Ending Up Anywhere

We hadn't intended on the Alps being our second summer holiday destination; it was a snap decision made at 9pm in Calais after checking the seven-day weather forecast. Although we'd have two days of showers, they'd be followed with five days of uninterrupted sun, compared to the rest of France which looked set to have a wet week. Our course adjusted, we headed south as I scanned our All The Aires book for a well-located aire that would break the journey fairly evenly and allow us a cheap night's parking. We ended up on one of a few motorhome spaces just outside a village campsite. We were in bed by around 2am and the pitch cost just €3. Our journey south continued for six hours on Saturday, seeing us stock up with a week's provisions at the last Lidl before our final destination. We assumed the supermarket in the village in which we'd be staying would be small and expensive and we did really well in buying just enough to last the week: three p...

How do you accidentally end up in Italy when you were heading from the UK to St Malo in Brittany? Our original destination for our fifth continental-European adventure was supposed to be St Malo. When we arrived in Calais I noticed the week-long forecast of rain. So we quickly abandoned our plan and drove south towards sunnier weather. While Tony drove I booked seven nights at Camping Indigo Vallouise in the Alps on my phone's mobile internet. We stopped at an aire overnight before continuing the drive the next morning. Our sat nav's quickest route took us through the Frejus tunnel. Neither of us had any idea this would see us enter Italy. I think we were in Italy for 30 minutes. I also think we should have had a warning plate on our bike rack for Italy and ours was back home under the dining table. Anyway, it was certainly a relief when we re-entered France!

The final part of our fortnight camping trip around France was spent at Domaine Les Gandins in the village of Saint-Germain-de-Salles in the Auvergne in central France. This was our third visit to Domaine Les Gandins this year. We stumbled upon the site through the Cool Camping website and I'm pleased we did; it's idyllic. We were warmly welcomed back by the family owners like old friends. On the first two occasions we'd shared the site with two other tents at the most. Even then I could see it would be even more magical when it became busy in peak season. It's a paradise for young children and I'm sure we were the only party there without any. Normally I'd hate having so many kids running around but here I wasn't the least bothered. Everywhere you looked there was a small person. Bouncing on the trampolines, swimming in the pool, playing in the tree house or wendy house, or pootling around in one the many go-karts. British kids mixed ...

I knew immediately upon arriving in Millau that our three nights here wasn't going to be nearly enough. We detoured on our approach in order to drive across the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge. While impressive enough from the drive across, it wasn't until the following day that we'd fully appreciate this feat of engineering when we cycled underneath it. We stopped at the viewing area for photos before changing course for our campsite destination Camping Indigo Millau. Two rivers meet in Millau, the Tarn and the Dourbie. Our campsite was in the right-angle corner where they meet and boasts a long pebble beach on the bank of the Dourbie whose clear waters flow swiftly past. Our first afternoon was spent on this beach, in the sun, and swimming alongside several families and dozens of children floating past on rubber rings. There were many kayaks going past too which inspired us to hire one the next day. Our first full day in Millau ...

We left Flower Camping Soleil at 7.45am, arriving in Carcassonne by 8.30am before it became crowded with day visitors. The old walled city is a medieval fortress on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Cleopatra's height with bikes on the back meant we couldn't park in the nearest car parks, but an aire de camping cars was only a short distance from the old city and so we parked up here alongside another VW campervan. As we drove past Carcassonne four days ago and I could see it from a distance it looked mightily impressive. Up close, the restoration looks a little too Disney and I was rather unimpressed. I've played Carcassonne the boardgame almost 3,000 times and so maybe I've built it up to be something it could never live up to. Or maybe I've seen Rhodes old town, and apart from Carcassonne's little roofed towers, it's all the same - filled with shops settling tat, and overpriced restaurants and bars, sucking all authenticity out ...

So I mistakenly said in my previous blog post that we'd spent the day on the beach at Narbonne Plage. I must correct this immediately, having now been to said place. Narbonne Plage is like a smaller San Antonio in Ibiza. It lacks any character and is full of tacky shops and bars. We have actually been spending our beach days on the stretch of sand between old Gruissan and Narbonne Plage. A beach fortunately not filled with the people staying in Narbonne Plage. On our first full day we spent all day on the beach. On the second and third we saw sights in the mornings before spending the afternoon on the beach. Yesterday we cycled inland and uphill to the Notre Dame chapel. We set off early so that the uphill ride would be more bearable in the intense heat. It was a nice ride, though we chose the shortest route that involved some stony paths rather than road. The view from the top made the journey worthwhile. We could see all the way back down to the sea for miles ar...

We'd planned to be waiting at the campsite‘s barrier at 7am, the allowed time to enter or exit the site, but we didn't wake until 7.15am. Then it would take another half an hour to pack up, fold down the roof and have Cleopatra ready for driving. Still, we hadn't lost too much time and were still hopeful of journeying from our first holiday location on the west coast of France to our next scheduled four-night stay on the south coast by the time the campsite allowed arrivals at 2pm. The French farmers had other ideas though. They had decided the best way to have the French government reconsider cutting their farming subsidies was to burn tyres on the only bridge exit from Oleron island. The carriageway was closed and we simply joined the queue of vehicles foolish as ourselves to believe they may get to their intended destination in any kind of good time that day. The police, of course, did nothing to prevent the burning of tyres. Instead they posted someone...