Sunday 19th October 2008 - St.Valery-en-Caux, France

We had a fairly long drive today to the pretty seaside town of St.Valery-en-Caux. The camperstop here is very popular due to its location right at the harbour mouth with sea, harbour, town and cliff views. Being a Sunday and a fine day, the sea and harbour were very busy. Many yachts were milling around out at sea, only returning as the sun dipped towards the horizon. Not only were the boats returning home but so were the motorhomes. Apparently, many French motorhomers come here for the weekend, especially when the weather is good, the 48 hour camperstop limit being ideal for such a visit. This is an excellent camperstop and is another one that we will definitely visit again in the future.
We got into conversation with an English couple who live on the Welsh Borders. They are semi retired and are keen motorhomers. Being an ex second-hand car dealer with contacts in the trade, he buys a motorhome in good condition, does it up, uses it for two years and then sells it. He aims to sell the motorhome at the end of the two years for the same price that he bought it. This means that they effectively have a motorhome for free. An excellent plan but only if you have the necessary mechanical and negotiating skills!
Photos: The camperstop at St.Valery-en-Caux; The lighthouse.

Saturday 18th October 2008 – Le Vivier sur Mer, France

A typically Autumnal morning – cold and bright with mist laying on the fields. We drove on minor roads heading for the coast at Cancale but I had spotted a ‘Temple of Mars’ on the excellent Michelin map and we decided to call in there on the way. It was well worth the stop, a Roman temple site with a ‘cella’ (cult centre of the site) nearly as impressive as the Temple de Vesone in Perigueux.
Arriving at Cancale, we parked at a car park at the top of the cliffs above the town. We walked down into the town and I was immediately reminded of Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset. This was due to the large area of mud stretching out to the sea at low-tide. However, that was where the similarity stopped as Cancale is definitely French. There are no amusement arcades, kiss-me-quick hats and deck chairs but there are a huge amount of huitres (oysters). We chose one of the more than twenty excellent restaurants all specialising in seafood and often also selling oysters to take away. I was determined to have mussels and we chose a restaurant with a set menu that allowed me to have ‘Moules a la Crème’ as a main course and Jane to have crepes (pancakes) for desert. It was an excellent meal and we set off for a walk whilst we digested it.
We had seen oyster beds before but not like this. It was on an industrial scale with beds stretching way out into the shallow bay. Tractors with trailers holding boats or sacks of oysters were driving down onto the beach and out into the beds. Further out the beds were still under water and these were serviced by the boats and the whole area bustled with smaller oysters being off-loaded and mature oysters harvested. Stalls above the beach sold oysters for as little as €2.50 (£2) for a dozen but as neither of us are great fans, we resisted the temptation.
We were heading for a campsite on the mainland opposite Mont Saint Michel but after passing some very pleasant-looking camperstops, we decided to stop at the one in Le Vivier-sur-Mer. The site, costing €4.50 (£3.60) per night, had wonderful views over the bay of Mont Saint Michel and even the island itself. We watched the oyster workers returning – here with a number of wheeled boats, looking most strange as they drove across the mud to the shore. Sun set over the scene as the last workers returned from the oyster beds and the sea came in behind them.
Photos: The Temple of Mars with the ‘cella’ standing in the background; “I’m sure that the sea was there when I parked it!”; The oyster beds at Cancale with Mont Saint Michel on the horizon; The oyster boat-lorries returning at Le Vivier-sur-Mer.

Friday 17th October 2008 – Brech, France

We had beautiful Autumn weather for a lovely drive to Brittany. There were lots of vines on the way to Saumur and more on the hills behind the southern banks of the Rhone where there were also large numbers of wine caves. We crossed the river to the north bank at Gennes and were rewarded with beautiful views of the Rhone and the land to the south. The Rhone was very low with most of the river bed consisting of sand banks and islands. Judging by the very high flood prevention banks and walls, the river rises much higher at other times of the year.
For some reason best known to itself, the sat nav wanted to take us via Nantes but Jane suggested a better route from Ancenis on the D164 and D16. This turned out to be excellent – fast roads, few lorries and very pretty. We joined the main N165 just south of Pontchateau and, although it was a faster road, it wasn’t nearly as interesting. We soon arrived at Auray and stopping at the Leclerc hypermarket we stocked up with some wine. Just north of Auray we stopped at a camperstop at Brech, best described as ‘adequate’. I spent some time reorganising the lockers in order to accommodate the wine before preparing dinner.
Photos: The Montreuil-Bellay camperstop with the former abbey in the foreground and the romantic chateau behind; The River Rhone near Gennes.

