And so to the big one. All the rehearsals are over. This was it; how would we cope with 3 weeks on the road abroad? The total van weight was bouncing around the 3.5 tonne limit (Debs assures me that 30 pairs of shoes are vital!) and I reckon that we would have 60kg payload spare for wine on the journey back.
The tentative plan was to go to the places we had visited in previous years in the tent down through the Eastern side of France and then head back up through the central route. We booked no sites, relying on aires, asci and camping cheques, so we would just wing it. turning up at overnight spots and hoping that there would be space.
We had to maximise the time available given that Debs had to take annual leave for this trip. Accordingly, I set out on the Friday afternoon in pouring drought, howling gales and limited visibility. It's hard to get your head around packing for warm weather when the British summer is so appallingly crap! I arrived at Ashford in good time and, despite my pointless e-mails to the miserable, useless local council fruitlessly asking for motorhome parking options, I found a spot at the outlet mall and settled down for the afternoon until Debs arrived at Ashford on the train. As for Ashford - you can ram it - they obviously don't want tourists!
The collection went seamlessly, we arrived at the tunnel in good time and managed to get an earlier crossing, arriving in Calais at about 1930 local. Rather than stopping locally, we headed off towards the aire at Arques (about 30 miles south of Calais), only to find it locked (despite them advertising that they would be open until 2200hrs) Bloody idle Frogs! We parked up in front of the gates and went to bed, getting up early and clearing off before they had time to attempt to collect the 3 euro fee off us. Ha! One up to GB!
On Saturday the weather was bright and warm. We went on the autoroute to Champagne, refuelled in Reims (1.28 euro per litre) and then pitched in Chalons en Champagne. Walked into town for a beer, admired the cathedral, wondered what the hell the street performers were doing (dance, apparently - very weird), got sunburnt, had a couple of beers and headed back for a BBQ.
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| The Aire at Vallons Pont d'Arc |
Sunday went "off-piste" following the lesser routes down through Champagne. Sitting up high and travelling slowly on the N roads gives you a real taste of France. I was amazed at the sheer number of First World War cemeteries we passed, something I had never noticed before. We pitched up at Langres on a site that we had used a number of times before and went for a bike ride around Lake de la Liez before enjoying a very nice meal in the Bistro.
Monday, crossed over into Burgundy and Chalons-sur-Saone for another bimble around a very pretty city and impressive cathedral. It is also renowned as being the birthplace of photography, but the sun was shining and we felt disinclined to visit the photography museum. The camp site is run by a delightful couple so we had dinner in their bar whilst watching football (God what a boring sport that is). Interestingly there is a tombstone on the site marking the spot where a young chap was shot by the Nazis during the last war. I asked the owner for the story and, although he didn't know the full detail, he said that the river was the border between occupied and Vichy France.
Tuesday and on past the dreaded Lyon (always traffic jams, but it looks very pretty), journeying through the tunnels and alongside the Rhone. The satnav took us via a very tortuous route to our next stop near Vienne. This site was in the middle of nowhere and it had been raining very heavily so the ground was soggy. We pitched up and, as it was so damp, ate in the bus. By now we were into the swing of touring. Keep stuff put away ready for the departure, set off at 0900-1000hrs after breakfast, leisurely drive for a few hours and arrive at the next stop at lunchtime for an afternoon and evening sightseeing. Plans were thwarted the next day when a German motorhomer managed to get himself bogged down and we had to extricate him from the bog. By the time we had cleaned up, we were late starting for our journey even further south.
South of Lyon and the Olive line the temperature rose steadily. The sky took on the Mediterranean deep blue and the scents of lavender, sage and rosemary filled the air. We were south at last! We had a quick stop at Montelimar to look for nougat, but found Lidl instead. Then we turned off into the Ardeche and found a site near the gorge. This is where touring stopped for a while. Each day dawned warm and sunny and reports from other campers indicated that the weather elsewhere was bad, so we stayed put - and so did the good weather! We spent the mornings lazing around the pool and the afternoons walking, cycling or touring the villages, vineyards and markets of the local area. The food and wine were divine and the days passed in a very pleasant and relaxing way. I could live here quite happily. We were relaxing and felt no desire to move on, However, move on we did and we headed across the glorious Cevannes towards Clerment -Ferrand and our stop at Brioude in Auvergne.
Brioude is obviously French for "unlucky". We pulled onto the site and got chatting to a Yorkshire chap (I'm not proud) who wanted to use our laptop to search for parts for his broken Lambretta. We chatted to another chap who was stuck there as his car had broken down and it would take 4 days to fix. Another chap had been bitten to buggery by mosquitoes and, as we parked up, the tap on our sink became loose. Out came the toolkit, I tightened the tap and somehow managed to dislodge the sink drain pipe. Flood in the bus and a long evening spent taking the bus apart to fix the pipe. Grrr!
Onwards and northwards and the weather got progressively cooler. The next stop was Salbris in Loir-et-Cher, which was a very pleasant spot next to a lake. We had the biggest steak in the world for dinner there - nom nom.
Up further and an overnighter in the municipal site in Chartres. Again, a very impressive and picturesque city and we could easily spend more time there, but we headed North again and ended up in the Somme at a very pleasant site near the coast. We spent two nights here and completed the the shopping ready for the trip back. We also toured around the local towns, but gave up trying the park in Le Touquet where they wanted 9 euros to park up for the day! Another town where they can ram their unfriendly, unwelcoming and arrogant attitude.
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| Boarding the train for the journey home |
In all, a great trip. Apart from one or two niggles, the bus performed admirably and it is an extremely comfortable way to tour. We also managed to stow over 50 litres of wine! We covered exactly 1800 miles and averaged 30.5 mpg (which isnt too bad considering the long climbs over the Cevannes and the speedy runs on the Autoroutes testing the top speed of a 3.5tonne white van (90mph starts getting a bit hairy). I cn see why people live on board these things, especially when France is geared up to accommodate "Le Camping-Car" with most towns and villages actively encouraging you to visit. The system of Aires is also very impressive. If only we could do the same in the UK. The only downside is having to pack the bus to go out for the day, especially when she has so many lotions and potions to put away.
