This is a very different trip this year; we have now both retired and therefore have extra time to spend travelling. Our initial plan was to spend three weeks in France in April/May and then the tour that we had spent years dreaming about: a six week tour of Scandinavia, taking us across the Arctic Circle. This has been an ambition of ours ever since Ralph Lee wrote about the Order of Blue-nosed Caravanners.
Unfortunately, our plans were changed at an early stage. The winter and spring were considerably colder than normal and this was starting to affect the facial muscles that had become paralysed due to my Bells Palsy. We therefore decided to forgo the trip to France in favour of ten days of sun in Tenerife. This left us with a situation where the France trip was to have been an acclimatisation run prior to the Scandinavian journey. We had thought that a three week shakedown would show up the cracks before the longer journey. As we now did not have a France trip, we cancelled plans for the Scandinavian trip. In its place was to be a six week trip to France with two weeks in Spain in the middle.
We booked Eurotunnel for the night of 11th / 12th June with a return of 24th July, but then Val’s father; who had been in hospital for some weeks started to cause more concern and in view of this we arranged a meeting with the medical team at Maidstone Hospital to discuss his position and needs. The meeting was to be on 11th June and we could not confirm our trip until after that meeting. Eventually, we decided to take the trip and set off 2 days later on the night of 13th / 14th June.
Day 1
This is always a simple decision; shopping at Coquelles and then spend the night at Saint Valery sur Somme. When we arrived at the Aire at Saint Valery, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was almost empty.
Day 2
One of the most important considerations when heading South in Western France is how to get around Rouen. Don’t get me wrong, Rouen is a wonderful city with history in bucketfuls and a beautiful clock spanning the main street of the old town. No, the problem with Rouen is the roads and specifically navigating a through route that avoids the underpasses; and it is the underpasses that are the problem. They have a maximum height restriction of 2.4 metres, and when you are driving a vehicle that is around 3 metres high, you need to avoid them. They are well signed and have hanging strips well in advance, but every year you hear of an unlucky motorhomer who has fallen foul of them. Personally, I believe that if you are fully observant there is no problem as they are so well signed. Others insist that you must have a GPS that warns you of possible problems.
Anyway, rant over. We cleared Rouen about lunch time and set off for a convenient place to stop overnight. Initially I had planned to get around Le Mans before stopping with a view to using the small Aire at Arnage where we stopped last year. I started to feel tired and we checked for a more local Aire. We found the ideal place at Broglie, just off the main road and a couple of kilometres from where we were. What a beautiful find, the Aire is well marked out with large plots on hard stand surrounded by well-kept grass. The charge is 5 Euro per night, which is collected in the evening. During the afternoon the Aire filled up and even for mid-June was soon full to bursting.
We couldn’t fail to have a peaceful night and left in the morning fully refreshed. Thank you to the Commune d’ Broglie.
Day 3
Our plan is to visit our friends Pat and Ray in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca and to this end I decided to extend our daily driving in order to arrive in Spain as soon as possible. Now, I can’t and won’t drive the distances that I used to and therefore gone are the days of driving from Calais to Alicante in two days, but seven or eight should be possible. Today we head on south towards Spain. A thought struck me that we could drive to Poitiers and stop at Futuroscope as we hadn’t visited for over 20 years. Well we drove past Futuroscope in our quest to head further south. So we passed Poitiers and eventually stopped at Vivonne, a small old town beside the river Vonne in Vienne.
The Aire is in a quiet corner of the car park, totally undisturbed and kept clean.
Day 4
Plug on through towards Spain with today’s target being to get south of Bordeaux; and we managed it by stopping at Cadillac. We knew that there was an Aire there but it is not where the pictures on the campingcar-infos.com website shows. Eventually we found the signs and the Aire. As we arrived, we were greeted by a Frenchman who was very insistant that Aires and their consequent availability were enforced. To this end he had already boxed in one private car and was determined that any others were dealt with just as summarily. We tried to tell him that we only wanted water and not to cause a fuss, but he was having none of it. We filled up with water and then parked parallel to the boss at a distance of about 2 metres. At least I was congratulated on my unassisted parking.
Cadillac is a ancient walled town with almost all of the wall still intact. There were originally four gates to the town, but only three remain and only two are still accessible. Amongst its claims to fame is the fact that Joan of Arc, she who crops up everywhere in French history, held court there in a park just outside the walls.
There had been rain forecast with thunderstorms, but by bedtime none was present. At about 01:30, the thunder started rolling, initially I slept through it. Eventually I was awoken by some extremely loud claps of thunder and we witnessed a spectacular show. At one point Val decided that the sound of the rain meant that she needed the loo; bad timing as just as she has sat on the loo there was an almighty flash of lightning and she jumped off the seat. Tended to give a truer meaning to the phrase “A flash in the pan”.
What we hadn’t realised at that time was that these storms were the start of three days of Red Weather Warnings, that would bring damage and tragedy to South Western France. For the first time ever, the shrine at Lourdes was closed as it was considered unsafe to approach.
Day 5:
Another push southwards as we head towards Spain. Today we are headed towards Pau or thereabouts ready for the Col du Somport on the 19th. The rain was pretty relentless as we drove through mile upon mile of perfectly straight forest road. It wasn’t cold, but was wet, very wet. At lunchtime, I rechecked the map and found that instead of heading for Pau; we would be better heading for Oloron Sainte Marie. This is another ancient town, at the base of the Pyrennees and once again was part of the pilgrimage route to Sandiago de Compostello.
We found the aire quite easily, thanks to good signage by the municipality. There was space for seven Campingcars and, when we arrived, we became number three. By nightfall, there were ten, but the Continentals were never ones to let simple maths ruin an opportunity.
