Travels with Ian and Sue

Europe trip 2011 - Barcelona to home

2011-05-30T12:02:00.000+01:00

2nd April
We left Camping Barcelona in Mataro late afternoon (helpfully, checkouts are allowed up to 2000) and made our way to Montserrat via Granollers, Sabadell and Terrassa - all industrial towns, but the C1415 and C155 were scenic in between and a pleasant drive.

Our route from Mataro to Santander

(Microsoft Autoroute 2010, GPS track: Globalsat BT 338X Data logger)

The approach to the Montserrat range on the C55 was impressive in the fading light, the "saw tooth" profile of the mountain standing starkly against the sky.

The mountain road to Montserrat

We drove immediately up the steep, twisting road to the Monastery complex, which nowadays consists of a small town, complete with a rail station, police HQ, two hotels and even a supermarket!
Sue had found out that motorhomes were tolerated overnight in the large pay-parking area, and indeed as we arrived a French couple told us it was possible to stay in the level bus park at the very top, provided we vacated by 0800. There is an overnight security guard and he was quite happy with the arrangement, although officially motorhomes are not allowed to use the Montserrat parking at all!

The views as far as Barcelona are fantastic and a clear night gave us a beautiful image of the city's lights. The road far below us looked like a luminous snake as the evening traffic moved along. We could hear owls calling and the clear sound of a train echoing up to us.

Barcelona lights up as Montserrat is swallowed in the dusk

3rd April
I slipped out of the van early to catch the scene from the vantage point and was rewarded with a view over the clouds.

An unusual sculpture adds interest to the vantage point

A poignant memorial to fighters in the civil war

Our friends did not hang around after we had moved out of the bus park, they reckoned it would get very crowded being a Sunday, and they were not wrong! To make it even more busy there was a broadcast TV crew setting up to film the morning service.

I decided to climb up to see one of several hermitages high above the monastery. For all that sweat inducing effort the end result was a bit disappointing, as when I got to the Ermita de Santa Anna it was long gone, having been destroyed in the Peninsula war in 1812! Still, there was a plaque to tell me about it and some fine views on the way down.

A view of Montserrat from the hermitage trail

The 1100 service had just started as I entered the church and the film crew and dozens of other people were taking pictures, so I didn’t feel guilty about joining in. It was standing room only, the floodlights and packed crowd creating a strange vibe in what was intended to be a hallowed atmosphere.

I paid our 5 euro parking charge at the machine and soon afterwards we departed - before the van became totally blocked in by cars.
Farther down the road the traffic had come to a virtual standstill as the car park was filling up, a lot of disappointed people stuck in their cars in the hot sun, including a Nun in a motorhome!

We hacked our way back to the coast just below Barcelona, but it wasn’t really worth the effort, working through heavy traffic, endless junctions and an industrialised landscape.
By the time we got to Sitges it was time to call it a day and we booked into Camping El Garrofer, a 2-star ACSI site. We seemed to have landed upon mayhem, there were literally children and animals under our wheels. It felt a bit like a refugee camp, but it would have to do for the night.

GPS: 41.2314 N, 01.7799 E
www.garroferpark.com

4th April
We awoke to an eerie peace, the campsite was silent except for the birds singing in the trees - all the weekend partygoers had decamped and the place was transformed.
The bikes came off the rack and in a few minutes we were on the Sitges seashore. The first thing that caught my attention was an eye-watering Euro 750 fine for walking on the rather weedy grass alongside the beachfront (or letting your dog poo on it)! When do you ever see that kind of penalty for painting grafitti?

Thats an expensive walk on the grass!

However it is a nice sea front promenade, with no high rise apartments and a few fine houses dotted amongst the more mundane. To our surprise, we came across a Cornishman, an ex-fisherman, building magnificent sandcastles on the beach. He assured us that he was making a viable living from it. A distinct talent, I asked him if he painted as well: “yup, do a bit of that”

Cornish talent on display in Sitges

The heart of the old buildings around the Palau Marcel were (naturally) undergoing a major renovation, but the seafront beyond, towards the marina had been nicely redone with new paving and stainless steel railings along the beachfront.

Sitges (despite the crane) is not a typical Spanish resort

One of the quieter streets in the old town

In the old town, the characterful narrow streets are well supplied with tapas bars and restaurants. Compared with so many Spanish resorts, Sitges is an unspoilt little gem.

5th April
Our departure from Camping El Garrofer was pleasurably delayed by a long chat with a couple of full-timers, Paul and Tracey, living in a Carthago – amazing how the time passes once you start swapping tales of motorhome living!

As usual, we faithfully hugged the coast as much as possible on the way down to La Mora, 7km north of Tarragona. I can tell you now that Vilanova i la Geltru, Torredembarra and everything in between are all terminally compromised by the coastal railway track and are instantly forgettable.

Looking for a campsite with good access to Tarragona, we settled on Camping Torre de la Mora. It has a lot going for it in that it is an ACSI site, is on a bus route into the city, and has direct access to a nice beach.
There, however, the commendations end. Compared with the slick, welcoming and friendly reception we had experienced at the previous three Spanish campsites, the management here were in turn officious, patronising, hostile and indifferent to our pleas.

We were intermittently shown a selection of small pitches with very tight entrances and daft high kerbs by a chap on a scooter, spending 90 minutes or more (well past beer time!) manoeuvring in and out, only to be told each time by scooter-man (after conversing on his walkie-talkie) that they were “no possible”! After the fourth attempt and verging on a sense of humour failure, we refused to move anymore, despite having to sleep on an incline.
It wasn’t just a culture clash either, a Dutch couple in a camper, returning to the site after a few days elsewhere, were gob-smacked to be told haughtily that they couldn’t return to the pitch they had occupied earlier because “it is only for caravans”! Some crossed wires there.

Tight entrances and high kerbs make pitching more difficult

The highly restrictive campsite rules and regulations ran to two pages of tendentious language - the restrictions on dogs alone would really have been better encapsulated as: “No dogs allowed”. I did think they were on to a child-friendly winner though with: "HOURS OF SILENCE…. SIESTA 1 pm – 4 pm"!

GPS: 41.1270 N, 01.3439 E
www.torredelamora.com

6th April
The day dawned bright and warm, the bus into Tarragona cost 1.20 euros (running every hour and more frequently at busy times).
We got off on Rambla Vella, a busy street which runs alongside the old city boundary. It’s a short walk up the Via de Limperi Roma, where there is a small tourist office. They gave us a free town map and a useful guide.
All-in tickets for six of the most popular attractions are available for 10 euros at the entrance to the Muralles or Archeological Promenade along the old city walls nearby. Included are the Casa Casttellarnau and Casa Canal, both former residences of Taragona’s rich and famous, and also the Roman Circus and Praetorium, Ampitheatre and Forum.

Colourful streets

We managed to fit them all in except the forum, but included the cathedral (undergoing extensive restoration, of course) and the archaeological museum.

Beautifully kept gardens in the Cathedral cloisters

Finally we had a walk up the boulevard Rambla Nova, just as a chill sea mist rolled in over the city, removing the building tops from view.

The sea mist rolls in over the seafront

7th April
Declining to pay for 50 cent tokens to fill up our water tank from a tiny hose at the campsite car wash (we used a nearby tap instead), we left Camping Torre de la Mora with a happy heart for Salou, a mid sized resort with a long beach extending to the Cap de Salou.

On the way we had hoped to top with autogas at a Repsol depot on the C31b, but came away unreplenished as they had discontinued that service two years ago! (Time to update our Dutch-published “LPG tankstations in Europe” guide - available from Vicarious Books).

Having seen Salou, we considered complete our navigation of the entire Spanish coast that we had started in 2007 – and headed inland. Our ultimate destination was to be Santander, for the ferry home, domestic reasons calling a premature halt to this year’s trip.

We had done our sums to compare the costs of driving back through France to Calais for the cheap cross-channel trip against the Santander-Plymouth route with Brittany Ferries, and excluding motorway tolls and campsite fees (which we would normally avoid) it still came to about GBP 200 cheaper. However, faced with a daunting array of tasks when we got home we decided the speed and comfort of the Santander trip to be worth it.

We had a quick look at Montblanc – a medieval walled town, now in the process of being rebuilt and developed as a major tourist attraction. I was interested to discover that Saint George had slayed his dragon outside the very gates!

The central square of the walled town of Mountblanc

Along one side of the town, houses and shops are being demolished to reveal the ancient wall and restore it to its medieval splendour. Unfortunately, both of the churches recommended in our Green Guide were locked up, but it is a pleasant stroll around the narrow streets and centre market square.
There is a large, free, dirt car park nearby which would do nicely for an overnight.

Car park, Montblanc
GPS: 41.3745 N, 01.1617 E

We moved on to our next ecclesiastical excursion, the Cistercian monastery at Poblet. It was a bit late to do the tour, but there is a vast visitor’s car park, so we tucked ourselves in at the far end for the night, joined later on by a Swiss campervan.

Car park, Santa Maria de Poblet
GPS: 41.3789 N, 01.0783 E

The first rays of sun catch the monastery

8th April
The monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet was founded, along with Santa Creus and Santa Maria de Valbona, in the second half of the 12th Century as a means of reorganising and repopulating the lands of New Catalonia that had recently been wrested from the Moors by the Catalano-Aroganese monarchy. In the 14th century, at the height of its influence, its jurisdiction reached over seven baronies.
Sacked and devastated in 1835, and the monks expelled, it has since been reconstructed and is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

High vaults in the chapel

Visits are guided tours only, in Catalan or Spanish, but we were given English language leaflets and the guides were able to our answer our questions in good English.

Our gas bottles were now quite low so we hit the N11 for Zarragoza. The sun was out in force and the temperature later hit 35 degrees on this popular route for truckers.

This time our LPG guide came up with the goods and we topped up at the Cooperativa Auto Taxi, a busy petrol station serving, unsurprisngly, mostly taxis. The button on the autogas pump had been dismantled by sombeody, but the girl behind the counter cheerfully left her post and came out to fix it.

GPL Station
GPS: 41.6341 N, 00.9229 W

We had heard from friends of an old monastery that had been converted into a hotel and the surrounding woodland developed into a spectacular park of lakes and waterfalls. Thus we headed south-west again on the A2 - undergoing much work to convert to motorway standards - before turning off at Calatayud for Nuevalos and the Monasterio de Piedra.

The extensive car park is grassed, under trees and terraced, and even has a sign directing caravans to park. We found a level spot away from the entrance and opened a welcome beer after a long, hot day’s driving.

Car park, Monasterio de Piedra
GPS: 41.1945 N, 01.7842 W

Long after dark we heard a vehicle arrive and move very close to us. Half expecting a knock on the door, we turned off the lights and peeked through the blinds - a young Spanish couple in a camper had come to join us.

9th April
The Monasterio de Piedra park is Spain's answer to Croatia's Plitvice falls – it’s not as gobsmacking for sure, but well worth a detour, and with the added attraction of caves and tunnels.

The Saturday crowds were swelling as we bought our Euro 13.50 tickets, but the sun burned down out of an empty sky, highlighting the waterfalls beautifully with dappled light at every turn.

Beautiful scenes abound.....

Behind the largest waterfall is a passageway into a limestone cave, which leaves you standing behind the fall, which was pretty "cool", especially with all the drips. (Grippy soled shoes are recommended for the damp scramble to the back of the cave!) A long tunnel cut out of the rock leads back to the outside world.

Behind the waterfall.....


Deep turquoise water in the cavern

Water dripping from the roof

The monastery is partially ruined, but is included in the park ticket, together with a wine making museum and some old horse carriages. Some interesting stonework remains.

The van was roasting in the noonday sun when we returned, but the good old Fantastic vent fan swiftly cleared the air. After some lunch we departed, leaving half a dozen Spanish vans behind on the grass parking.

The N234 from Calatayud to Soria is a fast straight road with very little traffic, probably as rural a landscape as you will see in this area. In Soria there is a riverside parking area where you could probably spend the night, though it would be brightly lit.

Car park, Soria
GPS: 41.7521 N, 02.4636 W

Out of Soria, we took SO810 to Vinuesa. It is a nice lakeside drive, and with plenty of signs prohibiting wild camping on the laybys, though until Easter there are no campsites open. Coming into Vinuesa, we found a parking space by river, opposite some modern apartments. On the other side of an ancient stone bridge sits the old town. A Spanish couple were parked up in their van and said they had been coming for ten years: “muy bien para la noche”

Parking spot, Vinuesa
GPS: 41.9109 N, 02.7606 W

10th April
It was a cold night, but Storks were up circling around as the air warmed in the sun, quite an impressive sight, watching 8 or 10 of them in the sky at once.

A stork brings nesting material to the treetop

Vinuesa has a nice little old town, narrow sloping streets and a surprisingly ornate church. In the distance I could hear the howling of a pack of hounds as the Sunday hunt commenced.

The age old streets of Vinuesa

The bread shop took some tracking down, eventually the smell gave it away and I found a partially open brown door in a stone wall, the tiny bakery within.
The people I nodded to in the street seem reticent, certainly not welcoming – perhaps not looking forward to another influx of tourists as the season robs them of their solitude.

Leaving Vinuesa, we took the CL177 to rejoin the N234 to Burgos. It’s a very scenic road and we passed several water fountains until we saw one too good to pass up – a plentiful running supply of sweet mountain water. The jerricans filled in seconds and our nearly depleted tank was swiftly full. Just as we were about to leave an elderly group turned up in an old car with a couple of dozen containers, their poor vehicle must have been down on its stops when they were finished.

Mountain water fountain
GPS: 41.9164 N, 02.8448 W

Passing through the Sierra Mountain’s National Reserve, it appeared well developed with mountain bike and walking trails, along with logging and light industry.

The N234 to Burgos is a good fast road through a largely unspoilt landscape.
On arrival at Burgos we found a car/bus/motorhome park that was in our Camperstop guide. About a kilometre walk from the cathedral, it was very nearly packed on a Sunday afternoon. Sue made her pilgrimage to the church whilst I minded the van, watching many motorhomes arrive, hesitate and depart again. Over the two hours I didn’t see any suspicious lingerers – but then I probably wouldn’t know one if I saw one!

Car park, Burgos
GPS: 42.3403 N, 03.69305 W

Burgos Cathedral

Sue came back well impressed with the cathedral, fabulously ornate, with many artworks and fine sculptures.
We had decided on the N623 from Burgos to Torrelavaga as it was the most direct and scenic route. We stopped at the spectacular San Felice where there is a good size car park, together with a small bar and a shop. We considered calling it a day there, but had a cuppa and moved on.

Car park, San Felice
GPS: 42.7523 N, 03.8019 W

Unfortunately, as we climbed and got close to the Embalse del Ebro, a lake where we planned to turn off onto the CA171 and hopefully find a pitch for the night, the weather closed in and we went from warm and sunny to rain and fog in a few minutes. One of those times when you wish you had stopped earlier - looking for an overnight spot in darkening heavy mist and rain is not our idea of fun - but it had to be done and eventually we found a blind turn off to the lake and settled ourselves virtually out of sight of the road. As the traffic diminished it became very quiet and Sue cooked up a fine fish risotto.

Parking spot
GPS: 43.0354 N, 03.9167 W

11th April
The overnight rain had lessened a bit, but back on the main road we were again into thick fog and eased ourselves very gently around the bends as we descended. Suddenly at lower altitude the fog lifted and we were in another country – lush and green and alpine looking, what a world away from two days ago.

At Torrelavaga we found the Carrefour supermarket, but for the life of us couldn’t find a way around the 2.5 metre height barriers – so Mercadonna got our business instead.

Our decision was to stay a little way out from Santander at Ruiloba, a few kilometres west of Santilana. Camping El Helguero is an ACSI site and promised us peace and quiet in a rural setting and a wi-fi point. It had in fact just installed the sensible delfynet system that we had used at Camping Barcelona, which allows more than one laptop to be used on the same code (though not at the same time), and after an early hiccup we enjoyed internet access in the van, surrounded by trees.

The pool was just being prepared for the season

GPS: 43.3828 N, 04.2439 W
www.campingelhelguero.com/camping.htm

12th April
Sue lived to regret siting us too close to the trees, as a gentle rain in the night resulted in a loud and intermittent drip on the bedroom roof – how many times have we done that?! It stayed grey and damp all day and we hardly moved a muscle.

13th April
Time to make a move for the ferry, but not before we had met up with George and Pam who had just returned from Portugal. At their invitation we had lunch at a local, local’s restaurant about a mile from the campsite. What a revelation compared with tourist prices. A huge bowl of pork and bean soup, bread, some superb fried fresh fish and chips, plus a chocolate mouse and a beer each came to 9 euros a head!

Can't remember the name but we recommend the "Menu del dia"

We took the A67 into Santander and checked in with hours to spare until the 2100 sailing.

Amazingly, when we boarded a less than full Pont Aven, the crew placed us on a steep, enclosed central ramp necessitating wheel blocks, and which also forced us to walk down the ramp with one leg either side of 300 mm high ridge - one foot in the gutter, one foot in the road so to speak. Comically, there was a “Don’t walk here” sign right outside our window. We thought this worth a mention to the reception desk on board and happily they seemed pleased to have another report form to fill out. (You have to get your monthly quota of Accident “near miss” forms in or the “management” wonders if you are doing your job properly!)

We had indulged ourselves in the luxury of an outside cabin but to be honest we didn’t spend much time in it apart from trying to sleep – must remember to bring our own pillows!

14th April
Still reluctant to go straight home we stopped off at the Britannia Inn near St Austell for the night. They keenly support Motorhomers overnighting in their car park, serve excellent food and also have free wi-fi in the bar. Listening to some Belgian motorhomers chatting at a table near us in the cocktail bar, we suddenly realised one was talking English in a Yorkshire accent! After an introduction we spent the rest of the evening chatting with Mel and Bill and their Belgian wives Lieve and Martine. How can Motorhomers who were total strangers find so much to talk about – it’s not a bad life!

GPS: 50.3455 N, 04.7392 W
www.britanniainn.com

Europe trip 2011 - Collioure to Barcelona

2011-05-15T20:04:00.004+01:00

23rd March.
I walked down to the port of Collioure early in the morning and the Marines were at it again - swimming in the sea with guns and drilling on the beach by the old tower. The National Commando Training Centre (CNEC) actually advertises the fact that visitors can watch their training exercises. For some reason trails of smoke were rising from the opposite beach, orange-coated workmen tending to the fires – what was that all about?

Collioure in the morning sun

Small fishing boats were returning with their night’s catch and I watched one young lad proudly tie his fathers launch alongside, jumping up and down with excitement and pleasure at his adventure. Collioure looked even better in the low morning sunlight, the old fort and tower appearing properly medieval. A small street market had been set up by the roadside as the narrow streets began to fill with shoppers.

Small fishing boats returning with their night's catch

Reluctantly, we hit the coast road, working our way south through Port Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer. At Port Vendres there is an aire in an old public garden, though it is a good walk from the town centre around the docks. Banyuls has a nice seafront but restricted parking for motorhomes.

Aire, Port Vendres
GPS: 42.5178 N, 03.1133 E

Next, along the twisting D914 cornice road to Cerbere and a stop for lunch just before the town.

Picnic spot
GPS: 42.4398 N, 03.1711 E

Super views along the D914

Climbing steeply again, we passed a derelict customs post and over the high border crossing of Coll dels Belitres into Spain. Just overlooking the bay of Portbou is a Memorial to the republican refugees of the Spanish Civil War, who suffered as they waited to escape into exile at the end of the war in February 1939.


Memorial to the refugees of the Spanish Civil war

A new country - a new book, and Sue quickly succumbed to a dose of Green Guide fever. Consequently, a few kilometres along the coast I found the van climbing a steep 8km hairpin drive to the Monestir de Sant Pere de Rhodes. “I bet it’s at the top of that mountain” I said, and so it was, spectacularly sited, alone in the lea of the peak.

It's a long and winding road!

And then it's a good walk from the car park

The ruins of this Benedictine monastery have been substantially restored in recent years and are now well presented. The views alone were worth it and the church inside the monastery impressive. There is even a restaurant, and it is a base for many walking trails.

A shaft of sunlight pierces the chapel atmosphere


A seat for contemplation

The late sun swiftly leaves the building

When we arrived we joined a large Mercedes van in the car park, picnic tables and laptops out in the sunshine – it was actually a base vehicle for a walking team testing gortex clothing!
It would have been a wonderful place to stay the night, but looking at the rows of powerful floodlights, and with a dim recollection of warnings of a large fine for overnighting on Parc Natural, we reluctantly decided against it.

Picnic spot
GPS: 42.3238 N, 03.1715 E

Next stop was Cadaques, which used to be a humble fishing village in a small bay enclosed by the Pyrenean foothills. Alas, when contemporary artists such as Picasso and Dali took to going there it morphed into a fashionable resort, complete with seafront casino, now a bar and internet café. The town of course has a museum dedicated to Picasso.

Arriving at dusk, we parked in the central car park - in which overnight parking is tolerated, according to our Camper Stop guide. This is an automated affair, but you pay on exit. After the noise of scooters and barking dogs had died down late in the evening, we were all alone, the only vehicle in the entire park.

24th March
I was up with the first rays of the sun and wandered the hilly streets of the old town before the locals were out and about. Slightly reminiscent of St Ives in Cornwall, the steep uneven lanes and passageways criss-cross haphazardly, as the houses are built on the bedrock, eventually leading down to the water’s edge.
The seafront is having a major makeover (of course) but they are making a nice job of it - the quality of the stone paving far exceeding anything I've seen in the UK.

The Church terrace looks down on houses built on the bedrock

Steep cobbled streets lead the way...

.....To the the gravel beach

If you stay overnight in the central car park you need to pay a visit to the little office before you exit, or you will be charged continuously for the night - at 2.45 euros an hour!
With a discount for the hours between 2200 and 0800, our charge came to Euro 11.80. Once paid, you have 20 minutes grace to use your card to exit.

Car park
GPS: 42.2891 N, 03.2733 E

Heading out to Cap de Creus for what we thought would be a pleasant scenic interlude, we were soon looking at sign after sign restricting motorhomes from the side roads. As the road narrows towards the Cape there is a definitive sign banning entry to all caravans and motorhomes - you cannot even go for a look! A sign on a rough track off to the side, onto Parc Natural, bluntly reminded us of the 150 euro fine for wayward campers.

