CASTLES AND CANALS

29th.August - 3rd.September

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny - hardly surprising after a very hot night, and having gotten within 4kms of the castle at PEYREPERTUSE it seemed silly not to go and have a look.....even if the 4 kms were almost vertical. The GF was anxious but a german next to us assured us that we would get the van another 2km up the mountain 'to where the coaches park'and then there was a path the rest of the way.. the road was fine, the parking area - which seemed to contain all the vans from the aire the night before - was fine and the path was steep,rocky and a bit of of a lung-buster but we got there and it was worth it for the views alone. The casle stretches out along a ridge with sheer drops all round and is remarkably intact. It was one of 5 built as a defense against the Spanish (the 5 sons of Carcassone) when the border with Aragon was this side of the Pyrenees,and with its visible neighbour, QUERIBUS on the next ridge, commands a series of valleys with spectacular views. It fell out of favour when the peace treaty of 12** settled the border along the centre of the Pyrenees and it lost its raison d'etre.

So from there we found a route back down the valley which avoided the road back over the highest ridges, much to the GF's relief, even if it was still a bit narrow and windy through some terrific gorges and the pretty road to CARCASSONE. Great camp site within view of the old walled city which was a 15min walk away. So good that instead of the intended 2 nights we stayed 5.
Walked into the old city on Tuesday and took a walking tour of the old walled town and the 'new' old town that was built to replace it down below, and ending on the banks of the Canal du Midi.......which made us think about cycling along it. Which is why we stayed. The tour was ok but a mite tedious as at every stop the guide gave a 10 min lecture in French and then repeated it in English and as it went on from 10am till 1.15 we got very very hot, thirsty and hungry. By the time it ended it was too late to go back for lunch so we had an excellent lunch at a brasserie under umbrellas in the main square and then returned to the site to spend the afternoon by the pool. The weather remained hot but a hot wind sprang up for 3 days which was very irritating and a short lived thunderstorm one evening. We cycled into town for more exploration......the castle is Very Touristy and there are more ways to separate the unwary from their cash than I can recall - it must be hell for people with young children.

A jolly good ride along the Canal du Midi, enlivened with the spectacle of watching a car being fished out that must have fallen in only a few minutes before we arrived. The Canal path is excellent and very well maintained and on the site we spoke to several people and families who were riding the whole length from Toulouse to Agde - an Argentinian, especially,with his wife and 4 children, aged 7-14, who had left the car in Toulouse and would be return from Agde by train after taking 5 days to cycle the complete canal. Will definitley investigate more about aires and campsites along the route.

Finally left CARCASSONE on saturday and went to MIREPOIX, a rather fine half -timbered medieval village, and then wasted a lot of time and fuel trying to find a decent aire for the night without success and so ended up at a campsite on the other side of the Black Mountains from Carcasssone having driven around 3/4 of a circle to get there. Camping Cerisiers de Jaure at St.PONS du THOUMIERS is very nice and on a Voie Verte cycle path so we shall explore a bit.

CAVES & CASTLES

26th.August - 29th.August.

We got very wet on Friday and it didn't stop raining until the evening. Very Lake District like. Off on Sat morning bright and early as our visit to the caves at NIAUX was booked for 9.45, we had to 'check in' by 9.30 and we were about 45 mins drive away. Getting to NIAUX village was no problem and I had checked when booking that there was plenty of parking space at the caves for a large motorhome. What they had omitted to mention was the that from the village on the valley floor, the caves were 2 miles up a mountainside on a very narrow,winding road with overhanging rocks at every corner. There was however, just about enough parking space at the top at the enormous entrance to the caves. This complex is one of the few in europe,(14 I think they said), where you can still see the original cave paintings which is why entry is strictly controlled by allowing only groups of 20 to enter at any one time in order to reduce heat and carbon dioxide. The tour took nearly 2 hours and involved walking 800 metres into the mountainside through a magnificent series of galleries and tunnels to reach the main chamber with the paintings. led by a very informative guide. The caving system was carved out of the rock by water but are now nearly completely dry which is why the paintings have survived for 14,000 years (some paintings were damaged by water in 1978 and nobody knows why). There is no lighting in the caves, and we were all given rechargeable battery torches with low heat emission bulbs, which we had to turn off in the vicinity of the paintings whilst the guide used special torches to illuminate them for us as he described them. Altogether quite a stunning & unforgettable experience.
The drive down was just as hairy but we waited until the next group had congregated at the reception so that there would be little likelihood of meeting anyone on the way up.
Drove to AX LES THERMES, thought about going up to ANDORRA and then found a terrific aire at LES CABANNES where we spent the night for 4€ with another 26 vans. Superb mountain views and a pretty village ( on the Tour de France 2011 as it headed into the Pyrenees)

