I've got a friend (at last)...

Hi all,

Tao and yours truly

Our local mountain, Canigou

We have completed almost 3 weeks on one of Chris's favourite campsites in one of his favourite regions (The Pyrenees-Orientales). He is besotted with it all and it will be difficult to drag him away, particularly when he hears the weather reports from other places. Still, I'm not complaining too much as I've got a friend. Tao is a long-haired male, travelling with Nat - a nice Belgian woman - and, for once, I'm developing a healthy relationship with another feline. Appropriate distances are kept to, but we do manage to spend time on each others' territory without confrontation.

An interesting parking place

Chris did an 80km bike ride along the Tech valley, to Prats-de-Mollo, a few days ago. The first part was on a "voie verte" cycleway but then he had to do some climbing on the road up to his destination. Prats-de-Mollo has a fortified village, castle and a strange underground walkway. The return journey was fast, with the river several feet below him, just a small mistake away...

The same river runs close to the campsite and he and Nat walked there to create stone
sculptures. The river is running fast, with white water, at the moment but was much much wider and deeper a few weeks ago when there were storms - as in Cambrils. There are the carcasses of trees, carried by the water, everywhere but also, sadly, a lot of plastic caught in their limbs.

Ooh, I caught Chris talking about the Coronavirus and it sounds scary (if not for cats). Chris says that schools, restaurants, bars and places for events are closed in France. He went shopping this morning and, although the supermarket wasn't mad, the shelves were emptying rapidly. He kindly stocked up on my favourite crunchy food - "Brekkies" - and my pouches, even though it's unlikely that the shops will run out of these products.

Sadly Ruth, who we met in Cambrils and who was doing a mammoth bike ride to Japan, has had to stop her travels because of the Coronavirus. She had already cycled over 3000km, which was a fantastic achievement, but borders are closing and she didn't want to get trapped without the chance to get home.

Castelnou

Chris went into the mountains again, by car, to visit a medieval priory called Serrabone which had "fabulous" (his words) stone sculptures. He even got to sing in the priory, to test the acoustics he said, and fortunately nobody else was in there to hear him. On the same trip, the ancient village of Castelnou was also visited, high on a mountainside.

It looks like this will be my last post from our winter travels as we will head back to our refuge at The Ramshack. The time away has been fun but I think Chris is very thoughtful about the immediate future with so much uncertainty around. Quite frankly, I'll just get on with doing my own stuff and leave him to make the decisions for us both.

A bientot,

Banksy the caravan cat

What, Back to France?

Hi there everyone,

It's hard to believe but Chris and I have been here in Cambrils almost a month and tomorrow, February 25^th, we'll be leaving. I feel like I'm just getting settled but Chris says that, based upon the amount of time I've spent in bed, I seem to have coped pretty well.

The weather here has been very pleasant, with day after day of sunshine and blue skies. Chris is amused at the locals, who dress like it's the Arctic, in quilted coats and boots. Even the sports cyclists are covered from head to toe. Actually, I think it is the Catalans who smirk at Chris in his tee shirt and long shorts in what is still winter.

The old man has been out on more big bike rides and averaging 300km per week. He rode into the countryside on rough caminos to visit the “barracas” which are small dry stone buildings unique to this part of Spain. His longest ride though was last Saturday when he cycled 120km into and through the mountains – close to Montblanc (no, not that one). He had to race back to catch the Carnaval procession on the seafront. The feline image at the top of this post is of the Carnaval cat from the poster advertising the event. Chris thought that he looks a bit like me and I can see a resemblance – maybe we're distantly related? The procession had Mad Hatters, pirates and flamenco dancers and I gather it was noisy and colourful, as one would expect in this part of the world.

I've taken to having an evening stroll with Chris as he takes his washing up to the sanitary block. Occasionally I go into the building with him but only if there's nobody else in there. Otherwise I wander around a bit as I wait for him outside. That's about as far as I get on the campsite. As I'm responsible for security on our pitch I can't just take off when I feel like it (unlike some).

Last week Chris cycled to Tarragona to take in the Roman ruins, Modern Art Gallery and the restored port. It was about a 20km ride on a minor road, via Salou, which led him right into the city. He says that it was fun to be on the bike as he could cover more ground that on foot and that there was almost no traffic in the old town. The highlight in the art gallery was a huge textile work by Miro and the best bit of ancient Roman architecture was the amphitheatre which overlooks the Mediterranean.

Chris made pancakes the other day for his lunch. He says they were delicious but one slid straight out of the frying pan and into my bowl of munchies on the floor. I thought his offer of sharing was kind but I declined the offer, anyway.

So, it's now time to start packing up and I aim to keep well out of the way.

Love to you all,

Banksy the Caravan Cat

On the road, AGAIN!

At La LLosa

Hello everybody,

I guess that many of you know already but Chris has dragged me away from the warm and comfortable Ramshack in order to satisfy his wanderlust. Fortunately, the new caravan is comfortable and here, in Spain, the weather is warm and sunny so I really shouldn't complain too much. Chris even got to put a cat flap into the caravan and I did test it out before we left.

