Update - Monday 14 to Thursday 24 September

This update concludes our blog for this holiday ending when we arrived home on 24th September. As well as covering the last 11 days of travel it finishes with a summary (The Last Post) that includes some statistics, some recommendations and also points related to towing a car with a motorhome.

At Obernai (Alsace)

The last stage of the journey home (Northern France and England)

Monday 14 September 2009

Today we moved on from Colmar to Obernai, a mere 36 miles northwards. This was an easy drive using the A35 autoroute for the most part. Initially the autoroute follows the west bank of the Ill and the campsite we had just left was close by just across the river on the opposite bank - this is the section of motorway you can hear from the site. R was delighted to see a stork flying above the river as M had seen a few days ago from the campsite. The stork was in view for over half a minute before it dipped below the trees.

There is only one autoroute "aire" between junction 25 where we joined the A35 and junction 12 where we had to leave it. As we didn't want to arrive at the Obernai campsite during their lunchtime closure (12.30 - 14.00) the plan was to stop here for our picnic lunch. But thanks to another example of terrible signposting at this "aire" we soon found ourselves back on the motorway having been unable to stop! Fortunately soon after turning off at Junction 12 we just managed to get off the road and fit into an "unofficial" lay-by - really just an area of gravel beside the D422 to Obernai. So we stopped here for over an hour and had our "picnic" lunch inside the motorhome. The directions to Camping Le Vallon de 'Ehn at Obernai in the Caravan Club Guide are very good and the site is clearly signposted from the roundabout on the southern outskirts of the town where the D422 intersects the D426. The site is entered via a short residential cul-de-sac leading to the entry barrier; when we arrived things were very busy - the site had just re-opened after lunch. Motorhomes and towed caravans were queued along the road and the parking area before the barrier was full. We joined the queue. We had phoned that morning at about 9.30 to reserve a space and were pleased we had done so as it was obvious that the site was going to fill up very rapidly. Indeed, while we were booking-in, a motorhome was turned away as the site was now full. They had kept a large pitch for us knowing that we had a trailer and Smart car and although it took about an hour to get in, we were soon established with the electricity connected:



We explored the facilities - this is a superb site and we are not surprised at its level of occupancy. It is a Municipal but has three stars, a rating that is well-deserved. The large sanitation blocks are heated (!) - the capacity of facilities is ample for the 200 pitches; there are no static dwellings. There is shade on most pitches. Separate areas are designated for motorhomes, caravans and tents. The organisation is very good and the welcome friendly. The lady at reception seemed to speak any language she encountered!

Autumn has definitely arrived here! Today there were storms over the Vosges, the cloud often obscuring most of the hills. We are glad we did our higher-level drive yesterday. We experienced our first significant rain in daylight hours today for 11 weeks as the storms in the hills created several heavy showers in the late morning. The cloud lifted a little in the afternoon with short spells of weak sunshine. It remained cool at 12 - 15C.

The town of Obernai is about a 1 mile (20 minute) walk away from the campsite - a pleasant route accessed via a small turnstile in one corner of the site and then taking you through a park to the town, passing this handsome small chapel:



Obernai is another pretty place in the Alsatian style with lots of restaurants, cafes and "Winstubs". There are many interesting old buildings:



Obernai is an excellent base for visiting Strasbourg with a regular bus service there (7 euros return per person). It is also well placed for touring the more northern parts of Alsace.

We walked into the town, thought about eating out but bought food in the "Match" supermarket and took it back to make our own meal. We plan to try one or two of Obernai's eating places later in the week as we are here for 5 nights. The site is very tranquil and it was nice to go to bed without the sound of motorway traffic in the background.

Tuesday 15 September 2009

We decided to visit Strasbourg today as the weather started cloudy and cool. The Vosges mountains to the West were visible but misty. We had breakfast earlier than usual (this means sometime before 10am!) so that we could catch the 9.56 bus. The Strasbourg buses leave from a stop just by Obernai's outdoor swimming pool (closed for the winter) about half a mile along the walk into the town. We were in good time and arrived at the main bus station at Strasbourg just after 11am. This is right next to a large modern shopping centre at Les Halles, presumably the previous site of the main market. It is a short walk over a bridge across the Ill to the old part of the city; only about ten minutes to the Cathedral which was our first objective:



