Wednesday 19th December 2007

England here we come! The ferry leaves at 12:45 and we should be home by half past four. It will be great to see our family and friends again but we know that it will be a hectic 14 days before we return to the Odyssey.
I will post a brief resumé of the Christmas and New Year period soon and then return to daily entries from 2nd January.
I hope that you are having (or have had) an enjoyable Christmas break and I wish you a happy and peaceful New Year.
Photos: None

Tuesday 18th December 2007

A big sorting out day! Emptying cupboards, hoovering, dusting, cleaning etc. We also had to empty the full waste water tank and top up with fresh water. Filling up with water was not a problem but we had a hitch with emptying the waste. It had, once again, been a very cold night and was still below zero at 11:00 when we attempted to empty the waste water. The pipe was frozen solid and no water would flow and this despite the fact that we had left the waste water heater on all night. The next 30 minutes was spent using the fan heater and hairdryer to defrost the pipe and the valve. Many large plugs of ice came out and I made sure this time that no water left in the pipe!
We walked into the village to have a quick look, but it was bitterly cold and half an hour was quite enough. We also abandoned any idea of walking into the village for a meal this evening.
Photos: The large and very fast-flowing mill leat in Tourneham – no sign of kingfishers but they were probably frozen to a branch!

Monday 17th December 2007

We left Montreuil but have decided that we will almost certainly return as it makes a very good stopping point on the journey to or from England. We would like to spend more time investigating the town and perhaps have a meal there.
Christmas shopping is now becoming urgent as, although we have bought some presents on the Odyssey, there are still some more to buy. We travelled to Cite Europe near the Channel Tunnel and were able to park in the special motorhome area close to the Holland entrance. It was easy to recognise most of the British visitors, they were the ones with trolleys full of alcohol in its various forms. We were appalled by the idea that British people travel to France just for a 'Booze Cruise'. We would never do such a thing – we would always combine it with sightseeing! Wine and beer were not are priority, although I did buy a couple of half bottles of an excellent Australian desert wine, ideal with Christmas pudding - Brown Brothers Orange Muscat. The rest of the day was spent shopping, not my favourite pastime but essential under the circumstances.
Rather than driving the one hour back to Montreuil, we had decided to go on to a site at Tourneham, only 30 minutes away from Calais. We could not locate the site precisely on the satnav, but we were able to find the site after a short tour of the village. The temperature had not risen above 5°C all day and it had rained whilst we were in Cite Europe. It was already starting to freeze when we arrived at the campsite, so we plugged into the power and got the electric fan heater going on full power!
Photos: None – photographs of a shopping centre are not my style!

Sunday 16th December 2007

We were organised this morning and were on the road before 10:00. For us, this was quite impressive given that the outside temperature was -4°C and the windscreen was frozen solid. A good third of the fishing lake was iced over when we drove past it on the way out.
Unfortunately, we had a long distance to travel today so we had to accept that we would be travelling on major roads and motorways. If possible, we tend to chose routes on more minor roads as, especially in France, they are often very good and totally deserted. Motorways and major roads normally avoid towns and villages, which are often the highlights of our trips and we have discovered many interesting places by taking the byways. If you have the time, travelling is as much about the journey as it is about the destination and travelling the byways is to be recommended. Anyway, today is about getting to the destination and the journey was uneventful and somewhat uninteresting. The scenery was flatter and we went through very few towns and villages but it was easy driving and we arrived at the very reasonable time of 15:30 at our campsite at Montreuil just one hour south of Calais. This meant that we were able to locate a pitch, hook up to the power and investigate the town whilst it was still light.
The campsite is next to the port of Montreuil on the river Canche, which was very important in mediaeval times. It was also a very important area for mills with three spanning the river next to the campsite and many more downstream where the river splits into many fast-flowing but relatively shallow parts. We decided to stroll into town and soon discovered that we were at the bottom of the hill and the main town, with huge defensive walls was on the hill above. Being a Sunday, the town was deserted but we had a very pleasant walk through it and came back around the walls. It is possible to walk the whole of the walls and, as the land around is relatively flat, the views are excellent. Our initial intention was to walk into the town for a meal this evening but when we found how far it was (and uphill) we decided against it. The sun was shinning but the outside temperature had not exceeded 6°C for the whole journey and with a slight breeze, it was bitterly cold. The idea of the walk to and from the restaurant in the dark with the temperature plummeting, did not appeal.
Jane has just raided the larder and freezer and, with a little help from Delia Smith, is preparing a variation on Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie although, as it is going to contain bacon, it can't be described as 'vegetarian'. It also doesn't contain lamb or any shepherd, so it can't really be called 'shepherd's' either. Come to think of it, why is Shepherd's Pie called that? Would shepherds have eaten the animals that they were looking after? If the truth be known, they probably had a vegetarian diet most of the time.
Photos: None