We left home almost two weeks ago. Chris was impressed that he could pick me up and deposit me in the caravan without me inflicting wounds and drawing blood on him. Quite frankly, I'm very experienced in this travelling lark and, short of disappearing for a while and annoying Chris, there's not much I can do. As he left a compartment open, with a cushion on the floor, I just settled down in there for the first part of the journey.

Actually, we were on the road for less than three and a half hours before we stopped. I stayed in the caravan while Chris met up with the owners of a campsite in the Lot Valley and agreed to work there for 6 weeks in May and June. The campsite is called “Ruisseau du Treil” and is in a village called Larganol. Chris says it's a very beautiful spot and that the owners, Jenny and Nigel, seem very friendly.

Testing the new bed

Back on the road we had one overnighter on a motorway aire, where I could stretch my legs and then it was another long day as we drove into Spain and all the way to Camping La Llosa in Cambrils, where we stayed four years ago. I thought I recognised it when I got out of the caravan and remembered all the cats which, once again, I had to see off MY territory.

It's hard to believe but, once Chris had settled in, he started to dismantle and rebuild bits of the caravan!

His work resulted in a fixed bed at the back where, if truth be told, I have more room to stretch out than before when Chris is down for the night. He also says it is much more comfortable than his previous 2' wide bench which, him being now of “mature years”, was a bit too narrow for the old guy.

Almond blossom

Ruth - ready to go!

Sunset over the mountains from Cambrils

I've tended to stay in and protect our home on wheels as Chris cycles the area. He says he hasn't done one single walk but has done some longish bike routes, with his major achievement a 100km loop through the mountains. He would have come back and gone on and on about this if it wasn't for a young lady, Ruth, who had pitched her tent near our caravan and had unloaded her touring bike for the night. She was cycling to Japan, on her own, and her trip would take a year! Chris made tea for Ruth and him and they talked bikes and travel – which was very boring. However, Ruth was thrilled to meet me and, before she left this morning she took my picture, one on her Polaroid camera for her journal and another which will be on her next blog post at ruths-adventures.ianmillard.com, so make sure you check it out. Chris says that he is aiming to do a 100km ride each week. I still don't think he'll be anywhere near Ruth's mileage but I'll humour him, anyway.

Reus

Last Friday he did venture out to Reus (where the architect Gaudi came from) and trundled around the historic centre with its Modernist buildings. He also aims to ride to Tarragona soon and visit the modern art museum and Roman ruins as well as picking up some of the “Carnaval” festivities.

Ok it's time for another rest, after all this writing, so I'll say farewell for now,

Much love,

Banksy

Well,well,well...

Hi everyone and welcome to "Banksy the caravan cat 2"!

First a bit of an explanation as to why this is a new blog with an added "2". It's hard to believe but Chris managed to lose the old blog...He regularly loses his glasses, car keys and wallet but how do you lose a blog? Chris blames Google but I think it's an age thing. Anyway, I hope that The Faithful will follow my upcoming adventures as we enter 2020.

For those who missed out on the first blog postings, a few background details. (For those who already know me, you can skip this paragraph). I am Banksy, a cat of mature years,  living and travelling in Europe with Chris. Most of the time I am based at The Ramshack in south west France, living off-grid in a wooden cabin on a piece of land in an area of forests and small communities. When we are not at The Ramshack we tour the Continent in a caravan. I have visited the UK (where Chris's family live in the south-west), France, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the last few years.

So now, just a bit of a catch-up from the autumn of 2019. (I think most of you regulars would lose the will to live if I tried to fill you in on the time since the last blog ended).

After a fine summer in the UK, with the celebration of Chris's daughter Laura's 40th birthday a major highlight, we returned to The Ramshack to suffer the wettest autumn either of us can remember. It rained and it rained and it rained. Dry days were counted on the digits of one paw. I generally kept in the dry while Chris, mad fool that he is, STILL went on long forest walks or bike rides around the countryside. He says he only managed to keep his sanity, during this period, with the help of lovely local couples Peter and Jane and Gordon and Angela plus his pal Michel.

Chris left me over Christmas and the New Year to return to the UK for the festive season. I was not alone as Michel saw to my needs on a daily basis. As Michel has 5 cats of his own, he has the appropriate sensibility to stay on my good side - which not everyone can manage to do. Chris says that his time in Devon was successful, with him spending Christmas Day with his Mum and the New Year celebrations with Laura and her family plus son Adam, daughter-in-law Fran and the wonderful 2019 baby Fred.

There you have it. Chris and I are now settling back into life at The Ramshack for a few weeks before hooking up the caravan to the car and driving down to Spain. It looks like we will be based for a month in Cambrils, on the coast near Tarragona on a campsite we have used in the past. Then we will drive back into France for a further 3 weeks close to the Pyrenees and the city of Perpignan. For those of you who choose to follow this new blog, our adventures will be detailed on a regular basis - with even the misadventures included.

For now, much love to you all and please send your comments to the blog,

Banksy the Caravan Cat