As we drove through the town, we noticed that the main river was flowing exceedingly high and fast and appeared to be approaching flood. As soon as the rain stopped we went for a walk to investigate. Sure enough, the river was considerably higher than anyone could wish for comfort and was obviously carrying a lot of debris. Local people were peering out of windows and gathering at the river banks to view the sight. During the evening, it became evident that the state of the river was a cause of concern for the town’s people. At the aire there was a frenzy of activity as cars arrived and their occupants went to the bridge to see for themselves what was happening.
It rained heavily all night as the water level rose. By morning, the river was becoming monstrous.
Day 6:
It’s my Birthday!!! The plan for today is to head up the Col du Somport and into Spain. Well, plans never work. We drove towards the Col du Somport, but as we arrived at the turning where it is a left for the mountain pass or straight on for the tunnel, I took one look at the road to the pass, which was looking rather unloved and plumped for the tunnel. Now, I was given to understand that the Tunnel du Somport is a toll road and very expensive; well, time to put the record straight, it is free and a great drive.
So, once again, I have failed to see the top of this pass in daylight, but better safe than sorry.
Once in Spain, the decision was to find somewhere for our first night. This turned out to be a Spanish equivalent of an aire, at a sports complex and school in Tamarite de Litera, a few kilometres west of Huesca. The aire is spotless with just the basic requirements of water, waste and toilet dump. Stunning views out across the plains, but a very uninteresting town that has nothing to warrant even an evening stroll.
Day 7/8:
Up early to head for the Costas. We had at one time planned to head for Seville and then Granada before going to Torrevieja, but to do this would have meant keeping up the long drives every day. Seville is a 650 mile drive from Huesca, so a four day drive and then onto Granada. Spain is a massive country and you can drive for hours between towns, so it is very tiring. We decided instead to head towards Barcelona until we realised just how expensive aires or campsites have become. There are two “aires” in Barcelona; one is a lorry park for which you are charged 30Euros per night and the other is a coach park with a charge of 20Euros. Neither of these have full facilities, and, both have terrible reviews. So, let’s head towards Tarragona, it’s not too far and there are plenty of sites and aires. On the outskirts of Tarragona is a massive Carrefour Hypermarket. It was lunchtime and they always have WiFi access. We could do some necessary shopping, have lunch and check the internet for sites. It was in here that we found an absolute bargain, the sign said “San Miguel cervesa 1 Euro per 1 litre”. The bottles were in packs of six, so I put a pack into the trolley. Great surprise when we checked the receipt to find that we had only been charged 1 Euro for the pack.
We checked the aires and the sites to find a suitable location for the night; aires are very expensive and dirty, and sites are the same but mega expensive. We eventually found an aire on a campsite at L’Ametlla del Mar. Drove to the campsite to find that it was possibly the worst campsite in Europe. The site is dirty, untidy and in excess of 32Euro per night. To top that 14 of the pitches had trees growing in the middle. We soon left and headed back towards Tarragona with a view to pay a bit more just for somewhere for the night. We stopped at a couple, and after looking around decided to drive on. Eventually, tired, angry and frustrated, we stopped at Oasis Mar Camping at Montroig del Camp. We walked around the site and found a pitch that we thought would do us. Unfortunately, this pitch was too far from the electric point, so we chose another one. Never before have I spent 20 minutes trying to get the motorhome onto a pitch, but at this one I did. There was much swearing and cursing, but we made it, well sort of made it. We were halfway back on the pitch, but by then the trees were so close it was impossible to make further progress. We therefore could not fully extend the awning.
Despite the poor site, we ended with a rest and therefore decided to stay for two nights. It was during our first night here that we received two emails that put a different complexion on our trip. Val’s father was not responding to treatment too well and the hospital had decided that it would be best for them to start removing his treatment. And Kimberley, our eldest grand-daughter had been admitted to York hospital with complications following Tonsilitis. This combined news made us re-assess our situation in that the further south we travelled, the more difficult it would be to get home if necessary. Travelling to Torrevieja sounds great, but would add two or three days to our journey if we needed to get home. I cannot drive the distances that I used to, gone are the days of Calais to Alicante in less than two days.
Day 9
Time to leave Spain and head back North. We had visited Andorra before, some 11 years ago, and decided that we should give it another try. We selected Camping Valira, which is just five minutes walk from the main centre of the capital, Andorra la Vella. As we arrived, our hearts sunk; the entrance to the site was up a quite steep road that appeared to be the side entrance to a car repair site. A classic case of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. This is a good site with decent sized level pitches on hard standing, an inside pool, restaurant, spotless toilets and showers all for 25 Euros per night including free WiFi. And the stunning views were free!
We stayed for one night and made the most of our visit to Andorra.
When we visited before we were disappointed with the prices in the shops for what was a Principality with a reputation for tax free shopping. Well, we can confirm that this reputation is back and prices are again good, with shops prepared to haggle. I managed to buy the latest top of the range Garmin GPS device for the equivalent of £183, compared to a UK retail of £269. I was happy.
Day 10
Back into France, and what a journey. The road from Tarragona to Andorra is great with excellent views but they pale into insignificance when compared to the startling views from Andorra to France. The road goes higher to about 8500 feet with snow and ice at the roadside in mid-June.
The pass has some great hairpins, but the surface is well maintained so there are no fears. Once at the peak, we could see the cloud below us and it was this that caused a few problems going back down. In fact, it was very foggy in places, but we came out below the cloud to more stunning views.
We stayed the night at Mirepoix, a small town beside the D119. At first Mirepoix looks totally insignificant, but an afternoon walk revealed an ancient town centre with a cloistered square. Under the cloisters was a Flea market/ Boot sale/ Brocante market that filled every available space.
