Ciao TO Italia…..Bonjour France and Earthquakes

Regretfully, but with a Motorhome full of memories, we left Italy behind and struck out for France, aiming
to spend some time by the sea for Miki’s birthday. Studying the map, she decided we should pull up
in Gruissan, by the coast, just south of Narbonne. A great decision, as the unusual coastline, waterways
and mix of new marinas and old town haver kept us here for three days. The biking here is great too, and
once again, as we did so often in Italy, found a great local swimming pool.

Miki’s birthday celebrations were muted somewhat by the news that Lorca, a toiwn we know well and just an
hour from our home, had been devastated by a huge earthquake. I was aware that we live near a fault line, but
the Western mediterranean is usually much quieter than the East, tectonically speaking. One can only imagine
the shock to the people there. There is something fundamentally, almost primally, reassuring about the
solidity of the Earth, and when that is shattered, I imagine the fear buries itself very deep within the psyche of
those who have experienced such a catastrophe.

We have to drive through Lorca as we head home in a couple of days. It will cast a very strange pall over the
journey until we reach it, I imagine. Our thoughts go out to all the people of Lorca, the victims, and their
families.

Kev Moore