We made several mistakes here, all of them understandable, we think, as aspects of the organisation of visits to this famous church left a lot to be desired. This was not just our opinion but also that of several people we spoke to, both English and French visitors. You would think that it would just be a matter of going in, looking round (with the aid of an information sheet or guide book) and coming out. But our first mistake was our failure to realise that the building shuts for lunch between 12 noon and 2pm. It's a Cathedral but it shuts for lunch! Our second and bigger mistake was to see a sign pointing the way around the corner of the building, taking you from the impressive western facade to the southern side, for a paid visit to the famous Astronomical Clock in the Cathedral. The clock only "goes" (at least it only goes in a complete sense) once a day. We made two assumptions at this point, both of them wrong. The first was that the clock was somehow separated from the main interior of the building and the second was that the only way of seeing it would be to pay. Around the corner was a moderate queue behind a locked entrance gate next to which a notice announced that this was the entrance for the clock visit and that the "caisse" (cash desk) was 20 metres to the right. As this notice was on the wall right next to the gate we assumed (again wrongly) that the "caisse" was 20m to the right once you had gone in. In fact it was 20m to the right along the exterior of the building, but lay back so was out of sight to us. We joined that first queue at 11.20 and stood in it for 20 minutes waiting for the gate to open at 11.45 as the notice promised. The queue was lengthening steadily and we congratulated ourselves on arriving so early! Then we suddenly noticed that most people in the queue had little booklets in their hands. We asked a French lady why this was and finally understood that - horror - we had been 20 minutes in the wrong queue. The correct procedure was to queue further along at the "caisse", buy tickets (2 euros each), receive little booklets of discount vouchers for other city attractions and only then queue at the entrance gate. We left the "gate" queue to find the "caisse" queue further along the building - it was even longer than the queue we had left! Several others had made the same mistake and found out only when we did - they were understandably annoyed.

It gets worse! We joined the "caisse" queue which was also growing by the minute. This entire queue had been out of our sight when standing in the "gate" queue so we think our mistake was very understandable. After five minutes or so, with the "caisse" queue moving along slowly, we detected signs of consternation among our fellow-queuers and much angry debate in voluble French. A notice had been spotted by the "caisse" (just a small hole in the wall, by the way, where a large brick had been removed!) - the notice, in French, said that because of the "works" ("a cause des travaux") visitor numbers would be limited; it had dawned on this French party that their queuing might be for nothing. Ours too, of course, and we had queued twice!

And so it proved! As we neared the hole in the wall, an invisible hand on the other side slid a cover across and closed the "caisse" disappointing all subsequent would-be visitors. We felt especially sorry for the man and his family next in line who had got their money out ready to pay only to see a hatch close in front of them. The first warning you saw of this limitation was right by the little hole (now blocked) - there was no other indication anywhere. The next opportunity to see the clock working would be tomorrow ("demain" as the disappointed French were muttering to themselves).

As for us we had wasted about 45 minutes standing in two queues for nothing. It wasn't much consolation that you can see the static clock, though not its operation, free-of-charge from inside the Cathedral. There was also a notice inside (when we eventually got there, because after our fruitless queuing, the building had shut for the two-hour lunch period) - this said that the paid-for presentation of the clock featured a film on a screen specially erected in front of the clock the better to show its functioning. We have no idea whether this meant the "travaux" prevented the clock operating at all and the film was a substitute, or whether the film supplemented the real thing! But we didn't have a chance to find out. The signage and organisation of this "clock presentation" was shameful and made for a bad initial experience in Strasbourg.

The "travaux", by the way, were to restore and refurbish the 13th century stained glass windows in the southern wall - a very worthwhile enterprise, though the hammering and drilling destroyed the tranquillity inside when we eventually got there (see below). As we now had to wait two hours for that visit we decided to book a boat excursion on the river:



The next boat, a typical tour craft with glass roof left at 1pm and we filled in the time having consoling tea and apple cake in a nice cafe nearby.

The boat trip was excellent and very good value at 8 euros each. It lasts for 70 minutes. There is an audio commentary (headphones for each seat) synchronised with the boat's location and available in numerous languages - you choose from a little keypad by your seat. This commentary was very informative and it was amusing for us that the English version was delivered by an Irishman with a most pleasant brogue! The tour takes in many of the "sights" of the city including buildings that are spectacular, pretty or historical or a mixture of all three:



The boat passes through the picturesque district known as "La Petite France":



and by the famous covered bridges:



The tour even takes you up-river to the European parliament, the administration campus and the Court of Human Rights - you get good views of all of these:



We strongly recommend this boat trip at Strasbourg.

The witching hour of 2pm having passed, the Cathedral had re-opened and we were able to visit. Happily there was no charge for entry. The Cathedral is as magnificent as its reputation suggests:



But the work on the windows is unfortunately anything but peaceful and we would certainly delay any return visit we might make until it has been completed.

We saw the Astronomical Clock:



and found it slightly underwhelming, but then, we didn't see it going!

