01/09/08HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!!So, the van is fixed. 2570.10 euros later… ouch. We last blogged waiting in the cybercafe in Lucon last Tuesday waiting for the garage to call to say the van was finished. We waited and waited and finally got a call at 2:30 from the breakdown company saying that the garage had found another problem when they stripped the camshaft unit down and it now wasn't going to be finished until the next day (hence the additional 700 euros) and could we kip in the van in the garage carpark for the night. Lol. Don't think so. So we pushed for alternative accommodation and they agreed. We headed back to the garage to see what the problem was and to get an overnight bag out the van and to wait for confirmation of where the breakdown company had booked us in. FIVE HOURS LATER a taxi turned up to take us to a hotel. We thought we would be going back into Lucon as the garage is just on the outskirts but noooooo, after making us wait 5 hours they decided the best option was a hotel 35km, 3/4hr drive, and a 76euro taxi fare (pre-paid thank gawd) away. Anyway, we weren't complaining once we got there as it was an idyllic location - the hotel was in the middle of nowhere right on a lake/river. Very tranquil - chilled us out a bit and took the pinch out of the bad news re the van. Also chilled us out a bit: sitting and eating getting pissed on the terrace overlooking the lake. Kylie had snails for her meal and Andy had oysters - mmm slimey seawater - blerch (but he still ate them all). Then we had a discreet finger-flicking potato food fight (yes, yes, too much wine and beer makes silly stoooopid Eeengleesh) and Andy misaimed his final shot to the yah-yah-darling-I-always-winter-in-spain women that were sat behind us. Much lol.We enjoyed the use of the bath before checking out the next morning and then we had to endure MORE WAITING for the garage to confirm the van was finished and for the breakdown company to organise a taxi (bearing in mind that took them 5 hours the day before). SIX HOURS LATER the taxi arrived to pick us up. We got to the garage and had the bum-twitching task of settling the bill and shock horror the visa card wouldn't work. He got 2000euros out of it as a card payment but it wouldn't let him use it for any more. The garage guy even drove Andy into the town centre to see if it would work for cash withdrawal but it wouldn't. A very expensive and long phonecall to the bank confirmed that the money we had transferred over from another account on Monday wasn't yet in … doh - forgot about the bank holiday. So Kylie left her passport with the garage as security and we ended up back on the campsite we'd only just left for the night.The next day (Thursday) a very relieved garage man took the rest of the bill from us and we were finally finally back on the road!! Two weeks after breaking down and getting shunted from place to place - yay!!! We warily headed down to Bordeaux (in 30+c heat - warm) where the stupid-ass tomtom kindly took Andy through the heart of the city (!"£$£$%^*&^ tomtom nearly got a flying lesson), but he did very well and got us to the campsite on the outskirts. Did Bordeaux centre on the Friday (another scorcher), after working out the buses and trams to get there and back. Bordeaux is a gorgeous city with so many beautiful buildings and churches, and the most bizarre National History Museum we've ever been too stuffed with wall to wall dead animals (have some video footage once we work out how to upload it). Lots of impressive monuments and the city centre is dotted with really pretty public parks. After a very hot and tiring strudge around the city we stumbled upon a supposed piece of artwork which was so cool. It was a massive stone-slabbed area you could walk on with little holes everywhere , these periodically shot mist out up to your waist then after five minutes of that it changed to bubbling water and just looked like a huge mirror. Our feet were very grateful for it!Saturday we were back on the road and headed to Cahors which is getting into mountain region, which was so picturesque with the river, hills, and big rock faces. We found an aire right on the river side in a village built on the rock that's totally under preservation order. Took full advantage of the river as it was another boiling hot day. Watched the little boats mooring up for the night and got ideas for our next big adventure ha ha ha.Next morning OMG the suspension wouldn't go up on the van - started fearing the worst then Andy got his practical head on and thought it might be an air lock or something due to the altitude we'd climbed to and a few tweaks and a swift kick later all was well - phewee. Then we went cave exploring!!! Up another small mountain first at 20mph all the way, Kylie papping herself (little did she know what climbs we were going to face today),but it was worth it. The caves are 50million years old and they have real prehistoric cave drawings from 25000 years ago. They were the most impressive caves we've ever seen and the drawings were amazing to look at. Typically though, we can't show you any of this as we weren't allowed to film or take photos. So we'll take a picture of the postcards we bought for you to look at he he he. Or you can check out their website www.pechmerle.com. When we got there there was a bike rack by the entrance and we had a good ole chortle at the thought of anyone biking up that mountain only to be thoroughly shamed on our exit to witness four 60+ year olds doing exactly that!! Oh how unfit are we. We set off again and we drove until we got tired (or should I say Andy drove until we got tired) and stopped at Millau. It was a town in a bowl surrounded by mountains and we were dreading getting out the following day. We stopped at another aire which was just like a carpark for motor homes - about 30 in there - we felt like real motor home geeks. That evening these little old men appeared from nowhere with homegrown fruit and veg for people to taste and buy. Yum yum. We bought some fresh almonds but we didn't know what they were but they're very tasty. Everyone very friendly, even helped us to reverse the van into a tight space. The Dutch are especially friendly. This morning we took the very long, slow climb out of the bowl and conquered many more mountains on our way here (and these are only babies - omg there are bigger ones out there). 'Here' is Saint Martin de Crau, a village near Avignon. We've treat ourselves to a nice little campsite with a swimming pool - phew, 35c heat an outdoor swimming pool is just what we wanted. We got here at 1pm so we've been able to chill a bit, done some sunbathing around the pool and had a cool-off swim. Camp-site is dead cos it's now out of season (no screaming kids - hurrah), it's weird here - get to September and that's it - campsites are like ghost towns.We're heading to Cannes and Nice for a few days next and then by the weekend we should be in Italy.We're tightening the purse strings now and have put ourselves back on the strict budget as the van work lost us several weeks out of our savings - it can be done though! When we went into Bordeaux for the day we just headed straight for the tourist office and asked what they had that was free!! And there was loads - we filled a whole day up with free stuff and a pack-up.TTFN - we'll write again soon xxxxPS - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GAIL AND MARK FOR TOMORROW AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARION FOR SUNDAY