As we missed out on the high Pyrenees, our plans were somewhat scrambled so we decided to head for the Cathar country and the castles. As MONTSEGUR was quite close, and any visit was going to involve a strenuous climb, we arrived there about 10am. And the climb was very strenuous but a Gold star for the GF and we were rewarded with stunning views all round. The Castle is in ruins of course but the history comes alive when you reach the top.....500 people held out for 10 months in 1244 when it was besieged during the Albigensian crusade. The 220 Cathars they were sheltering were offered safe passage in a peace settlement if they renounced their faith but they refused and walked down the mountain and on to the pyres waiting for them at the bottom. I think it is one of the worst massacres of the middle ages and an atrocity that the Catholic church should never be allowed to forget. End of obsessive rant.

From there the road took us the strange phenomenon of the fountain of Fontesforbes at BELESTA....a cave at the side of the road which is the outlet for a stream running through the mountain. Due to some unique channels cut by the water, the flow is intermittently a trickle and a spectacular flood of 15000 litres a second. This complete cycle of trickle-flood-trickle happens continually in the summer months every 30 mins or so.
There a very detailed diagram and explanation about the level in channel Q falling below the level in the underground reservoir M and sucking air through hole P which is incomprehensible.But the effect is wonderful.

Stopped for lunch at PUIVERT, but did not fancy climbing up to the castle in the afternoon heat and headed for the CHAT.de PEYREPERTUSE, associated with the Cathars but more realistically a defensive fort, alongside its near neighbour at QUERIBUS, during the wars with Aragon/Spain, passing the Chateau at PUILAURENS on the way.

PEYREPERTUSE is a very iconic castle, perched on a ridge, and Mr Michelin thoroughly recommends a visit by campingcar in one of his Escapades. As there is an aire in the village below,DUILHAC s/s PEYREPERTUSE, it seemed the perfect night stop, esp. as All The Aires describes it as the 'prettiest aire in the Pyrenees'. Nobody mentions the access road over the GRAU DE MAURY which whilst not especially high, seems to be, with an unguarded road not much wider than the van and very steep with hairpins. White knuckle ride for the GF and when I enquired as we crested the summit if she was Ok, the response of 'what are you bloody going to do about it if I'm not?'seemed a tad edgey. But we got there in one piece with the happy thought of getting back to sustain us. Terrific setting for an aire and a dozen or so vans there. Walked round the village, found a man making wine in his garage and after a tasting bought 5litres of the red Corbiere for 15€ and a bottle of the white for the GF. Then found a man in a van with a wood burning pizza oven in it and bought what turned out to be an excellent pizza for dinner.

ALL THE FUN OF THE FOIX

21st.- 25th AUGUST.

The gite had to be vacated by 10am as new arrivals were expected that afternoon. We said our goodbyes on Saturday night as there was much to be done with packing and young children on Sunday morning without us getting in the way and departed about 9.30, waving goodbye my new friend, M.Arnal the farmer on our way. Short drive to ST.ANTONIN and the aire.......whilst we Could have driven further, I felt the alcohol level in the bloodstream was high enough to justify driving to the nearest place and parking up for the day. Nice market in the centre and terrific boulangerie for the requisite tarte aux fraises.
Only problem was the heat and only part shade. By mid afternoon, with the silver screens on, all vents & windows open and the cab doors open, the temp inside was 39.8. and we were sitting in the only shade behind the van...and then we discovered that we could go and sit in the river about 100m away which probably saved us. Very uncomfortable night as temp never dropped below 32.

