Month: April 2019

The Silver Machine is parked up in an Aire looking up at Cordes sur Ciel, a spectacular hilltop fortified town in Tarn in the heart of the Occitanie region. We decided to stay here three nights because the town has a really nice feel to it and the area has so much to offer. It’s a large aire, parking up to 40 vehicles, 6€ per night, and with all basic services. As well as a ticket you get a token which can be used to buy 3 hrs of electricity or 100 litres of water. We needed to take on water but the solar panels have been working so well that electricity is not a concern.

Cordes was built in the early 13th Century as a Cathar strong hold. Over the years the people have suffered the cruelty of the inquisition, fought the English in the 100 years war, suffered from the Black Death and been under siege by the Huguenots in the wars of religion.

Cordes became a back water in the 17th century, with the building of the Canal du Midi. It wasn’t until 1940, 300 years later that artists began to take up residence, that the town became recognised again. Today Cordes has about 50 artists and craftsmen in residence all year round. It is an exceptional place, relatively untouched by time, it still feels like a medieval town, possessing a laid back charm and friendly welcome.

The cycling, it has to be said, is also amazing. charming villages, spectacular castles, quiet roads and big rolling hills, and considerate motorists, what else would you want.

When we first left Sarlat-la-Canéda on Sunday morning, were heading first for Rocamadour, then planned to stay the night in Figeac. We had plenty of time so rather than set the sat. nav. and allow it to take us straight there we decided to head first for Domme on the Dordogne, then head south for Gourdon.

You can see Domme perched on the top of high cliffs, as you approach it following the Dordogne river on the D703, so it’s no surprise when signs start to appear informing you that there is a 3.5t weight restriction in the village. What did surprise us as we turned onto the D46 was the 3.5t weight restriction and the sign denying access to motorhomes. The map hadn’t made it clear that, presumably, the D46 passes through Domme on its way to Gourdon.

We had to carry out a tricky reverse, turning left into a narrow allow to extract ourselves from the situation. I must say, contrary to popular belief, the French drivers were very patient. Instead of heading for Gourdon we decided to follow the Dordogne, as far as the road would let us before heading south for Rocamadour. It’s a lovely road to drive, if not a bit challenging for a 7.5 metre motorhome. At times the road squeezes though gaps between the limestone cliffs and the riverbank and passing places are required.

You definitely go wow, when you first catch sight of Rocamadour, spectacularly built almost vertically on a cliff face high above the Alzou stream. We walked first to the Chateaux before descending the 229 steps down into the town itself. There is a lift but that was never on the cards. Rocamadour has been a site of pilgrimage since medieval times, mainly because of the miraculous ability of the Cathedrals Black Madonna and has nine chapels.

We had planned to spend a few days in Figeac, but because of an upcoming May festival, all the areas we knows we could park up we’re cordoned off. Another tricky reverse later and another plan formed we were on our way to Cordes sur Ciel. We are sure Figeac would have been a good place for the night, but Cordes has been something special.

Well, our luck with the weather finally ran out. It stayed dry for our short 22 mile trip to Sarlat de Canida, but as soon as we got parked up, it started to rain. We had planned to have a wander around the town them move on to Rocamadour for the night, another short drive away, but as the rain just got heavier and heavier we decided to trudge back to the Silver Machine, have lunch and sit it out.

We’re tucked away, in a free car park, on the Rue Marc Delbreil only about half a mile from the medieval centre of Sarlat. There’s no services other than buckets and surprisingly there there is only one other motorhome staying the night. We say surprisingly because when we passed the official Aire earlier on today, it was absolutely chocked full with little space between motorhomes and people paying 7€ for the privilege.

We saw enough of the town to recognise that to give it justice, we really needed to stay the night here and explore more once the rain stopped. It did stop only to start again……several times but by the middle of the afternoon the sun finally came out and the rain disappeared for the rest of the day.

When we first hit the town, the Saturday market, which spreads itself around the streets of the centre, was in full swing and there were a lot of people milling around. By the time we returned many of the stalls were gone, there were much fewer people around, and with the sun out Sarlat looked a much different place.

The old town, or the vieille ville, is one of the best preserved medieval villages in France. It comprises of pretty, honey coloured fifteenth and sixteenth buildings arranged almost haphazardly, with narrow cobbled alleys, winding round and occasionally through them. The vieille ville is almost entirely pedestrianised, but most of the streets are so narrow you couldn’t get a vehicle through them anyway.

