guten tag! ich heisse Clare, Ich bin zwolf jare alt und ich habe einundzwanzig meersweinchen. Danke:)

Currently camping in Germany on the bank of lake constance, it is sehr beautiful, I took about a billion photos as the sun set! I can't really remember when I last updated but I do know that since then we've picked up Ollie and Sparky and now have a very very full car but more company:) Night before last we stayed with my cousin michael and his wife jo in Lausanne which was soooo good, being fed and having a real bed = bliss. Oh yeah, Switzerland is colder than France, who knew!? Last night we stayed in 'Camping des Glaciers' arguably the most beautiful place I have ever been, but also the coldest. I discovered that camping at the foot of a glacier requires more than a tent, a sleeping bag, two pairs of socks, tights, pyjamas, a jumper, a hoody and a woolie hat – I was quite cold! Even so, it was so ridiculously beautiful! I cooked tuna and cashew but pasta for tea which I was very proud of too. There was a black German shepherd that came to try to steal our breakfast, which made me happy too, dogs are ace. I also found milkyway crispy rolls in the local shop and bought one and it tasted like being 13. It was amazing! We decided to come straight to Germany todau coz Switzerland is too cold. So here we are. Its very exciting, ive never been to Germany depite doing German GCSE. Its so weird, I always thought that those words I learnt only existed on my little green word lists that I used to revise for exams, but here, theyre real words with real meanings and people actually say them – its crazy! In the car we've all been trying to learn German using my iphone 'German for dummies' app, its been good! Tonight Ollie made Fajitas, fajitas are goooood camping food! Anyway, I haven't met any new cats, which is always a shame, but I am home on Saturday evening and then ill get to see my boys again so its all good:) Tcheuse!

Ha, i just managed to connect to someones wifi from my tent!

I'm lying in a tent in the foothills of the alps – it is colder than by the beach, my toes are sad. But apart from that it's lovely here. After the last blog I wrote I was really ill again for about a day. Which wasn't all that fun, but never mind.

We drove from La Fargassa all the way to a campsite on a big hill overlooking Monaco, it was very beautiful and a nice sight to wake up to. There was a cat there called Pulp, but people and cats in that part of France seemed a little less friendly, not unfriendly as such, both the owner and her cat were perfectly pleasant, but neither seemed as warm and lovely as in South West France. We went to a nice little town called Bolliure which was very pretty but had too many English tourists, I like to be unique. Then we drove into Monaco and found a nice little cafe with wifi (after being looked at as if we were mad for asking where might have wifi in a cafe on the docks). I went on Facebook only to find out my friend Ste was also in Monte Carlo (apparently I already knew this and had had a discussion with him about it but seeing as I have the brewin memory I have no recollection of this), anyway, we arranged to meet up for breakfast the next day.

That evening we cooked fajitas in a storm which was interesting and then turned the tent (which is tiny) into a little dining room to eat them in, they were soooo good, you could taste the effort (Obviously jen's effort, not mine, I just watched her cook them and supported her morally). After fajitas, the storm stopped so we drove down to the harbour and walked along the front where all the yachts were docked and listened into the conversations of the posh English people eating in the restraunts, silly posh people, I liked it. In the morning we packed everything up, Jen gave some welsh boys a lift to a cash machine coz they forgot to bring cash to pay for the campsite (!?) and then we drove into Monte Carlo and had coffee/ice cream in a cafe on the beach with Ste and Donna and discussed what our cats might be thinking about various topics, it was tres tres beautiful, I enjoyed it muchly.

We then drove North for a few hours and arrived in this lovely campsite that I don't really know where it is. The owners are English and from Darlington, theyre very nice but the lady speaks French in a darlington accent, it's quite amusing. The first night was really cold but it feels a bit milder tonight so hopefully my toes wont hate me so much tonight. Today we had lunch in a little village which was nice, then we went for a little meander near the campsite through some trees and up a bit, cooked some rice and beef for tea, arranged to go and see my cousin Michael and his wife Jo tomorrow tomorrow night (im so excited about sleeping in a real bed!) and then got into the tent. Now I can hear a really annoying bird that won't shutup. Oh also, we played in a really pretty stream earlier today, that was nice.

