Steve & Rosemary Blasdale

French Camping 2023, Day 19 Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Posted on September 17, 2023 by SteveOctober 25, 2023

17th September 2023

Up to get croissants and bread for breakfast and lunch. Packed away the damp awning and the van for our travel down to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. I decided to avoid the pay roads, and also wanted to ride the road from our present campsite along the Ardeche Gorge. So programmed Google maps to go to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, but added a stop at Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche. OK, seemed fine.

Set out from the campsite, and Google wanted me to turn left not right, there was a quicker route than going down the Gorge. No problem ignored her, and turned right. She recovered and accepted that. We stopped off at many viewing places along the gorge, admiring the gorge, goats, cars and canoes. The viewing [places all had maps and markers as to which they were.

This was Sunday morning, so the motorbike clubs were out in force on the winding road, meeting up at various viewpoints on the road. We also saw a number of classics cars pass by on the road. We waved at them and they waved back.

Again, Google butted in and wanted us to turn off on a quicker route than our tourist route. Not a problem, ignore her and she accepted our intent.

Things got sticky as we entered Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche, some strange directions. I twigged eventually, I had placed an intermediate location on some random place in the town. Told Google to drop the stop, and we continued on happily, until hunger occurred.

France has millions of places on the road side to stop for lunch. Not here. We suddenly saw one, too late. I could not anchor hard, because of another French trait; drivers in France love to drive right up your bum. No way could I put on the anchors without being rear-ended. So, we missed this section of road with loads of eating spots.

We did eventually find a road along the main route, where we could stop for a cheese roll.

Onward we travelled, and were soon at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The 30 km into there is a lovely drive. We tried to ignore the rain but instead admired the numerous riding stables and whte Camargue horses. Set the speed limit to 80km and up and down it by 1 km to keep a reasonable distance behind the car in front. Totally flat, smooth, wide and meandering road.

W arrived at the camp site, the check-in wanted passports, R refused, pointing to the Camping Card International. No, they wanted the “real one”. R tapped it again. They gave in. We’ve stayed here several times, it may be a huge site, but well positioned for the salt marshes as well as the town. We’ve never had to hand over passports before. We paid our deposit on the “beach gate”. We entered the huge site, chose a site and pitched up. Quite windy. The awning was a bit of a pain to erect.

Walked along the coast, could see the track where the air rescue ambulance had landed earlier. A couple of Gendarmes still hanging around. Wonder what had happened. The sea was very rough. The two restaurants on the beach were not doing much business.

Walked back and cooked a chicken breast meal, with tomato, rice and mange touts for supper.

During the night I regretted putting up the awning. The noise from the flapping kept me awake. The wind was well over 30 kph. Eventually, at 1.30, I got up, disconnected the awning from the van, and anchored the ‘bridge’ twixt the two to the ground with tent pegs.

A short digression about tent pegs. My newish black German pegs* are a doddle to get out of the ground. If it’s a difficult peg to remove, slip another German peg through the handy hole in the top and pull. Failing that you can rotate it, because the top part is welded onto the peg. Our Lidl pegs, though thick, have a plastic top. This plastic top has a hole, but it is too small for another Lidl peg. Also, the plastic rotates on the metal peg. Final moan, the Lidl pegs are more difficult to remove, and so cause me great frustration. i admit that they are definitely a step-up from the original totally useless, plastic awning pegs – hit a rock, they shatter. But the Lidl pegs are better than the standard UK pegs which bend at the slightest obstacle. We have a collection of bent tent pegs. I totally recommend the German pegs and will buy another pack of 12, even thougth they are expensive.

* TaylorHe EXTRA STRONG TENT PEGS Pack of 12 Black 25CM 10inch Heavy Duty Metal Steel Tent Pegs

French Camping 2023, Day 18 Grotte Chauvet

Posted on September 16, 2023 by SteveOctober 25, 2023

16th September 2023

Ground wet outside but managed a Pain-Au-Raisin run without getting wet. Dropped the canopy, for another drive out today, we were visiting Grotte Chauvet, or rather Grotte Chauvet 2, the replica. The original cave near to Pont d’Arc was discovered 30 years ago. Only researchers are allowed into the original cave. A replica complete with the replica cave drawings was built nearby.