Thursday 16th October 2008 – Montreuil-Bellay, France

We were very lucky that we had good weather for our walks yesterday as today started with heavy rain. As we moved north through lots of forest and then more open country, the weather gradually improved. We stopped at Boudeilles, with its two chateaux perched on a hill over the river below. The village was very pretty and we discovered that it had a very pleasant camperstop next to the river with views of the chateaux. The village was obviously quite a tourist attraction and was also very arty. There was a festival of art based on recycling with signs to different sections all puns on the French for ‘exposition’ – ‘Expot’ had sculptures based on old pottery and ‘Expeau’ had sculptures in and around the river.
The next stop was Brantome where the town is surrounded by water. The town was positioned by the river and my guess is that the river was then partially diverted by the addition of weirs so that it surrounded the town. Across the river from the town is a monastery, now used as a very grand town hall.
We were now back into the area of prehistoric dolmens and mehirs and there were a number on or close to our route. We stopped briefly to view a couple of dolmens positioned next to a large spring that almost certainly had religious significance to the population.
We had picked another camperstop for tonight and this turned out to be another inspired choice. The large car park at Montreuil-Bellay was in the former priory garden, next to a meandering river and with a view up to a chateau and the town perched on the hill behind the priory. It was a lovely peaceful spot and we had time to wander up to investigate the town before night fell. Another highly recommended camperstop.
Photos: The watermill at Boudeilles; The chateau, river and weir at Brantome; The river at Montreuil-Bellay – the camperstop is a little way beyond the tower.

Wednesday 15th October 2008 – Perigueux, France

We had noticed that there was a market in the square in front of the cathedral and I headed there to buy some bread for breakfast. The market was large, bustling and had at least three artisan bakers. I chose one that used a wood fired oven, producing a large variety of different shaped, dark-crusted loaves. Most of these were very large and the half loaf that I chose would keep us going for at least three days. Needless to say, it was gorgeous, the wood fire producing a thick crust with a wonderful flavour.
The tourist information map provided two walks, one based on Roman Perigueux and the other on Historic Perigueux. We followed both of these, stopping for lunch back at Henrietta as we were never very far from the camperstop. The Roman trail was interesting, especially the ‘Temple de Vesone’ but the highlight was definitely the historic trail. The architecture in the old town is absolutely fascinating with a huge variety of stone buildings. These showed evidence of the changes in use and fashion over the years – timber-framed additions had been tacked on, windows changed or blocked up and new buildings shoe-horned into gaps between older ones. As always, the cathedral church was impressive but there was so much more to see.
After dinner we ventured out again as I wanted to take some night shots of the old town. The atmosphere was excellent with very few people around and some lovely lighting in the old streets.
Perigueux is a lovely place and I would highly recommend visiting it, especially with a motorhome.
Photos: I love French markets – they had taught these Merlu to do synchronised swimming!; A chandelier in the cathedral; A building in the centre of Perigueux showing many different designs of windows and the changes that have been made over the years; The River Isle at night; One of the many attractive Perigueux streets at night.

Tuesday 14th October 2008 – Perigueux, France

It was a warm but overcast morning with haze in the distance. It was time to start heading north away from the warm weather and towards the English Channel ports. The journey was through rather boring countryside until we crossed the Lot River at Villeneuve-sur-Lot. After that there were more hills and as we approached Bergerac a profusion of vineyards appeared. The vines looked very pretty in their Autumn colours, most of the grapes had been picked but there were still a few bunches on a few vines.
Our planned destination turned out to be an inspired choice – a popular camperstop on the river Isle and right next to Perigueux’s old town. We made the mistake of following some signs to the tourist information office. They turned out to be signs for vehicles (not that there was anywhere to park once you got there!) and we walked round a one-way system until we arrived back just a few metres from where we had started. However, the staff were very helpful providing us with an excellent walks map and telling us where the Internet cafes were located. There was one just a hundred yards away and we ordered drinks and settled down for over an hour of emailing and blogging. We were the only customers for the whole time and the bill came to €5.60 (£4.50). Given that recently we had been paying €5 just for the Internet connection, this was very reasonable.
We really liked what we had seen of Perigueux today and decided that we needed to investigate it further tomorrow.
Photos: A vineyard in the Bergerac region producing Monbazillac sweet wines; The camperstop at Perigueux with the old town and cathedral in the background; We never did find out why this Perigueux house was perched on the wall.

Monday 13th October 2008 – Toulouse, France

After a relaxed start we went into the centre of Toulouse and did a little more exploring before meeting up with Paul and Louisa at the Capitol. We went to the same restaurant as yesterday, the Bistro de la Daurade in the Rue Jean Suau. We had a real French lunch, all two and a half hours of it, and the food was excellent again. The conversation flowed and it was great to catch up with all of their news – it was hard to believe that it was over a year since we saw them last.
We all visited the church of Saint Sernin, this time there wasn't a service in progress, and then went on to the Toulouse Rugby shop. There was a tremendous range of clothes and other gifts – ten times that of Bath Rugby. And then we discovered that we were in the men's shop – there was a separate, admittedly smaller, shop for women! This is a rugby-mad city and the support for the club is huge as shown by the nearly full-house (perhaps 30,000?) at yesterday's match.
We said farewell to Paul and Louisa and I am sure that we will get together soon after we return to England.
Photos: We came across this shop in the morning – it sold all sorts of British food, including Marmite and we were running very low. Unfortunately the shop was closed on Mondays; The tower of St. Sernin's church.