France!

We originally thought we might have a night at San Sebastien in the town centre aire, but the fridge issue put us off. So we pushed on straight into France and after some umming and ahhhing picked a site which seemed to suit the rough plan for our journey east.  After a certain amount of guesswork following a big sat nav error taking us to a green lane, we landed in paradise at Domaine D'esperbasque near Salier de Bearn.

The site was run by a proper French lady who lived in a large square French house.  You could order bread and croissants for the morning and there were fabulous views over the countryside.  In the morning we carried on going east.  We had made a sort of plan now, which was to go into the Pyrenees and take in some Tour de France Cols - the Col du Tourmalet and the Col d'Aspen to be precise.  Sandra also fancied Lourds for some healing and since that was on the way, it became our next stop.  We camped at Camping de Sarsan just outside of the town centre which was a long mile walk away.  We thought we'd better have a look and the church complex was just beyond.  It isn’t a massive church but the rest of it is geared up for thousands of faithful Christians, with outside alters and the place where what's her name's vision came to her.  We drank and had a bit of a wash in healing water and wandered back.  Beer and pizza for tea and a sound night's sleep.  The following day was dull and overcast.  The Pyrenees would not be good visibility so we changed our minds and went further east.  We drove and drove.  Stopped at a wayside village for coffee in a proper French cafe, bought some treats in the boulangerie and drove.  We thought we would stop in the afternoon, but missed the turn to a campsite and decided to go all the way to the coast.  We arrived just before the campsite reception shut, having got a bit stuck in the outskirts of Perpignan in the rush hour, but go a satisfactory pitch and settled in.  The next day was the first chance I had to look properly at the fridge, which had been a niggle.  Internet advice suggested turning it upside down, so I thought I'd give that a go.  3 hours later, all was back together again and it seemed to work a little on gas!  We had a walk to the port of Leucat and back after a couple of beers.

The next day was off again.  We had a plan to go to the Camargue.  As we set off there were dark clouds and thunder in the distance, but it was headed our way. We had not driven half an hour when the clouds drew in and the heavens opened.  Three hours later the rain was starting to ease off.  The rain had been so heavy we couldn't see and like much of the traffic had to stop when we could. We moved when the heaviest downpours eased.  We got badly snarled up around Narbonne. Waded through puddles to get lunch near Beziers and modified our planned route to take advantage of the free A75 north and then the A750 back towards Montpellier.  We were a long way behind schedule and pushing hard on the A750 when disaster struck.  Lights on the dashboard came on, wipers stopped and the engine appeared to cut out, but actually was fine, it was part of the sense of panic.  Fortunately, we were close to safety layby; unfortunately, we were in the middle lane.  Hazards on we pulled over and stopped.  High viz on, triangle out and then shouting into the rescue point communicator hoping they understood.  Within 5 mins a van appeared.  It put it’s hazards on and the big flashing warning triangle up on top.  Nice bloke didn't speak much English but basically said don't worry help is on its way.  Whist he was getting help and Sandra was trying to stay calm, I diagnosed that the problem was not disastrous, and we could probably drive away.  A big rescue truck arrived and we were loaded on.  Total wait less than half an hour.  Off we whisked.  The rain was still persistent but much lighter now.  The truck needed fuel, and we disappeared into the depths of the outskirts of Montpellier.  Got fuel hit a few branched and got unloaded at a garage keen to close for the weekend, but they worked out the problem was due to a failed primary ignition switch, confirming my suspicions, called my rescue company sorted their payment and sent me on my way into the Friday rush hour of Montpellier.  We found our way to the revised campsite who were full!  But they had a services area (aire) for €10 and we stopped there.  After I fell full length in a puddle.  Shit day.  Next morning, we were off again in bright sunshine like nothing had happened the day before!

