10 minutes in the car and the nature and its villages will grab your attention. Markets, old villages, wine fields, lavender fields, stunning views of the mountains, hiking, bicycling, walking, kayaking, festivals, I could go on and on.

I better start adding pictures to this story, before I get too sentimental and I will leave it to you to enjoy the photo's and to make up your mind: let's go and see Rita, let's go and join her to share with her this beauty! See you soon!!??

The rest of the pictures you can see by clicking on the pictures-button. Enjoy.

Je t'embrasse

Rita

Just another boring day in the life of Pita Pan

Another boring day in Pita Pan's life.......

The adventure/challenge of starting up a new campsite has not been going smoothly, as one can expect.Maybe later I will bore you with some stories of that part.

So today I gave myself a break of the campsite before the arrivals start coming.

Naomi and I planned to make a trip to Lac d'Esparron.

One of my guests had told me that they went there several times this week, so I asked him which would be the nicest road to get there. He gave me his roadmap (very detailed) and pointed out the way. First along the fields of poppy's and purple flowers (no lavender), a scenic route, then St. Julien le Montagnier where one can find a panoramic view of the Lake, Greoux les Baines and then down to Esparron sur Lac to relax, have lunch, a swim and along the other side back home.

But, first fill up the tank opposite the campsite. You n ever know, we might get lost in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, so better have a full tank. I grabbed the business card of the garage, put it in my wallet and off we went.

Direction Quinson - easy - hmmmm - where are we? Ah, their is a sign: Esparron, okay let's go that way.So, yes, we never found the way to St. Julien but never mind, we will make the tour the other way around.

Beautiful sceneries, poppy fields, fields of purple flowers (I still have to find out what it is, but it is not lavender).

We parked the car, walked over the small market towards the lake.

Beautiful, but this is only the beginning of the lake, we want to see more of it, so start driving again.

A detour to Saint-Martin-de-Bromes, an old Provencal village with about 400 inhabitants, crossed by the Colostre. Above the village rises the 'Tour Templiere', a tower from the XIII century and a church from the XI century, classified as Historical monument. In the Tour Templiere is a Gallo-Roman museum, but not in the mood to visit a museum while the sun is shining (finally).

Greoux-les-Bains

Also on top of this village rises a Castle, called 'des Templiers', classified as historical monument in 1840.

Greoux les Bains is famous for her thermal tradition.

We walked a bit around and had lunch. Now we really found out that the French are having their main meal in the afternoon, no place to have a simple sandwich, all full menu's, so we had a pizza. I developed my pictures taken so far, but we had to come back after 15.00.

Okay, let's go back to Esparron, have a swim and a bit of sunbathing and then collect the pictures and slowly drive back along St. Julien.

Parked the car, wanted to close my window (electric): oho, it's not working, not the battery again!!! Oh yes, the same problem as when I arrived the first time at Montmeyan: tweetie is dead. Relax, no panic. At least we are in the middle of a town, not too far away from Montmeyan. Let's first go and have a coffee (an ice-cream for Naomi), reflect and then act.

While zipping my coffee I called to the campsite. Greg wasn't there, but Shannon at the reception found him and explained what had happened to us. A few minutes later Didier of the garage called. He speaks very quick in dialect, I couldn't make any sense out of it so I passed my mobile on to the man sitting next to me, to whom I explained before the trouble. Talking, listening, talking: Didier is coming with a truck to pick your car up. He will be here in about 1 1/2 hour. I called Holland, the SOS of my insurance. He talked so much, explaining me things I already knew, meanwhile chewing away my call-credits. Anyway, I did the right thing: let the garage tow your car back and I'll call you back. 1 Hour later Holland called: you are covered for the costs of towing your car to the garage. Pfff, that's good to know. Waiting, waiting

We jumped in the truck - officially not allowed to take passengers - but two ladies in short with suntanned legs can pull this off - and off we went. And guess what: Didier took the turn to.... St. Julien! The touristy scenic route, curving and swirling like a snake, very small and because I was not driving I was able to take in the views and even made pictures for which Didier stopped in the middle of the road every time I took hold of the camera.

(you see Tweetie in the mirror?)

