George & Shelagh
French Trip.
Day 1, Saturday 16th June 2007.
Calais to Reims on the A26 Toll Road, than the N44 following the Marn River to Chalons-en-Champagne. At St Dizier picked up the N67, what a super road! All the way to Langres (fortified wall town) & stayed at St Geosmes. The Jum Hotel was only three months old with a rustic restaurant on the other side of the road. We had an excellent 4-course ‘blowout’!!
Day 2, Sunday 17th June.
Dijon to Lyon & then to Grenoble, saw the snow on the Alps! And paid £3 for the privilege of going through & over a variety of tunnels & bridges. We stopped at Cereste for the night in Lavender country (the high Alps Provence District). Unfortunately the whole village had all its roads & pavements removed awaiting renewal!! A complete dusty nightmare!!! We enjoyed a nice spaghetti carbonara in a local Cave restaurant.
Day 3, Monday 18th June.
Lovely bread & coffee on the terrace watching the workmen. Car FILTHY!! Down to Aix-en-Provence on the peage. Arrive in style in St. Tropez – first job, wash car! Lunch on the beach (one of many) Of course you have to pay to enter any of them!! The meal was very nice in fact you could almost forgive the price! Plenty of boats & locals to watch (look for topless pic lads!!) Two sunbeds & brolly was about £22.00 to HIRE – so we gave that a miss…..
We drove through St. Tropez Old Town (a bit of a squeeze!!) and couldn’t wait to get out. We seem to have landed on our feet at La Garde Freinet a newly built Chambre D’Hotes, our own Chalet with sun terrace fridge etc – very nice too.
Day 4 Tuesday 19th June.
Drive to Cuers to meet up with ‘Mr Panther France’ Thierry Magot. Thierry has taken on the mantle of selling Limas in France & to date has bought & sold around a dozen cars, mostly from the UK. They go down well in the South of France!! We met Thierry in the car park of a local supermarket; apparently we would not be able to find his house (he was right!!) After meeting we followed him to his daughters school where we caused quite a stir & made Oceanes day by taking her home in the DeVille. We stayed as his & Caties guests for one night & enjoyed their hospitality of good food/drink & a swimming pool!!
Day 5 Wednesday 20th June.
We leave on Weds morning with great intentions to travel!!! But only get a few miles down the coast to the small town of Cavaliere, a place Shelagh visited 40 years earlier!!! Well it offered free parking & a wonderful sandy beach – so we stayed all day, had a lovely snack at a beachside restaurant and after more swimming decided to find a local hotel. Off to a very helpful Tourist Information office & quickly get sorted with a hotel in the hills with fab. Views & most important – a lovely swimming pool!!! So now we are in Bormes-Les-Mimosas, where we intend to stay for at least two nights, maybe three.
Day 6 Thursday 21st June.
So nice here we have decided to stay for a third night!! Today started with breakfast on the terrace then on to the swimming pool area! 34 degrees today so a lot of the morning spent in the water! Around noon we drove down to the Port district, hundreds of super yachts moored up. We had lunch on the quayside then had a stroll around before taking a rather frightening drive up the mountainside to Collobrieres on roads that seemed narrower than the car in many places! Half way there & we were 450 metres above sea level. So, back to the pool for around 6pm & it was still a beautiful hot summers day. One refreshing thing we have noticed, most of the car parks in the French Towns &villages are free and very well laid out as well, seems like they encourage visitors to stay – quite a change from the rip off councils of the UK. We sit on our private balcony sipping Ricard & eating nibbles until the sun goes down & decide we will have more of the same tomorrow!!!
Day 7 Friday 22nd June.
…and more of the same it was!! Up for brekkie, then 3 hours in & by the pool – superb. A return visit to Cavaliere for a 3-hour leisurely lunch in a beachside restaurant offering wonderful views. After a stroll along the beach we went for a short drive along the coast road after which we returned to the hotel. Once again we commandeered two sunloungers – put our towels on them then went for a dip in the pool. Some things never change!- so back on to our balcony for more drinks & nibbles before retiring to bed & contemplate our plans for the next few days…
Day 8 Saturday 23rd June.