Feeling a little unloved we moved on to Roses, where we felt equally unwelcome.

So, onto Castello d'Empuries, where we did find somewhere to park for lunch. We had a look at Empuriabrava, a purpose built resort full of man made canals in which to park your yacht outside your house. Actually, it wasn't a bad place, with a nice waterfront and beach and it didn't seem that motorhome unfriendly.

Empuriabrava - a canal at the end of every garden

The decision was made to hole up for a few days at Sant Pere Pescador, from where we hoped to cycle to the Greek and Roman ruins at Empuries.

Camping Aquarius is a huge ACSI site ten minutes cycle ride from the town centre, in an area awash with campsites, but very efficiently run and one of the best we have visited.
They offer a huge range of amenities, (including massage!) and even an on-site caravan repair man and accessory shop - though curiously he was selling toilet chemical, etc, in direct competition with their own very well stocked supermarket.
The washing facilities are very well appointed and the motorhome service bay spacious and there is also a nice restaurant. Wi-fi is available all over the site on various tariffs. The site was already quite full, including some monster German vans, some Dutch and a sprinkling of Brits.

Camping Aquarius
GPS: 42.1766 N, 03.1066 E

25th - 26th March
We attempted the coastal cycle path to the archaeological site at Empuries, but the trail was deeply flooded after all the rain and we had to abandon it.

27th March
After leaving the campsite, we arrived in the van at the Empuries ruins and found we had free entry - it being the last Sunday in the month!

A vast site by the sea, the ruins comprise the mainly Greek neapolis or “new town” and a more recent Roman town above it - into which the Greek town was later amalgamated.
There is an interesting museum with recovered artefacts, but amongst the Roman ruins I was particularly impressed with the extensive reconstructions of the forum. To see even just a part of such a large edifice, as it would have really looked like in its heyday, brings it all alive. To some this kind of expenditure may seem sacrilege and a waste of money, but for those without the benefit of a classical education, such reconstructions leap across the centuries and bring immediate awe.

Just one part of reconstructions of a Roman forum

Leaving late afternoon, we found a large and very suitable car park in L'Esacala for the night, but with the almost inevitable "No Caravan/Motorhome" sign. It probably would have been Ok this time of year, with most campsites still closed, but we still had time to move on.

On the main road into L'Estartit we found a free bus park, with several 40 tonne trucks overnighting. It would do for us and we tucked ourselves into a corner.

Car park
GPS: 42.0503 N, 03.1864 E

28th March
We enjoyed a quiet night, and a friendly wave from a truck driver who came mid-morning to pick up his trailer.
After a quick drive around the sea front and a visit to Lidls, we headed back to Torroella.

The coast from Cap de Begur to Cap Roig is not prime motorhoming country to be fair, and though it was theoretically possible to follow the coast road (according to our sat-nav), most roads have a 3.5 tonne limit and are very tight. Still, Sue wanted to see what we could and we dipped in and out.
The Botanical gardens at Cap Roig are easily accessible and looked worth a visit.

Back then to Palafrugell and a run through Palamos and Platja d'Aro to Saint Feliu de Guixols.

Saint Feliu de Guixols has a nice waterfront

There is a dedicated motorhome parking area in Saint Feliu a few minutes walk from the seafront, just above the public swimming pool. This didn't appear in any of our printed guides, but was plucked from the Club Motorhome website (www.clubmotorhome.co.uk). It was a bit noisy from traffic until late evening, but fine overnight. A couple of old caravans (one without its wheels) were stationed at the far end and inhabited by some impoverished looking men. I checked at the tourist office and they told me that these guys would be no problem for us.

Aire, Saint Feliu de Guixols
GPS: 41.7801 N, 03.0228 E

29th March
Not the finest of weather for the spectacular and tortuous corniche road to Tossa de Mar, but enjoyable all the same. Actually, this drive is best done in the opposite direction, as most of the cliff-side viewing points have "No Entry" coming from the north.

Tossa de Mar looks good from a distance

Luckily, we found a parking place by the roadside in town, and Sue went walking on a trip down memory lane from her holidays 30 years ago. Whilst deep in my book, a uniformed policeman knocked loudly on the door and very firmly reminded me that I should have parked with the flow of traffic! A useful reminder as had I left the van as well, we would no doubt have got a ticket!

30th March
Barcelona was now on the horizon. Our Swiss friends, Brigitte and Peter, had tipped us off about Camping Barcelona, an ACSI site in Mataro, about 45 minutes drive out of the city centre. A slightly cramped but well organised and efficiently run site, their key selling point is a free shuttle bus (outside of the months of July and August) to the Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona. Situated near the other side of the main road and railway line from the beach, they also have free shuttles to the beach and Mataro.
The pitches are fully serviced and Wi-fi is available all over the site on many different tariffs. For the kids there is a large netted football and basketball pitch and even a small animal farm with sheep, goats, rabbits and hens.

Some Gaudi inspired mozaic at Camping Barcelona

GPS: 41.5521 N,02.8941 E
www.campingbarcelona.com

We elected to buy some Tourist Bus tickets from reception for our visit to Barcelona. A single day costs 23 euros, but a second day cost only 7 euros more, and with so much to see, the 2 day, 30 euro option seemed a no-brainer. The ticket includes as many earpiece headsets as you need and also a useful free guide book and booklet of discount vouchers (up to 20%) for all the major attractions - but you have to ask for them as you get on board!

Yes I know, its a tourist bus!

The advantage of such a “high profile” tourist activity is that you can cover a lot of ground relatively cheaply and, if you can bag a seat on the top deck, see some of what is passing by in the process.

The disadvantage - as we found out - is that you can spend an inordinate amount of time at traffic lights and bus stops without seeing anything of what you came to see. The same can be said of ordinary buses and taxis of course, but regular buses don't wait as long at each stop as the tourist bus, and taxis tend to use the rat-runs to speed up the journey.
The muzak in between the pieces of commentary can also drive you nuts!

The trick is to do your homework, select 3 or 4 destinations on a route (there are two main ones) and stick to them in strict order. The snag is that early in the day the buses are crowded and having fought for your seat on the top open deck you can be reluctant to give it up! A complete round trip of each route however can take over two hours.

One Gaudi house....

....and another

On our first run round the iconic symbol of Barcelona - the Sagrada Famillia temple - had queues of people waiting all around it, so we stayed on the bus for a glimpse of the rest of the sights, but it was a long haul, and then we were faced with doing it all again later. Sounds daft I know, but the temptation to stay on and admire the view on a sunny day is strong - but time wasting.

The Sagrada Famillia - Gaudi's masterpiece, and still a work in progress

Christ in ascension, on the bridge

The Sagrada Famillia (Church of the Holy Family), was the unfulfilled dream and lifelong passion of the architect Antonio Gaudi.
It is, at present, a building site, and only "fifty percent" complete, but nonetheless a mesmerising melange of innovative and unique architectural design and style. It is tempting to call it Disney-esque, but its eye-poppingly gigantic scale would leave any Walt Disney confection in the dust.
The hoped for completion date is 2026, 143 years after Gaudi, the man whose vision it became, was appointed to take over from the original architect, de Paula Villar.

Gaudi knew that he would never live to see the completion of his temple, but he laid plans for others to follow, with drawings, models, lectures and written papers. He was fatally injured under a tram at the age of 74.
Apparently, when asked if he was concerned about how long his passion would take to build, he replied, in a display of unbounded faith and prescience: "my client has all the time in the world".

His concept, his design and philosophy, is now being realised with the help of advanced computer programs and innovative construction techniques. Unfortunately, a large number of his architectural models were damaged and his drawings destroyed in a fire caused by militants at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, but the continuing construction of the church is being developed by and copied from reconstructions of his original plaster models and other contemporary drawings.
His unique architectural demands - geometrically complex, but inspired by trees and elements of the natural world, has required new building methods to be evolved to cope with each challenge that he laid down.

The interior of the church was only completed in 2010, and shortly after the temple was consecrated by the Pope as a basilica. We lingered long inside, just marvelling at the intricacies, the projected colours and ever changing patterns of light from the windows. It is just entrancing, unlike anything we have seen before - something from the imagination of Tolkien, a mystical cavern.

I think I can use the word breathtaking here..

Awesome?

Light from the magnificent glass reflected on the organ pipes

It’s easy to forget that this is a place of worship, the natural light show combining with clever artificial lighting to show off the awe inspiring architecture to it’s very best, but it really is the real life creation of the devoted dream of a deeply religious man, blessed not only with an early talent for mathematics, but a lifelong love of the beauty of nature.

We took the “Passion Lift” (yes really) up one of the oval bell towers to see construction work and admire the view. Eventually there will be no less than eighteen towers and in them tubular bells will be hung.

From the "Passion" tower - Barcelona's answer to London's Gherkin

In the crypt there is more to see – many old drawings, photos, plaster models and a fascinating 15 minute video (in alternating languages).

Soon the day was almost gone, and by the time the tourist bus had got back to Placa de Catalunya there was only time for a quick pizza before the 20.00 shuttle bus back to the campsite.

On day two, we took the “red” bus route, which takes in the Olympic stadium, Mount Montjuic and the castle and the regenerated waterfront. Unfortunately, the Maritime Museum that we were keen to see was undergoing a major building renovation and there was only a light, temporary exhibition available. There is however a catering school incorporated in the building and for only 10 euros you can get a three course meal cooked by the students. We only stopped for a coffee but the food on offer looked excellent, must be the best value in town!

Walking past the impressive monument to Christopher Colombus, we became aware of a police chase developing – a black African, clutching his pack of sunglasses (presumably an illegal immigrant), was playing a cat and mouse game with a Guardia Urbana officer on a motor scooter. Every time the cop caught him up and stopped his scooter to talk, the African would dart away, over the pavement, around the monument, up and down the steps - until suddenly he made a dash across the road. A tourist type in shorts and tee shirt tried to grab him, but he swung a wild hook at the bystander (or aggrieved customer), making a hard contact, audible over the traffic noise. The T-shirted guy bravely hung on and instantly there were scooters, sun glasses and uniforms all over the road as four cops dragged the seller, with difficulty, to the ground.

The Guardia close in on a sunglass salesman

The traffic had by now been blocked off by a taxi driver and two cop cars arrived. The African had put up a terrific fight and you almost felt sorry for him - hard and tough, the expression on his face still said “Ok, you’ve got me, now what you gonna do?”

After all that excitement we got back on the bus, completing the trip around the waterfront area rejuvenated by the Olympics and then back to Placa Catalunya, swapping buses again to see the Parc Güell.

The Parc Güell was initially planned as a residential garden village by Gaudi, but only one showhouse was ever built, in which Gaudi lived, before donating the park to the municipal council in 1923. It is now a colourful place to hang out, sell your tourist wares and get your photo taken by one of Gaudi’s characteristic tiled structures, this time a dragon on the stairs. It was still heaving with sightseers late in the afternoon and I heard one say that Gaudi’s buildings at the entrance to the park looked like “gingerbread houses”, and I had, somewhat disrespectfully, to agree.

The entrance to Gaudi's Parc Güell

The police put in an appearance again in a patrol car, which sent most of the traders scattering into the bushes - an endless game of seek and hide it would seem.

Rather than pick up the tourist bus yet again we got a taxi back to Catalunya Square, which despite the driver’s predictions of 10 euros, only came to 7.50 on the meter. He nonchalantly and cheerfully handed back just two euro coins – my second experience of a Barcelona trader allocating his own tip before passing the change. Still, it saves you guessing what they expect!

We still had time to promenade down La Rambla, the pedestrian boulevard all the way from Placa Catalunya to the seafront. It’s colourful alright, with overloaded flower stalls, stooges and entertainers – and a couple of armed Guardia Urbana, strolling every hundred yards or so. At one point I could see six sets of yellow tunics, but it’s reassuring that they are keeping a careful lid on any criminal activity.
A great buzz, all in all, and we selected the Sukaldari restaurant for a quick meal. Sue had a large lamb leg stewed in a pot with potatoes and vegetables and I opted for good old steak and chips. Both were excellent, with two pint sized glasses of beer, the bill came to 58 euros.

Roast lamb - Sukaldari style

There is so much to see in Barcelona - we reluctantly left both the science and the Egyptology museum for another time and look forward to returning to view construction progress on the Sagrada Familia. With a backwards look we would do more homework and planning, but you never know what is going to enthral you and mess up your plans – the Sagrada Familia certainly did that.

Next: Montserrat, Sitges and Tarragona

Europe trip 2011 - Narbonne to Collioure

2011-04-28T19:43:00.471+01:00

6th March.

From the sublime France Passion field to the super-campsite. Camping La Nautique is a very large ACSI site by the Etang de Bages, about 5km out of the centre of Narbonne, and is unusual in that each pitch has its own individual shower block (more of a garden hut actually). The Dutch girl in reception spoke almost accent less colloquial English and quickly gave us a pitch number, handing us the keys to our garden shed with en-suite shower.
Not so good was the wi-fi set up - it was only available at the reception with a minimum charge of 10 Euros for a week. Apparently they didn’t have the “cards” to charge for a shorter period – hmm..

GPS: 43.1486 N, 03.0009 E
www.campinglanautique.com/index.php

Lake Bages from the Camping La Nautique

Just as we were pulling into our pitch a woman descended out of the Hymer van opposite and ran forward to speak to Sue. Uh-oh, I thought, we have a problem here - some crossed wires with the pitch allocation - but to our amazement we swiftly realised that the van contained our friends from Switzerland, Brigitte and Peter. With no idea of their itinerary, and on a vast and rapidly filling campsite, we had been directed to the pitch opposite them - how small a world is that!

They had a sorry tale to tell. Whilst shopping in the Carrefour supermarket in Narbonne, their Hymer van was broken into and their laptop stolen. Despite the two dogs in the van, the villains prised open the window next to the entrance door, then put their arm through the window and opened the door from the inside. So much for having a super-secure door with three hinges and three locking points!
Fortunately, it seems our friends returned before the thieves could ransack the van and their main loss was the computer. Peter reckons the thieves were from an old van next to them, who watched them leave and posted a lookout to watch for them returning, hence making good their escape without notice.

It’s easy to be wise after the event, but ever since we fortuitously foiled a break-in in Spain we have made it a hard rule to always leave somebody in the van whilst shopping in a large supermarket. As Peter lamented, it wasn't the relatively minor damage, but the loss and consequential vulnerability of personal data that was the real aggravation.

Anyhow, delighted to see Brigitte and Peter again, we soon had the cork out of a bottle and chatted until the sun had disappeared and we were stiff with the cold.

Our route from Narbonne down to Collioure

(Microsoft Autoroute 2010, GPS track: Globalsat BT 338X Data logger)

7th March
The warm spring sun of the previous day was replaced with a chill north westerly wind - the bikes stayed locked to the tree and our “sundowners” went down inside the warmth of Peter’s van.

8th March
We said farewell to our friends and returned to the campsite pastimes of updating the blog, pouring money into the washing machines and odd jobs around the van - more purchases required.

9th March
Warmer sunshine prompted a cycle ride down to the Port de Plaisance at La Nautique. Either side of the water sports and sailing centre are two large open areas of dirt car park along the foreshore of the lake. They are beautiful spots to stop - tranquil, with flamingos feeding in the shallow water.

One of two signs the worse for somebody's ire

By the entrance to each however, a couple of trashed notices banning camping and caravanning gave witness to somebody’s view of authoritarian restrictions, but no boulders or height barriers were in evidence - yet.

Picnic spot
GPS: 43.1424 N, 03.0094 E

A solitary van enjoys the lakeside

10th March
We were none too sad to leave Camping La Nautique. Perhaps inevitably for such a large site, it felt a bit impersonal and other things niggled, particularly the wi-fi setup - just one tiny interior table in reception, shared by the whole campsite, plainly inadequate. It's nonetheless the only ACSI site in the area and is obviously a popular staging post for caravanners.

We drove through the city centre once more to Narbonne Accessories and they helped us out with a new cbe electric step switch (in the right colour!) and some fittings to make up a new drain connection for the waste tank.

www.narbonneaccessoires.fr
GPS: 43.1681N, 02.9876 E

The Geant supermarket for some more GPL was more problematic, it was impossible to get our left hand side adjacent to the gas pump, short of reversing up the narrow lane and through a barrier!
Despite our Dutch guide book to GPL stations we failed to find another outlet in Narbonne - the Total garage being under reconstruction and the Elf now apparently a supermarket. Realising we were running out of time for the day we reluctantly went back to the aire opposite the Parc d'Expositions. A walk down to the nearby Carrefour where our friends had been broken into revealed that Carrefour too had given up selling GPL - a worrying trend for us Gaslow bottle users.

11th March
The only outlet selling GPL nearby Narbonne was back down at Gruissan - a Dyneff garage on the edge of town, which also has a handy laundrette.

GPL/Autogas garage
GPS: 43.1082 N, 03.0913 E

We thought the town was worth a further look, and fancied another meal out. Disappointingly, the Gruissan Plage aire was still shut for the winter and we were re-directed to the aptly named “Four Winds” aire by a large marina. Here the heavy, rain drenched gusts of wind soon put paid to our planned gastronomic excursion.

Aire "Four winds", Gruissan
GPS: 43.1028 N, 03.0988 E

The Gruissan Plage aire still closed at this time of year

12th March
The wind was still whistling and the barometer steadily falling as we surfaced in the morning, there didn't seem to be any point in going anywhere in those conditions. The red and white striped warning placard on the bikes was removed before it disappeared into the wind…
It rained and howled all day, becoming more violent as night fell, and a large puddle several inches deep formed under the van.

We went to bed with the van lifting and rocking with every gust, though all the vans around seemed prepared to sit it out with us.
Around midnight a very loud and mournful alarm siren added to the cacophony - what was that all about, a callout for the lifeboat?... a high level alarm?... a tsunami warning?!!
We peered out to see if anyone was moving amongst the 30 or so vans around us. One van with a large covered trailer had its outside light on, but nobody else appeared to be interested.

Still it went on - an incessant wailing, impossible to sleep through. Eventually the door of the van-with-trailer opened and we could see a heated discussion between a figure in the doorway and a very wet one on the ground, his jacket glistening in the floodlights. Then the van door slammed shut, driving lights were switched on and it came to life and drove away, the siren fading into the distance! It leaves you wondering why they didn’t just turn it off – were they really expecting to leave it going until it ran out of power?

13th March
The storm evaporated, the sky had cleared and the marina boats were glinting and sparkling in the sunlight. We were almost tempted to stay, but instead took the scenic route back to Narbonne via the D168, and parked for most of the day at a fine viewing point high above the plain.

Picnic spot
GPS: 43.1690 N, 03.1294 E

Not a bad spot to spend the day

Later, after Narbonne, we took the D105 to Bages. The waterline along the Etang du Bages is a pretty drive, and Bages looked attractive from a distance, but it is more shabby close up and there is nowhere really to stop.

The approach to Bages

We carried on to Peyriac de mer, which has a small aire directly off the road. Four French vans were already parked up. Some knocked-down barriers and red/white warning tape lying around looked a bit ominous, as if some body had intended to close it, but the aire sign was still there. No facilities though.
Despite the still low temperature the "mozzies" put in an appearance and up went our fly screens.

Aire, Peyriac de Mer
GPS: 43.0923 N, 02.9624 E

The small aire at Peyriac de Mer

14th March
After a late start, and under more overcast skies, we investigated the waterfront in Peyriac de Mer, finding it very cramped and not to be recommended in a motorhome. Some of the buildings were very run down, but as you work your way up through the town, the newly and expensively renovated holiday homes add their contrast to the dilapidated terraces.

Looking across to Peyriac de Mer

Just below Peyriac is the Sigean African animal reserve - not the sort of thing you expect to pop up in a Languedoc wine producing region!

www.discover-eu.com/the-sigean-animal-preserve-the-ideal-place-for-family-outing.html

Arrival at Port la Nouvelle is marked by a vast cement works at the first roundabout - so big it even gets a mention on our Michelin map! The scenery doesn't get much better, but I would say the graffiti has greater artistic content than your average paint spray job.

Welcome to Port la Nouvelle!

There is however a very large free aire situated below the flyover and next to the dechetterie and some oil storage tanks. The services are 'flot bleu', but for a change you don't have to flex your credit card to empty the loo!
A surprising number of vans were parked up for a wet and windy March morning.

Aire, Port la Nouvelle
GPS: 43.0133 N, 03.0419 E

Moving on to the N9 briefly, we turned off at the D427 to la Franqui, a tiny little seaside resort just at the entrance of the Etang de Lapalme, north of Cap Leucate.

The municipal campsite was firmly fermé, but there was a patch of ground outside which did us nicely for the night.

Campsite, la Franqui
GPS: 42.9439 N, 03.0299 E

Outside the campsite at la Franqui

Beside the campsite resides a huge car park with a wooden walkway to the beach. We were nearly blown backwards by the onshore wind - waves roaring ashore a hundred yards away. It was hard to imagine the happy hordes in the summer with their buckets and spades, but just off the town waterfront a brave bunch of kite and windsurfers were making impossible speeds in the extreme conditions.

We retreated back to the van as the rain lashed around us again. Was this Spring?... the South of France?... Mediterranean?... it felt more like the Scottish Western Isles!

15th March
The weather was no better in the morning, our exit road was partially flooded and I wasn’t best pleased to be soaking my wheels in what at best would be brackish water.

Still hugging the coast we entered Leucate Plage. There is little more dismal than a beach resort in the rain, however this one is well catered for with aires - a large new one on the outskirts (GPS: 42.9135 N, 03.0202 E) and a double one on the beachfront. One solitary van was braving the howling onshore wind on the seaward part, but no electricity (contrary to our guide).

Aire, Leucate Plage
GPS: 42.9000 N, 03.0526 E

Happily, I got to wash my wheels again in roads flooded with fresh rainwater.

Despairing of the weather conditions, Sue found an ACSI campsite at Sainte Marie La Mer called Camping de la Plage. As you enter there is a huge painted cement statue of a rugby player. Unquestionably an aficionado of Rugby, the owner has painted portraits of famous players all around the white pool walls, and of course, all the allees are named after them!

No doubt who this campsite owner supports!

The "free" wi-fi turned out to be a pain, you have to go through a complicated registration process, including giving your email address - no thanks.

