No surprise that Stevie Wonder sang it in English.

The title may be a clue that someone has had a birthday, but more of that later.

Yesterday we drove further towards Spain along the Mediterranean coast. We first stopped at the most enormous Hypermarket I have ever seen, an Auchan. Not much food was required but a few bits and pieces were missing for that birthday.

Eventually we arrived at Camping Le Hares (42.5748, 2.9639 – €30) In the village of Palau-del-Vidre. I chose this site and was willing to pay a little extra because apparently it has the best campsite restaurant out of the thousands of ACSI registered sites, and that birthday person was going to require a slap up nosh.

The Campsite sits just next to the Pyrenees and some of the mountains still have plenty of snow.

For the past few years I have been using an app on my phone called Merlin. It was developed by Cornell University and it is brilliant at identifying birdsong. Imagine my excitement when sitting outside I switched Merlin on and found that, somewhere in the vicinity, there were five birds I have never seen before – Firecrest, Dartford Warbler, European Serin, Garden Warbler and Crested Finch. Unfortunately one of the reasons I haven’t seen them before is that they are tiny, flighty and love undergrowth. So although I caught a glimpse of the Firecrest the rest sang to their hearts content safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t spot them!

OK, so I know you’ve all been in suspense. Today was Sarah’s 65th Birthday. I have been Sarah’s slave all day. Walked Skye and then at the crack of dawn walked a mile to the boulangerie to get Sarah her favourite Pain aux Raisin.

After breakfast we went for a walk around the local lake and much to Sarah’s excitement the lake was full of some kind of turtle. Infinitely more exciting for me was to spot a Eurasian Wryneck, a rare bird in the UK. A type of woodpecker.

On our return to Basil all members of the team (Basil excepted) had a slice of Sarah’s Birthday Cake. A delicious Lemon Meringue Pie from the Hypermarket complete with candles also acquired yesterday.

We have one more day on this site before we start the slow journey north up the West side of France.