France – Burning Carbon

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10th September 2022

Another lovely day in France. Today was just a day of driving around the hills of the Verdon. We started off heading on the D952 to Lac de Sainte-Croix. During the morning it was a vivid blue and looked beautiful, surrounded by white beaches. But we couldn’t find anywhere sensible to park – several low 1.8m barriers blocked our way.

Instead of enjoying the boating, we headed for the hills and drove to Aiguines where we had a coffee and a sandwich. This town hosted an amazing museum of wood turning, specifically turning boules, before the French turned to using solid metal spheres. The museum was even more amazing in that it was open during lunch. These boules were turned out of box wood roots, and then were encased with nails which resulted in encasing the wooden sphere with metal. We both picked up a mallet that was typically used to knock in the nails. Very heavy.

After the museum stop, I insisted we travel on a route to Pont de l’Artuby on the D71. This road was on the other side of the gorge we had travelled on yesterday. It was a lovely ride with precipitous drops down into the gorge. We arrived at the bridge and watched humans plunge off the bridge to the floor below, to be saved by the elastic thread attached to them and the bridge. Shades of our trip to New Zealand.

We continued our journey on the D71, turning off to onto the D90 to descend to Trigance. After passing Trigance we turned left onto the D955, heading North along more precipitous gorges. All along the way we had motorbikes following or coming towards us. It was a hot weekend, so the bikes were out in force.

At Pont de Soleils we turned west) onto the D952 and headed home, passing through Point Sublime. Along this route are deep valleys, we saw vultures gliding into their homes. Now we were on home territory, so continued on to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, making fast passage until we caught up with two motorhomes who only turned off our route a kilometre from home.

Rosemary purchased a couple of local beers from the campsite, brewed only 200 meters away. A brown and blonde ale, flavoured with honey. Not session ales at 7.00 and 5.9, but a delightfully different taste.

Supper was Puy Lentils (imported!!) with tomato, red pepper, lardons and onions.

I enjoyed the journey, these narrow, steep and precipitous drives are exhilarating. Rosemary was meant to enjoy the scenery but turns out she was worried that she would end at the bottom of a valley, or that Morrison would be scraped along the mountain side.

BMW motorcycle and sidecar

Rosemary loved this BMW bike and side car at the campsite.

France – Vultures

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9th September 2022

Today we took Morrison on an outing into the Verdon Gorge. First, we visited Rougon, a small village on top of a cliff overlooking Verdon Gorge. Here we ate lunch at Crêperie Le Mur d’Abeilles. We had visited the same Crêperie three years before on the geology trip. We initially sat outside, but a few droplets from the sky saw us scurrying inside. This was soon over, and we went back outside before our crêpes arrived. The vegetarian aubergine and tomato crepe was so delicious. We caught glimpses of vultures in the distance, spotting a maximum of six at a time. Too far off to photograph.

We went back down the hill turning on to the D952, heading back in the direction of Moustiers, and at the Auberge des Crêtes we turned up on the D23 to where we could get a good view of the Vultures. When we had passed this junction on the way to Rougon, the road had been closed. It was now open in the afternoon. No idea why it had been closed.

This road is a fabulous road to drive on, with switchbacks, tight corners, precipitous edges and tunnels. In one section it is one way, and so should be driven only from east to west. We stopped at the second pull-off on the route, which is Belvedere de Trescaïre haut. This stop is only a mile along the road, and parking for several cars, and precipitous cliffs. You are safe with the sturdy fencing.

We stopped here for several hours and waited for the vultures. There were not many around at first, but they came eventually. (French lunch?) There were several other photographers with large lenses, a Nikon, Sony, and my Canon, and then another Canon materialised. One motorcyclist who did not have a camera said he came every couple of weeks to photograph the vultures. He usefully pointed out new vultures while you were concentrating on a receding bird.