We then explored further on foot, visiting the Protestant chuch of St.Thomas on the way to "La Petite France". St.Thomas' is, as expected, much simpler than the Cathedral both inside and out, but it is a large church and in its own way as magnificent as the Catholic Cathedral. Indeed it is in effect the Lutheran Protestant "Cathedral" of the city. When we visited we were fortunate enough to hear the organ which is very splendid. Like many church organs in this part of the world the original was designed and built by Silbermann (in 1741) and has had two modern refurbishments and restorations - the first in the 1970s and the second very recently; this last exercise has only just been finished and was for the purpose of repairing damage from the passage of time (drying-out of wood frames, for example) rather than adding new stops. The organ is remarkable in several ways; notably because, in spite of 19th and 20th century alteration, it retains so much of the original instrument. Many of the other "Silbermanns" (there are 13 others in Strasbourg) have lost far more of their original features. The preservation of the St. Thomas' organ is largely due to the vigilance of Albert Schweitzer who first played here in 1909. The 1970s work by Kern amounted to a major restoration and also increased the stops from 29 to 38, but this was done with enormous sympathy for Silberman's original design. The sound of the result is stunning and preserves the amazing ability of Silbermann organs to produce bright and clear tones which cover a range from exceedingly soft and sweet to demonstrative and harsh. We were very lucky to hear it live - probably just a practice session - and we bought a CD so we can hear more of this superb instrument.

A second interesting aspect we found at St.Thomas' relates to the bells. There were originally five of these but four were removed during the French Revolution, leaving only the Great Bell, weighing 3625 kilos. A second bell, weighing just 435 kilos (a mere titch, really!) was added in 1810. Four new bells ranging between just over 2 tons and just over 700 kilos, have just been cast and are being exhibited in the church. They will be hung in time for a ceremonial ringing in early October and will bring the church's complement to six bells. The new bells are named Faith, Hope, Love and Joint Witness. Here are Hope and Joint Witness:



The church itself was comprehensively and sympathetically restored between 1987 and 1989 and we found it at least as rewarding to visit as the Cathedral. And St.Thomas' doesn't close for lunch!

We strolled around the "Petite France" district:



and across the covered bridges. There is a great deal more to see in Strasbourg but it was time to head for the bus station and return to Obernai; other attractions in the city must await a further visit.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

After quite a tiring day yesterday we just relaxed at the campsite today, reading and catching up on writing this blog! In the evening we walked into Obernai and had dinner in a traditional Alsatian restaurant - La Halle aux Bles (the building was originally the Corn Exchange). We wanted to eat in the style of the region so having started with an onion tart (M) and snails in Riesling (R), for our main courses we both chose a traditional dish of Alsace called Backeofe. This is a rich stew of beef, lamb and pork with potatoes, garlic, leeks, onions, other herbs and seasoning and a generous addition of dry Alsatian wine (usually Riesling or Sylvaner). This was very good indeed, as was the whole meal. It was also a challenge to finish - portions in these parts are generous and not for the faint-hearted. But we both ate every last scrap and even found room to share one helping of traditional pastry tart of "myrtilles" with cream! With our meal we drank a bottle of very fruity (and chilled!) Alsace Pinot Noir - a very different experience from drinking Burgundy or "New World" Pinot Noir. And we had a glass each of decent Gewurtztraminer with the pudding. We recommend La Halle aux Bles at Obernai - it is simple, good and (we thought) good value for money (our three courses and all the wine cost 80 euros for the two of us). The service was friendly and efficient.

We staggered back to the campsite with our torches, the staggering being more to do with the weight of food we had eaten than the alcohol we had drunk.

Thursday 17 September 2009

In the morning we walked into Obernai again, this time to stroll around the market which is held every Thursday morning. We bought fruit and cheese. In the afternoon we had quite a long drive in the Smart to explore the more northerly parts of Alsace, visiting Hagenau, Bouxwiller, Saverne and Molsheim before returning to Obernai. Saverne is a particularly interesting old town situated on a navigable canal (The Canal du Marne linking the Marne and the Rhine). It has an impressive Chateau in the centre of the town and nearby there is a large marina full of boats. There are fascinating narrow streets and lovely old buildings.

The towns and villages are the strongest feature of the largely flat Alsatian plain between the Vosges and the Rhine; the vine covered slopes at the foot of the Vosges are lovely but elsewhere the countryside is uninteresting, mainly covered in swathes of corn-on-the-cob and cabbages. The monotony of this landscape is broken occasionally by woodland but the many villages and towns provide compensation with their floral displays, boldly-painted half-timbered buildings and spire-topped churches.

We "ate-in" this evening - literally as we dined inside the motorhome for the first time in nearly three months! Today the weather has been grey, cool and damp with spells of drizzle and even some proper rain. We ate well, but in more modest quantities than last night.