GPS: 42.7403 N, 03.0359 E
www.camping-municipal-de-la-plage.com

16th -17th March
Sainte Marie La Mer was another gloomy holiday ghost town, the owners of some run down looking cafes and bars looking forlornly out at the wet, empty streets as they contemplated this years opening re-fit. With more wind and rain forecast, we just battened down the hatches for a day or two.

18th March
Some sunshine at last, and an incredibly fierce wind (the Tramontane) to go with it, but magically the Pyrenees, still well dressed with snow, had suddenly appeared in the clear air.

The snow-capped Pyrenees appear after the rain

Our spirits and sense of adventure rejuvenated, we decided to give the coast a miss for a while and go inland to visit Fort de Salses.

The Fort de Salses was swiftly constructed in only 7 years, after the French army sacked and razed the then Spanish village of Salses in 1496. It occupies a strategic site on a narrow strip of land between the hills of Corbières and Lake Leucate, part of the ancient route linking France and Spain.
Later it was rebuilt by the Spanish King Ferdinand and in 1503 withstood its first seige before it was fully completed.

Inside the Fort de Salses

It was finally taken by the French in 1642, but the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 pushed the border back and the fort became no more than an observation post, albeit upgraded by the great military architect Vauban. It was both a prison and a gunpowder store before being classified as a historic monument in 1886.

Fort de Salses has also been used as a jail

Virtually deserted when we visited, in piercing sunshine, it had an almost "Foreign Legion” desert fort feel to it. Our French speaking guide had the presence of a former soldier and in the large dining hall spoke at length and with great enthusiasm on the culinary luxuries the officers enjoyed.

Fort de Salses
GPS: 42.7730 N, 03.0147 E

The spectacular D12 road to Tautavel

Our next stop was Tautavel, a wine producing village made famous by the discovery 40 years ago of a 450,000 year old skull. It now has a large purpose built museum dedicated to prehistoric Tautavel man. The town’s notoriety and tourist development however, doesn't seem to have gone to the heads of the local vineyard workers - they still park their tractors in the street outside their houses!

Our France Passion guide lists a certain Domaine Celler d'Al Mouli of the Famille Pelou. The directions simply say "in the centre of the village" but their residence was in a narrow street without any obvious parking area and they were distinctly closed. We pitched up in the free car park nearby with a French campervan for company.

Car park, Tautavel
GPS: 42.8154 N, 02.7435 E

Our pitch for the night in Tautavel

A fine view in the morning

19th March
The museum opens at 1000 and is a steep climb up some steps from the information office in the main street. It is actually barely visible from the road, but has a bronze statue of Tautavel Man and other distinctive artwork outside.
The displays are very detailed and comprehensive, but are virtually all in French, though an included audio guide bridges the gap fairly well and gives an English soundtrack to the videos.

"Tautavel" men butcher a killed rhinoceros

No, it's not a Rolling Stone, it's Tautavel man anticipating his breakfast!

The most impressive exhibit is a meticulous reconstruction of the cave where the skull fragments and skeletal parts were found. The actual skull is, of course, in a museum in Paris, but you wouldn’t know unless you were an expert, the reconstructions are so good, as are the life-size mannequins in numerous displays.

www.tautavel.com

By the time we had absorbed as much as we could, lunch had come and gone and there was just an hour to see the included exhibition at the Palais de Congress. This turned out to be not very engaging after what we had already seen and we returned to the van in the car park for a second night.
A pleasant French-Canadian women who was travelling alone in the VW "California" camper came back to share the night with us again.

20th March
In the morning a crystal blue sky and warm sun made the world feel a different place again, the Pyrenees looked like a postcard, and when Sue suggested we go further inland to the ancient hilltop castle of Peyrepertuse, I was happy to agree.

A glorious day for a drive up into the mountains

We picked the scenic route over the minor roads (D59, D611, D14) and it was a wonderful drive, a beautiful vista at every corner.

The castle at Paziols in the distance

Surprisingly, there is a listed aire at Duilhac, the village sitting on a rocky buttress below the 800 metre high limestone ridge of Peyrepertuse.
A couple of French vans and one German had beaten us to it, but it is a super spot, lined by trees and directly under the ancient castle perched high above.

The only fly in the ointment was the absence of water - one of the jeton-eating service stands had been trashed and even the sink in the public loos had been removed, the water isolation valve locked in a box. The presence of an itinerant caravan at the far end probably gave a clue to this scenario, but it was a shame for the village as many other vans that came later didn't stay to see what the locality had to offer.

Aire, Duilhac
GPS: 42.8614 N, 02.5650 E

We hesitated to take the van up the ridge to the castle, but an indomitable German couple who had walked the 2.5 km to the top told us it was feasible.

Coaches are instructed to park in an area some way below the summit, but we made it to the top car park, albeit with a couple of three point turns on the hairpins.

Car park, Peyrepertuse
GPS: 42.8701 N, 02.5587 E

Minimal parking just below the ruins of Peyrepertuse

Entrance to the castle is Euro 7, with an extra 2 euros for the rather pointless and theatrically overblown audio guide.

Walking boots are a definite plus for this visit, it's quite a scramble along a rocky path before you even get to the castle and until they complete some more “restoration” work the old ruins present plenty of opportunities to twist an ankle.
The main part of the castle lies below the keep of Saint George, which was built by Louis IX after Peyrepertuse fell to the French in 1240. Walking around the lower grounds it is startling to see people standing on the edge of the keep above, but there is a long stone stairway cut into the rock which gives it relatively easy access. Having made to the top, particularly to the chapel, the views are deservedly breathtaking.

This is just the beginning!

The original castle from St George's keep

From the highest chapel around!

www.chateau-peyrepertuse.com

21st March
Heading back to the coast, we passed quickly through the city of Perpignan to the resort of Canet Plage, where at last we saw some blue-ish Mediterranean sea.

Moving swiftly on through St Cyprien Plage and Argeles Plage we took the high corniche road (naturally) to Collioure.

About 4km above this pretty, fortified port, is an aire incorporated into a large terraced car park. The designated motorhome area however is very tight, and despite the availability of electricity on these spaces, most vans had opted to park higher up on the car spaces. We went right to the top and had a very pleasant view across the valley.

Aire/car park, Collioure
GPS: 42.5263 N, 03.0692

The large aire/carpark at above Collioure

22nd March
In the summer, apparently, there is a shuttle bus, but it's possible to walk down into the port in about 25 minutes. A hundred metres or so along the road towards the town are some steps into a housing estate. Two flights down of these and another kilometre or so and you are at the old fort on the seafront.

There was still a chill wind when we arrived and ominous clouds in the sky. We (and many other bystanders) were intrigued to see some Marines up to their waists in the brown harbour water, receiving instruction on how to roll over and under a floating boom whilst holding their weapon. The instructor, bravely, was wearing a natty short wet suit, but the poor marines, almost to a man, were shivering uncontrollably and looking desperately miserable. Some were even yawning regularly – an early sign of hypothermia.

The trainee marines shiver through a waterlogged lesson

I took a few photos but it was painful to watch – I wonder how many were thinking “I wish I’d taken that job in a bakery instead!” On the board by the entrance to the fort it proclaims that the establishment is for the “hardening” of young officers. I think the town does well out of them though as we saw them later, fresh out of the shower in dry fatigues, looking cool in shades with a camel cigarette, downing a beer at the waterfront bar.

The appealing waterfront at Collioure

Further along the bay is a long breakwater and another ancient tower. Behind the beachfront bars and cafes are pretty narrow streets, with art and gourmet food shops. After all the rather naff and forgettable seaside resorts we had passed through on our pilgrimage along the French Mediterranean coast from Marseilles, this place felt different and (to us) a place we would visit again on a sunny day.

www.collioure.com/gb/index-gb.htm

Next - Into Spain, and Barcelona!

Europe trip 2011 - Port Camargue to Narbonne

2011-04-12T16:17:00.033+01:00

18th February
After the pristine pleasures of the Camargue, we continued our pilgrimage along the Mediterranean coast, heading south west down the D59, through la Grande Motte, Carnon Plage and Palavas les Flots - all easily forgettable holiday resorts.
Incredibly, this early in the season, the aire at Palavas les Flots – little more that a tarmac parking lot - was full of motorhomes, packed like sardines a metre or so apart, and for 12 euros a night, we thought we’d move on.

Aire, Palavas les Flots
GPS: 43.5312 N, 03.9233E


Our trail down the coast and in and around Narbonne

(Microsoft Autoroute 2010, GPS track: Globalsat BT 338X Data logger)

The approach to Sete along the N12 is pretty dirty and industrial, and with all the canals and docks linking the Thau Basin to the sea, it is theoretically an island. The low height warning on the Pont du Tivoli was too low for us at 2.8 metre and we skirted around the town.

The industrialised approach to Sete from the north

On a patch of waste ground by the Rue de L’entrepot is a free parking area listed in our “All the Aires” guide. A few expensive “A” class vans were parked up and battened down, as well as a large selection of beat-up old campers, but the trashed caravans lying around caused us to give it a miss as well.

Car park, Sete
GPS: 41.4100 N, 03.7036 E

It might be free, but we didn't fancy it!

Onwards, along the N112 coast road enclosing the Thau Basin to Marseillan Plage where the Canal du Midi ends its passage on entering Lake Thau. After a glimpse of the Canal, we by-passed Agde and Vias, heading for Portiragnes on the D37. France Passion was on the menu, Domaine du Roque Haute to be exact.
After a long day, a grand sight it was too, high on the hill in the red evening sun. It’s a slow drive down a very rough track however, and unsure where to park I hung on the bell outside the cave. An elderly lady appeared and we had a quick look inside, purchasing a bottle of white wine, only too thankful to have a safe, peaceful place to spend the night.

Domaine du Roque Haute
GPS: 43.3009 N, 03.3643 E

Domaine du Roque Haute, looking good in the evening sun

19th February
In the crisp morning sun Chateau Domaine du Roque Haute looked superb and I sucked in lung-fulls of fragrant air. Just as I was taking a photo, several Red Legged Partridges appeared, pecking at the ground. One even condescended to pose for me on a rock!

A Red Legged Partridge coming to see if I've got any breakfast!

Our destination was Camping Les Peupliers at Colombiers. This is a small ACSI site (13 euros) managed by a young couple who are upgrading the facilities, including wi-fi over 80% of the site. (10 euros for a week’s use).
The main railway line runs close by, but the site is only 5 minutes walk from the pleasant little town, and more significantly - the Canal du Midi.

Camping Les Peupliers
GPS: 43.3186N, 03.1427 E

A short walk over the bridge to Colombiers

20th to 26th February
To be precise, the actual Canal du Midi runs only from Lake Thau to Toulouse, where it originally made contact with the Garonne. The full "Canal of the two seas" (Mediterranean to the Atlantic), between Sete and Castets d'Orthe (near Bordeaux), and the mighty Gironde, now includes the Garonne Lateral Canal - because of the difficulties of navigating the upper reaches of the Garonne. However, that was only built in 1857, as one of the last of the improvements to the original canal, brought to reality by the French salt baron, Pierre-Paul Riquet.

Sadly, Pierre-Paul Riquet never saw the realisation of his dream of connecting the two seas because, having exhausted his health and his fortune, he died just 7 months and 2.5 miles short of its completion. However, his son oversaw the last months of the project and was amongst the dignitaries who sailed on a ceremonial barge from Toulouse to Lake Thau on 19th May 1681.

Some sizeable barges travel the Canal du Midi

The construction took just 15 years, an incredible feat considering that 7 million cubic metres of soil and rock were excavated by men and women with just picks and shovels. That is not to mention numerous bridges, aqueducts, dams, 63 locks and one engineering first – a navigation tunnel.

The Tunnel du Malpas is just a couple of kilometres along the tree lined towpath from the campsite. This 165 metre long tunnel was cut through Malpas hill in great haste and apparently in secret, as Louis XIV's minister in charge had already called a halt to the canal construction because of the cost.

165 metres of The Malpas tunnel

In the opposite direction - a 5 kilometre walk or cycle ride from the campsite - is the equally pioneering Fonserrannes eight-lock "water staircase" at Beziers.

The third marvel of Riquet's dedication and brilliance was in fact the key to the whole construction of the canal - the solving of a particular conundrum that had beguiled leaders for 2000 years, since Emperor Augustus in fact.
A canal 150 miles long, that rises 190 metres above sea level, needs a huge continuous supply of water at its highest point (or watershed) or it would simply run dry. This was the problem that had stumped the best engineering brains for centuries. Riquet solved it by constructing a vast reservoir fed by streams that coursed off the Black Mountains. Holding 7 million tonnes of water, it was built at Saint-Ferréol, near Revel.

Malpas hill has more surprises. Between 1854 and 1856 a railway tunnel was cut, passing through the rock just metres below the canal tunnel. The TGV trains now whistle through it, making an incredible noise.

The pre-Roman ruins of Oppidum de Ensérune

On top of the hill are the pre-Roman ruins of Oppidum de Ensérune, a fortified village inhabited from the middle of the 6th Century BC to 1st Century AD. It’s an important archaeological site - excavations from 1915 to 1967 revealed many objects from the second Iron Age (5th – 3rd Century BC). There is a museum amongst the ruins containing a very large collection of Roman, Hellenic and early Gaul pottery and other artefacts. The first of the Roman roads in ancient Gaul, the Domitian Way (118 BC) runs alongside the foot of the hill.

Lastly, you can also see (without paying to enter the site) a superb view of the Lac du Montardy, a circular lake bed drained in the 13th Century because of the spread of disease from its stagnant waters. The 1,364 metre long drainage channel runs through the hill below the railway tunnel! Its 1000 acres is now split into perfectly symmetrical communal fields, looking like the rays of a huge green lamp.

Lac du Montardy
GPS: 43.3110 N, 03.1163 E

Symmetrical fields of the empty Lac du Montardy

Leaving Camping Les Peupliers we did some stocking up with food and GPL at the local Geant supermarket and Dyneff garage. Then we nipped back to Oppidum de Ensérune for a quiet night up the hill.

Car park
GPS: 43.3101 N, 03.1182E

27th February
So, back down to the coast. There is a large aire at Saint Pierre sur Mer. On rough ground on the edge of a nature reserve, it is a well organised affair with credit card flot bleu units for everything, including some electrical points. However the barriers were yet to be re-installed for the season and we indulged in another free night.
A walk into the reserve revealed very little wildlife – I think it was too windy even for the birds!

Aire, Saint Pierre sur Mer
GPS: 43.1913 N, 03.1979 E

28th February
Saint Pierre itself is a total holiday village, a ghost town at this time of year. We drove along the seafront and found another large car park with the height barriers removed, a solitary van enjoying the view by the sea wall.
Narbonne Plage is little different, but Gruissan was more interesting with some heritage - an ancient tower on a rocky promontory, a marina and a couple of large waterside aires.

Now we did rather a large backtrack – I wanted to see the Fonserrannes canal locks at Beziers (which unbelievably we had missed by a few hundred yards on our bike trip) and Sue wanted to see the cathedral.

Beziers - underrated?

Beziers is built on hill, at the junction of the river Orb and the Canal du Midi. It claims a history going back 65 centuries, with Greek, Roman and Spanish origins, and was the site of the Roman colony of Baeterrae.
In 1209 its inhabitants were massacred and the city burned by soldiers under Simon de Montford as part of the crusades against the Cathar heresy. From the 4th Century to 1802 it was an Episcopal see.
Its prosperity, at its peak, was derived from the wine industry and its most famous son is of course Paul Riquet, whose monumental achievement now defines the limits of the city.

Fonserrannes - 8 or 9 lock staircase

An elegant and unusual feature of Riquet’s design for the locks is their oval shape, made so as to better resist the pressure exerted on the walls – like the arch of a bridge.
The original eight “stairs” of the locks have been hacked about a bit with a new canal cut around the town, splicing into the 7th lock, so they are now signposted as the “nine” locks. The original lower canal cut through the town has been blocked off by a levee for a new road, and a further lock left to ruin.
Of interest to travellers by barge is a huge boat lift that has been built to carry vessels from one canal to another when the lock stairs are out of use in the winter.

Fonserrannes
GPS: 43.3315 N, 03.2015 E

Despite its rich history, Beziers fails to receive an entry in our Green Guide and perhaps in part due to that, has a run down appearance. Nevertheless its steep ancient streets and 900 year old cathedral are well worth a visit. Great attempts are also being made to rejuvenate the sadder parts of town with refurbished buildings around the cathedral and a redeveloped park by its stone bridge.

Onto Narbonne. Easily the best option for visiting Narbonne is a large aire on the main bus route into the town centre. It is well set up with service bays, electricity and floodlights. To enter, you put your registration number into the Flot Bleu machine and receive a plastic card to insert into the exit barrier when you leave - along with your credit card.
There is however a free bus into town on display of your plastic card. A huge Carrefour supermarket, a decent restaurant and a couple of burger bars are within easy walking distance, also an exhibition centre across the road.

Aire, Narbonne
GPS: 43.1804 N, 03.0233 E

This is the way they do it in Narbonne

(Charge is 9 euros per day including hook-up, but 2 euros extra to pump n' dump! The charges escalate by 3 euros every three days if you stay more than 72 hours.)

We parked as far back off the road as we could to reduce the noise, however the wind was still ferocious, rocking the van. Across the road, motorhome after motorhome was piling into the Parc d'Expositions opposite, a show about to start perhaps?

1st March
A bright, but very cold and windy day for a visit to the old city, and our first impressions were good. The Canal de Robine - the Narbonne arm of the Canal du Midi through to Port la Nouvelle - runs through the centre of the old town and under the UNESCO listed Merchant’s Bridge. The tourist office is alongside one of Riquet’s locks.
Being Tuesday most of the museums were closed, but we had a look at the Cathedral which is (of course), undergoing some restoration, but the highest gothic choir in France is worth a look and the cloisters have some interesting gargoyles.

Narbonne Cathedral - a high choir it is

A section of the Roman Domitian Way was discovered in 1997 and is left revealed in the large square facing the Archbishops Palace, now the Hotel de Ville. There is plenty else to see and overall the old city has a nice feel to it. We had an excellent, good value lunch at the Côté Pub on Cours Mirabeau.

www.cote-pub-narbonne.com

Looking through to the town square, Narbonne

The tourist office also told us that the motorhome show started on the 3rd, so we decided to hang around.

2nd March
Yesterday’s sunshine had disappeared, a cold grey day - time to bury our heads in the laptops.

3rd March
The opening of the TPL Salon du Camping Car , with over 200 motorhomes on site, including some 2011 models in the main hall. (Entry 7 euros.)

For the first day of a show there weren’t that many people around, but there were some monster vans on display - Le Voyager, Bürstner, Pilote, Bavaria – we found ourselves asking “how much bigger can they get?”

Is it a train? Is it a plane? Is it a motorhome?

To our minds, for all the lavish lounges and boastful island bedrooms in these leviathans, the basic practicalities (like kitchen, bathroom and shower) can be more compromised than in smaller, (dare I say it) more sensible vans, because everything is given over to vast lounging areas and hotel size beds.

Then there is the often overlooked factor of payload. A load carrying capacity of 270kg in a van intended to accommodate 4 people, and perhaps a scooter or small motorbike in the garage, is just ridiculous!
Where is all your payload going? With so many restrictions on vans over 3.5 tonne in France, just look around at the luxuries of “Alde” water central heating and leather seating, the fripperies and extravagances of “must have” items like mirror lined glass cabinets and exotic bathroom fittings, heavy wooden duckboards in the shower, industrial size stainless steel door handles, etc, and you begin to see.

For our money the only vans worth having were the Fleurettes, who seem to be carrying on where Rapido left off - with beautifully finished, clean-shaped GRP bodies, rounded wooden cabinetry and practical showers and storage features.

Fleurette - our kind of motorhome - but not perfect!

Even then, on closer inspection, we found shortcomings not present in our 8 year old Rapido - tiny bathroom sinks that you could not wash some "smalls" in, inadequate bathroom storage for jars and bottles, tiny cutlery draws - we could go on. Did we get the only really practical small coachbuilt ever made?

4th March
We left the aire around midday and paid a visit to Narbonne Accessories in town, managing to pick up a brown Presto frame for a new 12v socket (seemingly impossible to obtain in the UK).

www.narbonneaccessoires.fr

The next attraction was Fontfroide Abbey, 15 km out of Narbonne and “out in the sticks” somewhat. Sue had had her head in the Green Guide again, but I was just happy to get away from the constant backdrop of city noise.

We parked up on a deep grass verge in the car park in front of the abbey, and as the last few cars left a perfect peace descended. Later there was just the odd cry of a fox intruding on the utter silence. And so to bed...

5th March
A distinctly spooky night, as sometimes seems to happen when we stay near sites of historic or religious significance. In the deathly quiet it only takes Sue to say "did you hear that?" and we're off, fitful sleep and weird dreams!

Sometime in the early hours a large warm hand placed itself over mine, benignly and gently, as if to comfort me, only problem was - it wasn't Sue's!!
After I had woken my beloved with a fearful scream… we didn't get much more sleep, daylight was a blessed arrival.

The temperature had dropped to 2 degrees in the night, laying a heavy dew, but in the still air of the morning a low, bright sun made the grass and foliage sparkle - beautiful.

Abbaye Frontroide on a glittering morning

A French van had joined us late at night despite the "no camping" signs, and by the abbey entrance I found a more explicit "No Motorhomes between 2000 and 0800" sign...
Oh well, it was only the spooks that had bothered us!

Abbaye Fontfroide, (meaning Cold Well) was founded in 1093 and became a Cistercian monastery in 1145. It was greatly developed in the 13th Century and altered in the 18th, but despite the trials of various religious and political upheavals, the French revolution and the Black Death, it has remarkably kept intact its church, cloisters and chapter hall dating from the 12th Century.

In a wonderful location, tucked away at the end of a small valley of the Massif de Frontfroid, it was bought by a private family at the beginning of the 20th Century, the buildings restored, and the vineyards and farms put to commercial use.

The chapel towers from higher in the valley

Summer or winter, it doesn't open until 1000, and whilst I trekked up the hill to get a better photo of the abbey, Sue found out that a tour was about to start and left me to it.
I joined the midday tour (after listening to the audio guide twice over), and Sue came around again, the tour guide, who had excellent English, was happy to add her to our small group.