We arrived early for the one English commentary, booked our slot for 11.20, and went to visit some of the other offerings. Everything was automated. Gates with a countdown timer, doors opening, and the closing and presentations started without a human involved.

We were ushered into a hall with projected masterpieces of animals on the walls. Some I recognized, others were beyond my art historian knowledge. The projectors showed a seamless image on four walls of a large room. After a while, as we wondering if anything was going to happen, (a few people left at this stage), the images started to change, some moving, birds appearing and walking around the frames. Twee, but we had 15 minutes of this to go. Then the imagery got going, we were plunged into the Ardeche scenery in different seasons and ages. The animals on the painting roamed the walls. Suddenly the ceiling appeared to descend, then I noticed the ground was dropping as we descended to the cave. It was so disorienting, I actually felt nauseous. We were presented with further imagery of trains, cities and finally the pictures on the walls reappeared. Very clever.

We left, thinking we would look at this again, but alas we didn’t.

We went on to the exhibition that gives an overview of the cave’s discovery. and history. Humans drew images on the walls 36,000 years ago. It then became sealed by a landslide 30,000 odd years ago, preserving the paintings until now. It was time for the main course, and we headed over to the replica cave and our tour. We made our way there and waited. Here we had a human who came out every 10 minutes to usher the next group forward. Like clockwork and on time, it was our go. We were issued with headphones. Oh, I thought a prerecorded tour, no it was to hear our guide above the other guides in the space of the replica cave. They also served to block out the screaming children who seem to be taken on this trip.

It was a facinating walk through the artificial recreation of the cave. The pictures were full height, but the cave was smaller. I assumed it zig zagged, while the real cave was straighter. I didn’t ask and nobody else did. No pictures from the cave, no photography allowed.

Well worth the visit. It sounds dreadful to visit a replica but a really clever way to preserve the original, a lot of which is still unexcavated.

We then drove to see the Pont d’Arc itself, a natural bridge. We had to park on the far side as the West side carparks were limited to vehicles under 1.8m high. We had to pay to park. The arch looked grand. I only wish I had taken a canoe trip.

French Camping 2023, Day 17 Vallon-Pont-d’Arc

Posted on September 15, 2023 by SteveOctober 25, 2023

15th September 2023

We walked along the riverbank today, thinking about hiring a canoe. Waited where we saw lots of people get their canoe, but nobody from the hire company appeared to be around. Continued the walk down the river, stopped for a drink at another campsite, this was called Camping De L’ile. There were many campervans at this campsite. This looked a positive place to stay, but R had a nose around the loos and vetoed it. Too many squat loos. Walked back along the road.

Afternoon swim in the pool.

Started to rain on and off during the night.

French Camping 2023, Day 16 Aven d’Orgnac

Posted on September 14, 2023 by SteveOctober 23, 2023

Thursday 14th September

A bright sunny day today. Off to the campsite shop for bread, Pain Au Raisin, and a Pain au Chocolat. Today we unhitched the awning and drove over to a Grotte, in this case Aven d’Orgnac.

Discovered in 1935 by a potholer named Robert de Joly. The cave, Aven d’Orgnac, is located near Orgnac-l’Aven, in the Ardèche. It was discovered in 1935 by Robert de Joly and has been open to the public since 1939. It is, apparently, one of the most visited attractions in the area.

You can see the original entry point in the main cave, high above you. This access point at the top of the cave is where some light enters and a dummy person lowering themselves to the ground. To get to this cavern there were 270 steps built for us tourists. Many stops later, we had clocked up 700 steps, some up but mainly down.