Friday 18 September 2009

We drove in the Smart to the Convent at Mont St.Odile in the wooded hills above Obernai:



The Convent was founded in the 7th century by Odile, the daughter of an unpleasant chap called Eticho (also known as Aldaric). He was a duke and the acknowledged "sovereign" of Alsace at the time and was given to murdering anyone who opposed him. Odile was born blind and so was rejected by her father and had to be smuggled away to prevent Eticho killing her. But when Odile was baptised at the age of 12 (her mother was a fervent Christian) her sight was miraculously restored. When her brother tried to bring her home and effect a reconciliation with their father, Eticho hit him over the head and killed him. Apparently he (Eticho) was seized with remorse at having murdered his own son, and founded the abbey as recompense. Odile constructed her Convent there over a period of some ten years, subsequently living the rest of her life there in a simple fashion. Odile was canonised in the eleventh century. The Convent functioned until it was largely destroyed by fire in the 16th century but it continued to attract pilgrims; the portico and church were built in the 17th century:



The convent buildings have been sympathetically rebuilt:



The result is that the present-day Mont St.Odile is a place of serious Christian pilgrimage. It is also a major tourist attraction and a commercial enterprise that includes a fairly swanky restaurant and hotel! These contrasting roles sit awkwardly alongside each other although the commercial parts of the extensive buildings are fortunately situated in a different wing from the more ancient places for religious worship and contemplation. There are various chapels and a church, all of them open to visiting tourists. We enjoyed walking around Mont St.Odile with its fine views over the wooded hills to the plain, but the information that people with sight impairment featured frequently among the pilgrims discomfited us more than the strange juxtaposition of religion and commerce ever could.

We returned to Obernai by a round-about route, taking in the villages of Barr, Andlau and Gertwiller and countless acres of vines. In the evening we walked into Obernai for the last time and dined at the Winstub La Dime. This meal too was excellent - about the same price as our dinner at La Halle aux Bles but perhaps with even better food though our main courses were not traditional Alsatian dishes this time. M thought R's onion tart here was slightly better than hers at La Halle while her Quiche Lorraine was scrumptious. Basically we can recommend both establishments!

Saturday 19 September 2009

We bade goodbye to Camping Municipal Le Vallon de l'Ehn with a tinge of sadness as this is such a good campsite; indeed it's probably the best site of our holiday with the exception of the Domaine de Belezy (which is a special case). There can be few municipal sites this good! A friendly welcome, good size pitches, excellent sanitation and laundry facilities with plenty of loos and showers and all very clean. Free wi-fi that worked was the icing on the cake.

But it was time to move on and we headed North and then East via Saverne and the Autoroute de l'Est to a France Passion location just South of Verdun, in the valley of the Meuse, between Lacroix-sur-Meuse and the hamlet of Seuzey. The place was called the Auberge de la Peche a la Truite - this was our second FP trout farm. It is also a restaurant and a small hotel (a Logis de France with 7 rooms). We had phoned them yesterday to check that they could accommodate us for dinner this evening.

We were unimpressed with the Autoroute de l'Est in comparison with the motorways we used further south. It has a poor surface in many places and many of the "aires" are tatty. Several of the smaller ones, usually better for a picnic stop, were closed for repair and refurbishment. We were unable to find a smaller "aire" that we liked enough for a picnic stop and as a result of being fussy we ended up at a large "aire" that even compared unfavourably with many British motorway service areas, eating our picnic inside the motorhome, sandwiched between two enormous waggons in the lorry park!

The fish farm and its fishing visitors was doing good business when we arrived at about 4pm. A large grass area had been set aside for France Passion visitors and their motorhomes:



Many folk with rods stood around the main lake which was evidently well-stocked. It seemed you could buy fish without having to catch them, or of course you could fish for them yourself. We strolled around the various ponds in which there were several different types (and colours) of trout and had ice creams on a terrace at the side of the hotel:



There are also play areas for kids and plenty of things to interest them including ducks, hens, swans, a peacock and several horses. We think the horses were the subject of a large notice on a gate saying "Je Mord" (I bite) but we're not sure what lay behind the gate!

The meal in the small indoor restaurant was very good, but the experience was made rather strange by the fact that we were the only diners and the chef / waiter (the husband in the couple who run the place) was by then the only other person there. The fishing activity finishes at 6pm and we had arranged to start dinner at 7. So the fishermen had gone home and indeed everyone seemed to have disappeared except the three of us! The man, the proprietor, tried to explain why he was working on his own but it was difficult to understand everything he said - we think he was telling us that his wife was away attending a wedding. Soon after we started the meal she arrived on the scene, also with their 16 month old baby daughter who was quite delightful. The delayed wife pitched in straight away to help with serving us - it would seem that her husband is the chef and she looks after the diners. Matters were made more mysterious, if anything, by the arrival of two quite large parties of people asking for rooms - they were all duly accommodated but none of them had dinner. Had they already eaten? (we wondered). Was the restaurant in fact closed? But if so, why had we been able to book? The occupants of a French "camping-car" didn't eat there either - they catered for themselves. Why was there no other restaurant trade at all on a Saturday evening? It was all very curious.