Saturday 15th December 2007

We saw a very small amount of snow in the Town Square yesterday but this morning the temperature is, thankfully, just above freezing. Jane collected the bread this morning and, after a quick breakfast, we set off on our next leg – another 4 + hour journey.
After two days of camperstops, we wanted a little more luxury and electricity, so we chose a campsite at Mamers just north of Le Mans.
On the journey, I fulfilled one of my life ambitions, I drove on the Le Mans racetrack. Although we didn't go through the centre of Le Mans, the road from Tours goes through the outskirts of Le Mans where the circuit is located. The first indication that I had was when I saw an area to the side of the road lined with tyres and separated from the road by temporary bollards. I then noticed that the barriers on the sides of the road were very high and then the penny dropped. After that much of the road was incorporated in the circuit and we were glad that we hadn't attempted to follow this route when the race was on!
The satnav couldn't locate the campsite exactly but with the skillful assistance from my navigator, we soon found at Saosnoix, Mamers and chose our pitch. The campsite is located next to two small lakes, one for swimming and one for fishing but, given the temperature, we decided not to have a swim and fishing seemed less attractive than ever.
Photos: Mamers swimming lake.

Friday 14th December 2007

Today the journey home starts in earnest with a four and a half hour journey north. But first, on my way to buy some bread (a pleasant but surprisingly unusual task as we were often a long way from a bakers), I noticed that the Abri Pataud, a site next to the museum and only 100m from the camperstop, was shown as being open. So we decided to delay the journey slightly with a visit to it.
After breakfast we walk to it only to find that it was closed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at this time of the year – the three days when one would expect most visitors! I had said to Jane that there was no chance of it being closed on a Friday!
So, a little disappointed, we set off for Lussac les Chateaux and another camperstop. It was still very frosty but this time dull and misty although it didn't take long for this to burn off and most of the journey was blessed with sunshine. Although slightly hazy, the views were good and we passed, as ever in France, many impressive chateaux. One of the most impressive was seen from our lunch stop at a picnic area (see photo) although the local cattle did not seem to be interested!
We arrived in Lussac les Chateaux (without any chateaux!) and attempted to find the camperstop without success. We enquired at the tourist information office to find that it was in the car park where we had parked – about 100m from the tourist office. Strangely designed in that Henrietta overflowed the parking space (and other larger motorhomes would be worse), but good enough for the night. Given that we were in the centre of a village, it seemed like a good opportunity to have a meal out, until we took a look at the options. The tourist information office supplied us with a list of the restaurants and we checked each one out whilst it was still light. The only one that appealed (Les Routiers recommended and with a capacity of 80) turned out to be closed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings – shades of Abri Pataud and quite unbelievable! I have never heard of a restaurant that was closed every weekend evening! So, back to Henrietta and a home-cooked supper.
Photos: The crowded Eyzies camperstop!; Picnic stop view; The cows were more interested in the photographer than the view.