In the late afternoon, the whole town seemed to gather at the Salle de Danse where we were staying, for what appeared to be an exhibition by the local prima-donnas.
Day 11
Up early this morning for the short journey to Carcassonne. This is very exciting as we have heard so much about this place. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is possibly the best example of a fortified walled city still standing. Our site was to be the Municipal Campsite at Carcassonne and this was easy to find. Booking in was a different matter, but once we had tackled that and changed pitch we were happy. We ended up with a massive pitch with high hedges all around.
The walk from the site takes about 15 minutes and is flat for the first two thirds. Across the fields, one can see the splendour of the City and its walls. From that point, the photo opportunities never stop. The climb to the city is along the centuries old cobble paths and you really get a sense of going back in History. Once inside the City walls, the sights are such that it is almost impossible to draw breath. This City is one of those “Must Visit” places that words will always fail.
There is absolutely nothing bad that can be said about Carcassonne. Magnificence is here for all to see. In our 24 hours we visited three times and covered every street and rampart. Unlike the UK, none of this amazing monument is spoilt by the political correct brigade; who insist on safety rails at every opportunity. There was no evidence of even one safety rail and the whole experience is so much the better for it.
Day 12 / 13
It is with regret that we leave Carcassonne, but that is not without a final visit in the morning before we leave.
Today, we have the short journey to Narbonne. Another city on the old pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostello. There is a CampingCar Aire just outside the City and a short walk from a Carrefour Hypermarket. Sorted, we can park up and do our shopping and visiting without moving. The Aire de CampingCars is excellent, you check in at the barrier by entering your registration number. This then gives you a magnetic card that allows you acess to the Aire. There are 41 places, all level with electric hook-up, and they are a good size. Narbonne is an interesting City with an ancient Cathedral and many Roman remains.
During the late afternoon and evening the wind rose and the van was rocking quite violently as the evening drew on. We decided to head for the coast tomorrow to spend a couple of days chilling and hopefully to escape the wind.
Day 14
We got up and slowly got ready for the short journey to the Mediterranean coast at Cap D’Agde. Fortunately we took longer getting ready than normal as just as we were about to go, there was a tap at the door. Our visitor was another British CampingCariste, who had just arrived at Narbonne from the coast. His advice was to head inland as there were severe warnings of high winds on the coast. The forecast was for gusts of around 80kmh (50mph), which can cause serious damage.
We quickly changed our plans and headed inland for Saint Pons de Thomiers, where there is a small aire that would be ideal for the night. The journey was interesting with a mini mountain pass to contend with. Unfortunately, the aire doesn’t exist. Instead, we drove for another 3 miles to an aire at Courniou. This is at a de-commissioned railway station that is now the information centre and café for La Grotte De La Deveze, a massive network of caves in the limestone hills above the town.
Day 15
This is a day of highs and lows; highs because of the amazing medieval town that we came across on out travel, and lows because our destination for the day turned out to be a disappointment.
The medieval town was Olargues, just south of the main D908 road and, whilst visible across the river, must be explored on foot. There is a road in and the same road out. This road leads to a car park, and if you have any sense that is as far as you want to drive here. There are roads, but they were made for donkey carts. Apart from the necessary works to install the modern utilities, the roads remain just as they have for centuries. In fact where the utilities have been installed, the roads have been lovingly restored. There is a Pont Diablo (Devils Bridge) that no longer carries traffic, but is still open to pedestrians. Everywhere there are arches that lead to alleyways going further and further up the hill that leads to the still working Bell Tower. This is unspoilt France in the true meaning of the word, and long may it exist. It was an absolute joy spending the morning exploring this village from the past.
From the high to the low of our destination; Bedarieux, a town that according to the guide book had once been so important for the region, but now seems insignificant. We arrived at the aire in time for lunch and at first were impressed, after I had extricated the van from the tree trunk that I had wedged the awning against. Fantastic mirrors on this vehicle, but they do not look upwards, and I found the only tree trunk low enough to catch. No damage, just a mark that will clean. The aire is clean, level and appeared well spaced. It is the “appeared well spaced” that was the problem. By mid-afternoon more campingcars arrived and things started to get crowded. By early evening there was really no more room at the inn. Our neighbour was within 3 feet of our van and this is not what we signed up for. I had a bit of a wobbly that evening, but soon climbed back down. It was a relief to leave the next morning.
Day 16 /17
Two weeks have gone and we are starting to get into the swing of things, we are making less mistakes and realising that long trips are very different from two week holidays. Last night we planned our travels for the next week. We head slightly north to the other side of the Midi Pyrenees and into the Tarn Gorge, from there west towards Bergerac. Today is Millau, home of the famous Millau Viaduct, an immense road bridge spanning this valley. We stopped for a photo opportunity as we came down the gorge into Millau. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and the bridge is too far to get a good photo. As we came into Millau we were met with a sight that we had not expected. This sleepy town was thriving, there were marquees and stages everywhere and crowds of people as far as the eyes could see. All of these people were camping, tents were erected in just about every space available. Undaunted, we drove on towards our designated campsite. It was packed, no space available. We set the Sat Navs to head for the next destination on our list, Rodez. Hopefully something would come up and we could retrieve some form of plan. We stopped in a lay-by for lunch and consulted the Caravan Club sites book for inspiration. There was a site nearby, but the reports were not great and the fees seemed high for the reports. As we drove into the village of Aguessac we saw the site on the right. It looked clean with plenty of space. Up to the roundabout, turn round and drive in. The fees are not as shown in the sites book and the pitches are large, clean and reasonably level. The sign at reception says, find a pitch and then check in; our sort of regulation. We pitched, booked in, got some washing done and went for a walk. Aguessac is a small, rather insignificant village, but does not suffer because of that. It has a friendly feeling and two excellent Patisseries. At the other end of the village is a well-stocked Maison du Pays, a shop selling only local produce; meat, cheeses, honey, jams, wines, beers and fruit juices. The range is excellent and prices are fair.