Up early on Monday because of the heat and on the road about 8.30. Good drive to TARBES where we parked for a few hours in a private guarded aire and walked into town for a drink and look around. Still rather hot in the middle of the day for sightseeing so a stroll through the very nice gardens was the highlight ( We decided to give the birthplace of Marechal Foch a miss, merely having a drink in his square, opposite his hotel). Then onto LOURDES. Ok I know, I swore I wasn't going to do another Catholic pilgrimmage site and the GF only agreed to go if I promised to not to rant on about a. Religion b.Religious souvenirs c.Gullible Religious Tourists....but I didn't promise not to write about them. So we found a very nice little family run campsite where we pitched under shady trees and did a bit of housekeepng. Next day, got the bikes out and cycled into LOURDES, only 3km away. Unfortunately the weather changed and thick mist hid the mountains and a fine drizzle fell as we approached the town but it soon cleared. LOURDES. Its better than it might be and whilst unashamedly attempting to separate you from you money ( I was offered, in dark alleys, enough splinters from the true cross to build an ark) it is obviously bringing enormous comfort (and hope?) to hundreds of thousands of unwell people so who am I to mock. And it's not up itself like Compostello nor are there armed guards in the church of the grotto which was an interesting church. So we had a cup of coffee and left them to it (I have several splinters of the true cross available at a reasonable price if anyone is interested).

Now. The real reason why we were in LOURDES was to begin an Escapade en CampingCar, from Mr.Michelins book of the same name, which is a tour of the thermal waters of the Pyrenees, including crossing the Col du Tourmalet, the highest of the passes. The GF had only agreed to this on the basis that Mr Michelin wouldn't send us up impassable tracks or dangerous routes, even though she had watched the tv pictures of the Tour de FRance crossing said Col in July. Well I thought it would be fun. But then the weather changed and the clouds came down and the forecast was for several days of thunderstorms in the Pyrenees so there wasn't much point.

We had also planned another Escapade after the mountains, touring the Cathar castles based around Carcassone, so looking at the maps we decided to head south to FOIX, another Cathar base and also close to Mont Segur, number one on my 'must visit'list ( having read several books about its place in Cathar history). Found a nice riverside campsite at BASTIDE DE SEROU after a very pleasant country drive with the attraction of being very close an old railway track cycle path (Voie Verte) to FOIX, about 20km away.
So on wednesday we visited the tourist offices, armed ourselves with maps from the very helpful young man, and after visiting the market (where we watched a man dispening wine from vats in the back of his van via hosepipes into any container you wished to present for 0.90€ a litre or 1.10€ a litre for the superior) we cycled to FOIX along the best cycle path we have ever done. A slight gradient as path follows the hillside with spectacular views over to the Ariege massif, foothills of the Pyrenees. Final 4kms on the road down into the town of FOIX. Stunningly restored castle overlooks the town and we climbed up to it in the heat of the day ( although not as bad as last weekend)and whilst it was open, the only English speaking guided tour of the day at 1pm was cancelled due to ill health. So we just did the best we could and had a good look round and a picnic under a shady tree with lovely views up and down the valley it was built to protect.

Had intended moving on but discovered on thursday that in order to visit the caves at NIAUX, which are as important as Lascaux, it is necessary to book a reservation as visitor numbers are limited and the earliest booking we could get was Saturday so we stayed on another day. Set off for a bike ride on friday morning, overcast but looking as though it would clear, only it poured with rain and we got very wet.

BIRTHDAYS AND HEATWAVES

13th-20th AUGUST

On the basis that I haven't put proverbial pen to paper for 2 weeks, this will either be the interminable ramblings of an idiot or a very brief digest as I lose the will to live.

Left home Saturday midday and spent the night at the very nice Firtree Farm, just outside Dover. Not our usual eurotunnel crossing on Sunday since we had a cheap (£54 return) deal with Norfolk Line which was very good for high season. Leaving UK earlier than normal in order to rendevous with the Pates who have taken a gite nr. Toulouse en famille to celebrate his 70th birthday.
Ferry packed with probably the last big holiday exodus but on and off first so on the road from Dunquerqe just after 1pm. It being Sunday, the roads were clear of lorries and first night stop at the aire in BREZOLLES. Arrived not a moment too soon as it was packed, with later vans occupying the lakeside picnic carpark next door. Weather v.good. Discovered that Tracker is not working because they failed to initialise the sim card for international roaming when fitting the new one in June and it cannot be done after you have left the UK without resetting the unit....I seem to remember being here before in the winter in Spain when it would not work and the unit needed resetting......