Thursday 13th December 2007

Even colder this morning with the outside temperature down to -2.7°C and the inside temperature feeling about the same until the heating took effect! This slowed us down somewhat as the desire to jump out of bed was severely diminished by the cold.
After filling with water, emptying the toilet and defrosting the windscreen, we set of for Lascaux and arrived just 10 minutes before the next guided tour. Lascaux has the best prehistoric cave paintings in France but they suffered badly from being opened to the public soon after their discovery by four teenagers in 1940. By 1963 the algae growth and calcite forming on the paintings was so bad that the decision was taken to close the caves to the public. A very ambitious project was then initiated and 20 years later a facsimile (known as Lascaux II) of the major part of the cave was opened to the public. It is a fantastic achievement, faithfully reproducing a large part of the cave structure and the paintings inside a cave just a few hundred metres down the hill from the original cave. Although we had read about the caves, we were still stunned by the sight. The walls and ceilings are covered with paintings – there are 1,963 in total with 915 representations of animals such as horses, bison, cattle, deer and a bear. Many of these are incredibly lifelike, the quality is amazing especially considering the age and the tools that the painters had. There are also a huge number of signs and other mysterious marks but only one, stylised, human being is represented. Many of the paintings are superimposed on other paintings and much works has been done to identify the different layers. The paintings all date to the same period, about 18,600 years ago, and it is thought that they may have all been completed within a few generations. The guide was very good, although understandably, the English explanations were only a fraction of the length of the French ones but this gave us plenty of time to wonder at the sights.
We then moved on to Eyzies-de-Tayac stopping off at 'Roque St. Christophe', a troglodytic settlement. Many of the caves in the area have been occupied by people through time and in the Middle Ages caves were often extended and additions built on in wood. Roque St. Christophe is such an example but we saw it in many other cases including all around the museum site at Eyzies and at the entrance to Font-de-Gaume.
Lunch was taken at Font-de-Gaume whilst we were waiting for our booked visit at 15:00. This cave is the only one with polychrome paintings that is still open to the public and visitor numbers are strictly limited to 180 per day. In the summer, booking well in advance is essential but we were extremely lucky to have the trip entirely to ourselves. Our main guide was new to the job, giving only her third tour and she must have been horrified by the fact that we were English! Her English was very poor and she hadn't had the time to learn all of the essential words associated with the trip. This meant that it was great fun but with help from a second guide (whose English wasn't very good either) we got by with lots of hand-signs, sound effects (“moooo” told us that it was a cow – we had already worked that out!) and the usual Franglais. The cave is very restricted, narrow and low in many places but high in others. As in Lascaux, some of the paintings are very high (15m in Font-de-Gaume) and had to be painted with the use of wooden scaffolding. We couldn't see those but the ones at our level were fantastic, much better than Lascaux despite being fainter because they were real and in a real setting. Once again, many animals were depicted with bison, cows, deer and horses most prominent but the sense of movement in the figures was amazing – horses galloping and jumping for instance. The biggest revelation was when the guide turned off the lights and used her torch to simulate the flames that would have been used in prehistoric times – the animals moved! The way that they had been painted with the addition of carving and the use of the natural curves in the cave walls meant that we could see animals moving as the light moved. I jokingly said that it was like an early form of cinema and perhaps they charged for entry in prehistoric times. This was taken seriously – they believe that the effect was quite deliberate and, in another cave, a number of carvings had been found of the same figure in slightly different poses, just like the stills that make up a movie. It was easy to imagine the effect that walking through this cave would have on prehistoric people that also, perhaps, had a fear or reverence for the underground. We felt very privileged to have been allowed into the cave with its hugely valuable and delicate contents. If you get the chance to visit it, do so before they decide that it is too delicate and valuable to allow entry to the public.
The camperstop was really busy (one other motorhome) and we picked our spot close to the river and prepared the evening meal.
Photos: The entrance to the original Lascaux cave, surprisingly on the hillside rather than in a cliff; Roque St. Christophe; The location of Font de Gaume; The entrance to the Font de Gaume cave with evidence of the mediaeval buildings in the cliff behind.

Wednesday 12th December 2007

A beautifully sunny, dry, still and very frosty morning with the external thermometer showing -1.7°C, our first minus of the Odyssey.
We are quite close to the famous Lascaux Caves, described as “the Sistine Chapel of prehistory” due to its beautiful prehistoric cave paintings. However, when I looked at the map, I discovered that there is a huge collection of caves centering on the Vezere Valley. We also found out from the campsite reception that there is a National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac in the Vezere Valley and it is open today. We can not find out anything about the other caves, including Lascaux, so we decide to head for the museum and ask about the other sites.
It was an interesting journey to Eyzies, passing pretty villages and chateaux. The museum was not easy to find and by the time that we arrived is was too close to the lunchtime closing (50 minutes before) and we were not allowed to enter. This gave us the excuse to have an long lunch in a local restaurant – a three course meal including Duck Cassoulet for €13.
We had parked in a car park that had a motorhome section with overnight parking and services. If we had known about this (it is not listed in Camperstop Europe), we would have stayed there but we had committed to another night at La Prairie. However we were able to park free of charge and we also used the services to dump the grey water as this is not easy at La Prairie.
The museum was very good and very comprehensive – I have never seen so many stone tools and weapons all organised by age. It showed how the tools changed over the years and there were excellent videos demonstrating how the tools could be made. There were also good displays of pictorial stone carvings from many locations in the area.
We found out more about the caves in the area and what was open. Lascaux is open but, at this time of the year, most of the other caves can only be visited by booking in advance. This has to done at the other major cave, Font-de-Gaume less than two kilometers from the museum. We set off for Font-de-Gaume but were warned that we might have missed the last guided tour of the day. This turned out to be the case but we decided to change our plans and book for the next day. This meant that we could go the Lascaux in the morning, Font-de-Gaume in the afternoon and stay in the Eyzies camperstop overnight.
We then set off for La Prairie travelling up the Vezere Valley and getting hopelessly misdirected by the satnav, once down a road reserved for forestry vehicles and once down a track full of potholes and totally unsuitable. We then ignored all of its directions and found a much better route back.
We paid our bill so that we could get an early start tomorrow and were assured by the staff that tomorrow would be cold but fine, just like today - excellent!
Photos: Lac du Causse – the French do it in style, this is the outlet from the reservoir; Eyzies – one of the museum buildings is under the cliff on the right, all of this area was covered in mediaeval buildings; We met this giant deer in the Eyzies museum.