The views from the site (our temporary garden) are excellent as we are overlooked by the Tarn Gorge, a natural limestone gorge with massive vertical cliffs. Over the peaks, you can see the Golden Eagles flying and soaring. On the ground in the evening we were lucky to see a fascinating bird, the likes of which our neighbours had never seen. They had been coming here for eleven years, but this bird was new to them.
This is what internet forums are made for. I posted a picture on the MotorhomeFacts forum and within 10 minutes the bird was identified. It was a Hoopoe, not rare, but uncommon in these parts. A beautiful bird and one that we are glad to have seen.
The following day; Saturday was for chilling out and washing. I don’t do washing, so I took care of the chilling out. The walks around the village are interesting as with any other commune in this part of France. You can never guarantee the sight around the corner. Saturday evening, we saw an Eagle soaring high above the site. I managed to get a poor quality shot, but at 30x Zoom and hand-held it was not the best. However, it was one for the record books.
Day 18
Time to head off again. Today our destination is Rodez, there is an Aire that looks quite good but only has six spaces so we will be lucky to get on. Luck was on us and there was one space left for us. We duly parked up, had lunch and set off exploring.
Rodez is a peculiar town for France in that it is largely modern with what appears to be very little history. There are reasons for this appearance; since the days of the French Revolution and in fact just before, this has been the centre of activities for “Le Resistance”, the band of fighters who have fought so hard for the rights of Free French Men. They were significant not just in the Revolution, but also in the First and Second World Wars. Even to this day, the region provides the greater proportion of soldiers for the Foreign Legion. It was because of the strength of “Le Resistance” and the damage and embarrassment that it caused to Hitler’s troops in the Second World War, that it was ordered to raze the city to the ground. Since the war the city has been rebuilt, but as a modern city.
The city of Rodez is built on a hill, as usual, and the municipality have created a massive parkland and leisure area in the valley. It is in this valley that the aire is situated. This make for a long steep climb to the city , but a downhill stretch back and excellent walks through the park. The walk is about a mile and a half alongside the lake and river. The track is well made and meticulously maintained and to those familiar with it sounds very much like the track in Wii Sports.
Day 19
Well, we certainly keep moving. And today we are off to a town called Villefranche de Rouergue. This should be interesting as we have never heard of the place and the aire is in a car park with no facilities.
What a revelation when we arrived, the car park was laid out specifically for two CampingCars and the spaces were empty. We immediately took one space and set off exploring. Villefranche de Rouerge is another of those medieval towns that call out for exploring. Behind the main traffic thoroughfares is a complex network of lovingly restored streets and alleyways. Currently, the main Notre Dame square is being completely renovated and will reopen in September 2013. It will be very interesting to come back to see this town once the work is finished. The river through the town is the one that we walked along yesterday at Rodez, the Aveyron, but now it is deeper and as more and bigger fish.
One of the joys of this trip is that we are finding towns, places and history that we would never have known about. Every town has it’s own tourist office and in every tourist office you will find a wealth of information in French, English, German and Spanish. Many regions have free books that tell the history and where it can be found. Why is it that the UK are just not able to provide the same service. In fact, where is the history that once was the UK?
Day 20
You have those days when things do not go too well, this is one of them. To start, Val woke up with a migraine that would need treatment. Then, once we set off we knew that we needed fuel. Nearest place for fuel was L’Eclerc, which we found easily. I turned right into L’Eclerc just in time to hear Val tell me that the fuel was to the left at the roundabout. Simple, just turn round and go over there. For once my brain went into UK driving mode. I reversed around a convenient corner to much horn blowing, and as I drove out started driving on the left hand side of the road making gestures to the oncoming traffic that would suggest that they had all taken leave of their senses. After about 50 metres I realised my mistake and quickly got off the road to gather my senses together. Our destination today is Cahors, another ancient town on a loop on the Aveyron river. This is where the day got even worse. The aire that we were heading for was easily found, but was overscribed by 67%. There are spaces for three, but five on occupancy. Plus there was another parked on the services, not being serviced and no apparent driver. I gesticulated that I wanted to use the services and a female appeared who drove the motorhome forward about 20 metres. This gave me a chance to get to the services. I have never seen such filthy services, complete with a turd atop the WC emptying grid. Fortunately, we carry bleach spray and disinfectant wipes, and this place got very vigorous treatment to the tap. We took on water and beat a hasty retreat. There is another aire in Cahors, but it is in an Intermarche car park in a council estate.
We left Cahors behind and headed to our Wednesday stop a day early. Eventually we found a convenient layby to stop for lunch. In the layby was a convenient and fully working weighbridge. Now I have never weighed the motorhome before, but according to the wise men on the forum, you should weigh at every opportunity. Exactly why, I have never known, surely it is a case of common sense. Anyway, the weight as we were travelling was 3760kg; our maximum gross weight is 4050kg, so no problems there.
Whilst we were stopped for lunch I noticed that there was an aire a few miles down the road at Tournon D’Agenais. This city is a Bastide; no, not swearing. A Bastide is a new city or town that was built by royal decree in the 13th century to encourage repopulation of the region. The roads are built on a grid system much like the new towns of today. So, New York and Milton Keynes, the French got there first.
