Welcome to our little home on the net. We are Steve & Rosemary and live in Buckinghamshire, UK. This is a blog of our life, sometimes interesting, but mainly boring. It is very picture orientated as Steve loves to take pictures, especially of wildlife. Sometimes he has his arm twisted by Rosemary and takes the odd snap of a weed.
France – Camargue, Day 1
11th September 2022
Packed away in the dry and left Moustiers-Sainte-Marie for the Camargue. We headed west to the A51 motorway but stopped at Manosque for some shopping. It was a Sunday, so the supermarket was only open to 12.30. The butchers, fishmongers and cheese counters were not open. There was a limited selection of fresh flesh, so opted for some Tuna. The vegetable and fruit area of the supermarket was a disaster. Old, wrinkled peppers, grotty small selection of vegetables. French supermarkets have lost the plot. We complain about UK supermarkets only serving the best vegetables, and why don’t they serve ‘off’ vegetables. Well go to France, the only fruit and vegetables sold in the supermarkets are off, and the selection is so poor in comparison to the UK.
Anyway a few beers and bottles of wine, and some bread, and we were on our way. Quick stop for some diesel at 1.72. I see some fuel stations sell add blue at the pumps. Not seen that in the UK.
Headed to the A51, stopped at a service-come-fuel station for the loo, and our packed lunch bought at the supermarket. Off again, and then on to Arles where we headed south to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, and the campsite Camping de la Brise. Google informed us that it was four years since we had last visited here. We booked in for 6 nights. This site has now joined the ACSI group of campsites. We pitched on a large plot near to where we had previously pitched. It was hot, the dragonflies were flying as well as the less welcome mosquitoes.
A couple of beers later we were ready to eat our fried tuna and potato and bean accompaniment. The sparrows around us, were only too willing to eat any crumbs around us.
Our electricity supply did not work, so some deft use of the Leatherman had the powerbox open, and the trip switch reset. (16amp)
All settled now after dinner, sealed in our campervan away from the biting mosquitoes outside. The dragonflies were very active before sunset, flying erratic courses in their pursuit of the mozzies. Just wish there were more hungry dragonflies around.
France – Burning Carbon
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.
Rosemary loved this BMW bike and side car at the campsite.
France – Vultures
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
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
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.