One thousand pictures later, we left and continued the trip around the D23. Coaches do the same trip, not sure I would like to drive around some of the hairpins and narrow tunnels in a coach. The drivers though were arrogant, one forcing a car at Belvedere de Trescaïre Haut to leave by reversing up to them and forcing the occupants to make a strategic departure. I think I would have stuck to my guns and not moved on.

On the route we stopped off at several viewing spots to snap a few pictures. It was interesting to see the valley from different perspectives.

We arrived back at the campsite for a well-earned beer and then supper, but first we reattached the awning to the Morrison.

France – Moustiers St Marie, about the town

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8th September 2022

We were camped just outside the town, on the main road which bypasses the town. Opposite the campsite entrance was a fuel station with some very cheap diesel at 1.73 Euro. Cheap for a rural area. We then heard that Total was cheap everywhere and was well over 30 cents cheaper than its rivals, even on the motorways.

Moustiers St Marie is on the Western entrance of the Verdon gorge and is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France, it was our day to explore and see if this was correct.

During the night there was thunder and lightning followed by rain. A wet and soggy awning in the morning, but bright sunshine. We walked into the town, mainly uphill along foot paths and narrow roadways. I would be scared to drive along some of these narrow roads with seemingly impossible turns to enter narrow garages built into the rock cliffs. It was a pleasant enough walk to enter the village. For the lazy there was one of those small road trains that ran every 30 minutes. This intimated the village was popular…

Moustiers St Marie was hosting some sort of celebration, tables and chairs had been positioned outside the church. Amplifiers and staging were also delivered. There was a village ‘bring your own celebratory lunch’ taking place. Lunch, well the music went on until eleven in the evening.

We spent the morning and early afternoon wandering around the village. Very touristy with lots of people walking around. Restaurants and cafes doing reasonable business, most seemingly taking cash and not cards. Again the quandary, we only wanted a beer and a sandwich for lunch. Sandwich was fine, there were shops selling them, but where for the beer, as all the bars/restaurants were set for lunch. We did find one bar willing to sell a beer. We had a couple of beers and some baguettes, the heavy baguettes made with a mixture of grains, not the wheat and air ones. These were a tasty and relatively cheap lunch.

There were also several sculpture exhibits scattered around the village, some looking impressive against the blue sky, others looking very odd.

I took a hike up to the chapel situated between the two cliffs where the star was suspended. During the night of the celebrations this star was lit by a spotlight. Must check to see if this is the case tomorrow, Friday. After climbing the 262 steps of the Way of the Cross, on the flank of the hill, you reach the chapel that overlooks the village. The seven oratories which in the past marked the path were replaced by the fourteen Stations of the Cross in 1860 and were decorated with ceramics made by Simone Garnier. The Chapel Notre-Dame de Beauvoir was built in the late XIIth century on the remains of a Marial temple erected in the Vth century. It unites a Romanesque style and Gothic influences from the XVIth century. Like other Alpine chapels, the vocation of the sanctuary of Notre Dame de Beauvoir is the “suscitation”. In the XVIIth century, stillborn babies came back to life for the duration of their baptism. Their souls could then go to Paradise. The Chapel of Notre-Dame de Beauvoir was listed as a historical monument in 1921. Ok, ok – enough from the guidebook.

We walked back down to the campsite, and vegged out during the late afternoon. During the evening after sunset, I took a few photographs of the village at night. The village was in full flow with music from their celebration.

France – Route to Verdon

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7th September 2022

Packed away the van in the dry and set off to Verdon. Stopped at an Auchan for some food and filled the van at 1.78 a litre. The road took us through some uplands which were ski areas. The markers by the road in place in case of snow drifts. Large numbers of cyclists attempting the hills. We also entered some very zig zag roads as we travelled. Eventually we met the autoroute and headed towards Marseille and the south. There was one big rainstorm as we travelled down, this soon stopped when we left the toll road. Soon off on the D roads heading east, and then towards Sisteron along the EDF canals. Short stretch of toll road, and then it was half an hour to our campsite at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie at the start of the Verdon Gorge. Nice site with lots of trees and green grass.

