Steve & Rosemary Blasdale

French Camping 2023, Day 24 Camping Nature

Posted on September 22, 2023 by SteveNovember 5, 2023

22 September 2023

Today was forecast to be dry during the morning, so we spent it wandering around the Pont-de-Vaux. Quite a few shops, plenty of hairdressers, no charity shops, some unusual shop fronts. One business must have been someone who produced posters/advertising. There he was working in the premises; the shop window was full of old type set cabinets. R was entranced by one where the drawers had purposely been built on a slope. There were also some old iMacs and a Philips computer. We stopped for a coffee, and also visited the small Intermarche for lunch provisions. We found & bought Kitale coffee! The walk back took us past more odd shops, more hairdressers, and another odd shop with clothing, the owner pounced out at us, so a hasty retreat.

Back to the van and we headed north to our next stop. Mainly on toll roads. The weather produced some horrendous rain with very poor visibility, which slowed us down. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the grounds at a service station. We watched a couple of EVs draw up to charge. France has so invested in EV charging on the motorways.

We got taken off the toll road earlier than I thought and proceeded up some National Road or other. Unusually I got a little tired and had to stop for a 10-minute power snooze.

We arrived at our campsite in Luxémont-et-Villotte, Camping Nature, small, we have been here before. Very rural, no chalets, just 27 odd pitches for tents and vans. Downside, 6-amp electricity, so induction hob not on full blast, but there was plenty of heat to cook duck breast.

R recalled the cats which lived there (she would). The Norwegian Forest cat appeared to have had an accident with his tail, but was still friendly. The owner said the black one was “sauvage” but R managed a series of strokes.

As the sunset, the local shooters were out in force. Lots of shooting and shouting in the woods, ponds, and fields below us. The weather improved, and the evening was almost cloudless, though a bit on the chilly side.

Bottle of beer with duck breast for supper.

Coffee from Kitale

Cooking Duck Breast

Camping Nature in the evening

French Camping 2023, Day 23 Pont-de-Vaux

Posted on September 21, 2023 by SteveNovember 5, 2023

21st September 2023

Packing up day, it was actually quite dry with some sun shine. The forecast suggested no rain for the day at the coast. The awning was mainly dry, the puddles inside by the corner had diminished, but there was mud everywhere. Managed to collapse the canopy onto its ground sheet and made a reasonable job of packing it away clean. I gave up with the compression straps on the bag, packed it away as best as possible. No big issue, no shortage of space. where the canopy is placed in the van.

One last goodbye to the black cat who was sitting at the doorway of the owner’s mobile. He had survived the frenzied attack by the unruly dog. R and owner happy.

We headed out aiming for a campsite at Pont-de-Vaux, Camping Le Champ d’été. We had once visited this site on the route back to England. Our intention was to visit the small town/village and walk around the boat basin on the small canal which joins the river Saone et Loire. I had penciled in a couple of nights. We arrived in the pouring rain, the reception was closed. There were a couple of other vans waiting, one French and the other American. How can American tourists always sound so obnoxious? Anyway, the receptionist did arrive, and we booked one night.

The forecast looked bad for tomorrow, with a possible small break in the morning. The days after looked good. We decided we would spend the night here, do a little exploring in the morning and then head up north during the rain to the next camp site, Camping Nature at Luxemont-de Villotte, where the weather should be fine.

We spent the evening sitting in the van listening to the rain.

French Camping 2023, Day 22 Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Posted on September 20, 2023 by SteveOctober 26, 2023

20th September 2023

Today the forecast was for crap weather. In the end, it actually stayed mainly dry for the morning and early afternoon. We headed into town for lunch. We had decided to eat at the Ambiance Tapas restaurant we had eaten at the year before. Town was eerily quiet, with a few restaurants and hotels closed for the season. It must be the recession, I am sure it was far busier last year. Last year, there were two boats doing the cruise up the Little Rhone whereas this year there was just the one. One bar/hotel we had drunk in last year after the cruise was closed this year. We stocked up on a couple of provisions including some fresh milk. We had a coffee in a small bar where we had once taken shelter from a rainstorm a few years back. We had our Zoom call with the SadGits by the church (I see a theme developing here), which we cut short from our end because of hunger pains and threatening weather.