The cave was fabulous, I even saw a bat flying in the main cave. The guide only spoke French, for non-French speakers there are a number of short audible tracks you can download to your phone, Do not understand how the human French guide talks for 15 minutes, while the English guide on the download talks for only 2 minutes. Thankfully listening on my noise cancelling pixel buds, I cancelled out the screaming Australian brat who had been dragged down into the cavern to the annoyance of everyone else, including his parents.

There was some spectacular stalagmites, where you could see water dripping onto them.

At the last stop we were plunged into darkness, and then listened to some music with lights illuminating different parts of the cave we had descended to.

This apparently was a small portion of the cave. Other areas are reserved for potholers, and a further section reserved for researchers.

Back on the surface, a quick lunch. A sandwich shared between the two of us. Enough for us oldies, a Magnum for me but coffees for both of us.

A rush around the museum, which went into the history of the area, the Neanderthals, and humans, and how the humans won out. Google translate with the camera works wonders.

Back to the campsite, laundry for R, and a swim for me.

Supper was duck, and a tomato, red pepper, onion side with some bread. Simple and yummy. Of course, washed down with a pink wine

The bats did not give us a proper show tonight. Very few about.

French Camping 2023, Day 15 Vallon-Pont-d’Arc

Posted on September 13, 2023 by SteveJuly 16, 2024

13th September 2023

We awoke to rain and some thunder and lightning. We got off quite lightly, the forecast was for more during the evening and night.

When the rain stopped, I rushed off to the shop to get a couple of Pain Au Raisins and some Pain. Breakfast, then walked into the town. This is a 20–30-minute walk into the centre. There are lots of narrow streets, cafes, and tourist stores. We visited the church, where there was a lovely area overlooking the valley, factory belching out smoke and river. Good phone signal in that area.

An aside about pains au raisins. We bought some in Lidl at one stage. The receipt called them “escargot de raisins”. Never seen that before, but can understand it.

We had a beer and a coffee in the center, before decamping to the church to have our Wednesday zoom call with the SadGits. We then rushed back to the campsite for our lunch, before the predicted thunderstorms. Sitting here at 14.00 the predicted thunderstorm seems to be a wimp. A short shower and some distant rumbling. Not a lot to write home about. Anyway, we are taking it easy this afternoon, planning to do a Grotte tomorrow. We spent some of the afternoon drinking different varieties of local beer, and feeding the local wildlife with crisps. Quite a few bats came out at dusk, flying up and down the alleys between the trees. The tree next to us was ringed in toadstools.

This evening the campsite next to us was very noisy. They had a DJ set, which though bad enough, was accompanied by the crowd singing along and screaming for more. Still, it stopped well before midnight, so we really can’t complain. Oh, to be young again.

French Camping 2023, Day 14 Vallon-Pont-d’Arc

Posted on September 12, 2023 by SteveOctober 23, 2023

12th September 2023

Overslept today. My phone had run out of electricity overnight. Not sure why, so no alarm. Rosemary says her phone was also low. My phone was on the excellent free wifi that they have at the campsite. Looking at the wiring alongside the roads, I think most of France is now on fibre to the home. Presumably a much easier task to complete in France with their overhead cabling.

We packed up the van in the dry and at 11.am headed down to the Ardeche. No toll roads on the route, adding a toll would increase the time of travel by several hours. The trip took in the main motorway down south, and then turned off heading across country towards Le Puy En Velay (which we’d visited last year). Never quite reaching said town as we headed further South into the Ardeche. Here we had a spectacular downhill drive for seemingly ages. I wonder what percentage gain in battery charge you would have by the time you reached the bottom.

Stopped off at a shop in Aubenas, ‘Le Jardin Provencal’ for a few provisions. Large selection of local wines, meats, fruits and vegetables. R was not impressed by the quality of the fruit, she had to sort through loads of peaches to get ones that were not damaged.