Day 21
It rained overnight, not a problem as it brought some relief to the searing temperatures and kept some dust off the road. This is the day that Val was looking forward to; a return to Monbazillac and the vineyard that we visited some years earlier. The drive was an easy jaunt of about 30 miles and we arrived in time for lunch. The sight was not what we were expecting; the tired front of the house had been expensively restored, the layout had been improved with a roadway and the whole place had a more business-like feel to it. There was already an Italian motorhome parked up and we took our place on a reasonably level piece of ground to the side of the roadway. They say that there are some places that are best not to return to if the initial impression was so good, and this was beginning to feel like one of those places. After lunch, are fears were put to rest. There coming from the house, we could see a familiar face. It was the owner, the elderly man who had made us feel so welcome years earlier. We knew that we were in safe hands. He enthusiastically welcomed his guests and invited us to a tasting and a presentation in the evening, making sure that we were also well aware of the cherry and plum trees that were ours for the picking. Our walk that afternoon was interrupted by rain, which whilst not heavy, was enough to we you. Instead we lazed in the van and watched as more CampingCars arrived. The Italians had left, but were replaced by French, Belgian and Dutch families. In the end, 12 CampingCars were packed lovingly into that small pocket of land. At 6:00 pm we all poured into the Magasin for the tasting and presentation. Felix Dumas was our host, he has now retired from running the vineyard and has handed over to his son; the fourth generation on this particular estate. On the wall he has photos and emails that CampingCaristes have sent him over the years, and on the back wall are flags of nations that have also been given to him. One flag that was missing was a Union Flag, needless to say that we would remedy that. I knew that there was at least one in the van that he could have.
Felix is a man who is enthusiastic to say the least. Enthusiastic about his wines and his land, but even more so about CampingCaristes. He has a new group of friends every day and never fails to put on his show. Six excellent glasses of wine later and our host said his goodbyes. There was no pressure to buy, in fact, not once during the presentation did he mention us buying his wines. They are, some of the best wines we have ever tasted.
That night we slept well, despite the occasional shower. We awoke to find that most of our companions were already up and getting ready to leave. We soon made ourselves ready, but first there was a trip to the Magasin to say our goodbyes and to purchase a souvenir of our visit. Nine bottles later and this had quickly turned from a free stopover to an expensive site, but one that we will return to many times. If you ask us nicely, that wine may come out.
Day 22 /23
Exactly three weeks in and our destination is Perigueux. We knew nothing of the town, but it has a name that sounds typical France. There is an aire by the river; a comfortable walking distance from the town centre. The website showed that it became very busy later in the day despite the 41 places. Fortunately, they were 41 clearly marked spaces so no excuse for overcrowding. We arrived around lunchtime as usual to find that there was plenty of space. In fact, it was never that busy. We spent the afternoon on our usual initial visit if discovery of the town. During this initial tour, we had already decided that Perigueux deserved an extra night’s stay and a revisit on a later occasion.
Once again, Perigueux is a very ancient town, but it has much more significance than many others. Firstly, it has Roman remains; in fact there are pre-Roman remains. Secondly, it is a major destination on the pilgrimage route from Rome to Santiago de Compostello; this is indicated by the scallop shaped sculptures above doorways and the scallop plates in the roadways. Thirdly, there is too much to this town to see in two days. Finally, it’s a great place to shop with clothes shops for the girls and chocolatiers for us choccie lovers. One Chocolatier even had a chocolate Porsche with read coloured chocolate seats.
All around Perigueux there is the sweet perfume of Juniper Trees. It helps to keep the hot air fresh.
The Cathedral is unusual, it is easily visible from the river banks as you approach from the South. Its design is in the shape of a Greek cross and its roof takes its design from Byzantine themes with domes almost like minarets and a bell tower with intricate columns. At the north side of the Cathedral is the original Roman gateway and arch, mostly crumbled away but still some remains. Inside, the space is dramatic; not decorated as some are, in fact it is stunning because the walls are so plain. It is the height and the appreciation of the engineering feat of building those domes. At the altar end of the building there is a massive wooden carving covering the full width. This was installed later having been removed from another great church.
The aire is great. Large, marked pitches, spotlessly clean and all for 5 Euros per day. The fees are collected in the evening and there is a more relaxed atmosphere than normal; relaxed to the point where awnings were extended, chairs outside and barbeques permitted.
We had a great time in Perigueux and walked for miles both independently and with the assistance of the guide map, which took you to many of the hidden places of interest. We shall come back another year.
Day 24 / 25
We are now on an onward and upward trend, slowly weaving our way northward as we settle deeply into the second half of our trip. The destination today is Nontron, for no other reason but the fact that it is a weekend and we have found that it is good to use a proper campsite at weekends to catch up on washing etc. The site at Nontron had been chosen for one quality; the price according to the Caravan Club book was the most reasonable. We have already established that we do not want full facilities. In fact for this type of longer trip to work it is important to keep the cost down. As usual, we arrived around lunchtime. Camping Nontron is a municipal site run by a very nice lady who speaks better English than I could ever achieve in French. No sooner had we booked in than we were on our way to our pitch. The temperature was already 27C and climbing, so we were pleased to find shaded pitches that allowed just enough sunlight to make it comfortable. The ground is clay and damp, to the point that we encountered wheelspin trying to climb the levelling ramps. The pitch is very long, about 30 metres and narrow, about 6 metres with a fast flowing river behind us.
When we booked in we were told that there was to be an African Market in the town that evening, so, during the afternoon we set off to discover the town. Our route was long and arduous, ending in the customary steps up to the old town. There was very little cover from the sun and we were wet from sweating. There is a very helpful tourist office with a map of the town. We continued our walk through the main street of the town and decided that we must come back later for the market.