Left Bormes taking motorway route in direction of Cannes, where we stopped briefly for photo opportunity. Then on past Nice through many tunnels, viaducts, aqueducts etc, etc!! Paying for each one as we progressed!! We dropped down to Monaco, surprisingly quiet but a very small & complex maze of streets. There was an impressive boat show on in the port with some magnificent creations! One with its own helicopter on board!! We parked illegally alongside the quay together with an Aston & Rolls Royce & had lunch with the rich & famous!! Most pictures were being taken of the Panther – of course!! After lunch we headed out through Monte Carlo, in part driving the Grand Prix circuit. We drove the remainder of the French Riviera until we arrived upon Italy!! We popped in for a couple of minutes, turned round & picked up the motorway to take us in to France & our next destination. We headed away from the coast towards Grasse, perfume centre of France. Just on a few kilometres we stopped for the night at the small town of St-Vallier-de-Thiey in the hotel Le-Relais-Imperial. A meal out, drinks & to bed – well I did put our travels on the web here as there was plenty of WiFi available!!
Day 9 Sunday 24th June.
A leisurely breakfast – more Laptop time on account of the WiFi. Just along the road to explore the underground caves at Grotte Baume Obscure, 10am on the dot, just in time for the first tour of the day. It is an hour-long walk around the labyrinth of caves and passages, truly fascinating & words won’t do it justice. We now head off to explore the Verdon Gorge, little did we realise this meant more roads round the edge of the cliffs barely wide enough for one car let alone the one coming the other way!!! Very traumatic drive not helped by Shelagh keep on saying “look at the view” all I could concentrate on was the next bend & whether we would be in yet another ‘head-on situation’!!! Spectacular views though when you could see them. The gorge culminates at Lac de Sainte-Croix (a massive lake to you & me) & it is here we have stopped at Auberge Du Lac in Bauduen. Although it was five in the evening we donned our cosies & went for a refreshing swim in the aforementioned lake.
Day 10 Monday 25th June.
We headed out to Aups where we got petrol & yet another car wash. Took a mix of country roads & motorways to Arles, we’ve now left the Olive & Lavender region & are now in an area surrounded by Van Gogh’s Sunflowers! From Arles we followed the river Rhone in the Camargue region crossing near the sea on an extremely short ferry crossing across the river to the opposite bank. The countryside here is flat & marshland. Skirting round a large nature reserve we head for St Maries-de-la-Mare which seems like a typical sea side town although it is the capital of the Camargue. After a visit to the tourist office we book ourselves in to a Ranch!! Yes a ranch as this region is famous for its white horses & black bulls, but more importantly it has the essential swimming pool, which we dive in to at 5pm!!
Day 11 Tuesday 26th June.
So nice here we are staying for three nights!! Today while exploring Ranch we spotted a Storks nest, quite high up on top of a unused concrete telegraph pole. A full complement of two adults & two children!! Although they are all about the same size – typical kids – staying at home and sponging off Mum & Dad! We return to town & explore the Church roof for the views and then did typical tourist bit of walking round town window shopping – I treat Shelagh to 2 local tablecloths!! After coffee & cake we stroll on deserted beach & then back to hotel for well earned swim & general laze around. After we could take no more we returned to town for a drink in a bar & pick up a take-away rotisserie chicken for our evening feast back at the Ranch.
Day 12 Wednesday 27th June.
After breakfast we went for a 2 hour walk round the bird sanctuary, where there are many flamingos plus a myriad of other species, back to ‘base’ for a swim & relax in the pool, then in to town for a late lunch. Back to pool!!! A quiet read, wine & cake, then bed – very civilised.
Day 13 Thursday 28th June.
We say a fond farewell to the Ranch & head for the Hills – quite literally!! Leaving the low-lying Camarge (stop to wash 3 days of sand/dust/salt off the car at Montpellier) we actually travel up to over 1200 metres above sea level! Higher than when we crossed the Midi Pyrenees. We stopped at 700 metres to get fuel and thought this was the highest point – it was cold enough!! But no, we continued on upwards to Milau & saw the famous bridge – very impressive. We left this behind as we approached the Tarn Gorge where we enjoyed? A spectacular drive through many small tunnels, some natural & some man-made many with overhangs that the camper vans had to beware of!! We were relieved to be leaving the Tarn Gorge in one piece & finished climbing to a height of 1260 metres above sea-level!!! By now we were looking for accommodation for the night and by chance came upon a reasonable looking hotel (with heated swimming pool) at Chatea Neuf de Ronden.
Day 14 Friday 29th June.