Tuesday 11th December 2007

Having the luxury of a proper campsite, we decided to stay for three nights and take today as rest day. As the sun came up it became clear that the weather had improved considerably and the sun was shining. However this did not last very long and the day soon became dull but with only a few spots of rain, which decided to fall as soon as we went for a walk around the lake.
Fortunately only a little rain fell and Jane had brought most of the washing in. When drying conditions are poor, Jane uses a method of clothes drying recommended by some fellow motorhomers that we met earlier in the Odyssey – put all of the clothes on a clothes horse in the bathroom open the window slightly, close the door and put the heating on. The method given to us used the gas heating and involved shutting all other vents in the van so that all of the heat is directed to the bathroom. We have developed a variation of the technique by using an electric fan heater in the bathroom. This is very effective and dries the washing quite quickly – 'where there's a will, there's a way'.
Tonight there is a glorious sunset and this is followed by a clear starry evening sky. We hope that this is an even better sign for tomorrow!
Photos: Lac du Causse Mill; Lac du Causse sunset.

Monday 10th December 2007

We had identified a campsite half way between Cahors and Brive but we had a wine-tasting stop planned for late morning and an early-ish start was required.
The weather had continued to be poor over night rising early was not a problem due to the hailstorm at approximately 06:30. Rain always sounds loud in the motorhome due to the thin roof and the plastic Heikis (fanlights). However, a hailstorm is deafening especially when it is as heavy as it was last night. We both woke up and then only dozed until we gave up and I put the water on for the tea. We knew that we needed to get some more gas as we had been using a lot due to the weather and the fact that we had often stayed in camperstops without electricity. We had already planned to fill up today but we were just too late – it ran out. We therefore got up had cold washes and breakfasted without a hot drink but it did mean that we were on the road at the almost unheard of time of 08:30.
Ever since I bought some wine from a small company in the very small Somerset village of Wanstrow near Frome, I have been hooked on Fronton wine. I have never seen it in England but have always searched for it when visiting France. Invariably when I have found it, it has been very cheap, often under €1.50 a bottle. Although this was surprisingly good, I wanted to try some better Fronton wines. We plotted a route through Fronton town and at the far side we found 'Cave de Fronton' a cooperative cave. Here we were able to try a number of rose and red wines including ones from Thomas Castigniede, the famous and very talented French Rugby player. We decided that we preferred watching his rugby to drinking his wine – it was not very good! The other wines were very good, especially the strongly flavoured oak aged 'Comte de Negret' 2004, which was my favourite. We less than we would have liked, but it had to fit somewhere in Henrietta.
Due to our exceptionally early start, we decided to push on past our intended stop and over the Dordogne to the Lac du Causse, a short distance south west of Brive. The journey was fascinating and very varied, the first part rather flat and uninteresting but after Montauban (another good rugby centre), the scenery became more rounded. The N20 (not the motorway) from south of Payrac through to the crossing of the Dordogne is high, often on a ridge with wonderful views left and right.
We arrived at the campsite ('La Prairie') just before half past three to discover that reception was closed until five o'clock. Still that gave us time to check out the site, ensure that it was open and identify a suitable pitch. There was a little colour in the sky when the sun set – a hopeful sign?
Photos: View of the Dordogne from a viewpoint on the N20.

Sunday 9th December 2007

Heavy showers continued all night and the wind rocked the van but by the time that we were ready to head for the castle, the rain had eased to a drizzle. We were very lucky in that it only rained when we were in the covered parts of the castle and we were therefore able to enjoy the visit without getting wet. We opted for the audio guides and these proved to be very informative and added considerably to the visit. The castle started life in the 4th century A.D. When the Romans fortified the town against the threat of Barbarian attack by building a defensive wall with towers. This wall still forms the basis of the current inner wall and some of the Roman towers are still in position. In the Middle Ages the Trencavel family built a keep within the walls but it was when the castle was taken over by the French Royal family in 1226 that most development happened. They added a second outer wall and developed the defences around the keep that faced the town – they were concerned about a potential revolt of the people.
Impressively, in 1853 the French Department for Historic Monuments decided to restore some of the castle, which had fallen into disrepair and was being used as a quarry for stone. The architect was a mediaeval enthusiast and proposed the complete restoration of the castle and this was accepted by the authorities. The restoration took only 9 years but involved the removal of 112 houses and must have been a huge construction project. The result is very impressive and the view of the walls from afar is fantastic, especially when floodlit.
We completed the tour by lunchtime and, returning to Henrietta for lunch, the heavens opened almost as soon as we closed the door.
We then started our slow journey north to Calais and the ferry over to England for Christmas. We had plans for tomorrow, so wanted to go a little further north before we stopped for the night. The Camperstop Europe book showed three possible stopping places in the town of Puylaurens north west of Carcassonne and we headed for that. By the time that we arrived, the rain was coming down hard, it was dark and we had problems finding any of the three locations in the town. However we found a suitable deserted car park with a freshwater supply that may well have been one of them and we settled down for the night.
Photos: Carcassonne inner walls surrounding the keep; Moat and the two outer walls; Saissac Castle on the way to Puylaurens.