In the winter only, or more exactly from All Saints day until Palm Sunday, the tour includes the ancient refectory of the monks, later transformed into a “parlour”, also the pantry and kitchen and the grand dining room - all beautifully and lavishly laid out with utensils, “food” and place settings. They would certainly give the English National Trust a run for their money!

The grand dining room - not for the monks!

The other highlight was the church – the original stained glass was long lost when the abbey was sold at the beginning of the 20th Century, but a French painter was persuaded by the new owner to design and create another set. Fifteen years later, and having had to rediscover some of the long lost craftsman’s skills, the task was complete. A fabulous job he did too – the best 20th Century glass I have seen by a big margin, the photos just don’t do justice to the brilliance of the colours with the sun shining through.

Dazzlling 20th Century glass in the Chapel

The restaurant was newly open for the season and our shortage of bread for lunch was used as an excuse to indulge ourselves. Superb, two courses each and a bottle of Fontfroide's excellent vin de pays came to Euro 49. Sue's chicken and my cod were beautifully cooked and presented, it was a real treat for us.
Time for a snooze!

GPS: 43.1299 N, 02.8964 E
www.fontfroide.com

Not thinking we would push our luck for another night courtesy of Fontfroide Abbey, Sue found a France Passion site a few kilometres away. We settled ourselves under some trees on the edge of the vineyard. There didn’t seem to be anybody about so we left our contact with the owners until the morning and just enjoyed the peace and isolation.

Domaine Gaussan-Kozine
GPS: 43.1320 N, 02.8445 E

France Passion - Can you beat it?

Next: Tautavel Man and Peyrepertuse

Europe trip 2011 - Port Saint Louis to Port Camargue

2011-03-26T12:47:00.012Z

12th February
After our late evening arrival in Port Saint Louis, and an only slightly disturbed night on the marina quay, I tip-toed out of the van into some welcome sunshine. 20 metres behind us was a customs launch that had rumbled past in the early hours before mooring up!

Seemed like a quiet spot before the customs launch arrived!

At the end of the jetty was the drolly named “Ship of Fools” with some comical appendages in prominent places, for example, a huge knife, fork and spoon as a figurehead!

Ship of Fools - have I been here before?

The Capitanerie in Port Saint Louis is undergoing a major rebuild and will soon be open with a clubhouse for the marina’s yachties and “Services Plaisance” - often handy for a launderette.
On the quay was a regular small fish market under an artistic steel and canvas sun shade, doing good business with a wide selection of fish and crustaceans. Another few minutes walk away was a large Intermarche with filling station.
Maybe Port St Louis makes a good starting off point for an exploration of the Camargue!

Our trail around the Camargue

(Microsoft AutoRoute 2010, GPS track: Globalsat BT 338X Data logger)

After breakfast we drove around the corner - to find the rest of the parked up motorhomes we had spied earlier from the deserted aire across the water! Well ensconced all along the grassed-over harbour's edge, they were there mainly for the fishing apparently.

What struck us most about Port St Louis was not only the huge harbour, but the vast amount of derelict land, abandoned industrial buildings, cargo handling and refuelling infrastructure. The loss to the local economy must have been shattering - where did it all go?
Now all they have is a couple of moderate size marinas, a small fishing fleet and some new, mostly unoccupied blocks of holiday apartments. It's gratifying to see the money being spent to transform the town for a new century, but they have a long, long way to go.

So, to the Camargue proper, the Regional Nature Park. The Bac de Barcarin or ferry across the Grand Rhone to Salin de Giraud costs 5 euros - paid on board. We timed it right for a change and were over in minutes.

Ferry across the Rhone

Turning south almost immediately onto the D36d, we headed for the Plage Piemanson. You actually drive right alongside the banks of the Rhone, and there are some stopping off points to gaze at this huge river and its life.

We passed a salt works, with heavy machinery for scooping up the evaporated salt from the marsh, plus the most enormous mountain of salt left out in the open. Not sure I'd fancy any of that for my fish and chips! (Actually it is all thoroughly washed - yes, washed - in clean sea water before packing for sale)

At the end of the road is a big gravel car park, no signs banning motorhomes or the like, just a few waste bins.
The sun was now out in strength and we sucked in the cool sea air and the wonderful light. The only other person around was a motorhomer, standing on the shore of the lake with a powerful telescope on a tripod, taking pictures of wading birds with an attached camera.
Across from the car park is the vast, sandy Piemansion Beach, looking out to the Mediterranean.

Car park for Piemansion beach, looking onto the adjacent lake

We could easily have lingered longer, but felt there was much more to see. We took a quick look at the Domaine de la Palissade nature reserve. Here there is a helpful tourist office, a pleasant picnic spot, several walking trails and an equestrian trail that takes the visitor into the wetlands.

GPS: 43.3758 N, 04.8103 E
www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr

Back up at Salin de Giraud, we found the promised aire around the back of the fire station, also several French vans parked up. One lady advised me that the fresh water stands were still shut off for the winter, though if you were willing to use a canister, the toilet cassette rinse did have a supply.

From the bottom of town we headed off for Faraman and La Béluge, but at Faraman the road was "Route barrée" and we had to retrace our steps, taking the D36c out of Salin de Giraud.

We drove as far as we could to the Phare de la Gacholle, where there is limited parking and a causeway to the actual lighthouse 12 km away. The sign says: "light vehicles only in dry weather, no 4x4's" – so I guess that excludes motorhomes!
A nice rough-track cycle ride however, sea water lagoons on either side. Admission is free to the lighthouse and there is an exhibition on the Camargue coast.

La Capelière is another individual nature reserve with an information centre, walking trails, hides and observation points - opening times and access to some of the hides are more restrictive though.

www.reserve-camargue.org

Just after La Capelière, heading north, there is a large layby and viewing platform for the mighty Etang du Vaccares, which seemed a good place to stop for the night.

It's no easy matter getting to the waters edge however, most entrances are gated or fenced off with "no hunting" signs, but I did find one open to get amongst the reeds. Making my way back to the road I nearly had a heart attack when I heard dogs barking and the thunder of heavy paws on the narrow track! Fortunately they were family dogs and took not the blind bit of notice of me.


Worth the scramble through the reed beds!

Sun sets fire to the reeds

Go to sleep now

The road was quiet after dark, and apart from one vehicle sounding their horn as they went by, we had a peaceful night in the company of a large 'A' Class van.
Ah, the joys of travelling off season.

13th February
As a misty morn dawned we watched Black headed Gulls, Egrets and ducks feeding at the waters edge.

The weather wasn't great so our next stop was the Museum of the Camargue, installed in a former sheep barn on the Pont de Rousty farmstead. Alongside runs the Canal du Rousty, constructed in 1543 and used to drain the marshes and cultivated land. Excess water is pumped into the Rhone, or in exceptional circumstances allowed to gravitate to the Etang du Vaccarés.

The Canal du Rousty

Black bulls and White horses are the traditional icons of the Camargue, along with the gaucho or Gardian, and are inextricably linked because of the use of horses to manage the bulls.
The Pink Flamingo and Egret now pop up regularly too on publicity material and roadside signs.
A new emblem was created by a local artist that they call “The Cross of Camargue” - combining a cross tipped with the tridents of the Gardians (for faith) an anchor (for hope) and a heart (for charity). Quite a neat design I suppose, and they seem to be proud of it.

Three ages of the Camargue Gardian

Along with all of the above is a colourful history of the rise and fall of industries, agriculture and ways of life - encompassing fishing, farming, wine, salt and rice production.

The topography of the Camargue is varied and very complex - today the equilibrium of all its aspects is managed by man with protective dykes, pumps and sluice gates. It can be categorised into 3 or 5 different environments, depending on whose material you are reading!

In the upper Camargue and the banks of the Rhone are the Fresh Water Marshes and Reed Beds. The marshes are home to aquatic plants such as bulrushes, cane and reeds, and in summer are used as pasture, also for hunting birds and mammals.
In the winter they provide shelter for nesting and wintering birds, and the reeds are harvested for roofing.

An Egret feeds by the reed beds

In the lower Camargue, along with 50km of sandy beaches, are the Sansouires or Salt Plains. They are sometimes flooded, but dry out in the intense summer heat - salt concentrations rising up to the surface, producing a white film. Only a few plants such as salicorne are salt tolerant enough to survive.

Then there are Salt Meadows, fragmented environments, with clovers and grasses which complete their life cycle before the summer drought - and the land dries hard as stone.

The Salt Ponds or Etangs are former branches of the Rhone delta that have become silted up and separated by sand bars from the sea. The levels are controlled by sluice gates to the sea, but the concentration of salt varies from year to year.
The lagoons are rarely more than a metre deep and are interconnected by natural channels. The lower ponds provide a refuge for bird life, famously the Pink Flamingo, but are also important for fish and water resource management.

Pink Flamingos in the salt lagoons

Finally, there are the Salt Marshes, managed by man to maximise the concentration of sodium chloride in the water - the Sauniers and their equipment producing salt for human and industrial consumption.
The salt marshes are rich in invertebrates, making them a favourite habitat for the pink flamingo.

Heavy machinery is used to harvest the evaporated salt

Accessible from the Camargue museum is a 3.5km nature trail walk showing the environment of a typical Camargue farm. There is a good bird hide and several other interesting installations designed to capture children's imagination, but full of interest just the same.

GPS: 43.6243 N, 04.5293 E
www.parc-camargue.fr

As the weather had closed in after the walk, we elected to stay in the car park overnight, it is well off the main road and access to the trail is open all the time.

14th February
We awoke to heavy rain, so it seemed a good day to use up our inclusive entry tickets for the Arles Musée départmental Arles antique, the collection of all the Roman treasures and artefacts recovered from the area. Housed and meticulously presented in a modern purpose built Museum, they trace the history of the region from Prehistoric times to the end of the Roman Empire.

Musée départmental Arles antique
GPS: 43.6717 N, 04.6179 E

Parking is pretty limited nearby for a motorhome - mainly on the roadside, but fortunately we were allowed to use the bus and disabled car park after asking at reception.

In you're into beautifully decorated sarcophagi (strangely, Sue seems to have developed an particular interest) you'll be in metaphorical heaven as there are dozens of the carved stone coffins.
But, for me the fantastic architectural models of the Roman Theatre, Amphitheatre, Circus and others, were more engaging, revealing not only the complete form of each edifice to enrich your imagination of the original, but also their complexity, and the genius of the Roman design for terraced arenas housing up to 20,000 people.

Magnificent model of the Roman Theatre

Some of the carved heads and decorative statues retrieved from the ruins of the theatre are exquisite in their execution - was it a lifetime's work to achieve such a level of artistry?

The sheer scale of Roman construction also boggles the imagination - amongst all the public arenas and municipal facilities they built, there is a model of a terraced, water driven flour mill that produced 4.5 tonnes of flour a day!
One exhibit is stacks of lead water main pipes, each 4 metres long and 100 mm in diameter - literally tonnes of them, how did they make all that stuff?

Finally, in a special hall was a display of recently recovered artefacts, including a bust of Julius Caesar recovered from the murky depths of the Rhone! A film recounts the discovery, the cleaning and preservation, and a battery of high-tech techniques that the ancient stone head was bombarded with.

Julius Caesar, looking remarkably well after a 1000 years or more at the bottom of the Rhone

Before heading down to the main Camargue resort of Saintes Maries de la Mer, we pumped n'dumped at the city aire - free water.

Aire, Arles
GPS: N 43.6817 04.6305 E

Driving down the D570 at Avignon is the Chateau d'Avignon, the vineyard of Louis Prat, who made the famous Noilly Prat apertif in Marseille. Opening is restricted to Fridays off season and advance booking is required.

At Pont de Gau there is a Bird park with a series of trails, paths and observation points amongst the marshes. Open every day, until sunset.

As you approach Saintes Maries del la Mer, there are endless Mas or farms proclaiming horse rides, bull displays, all manner of provisions and sustenance and even discotheques!

Mary Magdalene is recorded as having landed ashore there in exile in AD 44, along with Mary Jacob-Cleophus and Mary Salome-Helena. Hence the spot became a place of pilgrammage, and Saintes Maries de la Mer took its name from the "Saint Marys".

There are two main overnight aires in town, one on the main road coming in, and then the Parking Plage Est on the beach front, behind a sea wall. Both are 9.50 Euro and the water availability is limited during the day. We elected for the one on the sea front. Some salt spray from the breaking waves, but altogether a nicer ambience. Water is only available from 0900 to 1200, fees are collected around 0830.
Valentine’s day dinner was an “in house” affair!

Parking Plage Est, behind the sea wall

Aire, Saintes Maries del la Mer
GPS: 43.4540 N, 04.4382 E

15th February
At last a significant temperature rise and some decent sunshine to go with it. We got on the bikes and rode along the seawall into town. Extensive defences against erosion have recently been constructed, using hundreds of tonnes of rough stone, creating miniature sandy bays.

On the waterfront is a small bullring, now used (at least in part), as a boat store. We watched a few professional fishermen preparing for sea, rode up to the marina and then into the town centre.

The bull breaks through at Saintes Maries

Why is it that everywhere we go is getting a makeover? All the central streets were dug up and virtually impassable as they were busy laying large swathes of coloured concrete.

Most of the tourist shops and restaurants were still shut, but we had a look at the distinctive Church. Newly restored outside, inside the stonework is still blackened from centuries of flickering candles, but artfully and impressively lit using modern technology.

Sue was pursued by some fortune-telling ladies who were a bit too persistent for her liking. Remember that phrase? : “What part of NO! don’t you understand!”

Lunch was in the Baraka Cafe which served up a very acceptable tagine with a smile, for 10 Euro a head.

16th February
Driving up the D85a from Saintes Maries, there are several good deep laybys from where you can watch the wildlife, particularly the colourful flamingos.

We then turned back down the D38 - more built up, but still good views of the landscape and an imposing view of the Church on the sweep back into Saintes Maries.

Finally, we ventured into the Petite Camargue, after crossing the Petit Rhone. The D85 down through Pin-Fourcat to the car ferry at Le Point Sauvage has another feel again, more overtly agricultural, and we were treated to some frolicking from some camargue horses.

Mas de Pin-Fourcat is a private estate said to show an authentic and well preserved view of Camargue life. Pre-booked tours in carts or on horseback show the activities of bull and horse breeders, plus glimpses of wild life on marshes and ponds.

www.maspinfourcat.com

The Bac Sauvage is a free car ferry which runs all year, but has a 2 tonne weight limit, thus excluding motorhomes.

The iconic White Camargue Horse

Time to leave, and heading towards Aigues-Mortes - out of the boundaries of the Camargue Nature Park - we were suddenly jettisoned back into the ugly, noisy realities of modern life and immediately felt we wanted to be back in the reserve. That says something for its largely unspoilt and coveted charm.
However, you can only really explore the reserve fully on foot or horseback. There are any number of equestrian centres but are mainly concentrated around Saintes Maries.
There are cycle trails, but most are of the 20 - 40 km variety and require a mountain bike.

The walking-trail reserves are ok, but some are so intensively contrived it's hard to feel like an explorer. The signs to "keep quiet" and "use your ears and eyes" seem at odds with the ingenious installations designed to involve and (loudly) excite the kids!

We got the most pleasure from using the van as a hide on roadside laybys - as ever, the best times are early morning and the hour or two before sunset.

The main tourist base is at Saintes Maries, and by the sheer scale and number of the facilities, its quite easy to imagine the mayhem in peak season. Just the few days of warmer weather we had enjoyed latterly, brought out Motorhomes in good numbers.

The "Cross of Camargue"

Off season, we managed a few wild/free nights while the campsites where closed, but once they are open I'm sure wayward motorhomes will be herded to them and the aires. All the old tracks and large pieces of waste ground that we saw have now been fully secured and signed against such activities.

We certainly preferred the area of the reserve east of the Etang de Vaccares, it is larger, quieter and less developed. The aire at Salin de Giraud makes a good base. Also there is the only decent roadside access to the Etang du Vaccarès on this side, plus the trails at La Capeliere and Domaine de la Palissade, and the magnificent Plage de Piemansion. Not forgetting the rice and salt museums at Le Sambuc and Salin de Giraud respectively.
The main Camargue museum at Mas du Point de Rousty is a must.

Gardians Cabin - high roof to deflect the rain, rounded end to face the mistral

Having reluctantly left this all behind, we chose a France Passion site a few kilometres out of Aigues-Mortes for our night's stopover, figuring the town aires would be noisy and expensive - or both.
Domaine du Petit Chaumont is a rambling old vineyard down a long and very bumpy dirt track. We found our pitch easily enough, but the half eaten (and very dead) rabbit by our side added some local interest - that's France Passion for you!

France Passion for the night, note the dead rabbit!

Looking to find someone to announce our prescence to, I found a blonde lady in tight jeans and leather boots - who bade us welcome and wished us a pleasant evening - no idea who she was.

Domaine du Petit Chaumont
GPS: 43.5755 N, 04.1267 E

17th February
The building of Aigues-Mortes, meaning "dead or stagnant waters" was commenced by Louis IX (St Louis) by the side of a malaria-riddled swamp in 1240 - as the restless monarch was in need of a Mediterranean port from which to go on a crusade!
However, he cut tolls, cut taxes, forced loans and the town eventually thrived as a trading port. He departed on his first crusade in 1248.

The distinctive ramparts were begun in 1272 and at the end of the 13th Century, 20 large towers were added. Unfortunately the waterways began to silt up in the 14th Century and the once principal Mediterranean harbour fell into decline.

Now set in the typical Camargue landscape of marshland, lakes and huge salt pans, with the Canal and a railway line alongside, Aigues-Mortes is a fine and intact example of a medieval walled city, but a bit unusual in that it is laid out in a geometric grid system.

Aigues Mortes from across the canal

We selected one of two possible aires by the canal Rhone à Sète, a large, somewhat muddy fenced off area 5 minutes walk from the bridge into town.
Normally 14 Euros (without electricity), we had a free night as they were in the process of changing the electric barriers.

Aire, Aigues Mortes
GPS: 43.5664 N, 04.1858 E

The rain had settled in for the afternoon but we had a look at the old town later on. The streets seemed rather drab and dark in the wet, so we bought a large pastry each and stuffed our faces as the rain dripped off somebody's shop blind, then headed for home.

18th February
What a turnaround - cloudless sky, brilliant sun and a rapidly rising temperature!
We walked back into town, crossing the railway line to get a good view of the walls. The access doors to the ramparts however were locked off.
The narrow streets were transformed in the sunshine and the central square with its fine statue of St Louis filled with expectant life as café tables were laid and people sprang out of nowhere to gather and chat.

Lunch anyone?

Tempted to a lunch in the sunshine, we hadn't quite worked up an appetite, and decided instead to look at Port Camargue and Le Grau de Roi.

Port Camargue is a nice place to be if you have the money and a yacht to park next door to your apartment. We didn’t expect much else, but thought the D255b out towards the Phare de l’Espiguette might offer more promise to the humble motorhome.
The road deteriorates gradually and you can’t get near the lighthouse or the beach with a van, but there is a nice parking area by the side of a small lake. A little bird hide had been thoughtfully provided by the roadside and it certainly made a pleasant lunch spot.

Picnic spot
GPS: 43.4980 N, 04.1408 E

There is an aire at Le Grau de Roi, but you are right in the centre of town alongside a busy road.

Next: The Canal du Midi, Beziers and Narbonne

Europe trip 2011 - Nimes to Port Saint Louis

2011-03-08T16:37:00.005Z

2nd February
We left camping Domaine de la Bastide on the outskirts of Nimes in bright but chilly sunshine. The plan was to have a look at the famous Pont du Gard, 20 km north-east of Nimes. However, you have to use the official car park even to get a glimpse of it. At 15 Euro a vehicle, we gave it a miss!


Our trail from Nimes and through the Camargue Regional Park

(Microsoft Autoroute 2010, GPS track: Globalsat BT 338X Data logger)

Next stop Avignon, city of the famous bridge and chanson to go with it. Its other claim to fame is the vast and imposing Palais des Papes, the home of nine successive popes - and thus the seat of the Christian world - in the 14th Century.

The Pont St Benezet or Pont d'Avignon

Camping Bagatelle, just the other side of the Edouard Daladier bridge is an all year ACSI site. Complete with shop, café and restaurant, most pitches are under large plane trees, but the best feature is the short walk over the bridge into the old walled city.
Wi-fi is over most of the site: 3.5 Euro for two hours, 8 Euro for 24 (non-consecutive) hours.

GPS: 43.9542 N, 04.7988 E
www.campingbagatelle.com

It was a bright evening, albeit with a wind so fierce it sucked the breath out of my lungs walking over the bridge, but once inside the city walls the wind seemed to fade away.

I wandered towards the Papal Palace, gawping at the romantic Valentine’s Day menu on display at the 5-star Hôtel d’Europe. For a mere 110 Euros per person (excluding drinks!) you and your beloved could wade your way through an eight course menu: lobster with a carrot and mango jus, scallops with truffle, filet of rouget (an exotic red fish) with beurre de légumes, hot duck fois gras with cranberry ravioli, sorbet (to cleanse the palate!), medallions of veal with an artichoke and truffle crumble, les fromages de Provence and… chocolate mouse… oh, and petits fours…
Maybe some of the “romance” might have to wait until the following day!

Yup, it certainly gets your attention!

Moving on, the square in front of the Papal Palace is currently dominated by a life-sized bronze elephant standing on its trunk - arresting visually, but somehow it seemed like it would be more appreciated elsewhere. Disneyland pehaps.

However, the late sun picked out the golden statue looking down on the crucified Jesus from the chapel tower, and looked just the part.

A different kind of iconography

If you thought the Valentine’s Day menu was a bit on the mean side, you could always pop into La Cure Gourmande, the most over-the-top sweet shop I think I’ve ever seen! The array of crystallised fruits and endless shelves of goodies is just incredible.

La Cure Gourmande - not just any old sweet shop

3rd February
The Papal Palace is a "must see" monument according to our Green Guide, but imposing as the outside is, the interior is mostly bleak stone as all papal accoutrements have long since disappeared.
The included audio guides however provide hours of in-depth commentary if you have the interest, imagination and the stamina. Entrance 9.80 Euro, 7 for over 60's.

