Provence and the Cote D'Azur

Saturday 11th April. Castellane 43.84613 6.51534 and St-Laurent-du-Var 43.68538 7.18530

We've spent the last day and a half in Castellane, rafting and hippy central. I've always thought that rafters, climbers and potholers were hippies with muscles and a work ethic. Anyway, they tolerate us old folk and we bought some nice salad ingredients yesterday at the bio vegetable shop and some out of date sheep's yoghurt which the nice lady didn't want to sell to us. I said we would take our chances as it was only a few days out of date and she reluctantly knocked a few cents of the price and slipped it into our bag. Before we could embark on this epic shopping trip however we had to tidy and clean the van. Well, that's 15minutes we'll never get back again. Five minutes to tidy and ten minutes to clean. Castellane also boasts a laundrette and we took the opportunity to catch up on the washing. It all sounds a bit mundane doesn't it, but the drive from Banon was anything but. First scouting around the Montagne De Lure through tiny ancient villages and then from just south of Digne-les-Bains climbing up over the Col des Leques at just over one thousand metres before dropping down into Castellane. Today was market day and before setting off we bought some asparagus, fresh ravioli and goats cheese so that's tonight's dinner sorted.

We had planned to stop in Antibes tonight after first stopping for a look around in Grasse, the perfume capital of France if not the world. The drive over the lower Alps was again spectacular, part of the Route de Napoleon, and I guess it wouldn't have been too hard for him, sat on a horse as he probably was, but it must have been gruelling for his foot soldiers. The highest point was nearly twelve hundred metres. The road is popular with motorcyclists too and they roared past us on the hairpins and had vanished before we could blink, exciting stuff. Unfortunately all the car parks we came across in Grasse had height barriers so we didn't stop but pushed on a bit further to Antibes where we knew there was an LPG station. Now, I don't have to fill up too often with LPG, I've got two 18kg tanks, but we were down to half a tank so we pulled in to the filling station. I've got all the adaptors for different filler nozzles for different countries but it's always a hassle at LPG pumps. Today was no exception and, once again, someone had to come out of the office to help me fill up. Is it just me? Do other folk have these problems? Anyway, all gassed up and off we went to the Aire de service at Antibes. The car park, and that's all it is, a car park, was outside Marine World which, presumably is why they wanted to charge me €24 for an overnight stay plus €3 for water!!! We politely declined their kind invitation and drove another five minutes to where we are now, another car park with water and it's free.

We didn't want to stay at too many of the places we'd stopped at before but Banon was a "must stop" because of the bistro, Castellane because of the laundrette and here at St Laurent-du-Var because we weren't going to pay €27 for the privilege of stopping in Antibes! Tomorrow we were going to visit Sospel on the old royal road between Nice and Turin but after a bit of research discovered that it was pretty much flattened by the Germans during WW2 and there's not too much left of interest now so tomorrow we'll cross the border into Italy heading for San Remo (we've been there before also). The Cote D'Azur between Cannes and the Italian border has all "those" places - Antibes, Nice, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Monaco, Monte Carlo beloved of novelists and playboys but the traffic is horrendous, there's never anywhere to park and the whole area is pretty Motorhome unfriendly. I guess we should have come here in the fifties but as we were just toddlers then I doubt we would have appreciated it but anyway I doubt that we'll come back this way again.

No pics today, poor 3G

Pat

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Heading South

Monday 6th April Tournon-sur-Rhone 45.07337 4.82163.

We left St Etienne this afternoon after a weekend of celebrations. My eldest grandson celebrated his 18th Birthday and my eldest granddaughter celebrated her 15th. All our family and an aunt and uncle came over from England and we stopped the weekend at a boarding school with access to the kitchens and dining room and once we had finished decorating the room we had a superb dining room/dance floor. My French son-in-law is a great guitar player and the birthday boy plays bass, together with the singer and drummer they play regularly with,we had a great band. There were over sixty guests from all over France and England and a great time was had by all. If you told me I would be going to bed at 3.30am after dancing for a couple of hours to a mix of heavy rock and Russian techno I wouldn't have believed you but the challenge was on to outdance my grandson's friends and we nearly did it. Nearly. But those kids had 50yrs on us so it was no disgrace to leave them to it in the wee small hours.