Saturday 8th December 2007

Another day of unsettled weather and we set out from the car park in coats and equipped with the brolly. We followed a walking tour around Albi, taking a rare opportunity to do some shopping, not that we bought much! The walk along the Tarn gave a very good view of the old town and we walked over the old bridge that once had buildings along its length. The area is famous for 'pastel' (woade) that produces a lovely blue dye and this provided the basis for much of the trade and wealth of the town. Mills on the Tarn were connected with the industry and was good to see that the site of the old Chapitre Mill has been reused for hydroelectric power and provides 9 million kilowatt hours annually, enough to supply the needs of 8,000 people.
We drove on south to Carcassonne, somewhere that we had noted as a 'must' on our itinerary. We had already seen a few walled mediaeval towns but that didn't prepare us for Carcassonne. We arrived in the pouring rain and dark to see the floodlit town – it looked beautiful. Once again, there were no open campsites in the area, so we chose to stay at the camperstop in the centre. This camperstop was shown as 'parking only' without services but it turned out to have fresh water, dumping facilities and toilets. The Camperstop Europe book only has very brief details of each site, so this entry did not explain that the site was only 100m from the castle walls – what a fantastic position!
Photos: Albi Old Bridge (Chapitre Mill at left end) and Old Town; Carcassonne walls at night from camperstop.

Friday 7th December 2007

The Big Day has arrived – our first Bath match of the season! However that is not until tonight and we hope that the weather will improve as it rained over night and is still raining this morning. When we enquired at the tourist information office about buses to the ground, the only one that they found had the last service at 16:30, which is of no use when the match starts at 19:00. We could get very wet walking there if this weather continues.
The weather also means that we have not got the enthusiasm to get moving early but we will put our wet-weather plan into operation – museum and cathedral. The Toulouse-Lautrec museum, housed in the former Archbishop's Palace, is next to the cathedral and we are parked just below the cathedral, so we haven't got far to go!
Well, I have to confess that I was a little sceptical about Toulouse-Lautrec and was concerned that a whole museum of his work would be too much. I was wrong, not only did I really like his work but there was so much variety in the exhibition that I was never bored. We even had to rush the last few rooms before the museum closed for lunch. The whole of his life was represented, from his teens through to the last year of his life. I particularly enjoyed his drawings, even his very early ones and it was intriguing to see his preliminary sketches and the final works. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi and they are very proud of him and this might explain why I could find no mention of the fact that it was a combination of syphilis and alcoholism that caused his very early death aged 37. His mother donated a huge number of his works to the people of Albi and gave money to allow the museum to be established.
The Sainte-Cecile Cathedral was very impressive and interesting building. It is a huge, austere brick-built building, its looks being explained by the dual use as a church and a fortress. It was built between the 13th and 15th centuries and the exterior was designed to be covered in plaster and then painted, which would have made it look much more attractive. After the plain exterior, the interior comes as a very pleasant surprise with beautiful carvings and paintings. The 'Last Judgement' used to cover 200m² and, although it has suffered from the passing of time, it is still very impressive with a lovely, evil looking devils in amongst those unfortunate tortured sinners in Hell. There is some exquisite stone carving in the Choir but my favourite part of the cathedral was the ceiling. These Renaissance frescoes were painted in wonderfully vibrant colours and are even more remarkable given that they retain those colours even though they have never been restored. My photographs hint at their beauty but are no match for seeing them in situ.
We braved the weather for a while, getting cosy under an umbrella, to follow part of one of the many town trails set out in the tourist information leaflet. We broke off to visit an Internet café where I posted the blog and checked in emails. We asked there for restaurant recommendations and ended up over the other side of the Place du Vigan at a vegetarian restaurant. The meal was excellent and it made a pleasant change from meat-dominated menus.
We decided that we would cut short our tour as the rain was making it difficult to admire the architecture. So it was back to Henrietta for a relax before the match.
We set off early for the walk to the stadium and, thankfully, the rain was not as hard and even stopped occasionally. It only took 20 minutes to get there and we saw a sprinkling of Bath supporters also making their way there. We bought out covered seat tickets for €15 (£10.50) each, which compared with £34 for uncovered seats at Bath, were a real bargain. We stopped off at the bar in the ground for a beer (me) and a 'vin chaude' (Jane) and listened to a group of Bath supporters singing 'Jerusalem'. We thought that this was a bit nationalistic but they did follow up with the French National Anthem, although that may not have gone down well in this Catalan area!
We sat next to two guys from the Isle of Man, currently working on a contract for Airbus in Toulouse. One of them played for many years for the Manx Vagabonds and travelled around the North East playing rugby. He is a Bath supporter but cannot easily travel to see their matches so he goes to see Sale as often as he can, but even that must be quite a journey. I had a very pleasant chat with them about life in the Isle of Man and their aerospace work.
Albi played well in the first half and, although we appeared to be the strongest team and had the bulk of the possession, Albi's defence was good. As normal, I was shouting 'Come on Bath' to encourage the lads but in the second half, with memories of the European Cup Final victory against Brive all those years ago, I yelled 'Allez Bath'. The Frenchman in front of us immediately looked around and started talking to us. He was typically Catalan – dark-skinned, short (about 5 feet) and wearing a beret. We had the most bizarre and amusing conversation with much hand waving and Franglais from both sides. He was there with his grandson, son-in-law who was of Italian origin and a friend who was Portuguese. The Portuguese guy came in for lots of stick from his friend with many references to his sardine eating. At the end of the match, which Bath won convincingly 26-18, we all had to strenuously decline his offer to join him at the bar – it could have been a very long evening! So, with much handshaking, we bid them farewell and made our way back to the car park, thankfully in the dry.
Photos: Albi Cathedral; Cathedral Choir; Detail of 'The Last Judgement' – a lovely Devil!; Detail of the ceiling.

