Luxémont-et-Villotte Archives

French Camping 2023, Day 27 Camping Nature

Posted on September 25, 2023 by SteveNovember 7, 2023

25th September 2023

Another sunny day, just wish the nights were a little warmer. The site is well shaded by trees, so ideal for a hot sunny day. The trouble is at this time of year you need as much sun as possible. We didn’t get the sun until quite late, so breakfast was a little chilly. The afternoon was better, we were in the sun for this. As evening came around the sun also started to be hidden by hedges.

In the morning we walked up the canal in the opposite direction to the lock. They were working on it. Was this the reason the water was low in the canal?

We checked out of the campsite and took down the awning (shed). I pumped the air out of the struts, and with a lovely dry canvas was able to get the awning into its bag and was even able to do up the compression straps, and tighten them by several inches. A real success.

French Camping 2023, Day 26 Camping Nature

Posted on September 24, 2023 by SteveNovember 7, 2023

24 September 2023

Another lovely day.

We wished our daughter a very happy birthday

The English couple left today, the German woman on her own was going South, she was interested in Flamingos, so we suggested Saint Maries. She wondered if the poor tabby cat had had his tail trimmed in the French poodle style. R not amused.

a red VW campervan turned up with a v clever registration> One of the owners said it was an easy one to remember.

We walked along the canal in the morning, much more traffic today, quite a few out on their Sunday constitutionals. Though why have music blaring as you cycle along the path? We walked to the grain silo, and then back by the road to home. On the road back we passed a new poplar tree plantation, maize and sorghum.

In the afternoon I went for a walk to the campsite lake, spent a little time snoozing in the sun, and then played with the camera. I experimented with photo stacking for different focus points. Eventually that worked out so I was able to take some reasonable flower shots which were in focus.

Walked back up to the campsite, passing the football site.

Lovely evening with blue sky and vapour trains. The sparrows were in full volume, and some bats came out to play.

Some Germans arrived in their van after dark at 20.38, directed in by R.

Tonight’s dinner was green beans, sausages, tomato and onion, and a bottle of fizzy pink.

French Camping 2023, Day 25 Camping Nature

Posted on September 23, 2023 by SteveNovember 5, 2023

23 September 2023

Rather chilly during the night, Winter is definitely on its way. Today looks to be a gorgeous day. The weather managed a very short shower before we left the campsite. Various other campers, including an English couple, were walking or cycling to the nearest large village for the market. We ambled over to the lakes. Much more formal now, signs prohibiting non campers’ entry to them. The lake division had been completed, and there were fences not allowing further access to the next lake.

We wandered around the grassy areas. Plenty of wildflowers and weeds, the little grass there was short. Not many birds around other than a couple of swans arguing and flying between the ponds. Plenty of insect life which we photographed.

Back to the tent for lunch, then I took a walk to the nearby village to visit a supermarket. Lovely walk along the canal side, saw a few bikes going either way. Excellent cycling path, so smooth. The canal was very low in water. Seeing the grain silo on the bank side, it does seem the canal is still used for commercial traffic.

I found the supermarket and purchased the next three days of provisions. Hopefully, the ample supply of not-French-baguette type sliced bread will last longer.

Walked back by the road instead of the canal which was slightly shorter. On my 30-minute walk, I was passed by only three cars.

Campsite was a bit fuller today, Rosemary narrated about the German couple who came, used the toilets and one had a shower and then they left after lecturing her about the cold shower water. She showed them how to turn it to hot.

Thankfully the Dutch couple who pitched nearby were much nicer. Turned out they had worked in Kenya in the 70s. They had a BMW car towing a very cute old caravan. It was more than 60 years old, had a popup roof with bright orange canvas. They said it was so hard to find replacement canvas of the same color. R had a tour of it, while the chap tried out his Swahili on me.

After supper we took a short walk around the village. Some nice areas, but also derelict buildings around by the church. Looks like a proper renovation will be happening there some time.