Pitched the awning for the first time. Rested with a glass of wine, and yesterday’s leftovers along with a lettuce imported from England. Rosemary caught sight of a star hanging between cliffs. It then dawned on us that we had stopped here three years ago on the Geology trip after we had spent the night in the Refuge et Observatoire du Mont Chiran. What a coincidence.

Thunderstorms advertised for tonight, then lots of sunny weather for the next five days.

France – Le Puy-en-Velay, Day 3

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6th September 2022

Today we had a slow wander around Le Puy-en-Velay. Our first stop being the Lace Museum, which despite the advertisements, no longer had the automatic machine for making lace. Such a swizz. There was a passing reference to UK lace making, which made R cross because of slight inaccuracies over bobbins & spangles. (Apparently, not every county has spangles on their bobbins like Buckinghamshire, but few counties were even mentioned.)

R surprised by the street decorations, not exactly the normal flags.

We ate a very good sandwich lunch in a cafe, where I had stood and watched the previous night’s entertainment.

More walking to where I thought I had watched more of the night’s entertainment.

The Hotel de Ville had a garden outside, complete with a vegetable section with tomatoes, aubergines, chillies etc. An old, stooped lady was gathering her meal for the night and eating straight from the plants.

The city boasted a somewhat huge Hotel Du Departement. Hotels de Ville we’ve seen before but never a Hotel Du Departement.

France – Le Puy-en-Velay, Day 2

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5th September 2022

This was our sightseeing day. We headed out and both of us walked up the Rocher Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe. This chapel was built in 969 on a volcanic plug, 85 metres high. There are steps all the way to the top. Some good carved angels. Swallows were soaring in the breeze around the rock.

Back down, then up again to the cathedral, and down Rue des Tables to have lunch in a cafe, of course we ate Puy Lentils. We had not realized that this town was The Puy Lentil town and had in fact imported some.

We walked back up Rue des Tables to the cathedral. The entrance to the cathedral is up yet more steps. When inside, looking back, the entrance looks like a hole in the floor, descending to the street and back on down the street. The cathedral is a national monument and is a centre of pilgrimage. It forms part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. I then went up the Notre-Dame de France. This is a statue cast out of 213 Russian cannons captured during the Crimean War and given to the town of Le Puy-en-Velay by the Emperor Napoleon III. You can climb up inside the statue and peer out of the top, or through numerous portals on her side. The statue is bolted together from many sections.

Back down on earth, we visited a small supermarket, and then back to the campsite for supper.

After sunset I went out to see some of the son-et-lumiere being displayed in the city. Various stories were being told by projecting images onto the buildings or volcanic plugs. I did not manage to see them all, there were 9 in total scattered around the city.

  • Le Rocher Saint-Michel D’Aiguilhe – A story of the creation of the volcano, then the church.
  • La Chapelle Saint Alexis – A music festival
  • La Cathedrale Notre-Dame – The history
  • Place Du Plot – Products of the Land
  • La Mairie – The colours of France

Puy de Lumieres – Video of five sites

France – Le Puy-en-Velay, Day 1

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4th September 2022

After the night parked in Jen and Bev’s, we played again with Lottie the dog before departing with J&B to Brantôme en Périgord, where we had a coffee in a cafe run by a couple of South Africans. A quick look around, and then we headed our diverse ways, J&B back home and us onto Le Puy-en-Velay.

Why Puy-en-Velay? We had never heard of it. I drew a line on the map from Cussac to the Verdon Gorge, our selected destination. Then I selected a campsite halfway along the line, preference given to campsites in a town. Puy-en-Valey came up, it looked interesting with its volcanic history. There was an ACSI campsite in town, as we prefer to be within a short walk of shops, restaurants and bars

The drive to Puy-en-Velay was fairly tedious, again a slow route across country on minor and departmental roads. Some areas were ski resorts, and there were road markers for the inevitable winter snow. The highland moors were being patrolled by numerous kites and buzzards. Never seen quite so many. We eventually arrived after 5 and half hours at 17:16 and took the very last pitch available in the campsite. There were at least two other vans waiting behind us. We set up under a tree and had supper.