We woke to another fine & sunny day so set off for the lake at Langogne and did the ‘round the valley’ tour after which we found ourselves at Champeix where we had an impromptu lunch courtesy of the local town market. We now head East towards the Atlantic coast, looking rather simple on the map!! But we climbed & climbed – through the clouds topping out at Mont-Dore at a height of 1,627 metres above sea level (Ye Gods – That’s nearly a Mile!!) & quite chilly it was too. Eventually hooking up with a motorway we headed for the Bordeaux region, but seemed to be at around 900 metres for many hours. As usual there was an array of superb looking bridges & many tunnels, the French do seem on top of their road building. At last we were in low-lying ground! and peeled off the motorway in the wine region of St. Emillion looking for a nights accommodation. A small town Tourist Information Office booked us in at Chateau des Faures in Monbadon one of many of the wine producers around. We set off to find the Chateau, not easy among the myriad of local roads all unmarked except by the name of the local wine house!! The house had rustic country charm and was run by a little old lady who, judging from older photos around had obviously been quite a Hostess in her day. Having booked in we left to find something to eat & were directed to a restaurant on yet another lake! Lac De Gorcon.
Day 15 Saturday 30th June.
Getting back on the motorway we head for Bordeaux, going round its equivalent of the M25, traffic & all. The most traffic we have seen since we left home! We travelled in the direction of our next planned visit – to the Arcachon basin on the Atlantic coast, a hot-spot seaside destination. A beautiful place with golden sands and nicely sheltered as well. Quite a display of impressive sand sculptures being done by a local artisan. We catch up with emails at a local internet café as it is difficult to get access to any WiFi, sadly we hear from Olivia that there have been 2 deaths since we left & she has to attend two funerals in one week. We ‘set sail’ again with no particular destination in mind, we land on our feet by finding a really nice & friendly Chambre ‘dote in a Vine Yard – With Swimming Pool!! – in a little town called Mirambeau. We had a late lunch/early dinner & sat by the pool until 9pm!!!!. So nice here we have now booked a second night.
Day 16 Sunday 1st July.
We took country roads to St Andre de Lidon to view a 7 acre private garden recently opened to the public and here we also tasted the local Pineau des Charentes, a speciality of the area. We then visited the medieval town of Pons, small enough for a quick walk around & then back to base for lunch. We also book in for our third night here as they are so friendly and the room is huge. Fellow English travellers booked in, this being a regular favourite haunt of theirs, we chatted over several bottles of wine & they recounted all that had been occurring in the UK since we left. We had no contact with the news & were surprised to hear of the devastating floods & that there had been a postal strike and of course Gordon is in charge as forecast!!!
Day17 Monday 2nd July.
A leisurely day with a short drive to the coast at Royan, our journey followed the estuary of the river Gironde passing through many little towns, ports sunflowers & oyster beds on the way. We return to our local town of Mirambeau to our favourite restaurant for lunch of spag. bol. We returned to the hotel for a quiet read by the pool after which Anne (the owner) showed us around their recently renewed distillery. When John & Adrienne (English couple) returned we sat with a few bottles of wine and set to putting the world to rights! Anne & her husband came & joined us bringing 2 bottles of their own Pineau to celebrate their daughters graduation to medical school. A late night & we all retired to nurse our sore heads!!
Day 18 Tuesday 3rd July.
Up bright & early – Raining!! And it rained all the time for our five hour drive to stay with Panther friends near Poiters. We arrived mid-afternoon & found our way to their renovated farmhouse in a real quiet backwater of the countryside. We were made very welcome & felt immediately ‘at home’, after chatting & catching up on ‘old times’ we enjoyed a real ‘English roast’, quite a change from what we have had for the past 2 weeks or so. We were introduced to a local couple & had a pleasant session over wine around the large kitchen table – naturally all eyes were on the DeVille.
Day 19 Wednesday 4th July.
A pleasant relaxing day in the Hamlet & took our host out for a drive to his local village, another nice home-cooked meal a couple of drinks & off to bed to prepare for the next days marathon drive home.
Day 20 (Final Day) 5th July.
At least the sun was shining when we got up – a good sign! Turned to be a dry drive all the way through France and we popped out from the train at Folkstone in the English rain!!! I was a joy to drive on the French motorways, sometimes the road was free of traffic for a mile in front & a mile behind – the miles certainly flew by. Twelve hours after leaving we were back at 91 to a mountain of post, answer-phone messages & about 4,000 emails!! – What Joy!!
However the car performed faultlessly for all 3,000 miles of high altitude & high temperature, no water needed in the rad. & only a small amount of oil in the engine, plus of course, copious amounts of 98 Octane in the fuel tank!!!!
'Cheers' until the next time....