Around 19.00 we finally arrived at the garage where Greg was waiting for us to take us up the road to the castle. (a 5 minutes walk, but thanks anyway). He told us Isabelle - his girlfriend - was doing some shopping and she was going to buy us some food as well -- Pizza!

Later Didier came up to the bar, telling me he will take care of tweety and will try to fix her as cheap as possible or contact me if he expects high costs. Joking, laughing, leaving with a charming smile: 'if I can't fix Tweety, I will drive you anywhere on my motorbike'. By the way, he is married .... cheeky man, but still a nice gesture.

Eating another piece of pizza (that'll do for this month), a glass of wine, a chat with my guests, who were wondering where I left my car. I went up to see Anthony and Annemarie, an English couple that is staying for 2 months, till the Circus begins, to tell them we were back, they'd already heard some of the story of Greg. A chat, a laugh, a look at Anthony's diary with his fantastic drawings and finally in bed writing this story.

First I thought writing it tomorrow, but to be able to sleep and to empty my (once again) overloaded brain I write it down now.

So, as said, yet another 'boring' day in my life. Still to catch up so many other stories, you will get them, I promise.

For now, time to close my eyes and wishing you all sweet dreams.

A bientot, soon to be continued......... Salut

My castle is ready, I called it Rita's sjatootje (chateau).

Today I finished decorating and unpacking my tent for the coming next 4 months.

This is how it looked like when I first walked in.................

And this is it now after a few hours of work. Behind the Nepali cloth I have my own real walk in closet, dressingroom, the white legs you see is a sunbed for my occassionally afternoon nap (I hope).

Naomi, the girl from Holland who is stagaire here for the season, cooking and making her speciality: schnitzel with french fries in my kitchen.

A pitty I had to close the side door but it is too windy out here!

My outside sitting area. No complaints, a nice place to have a good rest in between. At the end you can see the Reception tent.

Also if we need to dine inside, still it is a nice place to sit and relax.

Frontdoor closed, because of the strong winds, but my Nepali praying flags are praying in the wind, so from now on the ill luck must be over and done with!!

Tomorrow I will take a day off, first a lay-in (no alarm) and then I think I will go to Draguignan, to explore a bit more the area. It is a pitty that the weather forecast for this area is the coming three days rain and strong winds, but anyway we will make it a good time. Also Naomi has a day off, so we will go off together.

Je t'embrasse,

Rita

Allo Allo, your reporter from Montmeyan

Finally, believe it or not, but I did finally arrive in Montmeyan.

The reason that I have not been much on line was not because I had nothing to tell, on the contrary, it has been a madhouse for about 6 weeks, that was the reason.

To much to tell in one session, but to name just a few things: the courier that was supposed to take over Le Soleil Fruite was first planned to arrive the first of May. Then it became the 7th of May, on a Monday. Saturday evening he arrived from the UK with his camper and trailer with motorbike at Calais and he thought to arrive at Soleil Fruite late Monday. NOT!!! At Reims his car broke down, on a Sunday, so no need to explain. Monday somebody of a garage came to check what was wrong, something with the brakes and he had to order some parts. BUT.. Tuesday was National Holliday in France, so nobody was working that day. Finally on Wednesday his car was fixed. At around 23.00 he called me to see that he could not make it before midnight, so I went to sleep. The next morning I found out that he arrived at 3 in the morning. Nevertheless I woke him up at 10.00, because it was scheduled that I was leaving the same day in the afternoon. NOT. Too much to explain him. The nice thing was that he made me a delayed birthday dinner as apologie: cock au vin. I am afraid there was more vin (wine) in us already then in the food, that finally came on the table at about 21.30. The day before - my birthday - Deanthe, a girl from Holland who is at the campsite as stagiaire, cooked me also a birthday dinner. She is a lovely girl, we had a lot of fun together.

Friday morning at 10.00 my car was packed and I was ready to go. But Ed, the courier, came over and over again with questions. At 12.00 I said: that's it, if you need to know something, email me, I am going! So, on my way to Montmeyan.