It was well worth changing our plans to see Sarlat properly. It was really pleasant simply wandering around the town finding something different to be fascinated by around each corner. We finished the afternoon by having a couple of beers on the terrace of the Jimmys and as ever, simply watch the world go by.

As we leave St Emilion on the busy D936, and head to our next stop at Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, the road the road passes through Bergerac, for about 55 miles, vineyards continue to dominate the landscape. Following the advice of Apple Maps, we swing onto the D32 which winds its way for the last 30 miles of our journey, through the most beautiful French countryside and through some really lovely villages. The road starts off fairly narrow and gets narrower as we get nearer our destination, but the scenery is so nice and almost traffic free, we don’t mind at all. In all honesty, if I had planned the journey on a map, I would have gone for a more main route, but this was a drive not to be missed.

We had thought we might move on from St Emilion yesterday, as the weather forecast was mostly rain and we thought we’d be better off driving to our next stop. When we got up though there was enough blue skies to think that it might be better to stay to explore the countryside around St Emilion and take the tour of the Winery.

And we’re glad we did. We managed a 37 mile cycle through the St Emilion vineyards, over the rolling landscape and past countless Chateaux. There is literally vineyards as far as the eye can see and some of the Chateaux are really impressive.

By staying, we also managed to get on the tour of the Winery with an excellent lesson in wine tasting at the end. So the main thing you have to remember is that the next time we visit, you have to open the red wine an hour before we arrive. We can tell you the rest once we get there.

The vineyard itself is five hectares, has 21,000 vines, 85% of which is Merlot and 15% Malbec and produces excellent wines. Monsieur Dupuy, the owner himself, gave the tour and it was excellent. Unmissable even. Although his son now runs the vineyard, the fifth generation to do so, Monsier Dupuy has lost none of his love for the vineyard and his passion for making wine shines through his whole approach to the tour. He took us through how to make the wine, when and how to open the bottle, how to pour the wine, look at it, swirl it, sniff it, slurp it, mash it and finally drink it.

When we drove off this morning, Monsieur Dupuy came out of his house to wave us off. What a fantastic place to stop.

The Silver Machine is now parked up in Les Eyzies, a lovely little village in the Dordogne, in the heart of the beautiful Vezere valley containing many caves containing amazing prehistoric drawings and artefacts. Co-Magnon skeletons were first discovered here in 1893 and since then about 30 sites prehistoric have been opened to the public attracting around 3,000,000 visitors each year.

The aire can hold about 50 motorhomes. It seems as though it is a former campsite, so it’s very good and only a stones throw from the village centre. There are toilets and a service point (water 2€) and the Aire costs 6€ per night. Not bad really. When we arrived there were only 2 motorhome but there are now 15, all French. It occurs to us that it some time since we have seen a British motorhome.

The nearest, and some of the most important caves, the Font de Gaume are just a short walk away. Only 42 people are allowed in each day and tickets are sold only on the day. The forecast for tomorrow is rain again, and as we would have to start queuing at about 7am to guarantee tickets when the office opens at 9am, we’ve decided to give it a miss this time. We will be back though at some point in the future.

We’ve been dodging the rain all day but we managed a short walk around the village and a visit to the abrí Pro Magnon museum without getting too wet. The village exists to cater for the many tourist who pile in, but despite this it has managed to retain plenty of character. Climbing above the Main Street, the houses are build into the cliffs and look as though they are emerging from the very rock itself.

The abrí Pro Magnon Museum show cases the site where the Pro Magnon skeletons were actually found. The museum also includes poster board displays and film to set the set the context of the discovery within the overall prehistoric era and bring the exhibits to life for the visitor. At the end of the visit you are directed around a path, which snakes up hill, and where you trigger loud bird and animal noises. Information boards explain what the creature is that you are listening to and why it would have been important to the Pro Magnon people. You could see how kids, in particular, would enjoy this walk, although having said that, there it was pretty good for us too!

The Silver Machine is parked up in Chateau Artaud de Jacquemeau, for the night along with 5 other motorhomes. It’s a beautiful setting 2kms from St Emilion, with grapevines as far as the eye can see. The Aire itself is free, but has not services and electricity is available at 5€ for 24 hours. We have a tour of the vineyards and a wine tasting organised for tomorrow, it seems to be available to anyone who stays the night, What could possible go wrong!