Today we travelled from St Etienne along the D8,D2,D82 and D86 which was a beautiful drive through some lovely countryside. Rising to 1000m where there was still some snow and then down to follow the Rhone to Tournon-sur-Rhone where we are parked up for the night. Our plan for the next few days is to head further south to Provence and then follow the Mediterranean coast around to Italy. We have a couple of weeks before we leave Ancona on the ferry bound for Igoumenitsa. Today has been a beautiful sunny day although the wind is chilly but the forecast is for sunshine for the next week or so and we should be hitting 20deg in a few days time.

No scenic photos today but here's one of the family.

 

Wednesday 8th April. Banon 44.03980 5.62969.

We stopped here in Banon in August last year and had a delicious meal at a Bistro, Les Vins au Vert and as we were heading this way decided to stop and sample the menu again. The establishment is also a Cave a vins and the proprietor, Pierre Edouard, knows his wines. The plat du jour is served on a large slate and today comprised of truffle flavoured ham, Lyon fennel flavoured saucisse, corn soup, a vegetable flan, sardine pate, two types of goats cheese, pannacota with raspberry coulis, chilled creme anglais flavoured with apricot and pineapple and a mini gingerbread cake, mmmmmm!! We let Pierre choose our wines and he didn't put a foot or a glass wrong. Pierre and his wife remembered us from our last visit and when we got chatting they told us they had sold the Bistro and were looking to buy a vineyard a little further south in Le Luberon. Lovely people and we wish them well in their next venture.

Last night we stopped at Saint-Paul-Tres-Chateaux, just on the edge of the medieval town (44.347512 4.770146) and overlooked by the Alps. We arrived just as the weekly market was packing up but managed to buy a rotisserie'd chicken and then wander around the old town and visited the Cathedrale Notre-Dame which was possibly the smallest Cathedral we've visited but all the more impressive as although it was built in the C12th and C13th it still had some mosaics and frescos from an earlier church and reused some Roman building materials. It was a simple but majestic cathedral with a human scale; a building in which you could pray and worship and, I think, all the better for the absence of the ornate decorations usually seen in the larger cathedrals which I think serve not as a tribute to God but as a reflection of the wealth, power and arrogance of those who commissioned those buildings.

Cathedral Notre Dame.

The plan today was to drive along through the vineyards of the Cote du Rhone and then up and over Mont Ventoux. The first half of the journey went according to plan and we enjoyed some fantastic scenery with the vineyards sloping up to small villages and buildings in a honey coloured stone but as we left Malaucene and started our ascent the signs informed us that the road was ferme. A quick five point turn and we retraced our route before skirting the mountain to the north along the D40. The vineyards gave way to lavender fields and the scenery screamed Provence!! This region is probably our favourite in France, the mountains, rivers and gorges together with the fields of vines and lavender are just so beautiful and the smaller towns and villages beg to be explored. Of course the weather helps and as we've travelled further south over the last few days we've enjoyed blue skies and sunshine. I think tomorrow it might be time to get the shorts out of the wardrobe.

Cote du Rhone vineyards with the Alps in the distance.

Maybe the white stuff on top is why we couldn't go over the mountain today?

 

Pat

 

 

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Hospitals and Mustard

Tuesday 31st March. Cormot-Le-Grand 46.96191 4.64267.

First stop today was a visit to the Hotel-Dieu des Hospices Civils de Beaune. A hospital established in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Guigone de Salis. The concept, founding charter and construction are equally impressive and although much of the original internal furnishings and tapestrys have been lost, a reconstruction in the 19th Century was carried out according to the original plans. The barrel vaulted Grande Salle with it's painted beams and 30 hospital beds is looked over by a chapel which could be screened off to avoid the patients observing the funerals of those beyond the help of the nurses and physicians. Rolin insisted the hospital be built over the river to provide fresh water and to carry away waste and this idea contributed to the escalating costs of construction as vaults were built to channel the river under the building. A fascinating couple of hours and well worth the entrance fee especially as the audio guides were included in the price.