Steve with a wasp sting on the lip.

The drama of the day occurred after the sun set. I took a last swig of his beer without looking and offended a wasp who was having a drink. The wasp stung me on my lip. Rosemary removed the quite large barb from my lip and administered internal and external antihistamine treatment. We both reread the instructions on the EpiPen in case it was needed. Other than a swollen lip, which partly subsided during the night, the services of the hospital next door were not required. R issued a new standing instruction to check glass & bottle before taking a swig – crunch & stinging sensations should not occur.

France – Jen and Bev

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3rd September 2022

A shorter trip today and drove to Jen and Bev’s new (to us) home. In 2020 they had moved some 4 miles from their previous home which we had visited a few times before. On the way, I filled up the van. Morrison had achieved over 600 miles on the tank with plenty more to go. Found fuel at 179 euro a litre, significantly cheaper than the UK. Later we found if you filled at Total, the price was down to less than 160 euro a litre.

Rosemary has known Jen since school days (ie a long time). Amazingly they still have much to talk about.

Lottie their dog entertained us all by chasing one of her balls as we admired the many small birds on the feeders. Mad creature wants you to throw her ball. Unfortunately, she never quite brings the ball back to you to throw. It was exercising the humans, who had to get up and retrieve the ball to be thrown again. A Labrador puppy should be arriving late September, so Lottie will have a young dog to teach. Jen also feeds a couple of stray cats, but at night, so they rarely see them.

We went out for a quick snack lunch in a local village. Coming back, we set up the van for the night in their driveway.

Later in the evening we went for dinner at Auberge de la Vallée de la Gorre in Saint-Auvent.

Both the restaurants we visited were British owned and run. As you can see, the Auberge had a stock of English beers for the Brits.

France – Arçais, Day 2

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2nd September 2022

A complete day in Arçais. I went for a morning walk and an afternoon walk through the woods and along the canals. Typically walking into many dead ends and having to retrace steps. The chain ferry was closed, so I was unable to walk on the northside of the canal. Google maps is not particularly good for walkers. I did use the Outdoors app, which actually showed the paths, and where they ended. I wish I had started using it earlier.

Rosemary went out with Linda once to meet someone Linda knew who was staying in the town and again to the local farm to buy mogette beans and other bits. This year Linda bought only 5 kg. They watched as one customer bought 70 kg. Even allowing for the weight of the pods, that seemed a lot. Perhaps they were buying for their entire village?? Not sure if Linda will bottle or freeze the beans.

Vegetarian lasagne for supper in the garden. Entertained by Furbie. He was actually called “Forban” (aka pirate) when they first got him, but they thought “Furbie” easier to say. He is a very lovely Griffon Korthal.

France – Arçais, Day 1

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1st September 2022

We were only staying a couple of nights at Le Bec, so in the morning we packed and headed south to Açais to meet Mike and Linda in their now expanded estate. The drive down was slow, again missing the toll roads. The experiment with 80kph roads had been partially revoked, with many of the larger roads going back to 90kph. Google still thought they were 80kph. We shared our location with Linda through Google Maps, and she appeared outside as we arrived. She had noticed we were eschewing the toll roads and had wondered what had happened in Niort. We had stopped to buy wine and had also been held up by a traffic jam there.

It had been four years since we were here last. Since then, the family had purchased the next-door house, barn and field. The house had been renovated and they live there now. The barn was in the process of being renovated into a home for their son. I would most definitely like to live in the new barn when it has been completed. It will looks fabulous.

Morrison, the T5 van was parked around the back of the house and connected to the electricity. Dinner of spatchcocked chicken, vegetables and oven roasted Tesco potatoes was in their new garden along with their charming dog Furbie.

The night started with a very low, very noisy fly past by a military jet followed a bit later by a tremendous lightning storm with some torrential rain. The storm finally passed overhead and disappeared into the distance.