The bare interior of the much restored Papal Palace

You can get an inclusive ticket to visit the much rebuilt Pont St Benezet, but we declined because of the chill high winds. The iconic bridge was finally turned into a non-functioning monument when many of its arches were carried away for the last time by the Rhone’s floodwaters in the 17th Century.

Instead we adjourned to a warm tea shop on the edge of the Place de L’Horloge for a stunning tarte aux framboise and a rich syrupy hot chocolate.

4th February
From Avignon we took the N7 and D973 to Cadenet and Pertuis before dropping down to Aix en Provence.
The origins of Aix en Provence go back to the 2nd Century BC when a camp was set up near some thermal springs by the Roman general Sextius. Aquae Sextiae was subsequently laid waste in the 6th Century before being restored by the Counts of Provence in the 12th Century.
It is also noted as the home of the modernist painter Paul Cézanne.

A fountain to stop the traffic in Aix en Provence

Camping Chantecler is a 4 star site at Val St Andre, only a 2km walk or 1 Euro bus ride from the old town of Aix. The bus stop is 5 minutes walk away in a useful shopping square.
Set in a mature forest, it's a tight fit if you have a large van, but there are some superb pitches, particularly beautiful with the spring flowers we were told.

GPS: 43.5148 N, 05.4773 E
www.campingchantecler.com

5th February
At last we were treated to a bright morning without the chilling wind.
Aix en Provence's old city is an amiable town to wander around - from the wide, tree lined grand boulevard of Cours Mirabeau, to the large yet somehow claustrophobic gastronomic arena of Forum des Cardeurs, to the crowded, busy vitality of Rue d'Italie, there is somewhere for everyone. It felt as if we could be in several different cities at once, yet it is all within easy walking distance, and there is always another square, a little shop, a bar or restaurant (and a fountain) around the corner.

The Cours Mirabeau

There is plenty to see from a historical perspective, but we just wandered - through the Mazarin quarter with its elegant homes of old Aix aristocracy, through the Saturday markets in Place des Chapeliers and Place Hotel de Ville, stopping for lunch in the Forum des Cardeurs.

Your carriage awaits!

The sun held out all day, even for a procession of wedding ceremonies at the Place Hotel de Ville - the stone flags freshly washed down after the morning market. We watched one bride teeter away with only a couple of bridesmaids in tow, clutching her dress away from the wet flagstones, whilst another spent five minutes trying to get herself and her dress though the door of an extravagantly decorated Mercedes - still no groom apparently in attendance!

www.aixenprovencetourism.com

6th January
Another fine morning. The air temp dropped below zero again overnight, but with warm low sun and perfectly still air it was a joy to stretch my legs down to the Boulangerie.

Seeing as it was Sunday we thought we'd risk a drive down to the outskirts of Marseille at L'Estaque. In actual fact the D8n was almost deserted and we arrived at the waterfront in quick time.

Moving on to the seaside holiday town of Carry-le-Rouet we parked up by the sailing school with a view of the bay.

Halfway through our lunchtime baguette there was a loud thud and the van lurched forward… Oh No, not again!
Sure enough a woman had backed her 4x4 into us, our bike rack putting a dent into her boot. Very apologetically, she explained that her reversing sensors had not "seen" the bikes!
(Whatever happened to traditional driving technology? - like rear view mirrors!)

Fortunately, for the second time in the life our van, our assailant seemed to have come off worse than we did, but we took photos and accepted her details.

Somewhat unsettled, Sue munched on her half-finished baguette and broke a piece off a capped tooth! Some days just don't work out how you'd like them to.

Taking our leave, we found that every man, woman and their dogs had arrived for the afternoon, a brass band had piped up on the beach, balloons and flags were everywhere.
Not feeling particularly festive, we eased through the gridlock and onto Cap Couronne, another holiday and yachting centre.

This seems quite a pleasant piece of coastline, a world away from the container terminals of Marseille, and well supplied with campsites - I think we counted eight.

Heading north now to Martigues, (and ignoring the power station and oil refinery to the west coast) we slipped along the waterfront and were pleasantly surprised by this attractive resort. There is also plenty of parking, so often at a premium on the waterside.

A few yachts were out on the lake, motionless in the breathless air, their sunlit shapes mirrored on the dead flat water - the crews no doubt savouring a blissfully tranquil boisson.

Next up was Istres and we filtered right out of town for the scenic lakeside D16 route to St Chamas. Our destination was a France Passion vineyard on the D10, just past the D21B turn off for Berre l'Etang.

Domaine de Suriane

It's a rough old track to the Domaine de Suriane and we followed the France Passion signs some distance away from the lovely old farmhouse. Having missed the vital sign to the wooded clearing where the owners intended us to stay, we found ourselves on an increasingly dubious farm track across a ploughed field. Soon I was driving into deep ruts which threatened to bottom out the van, whilst the right hand side was sliding into sand. Stopping or reversing was not an option, I just had to keep going until we reached the edge of the field!

Sue having ripped out a path through the high brambles by hand, we eventually made it back to the farmhouse via a long circuit of gravel tracks and a heart-stoppingly low railway bridge. Phew!

The lady of the house spoke good English and was suitably amazed and amused when I recited what we had done, but we were still unsure where to park. Walking at the pace of her toddler (whose pet was a huge cockerel, kept under his control by a pair of sticks) she led us to the correct spot. Doh!!
Feeling just about as smart as her toddler, I was amused to see the big farm dog blithely snatch away from his tiny hand the piece of fruit loaf he had been clutching for the past five minutes!

The way to the lake

Once settled, we walked the kilometre or so down a rough track to the lake to watch a gorgeous sunset, as flocks of birds swooped in the sky.

Serenity at the end of a fraught day!

Back in the van, Sue roasted a large duck breast and potato wedges in the oven, served up with a tangy sauce made from a tin of peaches, red wine, sugar and balsamic vinegar - a fine end to a fraught day.

Domaine de Suriane
GPS: 43.5310 N, 05.1145 E

7th February
The sun had deserted us in the morning and Sue was in trouble - her broken tooth was cutting her tongue, which had swelled up overnight - we would have to find a dentist. A phone call was made to our medical insurance emergency helpline, and she promised to ring back with a list of suitable dentists in Arles.

By way of a diversion we decided to drive down the D21B to Berre l’Etang. This is a place in the throes of a major transformation, from dusty dormitory town for oil refinery workers to holiday resort. The entire waterfront, which appeared to have been previously largely waste land, is being redeveloped with a marina, tree lined boulevards, shops, cafes and accommodation. Every new car park we passed was however firmly resistant to motorhomes, with very low red and white height barriers on each one.

We drove out to the point, where there is a large tank farm. Along the way are several unrestricted parking areas facing the salt marshes.

And if I catch you talking to her again!!

We stopped for lunch and watched flocks of Pink Flamingos feeding and squabbling with each other. There were also a multitude of Swans and Black headed Gulls, the latter getting the better every time of the swans with the remnants of the lunchtime bread. In between they entertained us with their little leaps and dives for tiny fish and invertebrates.

Black headed Gull - Now you see me...

Now you dont!

A heavily overcast day, it felt faintly surreal, all these birds against a industrial backdrop of gas flares, roofless old buildings and the distant thunder of planes taking off from Marseilles airport - the wildlife surviving as normal after the human apocalypse?

GPS: 43.4630 N, 05.1571 E

Not feeling up to much more, we returned to another France Passion site, Perle de Provence. Here, a crusty old guy with a big smile, jabbering away in a mixture of French and Spanish, directed us to peaceful pitch amongst some olive trees.

A France Passion view of the mountains

Domaine Perle de Provence
GPS: 43.5494 N, 05.1680 E

8th February
Sue was still monitoring her mouth, reluctant to see a foreign dentist. Somehow, going down to see the mouth of the mighty River Rhone seemed like a good idea.
On paper, Port St Louis looks like an interesting prospect - a long harbour, marina, listed large aire and a drive right out to the spit in the Golfe de Fos. In reality however, this is probably not a place you would visit more than once.

It’s a longish drive down and soon the smell of petrochemical and industrial processing hung around in our nostrils. There is a swing bridge, a marina and vast tracts of disused industrial wasteland, one of which turned out to be the aire. The facilities however, were either in the process of removal or renewal. We noticed that half a dozen motorhomes had elected to park up on the other side of the harbour - probably baulking at the asking price of 6 Euros!

Aire, Port St Louis
GPS: 43.3843 N, 04.8190 E

Onto the point, and again the salt marshes were inhabited by huge flocks of Pink Flamingos - a few tired old homesteads hovering on the edge of ruin in the long grass.

Ships, industrial wasteland and flamingoes

The vast Plage Napoleon at the end of the road is probably packed in the season, but at this time we were just one of a handful of vehicles parked in the weak sunshine.

GPS: 43.3530 N, 04.8768 E

Finally, Sue decided that the awful moment could be put off no longer and we found our way to Camping Bienheureuse, on the outskirts of Arles at Rapheles Les Arles.

GPS: 43.6494N, 04.7058 E
www.labienheureuse.com

The campsite owner is English, and despite having her own domestic problems, kindly rang her dentist in Arles and arranged a short appointment for the following afternoon. Later that evening she knocked on our door to say the dentist had phoned with a cancellation appointment for Sue at 0830. An early start for the bus ride into Arles!

9th February
At first a Celtic settlement, then a Greek colony, Arles became Roman when Julius Caesar gave the colony to the veterans of his fighting legions. There at the earliest days of Christianity, it became an important religious centre.
In the Middle Ages it was destroyed and ravaged by various invasions, but was rebuilt during the 12th Century with some fine medieval monuments. In the 17th and 18th Century the stately town houses were built - which now cement together the Roman and Romanesque heritage to form the old city.

Standing shivering in the cold misty pre-dawn gloom outside the campsite, we nearly got on the large comfortable school bus by mistake, however when it arrived our No 7 was a just a minibus, one of only a few daily services into town.

The Dentist was only a short walk from the bus terminus, a large white villa in a quiet street, partially obscured by an aged olive tree in the front garden. We waited outside, pacing up and down to keep warm. On the dot of 0830 Sue pressed the bell and the receptionist unlocked the steel door. Inside it was ultra modern and minimalist - strip wooden floors and fancy stainless steel light fittings.

Sue saw a young female dentist, and was back in a few minutes with a smile as wide as a dinner plate. Unbelievably, the bill was only 21 Euro, we paid in cash and left with a cheery wave.

A small quiche from a Patisserie, eaten in a coffee shop close by (seemed to be the regular thing to do), fortified us for the round of ancient sites to come. Our 9.50 Euro passeport liberté tickets from the tourist office entitled us entrance to 4 monuments and one museum - seemed like enough (to me) for one day.

First up was the Cryptoportico of the Roman Forum, a large U shaped underground gallery, dating from 30 to 20 BC. It's pretty dark and murky down there, atmospheric even, with very high humidity, but it gives a glimpse into the sheer scale and quality of Roman architecture.

Next was the Cathedral and cloisters of St Trophime. The cloisters are due for a major bout of restoration, but many of the sculptures had suffered so much over the centuries, it was hard to see what could be done apart from to stabilize and clean them.

Some amazingly intricate stonework

Onto the late first Century Roman theatre which could, in its heyday, hold 10,000 spectators. Like most Roman monuments however, the construction stone has been "recycled" over the years to build other edifices and what is left now is just a shadow, the bare bones.
Imaginatively, the site has been recently re-developed with a moving steel stage and a sound and light tower to allow contemporary open air performances, thus ensuring that the monument is more than just a pile of broken ancient architecture.

New life for a Roman Theatre

Lunch was in a local hotel restaurant, the plat du jour : microwaved chicken with rice served in a miniature plastic pot au feu. 8.50 Euro.
The food was ok, but the incessant musak - a single track on endless repeat, nearly drove us nuts.

The amphitheatre I enjoyed the most, and more than the one in Nimes. The level of reconstruction that has been undertaken is quite remarkable, the balustrades and arches rebuilt right up to the (possibly never existing) third level. On some parts of the freshly cleaned terrace it was possible to gaze upon nothing but new stonework, a real and rare insight into how it must have looked soon after completion.

The upper terrace before restoration

And after!

Amazingly, in past centuries the townsfolk moved into the arena for protection, some one hundred and twenty homes and two churches packed into the space intended for gladiatorial combat!

Down to the river for a quick look at the Roman baths, then the Van Gogh museum before the bus home.

10th February
Maintenance Day. On our arrival at the campsite I had noticed that the alternator wasn't charging the batteries - a problem we had had before, when a fuse blew for an unknown reason. Back then it was replaced by the very helpful Fiat garage in St Omer and I have since carried some spares for this eventuality.

Situated on the fuseboard mounted on top of the starter battery, the alternator fuse is a little rascal to get at without removing the battery first - an awkward job, more suited to a weightlifter!

When it was finally retrieved it was frustratingly intact, but the burn marks and encrusted plastic from the fuse holder indicated no more than a loose and dirty fuse. Relief! I changed the fuse, cleaned up the terminals and all was well.

11th February
From the campsite it is a short hop to the Marais de Vigueirat. Strictly speaking, outside of the Camargue Nature Park, it is still one of the most noted nature reserves in the area.

The visitor centre is 2 km up a stony track, black bulls looking disconsolate on the other side of the fence. At the end there is a large car park with room for motorhomes. No overnighting is permitted and there is no access to the reserve when the centre is closed.

Marais de Vigueirat
GPS: 43.5353 N, 04.7520 E

Several walking trails are laid out, and for each, an entertaining and informative little free booklet is available in the major European languages.

We took the main 3km long trail and despite the dull weather it was very enjoyable. We had glimpses of Coypu amongst the reeds and also a very thin - perhaps a rogue - white Camargue horse moving through the hedgerows.

There are Coypus here, but you had better be quiet!

Our next plan was to return to Arles, top up with supplies and stop on a new aire near the station (where a young man in the Arles tourist office had reassured us we could stay the night), then cross the Rhone in the morning to commence our tour of the Camargue Regional Nature Park.

We put the rough location in the satnav and found the borne de service ok, but as for somewhere to stop overnight - dream on, narrow bays only on a busy slip road. Down by the railway station we found a full scale itinerant camp, not quite what we had in mind!

A swift Plan B was instigated - a France Passion site near to where we had spent the afternoon. Trouble was, the light was fading, and France Passion directions being what they often are, i.e. a bit vague, we eventually had to give up as it was just too dark. Looking for a domaine sign I nearly got my bum bitten by a territorial hound, who chased the van all the way down the track.
(Should have taken the dog-dazer!)

Plan C was to drive down to Salin de Giraud and cross the river to an aire there. Only one small problem - there isn't a bridge, just a ferry! A bit late for that, so Plan D became a few more kilometres drive down the road to Port Saint Louis! What did I say about it being a place you only visited once?

Deciding to give the official aire a miss, we allocated ourselves a pitch on a car park on the other end of the marina quay from the Capitanerie. It seemed fine until, being Friday night, the local youngsters turned up in their go-faster hatchbacks to chill out with ground shaking “dum-dum” accompaniment!

Eventually, peace broke out and we had a good sleep, though I was roused briefly by the very loud throbbing of a diesel engine or two, which I assumed to be a passing barge - actually it was a large customs launch that tied up to the quay 50 metres behind us!

Next – into the real Camargue National Park.

Europe trip 2011 - Home to Nimes

2011-02-22T10:29:00.011Z

20th January

Escape to the Sun! Well, that was the idea. To be fair, down on the Cornish coast, we escaped the worst of Britain's frozen winter and enjoyed many cool but sunny days, but for one reason or another our Autumn trip to Scotland went "west" and attempts to get away before Christmas were also thwarted - hence our longest spell at home for years!

Finally, with a Dover to Calais ferry booked for 0640, we left late in the afternoon - with an 8 hour journey ahead of us.

Well into the dark and descending from the Blackdown Hills on the A303, we were treated not only to someone's impressive firework display in the clear sky ahead, but the most enormous orange full moon emerging from the horizon.
Soon, like a massive luminescent camembert suspended in the sky it lit up the chilled landscape, turning tendrils of thin cloud to wisps of grey smoke, and bare trees into stark black silhouettes.
Nature's own display had reminded us that the magic of life on the road had begun!

21st January
As usual we grabbed a few hours sleep on the seafront at Dover and then later a few more on the Plage de Calais aire opposite the ferry port.

Aire, Calais
GPS: 50.9663 N, 01.8442 E

Hoping to escape the rain and the noise of the passing ferries, we moved the van 45 km down to the municipal Le Bease Jour aire at Arques, near St Omer.

Aire, Arques
GPS: 50.7455 N, 02.3048 E

A small but useful aire at Arques, near St Omer

We last visited this pleasant site in 2008, and I was intrigued to see even more decoy ducks and geese floating on the lake. There are signs along the waters edge proclaiming that the area is a reserve for flowers and birds, however the licensed, locked and pillbox-like hides around the waters edge, complete with attendant small boats, seem to indicate a different story!

Spot the real fowl!

As we finished our stroll in the fading light we nodded to a couple of tweed jacket clad gents carrying gun shaped shoulder bags. In the last of the light before total darkness 3 almost simultaneous gunshots shattered the stillness.

22nd January
A particularly wet, murky, miserable day - we stayed put and went over our options for this trip.

Because of other commitments we have to be home by the end of April or even sooner, so our original plan of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica was put on hold again and we decided on Spain and Portugal, but this time exploring the interior rather than the coast - or perhaps we'd just head South and see where our fancy took us!

New toy! - Globalsat BT-338X GPS tracker

Sue had a play with her new gadget - a Globalsat BT-338X GPS with built in tracker. After extensive research this seemed to be the only piece of kit that really met her requirements. It is a nifty portable GPS receiver with the ability to record every position plotted and then allow you to download your entire track for the day to virtually any mapping program, such as google earth, or as we use: Microsoft Autoroute 2010.
The accuracy is amazing, if you zoom in you can even see where we have made a 3-point turn in a car park!

Our route down to Auxerre

Sue used to laboriously enter push-pins into Autoroute to log our route - now she can put her feet up even earlier, and no more disputes over the route we actually took!

23rd January
We started our trek south, stopping off for lunch at the ruined abbey at Mont St Eloi, then passing through the impressive Place des Héros at the centre of Arras.

Impressive architecture in the centre of Arras

One thing you have to remember about being in France (or anywhere in Northern Europe) at this time of year, is that it is a lot harder to get water because most bornes at aires de service are shut off to prevent frost damage.

There are not that many aires in the Pas de Calais region and even though we found a new one at Bapaume, the flushing water was still turned off, and it required jetons from an un-named source. There are a couple of small dedicated parking spaces for overnight by the side of a large carpark.

Aire, Bapume
GPS: 50.1015 N, 02.8502 E

Our stop for the night was at Compiègne, where the World War I Armistice was signed in a forest clearing on 11th November 1918.

Car Park, Compiègne
GPS: 49.4292 N, 02.9079 E

The venue for the historic signing was the luxury Wagon-Lits railway carriage 2419D, specially converted for the event. After a long journey, the two trains arrived in the forest on separate dead-end spur lines that had originally been built to put heavy artillery guns into defensive positions.

The ground in the small misty copse between the two trains was so wet and marshy that wooden duckboards had to be laid for the German delegation to walk to meet Marshal Foch and the British and American representatives in the ex-dining car.

The site of the 1918 signing of the Armistice

In 1922 the clearing was opened up and laid out as a memorial park.

In 1927, the original carriage (reconverted again from dining car to office), was housed in a shelter on the site.

In June 1940, when the Battle of France was lost, the carriage was brought out of its shelter to occupy the same spot it had held for the 1918 armistice, but this time “the tables were turned”.

In contrast to the sombre and private, early morning signing, as the Germans capitulated to the French, this time the losing signatories were humiliated by flag waving crowds, pomp, music and film screens. The memorial site was dug up and the grand old dining car taken to Berlin and later burned. The only monument left on site was the statue of Marshal Foch - as Hitler wanted him to gaze down on the annihilation of his memorial.

In late 1944, after German prisoners of war had restored the site, a re-dedication ceremony was held.

Marshal Foch views his restored memorial

In 1950, an identical carriage was supplied and refurbished by the Wagon-lits company and fitted out (with the advice and help of some of the actual French officers present in 1918) with the souvenirs and documents that had been preserved.
A new shelter for dining car "2419D" was built and the site restored to its exact pre-war state.

24th January
On a damp and misty morning such as when we visited it is indeed a sombre place, the great stone slabs lying where the 1918 carriages stood, surrounded by the dark trees.

The museum containing the Wagon-Lits dining coach

Inside the museum (4 Euro entrance) sits the magnificent carriage itself on the original rails, internally lit with the yellow light bulbs of the era, each name placing for the participants marked out on the heavy wooden desks.

Another highlight for me was the 30 "stereoscopic vision" viewers housed in old wooden cabinets, each with 25 sepia slides, rotated by knobs on the sides. When properly aligned some remarkable 3D images came to life.

Some of the photos would have been stunning enough in a simple print, but peering through the binocular eyeglasses brought the best of them to vivid life, with some searing images of war – such that you would not see in the British media today.
Others stuck in my mind because of their incongruity or otherworldliness; a grinning British officer standing in the mud by a tank - his boots polished to perfection; a church interior - the pews removed and the floor covered with straw to accommodate the wounded and the dying.

The museum interior was bitterly cold and my fingers began to ache turning the slides around, but looking at those graphic scenes of suffering, misery and devastation, the intense chill added another dimension - like being able to smell the bloodied earth and the shell blasted trees.

www.musee-armistice-14-18.fr

25th January
Looking for a quiet route to the east of Paris we settled on Provins as a destination. Provins in the 12th and 13th centuries was the capital of the feudal Counts of Champagne.
It is now in the process of having it's "medieval makeover" - from newly cobbled streets and pavements, to restored ramparts and even the reconstructed Jouy gate in the city wall. Vast amounts of money have and are being spent to put Provins on the map as one of the foremost medieval cities in France.
It certainly is one of the most pleasingly intact, thanks to its gradual decline in importance from the beginning of the 14th Century.

The heavily restored wall of medieval Provins

There is an upper and lower old town, all of it a UNESCO world heritage area. The upper part is still protected by ramparts and contains mostly private and historic houses, plus of course brasseries and restaurants. Caesar's Tower and the Saint-Quiriace Church are well worth seeing.