Monday was a Bank Holiday so another lorry free run avoiding the motorways down to UZERCHE where there must have been 30 vans in the aire, with later arrivals using a smaller area which is used on Thursdays when the old station yard becomes the market place. All the other vans were french. Pleasant walk around town in evening sunshine.

Weather lovely and a good drive avoiding motorways down to CAHORS where we stopped briefly to pick up wine and beer for the coming festivities and then on to LAGUEPIE in the Aveyron Gorge where the Pates had rented the gites from clients/friends of Dave. As no-one had seen the gite beforehand it was not known in advance what the access would be like for us and photographs on their website were not encouraging. The gites was about 3km out of the village, which boasted a rather scrubby aire but would do at a pinch if all else failed. As instructed, we rang Dave on arrival at the aire and he came down in his car to pick me up for a recce, the general opinion being that access would be difficult. The shortest approach road was far to narrow, twisty and overhung but there was a long way round which was fine but the turn into the drive was fraught and a low tree halfway along ruled it out completely. However, next door was a large farmhouse with plenty of space and to cut a long story short we were able to email the owners of the gite who directed us to the farmer (whose son lived in the farmhouse but was away on holiday) and when I asked in my best french if we could park off the road in the shade of the buildings he became my best friend and said of course we could. Problem solved, so we went back to the village and picked up the van and the GF who had stayed with it. Note.....the temp was in the high 30's so nothing was being done quickly.

The gite was terrific, very secluded on the top of the hills with great views, a swimming pool and able to sleep a lot of people. Present were Dave & Briony; Maryon; Paul,Ruth,Toby & Mimi;Simon,Chris Theo & Siobhan; Cate, Matt, Brya and Mia ; making 9 adults,1 teenager and 5 children. We slept in the motorhome and when Geoff & Caroline arrived the next day, they were staying at a nearby B&B ( run by an English couple from Oakham with whom they shared mutual aquaintences and found by pure chance on the net).Thus the total complement from Wed night to Fri night for meals was 19.

On tuesday evening, the younger adults left the older generation babysitting and went for a meal downtown whislt we had a splendid meal on the terrace prepared by Maryon and quaffed much wine.

Weather remained v.hot and thank god for the pool. Geoff & Caroline arrived wed.evening and a splendid night was had in the courtyard with a BBQ prepared by Simon with much help from his siblings. The bottle bank already taking over the extremely large utility room.

Thursday, Dave's birthday. Most people went by train to VILLEFRANCHE ROUERGUE as there was a market and it's a nice place. Ended up Dave,Maryon ans us having lunch in LAGUEPIE , which was so good that we booked a table for Saturday lunchtime for my birthday.. Terrific evening party with all 19 sitting down to a BBQ in the courtyard and I must have had a good time as I was persuaded t0 play a duet on the spoons with Chris.......

Friday at leisure. G&C picked us up and we went to CORDES sur CIEL, a nearby
ancient hilltop village. Weather hotter so we all we really did was have a rather excellent lunch after a desultory look around....terrace restaurant with panoramic views and those misty sprays that kept us cooler than otherwise. A nice scenic drive back in their air condtioned hire-car with a short sight-seeing stop at ST.ANTONIN NOBLE VAL where we spotted a large aire for when we left on sunday. Another very excellent dinner in the courtyard for 14.

Saturday was my birthday. Geoff & Caroline had to leave for the airport in order to be back for her mother's 70th birthday on Sunday but not before we had an excellent lunch in LAGUEPIE for the 7 elders.Afternoon spent in the pool as temperature rose and a very pleasant ( and alcoholic ) evening.

