So it took major back surgery combined with a wrong turning that led to a mini-family reunion and our introduction to the newest member of the extended Kretzschmar clan – Bonnie the beautiful border collie. While rolling (yes, the car rolled but we felt all Wild Berries did too thanks to the great food) down the hill from Fontjoncouse, we took a wrong turn into France into Spain. These kinds of wrong turns on our trip have been frequent and can usually be corrected in less than 20 minutes of navigating motorway on and off ramps. However on this occasion we saw it as a sign (see Lourdes entry later) that we were being divinely drawn towards Mama WB’s cousin who lives on the other side of France and is recovering (splendidly we must say) from back surgery. “Let’s visit” we said, before realising that based on our current rate of progress and WBB2’s propensity towards regurgitation, it would take almost a week to get there. So instead, we pulled over and made a phone call and a plan to meet each other near Arles.

Plans made, we hove to at the charming Domaine La Yole campsite in the Languedoc. The site had all the usual stuff: a playground, trampoline, pools etc – but our favourite feature was the fridge hire service. Yes, dear friends, in less than a day we were the proud renters of Gertrude, a handsome fridge/freezer, fully stocked with luxuries from the Carrefour – frozen peas! Ice cream! Three types of cheese! Vive la France!