The Hospital.

Plat de Jour at a local bistro, back to the van for dry clothes as it rained all day and then off to the Fallot mustard company's factory for our 3pm tour. Unfortunately the lass in the tourist office had marked the location in the wrong place on the map so it took us a while to find the factory and joined the tour ten minutes late. Never mind, we only missed the explanation of the life cycle of a mustard plant and enjoyed the rest of the tour, discovering that the name "Dijon mustard" cannot be protected and consequently the vast majority of the Dijon mustard we buy is in fact produced from Canadian mustard seeds and probably produced in Canada. The city of Dijon has three remaining mustard factories producing some 85,000 tons of the stuff but our little factory in Beaune, which still mills seeds using mustard seeds only from Bourgogne manufactures just a couple of tons per year. If you want the real stuff, which is delicious, look out for Moutard de Bourgogne which is a protected name and must contain only certain ingredients. And keep your mustard in the fridge! Keep it in a cupboard and it will soon lose it's flavour. We were given a few small complementary jars and also bought some more with interesting flavours as well. I must admit that the generic Dijon mustard we've been buying in supermarkets for years was pretty insipid and lack lustre compared to the mustard we tasted today.

Only 6,000 deliveries per year.

 

A short drive brought us back to a pretty parking spot next to a babbling brook in Cormot-Le-Grand, a vineyard which is part of the France Passion scheme. Unfortunately the owners of Domaine Boisson are nowhere to be found at present. I hope they turn up before we leave so I can make a purchase of their delicious Crement de Bourgogne.

Wednesday 1st April St Etienne.

Madame Boisson was found this morning and kindly sold us some wine and then it was off to St Etienne to stay with our daughter and her family for a few days. It's her eldest son's 18th birthday today and a party has been planned for this Saturday. It's the first time all our family will have been together for a few years and so we are all looking forward to getting together and celebrating the birthday.

The last time we came here in the Motorhome I managed to smash one of our windows whilst reversing into my daughter's courtyard. It was a very expensive and time consuming process finding another one so we decided against parking in the courtyard this time. There are a few fought over parking spaces outside the house and the plan was that we would arrive and our daughter and her husband would move their cars and I would have a parking space. Good plan. I arrived but as they were moving their cars I was blocking the road and had to pull over next to some bollards to allow a car to pass but unfortunately the bollards fought back and for the second time some expensive damage was done to the Motorhome.

 

If we ever come back here I'm catching the train!!! It looks like the Zampetas brothers in Greece will have some more business from me in a few weeks time.

Pat

 

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Dijon and Beaune

Monday 30th March. Beaune 47.01761 4.83661.

Our plan today was to visit Dijon. We have books and guides and electronic maps with stopping places covering just about all of Western and Southern Europe and always have a few options of where to stop depending on whether we just need a parking place or services. According to our guides there is only one place for motorhomes in Dijon within walking distance of the city centre so that's where we headed. It was closed. The Motorhome parking and service point is outside a large campsite which was undergoing renovation and we weren't too sure whether or not everything was closed or just the campsite but as we were deliberating a pleasant young man with perfect English explained that we couldn't park. We could have water if we wished but we couldn't park. Strange really as there were about a dozen spaces where we could have parked without bothering anyone but my request was met with a polite refusal and a suggestion that we parked further along the road in a car park by the lake where the young man suggested that the police "probably" wouldn't move us on. Well, we didn't want to see Dijon that badly and there'll always be another day so we headed off for Beaune. We've visited here before but always stayed nearby in local vineyards so this time we decided to stop in the city and see what touristy things we could do for a day or so.

Our daughter, who lives in France and who at one time lived not far from here at Autun recommended the Hotel-Dieu des Hospices de Beaune, a magnificent gothic hospital, in use until the early seventies, which is impressive from the outside with turrets and a pitched roof decorated with multicoloured tiles. The inside is equally impressive and so we plan to visit tomorrow. The guide books also mention Moutarderie Fallot, Burgundy's last family run mustard factory and museum so we tootled off to the tourist information centre to book a visit there as well for tomorrow. The Musee du vin looked promising as well but it was closed by the time we arrived and is closed on Tuesday so that's one for another day. We did visit the Basilique Collegiate Notee Dame but it wasn't the most impressive church we've visited on our travels but the old city within the ramparts has some beautiful buildings and is well worth a visit.