It’s been raining heavily since late last night and it was thunder and lightening when we arrived here mid afternoon. We were really fortunate though as the rain suddenly stopped, the sun came out, and remained that way allowing us a chance to walk into the town and return dry.

We had never really given much thought to what St Emilion would look like……its absolutely stunning and well worth a visit. The fortified medieval village is built in a horseshoe shaped hollow, open at one end. The main square is build at the bottom of the hollow and the buildings and narrow cobbled streets rise up the three remaining sides.

It really is all about the wine! There are hundreds of individual producers within the St Emillion appellation and at least 23 wine shops within the town itself. There is one small supermarket. If you are looking to find anything else, forget it!

We eventually stayed 5 nights in Les Sable. Our plan had been to head for St Emíllion on Monday, but as the forecast is rain rain Wednesday onwards, we have decided to stay here for an extra couple of nights, take advantage of the better weather and instead travel in the rain.

There’s a lot of things to like about about Les Sables: the promenade; the beaches; the myriad of bike paths, and the opportunity for all forms of water sports. In typical gestalt fashion though, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. I think that this has much to do with the relaxed feel of the town and the friendliness of the people. The weather has also been stunning which of course always helps a lot too.

Although the campsite is about 2.5 miles from the Grande Plage, the nearest beach is only about half a mile from the campsite with bike/ pedestrian paths heading off in both directions for miles. The nearest supermarket is just round the corner from us with a nice bar/ restaurant next door. What’s not to like and all for only 16€ per night!

Over the 5 days we cycled along the coast in both directions, beautiful sandy beaches alternating with rocky outcrops and managed over 100 miles. The weather was really nice, the terrain flat and the drivers really courteous. Cycle paths navigate cyclists along the beach front and through the busy centre of the town and at any point where the roads were inclined to get busy. Cycling heaven!

We walked into Les Sables d’Olonne every day, a long walk, but very pleasant. There was a Kayak Surf Competition over the weekend we were there. It was interesting to watch but don’t really think they were getting the waves they were hoping for.

We are now back from St Emilion, sitting in the Silvermachine, listening to the rain batter off the roof and watching the cycling, Tour of the Alps, on Eurosport. Next up Man U and Man City, the data’s taking a battering tonight!

The Silver Machine is parked up in Camping Les Fosses Rouges set in a pleasant suburb of Les Sables-d’Olonne, in the Vendee region of France. The main attraction in the Vandee is the 80 miles or so of beautiful beaches, but we’re here hoping to get some good weather and get some quality cycling in. We’ve booked in for the Easter weekend but we might stay a bit longer if the weather holds out. At 23 degrees it’s certainly hot enough at the moment.

The voyage from Poole, on the ferry Barfleur, was pleasant enough, especially once we escaped the early morning fog which hugged the English coast. We stayed the night inside the ferry port which you can do for a tenner, and includes access to toilets and showers. We had a peaceful night and it was handy waking up first in line for the check in booth.

Our first stop was Le Mont St Michel, a pleasant 2 hour journey through the Cotentin peninsula. We were staying in the nearest aire to the island, 4kms away, which is as close as you can drive. Although it cost 17€ per night for no services, it is the starting point for the free bus shuttle service and the pedestrian/ bicycle path.

We cycled the 4kms along the excellent bike path to Mont St Michel in the evening. The weather was starting to warm up and it was a pleasant start to our stay. The next day we walked to the island, it was a good way to get some decent photos, and took the free shuttle service back.

When you first see the island in the distance as you drive past Avranches you really do go wow! Our 2005 Rough Guide to France describes Mont St Michel as “a fortified hotch potch of Romanesque and Gothic buildings clambering to the pinnacle of the graceful church”. And that pretty much describes it. Once you walk through the fortified entrance, it is like walking back through time. The cobbled streets and shop fronts date back to medieval times, unfortunately they are full of tourist tat being sold for exorbitant prices, but I guess that is only to be expected.

There are a number of ways up through these ancient buildings to the Abbey but the main route winds up the hill in an attempt to offer a reasonable gradient and is the most interesting.