We never got to the bottom of it. But it didn't matter - the meal was good - simple food cooked well. And good value at 67 euros including aperitif drinks, three courses, a bottle of very good Gewurtztraminer (no we're not in Alsace any more but recent habits stick) and coffees. The young couple who evidently run the place are most friendly and clearly very nice people. It would probably be a good place to stay and the rooms are not expensive. It is a tranquil spot in pretty countryside:



The charm of the countryside belies the history of this area. In the killing fields of 1914-1918 it ranks with the Somme in its contribution to wiping out a great part of an entire generation of young European men. You are surrounded by war cemeteries of all the nationalities who participated in that particular folly. You are close to the great memorials, many with the same inscription - "Lest We Forget". Verdun is nearby, its memorial ceremonies still faithfully executed. For the many still to be convinced of the importance of European integration, the Somme and the Meuse are apt destinations.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Today's journey was 225 miles to the small town of Forges-les-Eaux in the south-eastern corner of Normandy. Our friends, who moved from England to France, live in a small hamlet about 12 miles from there and we are due to visit them tomorrow and Tuesday, before heading for Dunkerque and the ferry to Dover on Wednesday. Today's distance would have been greater had our TomTom SatNav had its way; it has clearly got used to the fact that we like autoroutes (in fact it simply defaults to using them unless you tell it not to) and it would have taken us almost all the way there using them. But we decided to take the autoroute as far as Reims and then the N31 via Soissons, Compiegne and Beauvais, heading towards Rouen, before turning onto the D915 from Gournay-en-Bray north-west to Forges-les-Eaux. In comparison with continuing on the autoroute this saved about 25 miles (a gallon of diesel) and a higher autoroute toll (probably about 10 euros). But when we realised how abysmal the road surface was on much of the N31, we're not sure this was a good decision.

Compiegne is an interesting place, being the site of the signing of the armistice in 1918 which ended the First World War. The deed was done in a railway carriage which we believe is still in place and able to be visited; R remembers being taken there by his parents when he was about 17. The town is also surrounded by forests containing many war memorials with signed footpaths to visit these various sites. This stretch of the N31, approaching. passing and leaving Compiegne, is very pretty.

TomTom got seriously lost at Beauvais because he was unaware of the new road that has been built around the south of the town. This is shown on our 2007 Michelin Road Atlas of France as "under construction". Well, the eastern end of it linking to the N31 is still being built, but the rest of this new road is very much in place. Fortunately we took no notice of TomTom (we rarely do when in the motorhome) and just followed signs to Rouen. Poor TomTom, who would have taken us through the centre of Beauvais, nearly had a brainstorm as he found himself tracking across what he believed to be fields and even lakes!

We stopped for the usual picnic lunch between Beauvais and Gournay at the only "aire" with picnic tables that we saw anywhere on the N31. It was OK but very litter-strewn with overflowing rubbish bins - these places seem generally far more tatty than we remember them from visits to France 10 years or so ago.

Forges-les-Eaux was not the destination we had originally planned - that would have been a France Passion site at the hamlet of Seronville near Songeons. But M pointed out that we had no bread for tomorrow's breakfast and the FP site sounded as if it would have been a long way from a shop. So we changed the plan and headed for Camping Municipal La Miniere on the outskirts of Forges; our guide promised a ten minute walk into the town. The campsite has an "aire-de-service" immediately opposite that has electric hook-ups and is free for the first night - this was of interest but when we arrived it looked quite full (even though it is large) and we thought we might be considered anti-social with our trailer if we tried to get in. So we approached the campsite warden who was standing at the site entrance, and who also looks after the "aire"; he offered us any campsite pitch we wanted among many vacant ones for 7.80 euros including electric so we opted for a night on a nice, large pitch there:



However we strolled round the "aire" later and found, too late, that there would have been plenty of room - we would recommend it as it is free for the first night and 6 euros per night thereafter. But the campsite was just fine and hardly expensive. It's a simple Municipal with limited but clean facilities and lots of static units, many of them tatty - fine out of season but probably over-stretched in the summer holidays when the "aire" would be a better choice if you could get in.

The sun had come out and the late afternoon temperature was 22C so we had what will probably be our last barbecue in France on this holiday.

Monday 21 September 2009

We walked into Forges-les-Eaux (we reckon 15 minutes rather than 10) to buy that bread along with two croissants for breakfast. R also bought a paper - he is keeping all of these to read again at home to try to improve his French vocabulary and knowledge of phrases. We saw the small hotel (Hotel La Paix) where we used to stay in the 80s - it hasn't changed much externally but has more rooms now and its restaurant is certainly more expensive, judging from the menus outside:



Back at the campsite we ate breakfast outside in spite of a grey, misty and quite cold start to the day. The campsite warden was very relaxed about our leaving time saying we could stay on into the afternoon if we wished; by lunchtime the sun was shining and our picnic outside was a much warmer experience than breakfast.