The next planned stop was to be Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean coast again.  We had to get past Montpellier without using the toll motorway, which proved busy but easily do-able.  Towards the end of the ring road we kept seeing signs for Aigues Mort, which rang a bell as a place worth a visit so we went.  Signs for motorhome parking was excellent and we ended up in the Aire along with other day visitors and overnighters just outside the ancient city walls.  We had lunch and went for a wander round this beautiful medieval city.  I also managed to replace my hat which Neil and Claire bought me for my birthday, but I lost on the ferry.  Onwards to the campsite which was just outside Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer – about half an hours walk.  The site was suitably rural and we found a nice pitch, but the massive mosquito lamps on all the toilet blocks were as bit daunting, especially as it was hotting up again weather wise.  We stayed 3 nights and enjoyed a couple of walks into the town, saw them running bulls through the streets, time by the pool and on the beach.  Oh and the flight of pink flamingos that went over the site. I saw about 50 large birds flying over the van and said to Sandra "Look a flight of pink flamingos", as though it was an ordinary occurance.  She was in the van and came to look, thinking I was joking and was amazed that I wasn't.  This was our first time next to the Med and found the security measures disconcerting.  We needed a key to get back into the campsite and there was only one way onto the beach.  The area had been well developed on the edge of the Camargue.  There was a large aire next to the campsite which was €10 a night, but we were only paying €15 for full campsite facilities!  The route to town featured a road, cycle track, horse track and footpath – then the beach which you could walk along too.  The last bit into town featured special unique to the area cottages.

Time to move on and we planned a long drive to our final destination – St Tropez.  We made good progress towards Marseilles, stopping for coffee before we got there on long straight roads across the Camargue, then into Marseilles.  I hadn’t really studied the map and only knew the road numbers to look for on the signs relying on the sat nav for directions, little knowing that much of the route through the middle of the city was through tunnels with no sat nav signal!  Luckily, we made it and stopped for lunch.  We had a bee in our bonnet about a mat to put down outside the van.  We had seen many vans with mats and were envious. We saw a motorhome shop from the motorway at Toulon and left at the next exit to try to find it.  We did! Unfortunately, it was lunchtime and we had to wait till 3 and they opened again.  Strangely they opened at 2! In we went and bought a mat, pegs and a bucket!  Whilst we were shopping for mats, we realised we were going to a campsite with a shop we would be there for a week and probably needed provisions as supermarkets might not be accessible from the site, so a supermarket shop was needed.  We found a massive one and got some stuff and went on our way.  As we got near to the coast, having been taken through the hills to get to St Tropez, traffic got heavier and queues developed. We queued right up to the campsite in what was a virtually perpetual queue.  In front were two more vans who also went in the entrance at the same time as us.  We dived out of the van and virtually ran to reception to get ahead and managed to grab one of the few remaining spots available on the beach side of the site. Phew!  The pitch wasn’t ideal as it had been badly affected by the storms from a few days ago with dried mud and an quite open fence down one side, but it also had only one neighbour as a result.  We pitched up level and settled in for a long stay.  It was 50yds to the beach and the Med.  Lovely views over the bay towards St Tropez.  The shop was great and not expensive and there was a nice restaurant on site too.  You could walk along the beach to Port Grimaud and a bit further along was a ferry across the bay to St Tropez.  We visited St Tropez by ferry twice, Port Grimaud twice and generally enjoyed the beach life within easy reach of the van for anything we forgot.  The first time we visited St Tropez, the ferry had trouble getting into the harbour.  It was the last day of a massive sailing regatta and the ferry was surrounded by hundreds (honetsly) of luxury yatchs full of youthful enthusiastic crews leaving the harbour to race.  Later in the week we witnessed flying boats practicing taking sea water from the bay to use in forest fires.  They swwoped down and sccoped up the water, flew up again, releasing the water and round for another go.  There we 3 doing this.  I was quite alarming as the bay looked full of boats at the time! We had hoped to camp right on the beach but found out you either booked years ahead or relied on dead man’s shoes to achieve that!

