We arrived in time for the Paella and what a fabulous treat! Not just the food but the entire 24 hours. We popped in on our favourite French family who are the family of friends we made in Sydney. This wonderfully warm family who do everything with great love! A gathering that flowed with a genuine passion for the dining experience. And luxuriously elegant in its beautiful simplicity. Have you ever watched a French family sit down to eat? It’s truly a inspiring experience.

We landed here during the Fètes de Bayonne. A five day summer festival. A festival that celebrates with music, street performances, traditional dance, parades and fireworks. Local Bayonne’ites from this Northern Basque Country wear the red and whites, the colours of Pamplona. We didn’t make our way into the festival but couldn’t help but be swept up on the excitement.

There were tents pitched on nature strips and on vacant lots. It appeared there were no restrictions for this weekend of fun and frivolity. We camped up on the street of our friends house. We did so without incident … although we were awoken by the singing of a few loud partygoers returning home! We have now managed to stay in France for 8 nights for a grand total of €34 euros and I don’t think we’ve made any compromises in doing so. So far we are blissfully contented and in the flow of adventure and joy.

A gathering where both the adults and children communicated in the languages of English, French, Spanish, food, wine, cheese, fun, play, laughter, culture and tradition. Our hosts are the purveyors of home made Pavlova’s in France so we were treated to Pav’s for dessert. There is nothing humble about a home made pavlova, topped with cream and whatever seasonal fruit is available. Divine. One of the guests also baked the gateaux basque – perfect on the day and perfect the next morning with coffee. It was cherry flavoured and made from a recipe handed down from a grandmother (as I’m told these recipes are) … not an easy one to replicate.

The evening ended with the kids playing The Game of Life. Do you remember this from your childhood? It’s a nostalgic one for me, I loved this game. My cousin had it – I always looked forward to playing it when we visited. There’s something special about being able to rock up with four kids and seeing their day end like this. My tribe of wanderlusters skipped contentedly back to the van once the evening concluded.

And now we leave to make our way towards San Sebastián our first stop in Spain. A beachy, foodie city and one we fell in love with on our last camper trip. It will be the last of the towns we know before making our way across the Nth of Spain. We knew last time we wanted to come back to swim in San Sebastián’s spectacular picturesque harbour one day. Here we are on the way. I never travel to see and do it all … that’s just not possible. Will we love it as much? Let’s see shall we.

Buen Camino,

Fran xx

Camper tips:

It took us months the first time around to switch on the gas! Yet when you do you are instantly more free in your choice of park ups. Camping on the street was possible for us because during the day we could switch our fridge to gas. If you’re reliant on electricity you always need a caravan park or motor home park up that supplies it. Filling gas bottles is not technically allowed but everyone does it and no one asks when you go in to pay. Most campers have the adapters for each country on board. Ask when you pick up the camper. And if unsure, You Tube how to fill the bottle if you’re comfortable doing it. That’s what greg did (among other camper things!). Not all service stations have gas so you need to plan for that. Or, alternatively you can buy new bottles along the way.