Day 4 - Pétanque Champion

It was a good nights sleep. I only got hit once. I got up just after 7am and wrote my blog, whilst Jackie wallowed in her pit.

Breakfast consisted of a fruit platter and toast with our fancy little toaster gadget.

After a short walk around the entire campsite and an inspection of the brand new swimming pool complex. We returned to our tent and hit the beach.

I had a tentative go on the paddle board and tried to stand up twice before deciding I wasn’t really feeling it. Instead Jackie and I went out sat astride the board, but the one oar was painful.

I took the bull by the horns and drove to Intersport, where I purchased a double ended paddle and a pack of 8 pétanque boules. When in Rome and all that!

I returned to camp and Jackie knocked up ham and mustard sandwiches. We had a beer and a glass of wine over lunch and to our horror we realised that between us we had drunk 5 litres of white wine in just under 24 hours.

After lunch we returned to the beach and we both took the board out on the lake with my new paddle which can be used as a single double ended paddle or broken into 2 separate paddles which we preferred.

I did try standing on my board again, but it was impossible as a stiff breeze was making the lake quite choppy.

It was 6.30pm by the time we left the beach. We anticipated that the campground would be a lot busier as it was the weekend, but actually there was one tent less with none around us.

We then headed up to the pétanque stadium for the first clash of the titans. There was quite a crowd, but if I’m honest I think they were watching the camp entertainment on the stage.

Pétanque is a game played to 13 points scored by a point for each of your balls nearest the Jack.

I thrashed Jackie 13 - 3 in the first game, but in the second game Jackie was leading 12 - 11, when I snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with 2 perfect throws to win the game 13 - 12.

It was a thoroughly entertaining game. I’m already wondering how good I can get!

We returned to camp and Jackie made dinner - sausages and salad. That stiff breeze played havoc with the gas cooker and Jackie had to move the cooker into shelter behind the tent.

Minutes later I heard the sound of stamping feet and the ground shuddering. I went to investigate and found Jackie furiously stamping on a burning tea towel. She had burnt 2 tea towels which she had put under the cooker to make it level.

The sausages were finished off with the electric hot plate, but sadly they were pretty disgusting. The 4 pork sausages which we paid over €1 each for were tasteless and very very salty. After a couple of bites we were forced to bin them and eat just the salad.

We have had two disastrous meals in a row, I’m starting to wonder if it’s more about the chef!!!!

I returned from doing the washing up to discover that Jackie had tried to make me a cup of coffee, but had broken the gas cooker. The flint to light it is knackered.

The night finished with half a packet of biscuits and a glass of wine.

Song of the Day - Ball and Biscuit by The White Stripes.Read more