Time was getting on and despite careful planning we realised we need to move on in order to get back to Spain for the ferry home.  A route was planned inland through Provence with a mixture of short and long drives and mostly one-night stops.  First stop was on the grounds of a spectacular Chateau and we developed a necessary technique of drive, lunch, drive, campsite, pool, eat, bed!  It had got so hot that a pool was an essential requirement.  This first chateau had an amazing pool and lovely grounds.  The drive next day was interesting, through Provence valleys and hills.  We stopped at a lovely town, Cucuron, for lunch with a massive basin full of fish in the market square, with the market all around.  It was a walled medieval town too, so we had a good walk round. Second night near Loumarin was less successful in that the site was a bit too far out of town to walk for a look round and the pool was set in a massive concrete basin, but the most amazing feature of the site is that each pitch was surrounded by tall hedges heavily populated with cicadas. The noise was deafening.  They did settle as it got dark and didn’t get going until well after the sun came up but we couldn’t wait to get away.

We drove further west to stop near Boiseron, having debated visiting Avignon, or Pont du Gard, but decided to push on.  This site fitted the bill – pool and restaurant and nice flat pitch!  The town, though, was again too far to walk in the evening.  The next day turned into a long, long day.  We decided we’d had enough of back roads and hills and valleys so hit the payage motorways, past Montpellier and Beziers and inland towards Toulouse via Carcassonne.  We got to Carcassonne and couldn’t resist a look around.  Grabbed lunch and went for a walk. Spectacular.  Onwards – more payage towards Toulouse then south towards a nice-looking campsite in a back of beyond village called Cassagbere Tournas. Long drive means long stay so 2 nights for us here. Pitch up order dinner and straight down the pool!  Strangely two other couples were in the pool: one from Shelf and the other from Todmorden!  Dinner was cooked by madame on the terrace en plain air on a beautiful evening.  The next day we walked around the village and found a house to live in forever, had coffee in a café and wished we’d had lunch and enjoyed the locality.  We had a meal prepared by madame again but it didn’t feel quite so special and the weather was cooling off a little.  The next day we planned to go to the Pyrenees again and have another go at the col du Tourmalet.  Sadly, the weather had gone right off, dull cloudy and overcast with no likely hood of views, so we cut our losses and stopped at Bagnères de Bigorre when the weather forecast for the next day was better.

This campsite had a pool but we didn’t fancy it.  It also had a beach! This was a large artificial pond (presumably swimmable) surrounded by sandy shores and sun loungers.  It was still coudy but breaking up and getting warm again, so we sunbathed and watched the snow-capped Pyreneean peaks appear from the clouds.  The next day was crystal clear and warm so we made an early start.  Col du Tourmalet here we come.  This is one of the most used mountain passes in the Tour de France and the site of many classic cycling battles. It is a 25 km climb from the valley and a steady 2^nd and 3^rd gear most of the way.  Spectacular views emerged as we left the valleys below and headed towards the ski stations and the top of the pass.  The engine overheated half way up, so we stopped for a while and topped up before setting off again. Steady away we went through the ski resort with hotels and lifts, stopped again for a cool down then headed for the top for coffee and more water. Fabulous … over the top the descent was equally spectacular as we would down the valley next to a turquoise stream / river.  We stopped in Bareges for lunch, then on and down towards Lourdes and west some more.  We were running out of time with only 2 more nights before the ferry so we had to leave not too long a drive for the next day whilst making good progress today.  As we sailed west there were not many campsites suitable in the book but as we neared Navarenx we saw signs for a site with a pool to the right so we swung off the bypass, followed signs around the town and ended up at a very full site right outside the town walls.  They managed to find us a pitch and we trotted off to the pool for the end of this hot day.  The site was English owned and run (hence its popularity) and quite expensive. We were entertained by their attempts at spreading gravel around the roads.  In the evening we walked into the town for a look around and ended up eating in a square outside.  It was very pleasant but windy.  The town was very quiet but it was Sunday!