Wheelchair Worries *Puissalicon Edition - It's Quite Nice Here

I could get used to this. A lot of our time was spent here, where else could we go where we could bask in the sun, drink beer, eat chocolate... as I'm writing this I'm realising that these aren't unique activities to our villa and we could do this anywhere else. I loved being here though, I was completely independant. I certainly don't disllike being pushed around - I am very grateful. It is my reluctance to have an electric wheelchair afterall, that means I need to be pushed. I'm sure everybody would prefer if I changed.

Most days would start by having brekkie and sitting outside by the pool. There were two ways out here. One way had a step while the other took you through the back door, which was completely flat. Not having to ask if I can come outside and cooming and going as I please, is something that can't be under estimated. It was quite a musical house and upon spotting a vacant guitar I thought I'd remind everybody of my musical prowess. I treated them to some Pink Floyd. I wanted to see if I still had it. I nailed it.

A guy came to look at the pool. An English guy, so I took advantage of the common language and made small talk.
"Fantastic weather, is it always this nice?" I asked
"Hmmm, not really" He replied, noticeablly not matching my enthusiasm. "It can be very windy and it's rarely this hot. I couldn't help but look at the two excuses for white man legs poking out from his shorts. It looked like he'd coated his legs with varnish. I suspected he was being a typical brit and moaning. I looked at his toes poking out from his sandals, they were just as varnished. I was sure my suspicions were correct.
"Do you get Golden Eagle's here?" I enquired
"Yes, they're not common, but you certainly see them here. You tend to find them around mountains and warm weather"

"Oh right. Maybe it was then."

Definately what we saw

A few days earlier we were driving back from Pézenas and saw a large bird hovering in the sky.
"Eagle!" Dad exclaimed while pointing at the sky. I scrambled for my phone and attempted to flick it onto camera and take a picture all before the car drove past it. "F*** P*** A***. I didn't manage it, but fear not, I have found an accurate depiction of it online. He assured me what he saw was an eagle. He could have pointed at a sparrow and shouted "eagle!" and I wouldn't have known any better. But maybe he was telling the truth after all.

Pézenas was a lovely little town that was mentioned in the blue folder of 'places of interest' found at the villa. This had immediately become our favourite place to visit. We came here a few times during our stay. It looked exactly how I imagined the South of France would. All the buildings were a pale yellow/brown colour. They even leave disabled car park spaces for people who are disabled. Well, every parking space was taken when we were trying to park, it may have just been coincidence that this space had become free at this point. At home most disabled parking spaces are free, but we couldn't read the instructions, so to be safe Dad went to pay. A French gentleman told us it was free before he paid. However, since Brexit a UK blue badge isn't recognised in many EU countries, including France. Replacement talks were set up and ministers agreed to negotiate individual deals with EU countries to recognise British Blue Badges, but these have stalled over the past year with no decisions being made.

Pézenas was clearly quite a popular town but it didn't seem to be very touristy. Any time I heard people chatting they were speaking French. 

Rolling around the main town square was simple, everywhere was smooth asphalt, there were drop curbs everywhere. There were quite a few restaurants and shops in the back allies, but some of these were up steep inclines and cobbled streets. They aren't inaccessible as long as you are with somebody to push you around. 

We stopped at Le Pezanes for lunch on what turned out to be the hottest day of the holiday. When we got back to the car it was reading thirty six degrees! Once it moved out of the direct sun it dropped to thirty one. But still, thirty six! We sat outside - as did the rest of the customers. I went into the empty restaurant to go to the toilet and it looked like wheelchair heaven. Everything was on one level, the floors were smooth and the tables were nicely spaced out so you could easily fit the wheelchair through. The toilet even had those rarest of things, a toilet seat!

We came back a few evenings later and ate at a street restaurant called Royal Glacier. It was in the side streets off the main square, so it was a bit of a push getting the wheelchair there. It was by no means wheelchair friendly. There were a few tables and chairs outside and then two or three steps down to get into the restaurant. I could only see the entrance which opened directly into a bar area. I dn't know if there were more seats inside. The food was lovely. Instead of chips they had thin slices of potatoe that looked like they were sauteed.

