Planet Ruby Starrs

This is very much a filler post... more about minor details for later recall than any particular interest.. .  I no longer keep log book version so much I just write this and put it in van journal book..  although there are some nice photos Dr Fred took when he climbed the mountain.  Driving through vinyard after vinyard looking quite lush in places.. watching the weather change...from deluge rain and humid grey skies to huge blue spaces and almost bearable temperatures of about 29°.  Huge completely  stationary windmills looming over long (very french) avenues of plane trees.  Quite a lot of evidence of fire damage. Long vistas with faint hills - probably mountains in the far distance.  The villages punctuated with obligatory cave pour le vins and the odd rather grand chateaux.  There were quite a few vehicles on the road but all the towns and villages seemed deserted not a soul in sight. Fot one night we camped in amoung...

We have found the most delightful camping... basically its someones front garden passing as a basic campsite.  Nailloux Lauragais.  Theres apparently room for 6 vans but to be honest I,m not sure how.  There were just 2 vans the first night and then just us. The hosts were incredibly friendly giving us freshly picked figs and muscat grapes from the garden and making us very welcome with a shaded picnic table and chairs.  They were very helpful about how to get the bus in Toulouse and so we made a plan to do that for the next day.... as the bus was at 8am we decided to explore the village to determine where the bus stop was.   Its a very pretty place, mostly quite old village - lots of tiny red bricks and interesting rooves. The usual ornate church with bells that ring every half hour and not a lot else.   The bus stop was exactly where our host said it was so all  was good. Up with the ra...

Camping Graus... day3 had been a pleasantly damp day in fact Dr Fred just made it back before some serious thunder storms hit with massive torrential rain turning the campsite into an instant lake. I felt for those in tents the water was inches deep. A group of campers were setting a fire in the big communal fire place - they had huge paella dishes... when the rain first started they were optimistic and erected a large parasol. Then it REALLY rained and they had to run for cover carrying everything into the shared games room - I'm guessing it got finished on camping stoves as the rain continued for a couple of hours....  We put some tunes on and drank wine. Spent some time sorting photos and determining that Dr Fred had seen a goat/antelope indigenos to the area...  In the morning we filled up the water bottles and emptied the loo and hit the scary steep windy road back down the valley.... its only 5 k's but meeting someone coming the other way on bit...

We moved on - it was a great few days but marred slightly by the heat.  Everyone was keen to find somewhere cooler. We all went our separate ways.  Our hosts went up back home where they live full time and our fellow travellers went off up north - driving through France heading for a ferry home...  left to our own devices we went to Tortosa to find the delicious olives and replenish supplies - but it was a lot of effort, the heat continued... we found the olives and replacement trousers for Dr Fred - and a new hat as he had been close to hopeless the day before,and managed to lose his hat and stick... and shred his trousers (dont ask). We had a lunch in a local cafe - all very civilised and then onbto the next chapter of our adventure. Once out of Tortosa we drove up toward the Pyrenees looking for somewhere cooler to sleep.  But the heat kept coming ..at one point it was reading 41°. It was brutal - I was spraying Dr Fred with water and event...

Eclipse day!!!!  Most of the photos on here were taken by friends...my phone died...  I dont use names on here but you know who you are thank you....  This will be Dr Freds 8th eclipse and my 6th... I have 100% clear viewing and its continued that way. Our friends have this amazing house tucked away on the side of a hill - fortuitously right on the centre line of the 2026 eclipse.  And... to make it even better they have a roof terrace which gave us an almost perfect elevation to see the total eclipse in all its glory.   Dr Fred wasnt sure at first - he worried that as totality was so close to sunset we might not be high enough before the sun disappeared under the ridge.  So, the evenings leading up to the night of the actual event, required a lot of balancing on the roof with spirit levels at various degrees and exact timings for exact positioning of the sun and considerable maths.... yes it was complicated but it p...