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

France day 22 – Luxémont-et-Villotte

Posted on September 25, 2017 by SteveAugust 27, 2018

Today was meant to be a cloudy day with a bit of sun. Give me more of these days, it turned out very well. We decided we would take Van the Van our for a ride to Lake Der. This is an artificial lake which takes the winter flood water from the river Marne and stores it until the Summer when IT is slowly released back into the river. The River Marne is a tributary to the river Seine, and joins the Seine where it enters Paris at Ivry-sur- Seine. This lake and other control mechanisms were built to control flooding of I assume Paris which occurred several times in the 20th century.

Lake Der is now a habitat for birds and there’s also a place for water sports. We were trying to locate places where we could stop and view birds. It seemed difficult, all car parks were limited to 2 meters high vehicles, whereas we are a little higher. The alternative were the Aires, but they were all gate controlled and thus needed to be paid for. We drove around and were about to give up when we saw a road that allowed us on to the top of the dyke. At least we could now see the mud flats and the hundreds of birds feeding. We drove slowly along. Grabbed a few pictures, but the feeding grounds were too far away for a decent picture. The lake is at a low point at this time of year because the water is being let out for the winter floods.

At the end of the road we were back at the parking. Stopped and decided to check the Aires for the prices. Was free during the day. Hurrah, so parked and walked to a nearby hide. We spent a while watching the birds.

Now we tried to find a restaurant for lunch. Nearby, closed, must be Monday. Another place located, but Google took us down the N road, and there was no way off. Gave up and went to Leclerc and bought some bread and pain au raisins.

Nice picnic late lunch at campsite, and then a walk down to the Etang. We walked around it, seeing the work which was in progress. The place was rather devoid of birds. There was excitement when we heard a snort and splosh as we walked up to some reeds. There were tracks in the grass and down the bank. Some mammal which we never saw, I expect it may be a coypu.

Back at campsite consumed another bottle of Vouvray and then ate supper, emergency rations of lentils and tuna. Able to sit out later as warmer in the evening with the protective lay of cloud. Fun watching one mobilehome moving around trying to connect to the satellite TV.

Tomorrow we are off back home.

Luxémont-et-Villotte - Camping Nature hedge

France day 21 – Luxémont-et-Villotte

Posted on September 24, 2017 by SteveAugust 27, 2018

The night had been chilly, with heavy dew in the morning. Breakfast of chocolate pastries and coffee. Lovely sunny day. We wanted to walk to the Etang available for campers. So off we set on the short 1K walk. As we crossed the canal we saw the campsite owner’s wife, dog and another woman on the towpath. One woman was sitting on the ground and R became a concerned citizen. So we walked along the canal to investigate, our pretext being to look at the lock gates further on. The woman on the ground was an artist drawing the canal and bridge, madam was just there chatting to her. We continued to the lock gates. They were automatic hydraulically operated gates, much wider than UK locks. Like the railways, British canals were built on the cheap and are smaller than the continental ones.

We turned right here and headed out into the country with the intention of doing another right hand turn to get as to the target Etang. The tarmac road we were on was by far the worst road we had encountered in France. It still was far superior to most of the country lanes in Buckinghamshire! After walking across a stream and through a wood we were into open country, huge fields going on for miles. Next, we came across a marked Etang (on the map) on the left advertised as Carp fishing holidays. There were some fishermen, and they were English. On the right with no mention of an Etang on the map, was another stretch of water. Possibly a newer flooded gravel pit, all fenced off with permission for nothing including building. It though had one swan. Here we turned right along gravel road heading for our Etang, passing another Etang very overgrown around the edges, but with three swans.

We came to our Etang, all fenced off, so we walked along the side of it towards our campsite. We then came across the entrance. There seemed to be much redevelopment work going on. This Etang was for the campers, and allowed fishing, bathing, walking etc. The lake now seemed recently to have been divided into two and had a stoned beach created. We left, walked back to the campsite.