A FEW DAYS AWAY..28th June-7th July

Spotting an advert for a motorhome show in Shrewsbury which included 2 evenings of concerts, 3 nights at the showground with entry to the show for an all-in cost of £40, we headed westward for a few days.
First stop BLADON CHAINS, next to Woodstock and close to Oxford for 3 nights. Walked to Churchill's grave.
Great cycle route round the countryside and canal during which we stumbled on JRR Tolkien's
grave in a cemetary at Wolvercote. Following day we cycled into Oxford along the canal towpath which was v.pleasant.
Then to Shrewsbury. Lots of vans there but show was not large and poorly supported which was a shame as the 2 concerts were excellent and the weekend was great value. Cycled into Shrewsbury on the Sunday and then along the Severn. Bought new digital TV for van.
On Monday we headed for WOLVERLY, on the Shropshire canal nr Kidderminster, via Much Wenlock where I managed to find myself in the very narrow high street and demolish the wing mirror of a badly parked VW Golf whilst inflicting damage to the rear of the van ( this looked worse than it was but will still require some cosmetic repair). The GF hopped out to placate the owner whilst I drove aroune for 20 minutes trying to find the coach park that I had missed on the way in, thus setting up the the scenario in the one-way high street. The lady was was very nice about the whole thing and even drove us round to her local garage who gave us a quote straightaway for £175 which seemed quite reasonable for an electric mirror. The car was booked in for 2 days time and I paid the bill which seemed much better tha involving insurance companies - esp.since the insurance is due for renewal in 3 weeks and I'm shopping around for quotes.
Nice couple of days at Wolvercote; cycled both ways up and down the canal. The Stourport basin where the canal meets the Severn is well worth a visit, having been restored over the past few years. I could still get persuaded to buy a narrow boat.
Back home to have the van MOT'd and serviced. What with the tax, insurance and habitation check due this month it's going to be an expensive time.....
We are now Great Uncle & Aunt as Anna was born on th 4th July to Matt & Beata

SO WHAT'S NEW........

Just catching up because I have been very lazy and let this drift..........
Having left Bordeaux, we stopped first at VIVONNE where there was a very pleasant Aire in the town square (even if the directions were confusing) and then caught up with Derek and Margaret again at La SUZE s/SARTHE, one of our favourite Aires by the river. Another alcoholically fuelled night and I don't remember who won the card game. The next night was Calais and a terrific meal as usual at Cote d'Argent and back home the next day.

Home for 3 weeks, during which the remaining grass was covered with gravel to provide an almost maitenance free enviroment for the future then off to the ISLE of WIGHT ......I don't know why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. The GF had gone down to her mother's after we had spent an excellent Easter at Rutland chez the Clarks with JK+C who took her back with them,and as I was going to drive the van down to pick her up the IOW seemed like a good idea at the time. The cost of taking the van over being so exorbitant made me book for nearly 3 weeks to justify the expense rather than the 5 days we should have opted for. Suffice to say I got bored. We cycled a bit but the GF didn't like the narrow lanes with traffic and even with electric bikes some of the hills were hard going. We pottered around on buses a bit, the weather was warmish but a constant cold wind didn't help.
Then down to Dorset and a great campsite at EYPE near Bridport, on the cliffs with views from Lyme Regis round to Portland. Had intended staying 5 nights but ended up there for 11 as it was such a great place. Lots of walking not much cycling.........and D&M dropped in for a night on their way down to Taunton for solar panels & Lpg tanks to be fitted.
Then down to the New Forest for the Spring Bank Holiday to meet up with JK+C for the weekend. Unfortunately weather was not good, campsite was packed but they had kept a pitch for us next to their tent. J+K stayed the weekend then left Charlie with us for another 2 nights which was fun. Dropped Charlie back home on june 1st and then back to drought at Martlesham...good job we did away with the grass.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS AND BORDEAUX CYCLE TRACKS

