12-16 November - Ceret and a day trip to Figueres, Ian & Erin

Autumn has definitely arrived and it is much colder. The snow on nearby Mt Canigou was pretty low.

Mt Canigou

We have been taking things pretty quietly. An interesting article in one of the local papers was rather amusing. The sole bakery in a village was closing. The solution was to install three baguette vending machines, each in a different location. They will be filled each day by the baker from a nearby town. However, you will even be able to choose how crispy you want your bread as there will be three levels of 'cookedness' to choose from. Amazing.

On Friday 15th we decided to head over the border to Figures, just 45 minutes into Spain. Our aim was to find a replacement coffee cup for one that had been recently broken by a granddaughter. We knew the shop it had come from, so it seemed a good excuse to have a break from the house - where we have been laid up for the last few weeks. It was a lovely sunny day, though very cold.

It ended up being a very successful day, not because we found a new coffee cup (the shop had closed down and we couldn't find another one similar) but we did come across some great clothing buys. The bonus was a Spanish lunch in a fun little corner restaurant, which was filled to the brim with locals.

A lovely selection of Japanese teapots (we'd still love to return to Japan)

Tapas bar in Figueres

Saturday morning was market day, as usual. Our friends Ian & Erin from Nelson arrived in time to catch the end of the market. They had been on a trip through Portugal and Spain. It was wonderful to see them, and after enjoying lunch chez nous (at home) we went on a bit of a walk around Ceret.

The weather was unseasonably cold, and more like the temperatures expected in January or February. Even the locals were grumbling. The temperature was about 1-3 degrees when we wake up, about 4 degrees when we head out for a walk, and the high for the day perhaps 10-12. However, it's been mostly sunny so it's still really nice to go outside, you just have to wrap up super-warm.