Hey ho and onward we travelled arriving at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc at our targeted campsite of Rives d’Arc. We arrived at 15.30. I say campsite, they call themselves an ‘Hotel de Plein Air’. Yes, it is mainly chalets, and many newer ones, because you can still see the hookup points in areas where there had been camping, but now it is chalets. R was taken by some of the chalets on the east side where they looked very smart and were built amongst some dense vegetation for privacy. It reminded her of the smart lodges in Namibia. The company appears to have recently bought another large field which they have planted out with trees but so far no buildings. The place has a couple of restaurants, two pools and a small store.

We set up in a reasonable area, not too far from the shower block, bought a bottle of pink from the onsite shop and settled down for the evening. The onsite shop sold beer, wine, several varieties of bread and also had fresh fruit and vegetables. It did not close for lunch!

French Camping 2023, Day 13 La Garandie

Posted on September 11, 2023 by SteveJuly 16, 2024

11th September 2023

Rain at some time before 7am. I was forced outside to ensure the induction hob was not getting wet. Of course the rain immediately stopped.

I set out for a walk over 3 volcanoes. They were Puy de la Rodde, Puy de Charmont, and Puy de Vichatel. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the track for the first volcanoe, and only have the track from the top of Puy de Charmont. Odd because I was using the app in tracking mode to see where I was going. Somehow I deleted it, or it was not saved. The first hill, there was no official route to the actual top. Easy long walk, then some off-piste walking to get to the top. A tree! Going back easy paths in the main.

On to the next peak, I had to walk through a local village, a short interaction with villagers and their dogs, cut short with my “Je ne parle pas le Francais”.

Followed the the path to the next volcano. This one seemed a straight up and down. The peak on the map does not coincide with the actual height point where there was a desolate pile of stones.

Then down a steep gradient, blocked by a felled tree. Walked across a road, and then a gradient up to a third peak. This was a gentler walk up.

I saw nobody on this walk so far other than the two women and their dogs. Nobody else.

There was now a ground level walk back, during this I saw another 4 people on paths nearby, a cyclist coming from the opposite direction, and a rucksack carrying woman heading in my direction

It was about 12-14 km for the walk. Somehow, I lost part of the track on the phone, so I can’t be entirely sure.

Shower today, my feet well beat up and dirty.

Supper was puy lentils, sausages, onions, red pepper. Another one pot excellent meal on the induction hob.

A Belgian VW T25 parked next to us. From the 80s which has been in the family for 25 years.

The French girls were very much quieter tonight, or we dropped off from tiredness.

All washing up completed as we are moving on tomorrow.

French Camping 2023, Day 12 La Garandie

Posted on September 10, 2023 by SteveOctober 22, 2023

10th September 2023

Quite cool in the morning, the higher altitude does make a difference makes a difference. Breakfast of Pain Au Raison and cereal. I am in trouble, apparently, I should have eaten the Pain Au Chocolate.

This region has a large number of small extinct volcanoes. Several within easy walking distance of the camp site. The first on the list was Puy de la Combegrasse This vocanoe has two peaks and is not covered by trees. There is a well-defined pathway up. There is also an observatory on the way up, so the skies must be dark, despite the campsite.

A small number of groups of people made their way to the summit, where there was a good view of the Puy De Dome. Paragliders were flying around above the Puy De Dome, where I have flown once before. Later we saw one paraglider near to us, whether it had flown from Puy De Dome or elsewhere, we don’t know.

Cheese and bread for lunch and planning our Tuesday getaway when the weather turns worse.

After supper, breast of duck, pan fried divided between the two of us, the par boiled potatoes are then fried in the duck fat, while the duck rests, then after the potatoes are cooked and removed, the juice of a tangerine is added to the pan and reduced for a sauce. Unfortunately, a separate saucepan was required to boil the green beans. All done on one induction hob, one saucepan and a frying pan.

If I was converting a van today, I would definitely install a lithium phosphate battery, solar, and an invertor to generate 240 volt AC and an induction hob for cooking, totally dispensing with gas.

After supper I walked back up the hill to the observatory to try and take some pictures of our galaxy. A sight not often seen in the UK. I was yet again amazed at how good my Android mobile phone is at sky shots.

