16 Aug Paradise has its price
Around 5:30 the navi showed that I only need 1.5 h to the destination. That’s when I decided to stop at a rest area and sleep for 2 hours. So I did, at least I tried, I couldn’t push the seat back or fold the backrest back much because of my luggage cart. So I nodded in and out every now and then. The beginning of the day with the rising sun further ensured a not too comfortable sleep.
Already at home, I could think that it will be unpleasant to walk under the strong sun after a night of driving through and I planned the way a little bit. So I can spend the first night in a campground. Since the campground on my chosen route had turned out to be fake, I planned a detour to the Mediterranean, because there were a lot of campgrounds there.
At the rest area I freshened up a bit and drove to the car rental, filled up the car beforehand and was able to drop off the car without any problems.
Now there I was, with all the luggage in a parking lot, lacing up the car ready to march. Just as I was about to leave, my full bladder imposed its will on me. There was no toilet, I was in a parking lot in a city. Fortunately, there was a car in the last corner, which covered me up to the waist. I stood with my back to the car, as casually as possible, held my cell phone to my ear, pretended to be on the phone, and let things, or rather the bubble, run their course. For some things, sometimes it’s good to not be able to think clearly.
Then we started, first downhill to the Entang de Berre and that’s when it started, I saw the water and tears welled up in my eyes because I remembered how much Johanna likes being by the water. My wife isn’t easy to get excited about, but when she’s by the sea she’s visibly happy, her eyes start to sparkle so blatantly that any Geiger counter would burn out. She comes to rest and much falls away from her. Now I passed all the places where I could observe this with her, a few days ago. I felt so bad, sad and didn’t know if I was doing the right thing, yet kept running and running.
The path actually demanded much more attention, because it often went steeply uphill, I drank a lot, made an unusual number of breaks. The sun, the lack of sleep, the goodbyes made running very difficult. Landscape was there, of course, but my eyes were overwhelmed because the brain demanded attention while the heart flushed them. The road led me into the absolute hinterland until I struggled between rocks on a steep gravel road.
Very exhausted, I reached the campsite I had chosen. The woman at the front desk said with a pained face that unfortunately she had no free space at all, not even for a small tent, and warned me to be careful tonight, there was a storm warning. “Great!” I thought and before I could think any further she said, just a moment please, I’ll call another campground. “Wow, THANK YOU!” I thought again and actually the other campsite was also totally booked, but still had a few free pitches for small tents. She showed me the way, I thanked her warmly and struggled the 800 meters to the longed-for resting place. 300 of the 800 meters were so steeply uphill that I had to throw my whole body forward to make it. But paradise has to be fought for and, above all, has its price.
That there were many campsites here, I have already seen on the map, but I did not see that they are all such huge family holiday monsters. I checked into Paradise, mine was called “Le Mas” the staff were super friendly. The receptionist drove me around in one of those electric golf caddies and showed me a few pitches. My jaw dropped at the last one and I had a hard time hiding my tears, or maybe not at all. Because there I had a beautiful view, past a small church, directly to the sea. Johanna’s greatest wish was to wake up once in the tent, open the entrance and then look directly at the sea and that’s exactly what I had now. Back at the reception, tears almost welled up in my eyes for the second time when she told me that one night costs 43 euros. But what the heck, I was exhausted, needed sleep and had a dream of pitch.
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