A beautiful drive, everything going smoothly, until I drove into a tunnel. I switched my lights on and the car started hickuping. Switched the light off and it was running normal again. About 25 km before my end destination I took the turn of the toll-road, I stopped to pay the toll and.... my engine went dead and stayed dead. All cars behind me flashing their lights, hoop hoop, but my car was dead. Finally two roadworkers came to push me on the side. I was tired, I was fed up with my bad fortune I had the last 6 weeks (if something could go wrong, it did go wrong) and I called Gert-Jan, the areamanager. I called the ANWB (Dutch roadservice), but they were not allowed to come and help me because I was still on the highway. In France they are not allowed to come there. So, they advised me to call a garage in the neighborhood to tow me to the garage and then I could call them again. And of course by that time the battery of my mobile phone was empty. Then again a roadworker stopped and offered to call a garage for me. While he was doing that, Gert-Jan called me: cancel the tow-away, it is far too expensive, I am on my way with Francis (an English boy who knows a lot about cars). Okay, so cancelled the tow-away and waited for about an hour till GJ and Francis arrived. He concluded that the dynamo (or something like that) was not working anymore, so my battery was not charging anymore. Another 4 minutes, charging my battery with the VS-van and then Francis drove my car, behind GJ and me in the van. On the way we stopped one more time to recharge the battery again and finally around 6 o'clock I arrived at the campsite.

There were 10 people of Vacansoleil waiting for my arrival. Because it was sooo much work to install the 25 tents all by myself and of all the work I already had done on the other campsite, GJ had arranged this team to help me to set up everything. Fantastic!!! And, I could not have done it all on my own, the paths on the campsite are not wide enough and too steep to let the truck with all the material pass, so the boys have been walking and climbing around with fridges, beds, cupboards and all the rest.

Tuesday morning they all left, we had a few lovely days of hard work and a lot of laughter in the evenings all together. On Sunday we had a day off and we all went together to the Lake Montmeyan Quinson, only about 15 minutes away from the campsite. The plan first was to rent peddleboats, but being a bit tired and seeing the electric boats we decided to rent an electric boat for 2 hours and we went down the river towards Lac D'Esparron. BEAUTIFUL!!! The pictures will follow shortly.

Still, bad luck is following me everywhere. Everybody, all 10 of the team were on the free wifi in the bar of the campsite, but........ both my two laptops NOT!!! I had to buy a usb-stick to get on the internet, but that;s too expensive in France: 6 hours 9 Euro. Also a reason why I haven't updated you before, nor any pictures so far. And tonight, to my surprise, I went to the bar (which is not opened yet, but we can walk in) to upload some pictures and suddenly: I am also on the wifi. Let's pray that from now on it will keep on working this way.

After the boys left at Tuesday morning Naomi (a stagiaire from Holland) and I went for shopping. Around 17.00 we came back and there was Danielle, the owner of the campsite. If she could have the key of the mobile we stayed in, because she needed it tomorrow! So, I had to get all my stuff out in a rush, but my own tent was not ready yet. So, I moved in one of the new tents, where there was electricity and the beds and kitchen set up allready. I rushed to the shop to get a gassbottle and then Naomi and I had a 5 star dinner of schnitzel, appelmoes, FRENCH fries and a bottle of wine in the tent.

Also that afternoon we passed Regusse, a beautiful little village only 4 km from the campsite where was a bancomat and a big supermarket. Good to know. We drove on to Aups, another km ahead and we landed in a beautiful, some bigger village and walked around there a bit. For sure I will go back there on a day off.

A street in Aups

No, not Italy, but Aups, France.

Aups

Aups

Aups

Aups, in the Haut Var, is one of the entrences to the Gorges of the Verdon and the Lake of St. Croix. It is well know for its fountains fed by the sources of the Plans de Provence. The old streets are the witness of a far history symbolized by the doors and bastions from the XII and XIV century. Aups is the meetingplace for lovers of the Truffel with one of the biggest markets during the season. The old village is dominated by the ruines of the Castle of the Dukes of Blacas.

Despite its feodale past the people of Aups were strong connected with the republican values. During the coupe of Napoleon III in 1851 the villagers didn't hesitate for a moment to take up the arms and fight to defend the Republic. At the end these rebels, also coming from the villages around in the Var, that were not killed in battle were shot or deported. This is the monument for them.