We consulted the trusty blue folder again and saw that d'agde was a forty five minute drive and was right on the coast. We fancied a paddle in the meditarranean sea. We packed our bucket and spade, put on string vests and knotted handkerchiefs on our head and set off. Fans of

The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X might recognise this name. I didn't. Cap D'agde is often mentioned, as Dom Byrne went on holiday to D'agde as a child and claimed he didn't know it was home to a nudist colony. To be fair to ol' baldy, I didn't know either. It's not obvious just walking around the place. In fact as we drove in I was already thinking of leaving. To say it was unimpressive is an understatement, to say I thought we were in Baghdad would be more accurate. As we got closer to the beach it did change into a nice fresh and clean looking place. It felt like a tourists town. We parked in a car park by the beach. It was more than suitable for the wheelchair. Everywhere was smooth concrete and the path that ran alongside the beach was very wide. The path had the beach on the left and a large grey hotel or shopping mall on the right. There were several restaurants littered around, with outside sitting areas with people sitting under parasols shading from the sun. We looked at the menus and there was virtually nothing for the vegetarians and vegan. Or me the normo...

sorry meat eater. I'm not a big fan of sea food. We would eat back at the villa and take advantage of the outside sitting area.

The penny dropped when I started seeing life size cutouts of Dom and sandwich boards with his face on promoting Cap D'agne. I do believe him now when he says he didn't know this was the biggest nude resort in Europe, but he's certainly making sure everybody else knows.

Our final visit was to Gorges d'Heric. It was mentioned in the trusty blue folder. Words like 'breathtaking' and 'beautiful' caught our attention, but those words don't do it justice. It was another gorgeous day, there wasn't a cloud in the sky again - the car was reading twenty-four degrees. On the drive there my ears were popping again. Well, I couldn't hear as well until I swallowed and they would temporarily clear, but quickly block again. I've never understood why this is called popping.  

We were transported into a western again. Surrounded by brownish, orange mountains. I could just imagine a Golden Eagle hovering above one of the peaks, but strangely now I was looking, there were non about. We arrived and started the long climb up. Once again I was regretting not having an electric wheelchair, or in this case a powered wheelchair. This was steep! Fortunately I was with three people who were willing to take it in turns pushing my carcass up. You do not want to miss the views of this place though so you could hire a powered wheelchair from Limitless Travel. 

The difference between a powered or electric wheelchair is generally what you're going to use it for. An electric tends to be for general use. You use it get around, but may not have the strength or stamina to self propel. They require regular charging because the battery needs to be able go for many hours. This sort of terrain would probably require a powered chair. Something with off-road tyres that has a short term battery that's only purpose is to get you up and down the gorges. A powered wheelchair often falls under the umbrella of electric wheelchair, but that's just semantics. Just be clear what you'll use it for when renting it.

Limitless Travel have got a fantastic website. It should be your company of choice when looking at booking a fully/partially accessible holiday, a coach holiday, cruise holiday, beach holiday etc. They even provide a carer should you need it, so you don't have to rely on family or friends who may be unavailable when you wish to travel. You can just use them to hire a wheelchair to use on holiday. You will need to phone them and be ready for questions like measurements from one hip to

the other and your body weight and height, as well as the terrain you'll be encountering. It's handy if you aren't going to need the chair all of the time. Most people will, but you may be able to have a manual chair to get around in and a powered one for trips like this. Then you could rent one specifically for this.

Anyway back to the hike. Gorges d'Heric is huge. it's about four kilometres from the car park to the town of Heric which is at the top. Fortunately the old rail bed had been converted to a road. The gorge is surrounded by high cliffs and peaks with spectacular views around each bend. The road was littered with people going up or coming down, most with hiking gear on and/or hiking sticks, hats, hiking boots and sunglasses. And here was us, without any hiking paraphernalia and pushing a wheelchair. I wonder if they could tell we were tourists?

We probably went about one third of the way before relenting and coming back down. What we had seen was spectacular though, and reading the reviews on-line it leads to a largely old ruined abandoned town. The nice cold beer I had when I got back back down to the car park, meant I wasn't sorry to not go any further.