The Abbey itself is worth the 10€ entrance fee. Once inside it seems much bigger than it looks from the outside as you are signposted round what feels like a labyrinth. Everything is now plain grey stone but in the the idle agaves it would have been very different with most of the public areas covered in tapestries and frescoes. Compared to many of the magnificent cathedrals we have seen on our travels the main church is really stark in its absolutely plainness.

We moved on the next day and stopped in Challans for the night, We were past halfway to Le Sables-d’Olonne and the aire was central, free and had all basic services. Challans with a population of 20,000 turned out to have a very pleasant town centre, with reduced traffic flows, which made very it nice to stroll around. There is nothing of outstanding interest in the town or surroundings but it is a great place for a stopover and to chill in the evening. We had a wander through the centre, had a couple of small beers sitting outside one of the cafes and just watched the world go by.

We have made to feel very welcome at the campsite so far, our pitch is great, the forecast is good so we are looking forward to the weekend in Les Sable-d’Olonne.

Or at least we will be on Wednesday. We’re off once again in the Silver Machine and have just booked the 8.30am ferry for Poole to Cherbourg. After that we have no idea what our plan is.

The Silver Machine is presently parked up in the Caravan and Camping Club Site in Oxford. We’ve been here many times before. It’s a great location for the centre, and Oxford is one of our favourite cities. We only really came here as we were dithering what to do next and gave ourselves the weekend to make a decision.

We had originally planned to spend a bit of time in Cornwall to include a visit to Paul and Wendy, a couple we worked with two Summers ago, but the weather is much colder than we had anticipated and as we are due to see them again in August………decision finally made: we’re off to France!

It was really nice to be in Oxford again though and as we have been here now so often we really just chilled, had a few beers, did some culture and searched for our inner Tolkien.

We left Insch 11 days ago on Friday 5th and have had a pretty hectic journey so far. The first weekend we had a christening party just north of Chorley with most of Christine’s family there. It was a great seeing everyone and the christening was a lovely event. Have a great life Iris and thanks to Ashley and Liam for inviting us to this special day.

When everyone headed for home on the Monday, we headed for Wales. We had never been to Wales, so a trip was long overdue. We particularly wanted to visit John and Frieda, friends who we met in Camping Villasol in Benidorm. They were our neighbours on our first stay there and great neighbours they were too.

We spent our first night in Conwy in the Conwy Holiday Park situated high on the hill behind the town. We only stopped here because it seem about time to stop, but what a great choice it turned out to be. The centre of Conwy is contained within massive walls and protected by a magnificent castle dating back to 1287. The walls, built on the orders of Edward I, are regarded as one of the best sets of medieval defences in Europe and you can walk much of the circuit around the town.

We had a pleasant wander around town on the afternoon we arrived and slipped in a visit to the castle the next morning before we left.

It turned out that John and Frieda were great hosts as well as being great neighbours. They stay 5 miles outside Caernarfon and had organised for us to stay at Grafog Farm, a small campsite just about a mile along a cycle path from their village.

Caernarfon itself is lovely, the castle spectacular, but situated on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, it is the the landscape of North Wales which impresses most.

John and Frieda gave us a tour of the area, starting first at Penrhyn Slate Quarry, itself impressive just through sheer scale, but it is now home to Zip World and the fastest zip line in the world. Wow! You wanted to see these brave people screaming, literally, all the way down. We followed this us with a lovely walk up to Lyn Idwal, lunch at Betws-y-coed and finished with a fascinating visit to the National Slate Quarry at Llanberis. Don’t ask me to pronounce any of these places, but it was a great day out and I would recommend it to anyone.

Sadly we had to say cheerio to John and Frieda and headed off to Aberaeron, a pleasant coastal town on the west coast of Wales. On the way we stopped off at Portmeirion, and so glad we did. It’s a Italian Riviera meets beautiful coastal Wales kinda place.

Build by Clough Williams-Ellis in two stages between 1926 and 1972, colourful buildings rise spectacularly above a central piazza. In itself the village is well worth a visit, but to those of us of a certain age, we know it as the film set of the sixties cult hit series the Prisoner. Parts of the village we could still remember vividly along with scenes from the show. It just didn’t seem like that long ago since we watched it. Spooky.

So it off to Cherbourg tomorrow then heading south until it gets warmer. That’s the extent of the plan so far. As you’ve gone to the trouble of reading this blog, maybe you you could suggest somewhere that you’d like to read a bit more of and send us off on a recce for you. Now there’s an idea.