We made it to the Tapas bar and sat inside, just in case it rained. We ordered the same mixed Tapas as last year. R chose the mixed, and me the sea food prominent one. We both had a Ricard as a pre-prandial. R wanted the glasses, not like our tall ones, but more tumbler shaped. The glasses had marks for the level of Ricard, and the water, before the ice was added.

After the meal, another walk around before heading home. We were nearly back, when the heavens opened, and the rain came in from the sea. Thankfully we had prepacked out waterproof ponchos which kept most of the rain off us.

Back at camp we dried off in the van, having shed our wet outer layers in the awning. Later, during the evening the rain came in hard, leaving puddles which needed navigating in the dark. Unfortunately, the awning was in one such puddle so one end of the canopy and the kitchen unit were flooded.

We were expecting more rain, during the night, but there wasn’t much. We had expected to pack up in the rain.

Lunch at Ambiance Tapas

Hummingbird hawk moth

Vintage sports cars

The bullring

French Camping 2023, Day 21 Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Posted on September 19, 2023 by SteveOctober 26, 2023

19th September 2023

Today we were up at the crack of dawn or as early as the side gate to the campsite allows, 8.00 am. It also closes at 20.00. It used to close later, and you could take a walk on the beach after sunset. No more, why? We have our pass to unlock the gate during the day time.

We headed of to see the flamingos, who were miles out in the ever-diminishing salt flat. We did see egrets and herons (rather like home) plus small birds, dragonflies and a stoat?

Back at the campsite, lunch and a swim in the sea for Steve. Later, R became very upset when a large dog, not on a lead (which is against campsite rules) went for the cat. There was a lot of shouting, and crying. Cat survived. Unfortunately for him, he was on a lead, so maneuvering tricky.

Supper was pork with fried vegetables, including potato.

French Camping 2023, Day 20 Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Posted on September 18, 2023 by SteveOctober 26, 2023

18th September 2023

After a sleepless night, I arose, and did a little more adjusting to the awning, tightening the guys and anchoring those fixings that had come loose.

Breakfast outside, overcast, but windy. A small percentage rain forecast and thunderstorms (which did not happen). We walked into the town along the coastline for a wander around. Searching first for a bar we like. A very small bar which served drinks only. We found it, The Poets Bar, closed, the owner retired and premises up for sale. Looked like it had been closed for a while. Such a shame, it was a lovely place, no pressure, and a pleasant owner. Unlike the bar we ended up drinking at . Seven euros for 500ml and surly staff. No tip left. As we departed, R remembers this had happened before at this bar. Why don’t we learn? R also double-checked with me to see if I wanted to run a bar. (I said no.)

We then searched out the Tapas restaurant we had eaten at before, Still in existence! This may be our Wednesday lunchtime destination.

Walked back, stopping at the small Intermarche for some food, wine and beer. No fresh milk, so opted for some Greek Yogurt for our cereal in the morning.

Back to the campsite for some cheese and bread, snooze, and then I went out with the camera. Not particularly successful. The water level seems to be down, so the majority of birds were a lot further inland than we’ve seen before. Grabbed a few pictures including dragonflies.

Supper was sausages, potatoes and mange touts, a pint of IPA for me, rosé wine for Rosemary.

Weather is now calm, which means the dragonflies are out in the evening, (good) and the mosquitoes are around and biting (bad), but at least not as prolific as they sometimes are. We once had a problem with ants here, but, so far, so good.

Rosemary spotted a French owned black cat and managed to get a picture of it cowering behind a washing bowl at his owner’s unit. He was very nervous and not up to a stroke. He was on a harness and lead. The owner much amused by R’s cooing.

Peaceful night tonight, and an expected sunny day tomorrow. Intention is to be out of the gate at 8.00 to visit the saltmarshes.

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.