The unusual monument, the encyclopedic colum is by legend build in the XVIII century. Abt Jean build this column in his garden, in which he inscripted the knowledge that humanity had gathered for centuries.

Well,m my dear friends, I think I have made my absence up big time with these picures and story and soon there will be a follow-up.

Although all the ill luck that is and has been following me, I am still in high spirits, happy to be here and I am determined to make a wonderful season out of it. I wanted a challenge, and I should have known to be careful saying out loud this, because I GOT A CHALLENGE BIG TIME and I am going to do it!!!!

Love you all, je t'embrasse (I embrace you), a bientot,

Rita (Pita Pan, happy thoughts make me fly).

The first arrivals are there!

Time to give you a little update from France.

As written before I had a lot of cleaning work to do, but now it is as good as done!

Yesterday I had the first arrivals on this campsite and the guests were all very pleased with such a clean mobile home, so all the sweating was not for nothing.

In the meantime I still haven't been much around here in this area, because I am not going to stay here for the season.

Last week I went with the area-manager on a small trip for two days. First we went to visit a big campsite Le Pommier, where I met some of the staff of Vacansoleil working there. Then we moved on to Montmeyan, to the campsite where I will stay for the season: camping Chateau de L'Eouviere.

A picture taken of the Chateau at the beginning of the driveway.

It is a beautiful area there and for sure I will love to go and explore there.

About a 15 minutes drive away you will find the Lake of St. Croix:

and the Gorge du Verdon. Here the people can go canyoning, rafting (YES!!!), biking, hiking, paragliding, etc. etc.

The village Montmeyan is very small: one bar, a bakery and a post-office, I believe that was all.

The view on Montmeyan standing at the Chateau.

Opposite the Chateau there is a small supermarket and tabacshop where you can also order pizza's, so for the emergency shoppings I only have to cross the road.

When we arrived at the campsite we had a surprise: a big chain on the gate, no one there. After standing there and deciding what to do, luckily a car drove up and it was the owner of the Chateau, so we could get in. She was a real nice lady and she showed us the placements for the tents. A good thing we went over there on forehand, because she needs to cut some trees and bushes to make the plot big enough to place the tents.

Further on there is a bar/restaurant area with view to Montmeyan and a swimmingpool.

I heard there will be 2 stagiares from vacansoleil to run the bar/restaurant, so I will not be all on my own during the season.

After this visit we moved on to Castelane, where are two more campsite of Vacansoleil. I met the couriers there and in the evening we went all together for dinner in Castelane, a beautiful village. It was a good night and we stayed overnight in Castelane on campsite International.

The next day we drove back to Chateauneuf-sur-Isere, back to the cleaningjob again.

On wednesday the montage-team of Vacansoleil arrived: a group of 8 people to place the reception tent and some more tents at a campsite nearby. They stayed until Saturday morning, so again I was in good company at dinnertime and in the evening to visit the bar at the campsite.

The courier who is going to run the place here will arrive the 6th of May, starts on the 7th and the 9th of May I will get in little Tweetie on my way to Montmeyan. It is my birthday then and it is nice to know that on the 9th of May of few men of the montage-team will also be on Montmeyan, to deliver all the material, time for a little party that evening

Also there I will have a lot of work to do, but it will not be cleaning: all the inventory will be brand new, so it will be unpacking everything and installing. I can't wait to go there......

In the beginning it looks like it will not be too busy with guests, so as soon as the tents are all ready I will go and explore the area and you can await beautiful pictures and hopefully some funny stories as well.

Time to make my round over the campsite now again, to see if everything is still standing, we had the Mistral over here, a very strong wind with sometimes 65 km/hr! Last night a few trees went down, one of them hit a mobile home, but luckily not one of ours. I did not sleep much, it felt more like I was on a cruise ship in heavy weather, instead of in a mobile home, my bed was shaking, heavy windstrokes with heavy rain, but today the sun is shining again.

Will write again as soon as I will be in Montmeyan, for now: Salut et je t'embrasse.