After dinner, we walked back to the town, having realised that there was an easier route. This took us along the main road, but was partly shaded by the trees and a more gradual climb. The market had grown to encompass the full length of the main street and had traders of mainly African, but also Polynesian origin. It wasn’t that busy and they were setting up a sound stage, so it was going to get much busier and louder. We decided to head back to the site to wash up the dinner things and have a cup of tea and then go back to the market. When we arrived back at about 10:00pm, things had livened up. The town was crowded, every table at the bars and restaurants was full and the music was in full swing. Towards the top end of the street, a hairdresser was displaying an exhibition of his styles. Well, outlandish to say the least, let’s just say that no sensible woman would be seen in public with any of those styles. Britain’s Got Talent has obviously missed out on a great comedian. Eventually, we wandered back to the van for a cup of tea and bed. It had been a great evening.
Sunday got off to a late start and became a lazy chill-out day. More washing, so I don’t have to wear the undercrackers inside out any more. Floor scrubbed for the first time in three weeks. Walk into town a couple of times. The site has a Games/Leisure area that has free WiFi access and, although my aerial will not pick it up due to the distance, we can get updated on emails and facebook.
Day 26
Our path today takes us back to a small village that we visited a couple of years earlier; Bessinnes sur Gartempe. This is a lovely sleepy village with a fire station at the side of the main square and the aire is in the centre of the square. When we arrived there were already four motorhomes parked, but there was still plenty of room. The square was a hive of activity as gangs of men were busy erecting marquees. We were worried that there was some kind of event that evening or following morning that would prevent us from staying. The Marie is at one side of the square and an enquiry there confirmed that the activity was for the weekend events. Bessinne sur Gartempe has a four day music festival that coincides with Bastille Day and the marquees were for that.
We had a pleasant evening and a quiet night on the square. As usual, we had a look in the estate agent window and were very surprised at how low house prices were here compared to other places that we have visited.
Day 27
We had chosen a small campsite for tonight at Saint Severe sur Indre. According to the book it is a tiny site, but well worth a visit. Val was nursing a badly swollen ankle from a mosquito that didn’t know when to give up, so, on our way we stopped at a pharmacy for more potent medicine. We were recommended to use a disinfectant spray and then hydrocortisone cream. Our journey was made interesting by the 18 kilometres of single track road without passing places that both Sat Nav units insisted was the right route. Fortunately, we only met two other vehicles coming the other was and passing was interesting to say the least. The road twisted and rose and fell and on many occasions I found myself leaning across the vehicle to try to get a view of the road ahead as we rounded yet another bend and the growth at the verges was so high that I could not see where the road was going.
We made it to the site. It truly is a tiny site; on two levels with eight pitches on the higher level for caravans and campingcars, and four pitches on the lower level for tents. The site is unattended and the sign at the gate requests that payment is either made at the Marie or to the official who will call at 9:00am. We were on our own and therefore able to choose the best pitch (number 2). We made ourselves at home on the beautifully manicured grass. We had an excellent afternoon and evening, I went for a walk to discover the village while Val stayed back to rest her foot. This is a very small village / town with a beautifully maintained Oak beamed open sided market hall tucked away in what is now a side street. The market square was once the main part of the place, but is now hidden away and little used. At the site there were red squirrels and a family of blackbirds, which were very friendly and went about their business with not a care for the humans who had invaded their space. It was truly an idyllic spot and we decided that we would stay for two nights.
The only sound to be heard was the church clock chiming on the hour. For some strange reason, it also struck for a second time at two minutes past the hour.
Unfortunately the night was not as idyllic as the afternoon and evening. At about 10:00pm a family arrived to use the small children’s playground that was just outside the site. To say that they were noisy is an understatement, they were screaming and banging until well past 11:00pm whilst we were trying to sleep. Just after midnight Val was woken by what she believes was a car driving into the site, but she didn’t hear it drive out. There were several other disturbances during the night like a dog barking and donkey braying. By morning we both agreed that we had had a terrible night and we would not be staying. We walked to the Marie to pay our fees, packed and left.
Day 28/29/30
Not a long journey today as our destination is Saint Amand Montrond. There is an aire that sounds good and according to the photo is beside the canal. It is also free. It is only 35 miles up the road so about an hours driving. When we arrived, we found that there was plenty of space so we pitched up sat outside in the sun. Very soon we were joined by another motorhome with a British couple, Dave and Pat. They told us that they had arrived a couple of days early as the Tour de France was due to arrive for the 13th stage of Friday the 12th. We are not great sports fans and did not have a real interest in La Tour, we were therefore not going to stay for more than one night. During the afternoon, more British vans arrived and all were there for Le Tour. We decided to stay like the others. This was Wednesday and Le Tour was due through on Friday 12th July. On Thursday we found that the race was going to be on the other side of town and several folk went off in pursuit of the best place to view. We walked into town to find that there was to be a Boney M concert that evening and other bands that would go on late into the night. The aire that we were at would provide easy access to the concert, but also we would hear the later events whilst we were trying to sleep.
The word from our advance guard was that there was no way that we could walk from our current position to where Le Tour would be coming through and that streets would be closed from Thursday afternoon. They had spoken to the management of the local Leclerk supermarket who agreed to let us use his staff car park for overnight camping. We therefore headed off to the said Leclerk ready for the big day. There were four motorhomes in our party, but by nightfall that number had swollen to about twenty. We had a great chin-wag that evening.
On the Friday Val and I went for a recce to find out about positioning for the race. The race itself was not due through until after 17:00, but prime positions were already being taken up at 10:00. We collectively decided to make our presence known and found some other Brits who were very close to the finish line. We joined them and got ready for a 6 or 7 hour wait. We had Union Jacks ready for the big moment. During the day a carnival atmosphere rose as more people arrived. The technical village that was erected overnight had to be seen to be believed. By late morning the commercial machine moved into action with souvenirs and advertising goodies being thrown everywhere. There were hats, caps, neck scarves, sweets etc. The most important goodies were the endless bottles of Vittel water, four bottles at a time and very cooled. We really needed that water as did we need the water spray from the hose bike that regularly rode up and down spraying the crowd.