Yet to download process, and backup the pictures from my camera. Actually, I could probably have done that, the internet at this site works well on the mobile phone, though the laptops seem to fail. No issue; can hotspot from the mobile phone. I do believe the French have got their act together and have rolled out FTTP (fibre to the premises) in quite remote regions.

Back from my nighttime walk well past 11. Thankfully most of the lights at the campsite are off, except the blinding light that is switched on by the motion detectors at the entrance.

Some young French girls kept us awake until midnight with chatter and laughter. Oh, to be young again.

French Camping 2023, Day 11 La Garandie

Posted on September 9, 2023 by SteveOctober 22, 2023

9th September 2023

We upped sticks today, packing away. Our Scottish friends were on their way also. Amazing how wet the underside of the groundsheet was, this despite the heat and lack of rain. It had rained a few days before we arrived.

We decided to use the toll road but headed first to the Intermarché HYPER at Montpon Menesterol to buy diesel and groceries. It looked like a big supermarket, but actually was quite small with a rather poor selection of beers and food. But we managed to load up with several days of food and drink, and made our way to the motorway, heading for the volcanoes.

The trip was fast, although we did stop for a picnic lunch. The service station was so full, we parked on the grass. Nice to see so many electric vehicle chargers. Some though were being used for parking by ICE cars and not for charging . I suspect the occupants were lazy and wanted the shelter of the canopies. I refer to this situation as the chargers were ICED.

There were a number of wildlife bridges crossing the Motorway, they were significantly wider than a road bridge, and arched. The trees and bushes growing on the bridges looked very well developed. Some of the bridges were wooden clad with reliefs of animals.

We arrived at the camp site Camping Volcanoes in the small village of La Garandie, near Aydat and Lac d’Aydat We were expecting great things, this site was a ‘Nature Site’ with composting food waste. It was rather short of electricity points, and some were miles away. We were setting up and suddenly realized we could not connect to the power, we were too far away, so we moved to another spare pitch. We watched the same situation unfurl with other campers. The next arrival to us found his cable could not reach, he was replaced by another van with a longer cable. Another van arrived and found that there were only 3 sockets.

Now we see why this site is not an ACSI site, it was expensive, had no loo paper (getting more common again in France) and no guarantee for an electric hookup. This was a pretty poor show. We are booked here for three nights. I don’t want to drive out for the day in the van, someone would probably nick our electric connection.

The campsite had quite a few hikers and cyclists staying in small huts or tents. We saw an elderly couple leave the next morning with their rucksacks. The campsite has one of the GR walking routes running right by it.

On the way to the campsite, we went on to Aydat. The small town was heaving with people. Being a warm, sunny Saturday had brought out thousands of French, presumably from Clermont-Ferrand.

Like so many campsites, there is too much artificial light, and you have to move outside the site for some darkness. Then you are blinded by the gateway motion sensitive arc light as you leave and enter. Still, I believe I saw the milky way.

France - La Garandie

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French Camping 2023, Day 10 Rauzan

Posted on September 8, 2023 by SteveOctober 17, 2023

8th September 2023

Steve took an early morning walk to a nearby lake, Base de Loisirs de Blasimon, 6km away. The walk was mainly on small roads through vineyards, and pleasantly wooded areas. At least two of the vineyards had family burial tombs located near the roads.

As I left Rauzan, I walked past a breakers yard. All very high security fences and CCTV. One of the gates opened and you could see 100s of cars awaiting their fate.

The last stretch of the outgoing walk was on a track leading down to the lake. I arrived at the lake, it had three arms, each dedicated to different activities. one was nature, the second for fishermen, the third for recreation, swimming etc, with a white sand beach.

The first leg, the nature area, had a few moorhens in the very weedy waters. The trees surrounding this section of lake were turning into some beautiful autumnal colours.

I walked back to the van for lunch and a swim in the afternoon heat. It reached 32C in the shade. The phone is suffering in this heat.

Tonight, the world-cup enthusiasts were watching the first rugby match.

The background Video shows the activity in the campsite composting bins.