Thursday 6th December 2007

From the town of Millau there is a clear view of a motorway bridge, which would not normally be worth mentioning. However, this is not any old bridge, this is the famous Viaduct de Millau, the world's highest bridge. It was designed by the famous British architect, Sir Norman Foster, and looks magnificent (see photographs). It is a cable-stayed bridge, 2,460m long, the road is 270m above the river Tarn and the highest pillar is 343m. 205,000 tonnes of concrete and 36,000 tonnes of metal framework were used in its construction, it cost €400 million and, surprisingly, was financed and built by a private company. The residents of Millau are very proud of the bridge and it features highly in their tourist information office where there is a comprehensive lists of locations where you can obtain a good view of the bridge. On our way out of Millau, we passed under the bridge and came across the visitors centre complete with at least 4 staff, a shop, tourist information, audio visual display and a large display about the construction and statistics of the bridge. The bridge is a hugely impressive construction project and, unlike the Channel Tunnel – an even more impressive construction project, it looks fantastic. I am sure that visitors from France and much further afield will arrange their itinerary to view this sight for many years to come.
The landscape became more rounded but we still had steep ascents and descents until we reached Albi. The satnav located the car park in the centre of Albi that was listed in the Camperstop Europe book – right in the centre, within 100m of the cathedral. We can stop here, free of charge, for 48 hours and this is ideal as Bath Rugby are playing Albi tomorrow evening.
We obtain a map and ask about buses to the rugby ground at the tourist information office (200m from the car park) and then embark on one of the four trails around the town detailed in the tourist information guide.
Dinner is spaghetti carbonara cooked to a recipe from a Delia Smith cookbook with ingredients from Italy (parmesan cheese), pasta (from Slovenia and Czech Republic, blended), cream (UHT from Croatia), eggs, lardon fume (smoked bacon) and onion (all from France) – a trult international meal!
Photos: Millau bridge view; The bridge from below; Bridge detail; Albi café customer.

Wednesday 5th December 2007

It was time to take our leave from Le Ch'Ti Franoi and Steve and Audrey. We had a great time and Steve and Audrey were excellent hosts, so relaxed and easy to get on with.
I can thoroughly recommend Le Ch'Ti Franoi (www.campinglechtifranoi.com) as a place to stay and, given all of the local attractions that we hardly touched, we will certainly return. Seeing Steve and Audrey again will be a real bonus.
Steve had told us that all East-West routes from that area were windy and slow but we hoped that that also meant that they would be picturesque. We therefore plotted a relatively short journey (2.5 to 3 hours according to the satnav) to Le Monastir. The journey was indeed picturesque, climbing soon after we set off and reaching 1150m at the pass 'Le Col des Tribes'. The scenery was very rugged, reminding us of Scotland, with dark-stoned villages hugging the hillsides or set beside the fast-flowing streams. We passed a fairy-tale a chateau with those small circular towers with inverted cone roofs and a ruined castle perched on crag, all surrounded by the wild countryside.
We stopped for lunch high in the mountains with a view over a valley to the peaks beyond. We were on a fairly major road but in the 40 minutes we were there, less than 10 cars passed us. It is difficult to imagine a similar road in England that would be as quiet and it makes driving in France very pleasant.
We arrived in Le Monastir at half past three to discover that the camperstop was (temporarily?) closed and we had to implement Plan B to move on to the next camperstop at Millau just under one hour away. By now, we were on good major roads and very soon a motorway so the journey was very easy. This camperstop was quite an unusual one – overnight parking, waste water and WC dumping were free but there was a charge for fresh water and electricity. For €6, you had 20 minutes of fresh water and 50 minutes of electricity and this was only available in two positions, away from the parking and in the position where you dumped the waste water and WC. I could understand the charge for water but why 50 minutes of electricity – perhaps if you were addicted to Coronation Street? It also meant that you occupied the dump whilst you were connected to the electricity, very strange.
After parking up, we wandered into the town. It has an interesting old town and has a huge number of shops, obviously a major centre for the surrounding area.
Back then to Henrietta for Tartiflette (a Savoyard – northern France – dish of potato, cheese and ham) and chicken escalopes.
Photos: Our pitch at Ch'Ti Franoi; View from the campsite; Our hosts – Steve and Audrey; View on our journey; Christmas lights in Millau.

