Another Day Another Vineyard.

TROUILLAS.

We don't quite make the wine purchase. Fill the van with water and empty the grey. The owner passes us and is grumpy so we shoot straight off. Stop at the village to empty our rubbish. We discover a pool of water. We can't find the source but I had left the master switch and water pump on. We mop up and hope that is the cause. The next day or so will help us see.

Call for diesel at a cheap garage, euro 1.10, the equivalent of a £1 for a litre. More why this is significant later.

We head for Figueres for lunch. Another delightful trip through the Spanish countryside. However, it is market day in the town and parking proves impossible. So, we drive on to Argeles sur Mar. Our route takes us through La Jonquera. This seems to be a huge attraction for the French. Diesel is euro 1.30 which doesn't seem that cheap. It becomes so when we see stations in France showing euro 1.50!

The sex workers are out in force as we approach La Jonquera. Their uniform is made up of high heel shoes, a thong and a cut off tee shirt. Rosie wants to know if more clothes would be more enticing. I can only assume that their clients disagree.

We stop in the mall but the produce doesn't strike us as cheap coming from the south of Spain .

Strike on to Argeles where we have sandwiches on the beach.

The place has changed immensely since Rosemary last visited 15 years' ago. She used to have a caravan sited here but we struggled to find the site. Eventually, she concluded that it had been turned into a business park.

Our overnight stop is at a vineyard just outside Trouillas. It offers free parking, a toilet, shower and water. We conclude that the government must subsidise the farmer. To help, we buy a coupleof reasonably priced bottles of wine.

A walk takes us into the village. After a couple of wrong turns, we find a bar and enjoy a couple of drinks. It is full of working men and the atmosphere is good.

We didn't appreciate that the area still has some affinity with Catalunya. The signs are in both French and Catalan.