Monday August 20, Auch

Ruakiwi tucked up for the night

For the past four days I have been suffering a bit with toothache, hoping it would just go away. Spoke to Michael yesterday about the chances of finding a dentist if I needed one. He wasn’t sure as he said just about everyone in France is on holiday in August but did suggest calling into the local chemist and they may be able to help. And if all else fails he had some friends who spoke good English and French and they may be able to come up with some suggestions. After a night with not a lot of sleep I decided that I needed to get it sorted out. So, we walked into town this morning and popped into the pharmacy. They had a little English and were extremely helpful, and while the lady buzzed off to make a few phone calls, the guy  told us that dentists are hard to get into and sometimes you need to wait months!! That didn’t sound hopeful. I gather that the lady couldn’t get any response from the phone calls but suggested we walk a bit further down the road and explained where the dentist was and that we could see if he was there and if he could help. Found the narrow steps with the dentist’s sign on the door and could hear a drill going upstairs, so up we went and into a small waiting room. After awhile a lady came out and we managed to explain the issue with sign language. She asked us to take a seat and within half an hour I was ushered into the dentist’s room. He had a prod around, then took an x-ray of the tooth and said I had an infection. He then wrote out a prescription for antibiotics, some painkillers and a mouth wash. By this stage we were managing to communicate quite well, and he even asked if we could send him a postcard! And the total cost was €20!!! Fingers crossed that the antibiotics do the job. We couldn’t wish for better service.
Back to the van and got the maps out to work out today’s drive as we hadn’t planned anything expecting the tooth issue would take quite a bit longer. Quite sad to leave Moissac, it really has been a very relaxing few days.
Worked out a route south heading for the Pyrenees and stopped this afternoon at a municipal camp at Auch. Once again, the weather has turned really warm, up in the 30’s and it seems quite humid. We made use of the electricity at this site and cranked up the air con. Tomorrow we will be in the Pyrenees and it will be much cooler. No photos today, so quickly got the camera out at the campsite tonight!

Shadows on the van from the late