At about 15:30 the Caravan procession arrived. There were all of the team coaches and then an hour long procession of floats and special vehicles from all of the sponsors. The race itself was being played out on a couple of massive screens. As the race came closer, so did the excitement rise, reaching a crescendo from the two kilometre marker into the finish post. We were there, we were lucky enough to see Mark Cavendish win this stage. Our flags were raised and waved. It was soon over, but the day, the atmosphere and the occasion will live with us forever.
Day 31/32/33
I had read in a magazine some months earlier about a place called Aubigny-sur-Nere, this is a town in the Centre region of France with strong associations with Scotland dating back to the middle-ages. It is shown that Richard Stuart married a local duchess on his way back from the Crusades. There then became a long line of Stuarts who further cemented this relationship. Due to this relationship, there is now an annual Scottish Festival in the town. This festival is always held on the weekend closest to Bastille Day. This year with Bastille Day falling on a Sunday, the Scottish festival was held on the Saturday. This of course gave the town an excuse for a two day party.
On the way to Aubigny-sur-Nere we needed to do some shopping and most importantly, fill up with gas. We have a Gaslow refillable system in the Motorhome and whilst I had filled it on several occasions in the UK and once in Spain, this would be the first time in France. Getting to the pump was fun as the pump was on the other side from the filler and the hose would not stretch. I had to turn round, which meant blocking the complete entrance to the filling station and making several manoeuvres. Val now has a new duty, she is head in charge of stopping traffic. Once turned round, the lady from the kiosk came to see what was happening. I had heard before that the French do not like the filling of gas bottles, but fortunately I had an external filler and I was able to convince her that it was for Autogas.
We had met Ian and June, a Scottish couple at Saint Amand Montrond where they told us about the Tour de France. We told them about the Scottish Festival at Aubigny sur Nere and they said that they would try to meet us there. Sure enough, as we were in reception at the campsite waiting to book in, Ian walked in. They had arrived about an hour earlier and had a pitch nearly opposite the one that we were allocated. During the Saturday afternoon, we walked into town to find a wonderful spectacular. Everywhere you looked there were Scots, kilts and tartans were the order of the day. The town speaker system was constantly playing pipe music and there were pipe bands tuning up in side streets up and down the town. Many of the buildings would not look out of place in Scotland and there is even a Chateau Stuart.
There were market stalls selling all types of Scottish goods including the wonderful Malt Water for which Scotland is so famous. Everyone was in traditional costume. In the town gardens were two Medieval villages that had been set up to show life as it was at the time of the first Scottish association. There were also refreshment tents and a grandstand ready for a show in the evening.
At 3:00 pm, the massed pipes and bands gathered at Chateau Stuart for a Tattoo through the town. The sounds and sights were very much of a country far removed from France. We met up with Ian and June who told us that the other couples that we had met at Saint Amand Montrond, Roy and Joan and George and Marie, had also arrived in town and had arranged to meet them in the evening. We eventually made our way back to the site for dinner.
That evening, we walked back into town and almost immediately found Ian and June in the same place as we had left them. Evidently they had left to go for a meal, but were able to claim the same seats. We joined them for a drink. While we were sitting there, we were joined by Roy and Joan and George and Marie. We didn’t move from that spot all evening and had a great time telling stories and chatting as though we had known each other for years. It also transpired that we were all members of MotorhomeFacts forum, so we had more in common. Eventually, it was time to go home. Ian and June and Val and I walked back to the campsite together. Fortunately, I had the foresight to take headlights with me as the roads were completely unlit and it was a very dark night.
On Sunday, the festivities in the town continued in much the same way, we cycled into town in the afternoon and again soaked up the atmosphere. In the evening we spent our time with Tommy and Jen, another Scottish couple who were also on site and had been introduced to us by Ian and June. This was Bastille Day and the traditional firework display was to take place over the lake behind the campsite. Roy and Joan and George and Marie had arranged to drive over to join us all. We had another great evening recounting more stories and cementing friendships. We all exchanged contact details and promised to keep in touch. The fireworks were due to start at 22:30 and sure enough, dead on the crack of 23:00 they started. We were certainly not disappointed, although the ducks were not happy about the disturbance.
Unfortunately, good things have to come to an end and at the end of the evening we all said our goodbyes and thanks for an amazing time together. We hope to meet up again somewhere on the road.
Monday was a day to relax and visit the town as it is normally. Most of the decorations and structures that had been put in place for the weekend were already gone yet the town still looked great in “Plain Clothes”.
Day 34
On we go Northwards, our destination today is an aire at La Chapelle Saint Mesmin on the outskirts of Orleans, but again we didn’t make it. We stopped for coffee just off the main road at a village called Lailly en Val. Val thought it was something about her getting her lallies out, but I convinced her that she had been doing enough of that without encouragement. Whilst there I had a quick look at the TomTom as there was a sign pointing to a CampingCar aire. We found that the aire was only a few hundred yards from where we stopped. We drove in and found a superb aire with space for table and chairs. The village was not much, but the aire was beautiful with a park and lake. By 18:00 the place was full to heaving and we were glad that we have made it a principal to travel morning and explore afternoon. That way we get spaces.
Day 35
After yesterday’s change of destination, we have had to re-route the week. Our destination today is Nonancourt, between Dreux and Evreux. The aire is opposite the fire station and at the entrance to the gardens surrounding the Mairie.
Nonancourt is a super little town with a definite Tudor influence to many of its timber framed buildings. Once again the town was a fortified town up to the days of the 100 years war with some of the old ramparts still standing. The Church is a particularly fine example of its type with many old relics and stained glass dating back to at least the 15th century. Unfortunately, the church is only open on Wednesday mornings and this is Wednesday afternoon. We have also just missed the market, which is also Wednesday mornings.