Tuesday 4th December 2007

After a quiet morning we decided to go for another walk from the campsite, this time to the South, down a valley in the direction of Lablachere. Rather than following the official route that stayed high above the valley, we turned off the main track and followed another small track down the side of the valley to the river at the bottom. After crossing the river, an easy task because the river was very low, we walked up the valley to a ruined 'abbey'. This must have been little more than a hermitage given that there were very few remains and certainly no sign of large buildings. We then walked on paths up the valley to Panzolles and back down the road to Le Ch'Ti Franoi.
We had arranged to go out for a meal with Steve and Audrey on our last evening with them and we went to a a hotel / pizzeria / restaurant in nearby Joyeuse. The food was very good indeed and the generous portions meant that we were well satisfied by the end. The cheese course was very good, including two very local cheeses, one of which, a blue cheese called Coucouron, everyone thought was excellent and I am sure that it will appear regularly on Steve and Audrey's shopping lists in the future. The evening finished with more chatting over coffee back at the site.
Photos: Parasitic growth on an oak leaf.

Monday 3rd December 2007

There are plenty of interesting places to visit in the area and today we decided to see the Ardeche Gorge. We noticed from a map that Steve had lent us, that there was an area just south of Lablachere that had a large number of dolmen and we plotted our route via the minor road that cut through it. We found a point where we could park the motorhome near where a dolmen was indicated on the map and set off in search. The area is incredibly stony with huge exposed areas of bedrock. We found the dolmen, a huge pile of stones with slabs forming a cist exposed in the middle. Having seen many barrows in Somerset and Dorset, it was intriguing to see the equivalent made in stone. The dolmen was positioned close to a small stream where it formed a series of small ponds, a ritual setting or is that just my imagination?
On then to the Ardeche Gorge, which proved to be spectacular. The natural arch over the Ardeche river was very impressive and we sat and had a picnic sat beside the river with a view of the arch. The road then travels along the edge of the gorge high above the river with excellent views over the gorge and the surrounding countryside. In the summer, it must be impossible to stop on this road as there would be huge numbers of people visiting. However, in December, there were very few cars and all of the very small viewpoint car parks were empty. It took a long time to go along the gorge as I kept stopping to look at all of the views! The gorge itself is very popular with canoeists and it must be a fantastic way to see the gorge. In season, there are many places to rent canoes.
The gorge is not very far from the area with the dolmen and it is unsurprising that the surrounding area was also important in prehistoric times with more dolmen, menhirs and inhabited caves, some with cave paintings.
We returned via the cooperative cave (winery) in Lablachere and sampled a selection of their wines. With the exception of the Cabernet Sauvignon, that wasn't to my taste, they were very good and we bought a few bottles, including the white and rose 'Menhir'.
Photos: The dolmen blending into the stony background; Dolmen with grave; Stream next to the dolmen site; Arch over the Ardeche.

Sunday 2nd December 2007

The morning dawned without a hangover, a pleasant surprise! After breakfast we found Steve and Audrey and had a guided tour of the site. It is in a very peaceful position on a hill with lovely views over vineyards and wooded valleys. The site has a number of permanent mobile homes that are available for rent together with camping and motorhome facilities. There is plenty of shade for the hot summers and a swimming pool, tennis court, boules court, 18 hole crazy golf and volleyball provide plenty to keep the guests busy and all at no extra cost. The crazy golf and boules were very tempting but I couldn't persuade Jane!
We went for a walk down a valley to the north of the site. There are many signed walks through the woods and we created a circular walk ending above the campsite in the village of Panzolles. The forestry authorities are obviously very concerned about fire and we came across a number of fire ponds – raised structures holding 30 cubic metres of water. Steve also told us that a local by-law prohibits open fires on the campsite during July and August. The geology on the walk was also interesting with a very sandy soil interspersed with exposed limestone and much calcite often coloured pink, orange and brown by the presence of other minerals. Needless to say there are vineyards everywhere and, judging by the local Merlot, the soil is very well suited to wine production.
Photos: Potential motorhome conversion project?; Tempting path in Cedat; View of campsite entrance over vineyards.