The last few days have been very nice but have distinctly lacked cats and dogs. I have also become addicted to Bugles and feel furious that they don't exist in the UK, they are the best crisps ever. Silly UK. Oh good, the bird's shutup now. That's good news, I think i'll play some yahtzee, bonne nuit:).

this blog isn't very interesting

I can't remember when I last updated. Oh yes, in the Spanish campsite. Just after writing, we saw a giant toad by the toilet block, he was about as big as 2 week old baby rabbit or a doughnut, but not as cute as a baby rabbit or as fattening as a doughnut (I'm guessing there, I don't know the calorific content of a toad and also the fat content of doughnuts varies massively with brand, but if you average it out, I think the toad would be less). Anyway, the next day we drove back into andorra to get some petrol and supplies from the supermarket (supermercat in catalan, which I like coz it sounds like super-meerkat). We went in at 20 past 12. We spent what felt like 40 mins, maybe an hour, when we came out t was 20 to 3. Woops. It was ok, I find supermeerkats quite exciting. Then we drove through the mountains some more until we got tired and jen said “ok, start looking out for campsites now” and then 2 seconds later we saw a sign and followed it to a lovely campsite with a dog called Tura as its mascot, which pleased me so we set up camp. We went for a walk away from the lights of the campsite when it got dark and saw a bajillion stars. It was pretty:) Oh and we found a washing machine to do some laundry, hurrah! In the morning we made toast, marmite and fried egg. The marmite we found in the super meerkat in andorra and is making my mornings just a little bit better everyday:) Then we drove up the hill and went for a mountainous walk where I saw lots of bees, some flowers, some mushrooms, strawberries and lots and lots of mountains. It was only about one and a half hours coz I still wasn't feeling 100% and it was very hot. Then we drove to a campsite in France near Amelie-les-bains. To get there involves a 20 minute up a mountain pass that barely fits a single car on and has a sheer drop of billions and billions of feet at the side of it. It was an adventure, and by that I mean I thought I might die, but we listened to The Format the whole way up which helped. The campsite (las fargassa) is ba self sufficient fruit farm, buried amongst the mountain trees, miles from anything else. It's really beautiful and to top it all off, I met some new animals! There are two cats, called Toby and Puss something (apparently it means cat-animal in Dutch, but I forgot the second part of the name). Toby kept hitting jen on the arm while we cooked dinner, I was amused and charmed, jen was less so. There are two border collies named mirra and gita and three of gita's puppies named bear , tumook and something beginning with an F that ive forgotten. Bear is a 4 month old lab/retriever x collies. He is black with a white splosh on his chest. He is wonderful. Quaruntine laws have changed. He only needs a few jabs to come to England. He is free to a good home. Interesting...

We decided to stay two nights here. The first night we had torrential rain and really loud thunderstorms, it was very exciting in our little tent, flashy flashy bang bang! The next day(today) we drove into colliure nand went snorkelling at the beach. It was awesome, only a few metres in and we saw loads of fishies and corals, we even saw an octopus who blinked at me. I liked him, i'll call him Simon. Whilst we were wondering round the streets, in shorts and strap tops and flip flops, the torrential rain started up again which was fun. We hid in a little cafe with wi-fi. Then we drove back u the scary mountain road and made some tasteless pasta for dinner. Then I was sick:( Now I feel ok and there are lots and lots of stars out. This is the most boring blog ever. Mum, can I bring a puppy home pls?

Poor clare

Ok, so, I has been poorly sick these past few days which has been a little bit rubbish. Since i last updated I have been sea kayaking, where I saw a lost baby heron, and a crab and a sea anenome. I wrecked my trainers in the kayak. When we picked our kayak I took the red one (points for anyone who gets why I 'took the red one'). Then that afternoon we went canyoning. At firs I thought it would be fun. Then I almost died of fear. Clares dont like canyoning. Although I ndid manage all the absailing down waterfalls, which was a tiny bit less scary than leaping off cliffs into water