The afternoon was spent eating, Sunday lunch of pork. Alas not grilled as we were only on a 6 amp supply, but more stewed on the gas with beans and tomatoes. We spent the afternoon lazing and reading, then eating a cheese sandwich for supper. During the afternoon we both were amazed at the number of blackbirds inhabiting the hedges of the campsite. Not only blackbirds, but woodpeckers, who alas flew away as soon as a glass lens was produced.

Again, the birds provided a musical accompaniment as we ate. Once it was night, the bats and owls arrived.

The village has a pack of dogs somewhere, who decide to howl at irregular intervals. Also, being Sunday night the lorry traffic on the distant N road picked up and we could hear a distant but constant sound of traffic through the night.

Luxémont-et-Villotte - Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne

Luxémont-et-Villotte - Large French field

Luxémont-et-Villotte - Camping Nature lake

Luxémont-et-Villotte - Black bird in Camping Nature hedge

France day 20 – Luxémont-et-Villotte

Posted on September 23, 2017 by SteveNovember 28, 2017

We packed up on a reasonable day with the sun attempting to dry the awning out. The awning was, as usual, a sod to pack. It is so heavy with the inflatable tubes which are also a pig to totally deflate. Each time we take it down, the folded package seems larger than ever. The awning is so difficult to manoeuvre, and you end up dragging it around on the ground making it dirtier and dirtier each time you erect and take it down. Yes, I was beginning to lose it and wish I had never bought the blessed thing. A sale on eBay I expect.

We set off in a northerly direction on the toll road toward Dijon and beyond. Our aim was to reach a small campsite near to Vitry-le-Francois. Google pulled us off the toll road early to take us on the N67 towards Chaumont. An excellent choice by our silicon friend.

On the payage we tried to have lunch. I had always considered French motorway cafes to be superior to our UK ones. Not anymore. The first attempt we could not find anywhere to park, except for some useless empty car parks on the other side of the motorway a good 10-minute walk away. The signage was appalling as well. The next attempt, at least the café was on the same side of the road, but again the signage was crap, and the place seemed full. We ended up parking with many other cars in the lorry park. Then the food, on one counter doing croque monsieurs and coffee, was one poor over-worked girl with a large queue. Ended up buying iced Starbucks coffee and sandwich. Christ, white square bread and it tasted sweet. No sorry UK has it right, choice of foods and now we have M&S or Waitrose selling pretty good sandwiches / wraps / couscous / salads etc. Sorry France you have lost the plot on convenience foods.

We made it to Vitry-le-Francois and went shopping in a Leclerc. Provisioned now for the next three days.

We drove to the campsite Camping Nature, in the village of Luxémont-et-Villotte, priced at 15 Euro for the night, small campsite. No nudity, despite R’s initial thoughts on its name. No delineation of parking spaces, but nice green grass and very quiet. There are five of us here for the night. Looking forward to the walk to the Etang, and along the canal. Fifteen kilometres away there is a large lake, built to alleviate the flooding of Paris. It is meant to have some good bird viewing hides, so maybe Monday for that.

Tonight, we had a bottle of fizzy Vouvray, and the remains of yesterday’s meal (lardons with onion, pepper and tomatoes) with some cravats. Tasted delicious. For Carbohydrate some du pain, which I reckon was stale the moment I bought it. But after a quick heat through, it was fine.

Sitting in the quiet as the sun set, there was a raucous chorus of birds settling in a bamboo grove on the campsite. This was shortly complimented with an aerial display by some bats. Not seen so many bats flying around like this for a while.

The facilities here look good, nice and clean tiles etc. Yet to test the temperature of the shower. R had already complained about the lack of loo seat and chilly water in the plate cleaning area. There though was hot water available in another large laundry sink nearby. Problem solved.

Near the campsite are rows and rows of flashing red lights. Are they a landing strip for UFOs? Google maps show nothing. Investigate tomorrow on our walk. (Turned out to be lights on wind turbines.)

Blasdale Home

The web home of Steve and Rosemary

Tag Archives: Luxémont-et-Villotte