The villa in Canyelles

Canyelles is a town in the upper east of the Garraf comarca (area) in the south of Barcelona territory, Catalonia, Spain.

I have to confess that I had never heard of the place until Tom booked the villa,last year. There is an old town and a 15 th century castle nearby.

Its chief attractions are its location, in the hills , its calmness , good services,especially the Eurostar supermarket,where we would go nightly to select from a great choice of fresh fish,meat and vegetables- not to mention the wine.

Tom arrived in the afternoon,we had already met the local agent and set up a few necessities, including coking a meal for when Dan was to arrive,which wasn’t until quite late -very slow at The Barcelona car hire booth. Great excitement when the children got to explore and saw the pool. Very amused when Martha asked:

” Grandma,is this your new house?” – we wish!

So on Sunday morning there began a series of days at the beach ( 15 minutes drive to Vilanova y Geltrú ) in the morning,lunch,quiet time then the remaining hours in the pool. The children were indefatigable in their delight.

The adults were pretty fond of it,too. Tom was the inspiration behind most of the cooking,mainly on the state of the art BBQ -we enjoyed a feast every night.

Monday,6 th August was the great day and the main reason why we were sharing this super place together. Barbara’s 70th Birthday. Beautiful fine,silver bracelet from the children,lots of cards and a table decoration made by Rosie Power, one of our Rambleros.

So, after a short morning at the beach it was back to the ranch,shower and off for a celebration lunch in Canyelles.

The routine of beach and pool continued for the next two days – it was very warm,33* but bearable,given that we were never far away from water as you can see.

Thursday was overcast and showery as forecast, so some of us drove down to Vilanova for a walkabout and a visit to the Catalonia Railway Museum. Lonely Planet was quite dismissive of Vilanova, whoever wrote that section could not have visited the extremely helpful thirst office,where we obtained a town plan and suggested walks. The town has some Belle Époque villas, built in the 19 th century by citizens returning from South America, having made their fortunes in a variety of enterprises.

I really enjoyed the railway museum,lifelong love of the steam era. Very informative notice boards in English about every exhibit and I got real sense of the impact the railways had, both on the social dimension and the industrial scene.

Friday saw us all back st the beach for the last time. Vilanova’s esplanade and beaches are wonderful and so child friendly. Tom got into naval mode and soon everyone had the chance to go to sea.

Ice creams were called for – Martha in raptures over hers and Florence was curious about them all – well,Florence is curious about everything! Jake and Martha had great times together.

It was another great day and we were unanimous in our enjoyment of the whole week – a momentous time had by all.

We went our separate ways on Saturday. Tom and Vickee off to the Dordogne for a week on a campsite. Nelly and Dan back to Berkhamsted,via Barcelona.

We had to be back by Tuesday, giving us the best part of four days for the return journey to Brum via Calais.

We set off at midday, after tidying everything up, heading for the Midi-Pyrenees region via the Cadi Tunnel, thus avoiding any serpentine like twists and turns over the mountains.

Our destination was Montech, a pretty town on the Entre Deux Mers Canal, which runs from the Med. to the Atlantic. It is also known for its Puente de L’eau, a stretch of waterway ingeniously designed to move barges,bypassing a series of adjacent locks.

The Sunday market was a feast of fare,brought in by local farmers , dealers and an enjoyable coffee was taken at La Place, overlooking the square.

Having spent two days in Montech there was a long drive upto any destination within a hundred miles or sos striking distance of Calais. We reached Pont de L’Arche, on the River Eure,chosen because we had stayed there before and it is a small, peaceful site, within handy walking distance of the town, where we experienced a traditional Moroccan meal.

Calais was reached in just over two hours on Tuesday morning,having booked the 12.35 crossing with P & O, the night before,giving time for some shopping and wine buying.

It was Calais au Soleil, a rarity – and the crossing, though late in departing was very smooth.

So, 30 days and over 2000 miles later we reached home; even the Dartford Crossing and the M25 were bearable.

The driving in France and Spain had been a pleasure – great infrastructure- not a single hold up. Unlike the unlovely M 20, with its scruffy weed covered centre barriers and three sets of roadworks in 30 minutes – welcome back to Little Britain.

I don’t suppose there will be a holiday quite like that again and we all had a great time.