Ancient timbered buildings abound

The lower part of the town contains modern commerce, yet still has a lot of charm.

www.provins.net/index.php/english-version.html

Moving on, we found a lovely peaceful aire by the river in Gurgy, not far from Auxerre.
There is a pleasant wooded walk along the towpath, but sitting in the van we watched coots, herons and swans going about their business until the light faded.

Aire, Gurgy
GPS: 47.8631 N, 03.5533 E

Our route from Auxerre down to Nimes

26th January
Another grey wet dawn. We took the D606 towards the ancient hillside town of Vézelay, with its Romanesque Basilica on the skyline.
Originally a simple 9th Century Benedictine monastery, the site was much visited because of the Saint Mary Magdalen relics thought to be held there at the time, and became a meeting point for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella.

The abbey suffered in the 16th Century religious wars and was trashed during the French Revolution. The Basilica was saved from ruin and oblivion in the 19th Century by a young French architect, Viollet le Duc.

We parked the van on a large car park containing an old tennis court at the bottom the hill. (No charge between 18 December and 31st January.)

Car park, Vézelay
GPS: 47.4622 N, 03.7431 E

Vezelay, the rise to the abbey

It’s a fair walk up to the abbey and as we entered the front-nave the echoes of the pigeons cooing in the roof space created an ethereal sound.

The Monks sing the church services at 0730, 1230 and 1800, and according to the girl in the tourist office, it's a sound worth hearing, the acoustics are certainly there.

In the main nave all the pillars have different carvings on the capitals ranging from biblical scenes to heathen mythology - some fascinating and intricate work.

The high windows at the end of the Nave

Apparently, should you visit during the summer solstice at noon, a compliant sun will shine through the high windows and create a series of spots of light in the axis of the nave leading to the choir.

We left in the cold gloom of a late January afternoon and returned to the van. There we spent a peaceful night.

www.vezelaytourisme.com

27th January
Weary of rain and dank, cold weather, we drove south, through (or around) Nevers, Moulin and Clermont Ferrand.

Just south of Clermont Ferrand we left the A75 at junction 19 for the Gorges de l'Alagnon, stopping in a riverside picnic spot just outside the hamlet of Lanau.

This will do for the night.

There is a picturesque ruined abbey nearby at Leotoing and across the river, an imposing Chateau.


Somebody's country pile!

28th January
After a quiet night, our first discovery moving along the scenic D909 was a small hotel offering overnight stops for motorhomes, with all facilities!

At Massiac we picked up the N122 to Aurillac. This attractive route, as we found, is well supplied with many aires, including a brand new one at Neussargues-Moissac.
Spaciously laid out with pitches on individual terraces, it is close to the shops and even features free wi-fi, no code required. Very fast it was too!

Aire, Neussargues-Moissac
GPS: 45.1343 N, 02.9813 E.

Brand new aire with free wi-fi!

Anybody who has read a book called "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" by Laurence Gardner, will understand why when Sue saw a sign for a "Merovingien Sarcophage" nearby, we hastened off for a quick look. Not quite having Sue's enthusiasm for peering at dusty old pieces of stone, I was nevertheless intrigued to see such an ancient relic lying in an open shed by a country road.

We continued an enjoyable drive through many pretty hillside towns and villages.

At Aurillac we made a quick stock up of supplies and took the D920 to Conques.

Conques, as medieval as you could get

Conques is a beautifully preserved medieval village, sitting in a narrow valley. The Eglise St Foye is one of the oldest Romanesque pilgrimage churches on the route to Santiago de Compestela.

The pre-Roman relic of Saint Foye

Also in the village's custody is a collection of religious relics or Tresor, the key item of which is a statue of the martyred child Saint Foye. Much embellished over the centuries, the small statue is said to contain the top of the adolescent's skull and is the only preserved example of such a relic from pre-roman times.

The specially built extension of the abbey cloisters was refurbished in 2002 and contains other treasured relics, displayed in the lush manner and security you would expect from a small nation's crown jewels.
There is also a museum close by with some interesting tapestries.

The church itself was as cold as a morgue, the nativity scene still on display and Christmas tree lights twinkling! Suddenly, in the gloom, a few deep, pew-trembling organ notes blew away the echoing silence. Just the organist limbering up - but it certainly made our hair stand on end!

There is actually a bar down the road here!

Afterwards we slipped in for a beer at Auberge St Jaques, the proprietor sitting alone by the wood burner, surrounded by cut firewood. Obviously the season was not yet underway, but he poured us a couple of rounded glasses of Leffe. An acquired taste this beer, with its hint of cloves, but it did the trick.

We stayed on the lower car park - out of bounds to motorhomes in the season.

www.tourisme-conques.fr

29th January
South East now, though Rodez and onto Millau for a look at the new viaduct, something we had wanted to do since seeing it under construction a few years back. The weather deteriorated rapidly and by the time we got near the viaduct it was snowing! A run over the bridge would have to wait.

Head south for the sun? Not this time of year!

There is a new aire de service facility in town and as they wanted 5 Euros for a "recharge" we took the 55 minutes of electricity to boost our flagging battery, as well as the water.

Aire, Millau
GPS: 44.0947 N, 03.0823 E

Overnight parking is at another aire nearby, but if you have a large van you might find this a bit tight as the bays are marked out with steel and wood barriers.

Aire, Millau
GPS: 44.0957 N, 03.0855 E

30th January

2.46 Km long, 343 metres high!

The Millau Viaduct should be listed as one of the wonders of the world. The world’s highest bridge, its tallest pylon stands 343 metres above the valley. Costing 400 million Euro, the vehicle deck alone consumed 35,000 tons of steel and the supporting piers 85,000 tons of concrete. Amazingly the profile actually curves slightly and has a gentle slope on it.

Highway in the Sky

The visitor centre is situated on the side of the valley and is accessible directly after paying the toll (9.80 Euro). It is also accessible from Millau without going over the bridge but a little more walking is required.

The centre contains an upstairs room with souvenirs, walls of large photos showing the stages of construction, models and a short video which compresses the construction period and amazing innovatory techniques into a few minutes. If you have seen the hour long TV documentary on the bridge you will appreciate what pioneering stuff this was, watching this short film you probably won't. One interesting point - although conceived by a Frenchman, the actual architects were a British company: Norman Foster and partners.

www.leviaducdemillau.com

After crossing the bridge in low cloud (you can't see much anyhow because of the 3 metre high perspex wind barriers), we left the motorway for the D999 or Route Laerzac et Doubie and descended rapidly, leaving the snow covered verges behind.

Looking for somewhere to stay for the night, Sue plucked a France Passion site from the handbook, Domaine de Blancardy, near Moules et Baucels.

Domaine de Blancardy

A 2 km drive down single track, over a bridge and a ford impassable in the winter floods, we eventually got to this 15th Century farmhouse, complete with defensive slit windows.

Shop and accomodation to the right

Remarkably, considering its isolation, Domaine de Blancardy is also an auberge, with accommodation, a restaurant (closed for annual holiday, open on 10 February) and a boutique selling their produce.

All services are available as they are also set up as an aire de service with the usual sign on the road. For France Passion members the first night is free. For others and for any consecutive nights it is 5 Euro. Pump n' dump only is 5 Euro, or free if you have a meal or spend 30 Euro in the shop.

The proprietor was very friendly, but with no English, and recommended that we parkup with a view of the mountains. Be prepared also to be mobbed (briefly) by his pack of very good natured dogs. All in all a great spot and we would certainly stop again and sample a meal.

GPS: 43.9366 N, 03.7746 E
www.blancardy.com/edomaine.html

31st January
Another cold misty morning but eventually the sun broke through, the first we had seen for days. The temperature rose to 9 degrees and we felt we had left winter behind at last as we drove past the snow-cover-browned landscape.

The terracotta roofs of the south had suddenly appeared as we shed 600 metres of altitude down to the plains, but so also had graffiti, and instead of some houses being aged and merely tired, most of the commercial buildings appeared generally run-down in comparison to where we had been.

The D999 took us all the way into Nimes and we checked into Camping Domaine de La Bastide on the outskirts of Nimes. This is a municipal, all year round site with excellent access to the city centre.

GPS: 43.7854 N, 04.3516 E
www.camping-nimes.com

1st February

Situated on the Roman Domitian Way, Nimes developed under the patronage of Emperor Augustus. Its main attractions are the Arene or amphitheatre, the Maison Carrée or Roman temple and the Jardin de la Fontaine.

From directly outside the campsite the "D" service bus starts and ends its run into the city, it couldn't be easier, a one way ticket is 1 Euro, all day pass 3 Euro.

We got off the bus at Place d'Assas, a short stretch from the tourist office and the Maison Carrée, one of the purest and best preserved Roman temples in the world. Inside we bought a 9.90 Euro ticket which gave us entrance to the temple (to watch a 20 minute 3D historical movie), plus the Roman amphitheatre and the Magne tower above the Fountain garden.

The immaculate Maison Carrée

Extraordinary detail and precision

The stonework on the outside of the temple is extraordinary, but it’s not possible to see anything inside, only the film. If you've ever seen a good 3D telly with the powered glasses the 3D effect won't impress that much, but the content was imaginatively done and worth a look at the all-in price.

Strolling through the centre of the old town we had a look at the Cathedral, some of the fine stained glass was shown off to its best by the low winter sun.

Beautiful light inside the Cathedral

With the air temperature just a few degrees above zero and a chilling wind, we had the amphitheatre to ourselves, apart from a pretty young woman endlessly taking photos of herself - presumably "wish you here" shots for a far away lover!

Hey there lonely girl!

One surprising aspect of the amphitheatre is that it has been kitted out with steel and wood bench seats and is used for present day entertainments, including bull fighting! Apparently the local people have had a taste for Spanish style bullfighting for over 150 years. None of the film clips we saw in the little museum contained within the amphitheatre walls, showed any injury to the bull however, it seemed to be just bull baiting.

The audio guide is free and has literally hours of interesting commentary and history on all aspects of Roman life.

Eventually the chill air sapped our interest in gladiatorial history and we retired to the Café de Olive on Boulevard Victor Hugo for the Plat du Jour - chicken Cordon bleu with fried noodles.

After a brief look in the Norman Foster designed Contemporary art Museum (I found the glass sided lifts more interesting), we walked the short distance to the Quai de la Fontaine, a boulevard alongside a canal originally built to supply water to the city's textile industry.

Jardins de la Fontaine

This now opens onto the elaborate Jardins de la Fontaine, a place to enjoy a rest before the assault up the hill to the Tour Magne. This ancient tower used to form part of the city walls and some parts of the arches still hang precariously to the side of it. In 1843 a spiral staircase was fitted inside and at the top you can enjoy a pretty good view. A picture montage shows the layout of the city in Roman times.

Path back from the tower to the fountain gardens

Finally, after a solitary walk (apart from the self-portrait picture girl!) down through the gardens in bright sunshine, we caught the bus, ready for some warmth and hot food back in the van!

Next - Avignon, Aix en Provence and Arles

France trip 2010 - Ile d'Oleron to home

2010-07-04T19:31:00.004+01:00

18th June
In drizzly rain we left the Ile d’Oleron late in the afternoon, driving over the viaduct back to the mainland. After a stock up of fuel, gas and food we carried on to La Tremblade, an oyster and market town on the southern side of the marais to Marennes.
We came to rest on a well signed aire just by the market square and the old railway station. It is actually a vast car park, but with well set up free services. 5 Euro a night, cash payable in the machine.
GPS: 45.7654 N, 1.1393 W

Strolling through the quiet town in the evening we came across a war memorial celebration in front of the Town Hall. Quite a grand occasion it seemed, with many flags and an immaculately restored US Jeep parked outside. Many veterans also, mingling with the younger generations, their jackets straining under the weight of medals and decorations.

A beautifully restored WWII Jeep enhances the celebrations

Back at the station square we managed a couple of beers in the Café de La Gare before it closed at nine o’clock!

19th June
Our breakfast was accompanied by the sound of loud drumming coming from the town. In the early hours the huge market square opposite the Café de La Gare had filled to capacity with stalls and large vans.
In some welcome sunshine, we briefly explored the waterways on the edge of town. There is a long canal filled with flat bottomed oyster boats and private pleasure boats, working sheds and holiday huts, all the way to the sea.

A well preserved traditional boat on La Tremblade's waterways

Then we went to see what all the noise was about. The market had extended from the square, filling up the street all the way to the covered market hall we had seen the night before.

The source of the incessant beat was a Batala drum band giving it their all, clearing the street before them as they marched forward, led by their very committed leader. Walking backwards, he changed their rhythms with complicated hand signals that they followed instantly, creating a hypnotic and exciting sound. Amazingly, they even managed to smile occasionally amidst the ferocious concentration and kept it up until midday - they must have been exhausted, never mind the ringing in the ears!

Enthusiasm personified fills the street with rhythm

The covered market was packed with people and produce. Split into roughly three sections: fish and seafood, fruit and veg, meat and dairy, all seemed to be of the highest quality and abundance. A dozen No 3 oysters were for sale at Euro 5 – beat that for price! The frenetic atmosphere was intoxicating, but we left with no more than some firm, fresh broccoli.

The packed market hall, stalls overflowing with high quality produce

After lunching on some wonderful fresh bread we were preparing to leave when I heard the sound of a steam train, and sure enough an ancient tank engine with a string of red open carriages attached was pulling into a low platform on the edge of the car park. This was actually Le Train des Mouettes or Gull’s train, claimed to be the oldest working steam locomotive in France. It has a regular summer season timetable and travels inland from La Tremblade to the spa town of Saujon, stopping at the villages of Chaillevette and Mornac.

Aviator's goggles up, the driver uncouples amidst the steam

Smell the smoke and the oil!

Ready for the return trip

The following day, Sunday, was scheduled in on the timetable and with a little gentle persuasion on my behalf we elected to stay another night and do the round trip. The rain returned for the rest of the day so we kept our fingers crossed that our return to 19th Century travel the next day would not be a washout.

20th June
It dawned fine and sunny, but by the time we boarded a chill wind was pushing clouds across the sky. Tickets for the two-way trip were 13 Euro each, purchased from a little booth at the entrance to the aire.

Much to my consternation and contrary to the symbols on the timetable, the steam loco had been substituted with a diesel one! Still, what can you do, at least we would enjoy the countryside.
At Chaillevette we stopped and I could smell coal smoke. I stepped off the train and was treated to the spectacle of the decoupling of the diesel loco, then the shunting and connecting of the steam machine.

Shunting to the head of the carriages

As we moved off the power of the little steam engine was amazing, so smooth and effortless as it took up the load of carriages, it could have been an electric monorail - fantastic.

The train’s pace was slow but the countryside a joy. As we passed through many level crossings, people waved from their windows and cars, kids ran to the bottom of their gardens and even a herd of cows tried to keep up with us till they came to the fence – did they think we were the food train?

Typical marais landscape, enhanced with a steel salt-pan worker

The stop at Mornac was brief, but the guard kept a keen eye for any stragglers. We had a carriage to ourselves and as we rocked and clattered along it was easy to imagine what it would have been like to travel with a cargo of tin ore or coal on some of the old UK West Country routes that have now been turned into cycle trails.

Sue watches another vineyard roll by

At Saujon we found we were faced with a lengthy walk into town to find some lunch. After following the road signs to the town centre and doing it the long way round, we found the only establishment open was a little pizzeria.
After lunch we asked the proprietor for the best route back to the station and cut 15 minutes off our time, arriving at the platform to meet a coach load or two of happy travellers for our return trip. One of them had a dog who barked every time a whiff of smoke blew through the open carriage, the poor animal presumably trying to alert his owner that the train was on fire!

At Mornac a couple boarded who had spent the day there and advised us that the village was well worth a visit. When we finally got off the train we felt distinctly sooty, but it had been an excellent day.
www.traindesmouettes.fr

21st – 23rd June
Leaving La Tremblade we headed north to the coastal resort of Ronce les Bains and then followed the scenic route through the Foret de la Coubre, thinking we might find a pleasant campsite to hole up for a few days before the trek home. There are plenty to choose from, but most are of the big resort type, not cheap and not our cup of tea.

Driving through the Foret del la Combre

We drove inland, finding Camping les Vignes, near St Augustin, from the Caravan Club guide. Surprisingly, it was not officially open until the 12th July, but they were happy to let us pitch up. The touring van area is relatively small, with shady trees and surrounded by a moat, and they also have a beautiful swimming pool complex a few yards up the hill towards the site office. The site is attached to a vineyard and the owner, who speaks very good English, produces pineau and cognac. St Augustin is 1.5 km away and has only a boulangerie, but it was a very pleasant walk in the warm morning sunshine

A tranquil pitch at Camping les Vignes

A super pool for a small campsite, water slide in the background

Three nights cost us 43.80 Euro or 14.60 a night including electricity and free wi-fi up by the (still closed) snack bar.
GPS: 45.6891 N, 1.1092 W

24th June
Late in the afternoon, reluctantly leaving the rural peace and that lovely pool behind, we found our way back to Mornac sur Seudre - and cute and picturesque it is, awarded the title “One of the most beautiful villages in France”. With a small harbour on the edge of the marais and a string of waterfront restaurants it has all the right ingredients.

Mornac sur Seudre, pretty it is

The weather was still very warm and having stationed ourselves in the corner of a large carpark next to an oyster pool, we wandered around the village peeking at the restaurant menus and enjoying the scent of all the flowers in the sunshine. The tide was in and a group of kids were excitedly swimming in the muddy water off the quay, despite the “No Bathing” signs.

Children cool off as the tide comes in

Thinking we had found a nice pitch for the night we had a chat with the young man in the tourist office. He couldn’t speak for the Police of course, but he personally had no problem with us parking overnight in the car park. That settled it.
We had a lovely ice cream in a handmade cone from a shop on the quay, then returned to the van for a freshen up.

We had already decided where to have our evening meal and we sat outside enjoying a plateful of oysters (of course) followed by breast of duck. Sue had fromage blanc for dessert and it came with a shot of pineau which was handed to her in a test tube! The idea was that she added it herself as required, the fromage blanc did rather turn into a gloop when she did.
With a bottle of vin de pays the bill came to 47 Euros. The oysters, in particular were superb.

A half dozen of the freshest, with lemon, or basilic vinegar and onion

The tide recedes as the sun goes down

25th June
We were joined in the car park by another van overnight and we slept very peacefully, awaking refreshed.

A white egret rests a leg as it warms in the morning sun

The sun was soon hot again and we hit the D733 north towards Rochefort. Though the whole area is flat countryside, we are quite taken with this land of marshes.

Skirting around the outskirts of La Rochelle on the ring road, we picked up the D105 towards Lucon. This is obviously becoming a popular alternative to the larger D137 route through Marans and a major road development is underway, the D10A being extended up to rejoin the D137 east of Lucon.

Our route continued through La Roche sur Yon, Challans, Beauvoir sur Mer, Pornic and over the St Nazaire bridge once more. We had thought we would stay on the free aire at La Roche Bernard, an ancient and picturesque town by the River Villaine. Unfortunately the bureaucrats had got there first and the large car park near the marina is now off limits to motorhomes.

Undeterred, we headed off to return to that excellent aire at St Nolff, east of Vannes. However, leaving the N165 to Vannes, we cut across the countryside and discovered a brand new aire at Berric. So new in fact that the water supply was not yet connected, but it was none the less beautifully located by a trout fishing lake and had 7 dedicated bays, with a brand new toilet block and a covered BBQ area.

The view across to the trout fishing lake

It looks like the village had used their development money to good effect and were determined to make most of it – as we settled down with a drink, people began to arrive and set up a cooking range, a projection screen and a small bar. Before long a large crowd were having an excellent garden party right outside our window! As the sun disappeared an annotated slide show was displayed via a laptop computer, which caused much merriment.
We had long since given up the prospect of a peaceful evening, but with the window shut it wasn’t that bad. By midnight there wasn’t a soul around.
GPS: 47.6323 N, 2.5292 W

26th June
In the morning we were amazed to find not a scrap of evidence of the previous night’s activities. I walked into the village and got some bread and pastries for later.

Back on the N165 we stopped for a brief look at the old walled town of Hennebont and then up the D769 to Gourin and Carhaix-Plouguer. From Carhaix we continued on the scenic D769, now a minor road, to Morlaix, a lovely route through the Parc Naturel d’Amorique.

Entrance to the walled town at Hennebont

There is an aire in Morlaix (GPS: 48.5741N, 3.8314 W) within easy walking distance of the town and we dropped down to pick up a few things, including a large tarte tartin to share with friends.

The only aire available in Roscoff now is the new one overlooking the ferry terminal and it was pretty full of motorhomes and caravans when we arrived, probably a hundred or more. Part of it is still being used as a store for building materials, when that it is cleared away the capacity will be vast.
GPS: 48.7198 N, 3.9713 W

27th June
We boarded the Pont Aven in fine weather, and she gave us a smooth ride back to Plymouth. There were no hassles with customs and we were soon crossing the Tamar Bridge for home.

The Pont Aven awaits at Roscoff

So ended rather a truncated and rather unadventurous trip for us, but very enjoyable just the same. Motorhoming in France is just a breeze, we could wander around her indefinitely.

France trip 2010 - Ile de Re to Ile de Oleron

2010-06-23T12:24:00.002+01:00

7th June
We prised ourselves out of the Camp du Soleil. At 25 days, it was the longest time ever we had spent in a campsite - are we getting soft?
Admiral Nelson is credited with saying: "Ships and Men rot in port" and though we didn't feel we were decomposing, and the van had had some TLC during our stay, somehow I know what he meant!

We thought we would revisit the aire at St Clement a few minutes up the island, to ease ourselves back into our usual way of life. This aire is particularly quiet and it was a relief to be away from all the ambient noise of a campsite - the restless dogs and squabbling children, the constant to and fro-ing, the clatter of other peoples washing up. Despite all the benefits of the campsite - the swimming pool, the wi-fi, the constant electricity, it felt good to be independent again.

There is a narrow path over the sand dunes to the beach and we strolled the deserted beach at sundown. Very nice. Probably the best aire on the island.
GPS: 46.2274 N, 1.5469 W

8th June
When we had arrived at the St Clement aire, two technicians were working on the rising bollard that controls the entrance. A few days before, on one of our cycle trips, Sue had inadvertently and repeatedly got the bollard to sink below the tarmac, just by wheeling her bike past it (!) so we were a bit wary of making our exit, in case it suddenly shot up under the van as we passed over.
The van in front of us spent some time deciphering the instructions when it was time to leave (and they were French!) but soon after they had gone it retracted itself and stayed there - back to the drawing board guys!

