Woke up to this this morning. Might have to stay in today and click refresh repeatedly on all the major news and CV stats sites for a change.

Our view waking up this morning.

Yesterday we turned our home 90° so the sun comes up through the bedroom windows, shines in the big sliding door at midday, and sets in the living area/front in the evening.

A change is literally as good as a holiday.

The farmer in the field to the south of us was ploughing and must have been disrupting lots of little rodents because there were dozens of hawks following the tractor circling and swooping.

We've just watched Macron address the nation and our lockdown is extended until May 11th.

Day 37 of lockdown. Home made bread with cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Leaf growth from 18th March to 30th April.

Our first outing after 8 weeks in lockdown! We're allowed to travel up to 100km from our base and we chose to start with a gentle 3 hour walk to Lac d'Oô in the Pyrenees about an hour's drive south of where we're based.

For the last week or so we've been making the most of the weather and being able to travel up to 100km from our base.

On Monday we drove to Lourdes and walked up the hill overlooking it where a funicular usually runs but is currently closed. There's a long downhill mountain bike run that's used for the world cup that we zigzagged past. It's insane. We didn't know that there was such religious significance in Lourdes until after we'd got back. Whatever.

We've done a bit of walking and cycling around our immediate area which is pleasant but no match for the mountain scenery.

On Wednesday we visited the small town of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges which is only 12km south of where we are as the crow flies. Gorgeous little town with a lot of history. The photo above is from our walk in the hills just outside the town.

There are more people at our campground now and last weekend two motorhomes arrived with two young families from nearby Pau. It was nice to have the buzz of kids excitedly running around. We played boules with the adults which was a lot of fun.

On Thursday we had our first takeaway in over two months! Never has pizza tasted so amazing.

A couple of weeks ago we bought some Bethmale cheese from the local supermarket. I looked up where it came from and it turns out to be a small village (population 95) up a valley in the Pyrenees not far from where we are and there are a bunch of walks so we decided to go there last week.

It's a lovely two-hour drive up into the mountains to Lac de Bethmale at around 1000m altitude. From there the walk was fairly steep climbing a further 700m over 4.5km on the GR10 trail. At the top (well, not the very top but where we stopped) it's pasture land and reminded us a lot of Switzerland.

We found a little fromagerie on our way driving back where we picked up some more cheese (this one a mixture of sheep and cow milk). For science, of course.

Lac de Bethmale at the start of the walk.

The forest on the way up to the hut at Col de Auedole. The hut was similar to your average smoky NZ tramping hut with the exception that the sleeping area was in a loft above and someone had left an onion on the table, dried sausage hanging from the rafters and a full bottle of Jameson whiskey on the shelf. I approve of those kinds of emergency supplies!

An update on our plans: we've been parked up in the same place since the start of lock down. Over the last three weeks or so we've been able to travel up to 100km from our base and we've been making good use of that to explore the Pyrenees nearby. The weather has been lovely with most days in the mid-20s and you can almost literally watch the spring growth.

From this coming Tuesday we will be free to travel again and it looks like we'll be able to cross into Italy as well. On Wednesday we'll leave this place -- it'll have been 80 days! -- and head north to Castelsarrasin for a couple of days to catch up with Tony and Trish before heading east to Italy. I'm officially an overstayer here in France and have emailed the French consulate in NZ who said I should contact the authorities in the Haute-Garonne department but I've not heard anything back from them. Italy has a bilateral agreement with NZ which allows up to six months' travel without regard to the Schengen area three month restriction.

We have been so lucky to find this place and we'll be leaving it with a touch of regret. I realise there's been a lot of suffering due to covid19 around the world but for us it was a time of peace and enforced slowness which I think has improved us.

Lock down finance numbers for posterity
Per day on average it cost us €33.20 (about NZ$60) which breaks down into roughly:
€0.10 for LPG (approx. 100ml per day and we used the BBQ and oven extensively)
€1.00 for internet and netflix
€1.00 on laundry
€1.10 for diesel (most of this was from our travels after lock down was relaxed)
€10.00 for accommodation (toilet, shower, water and electricity)
€20.00 on groceries

Also, today is our 1 year anniversary of owning the van. We've spent 260 nights in it so far. 17,577km.

We're finally on the move after 80 days at Camping Baptistou. Yesterday we drove 130km north to Castelsarrasin where we caught up with Tony and Trish. BBQ last night on their boat amidst thunder storms. We're staying here for another night before heading east.

Pictured above are gifts our lovely hosts gave us before we left. Last night we ate the contents of the two jars on the right. Not as disgusting as it looks but still pretty challenging.

Last night we followed the Tarn river and stayed above the little town of Peyre.

Peyre is close to the Millau Viaduct, the tallest (not highest) bridge in the world.

This morning we cycled up to the lookout (and rolled back down) near the viaduct after passing under it. We then continued up the Tarn valley. Lovely winding drive with orchards, campsites and lots of road tunnels.

1kg cherries €3.50.