Mid-afternoon we found our way to our friends' house in a remote and rural hamlet near the small town of Buchy, east of Rouen. They have lived there for 5 years and worked very hard restoring, renovating and improving a large house that is over 100 years old and needed a lot doing when they bought it. The house itself, several outbuildings and 8 acres of land all required plenty of attention. Our friends have made it very nice indeed but the project is still ongoing and there is still more to do - it's the sort of place which will always present opportunities to do more of that kind of thing. Much of the garden is also lovely now and they grow loads of their own fruit and veg. It's all very hard work but they clearly enjoy it, and it must be hugely satisfying to see the improvements come about and to benefit from them:



There was loads of room to turn and park the MH plus trailer with Smart without unhitching, and they even plugged in electricity so we didn't have to unpack the fridge or use the gas.

We had afternoon tea, a walk around the "estate" (actually it's a bit like that), an excellent supper and a comfortable night in a house rather than a motorhome for a change!

Tuesday 22 September 2009

The weather has been lovely since we arrived in Normandy and today this fine spell continued. After a relaxing morning at our friends' home the four of us went off in their car to visit two local attractions. The first was a fascinating museum of the French "Sapeurs Pompiers" (firemen) at Montville. This features a huge collection of fire engines, pumps of various types and other fire-fighting equipment as well as historical information, displays of uniforms, helmets, hoses and much more:



The exhibits date from as far back as 1750:



It is a fascinating and unusual visit and we strongly recommend it to anyone in the area with a couple of hours to spare. The exhibits are well documented with good information panels - there are some English translations as well and the guide leaflet you are given can be in English too.

Our second visit was not far away at the "Musée Industriel de la Corderie Vallois Notre Dame de Bondeville". This was once a working "corderie" or rope factory but is now a fascinating museum showing the entire process from the twisting of cotton fibres to the inter-twining of these twisted "strings" into ropes. The machines, driven by belts that transmit the power of a water wheel, are in working order although the mill does not function as a factory of course. The machines are ingenious and absolutely fascinating to watch. The tour is guided - in French only - and the guide (in our case a very knowledgeable and pleasant man) used an audio device transmitting his speech to headphones worn by us so that he could be heard above the loud mechanical clatter of the machinery. The commentary is necessarily quite technical and so hard to follow at times even if your French is fairly good - however we all understood enough to get the basic idea of the processes and of the interesting history of this industry in these parts. This is another visit we can recommend.

Then it was back to our friends home for another good supper and another good night's sleep before an early start tomorrow to the ferry.

Wednesday 23 September 2009

We had set our alarm for 6.30. Our friends had heroically got up early to give us breakfast and we left at 7.45, our ferry departure time from Dunkerque being 12 noon. The initial road from our friends' house is narrow for a mile or so and we drove it in fear of meeting one of the many tractors plying the lanes in these parts - the chances would be that any tractor would be towing something too! But all was well, the wider road was reached without fuss and we were soon on the autoroute towards Abbeville, and passing Boulogne and Calais to Dunkerque. We were charged a category 2 toll as we had been at all times. We reached the Dunkerque ferry port at 11am and boarded 50 minutes later; the ferry sailed 10 minutes late. Again we were impressed with Norfolk line - we had paid our £8 for the VIP lounge and had a very nice lunch there which was also good value for money. Disembarking was quick and painless.

The wine-laden Smart, bouncing around on the trailer, clinked its way through the customs shed. The passport check was made during embarcation at Calais with no further interest in us after that; we sped through Dover docks unimpeded. By 1.30pm we were on the M20 heading for the dreaded M25; it felt strange driving on the left, even on a motorway! We worked out how far we wanted to go today (not all the way home, that was certain) and called the Camping and Caravanning Club site at St.Neots, booking a pitch for tonight. Thank goodness it's out of season or they wouldn't have had us for less than two nights!

Apart from the usual queues for the Dartford crossing the journey was smooth and the traffic flow equally so - even on the M25. We used the M11 to the western outskirts of Cambridge where we turned onto the A428 (used to be the A45 as we recall) which passes right by St. Neots. The C&CC's directions in their book were good and we used them rather than listening to the TomTom which yet again tried to take us along narrow short-cuts. We arrived at the site just before 6pm. and were given a big hardstanding pitch - the site office was so friendly and helpful that they found us a pitch we could access without uncoupling the trailer, knowing that we were staying only one night:



St. Neots C&CC site is very nice indeed, although the access is through a big unattractive housing estate with a number of dubious looking characters hanging around the corners. The site also floods fairly regularly and often rather seriously as it's next to the River Ouse; fortunately it was perfectly dry on this occasion! But the site itself is well up to the best the C&CC can offer (which is very good indeed) with spotless and ample facilities. It is visually attractive and we were made extremely welcome - this was a happy choice that extraordinarily turned out to be exactly halfway along our route between our friends' home near Rouen and our home in Cumbria (each leg was 288 miles). Our lunch on the ferry had been so big that we settled for a light tea and probably our earliest night of the entire holiday:




Thursday 24 September 2009

The very last lap to our home in Cumbria! There is little to relate about today. We had a pretty smooth journey using the A1, A14, M1, A50 and M6, this route avoiding the dreaded and over-priced M6 Toll. As is our custom we refilled with diesel and LPG at the Rheged Centre service station on the outskirts of Penrith and arrived home just after 5pm. Thankfully we found no problems there at all and there was a nice note from our friends who had stayed for a few days during our absence. We went out for a good meal at a local restaurant that evening to preserve the holiday feeling as long as possible! Just before getting home we collected a "mountain" of post from the local post office, most of which will be junk. Anyway, that's tomorrow's world.