Saturday 1st December 2007 – Le Reunion

Early this year Jane found an entry on Friends Reunited from Steve Cutting. We were both at Weymouth Grammar School with Steve in the 70's but had not seen him since we left school in 1973. Steve's entry explained that he and his wife had taken over a campsite in Southern France and, given our plans for The Odyssey, we felt we should be able to visit them. We contacted Steve by email, exchanging brief synopses of our life stories and suggesting a reunion later in the year. This was a long time in the future as we were still working and we had only just bought our motorhome. However, now the time had arrived and as soon as we got into France we tried to contact Steve by phone, without success. We sent an email explaining that we were trying to contact him and yesterday Steve phoned us, explaining that he and Audrey had been in England for the last week. This was excellent timing for us as we were about to leave Avignon, so we arranged to see them today.
We plotted a route via Orange just north of Avignon so that we could visit the very large Roman theatre, the only one in Europe with an intact stage screen. Orange was once Dutch and this is where the Dutch King William of Orange came from and the current Dutch Royal Family come from the same line. The Dutch, being Protestants were eventually forced out of Orange, rejecting the option of conversion to Roman Catholicism is they stayed. The threats to the safety of the citizens of Orange was one of the reasons for the preservation of the theatre. The walls of the theatre provided defence for the population and a whole town was built within the walls. This has all been removed and the theatre restored so that it can hold performances again, especially a high-profile opera festival in the Summer.
We also visited the Roman Triumphal Arch, at the opposite side of the town, and admired the carvings high up on the arch, many of which are in very good condition.
Later than intended, we set off for Steve and Audrey's site, Le Ch'Ti Franoi just north of La Blachere. The satnav has been invaluable and travelling would have been much more difficult without it, however it does have its moments. The first problem was a roundabout that the mapping knew about but it did not know about the new exit that took us into the narrow village lanes before we could find a way of retracing our steps. The second problem was when it directed us down a small road in a town rather than the main road. I realised that this was incorrect as soon as I took the turning but could see from the satnav display that we would return to the main road, so I continued. I then came across a well-disguised sleeping policeman and although I was only going very slowly, the shock was big enough to send the contents of the cupboards to be re-arranged and objects on shelves took flight, landing on the floor. These speed humps are a nightmare for motorhomes when they are not well signed and some are very severe. I can understand the concerns of ambulance and fire-engine drivers where the effects must be much more serious. We then came to the point where the satnav told us to turn left only to discover a 2m height limit. So, we had to turn around and negotiate, very slowly, the sleeping policeman again.
The latter part of the journey took us up quite narrow, although thankfully quiet, windy roads in the dark. We were sure that the views would have been really good in the daylight! We arrived at Le Ch'Ti Franoi to find all of the lights on and it looked very welcoming. It was easy to recognise Steve, although he was a little greyer than the last time that we saw him, and it was great to meet Audrey. We were invited to dinner and, after parking up and plugging into the power, we made our way to the campsite bar. We had been in very quiet campsites but it was strange to be in a closed campsite eating a meal with the campsite owners. And what a meal it was – Audrey produced an excellent three-course meal and we were certainly not hungry at the end! It was a lovely relaxed meal and chat and great to catch up on 34 years of news and talk about the adventurous step that they had taken 18 months ago in buying the site. Things were even more relaxed due to the volume of the local Coteaux de l'Ardeche rouge that we drank, the smooth Merlot was lovely and went down far too easily.
Photos: Orange Roman Theatre; Artists view of the Theatre in Roman times; Cyclops mask from the Theatre; External view of the Theatre.

Friday 30th November 2007

The campsite is located on a large island, the Ile de la Barthelasse, in the middle of the Rhone. The Pont d'Avignon used to connect Avignon with the far bank of the Rhone via the Ile de la Barthelasse, thus reducing the length of bridge required. Only part of the bridge still stands, starting at the Avignon bank and finishing part way to the Ile. However, a defensive tower, the Tour de Phillipe le Bel (Phillip the Fair), built at the turn of the 14th century, is still extant on the right bank of the Rhone where the bridge use to terminate. We decided to walk to the tower from the campsite and were lucky to find it open as it is only open until the end of November i.e. today. From the top of the tower, there is a very good view of the Rhone, Avignon and Villeneuve lez Avignon. It was a windy day and at the top of the tower it was very windy although, given that they close the tower in high winds, it must get extremely windy when the Mistral is blowing. The tower, built by the French had a chequered past, promoting disputes with Papal controlled Avignon and its people who believed that they had exclusive rights to the bridge. This led to ambitious plans for a larger complex being dropped in order to avoid a clash with their very powerful neighbour.
We then went on to the village of Villeneuve lez Avignon and visited the largest Carthusian monastery in France – La Chartreuse du Val de Benediction. It was built in the 1350's for 12 monks but over the years was extended and the number of monks increased. After the French Revolution it was split up into parts and sold. From 1909, restoration was started and little by little the parts were bought back. The building is now very well restored and gives a glimpse into life of a monk in the 14th century.
Our ticket also covered entry to the fort above the monastery – Fort Saint-Andre. A very impressive fort built in 1291, it protected France's border with the Papal lands. The walls are complete but very little of the interior has survived. Its walls however still surround the Saint Andre Abbey with its 10th century church.
A pleasant walk took us back to campsite and the late sun giving a golden glow to the fort and the tower.
Photos: Tower of Phillipe le Bel; Fort St. Andre; Entrance to monk's cell; Inside monk's cell; Three photographs around the cloisters.