There is a house dedicated to a French opera singer on the main road near the aire. But, more importantly, there is a house where James 111 was hidden whilst on his way back to Scotland to reclaim the throne. This is another link that this region has to the Stuart clan.
We had a very quiet night with the aire completely to ourselves.
Day 36 / 37
Another Northward move, this time to Ry; a small town East of Rouen. More country lanes on our journey, but we are used to them now and provided there is a marking down the centre of the carriageway, we are happy.
On our way we saw a chateau in the distance and remarked how pretty and well maintained it looked. A few miles further on we came to the entrance of the chateau and found that it was open to the public. The chateau is at Martainville-Epreville. The grounds of the chateau are in exceptionally good order as are the buildings of what appears to have been a cider press.
We arrived at Ry to find a very beautiful town with a wide main street and buildings dating back several hundred years. Our intention was to stay on the aire, but we found that it was not marked and that the only place where it could have been was not large enough to get nearly 8 metres of motorhome parked.
We decided to find another place to rest our wheels for the night and found a suitable aire at Forges les Eaux, only about 15 miles away. We were glad we made the move, the aire at Forges les Eaux is large and well maintained and there was space for us to park sideways so that we had grass alongside the van. There was also the availability of electric hook up within the nightly charge. Opposite the aire is the municipal site, which could not be recommended for camping. It is untidy, poorly maintained and generally feels unloved. It did, however, provide showers that were free to users of the aire. Unfortunately the showers were only just warm, but did provide a welcome relief.
Forges les Eaux is a quite unremarkable town, pleasant enough, but nothing special. When we arrived at the aire, I noticed that there was a leak from the engine. I wasn’t sure if it was oil or water and needed to investigate. Closer inspection revealed that it was a small coolant hose, which was dripping; this is the problem with using “one shot” hose clips in the factory, if they loosen than they cannot be adjusted. For the first time on this trip, I was worried for the welfare of the van. Water leaks have a habit of getting worse and my concern was that if we drove on that would happen in this case.
The decision was made to spend two nights at Forges les Eaux. The following morning I investigated the leak further, there were three problems:
- Incorrect removal of the “one shot” hose clip can damage the hose.
- I didn’t think I had a spare hose clip.
- It was in the most difficult position.
I searched the van and my toolbox for a suitable hose clip and fortunately found one. My mind was made up, I had to tackle the job. The old clip came off quite easily, although it was very sharp and cut my fingers to blazes. Getting the new clip on was now easy, but getting the hose on was fiddly. Eventually the job was done and a ten minute run of the engine confirmed that there was no leak from the pipe. Immense relief came to both of us.
During the afternoon we took a walk into town. We had discovered that there was a footpath through the municipal campsite that cut the distance by half. On the way back, the campsite manager stopped us and requested that we move the van so that it was lengthways to the grass as is normal for aires. It would appear that he was concerned that with the good weather and being a Friday, the aire would get full. We obliged by turning the van 90 degrees, but then came our second mechanical problem. The electric step was stuck out and would not retract, nothing we tried would work. Every time we hit the button it would either go further out or part way in. I removed the Multiplug and cleaned the contacts, cleaned the switch contacts and reset the software on the Power Supply Unit, all to no avail. Tried the step with the engine running and not, but could not get it to shift. I then decided to look at the motor, but it cannot be inspected without removing the step assembly. I tried to remove the step assembly, but it is assembled using nylock nuts with non-captive bolts behind them. The step therefore could not be removed without first removing the step well, but to remove that one has to remove the flyscreen frame. In desperation and with the help of my beautiful assistant I decided to short wire the Multiplug directly to the battery. This would provide a direct 12Volt feed that would power the step in either direction. Success, the step retracted fully, once retracted I removed the fuse to ensure that the step could not be used again until fixed. Unfortunately, Sod’s law says that you will only have these sorts of problems either at a weekend or on a Friday afternoon after the support lines have gone home. This was Friday afternoon.
Day 38/38/40/41
Heading on northwards, our destination is a village called Long. We need supplies as I cannot live on love alone. We found an Aldi store but the selection and the queues made it difficult to justify buying here. I suggested to Val that as it was getting close to the end of our trip then perhaps we should end at our favourite place. She agreed and therefore our course changed to the aire at Saint Valery sur Somme. Although it is not far into France, this is our favourite place and there is a house that we would buy tomorrow if it were available.
Wearrived at lunchtime to find that the aire was busy, but not crowded. Unusually, several CampingCaristes had parked sideways on to the grass so we followed suit. The weather turned hotter than ever and on Sunday 21st July we recorded our highest ever temperature in the motorhome of 37.3C.
Well, this is the final stay of our trip and by this time tomorrow (Tuesday 23rd July) we shall be at Flunch at Cite Europe enjoying our last dinner before returning home.
This has been a massive learning curve for both of us and if you are able to read this then you can safely assume that we did not submit to murder at any time. We have seen events that only a few can witness, the Tour de France and the Scottish Festival. We have met some wonderful people especially Ian and June, Joan and Roy, George and Marie, Tommy and Jen and Dave and Pat. We have visited places that we never knew about and some that are on almost everyone’s list of must do’s along with many totally unspoilt medieval towns just waiting to be discovered by others. We have survived red weather warnings, hit the snow line and suffered one of the hottest Julys in French history. We have seen Golden Eagles and Hoopoes.
We have made mistakes and had a few fraught moments. Travelled over 2000 miles. Got through over 500 teabags. Have over 1,000 photos to sort through and will post some of them on this blog.
Most of all, we have had a great time and will be immediately planning our next trip.
This is a first draft of the blog and during the next short period I shall add more pictures and include a link to the full photo gallery.