The Last Post!

Some statistics:

We were away for 88 days.

The MH covered 3433 miles with average diesel consumption of 24.1mpg.

We did 2205 miles in the Smart.

Average campsite nightly cost was £20.84


Campsites we would particularly recommend:

Camping Municipal, Blere (Loire)
Camping de Cognac
Camping Le Lac de Bonnefon, Naucelle (Aveyron)
Camping Le Val de l'Arre, Le Vigan (Gard)
Camping Les Truffieres, Grignan (Provence - Drome)
Domaine de Belezy (note: naturist site) (Provence - Ventoux)
Camping Le Vallon, Bonnieux (Provence - Luberon)
Camping Le Vallon de l'Ehn, Obernai (Alsace)

Our star awards for campsites go to Belezy (if you are happy with the naturist bit) and Le Vallon de l'Ehn at Obernai (excellent in all ways and very good value).


France Passion Sites - all strongly recommended:

Ferme-Auberge La Dranvillaise, Flamets-Fretils (Normandy)
Moulin le Rouge, La Puisaye (trout farm)
Les Closeaux, near Vallieres-les-Grands (restaurant)
Pressoir a Cales, Bouille-Loretz (vineyard - Anjou)
Cave St.Cyr, near Anse (vineyard - Beaujolais)
Chateau de Premeaux, Premeaux Prissey (wine "cave" - Burgundy)
Auberge de la Peche a la Truite, Lacroix-sur-Meuse (trout farm with restaurant)

Star awards go to Pressoir a Cales and Cave St.Cyr.

Supermarkets:

Best French supermarket: Leclerc
Runner-up: Carrefour
Worst: Super-U (especially the smaller ones)


Finally, about towing:

Towing a Smart car on a small braked trailer behind our motorhome worked brilliantly for us. It completely confirmed our view that for this type of holiday at least, having an independent means of motorised transport is a major advantage. In fact for us we'd say it's essential. Our motorhome is too big to use for the kind of local exploration we want to do. But we have met people who disagree and it's worth looking at the points they make:


"If you're going to do that, why not tow a caravan with a car?" This is often asked by those who themselves tow caravans. Our main answer is that to tow a caravan with the accommodation of our 7 metre coachbuilt motorhome you would need a large tow-car, probably a 4x4. We have no need of such a vehicle when not on holiday and it is still a lot bigger than a Smart to take exploring mountain roads or parking in tight spots, whereas we find the Smart brilliant to use for shopping runs at home and to use on holiday. But there are only two of us - this would obviously be different for a family. Also the trailer with Smart is narrower than the MH so you don't have to tow something wider than the vehicle you're driving.

"Surely it's a pain towing and removes a big advantage of a motorhome." As long as we take care to balance our trailer properly (see below) we hardly know we're towing it. We have found that towing increases diesel consumption by between 2 and 4 mpg depending on terrain. It also can present challenging situations on narrower roads often encountered when accessing campsites and, especially, France Passion locations. We have mastered reversing in a straight line or around gentle curves, and very slowly.

"You can't use "aires de service" and "stellplatz." This is basically true - at least your ability to use them is much curtailed. If you know a location has lots of capacity and it's not high season, you might be OK, but in most circumstances you will not be made welcome by your fellow aire-users as you'll be taking up two places! This is hearsay for us as we didn't use any aires having been advised by others. With France Passion locations it's worth taking care to choose ones likely to have more space (farms, vineyards) and take note of any access restrictions in the guide-book. We didn't have a problem anywhere. We also thought that some campsites would baulk at taking us but again we had no problems anywhere. We always phoned ahead and explained the situation - a few campsite staff blinked a bit when we arrived but no-one refused us or charged us any extra for the trailer and Smart. People tended to look at us when everything was still coupled-up and then over-estimated our space needs so we would get a really large pitch. As we proved when only smaller pitches were available, all three items - MH, trailer and (unloaded) Smart will fit into a surprisingly small space. Only the Domaine de Belezy asked us to leave the trailer and Smart in their secure parking, even though there was masses of room for both on our very big pitch there, but it was high season when they don't allow cars to be kept on pitches anyway.