Discussions in progress on how to get out!

Having visited La Rochelle many times, we gave this beautiful and historic town a miss and passed around the ring road to pick up the D137 to Rochefort, spending the afternoon at a couple of caravan concessionaires at Yves and Vergeroux.

This year it seems, more than ever, the manufacturers think we want to buy vans with "island" or central beds, even on the compact vans. The compromises these entail get ever more ridiculous in our view; circular showers with flimsy doors at the bottom of your bed, a cooker hob inches away from your duvet cover - madness!

Disconsolate rather than excited (as we always seem to be at design innovations these days) we moved on and squeezed ourselves into a crowded but very pleasant aire by the river Charente at Soubise, just below Rochefort.
Electricity is included for 6.50 Euro a night, but according to a number of prominent signs, it is prone to flooding with high tides and high winds!
GPS: 45.9281 N, 1.0059 W

Down by the river at Soubise

9th June
The boat jetty down by the river near the aire is well equipped with fuel, water and waste disposal for yachts. We watched intrigued as one elderly gent lifted up his haul of shrimps he had enticed into his trap overnight.
There is bar and general store a couple of hundred yards into the village, and more shops farther into the centre, altogether a quiet and attractive place.

We thought we'd look at Port des Barque and the tiny Ile Madame. Motorhomes are well regulated here with a large sign illustrating the two available aires and the campsites. Access to the island is by a gravel, single track causeway uncovered at low tide. No overnighting is allowed on the island, but looking at the causeway I didn't fancy taking the van over anyhow.

We stuck to the coast for a while then turned inland to Moeze with its prominent church spire. Pulling into a picnic area just after the Moeze Nature Reserve we were entertained by the bird life - birds of prey wheeling high in the sky, rolling and tumbling on the thermals, then diving to the trees at fantastic speed. Also what we thought were Herons, but turned out later to be Storks.

Lovely countryside, full of wildlife, on the outskirts of Moeze

Walking over a small bridge I saw a disturbance under the river bank and then seconds later a large Coypu swam straight towards me before disappearing under the bridge, diving as soon as it got to the other side!

A wild Coypu keeps a wary eye on me!

Thinking that the reserve was now not to be missed we did the circuit back to St Froult, but unfortunately all the hides, observation areas and the visitor centre were closed for repairs until July. The spring storms had wrought a lot of damage.

Our next stop was the 17th Century fortress town of Brouage. Originally founded around 1550 as a centre for salt trading, it was developed as a military citadel under Richelieu as a base from which to fight off the British. In its heyday, the 400 metres of ramparts provided sanctuary for up to 4000 inhabitants, and it was a key sea port for Louis XIV, whose lost love Marie Mancini retreated there for a while.
Today the sea is several kilometres away, the access canals are largely disappeared and the two hidden boat docks built within the city walls open out onto marshland.

The hole in the wall at Brouage

A sentry's eye view of the marshland

Brouage is a different experience to Guerande, off the beaten track out in the Marais, but it's definitely worth a walk around its walls and a visit to the museum. There is also a building dedicated to the life of Samuel Champlain, the founder of Quebec, who was born in the area in 1570.

Happily, there is a large grass car park outside the Royal gate, where we were joined by several other vans for the night. There is not much open in the town in the way of bars or restaurants in the evening though, certainly out of peak season.

Across the track from the car park is a platform on a pole, like you see all over the Alsace region, intended for Storks to build their nests on. This one had been a success for the local ornithological association, a family with four chicks had taken up residence and provided us with much entertainment.

10th June
The thunderstorm that had been imminent for days fell upon us in the morning, turning the mud in the carpark to a quagmire. By 1100 however, the sun had got some serious heat in it and we went to visit the museum in the old food and munitions store, La Hall aux Vivres.

Wonderful model of the 1670 "Soleil Royal"

The highlight of the historical displays inside is a recreation of a vast model of Brouage made before the original construction and presented to the King of France for his approval. Amazingly, the original model survived until 1924, when some unknown bureaucrat decided he needed the space and binned a priceless piece of 17th Century history!
But, an amateur history buff came to the rescue in the form of hundreds of photographic plates, taken years earlier and preserved down the generations by his family. These photos, together with the original plans and present day measurements, enabled the model to be recreated by local artisans in fantastic and original detail. Worth a look.

By now it was lunchtime, and pausing by a restaurant claiming regional seafood dishes a speciality, we accepted the recommendation of the only couple seated outside and settled ourselves. We ordered half a dozen oysters, followed by scallops with a saffron sauce and rice with leeks. The oysters were fresh and sweet, the six scallops large, firm and cooked perfectly, also sweet to taste.
Remarkably, with a bottle of very good vin de pays, two baskets of bread and two tarte tartin with ice cream, the bill came to exactly 50 Euro, at current exchange rates that works out at £21.60 a head!

Good value seafood at Le Champlain, 32, rue du Quebec.

Having indulged ourselves for lunch, there really didn't seem any point in moving on from such a pleasant spot, an easy decision to make!

11th June
There was another rainstorm in the morning and we watched the bedraggled storks toughing it out in their nest. As soon as the rain ceased they took in turns to shake and air their feathers on the edge. It soon became apparent that one chick at least was near to fledging and we settled back with our binoculars, willing it to take the plunge as it flapped its wings so long and hard it nearly overbalanced over the edge of the nest.

The young Storks contemplate the plunge

Finally we had to drag ourselves away. The aire de service at Hiers, a few minutes drive from Brouage, had unfortunately been vandalised, even to the extent of dumping earth in the waste water gully (!) so we moved on to Marennes, where there is a service point at the Leclerc supermarket. Foiled again though, as a 3 Euro jeton was required and the kiosk for the fuel pumps was closed from 1200-1500.

We took the scenic coastal route from Marennes Plage up to Bourcefranc le Chapus and discovered a new beachside overnight parking area for motorhomes on the way - 5.5 Euro a night but no services apart from rubbish disposal.
GPS: 45.8258 N, 1.1427 W

At Bourcefranc le Chapus, the aire de service point (outside a campsite) was also out of action.

Driving over the bridge to the Ile d'Oleron, we turned left for St Trojan les Bains and the Foret de St Trojan. This a nature reserve with extensive bike and walking trails and there is also a Petit Train or narrow gauge railway (built in 1966) which runs from St Trojan through the forest to La Grande Plage on the west coast.

It was swiftly apparent that any thoughts of free camping in this area could be dispensed with, a surfeit of barricades, barriers and notices. The aire de service at Les Bris had been shut off, with a sign directing us to one at Le Grand Village.
There are however two tarmac car parks in St Trojan which allow overnight stays, but they were cramped, roadside and hence noisy, and nearly full as we passed by.

At Le Grand Village, a lady with a smile behind the desk at the campsite supplied us with a jeton for a substantial 4 Euros to get 100 litres of water.
We decided to drive up island, along the coast, as it felt distinctly "holiday village" and busy at this bottom end.

La Cotiniere is the largest regional fishing port in the Charente Maritime with some 95 registered boats. It has a large car park just before the harbour, but no overnight parking allowed. A nice enough place for a short stop and an ice cream, but tight, narrow streets.

The landscape opens out as you travel north, and there are more campsites than you can shake a stick at, but we decided to head for St Denis d'Oleron where there is a 150 van aire.

As fine an "aire" as you will find - Aire de Moulin

This turned out to be a good one. Set in an old campsite, which might have been an olive grove before that, it is grassed with plenty of shade in a very quiet area next to an old windmill, hence the Aire de Moulin. For eight Euros a night there is electricity (but not on every pitch), showers, sinks and even a launderette.
Altogether a very pleasant place, almost a perfect blueprint in fact for what a large aire should be: a rural atmosphere, a "help yourself" policy for pitches and all the facilities you could want. 4 nights max is the maximum permitted stay - though I don't see anything to stop you driving out the gates and straight back in again.
GPS: 46.0284 N, 1.3854 W

12th June
The bikes came off the rack and we found a cycle path outside the aire taking us up to St Denis. A quiet village, totally unlike Le Grand Village - still space for old men to sit in the bar and watch the world go by.
We picked up some pastries for later and a handy cycle and footpath map for the whole of the Ile d’Oleron from the bookshop, then headed down to the port. Here we got a bit of a surprise, a large modern, well organized marina, a sailing school and Capitanerie, plus a wide gently sloping beach, so gentle in fact, that a sailing catamaran had beached herself between the tides.

A tidal pitch for this catamaran

On the quayside, a collection of new clapboard covered “warehouses” had been fitted out as restaurants, with perhaps a flavour of New England or Nova Scotia, they drew us in and we couldn’t resist another bowl of moules.

To moule or not to moule?

Behind the marina is a large campsite, but also a nicely laid out car park in which half a dozen motorhomes had settled. Despite the familiar sign banning parking between the hours of 2300 and 0700, we got the feeling that some had done exactly that. We had a chat with one French camper and he confirmed that several vans, including a German one had stayed overnight and reported no problems – you takes your chances…

We picked up the coast path behind the campsite and worked our way along the stony coastline towards the Phare de Chassiron. As the coast path ended, we were forced back onto the road and here we found a flot bleu and waste water station. However the large car park adjacent had height barriers, which rather limited its use for motorhomers.

The 46 metre high lighthouse at Pointe de Chassiron is set up a bit like the Phare des Baleines on the Ile de Re, with a large car park, a hotel/restaurant and other amenities. It is possible to climb the stairs to the top and visit an additional museum.

A coastal path from the Phare de Chassiron

From the lighthouse, down the coast, there is a pedestrian path (which it is possible to cycle) and a purpose built cycle path inland of the road. This later veers back into farmland and returns to St Denis. A really pleasant afternoon out.

13th June
The weather closed in and we had a day with books and the laptops.

14th June
More rain in the morning, though it cleared up in the afternoon. As we had pitched up against the fence with views over farmland we had no road noise at all, the only daily disturbance being the melodic horn of the bread van at 0900.

The icing on the cake would have been wi-fi - which we have come across on some German Stellplatz - though we did have a strong 3G phone signal, so out came the Vodafone dongle and we surveyed and booked our ferry home.
Vodafone have recently changed their charging policy for roaming and these dongles are a lot less economic. The "fair usage" policy has been ditched and we now get charged another £5 the instant we go over the 50 Mb allowance. The continuous 24 hr period has also gone, the meter is now reset at midnight, so spreading the usage over two days is no longer possible. What with anti-virus updates taking a sizeable chunk of that 50 Mb allowance, we shall be using wi-fi more than we have done!

15th June
In more dull, wet and windy weather, we worked our way south along the coast to La Bree les Bains, Les Boulassiers and Port du Douet, a little harbour which boasted not one, but two "nightclubs". It was however, uncannily quiet for the middle of June, no doubt the weather was partially responsible.

Port du Douet

At Bree les Bains there is a small free aire with a borne de service, a 4.50 Euro jeton required for water.
GPS: 46.0080 N, 1.3572 W

St Georges d'Oleron is an attractive village with many flower tubs and baskets and an old open market hall. Free parking too, but it was raining again so we didn’t linger.

St Pierre d'Oleron is the capital of the island, and we were jettisoned from sleepy village to busy town in the blink of an eye. There is a vast Leclerc Hypermarket in the centre, with dedicated bays for camping cars with authorisation to stay overnight should you wish.
We preferred somewhere quieter and so drove a little out of town to the only France Passion site on the island - Les Chateliers, a vineyard producing vin de pays, Pineau, Cognac and liqueurs.

Amongst the vines at Les Chateliers

We parked up in the end of the vinegroves with eventually six other vans. They have a large roadside shop selling their produce, but we didn’t need anything and when Sue went to thank them for the stay they waved us off cheerily.
GPS: 45.9332 N, 1.3279 W

16th June
As we were just a short drive away from La Cotiniere, we went for a longer look at the port, passing by a small wooded aire attached to a campsite just north of it. This was also next to the road so would’ve been noisy. Euro 8.50 a night or 4 Euro for services.
GPS: 45.9237 N, 1.3427 W

Waiting for the tide at La Cotiniere

The large car park facing the harbour at La Cotiniere is free from 1300 -1530, so if you want lunch at one of the several harbour side restaurants, that's a bonus! Unless you like looking at fishing boats coming and going (we do!) there is not much else to see apart from a modern catholic church by the beach. Inside, all the local men and boys lost at sea are touchingly remembered with individual small wooden crosses engraved with the name of their boats.

Memorials to local sailors lost

Now we crossed the island again to Boyardville, passing through the now very familiar marais landscape, many outlets selling oysters and mussels, even crab and lobster.
Turning left by the bridge into Boyardville, one of the first things we noticed were hand painted signs protesting about 150 houses that were about to be demolished - for what, we have no idea.

Down to the sea - Boyardville

Our English aires guide shows a waterfront aire here that we thought would do nicely for the night, with perhaps a wander into town for a beer and a pizza. When we eventually found it however (after a sign-posted goose chase to the municipal campsite in the forest) it was blocked off with a height barrier, they had even gone to the bother of putting a padlock and chain around the borne de service! What purpose that served I have no idea, except than as a visual message. Another one to strike off the list.

Yup, I think we get the message!

Rather than be coerced into a campsite, we voted with our wheels as usual and headed down to Dolus d’Oleron, where the tourist guide we had picked up showed an aire de stationnement. Eventually we tracked it down by the sports ground, after a squeeze through the town’s narrow streets. Only commissioned this month, there is new a borne and further along towards the sports field, a large open area of tarmac and grass.
The borne requires jetons from the tourist office (which is a hefty walk away) or the use of a credit/debit card. Euro 5 for the overnight stop, payable to an official in the morning.
GPS: 45.9133 N, 1.2533 W

17th June
A man in a van came at 8 o’clock to collect the five Euros. With so many aires using car park type ticket machines or Horradateurs, you’d think they would have gone down that route and saved the poor guy having to knock everyone up first thing in the morning (as long as they were displaying their ticket that is). More evidence of their woolly thinking was the drive over grate, a flimsy plastic affair supplied by Euro Relais, the makers of the borne, which was already smashed after a few days use.

Mussel and oyster country

We headed up to Les Allards, then onto La Baudissiere. This is real mussel and oyster country, cultivation and production on a more intensive scale that we have seen elsewhere, even on the Ile de Re. The Marennes–Oleron oyster is apparently the most highly regarded in France, though no doubt other tourist guides would beg to differ!
Driving slowly down the coast to Le Chateau d’Oleron we were held up several times by tripper coaches full of either children or pensioners, coming to see how it was done. Many guided visits and tours are available.

Ramparts that escaped the bombing at Chateau d'Oleron

The citadel at Chateau d’Oleron is another Richelieu/Vauban production like Brouage, started in the 17th Century by Richelieu in the reign of Louis XIII and completed by Vauban 120 years later. Splendid as it was, it was unfortunately bombed in the closing stages of the Second World War, destroying 95% of the buildings and fortifications. Still, enough remains to appreciate its scale, and there is a pleasant walk along the ramparts, down to the old port and then back into town. Plaques recall the emigration of local inhabitants to Canada and the New World in the hard times.

More colourful sheds near the harbour at Chateau d'Oleron

The harbour is very much a working one, full of oyster boats, which have taken over from the cargo and passenger vessels which worked out of the port before the mainland bridge was built in 1966. The dockside huts and buildings have the same coloured clapboard style that was echoed in the new restaurants up at St Denis marina, though the area near the road has now had a cosmetic makeover.

After lunch the rain came down with a vengeance again and we decided to retreat to an aire we had looked at on the way down the coast. Just a couple of minutes drive from Le Chateau, it is another redevelopment of an old, tired campsite, the third or fourth we have now come across this trip. With an electronic barrier accepting only your credit card to gain entrance, once you are in the amenities include electricity on every pitch, a free borne de service and a washroom with showers and a launderette.
This would appear to be the way things are going, this aire is a redevelopment of an old municipal site in the Le Chateau commune. 8 Euros to park up in a secure, pleasant site with all the facilities you need, and no bureaucracy, is not a bad deal.

On the other hand, the municipal aire in the Dolus commune (next to a sports ground) which we had stayed on the previous night would have cost us 9 Euros if we had taken water, with no electricity or other facilities - and a knock on the door early in the morning! We were the only takers that night despite several vans driving in, I wonder why?
Interestingly, the private campsite on the edge of Le Chateau had a placard up offering an “all in” deal to motorhomes for the same 8 Euros!
www.oleron-island.com

France trip 2010 - St Gilles de Ville to Ile de Re

2010-06-02T15:10:00.040+01:00

12th May
St Gilles Croix de Vie
Hoping to use the free wi-fi in the local PMU café, we made the ten minute walk back to the waterfront, but having ordered our coffees we found that the wi-fi “ne marche pas” again! This time France Telecom got the blame.
Still, we got some jetons for the aire service point from the tourist office and had a browse around the shops. Having established that the following day was going to be a Bank Holiday, we did a stock up of fuel, gas and food and moved on to Bretignolles sur Mer.
To our surprise, after following the well developed coast road out of this town we came across a large open car park with access to the beach and a boating/swimming lake over the road. No restrictions were apparent and eight vans had already settled themselves. It seemed too good a spot to pass up, so we joined them.
GPS: 46.6166 N, 1.8595 W

A walk along the beach at Bretignolles sur Mer

13th May
It seemed a while since we’d had a warm sunny morning and we gratefully stretched our legs on the coast path. A friendly French couple in the van next door commented that we were a long way from home – feels like our second home to us!

Down the D38 some more, then we turned off onto the D80 alongside the Foret d’Olonne, a very pleasant area with many attractive picnic spots, none with height barriers designed to decapitate motorhomes!
Trying to find our way through Les Sables d’Olonne to the corniche road we found ourselves wedged up a very narrow one way street. Oops! After a few sweaty moments and bewildered looks from passers-by we made it to the sea front, but no chance to pull up for a breather!

Roadworks demanded a detour away from the coast road for a while, but we soon returned and stopped off at Bourgenay Querry Pigeon. Here we found a new aire not in any of our guides, a quiet shady area with spacious pitches. 5 Euro a night plus another 3 for water.
GPS: 46.4409 N, 1.6633 W

Thereafter, marshlands dictated a return to the main road at Talmont St Hilaire, before we hit the coast again at Jard sur Mer. This is all holiday home country but there was an aire with beach access provided and plenty of campsites. St Vincent sur Jard was similar and again provided a reasonable aire, 5 Euro a night seems to be the going rate around here.

Now tracing the edges of the Foret de Longeville we turned off for a sign announcing an aire de stationnement. This turned out to be a grassy pitch cut out of the forest, over the road from a large car park. The smell of pine and proximity of the forest was almost enough to make us call a halt for the day, but we had more or less decided to get to close to the Ile de Re by the day’s end. Next time perhaps!
GPS: 46.4032 N, 1.5054 W. No services.

Colourful blossom in the fields alongside the Foret de Longeville

Next up we had a look at La Tranche sur Mer, very similar holiday country again with an aire provided next to a sports hall. L’Aiguillion sur Mer was our last visit before heading inland. The aire was not very appetizing, a large tarmac area next to the sailing school and a noisy skateboard park. Time to move on and head for one of our favourite destinations – the Ile de Re!

At this time of year the toll for the bridge to the island is only 9 Euro. Still being in the 2nd April to 16th May holiday period there was plenty of traffic and as we entered a campsite we have used several times before - Camp du Soleil. We thought we might struggle to get a good pitch, but no worries, our favourite pitch was vacant and free for the next couple of weeks – yippee, time to chillout!

Snug, well planted pitches at Camp du Soleil

The pool awaits!

We love Camp du Soleil because it’s small and informal with a rural feel, a nice swimming pool, free wi-fi and only a few minutes walk from the beach and the village of Ars en Re.
GPS: 46.2036 N, 1.5205 W
www.campdusoleil.com

14th May - 7th June
Much has been written about the Ile de Re, so I will only echo some of its features - such as the luminous Atlantic light, the cleansing air with its scent of the sea and wild flowers, the beaches and dunes, forests, vineyards, oyster beds, salt marshes and a glorious nature reserve. The ten main villages, all with their own communes, history and character.

Early morning light on the Ile de Re

We have been coming here for over twenty years, Sue first discovering the island from a yacht, sailing under the magnificent 3km bridge linking it to La Rochelle, before berthing in the capital St Martin.
Since then it has gone from being an impoverished rural backwater and summer holiday destination known only to a few French, to earning the Sunday Times travel writer’s epithet “Island playground of the stars” - property prices climbing in the process from the interesting to the astronomical, snapped up by the likes of Johnny Depp!

Cafe culture, Ars en Re

Somebody's pride and joy in Ars lock basin

Inevitably some of the peace and tranquillity has been shattered in that period, some of the freedoms and access lost - but while it can now be hard to find a shabby old dwelling in need of restoration, such has been the building control that there is little to jar the eye, much to appeal, and the tenacious cycle rider can pedal the entire coastline, or criss-cross between the villages, largely on purpose built paths.

Even new properties follow the Re tradtion of flowers along the walls

In the summer season however, it is bedlam, and Re residents who can afford it put up the shutters and head for the hills - though at an a elevation of 19 metres at its highest point above sea level, hills are one thing Re doesn't have. So come off season, bring your bikes, pick a campsite roughly in the middle of the island - and Re can be your own oyster, all of it accessible by pedal power without any great effort or cost.

Dedicated cycle paths through the best bits

To catch the Ile de Re at its best you really have to be an early bird, but it's worth it.
If the sun is out, the light is fantastic, so bright, so clear - the atmosphere so fresh. The streets are free of all the limos and oversize 4x4's; the poissionneries, boulangeries and market stalls are piled high with unbelievable produce, and the Re residents are about their business - the streets have a buzz, not just a crush of cycling holiday makers. Best of all, if you can get to any of the natural areas, the wild life will be about its business too.

Not your average fish monger, more a seafood deli!

More produce than you can see in one go!

