Heading to Pau

Looking forward to visiting Pau over the weekend. Weather forecast not so good but should have an interesting town to wander around. Never visited before. Staying at another Camping-Car Park site. They really do seem to have cornered the market for these overnight/ two night stops. Had a few issues getting water this morning. Contacted the office via WhatsApp and they were amazing. They definitely have their act together. I didn’t have a card, just been using the app. Lady at the other end said , our records show you have had a card since 2018. “Well I did says I.” Just go to the machine at the gate says she, I’ll issue you with a new card. And just like magic a new card appeared out from the machine. I tapped my new card at the water pump and the good stuff just started flowing. Remarkable. We have a lot to learn in Blighty!

Before leaving Les Eyzies, I noticed a couple of things familiar;
People collect their dog shit in plastic bags and then dump it on the path just like back home. ( I’ll spare you a photo).
More interesting, I have noticed a number of shops closed down but particularly boulageries (bakers) I consulted ChatGPT and this is what I was told:

Many rural areas of France have aging populations and fewer young residents. Younger people often move to cities for work, leaving villages with fewer customers to support local businesses. 

When the population drops — or becomes mostly elderly — it becomes hard for shops like bakeries, cafés, or butcher shops to stay profitable.

Running a traditional boulangerie is famously demanding:

Many younger people simply don’t want that lifestyle, so retiring bakers often can’t find anyone to take over the business. 

That’s why you sometimes see signs like “Boulangerie cherche repreneur” (looking for a buyer).

Large supermarkets and discount chains sell very cheap bread, sometimes under €0.30 a baguette, which small artisan bakers struggle to match. 

Many rural residents now buy bread while doing their weekly shop rather than going to the village baker.

Bakeries use large ovens that run for hours. When electricity and gas prices jumped in recent years, some bakeries simply couldn’t afford to operate. 

Ingredient prices, labour costs, and taxes have also risen.

People in France eat less bread than in previous generations, and younger consumers buy more from supermarkets or convenience chains. 

So demand for a daily village boulangerie is weaker than it used to be.

Bakeries are part of a bigger pattern sometimes called “rural desertification”:

Some villages now have no shops at all, which residents say leaves communities feeling abandoned. 

Apparently in the 1970’s France had approximately 55,000 bakeries, nowadays it’s circa 30,000

Just stopped for lunch, how many people can say they’ve been here!

Stopped off at Monpazier for coffee. Jean and I visited this Bastide town over twenty years ago. Fortified settlements from the Middle Ages. There are several scattered around France.

Spent last night on another Camping-Car Park site. Very quiet only three other vans. Nice little town, Maubourguet. Had a stroll around town, popped in to a bar were the locals were all watching the rugby, Scotland had just finished thrashing France. Several of the punters wearing France shirts. England were on the tv, the locals cheering every time Italy scored. “I’m Scottish I lied!”
The site is surrounded by water. Sadly there is a “technical” problem with the water machine so I can’t fill up with fresh. Just as well I topped up before I left the last site. Ah well I’ll just have to drink beer today 🥲. I’m leaving for the relatively short drive to Pau to have a look around before heading off into the French side of the Pyrenees. It’s raining which is a shame, I was looking forward to some spectacular views of the mountains. It may clear up later, it did yesterday 🤞