After that I got sickly:( I did manage to feel well enough to go sailing the next day which was very nice and sea-y but I had to concentrate quite hard on not being seasick. They all spoke frenbch but I understood when he said something about dolphins but apparenbtly he was saying that they have them further out but not where we were:( That night there was a party at waikiki beach. They played cotton eye joe and it turns out french people are worse dancers than me. ha. Then we went home coz we were tired. The next day I was very ill and in bed most of the day. Later on jen went and picked up the car so we drove to argeles sur mer and also to colliures which I realised I actually remembered from being here aged 5! Last night we played ping pong with a french man and twoi swedes and I ate ice cream (it made me feel less ill). Today we left UCPA and drove to andorra. Now we are in a nice little campsite in spain just outrsiode andorra. There are lots of cats but I havent spoken to any enough to name them, theyre all quite shy. There is a sickly little black and white kitten that I want to save and make him better but hes very shy. I'm naming him Malcolm, I hope he feels better soonb. I miss Canard and Lola. Spanish people are very very noisy. In the supermarket though, I found salt and vinegar crsips finally which made me very very happy and then to accomapny it theye started playing "that thing you do" from the film which quadrupled my happineess, Now I am very very sleepy. I still havent really eaten very much coz food makes me feel more sickly, though I did have a mcdonalds cheeseburger today:) I just heard an owl, the pyrenees are fun. I think hes telling the spnaish people to shutup.

Some new things

Clare didn't see the point in updating the blog today since she hasn't met any new cats since her previous post. We did see a young heron who seemed a bit lost and confused on our expedition at sea in kayaks yesterday (we were in the kayaks, not the heron). Also yesterday Clare nearly had seven heart attacks at the canyon park where we had to jump and slide into deep pools of water, and I had to keep telling her that it was ok, she wasn't going to drown, and generally patronise her until she stopped complaining like I do the year 8s at Bewerley Park. Last night we played a highly competitive game of boules (petanques) which the French all seemed to take with stereotypical seriousness. It was quite funny. We didn't win, but we were highly entertained by the evening and I came away much more secure in my understanding of the French for MINE, YOURS, OURS, CLOSER, WINNER, YOU BEAUTY!! etc.

This morning Clare has been mostly feeling a bit sick, she thinks it might be post-traumatic stress from the Canyon Park. I think it might be the snails from last night which she was stupid enough to try. Whatever. It should make this afternoon's sailing experience more interesting. Anyway, this morning we decided to go for a walk back in time to c.1992. It was quite exciting:

:)

Ok so. Diving is amazing! This afternoon we went on a very fast little boat, (there were 8 of us I think) out to sea in wet suits. Then we snorkelled for a bit. I saw lots of fish that looked like the fish in my tank, I waved but they didn't wave back, I think its because they were french. Then I went for a dive with an oxygen mask and everything. I poked lots of bits of coral and sea anenomes and they were squidgy. Cest te tres tres bon! I have seen three more cats since we last spoke. Later on at the campsite we were joined by another cat that I named Martine but she wasn't as friendly as Lola and Canard, then there was a massive cat by the swimming pool, I named him Claude. Then last night there was a nervous little black and white cat. She was lovely and my animal behaviour skillzzz meant I got to stroke her by being non threatening and patient. I didn't name her because she mightve thought I was being a bit too threatening and controlling and she mightve run away. I liked her. This morning we went sunbathing on the beach. Wonderful. Yesterday we returned the car to spain. The train was full so we couldn't get back so we got lost in Figueras for a bit and had coffee and then got the next train which it turns out was much cheaper so its all good. Then we missed the bus back from perpignan and had to spend 4 hours in perpignan waiting for the next one. I liked it but I was very tired. Im tired from diving. I have been learning French. Im getting very good,im practiclly fluent now. I've written two songs in French so far: “la mer, la mer, c'est froid, c'est bon, cest belle, la mer, c'est froid et bon!” and also “dejeuner dejeuner, keskasay, dejeuner, dejeuner keskasay” Jen won't tell me how to spell in french coz she says its funnier this way. But I can speak most of french now so its ok. Anyway,i need a shower, I smell of the sea. Aurvoir!

Sorry I'm a bit boring compared to Clare but we're in a hurry...

Monday 30th August, Figueres (Spain), weather: SCORCHIO!