This area, of course, is Bourgogne, beautiful countryside, famous vineyards with Chateaux to match in the Côte d'Or and is the gastronomic centre of France and when we have stopped here in the past we have always stayed in a vineyard and taken the opportunity to buy some delicious wines at much less than the outrageous prices charged in the shops in the towns and cities roundabout. So tomorrow we plan to stay just off the Route des Grands Crus at a small vineyard we stopped at before at Cormot Le Grand and restock the wine cellar, well the wardrobe actually which passes for a wine cellar in a Motorhome.

The courtyard housing the the tourist info office in Beaune

Beaune

Pat

 

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Where is everybody?

Saturday 28th March Mareuil-sur-Ay 49.045156 4.034797

A pleasant drive today through the Foret de la Montagne de Reims which is in the Parc Naturel Regional de la Montagne de Reims (phew). We're in to Champagne country now and the villages have become more affluent with big (some very big) chateaux. But where is everyone? Nobody strolling, no kids out playing, no smoke from the chimneys. It's like a series of film sets waiting for the crew and actors to arrive. Very strange.

We are parked up next to the canal, as promised, and the 8 parking places soon filled up leaving the late arrivals to park further along next to the "No Motorhomes" sign. A walk around the town confirmed we were in another film set and that the two adjacent bistros are closed until such time as the owners decide to open them again. I would imagine this place is very busy in summer. After the walk it was time to give the new fishing rod an outing. Lovely rod, shame about the lack of fish. Anglers, of course, are eternal optimists and there's always another day, another stretch of water and better luck just around the corner. Fishing is a metaphor for life in general I think. However should you suffer from depression the last thing you should probably do is take up fishing, it'll only make you feel worse most days.

Sunday 29th March. Juzennecourt 48.1846 4.9788

A somewhat boring drive today through mostly flat countryside accompanied by strong winds and showers. We choose routes that have a scenic aspect to them according to the map, I suspect the cartologists pen slipped on this occasion. Anyway, here we are parked outside the Marie in another village sans chevaux and its pouring down. It was very very quiet until an hour ago when the house attached to the Marie came to life. We thought it was abandoned until suddenly the lights went on and music came blaring out. Kind of folky music with an African beat and English lyrics. Over the last eighteen months or so we've stopped on quite a few French Motorhome parking places with varying facilities and prices. Most have signs directing you when you arrive in the town or village but this one has no indication or directions. It has an ancient water pump, which is good because many of these places turn the water off during winter to prevent freezing and they're usually not turned on again until April. It has a drain to empty our grey waste but nowhere to empty the loo but it has six free electricity points which is always appreciated so if you're reading this, thank you Mr or Mrs Mayor. It also has, from what we can see through the window a spotlessly clean WC and possibly a shower; but it's locked up.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Dijon, described as one of France's most appealing cities and filled with medieval and Renaissance buildings. Our proposed parking spot is a mile from the city centre so we're hoping it's stopped raining by tomorrow. There is a primary school attached to the Marie here so I guess we'll have an early awakening and an early start tomorrow. Our pillows are about twenty feet from the mysterious music source ( they're playing bloody Coldplay now!) so I hope they have to get up early in the morning and don't keep us awake half the night. We can hardly knock on the door and ask them to turn it down can we?

Town Hall parking.

Nice pump.

 

Pat

 

 

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Relaxed

Friday 27th March - Coucy-Le-Chateau. N49.520084 E3.314395

After the last couple of days of driving and not getting any sleep we are now refreshed. Slept like logs last night and set off today for the small village of Coucy-Le-Chateau. Sat Navs set to avoid tolls and motorways and it was a pleasant drive through some nice countryside and typically pretty French villages. A stop at LeClerc for a few bits and pieces and diesel (€1.15/litre), a coffee and croissant stop and we were starting to enjoy the trip. There's not too much here apart from a ruined castle and an archway entrance to the village 2.5m wide - made it with an inch or two on each side - easy!

