C’était le 31 juillet, M’sieur and M’dame decided to go up to Andorra  and buy some stuff,  in bottles. –

It wasn’t all in bottles; we bought some other stuff as well.

C’est possible. There were a lot of bottles. After driving over the hill from Pas De La Case, THEY decided to take a ride on a cable car, which THEY have been talking about every time we go up there, but they haven’t done it before. 

Yes, we thought it was time to find out what it was like. There was a large multistorey car park as part of the base station, and there was no queue; it would probably be rather different during the winter months.

Though in spite of the 3-week heat wave, there were still patches of snow to be seen near the summits. This particular cable car ride keeps going all year by exploiting other possibilities than skiing. Some of the cabins are equipped with external bike racks – see second photo – so the mountain bikers go up in the cable car and then ride down:

Then at the top there’s a golf course:

After that we did some more shopping and headed for home, arriving in time for a sunset swim.

It was a nice drive, as always, in spite of the extra weight to bring back, but I was a bit worried about something …. I kept hearing remarks about ‘if we sell her’ or ‘what if we don’t sell her?’ … Ils ne parlent pas de moi, sûrement? THEY wouldn’t do that …. would they?

We really did work hard to try to be ready for an early start on Friday morning, packing up everything except the contents of the fridge and hooking the vehicles up just inside the gate, as we did once before, but in spite of getting up before seven o’clock on Friday, it was still after midday before we got away. One issue was that as a first job I put Harry’s fridge on using the gas and during the morning the gas bottle reached empty! It was probably better to have to change it at home than later in the dark and a hailstorm, but it took time. Another thing was that there was far too much stuff in the big house fridge then Harry’s little one could take – bad planning! – and then at the last minute we couldn’t find Carol’s car key. She’d slipped it into a pocket of the apron she put on to help change the gas bottle, then completely forgotten it. We spent about half an hour searching …..

Ja, und es war heiss beim warten! It was hot, waiting for THEM in the sun. But endlich we did get away and drove past the fields of sunflowers:

on the way to fill up with diesel at Pamiers.

But now I know! They said ‘say goodbye to your abri’ before we left and they put a notice in my back window about this little car being for sale! …….. So it’s true; THEY don’t love me any more!

Yes, we do!

Then why are you trying to get rid of me?

Sally, it isn’t like that; but we really need a French car now –

But I am French!

Well, you’re a French make, but you’re made to be used in Britain – your steering wheel is on the right hand side, and anyway rules about towing are different in France and the A Frame is illegal. Not only that; but I’ve change my licence for a French one, and it doesn’t include towing, unless I have a medical. I didn’t know that when I changed it – I thought these things were standard across the European Union.

Well, that’s not fair …

Whoever said life was going to be fair, even for a car, was lying.

So what ARE you going to do if no-one buys me?

Hmmm ….. we haven’t decided yet. But anyway, here’s a picture of the first lunch stop on the way north, with you and Harry taking a break in the shade: