Nearly Spain - But Not Quite

Friday 29^th August

Terrific thunderstorms during the night so we woke to a very wet campsite. After my shower and breakfast I paid the bill – a very reasonable fifty two Euros – we managed ASCI rates. We packed up and were on our way by 10.30am – not bad for us.

I drove for about three hours, then K took over for about an hour and a half, then I finished off, bringing us to the coast at Saint-Girons Plage. We stayed on a campsite aire at Les Tourterelles and went for a walk to the beach for a few hours. 

Lovely waves – a good surfers beach. The campsite is huge, so it may be as well that we are on the outskirts. We have to be away by two tomorrow, so we are hoping for good weather so we can perhaps get back to the beach. We plan to head south – maybe into Spain.

Saturday 30^th August

We arose, and spent a while getting ready to go. We left the site after twelve and a short spell later, a toll ride down the motorway, we found ourselves in St. Jean de Luz at a campsite named ‘International’ – a good site with spacious pitches, clean shower blocks, free hot showers and access almost directly to the beach, which was named ‘Erromardie’. The weather is very cloudy and quite damp.

We decided to stay for three nights. We chose our pitch, set up, and then explored the site and walked down to the beach for look around. It is a sand beach with quite a few rocks. Surfers seem prevalent again. There is a beachside restaurant which looks to be good. May try there. Back to the van for food and sleep.

Sunday 31^st August

Rose later than we had hoped and did a load of washing, which we had to put extra lines out to accommodate. After the usual ablutions etc. and waiting for the washing to be ready to be put out we went to the swimming pool and sat in the one o’clock sun without any kind of sun cream etc. We swam for a bit, and then went back to the van for lunch. After this we went to the beach and sat for a while, again, without sun protection for an hour and a bit, before succumbing to the overwhelming beat emerging from the seaside bar behind the beach (it had given me a headache), and returning to the site. Surprisingly I realised that I had become somewhat red in certain areas – more so than K, whose garden sitting adventures had prepared her somewhat more for the sun’s niceties. Sat around for a while watching the little gang of sparrows who were on the lookout for food and enjoying their dust baths.

Changing, we decided to visit the restaurant on site, as the beat from the seaside bar/restaurant hadn’t ceased. We order a starter to share of meats and cheeses from the Basque region, followed by mussels and frites for both. I had a beer, and K had a glass of rose. It was very good, and hard to finish, but we mostly managed.  It was a small celebration of K becoming free of the burden of employment after so many years. 

Monday 1^st September

Despite good intentions we didn’t get away from the van until 12.40, on the bikes, heading for St. Jean de Luz. We took lunch with us, and were looking for a nice spot to eat it. The ride was a bit up and down, some of it on gravel paths, which were a little dodgy. The promenade at St. Jean de Luz was pedestrians only, so we walked the bikes around a bit. The place was very pretty, with a sweeping bay of calm blue water. We found a slope down to the beach, and so sat and had lunch whilst watching people splashing in the water and looking in rockpools.

After about an hour or so we headed back to the site, which took about fifteen minutes. We decided to go to the pool to cool down – it was very warm at this point. A cooling swim and a little cautious sunbathing later we returned to the van. I went for a shower whilst K sat outside. I made a kind of long drink thing out of the not-very-nice ‘framboise’ wine the K had bought. It was cool (with ice), and went down quite well on a warm evening. I cooked lamb chops, potatoes and French petit pois – with a shallot and mushroom sauce. We both enjoyed this whilst listening to ‘The Last Elephant’ by Terry Pratchett.

Still in The Dordogne - Troglodytes and Stuff

Tuesday 26^th August

Woken up by rain drumming on the roof. That’s the story for the day. We decide to have a ‘day off’ and stay around the site. I find that I can pick up the free WiFi from where we are by using my big USB aerial stuck on the side of the van. K updates her blog. I do some washing. We put the awning out so that we can put up the portable washing line. It rains pretty much all day. We don’t get to use the bikes.

Lots of birds to watch when the rain does stop for a bit. They come out from the bushes and flit in and out of the trees. I even saw a Nuthatch climbing the tree closest to the van – just looked out the open door, and there it was.

We plan where we are going next. It seems that we are off to look at the caves at Lascaux II tomorrow, before heading south west.

Wednesday 27^th August

Grand sunny morning. Up and off after breakfast, heading for Lascaux II. Very windy road all the way to Montignac – passing a goose farm on the way. Arriving at Montignac the sat nav decided to be silly and direct us to a side street. We found our own way to Lascaux – only to find out that the only place that you can buy tickets is in the town centre!! Back to town and found the aire – which, I must say, is fab – complete with free electricity. We walked around – it was market day – and found the ticket place. Looked at the queues and thought ‘It’s only a replica’. Went back to the van and headed for ‘Le Thot’ – the companion to Lascaux.

We stopped off at a large Intermarche on the way and did a fairly large shop. Also filled up with diesel at their fairly cheap prices.

After snagging the bike cover on some barbed wire I parked at Le Thot and we gained entrance for the sum of seven seventy Euros each. Was it worth it? No. We walked around the animal part in about twenty minutes (going very slowly), and then sat and waited for the ‘animation’ at 4.30pm. The exhibition of primitive skills in stone and bone carving were interesting, and the guide showed us the many animals depicted on the exhibition walls through the use of UV light – when only a few seemed present in natural light.

Aurochs

An Extremely Sad looking Mammoth

We lost the crowd, and then realised that we were missing the augmented reality workshop. Following the sound of applause, K found a door and we entered to a large screen with a backwards facing camera and a projector which seemed to place prehistoric animals close to the audience, and some brave child volunteers. Interesting, but not that interesting, or long. We came in on the last animal of three that had been shown – a woolly rhino.

We left and headed for ‘St. Christopher’s Rock’. This is a natural limestone wall which has been occupied by humans for over 55,000 years. It has been a fort, and a city in the middle ages. We spent nearly an hour having a good look round, and then headed back.

We had promised ourselves a barbecue. I got the bucket out and started it up. We had ‘brochettes du porc’ and sausages, breast of lamb slices and with salad, I did a baguette some serious harm. We didn’t eat until quite late, but it was clear and warm and very nice.

Thursday 28^th August                                                    

The weather is still good. We  decided to stay one more night and visit some more things. We tried the Grotte de Gaume – but that had limited entry and all tickets had gone by the time that we got there. So on to the ‘Maison Fort de Reignac’ – a kind of cliff castle which still has all of its period furniture fixtures and fittings. It has been occupied for over 20,000 years.

We spent quite a while going around. It ends with a ‘Torture Exhibition’ which is internationally renowned, and which has toured Europe. It was horrific to see what torments we have devised for each other over the years – some of which are still carried out today.

Back to the van for lunch and then, after a quick stop at a goose farm, to the camp site to plan the trip down south tomorrow. I prepared a chicken dish for the evening meal, and it started raining again – (don’t think the two were connected).

The Dordorgne - Les Eyzies de Tayac

Monday 25^th August

Knowing that we were only moving ‘down the road’, we had a slow start this morning. The traffic noise was greater – this being a Monday, and there were quite a few vans moving off, whilst others arrived looking for spaces. I put the solar panel out for a bit to see if it helped charge the battery. The sun wasn’t very strong, and so the charge wasn’t great. It was working though. I was emptying the toilet cassette when a van pulled up and the driver got out and started talking to me in French. I got the gist of what he was saying and told him that he could stay the night for seven Euros, or two for fourteen, but that was it. He seemed content with that and went to park up. He could have just read the signs on the way in.

We headed off for an aire at Les Eyzies de Tayac, about half an hour away. We drove past some dramatic rock formations en route. Arriving there we found that it was market day. Not only that, but the market was held in the street which provided access to the aire. I realised this only moments after I had pulled into the street (!!). K got out and bravely held up traffic on the main street whilst I reversed out and carried on out of the town. We parked up in a field which formed the car park for a canoe business whilst we thought what to do.

We noticed a few others vans moving around – obviously having encountered the same problem as us. We drove back to reassess the street as we passed – no, still no way down. We stopped again – having gone through the town the other way this time – pulling in to what was, in effect, someone’s driveway. I consulted the ASCI camp book, the map, and the sat nav. In the end we decided to go far a camp site – and ended up with the one that I had originally chosen for us in this area when I was back in the UK (and they say that no planning goes into these trips…). As I was pulling away another van pulled in to the space where I had been – obviously they had no idea what to do either.

We went back through the town, again, over the bridge and arrived at La Riviere a few minutes later – after working which was the main entrance. It is a camp site built around and old Château – very picturesque. It was hot, and the sun was beating down. The time was about 12.30pm as I sought out the office. I got there just as they were shutting for lunch, and ‘Madam’ asked me to choose a space and come back in the afternoon. We did just that, choosing a pitch which was not too shady. We explored the site before having lunch. It has spacious flat pitches, separated by low hedges. There is electricity and plenty of places for water. It has a very nice looking swimming pool. The shower block looks very new, and the showers are clean, hot and free. Gravel paths lead through the site and there are also rooms to rent in the château. There are two shower blocks with the usuals plus dish washing, laundry sinks, chemical toilet disposal and there is also a camping car service area. It is a very nice site. As well as all of the above, there is a small shop and a restaurant. Free WiFi is to be had around the reception area and bar.

After we had lunch and I had signed in we got the bikes down and went for a ride into town. It took less than ten minutes on the bikes, and would have taken only about fifteen if we had walked. No cycle paths, so it meant riding on the narrow roads in the main – this can be a pain when you have quite a lot of traffic and you just know that they can’t wait to get past you. Especially worrying if the person is British guy who obviously has no concept of speed limits and/or road manners – yes Mr Nissan Shogun – I’m talking about you! We rode past the aire that we had originally hoped to stay in – it looked very good, with hedge marked boundaries, waste disposal facilities and a toilet. The market was gone by this time. We chained up the bikes in the centre of town and did some exploring, starting with a climb up some steps to a higher level where we were walking along below one of the overhanging outcrops of rock. Heading for the museum of prehistory.

A bit of walking and two delicious local ice creams later we made it back to the bikes and rode about a bit more – but there wasn’t much to see that wasn’t cro-magnon related. We rode back to the site, passing several canoe hire places that seem to be good value – five Euros for an hour seems to be about the going rate.

Arriving back we tie the bikes up and I cover them as it seems likely we will be using them the following day. We decide to have a go at the swimming pool and both change, wander over and gain access through the trick gate. All the sunbeds are lined up and occupied down one side catching the evening sun. We drop the towels and jump in. We almost jump straight back out again! The water should be twenty degrees – doesn’t feel like it is. We do some rapid swimming around and then get out and go for a nice hot shower.

Back to the van and I cook some salmon with slim potato wedges and red onion and yellow peppers. Whilst cooking I listen to a radio play adaption of Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Lady in the Lake’ (again). Bordeaux with the meal, and a listen to another audio story – this time an adaptation of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ by Irving Washington. It’s not at all what I expected.

Onward to Sarlat

Saturday August 23^rd

At the van we sat and had lunch outside as the rain had stopped and it had become very warm – however, the sky began to darken again, and we managed to pack away just as the rain started again. We decided to head for Sarlat, and a camp site that I had chosen. The journey took a couple of hours, and as we approached Sarlat we noticed an aire on the right of the road. I pulled into it and found the one remaining space. We discovered that the aire was only about ten minutes walk from the centre of town, so decided to stay there for the night. It cost seven Euros for the night – but as the next day was Sunday it cleared us until Monday at about 4.40pm, so we could stay two nights if we wished. OK – it was just a car park, and very near the main road, but very convenient for town.

We locked up and walked into town. It was warm and sunny now. Being Saturday, there was a giant street market on, and the place was swarming with people. We found our way to a central area and bought some drinks whilst sitting watching the people and the street performers. I had a Stella, and K had a cocktail named ‘Mea Culpa’ – which had a strange anaesthetising effect on the mouth. It was nice sitting there in the sun, and the drinks went down well. The person selling balloons from which they made hats, swords, shields and a multitude of other objects was doing a great trade with the younger clientele, and the white ‘Living Statue’ would perform whenever a coin was dropped in his box. He reminded me of a negative version of Charlie Chaplin – complete with cane and small moustache. After a while we walked back up to the van, stopping to buy a bottle of fizzy and some saucisson on the way.

Spent the evening listening to an Inspector Morse mystery, and into bed by ten.

Sunday August 24^th

The road noise didn’t keep us awake. It was fairly quiet after about 11.00pm, and the fact that it was a Sunday meant that the road was not too busy. I managed a shower in the van – that felt better! After breakfast we walked back down into town, taking a different route. It seemed much emptier without all the market stalls, and there weren’t too many people around to begin with. It was sunny again and the old buildings made a great backdrop. K had copied a walking route out of our guidebook (which was too heavy to cart around with us), and we tried to find the starting point for that.

After a while walking down back allies along towering yellow sandstone coloured buildings we realised that the map we were following was upside down – but it didn’t really matter. We had decided that we would stay tonight on the aire – so we could view the town at leisure. Walking along and taking a few photos we passed a restaurant that was in the lower part of one of the old buildings – at first we passed it and found the Tourist Information Office – but then we realised that it was a bout one o’clock, and so decided to go back to the restaurant ‘LesDelices de Lauralice’ for some lunch.

Le Patron greeted us warmly, and led us to a table for two. We declined an aperitif, and perused the menu. Opting for the ‘Menu a 15.50’, I chose a Pate de Foie Gras starter, Cassoulet de Canard main and a Tarte au Peche pudding. K opted for Saumon Tartar, Confit au Canard, and Vanille Glace. We ordered a demi carafe of Bergerac White, and some still Evian.

The starters arrived with great rapidity, and were delicious – as was the rest of the meal. A small piece of drama occurred when one of the waitresses reacted very badly to a customer on the Terasse to one side of the restaurant. We couldn’t see what he did – but she took great offence, and, slamming down a menu on a stack of similar, retired shouting into the kitchens. Then a younger waitress shouted “Il a partir”, and several staff members rushed after the apparent miscreant who had scarpered out of the Terasse side door. We were not sure if they caught him or not, nor even really what he had done – but after a while calm ensued and we returned to our meal.

We were stuffed. Managing to ease ourselves back onto the pavement, we headed for the Cathedral and another bout of sightseeing. Later, we made our way back to the van where we sat about feeling bloated. Neither of us is used to eating quite so much at lunchtime – but we felt as though we had successfully sampled some of the local delicacies.

No evening meal today. We continued listening to Morse – in fact we finished it, though come the end we both wished that it could have come to a speedier conclusion. Off to bed. Moving on in the morning.

Oradour sur Glane

Friday August 22^nd

Still sunny in part, but a little overcast this morning. I went for a shower – in cold water as it turned out – before we packed up and left about 11.00 am. We headed for Limoges down the toll motorway – cost 18.5 Euros for the bit that we covered. The drive took about five hours with a short break to change drivers and have lunch. We were heading for an aire, and were pleasantly surprised when we got there. It was well set out and landscaped, with hardstanding plots for the motorhomes, separated by small hedges and even toilets and a washing up area. K said that the loo was better than the one on the campsite, and it was free to stay on this aire.

We passed a supermarket on the way in, and so got the bikes down when we had parked, and made our way back to it to buy some provisions (beer). Next day we were glad that we had put the bikes away properly, with covers, as it rained quite a bit in the night.

Saturday August 23^rd

After breakfast we took our rain Macs with us as we set out to walk to the memorial for the town. It took about fifteen minutes and it was raining fairly hard by the time we got there. On 10^th June 1944 the German army made an example of the town of Oradour sur Glane by killing everyone in it – some 642 men, women and children.

The town has been left as a memorial to that day and it stands quietly falling into decay. It is a very sad place to be, especially in the cemetery, where you can see pictures on tombstones, and whole groups of families buried together. Many of the remains could not be identified, as the soldiers had defiled the bodies – mixing them together and burning them. In the cemetery there is a memorial with two glass caskets showing the burnt and charred broken remains of human bones. We both got quite emotional and started a quiet walk back to the van. We passed through the visitors centre – which has exhibitions and information about what happened in the town.

To Chartres by Walking Along The Eure

Wednesday August 20th

Headed off to Chartres by 10.30. Saw a great little steam train as we left the Bay all the carriages were full of people. Three and a half hour trip down to Chartres, stopping at Pont d’Larche for lunch by the river, in the shadow of the church. 

Lunchtime stop

Staying at ‘Des Bords de l’Eure’ municipal site. Drove through some really heavy rain on the way down. The site was nice looking and quiet but a bit dated – especially the loos. There was only one what I would term as ‘normal’ toilet in the men’s area – the other three were of the ‘French’ type where you have to squat and could lose things down the hole if you are not careful. Just how do you flush those things and not get your feet wet? An air freshener or two wouldn’t have gone amiss also. The showers were pretty much the same – could do with an update. The first shower I had was OK – but next morning there was no hot water by nine o’clock.

We could set up where we wanted, so chose a pitch quite close to the shower block. Subsequently found that it was a bit too shady – necessitating K to do her ‘search for sunlight’ later in the stay when sitting outside. Lots of people coming and going. I get the impression that this place is mainly a stopping off point where people stay only for one night – or maybe two, like us. I made pasta in a beefy bolognaise sauce for food. Off to explore Chartres tomorrow. 

Thursday August 21^st

Woke up to sunshine and after breakfast we set out for the town centre. Found a path that ran alongside the river Eure right into town – so that was good. Took about thirty minutes easy stroll to get there. We found a place with quite a few motorhomes parked up - some had obviously been there all night. An unofficial aire, then. 

We looked at some churches and the cathedral. The famous Chartres maze in the cathedral was covered by chairs – so it took a while for us to spot. Found a spot for lunch in a small park overlooking the town. Took a walk around the rest of the town, visited the tourist information place, and then returned to the site.

There is a ‘Chartres Illuminated’ event on at the moment, and we could see the lights and projectors everywhere. We decided that we couldn’t wait the four hours until it got dark to see the spectacle, and so we returned to the van.

At the site we sat in the sun with a glass of wine for a while, and I worked out routes for our next stop, Oradour sur Glane – the Martyr’s Town.

To France Via The Tunnel

Tuesday August 19^th

Left home at 8.30am and made good time to the Tunnel terminal with no stops and got there by 12. K drove all the way on the motorway. Good weather all the way. Quick visit to the loo and buying of some magazines and it was time to board the train. I drove the van onto the train.

Lunch in the train and we were there. I drove out, and down to our usual aire on the beach at Le Crotoy on the Baie de Somme. It took about an hour and a half, but the aire had quite a few spaces, and it was still sunny, so that was good. It cost five Euros for the night - paid into a machine - so you need the right change in coins.

We have walked into Le Crotoy before, along to the other aire which is a bit closer to the town. It’s quite a ‘seasidey’ place, with bars etc. We went for a walk on the beach this time and looked at the bay – the tide was way way out and there was a cool wind blowing – so we didn’t linger too long. It’s an amazing bay. Quite a lot of people on the beach though. Got the chairs out and sat for about an hour reading and having a drink. It became rather cold so we went in and had food whilst listening to a radio play. In bed by ten. Major thunderstorms during the night – woke up with the van in a puddle.

Baie de Somme