Of visitors and breakdowns

We had two U3A friends come out with Jon last Wednesday and we've had a great time showing off "our" region, which we love, and now they do too. We've been off-roading in the jeep, been down the Gouffre of Cabrespine, walked along the canal at Trebes, froze at the Pic de Nore, been to the market and old city of Carcassonne, had BBQs and meals in the courtyard.  The weather has been mixed, mostly very pleasant.

On Thursday, on our way back from an outing in the VW jeep, we had a puncture and, when Jon and Tony tried to jack it up, the jack point gave way.  Tony and I walked back to the village, picked up the trolley jack and returned in the Opel. Today we had the tube replaced and bought a spare tube so that shouldn't happen again. We still have to have the jack point welded.

Friday, we took the Opel for the round trip to Lagrasse, Queribus, Peyrepetuse and the Gorge de Galamus. Some of you may remember the saga of the Opel breaking down near Cucgnan (about 100k from Villalier) last year when we were taking visitors to Queribus. The four of us spent about 5 hours by the roadside, were repatriated eventually by taxi and we had to collect the Opel some days later from close to Perpignan.

Well, we had a rerun of this event, breaking down due to lack of fuel to the motor, in almost exactly the same spot. This time the breakdown truck agreed to transport both car and passengers to his garage. He told us to remain in the car while he winched it up on the back of his truck and set off at speed to his garage some 30 miles or so further south. Having established that the car couldn't be fixed there and needed to go to Perpignan to the Opel dealers, we were again taxied home (a cost of over €350 for the insurance). This time the whole adventure took only 5 hours, we were back home at 10 pm, and we are still waiting to hear what the problem is and how much it will cost.

Fortunately for our guests, we were able to continue their holiday with the assistance of the jeep. However, we are going to be very wary of visiting the "Cucugnan triangle" again - next time we may not emerge at all!