So we finally got to UCPA Saint Cyprien yesterday at about 4:30pm. We'd intended to arrive much earlier, but our lonely, beautiful campsite in the pyrenees turned out to be much too comfortable and it wasn't until "Lola" miaowed at Clare at about 9.30am, presumably to tell her it was time to be fed pain au chocolat, that we finally dragged ourselves out of the tent and bothered to get up.

When the TomTom sent us through Lourdes I couldn't resist the opportunity to show Clare the glow-in-the-dark statues of the Virgin, and we nearly bought mum a hologram picture that was Jesus from one angle and Mary from the other.

So anyway, by the time we finally arrived at the Mediterranean I was kind of tired from the 800-km drive we'd done in the past 24 hours, and a bit confused by how French everything was. It's always disappointing to realise that my language skills are seriously below that required for any kind of conversation, really, but luckily there was a friendly English-speaking UCPA girl who helped us to understand what was going on and feel a bit less lost. We are, however, the only Anglaises there. Which is a bit disappointing but kind of interesting. And probably good for my French.

Last night we joined a quiz team where our knowledge of the theme tunes to Malcolm in the Middle and Buffy ("Contre les Vampires") came to good use. We found ourselves dancing on chairs to Sex Bomb - in order to win more points for our team, of course. So we were quite sociable really.

Last night the UCPA workers decided to have a party outside our bedroom and we weren't allowed to go to sleep until 3.30am which made me and Clare very angry (clare shouted TES TOI very loudly but I don't think they heard). We will be having words later. Probably in English, though.

For now we are slightly stranded in Figueres, Spain, because we didn't realise trains could get booked up over here. But apparently there is still a way back to Perpignan so we will be ok.

Clare's French word(s) of the day: sans plomb.

Adios!

Canard, Lola and the Smiling Dolphins

Saturday 28^th August 2010. Camping a la ferme du plantie

Hallo. We are in France in a campsite which is really a garden. There are two cats, one is called Canard (Duck) and the other one I named Lola. Lola tried to steal our pain au chocolat. I like them:)

Since we left Stockport On Thursday morning we have travelled to Portsmouth on public transport with very heavy bags (turns out my back is very lazy) and then sailed across the sea on a beautiful pea green boat (and by that I mean a giant cruise ship/ferry). Where we sailed across is full of whales, dolphins and porpoises (32 different species spotted to date), so it was very geared to whae spotting, with a nice guide called Clive. I saw lots of dolphins, 2 pilot whales, some backs of fin whales and a tuna (noone else saw the tuna but I didn't make him up, his name was Marcel). It was all of the fun, I also enjoyed trying to figure out how to use Shaun's camera to photograph their little smiles.

There was lots of 'entertainment' on board. I was not entertained by it. For tea on the second night we had childrens meals coz they were cheaper. I had fish cake and chips and a fruit salad, it was very tasty, the chips tasted like school dinners:) At the end of the day when it went dark I spoke to Clive and told him about my degree. He told me I should've told him sooner so he could've told me more in depth stuff about them. He acted like my degree made me clever. This made me happy.

The boat was very rocky and I felt quite sea sick and consequently didn't sleep very much, I also couldn't sleep coz my tummy shouted at me that children's portions were for children.

We got up at 6am (UK time) and got off at Bilbao. We got a taxi to the car hire place and he ripped us off but I don't speak any spanish so I couldn't argue. Then we drove. We had breakfast in a Spanish service station. The lady shouted at me. I don't speak spanish. I had a potato, cheese and ham omlette. It was clealrly mashed potato but I was so hungry/tired I ignored this fact and nyomed it all down. I then bought some bugles and ate some in the car:) We stopped in Bayonne and bought some bread, ham, cheese and ate it on a bench. Then we got confused by a possibly broken public toilet that kept trying to open while we used it. Silly French toilets. Then we drove lots. We stopped at a Champion and bought tinned paella amongst other things. Then we drove to the lovely campsite we're at now and cooked our tinned Paella. Lola doesn't understand/care that camping stoves are hot and kept almost burning her nose. Silly Lola. Jen and Canard are now lying reading a cool camping book. I am too sleepy to function. That is all for now.