Weather has been kind to us today, it's still cold but nice and sunny and feels almost spring like and it can only get better as we travel further south (can't it?)

Some of you may know that I bought a bike and an electric wheel recently and whilst the bike is fine I've had nothing but trouble with the electric wheel which was a disappointment but today salvation arrived. Whilst admiring the ruined castle and contemplating whether I could be arsed with the ten minute climb to view at close quarters my new friend turned up. We got chatting and after a few minutes a deal was struck so it's good-bye bike and hello the future -

Tomorrow we set off for Mareuil-sur-Ay which is a little South of Reims. We had planned to go to Reims tomorrow as the cathedral is not to be missed and the city is beautiful but then we thought hmm, Reims on a Saturday? The Motorhome parking spot has only 7 places and it's going to be really busy? And then browsing our Camperstop book I very luckily found a place described as Urban, Comfortable, Central, Quiet with a restaurant on the spot! Phew, that was lucky eh? And - it's on a canal with fishing on the spot!!! That's me sorted then. Tight lines eh?

Pat.

 

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And we're off again.

Thursday 26th March - somewhere under the sea.

We left home last night at about 9.30pm to drive overnight to Folkestone for an early Chunnel. We were booked on the 7.20am but arrived early, despite a couple of detours through the Kent countryside due to motorway closures, and we've ended up on the 6.20am. The plan was to get a couple of hours sleep at the euro tunnel terminal but that didn't happen. Screeching seagulls, vehicle noise and too much coffee on the way down. So here we are, several metres under the sea bed, halfway to la belle France. We've planned our first stop to be at an Aire in Arras which is/was a fortified town with a gothic style town hall and subterranean passages however I think sleep is a priority before any sightseeing. I thought I'd start the blog off underwater because we are sat next to this sign -

Regrettably this is not the case, all phones/pads show "no service" so my first submariner blog will have to wait till dry land to be posted.

It's many years since I drove overnight in the UK and I was amazed at the number of HGV vehicles parked up in the lay-bys all the way down the A1. Nearly every lay-by was full as were the services near Grantham. We stopped again at Thurrock services before crossing the Thames and the place was absolutely rammed with HGVs. All the car parks were full and lorries were parked all along the roadways. Perhaps anyone reading this who does a bit of night time driving can explain.

Arras. N50.294618 E2.788113

We were going to push on a bit further south but after I started nodding off on the A25 decided that we'd better stop and get some shuteye. It's bitterly cold and damp here but that didn't prevent us sleeping for five hours and I would like to say we awoke refreshed; unfortunately that's not the case. I don't think I would do this journey the same way again. I'm not going to be able to tell you very much, if anything, about Arras. We are parked about a ten minute walk from the town centre but I doubt we'll be doing any further investigations today. This part of France is not the most picturesque and the ride from Calais would not have had much to recommend it other than an interesting encounter at a rest stop near Dunkerque. The guy driving the big rig parked next to us asked if we were on holiday and I said yes but a long holiday, maybe three or four months and told him of our plans. He was pleased we were going to Greece as that was his homeland, he lived in Thessaloniki and had just returned from the UK and was waiting for his boss to phone him to tell him where his next load was coming from. He said the ferry from Ancona to Igoumenitsa was ok but we should have booked on the superfast. I mentioned that as long as the voyage wasn't anything like the one we had a month ago through the Bay of Biscay I would be happy! Then he told us his story. He was on the Norman Atlantic sailing from Patras to Ancona on the 28th December last year. The ship caught fire in the Adriatic and at least 28 people perished. Our friend was in a small dinghy for four hours before he was rescued by a passing container ship. He injured his back and shoulder clambering on to the ship and subsequently spent two months in hospital. He still has nightmares about the incident. He had no wages whilst he was ill and his wife and children suffered hardship as well. He has been told he can expect compensation from the ferry company but the investigation is still ongoing. A very sad story. He wished us well and hoped we enjoyed our travels in his country. You can read more about this tragedy here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Norman_Atlantic

Pat

 

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