There is virtually no free camping for motoromes anymore on the Ile de Re, a total ban from the hours of 2300 to 0700 exists within the communes and all of the natural areas. The only places we know of now are a rough old roadside car park by the sea wall at Le Martray, and a dirt carpark just before the Phare des Baleines - you take your chances with the authorities here or anywhere else you can find. There is a new official motorhome parking bay at La Patache at the top of the island, this has a free water tap and toilet disposal, but was packed with vans when we visited – on a non public holiday weekday!
Beware of car parks which have no obvious motorhome ban but still have signed height and width restrictions - we heard of a Belgian van which was fined by police on one such car park in St Martin during the day!

There are however Aires at Rivedoux, St Martin, St Clements and Les Porte, but expect to pay around 7-10 Euro, most are limited to 48 hours and the one at St Martin is very small and rarely has a space.
Other campsites offer overnights for camping cars but again, expect to pay 7-10 Euro.

That blinding Ile de Re light at full power!

Note temporary repairs to huge holes in the sea walls

From Ars, you are a moderate and scenic off-road cycle ride away from some of the best parts of the island - the most peaceful and charming villages of Les Portes en Re and Loix, and the Lilleau des Niges National Nature Reserve, through which you can cycle and visit the Maison du Fier, a natural history museum housed in an old salt warehouse. The reserve is a lovely ride through the salt marshes on any day, but the amount of wild life that can be seen from your bike is amazing.

Colourful harmonies in the Lilleau des Niges Nature Reserve

Avocets feeding in front of your eyes

Black Winged Stilts come too!

All the villages have distinctive, different and beautiful church spires, the church of St Clement des Baleines was used in the filming of The Longest Day.

The church of St Clement des Baleines

At the top of the island, past St Clement, is the Phare des Baleines, a working 57 metre high lighthouse, within which you can climb the giddying 257 steps to admire the view, for a
modest Euro 2.50. There is also a lighthouse museum (Euro 3.50) and a street of tourist shops and restaurants.

The Phare des Baleines rises above the dunes

East of the lighthouse is a beautiful 3 km cycle path through the Foret dominale du Lizay to Les Portes. The vast Plage del la Conche which lies adjacent has sadly been scoured of a lot of its sand in the winter storms, but as a bonus the exposed rock is now a home for shellfish.

Cycle through the Foret dominale du Lizay

East of Les Portes, there are a string of beautiful beaches including the famous Trousse-Chemise. It is possible to park up here during the day in a motorhome, though most other beach carparks have height barriers.

Heading down the island from Ars there is a wonderful coastal cycle path to Loix, however this year we found it totally barred off as major repairs were still going on to the sea wall. Likewise, the path through the marshes to Pointe du Grouin was also closed off. Finding our way to Pointe du Grouin by the main road we were stunned to see the damage the winter storms had wrought – worse than anything we had seen in many years of visiting the Ile de Re. An entire section of sea wall had been dislodged on the north side, trees ripped up and broken, and over the road, a field of private caravan pitches had just been devastated - nothing left except gravel thrown up off the beach.
Around the point, by the beach where we used to wild camp, a small but obviously cared for yacht was high and dry on the dunes, a hole smashed in its side.

Sad evidence of the winter storm's wrath

A longer cycle trip from Ars can take you to visit the island’s capital and port of St Martin, and the smaller port of La Flotte. The inland route takes you by the pretty village of La Couarde sur Mer with its distinctive and poignant war memorial, and the slightly less attractive Le Bois Plage en Re. Both have access to great beaches, but not for motorhomes anymore!

La Couarde sur Mer

On the inland cycle route - just outside Le Bois Plage and next to a windmill - is probably the best, certainly the best reasonably priced restaurant on the island: La Bouvette.

Out in the sticks a bit, it has to succeed on its reputation and it wins awards year after year, but the meal we ate there was one of our best ever, certainly for seafood. The Eclade de Moules sur un lit d'Aiguilles de Pin, or mussels cooked on a bed of smoking pine needles, was just sensational.

Pots of pine needles ready to add amazing flavour to plump, juicy Mussels

www.labouvette.com

St Martin is probably just too touristy for us now, but it’s worth a visit on a quieter day.
La Flotte is our favourite - smaller with its simple square harbour surrounded by accessible quaysides, plus a long waterfront promenade, together with its historic and atmospheric market place, interesting side streets and a cosmopolitan air. We never fail to have a pizza at La Fiance du Pirate or moules frites, at the imaginatively named Bistrot de la Flotte. Amazingly the quality is there, year after year, some of the best we’ve had ever.

La Flotte - have some moules frites, kid yourself you belong here!

From La Flotte it is possible to cycle along the coast all the way to St Martin. The narrow path has prohibition signs for cycles, but they are totally ignored by everybody, natives and holiday makers alike. There was more evidence of heavy storm damage and much rebuilding of the sea walls.
From St Martin to up to the sailing school at La Couarde there is a dedicated cycle way - always a pleasant run, past oyster farms and salt water marshes.

If you really want a good day’s bike ride from Ars you can take the western route from Le Bois Plage down to Sainte Marie de Re and Rivedoux Plage, but it’s a much more boring ride after Le Bois Plage, largely alongside the main road.
Sainte Marie is a quiet village where you can sit and eat your sandwiches under shady trees by the church, but Rivedoux is a different kettle of fish altogether being the first stop over the bridge and blessed with yet another wide sandy beach, albeit looking across to the docks and La Rochelle. If you want to join the young disco set this is the place to hang out.

There are many other bike trails on the island, some unofficial, that we have used to explore the island, but the above are the main routes which we enjoy the most and have done time and time again.

Poppies alongside the vineyard path

There is plenty else to visit too, many outlets selling products from the vineyards, salt marshes and oyster beds, many stunning markets – some operating everyday in the season. It’s possible to take guided tours of the salt marshes to see how the salt is produced, visit an oyster farm and see how the foreshore is fished - both in the island’s past (within hand built stone locks) and today, by individuals with the simplest of equipment.

Remmants of the old fishing locks

Perhaps the reason we love the Ile de Re so much is that it is, and feels like, a world apart. If you can sample it when the weather is at its brilliant best, but the crowds are not swamping it, there is no place to compare. Fantastic beaches, marshlands full of bird life and wild flowers, pine forests, cute and peaceful villages, endless flat cycle trails, superb produce to buy and eat, as well as great restaurants…..
Find a good campsite - there are plenty and most have mobile homes for rent if you want to come with friends. Visit off season, and don’t forget your bike!

Evening sun lights an old windmill behind the campsite

The Ars bell tower, utterly distinctive, day or night

It was hard to tear ourselves away this time, a planned week turned into two, into three - you could say we spoiled ourselves!

France trip 2010 - Guerande to St Gilles de Vie

2010-05-22T15:50:00.035+01:00

3rd May Guerande.
We wrapped up warm and returned to the old town for Sue to have a second look at a Mexican silver necklace that had taken her fancy. The shop was closed for the morning so we killed some time by walking the city walls.

The moat into which the fisherman used to leap!

I don't know who makes this stuff up, but according to a plaque at the Bizienne Gate, it was the custom (up to the 18th Century) for fishmongers who turned up on Easter Monday without a gallon of wine and a loaf of bread, in lieu of tax to enter the town, to leap naked into the moat! This was known as the le saut des poissonniers or "fishmongers leap"! Yeah…

The ancient streets of Guerande

Lunch at Le Logis Brasserie, in a rather chilly room, was steak and chips for me and pizza for Sue - Euro 12 a head, including a crepe and coffee. (When will I learn not to order a "rare" steak in France - it always comes "blue", i.e. singed on the outside and stone cold raw in the middle!)

Not quite what you expect from the outside!

Le Logis occupies an ancient building, and I suppose it's inevitable that some venerable old buildings like this will get a "modern" makeover, but it seemed a shame to see centuries-old bare beams painted white - and trendy fixtures and furniture, in such a setting.

A walk inside the atmospheric church of Saint Aubin revealed some magnificent stained glass and stonework, definitely worth a look.

Leaving the silver necklace in the shop (!), we drove out to Le Crosic via Batz-sur-Mer, passing a still operating ancient windmill en route. Freshly milled ble noir or black wheat flour is for sale direct to the public.

Get your freshly milled flour here!

You also drive by the Musee de Marais Salants or Museum of the Salt Marshes, which if you've never examined how edible salt is produced in this way, is very interesting.

Getting to the Cote Sauvage from Le Crosic took a bit of back tracking, but we were eventually rewarded with a sea view from an overnight aire on the cliff tops. The allocated spaces are ridiculously small however and access difficult. 5 Euro per night, no services.
GPS: 47.2893 N, 2.5373 W

4th May
We took a trip back up the coast to see the bit we had missed the previous evening. This Cote Sauvage is not quite as wild and rocky as that on Quiberon’s west coast, but it does a fair impersonation.
We came across a squad of local firemen in the sea, wading about in the shallows under the direction of a hard faced gent in a thick red jacket. It was obviously a drill of some sort, but I bet they loved their boss for picking such a bitterly cold windy day!

A chilly start to the day for the local firemen!

On the D45 down towards La Baule is an old wartime gun bunker, Le Grand Blockhaus, now open for visitors and seemingly very popular.

Getting to the seafront at La Baule is tricky from this direction (lots of dead ends) so you are best sticking to the main road.
La Baule’s everlasting crescent of cream coloured sand is magnificent, but the sea front is totally built up, the occasional old traditional villa made to look odd, like rotting teeth, amongst row upon row of square cream and white 60's and 70's apartment blocks.

One of the better looking blocks of apartments in La Baule

Eventually La Baule merges into Pornichet, and as we could see no obvious route to St Marc sur Mer, we got onto the D92 to St Nazaire and then followed the coast road into town.

St Nazaire, if you are of a certain age, might register in your memory as the place where a desperately dangerous, but successful raid was undertaken by Allied Commandos in the last war to disable the massive “Normandie” drydock - the task completed by ramming the HMS Campbeltown, primed with explosives, into the lock gates. An epic operation, worth looking up if you are interested in that kind of thing.

The harbour also included a lock basin where a submarine base had been built. This basin is today still dominated by the base, a massive concrete monolith, 300 metres long and 130 metres wide - as high as a six storey building and built with an incredible 480,000 cubic metres of concrete, reinforced with thousands of tons of steel and granite. The walls are up to 3 metres thick, the roof up to 8.5 metres!

The monolithic German submarine base

It sheltered the submarines in 14 separate pens or drydocks. Constructed in a little under two years with thousands of conscripted French labourers, it is one of five built to protect the submarine fleet from allied bombing - the others being at Brest, Lorient, La Pallice (La Rochelle) and Bordeaux.
Inside was a self-contained undercover Naval dockyard, with 60 workshops, 20 pumping stations, 2 generating plants and dozens of offices, stores, etc., even an operating theatre!

As the Allied bombing raids became more effective, modifications were made to the roof that would cause the bombs to detonate, but release the exploding gas in explosion chambers underneath, without damaging the main roof. To achieve this 1.8 high metre walls were topped with perpendicular 1.4 metre rounded beams. Trees have now been planted in huge tubs on this section of the roof, the tubs invisible below the concrete beams!

The last form of defence against Allied bombs!

Unable to seriously penetrate the pen’s massive construction, the Allies eventually adopted a policy of laying waste to the surrounding area, thus restricting communications and re-supply. Eighty five percent of St Nazaire was razed to the ground in this effort, only the pens were left standing.

On the other side of the basin a fortified bunker was built over one of the locks to protect submarines on entry and exit. From 1987 this has housed the French submarine Espadon. The Espadon or Swordfish is a post war vessel based on the German U-boat design and so can give you some idea what it must have been like to fight such machines. Sue is not a lover of such vessels, but I longed to have a look and she came along anyhow.

The fortified lock gates from one of the submarine docks

To say that the living and working conditions were claustrophobic is a serious understatement. As a seagoing engineer most of my working life I have worked in some cramped and hot conditions, but how they managed to operate and maintain such a vessel, even in peace time - let alone the inevitable injuries and discomfort from operating in combat, is almost beyond my comprehension, I would have found it an absolute nightmare.

The submarine guide claims that when running, the generator room temperature reached up to 172° Fahrenheit, or 78° Centigrade - bear in mind that at this temperature you will instantly burn your skin if you touch metal!
I have worked a four hour watch in 130° F (54° C) and know that to survive that you have to constantly drink water and swallow salt tablets - but the daily water allowance was just 5 pints per man and that included cooking!

The French submarine Espadon

Some other quotable facts: 65 men shared one toilet and one cold, seawater shower, and the cook had to produce 130 meals a day in a galley about as big as most peoples downstairs toilet! An eye opener for anyone who thinks their working (and living) conditions are tough!

By the 1970's, the area around the submarine base had become an industrial wasteland, but in the 1980's a regeneration plan was developed. Starting in 1995, four of the submarine bays were opened up to the town by removing their 2 metre thick back walls, and the docks refilled with water. The base opened to the public in 2000.
Most of the pens are now empty, vast watery halls, and it takes a little imagination to envisage the hive of activity that would have been.

The echoes of much frenetic activity

Sightseeing cruises can be booked from an office in one hall, and some more of them have been converted into a mock-up of the France and Normandy liners, which can be visited for 10 Euros.
A road on a ramp has been built up to the roof, and the bleak concrete there is under redevelopment with gardens and ponds, no doubt, cafes will follow!
The new post war town centre of St Nazaire has now been linked to the base and the waterfront by a new shopping centre, the Centre Republique.

The base is now integrated into the town

Walking around the basin, my eye could not escape the sight of a new mega-cruiseship nearing completion - the 1000 ft (330 metre) long Norwegian Epic.
Poor Sue, I now decided that a visit to the shipyard where so many famous vessels have been built (included the Queen Mary II) was also on the agenda! A check with the office revealed that a tour was available the next day at ten o’clock.

The mammoth cruise ship "Norwegian Epic" in the "Normandie" dock

We had parked alongside several other motorhomes in a spacious car park directly opposite the pens and adjacent to the Carrefour supermarket. It appeared to be a public car park, and asking an employee leaving one of the offices nearby if we would be Ok to park overnight, he thought it would be, especially as some of the vans had been there a month! This saved us a 10 km or more trip out of town to an aire, plus the early start in the morning.
Battening down the blinds to avoid arousing curiosity we had our evening meal and got an early night.

5th May
Once the traffic had died down we had a quiet night, and we were at the ticket office in good time in the morning. It is possible to book tours not only to see the shipyard but also the nearby Airbus factory and a tour of the port of St Nazaire itself.

Already aware that the tour commentary would only be in French, I was disappointed but unsurprised at the total and very firm ban on any photography - inevitable when high tech and military ships are under construction. Nevertheless we understood some of the commentary and had a look inside a construction hall and the massive drydock where a naval vessel was being assembled block by block. The most interesting items that we were allowed to see were some mega motorised trolleys, that could be driven by remote control under a whole section of ship, then pick it up and deliver it elsewhere – all operated by one man with a little black box!

After a visit to the shopping centre, it was time to move on. The St Nazaire Bridge was opened in 1975, in a style since used elsewhere, but it is still quite an experience driving over it.

The magnificent St Nazaire Bridge

We had planned to stay at an aire just on the other side of the bridge at Brevins les Pins, but there was barely room for two vans and as the high winds were threatening to bring stuff off the trees, we gave it a miss.

The large aire at the Base Nautique has now been height-barriered off, so we eventually found a refuge at St Michel Chef Chef (that’s right - two Chefs!). A combined car park/aire, 5 Euro.
GPS: 47.1820 N, 2.1467 W

6th May
We headed out to the coast again, ending up on an aire just above Pointe de St Gildas. We didn't intend to stay, but a shaded gently sloping gravel aire two minutes walk from the coast path was seductive at just 3 Euros a night. At the point, there are café-bars, a restaurant and a sailing centre. The town of Prefailles is also within walking distance.
A friendly girl with excellent English came to collect the fee around 5 o'clock and handed us a map and a brochure of Prefailles.
GPS: 47.1370 N, 2.2384 W

Pointe de St Gildas

7th May
Not one, but two bread vans arrived and tooted their horns at eight in the morning. Not quite together enough at that time, we didn't buy any, but we decided to stay for the day. There are numerous coastal walks and cycle routes available from the tourist office, including one around an old coastal defence station from WWII.

8th May
We have pleasant memories of Pornic as it was our stopover point when returning from camping holidays on the Ile de Re. However, it's not a place to be approached in a motorhome and we eventually had to skirt around the town centre and park up.

La Berniere en Retz is a small coastal town just south of Pornic and has a rather cramped but pleasant aire near the centre. A French family had set up camp on the aire: awning, BBQ, picnic table, the works - strictly against French law of course, but nobody seemed to object.
GPS: 47.0784 N, 2.0341 W

9th May
We both wanted to revisit Noirmoutier, an island distinguished by its access - the D948 or Passage du Gois is a tidal causeway. Nowadays, it is something of a tourist attraction and highly regulated, and there were dozens of cars and vans parked up waiting for the tide to fall and reveal the road.

Carefully regulated - but the road is submerged by the rising tide!

Nevertheless, we have done it before in a car and didn't want to waste half a day, so we about-turned back to the main road and took the bridge.

The Ile de Noirmoutier, though having a lot to offer, is a poor relation of the Ile de Re. It has the same terracotta roofed, white-washed-walled, shuttered-windowed holiday homes and villages. It has marais or salt marshes, oyster beds, vineyards and potato production. It has fine beaches, a network of cycling paths and walking trails. What is doesn't have is as many historic villages or charm of the same quality.
And, like the Ile de Re, these days, you really have to check into a campsite and get on your bikes if you are going to enjoy it.

As we discovered, the seafront aire at L'Epine (listed in both our 2010 guides) is now defunct, access to the waterfront is through a barrier, Usagers du Port only! Thinking we had the wrong access we drove up a sandy road lined with boulders, only to find a 2 metre height barrier a hundred metres further on. There was nowhere to turn around and we had to reverse back up the narrow track with incoming cars trying to get past us. Not fun at all. Whilst we were there two other French vans arrived looking for the same aire and we stopped them making the same mistake.
A few signs saying “aire now closed” would have saved a lot of irritation and confusion to everybody.

Not to worry though, there is a brand new aire just off the roundabout as you turn into L'Epine. Complete with lifting entry barrier and road traffic noise - it was, unsurprisingly, empty. These kind of aires are a pain - you cannot park up even for lunch, and you have to pay the full 7 Euro (with your credit card) just to get water. A double bind, when parking for motorhomes almost everywhere else is prohibited!

The weather matched our mood, dark and stormy, so we turned back to La Gueriniere, where we stopped on another municipal aire adjacent to a campsite. This at least allows you to park up for a while without coughing up 7 Euros, and has a sensible Flot Bleu machine taking 2 Euro coins. Access to the magnificent beach is not obvious, but possible, walking through one of the holiday villages nearby.
GPS: 46.9657 N, 2.2149 W

The new, spacious aire at La Gueriniere

It continued to rain so we stayed put.

10th May
The weather had improved somewhat and we did a quick tour of what we hadn't seen the day before.
There is a huge tarmac aire on the outskirts of Noirmoutier en L'ille that you have to share with buses and cars, except that motorhomes have to pay 7 Euro to park overnight, plus a further 2 Euro for water. The only saving grace is the launderette opposite.
GPS: 47.0010 N, 2.2530 W

The massive car park/aire/bus park at Noirmoutier en L'ille

Heading to L'Herbaudiere at the top of the island, we weren't surprised to find access restricted to the busy little port. There is an aire here within walking distance of the port and a height-barriered car park's distance from the sea. It was already full with about 20 vans - same deal - 7 Euro to stay, 2 Euro for water.
GPS: 47.0201 N, 2.3006 W

Heading south off the island, the coastal D38 is denied glimpses of the sea by the Foret des Pays de Monts, pine trees on sand dunes all the way to Sion sur l’Ocean.

We pulled off at Notre Dame de Monts, where we found an aire on a lovely site - literally on the edge of the forest, the beach perhaps half a kilometre through the forest, by a myriad of sandy trails. A short walk along the beach brings you to the well laid out promenade and a beach cafe. There is a sailing school right on the beach with Hobie Cats and land yachts.
The only downside to the aire is the poor service point - taps that are impossible to attach a hose to, and no evident toilet dump.
GPS: 46.8349 N, 2.1423 W

Beach cafe plonked on the sand at Notre Dame de Monts

Coming back from our glass of cider on the beach, we lost our way on the forest trails without any difficulty whatsoever. Nothing to do with the cider of course, but in the end it was Sue who had the right instincts to get us back to the van!

Sue knows her way through the forest!

11th May
A very peaceful night - tranquil by some recent standards, and we lay in bed late, listening to the bird life in the trees.
Later we headed down the D38 to St Jean de Monts where we found a large aire in a wooded setting near the tennis courts. Unfortunately the Flot Bleu required jettons and as it was now lunch time, not available.

Back along the waterfront at St Jean de Monts, the bitterly cold day seemed to have virtually closed the resort, several French motorhomes were parked up on the seafront car parks, admiring the view in disregard of the motorhome prohibition signs.

Further south, Sion sur l’Ocean, Croix de Vie and St Gilles Croix de Vie virtually merge into one another, but we took the heavily built up corniche road as far as we could before settling on a car park type aire in St Gilles Croix de Vie.
GPS: 46.7031 N, 1.9470 W

We had another reason to stay, as we had seen posters advertising a Vendee-Saint Petersbourg multihull yacht race, departing on 16th May from St Gilles – hopefully we could get to see the yachts in preparation.

The Multi50 trimarans prepare to race at St Gilles Croix de Vie

As it turned out, we struck lucky and we were able to walk along the pontoons and study these amazing trimarans and their crew’s preparations close up, as well as visit the Race Village that had been set up on the quayside.

Live commentary at the Race Village

Have a go piloting a speed machine, inside on the simulator

The Vendee-Saint Petersbourg is a first time event, a there and back race for a 3 man crew, set up to provide some interesting and exciting sailing away from the big ocean events, which would be different for those taking part and more accessible for spectators.

The latest of the class, Whaou! 3

The helmsmans chair - note the foot rest, long white tiller on the left and carbon fibre steering rods at the bottom of the picture

The Multihull 50 are a new breed of boat as well, heavily restricted by class rules to keep the costs down, but at the same time provide high speed ocean and offshore racing. The Vendee-Saint Petersbourg has been specifically created for these Multi50’s as their reference event. The website has an English translation and you can follow all the action of the crews and boats.
www.vendee-saintpetersbourg.org/en/home.html