MONDAY 4TH.APRIL

The Aire at St.Jean de Luz came highly recommended by several, esp. Marianne who declared it to be her favourite, and was therefore something of a disappointment. In fact we only headed there as it had been so warmly recommended and had we known what lay in store may well have gone elsewhere.
The location is perfect in one sense that you only have to cross the road to be in the port, 2 mins takes you to the heart of the town and superb restaurants and 4 mins to the superb beach and promenade that, in our humble opinion, beats Biaritz......BUT....
The Aire is long and narrow and only one entrance, about 15m. wide with spaces for 20 vans so that once you are committed to entering from the busy main road you are already pointing the wrong way if you discover that it is full as you had not had time to assess the situation before you were on it and had to make a decision. If it is full, you have no room to turn round and must therefore reverse out onto the main road, making a reverse u-turn so that you will be pointing the right way as you cannot cross the double white line onto the other carriageway. FORTUNATELY we did not have to do this but we spent many happy hours watching others do it. We arrived about 11.30 and there was just one space, nicely situated facing the entrance, so no danger of being hemmed in by other vehicles parking close....and there wasn't more than 3ft between vans.
All this though paled into insignificance when we discovered that whilst our front end was 8m from the main road,our rear end was 2ft away from the platform of the main town railway station with a busy urban timetable, an intercity connection to Paris and a TGV connection to Nice and Cannes. I assured the GF that the trains would not run all night, a fact she ungraciously threw back in my face at 3am as the TGV engine stopped opposite our bedroom and hung around,engine roaring, as it was presumably killing time to get back on timetable. Between the road and the railway, sleep was very difficult to come by and the Gf was not best amused come breakfast time since we had to contend with the hottest day of the trip and have all the windows open or suffocate......
Which was a pity because St.JdL is a great town with a stunning beach and promenade round a horseshoe bay and the views of the coast from the headland were terrific with great waves and surf. The town is extremely well healed and we realised we were back in civilisation when the first ( and only ) 2 coffees of the day came to 7€20 (the last 2 coffees in Spain -incl a baguette- were 3€25). So on Friday we walked all round the bay and over the headland through beautifully kept gardens and promised ourselves to come back and spend more time one day. On Saturday, I was told to find somewhere else to spend the night.
So we found a campsite just up the road. The TomTom, which has been extremely well behaved all trip decided that the entrance was in fact at the rear of the property down an extremely steep and narrow dead-end. Rude words were uttered as I extricated ourselves with difficulty....this followed the pantomime of finding the local Carrefour which had been relocated since I downloaded all the Carrefour locations onto the TomTom last year....
The campsite when we eventually found the entrance,only opened for the season on friday but was already doing good business. A 15 min walk took us down to the great surfing beach and so it seemed a good place to stay for the next 3 nights....wrong again. It started raining on Sat. night and by sunday morning the sloping grass pitches were looking distinctly wet and slippery. I watched 2 vans struggle to get any traction so made a management decision and we left whilst the going was good.
The rain got worse and we decided to head 15km inland,to an Aire that also came highly recommended by magazine article, on a lake at the charmingly named St.Pee sur Nivelle. Found it without trouble and it may one day entice us to stop and explore but as the rain was now set for the day we had coffee, talked it over and decided to head north to Bordeaux to a newish campsite we found in the book that seemed very convenient.
So indeed to Bordeaux and a real gem of a campsite a few minutes off the ring road, and adjacent to a lake a few miles north of the city centre. The site is very new but is nicely landscaped with lakes and fountains, full of ducks and croaking bullfrogs ( or maybe toads - who knows). It is not mature yet but will get even better with age as the trees and plants grow. It also has a very swish restaurant open to the public and as it was Mothering Sunday, I took the Gf for dinner courtesy of her 2 sons who's account has been debited with another €57 - (which has reminded me that last years €60 is still outstanding) - and I must say that the Chateau Pichon-Bellevue 2003 was worth every penny.
We also discovered that Bordeaux boasts 650km of cycle tracks so on Monday, having woken to the sunshine again, we set off to explore. I have never experienced city cycling like it ! The bike rules in Bordeaux and the cycle paths have their own signposts and traffic lights and bikes seem to have priority everywhere - even being allowed to cycle wrongly down oneway streets and through pedestrian shopping malls and squares. It was a real pleasure and we had such a lovely time that we stopped for lunch. We also ran into Paddy Ashdown who, I am sad to report, claimed that he had no recollection of me buying him a half of bitter in The White Hart when he was first canvassing to become the Mp for Yeovil and whilst perfectly civil, failed to respond in kind. I will not be buying him another one ! He did let slip that he was in Bordeaux researching for a book he is writing on the Cockleshell Heroes, a plaque to whom was unveiled here last week.
So this extremeley busy and convenient campsite will make a fine jumping-off point for going to Spain or returning to the UK. We could do Calais with one stop from here but will take 2 and I am sure we will use it again...and I would like to cycle round more of Bordeaux.

NB I discovered the cycle tracks when I picked up a booklet with maps and instructions - it lists 14 offences that can be committed when using the tracks, with instant fines ranging from 11€ to 750€. The contraventions range from having faulty brakes to using a mobile phone and riding more than 2 abreast. I managed 2 offences but got away with it.