"Why not use a motorbike, scooter or even pedal-bikes?" Pedal bikes are a great idea and we love them (we're both keen cyclists) - they're good exercise too, but they're simply not practical for the extent of exploration we want to do, even if you're very fit. As for two-wheeled motorisation, M hates the idea so it's not an option for us, but it seems a good alternative for many. It may still involve towing on a small trailer of course but potentially offers the options of mounting the bike on a platform or having a "garage" big enough to house it in the MH. This imposes payload and MH layout criteria that restrict the choice of MH.

"It just isn't done, old chap!" Well, we certainly got a lot of "looks" in France. The French usually stared for a bit and then shrugged their shoulders. The Dutch and Germans seemed rather more fascinated and often couldn't stop looking - many came up and asked us questions about it. We saw other MHs towing (with varieties of two- and four-wheeled vehicles on a trailer) but it was quite unusual - a very small minority in fact. We saw more cars on trailers than on A-frames.

But some folk have more rooted objections to towing with a motorhome! In their otherwise excellent book "Go Motorhoming in Europe", the authors declare that "Towing a car is in complete contradiction to the spirit of motorhoming". We profoundly disagree with this view (as you might imagine we would!). They say they don't make the statement lightly and quote an "example" in which "The car did not outweigh the inconvenience of towing and extra cost of insurance, tax, fuel, tolls, ferries and campsite charges." We found little or no inconvenience in towing; the trailer is a tiny proportion of our MH insurance premium; the Smart is a car we use all year round at home and is cheap to insure; there is no additional tax cost; the extra diesel used is small; we paid category 2 on autoroutes as we would have done without a trailer; the ferry cost £100 return for the whole outfit; we paid no additional campsite charges for having the trailer and Smart. But we think the clue here is in the authors' first phrase! What exactly is "the spirit of motorhoming". To us "motorhoming" is not a religion. We love our E560 - it has been our home for the last 3 months; we live and sleep there for about a third of the year. Yet essentially our motorhome is a tool to enable us to travel and to do other things we enjoy (walking, swimming, visiting interesting places etc.) at a cost we can afford and with a lifestyle we love because of its sociability and "outdoor" nature. Having a Smart on a trailer neither destroys nor depreciates any of this. We don't understand the comment and we regret its appearance in a book that with this exception gives so much valuable advice.


We have learned some vital things about towing behind a motorhome:

Of course it's important to ensure the trailer is not overloaded and that the MH Gross Train Weight and recommended maximum towing weight are not exceeded. Balancing the trailer is important and the front/back positioning of the car on it is very critical - we put marks on the trailer bed to align with the wheel centres as a guide but also use a noseweight gauge to measure the loading on the towbar hitch - this is an essential item and the measurement must be done on level ground. We found 25Kg (as advised by our towbar fitters) worked well. Of course it's important to accommodate this hitch addition within the MH payload and permitted rear axle loading.

We found it useful to accommodate items in the Smart during travel, with suitable care not to overload the trailer. You also have to take account of the fuel state of the car and know the remaining trailer payload if the car is full of fuel. There was scope to place some of the wine we had bought on the Smart's seats during travel; this was almost immediately over the trailer axle. But you should use the noseweight gauge on flat ground every time you make a significant change to the items in the car. This takes only a few minutes and is well worth it for the convenience of having the Smart.

We use good quality retaining straps and ratchets and check them after about 5 - 10 minutes driving and then about every hour. On the first two checks they will usually take one notch of tightening each time and then remain fully tight.

It's important to have flexible "edge indicators" at the rear corners of the trailer that can be seen in the mirrors of the MH when the trailer in in line, together with a reversing camera. With these, and with plenty of practice, reversing slowly either straight or in gentle curves is absolutely feasible even with a short distance between tow hitch and trailer axle.

We chose to tow a trailer rather than an A-frame for four reasons: the uncertain legal position in some countries, the wear on car running gear using an A-frame, the need to modify the Smart to fit the frame and the impossibility of reversing with an A-frame. We have no safety objections to braked A-frames. We also chose a trailer (Brian James Micro-Max) with pull-out ramps that are less hassle and less stealable than bolt-on ramps (hydraulic tilt-beds are good but expensive and generally heavier).


So our final word on towing:

Our holiday would have been very different had we not towed the Smart. In essence we would have missed out on some of the best experiences it gave us. And that's our final word on the blog too. We congratulate anyone who has been following it on their stamina, but we hope too that you have enjoyed it and found some of the words and pictures interesting and enjoyable.

Update covering Fri 4 to Sunday 13 September

At Le Muy (near Frejus), Cote d'Azur
Journey from Provence to Alsace
At Colmar (Alsace)

Friday 4 September 2009


Today we moved further South and East in Provence, from Bonnieux in the Luberon to Le Muy, just inland from the Mediterranean coast near Frejus. Le Muy is an undistinguished place that we chose for its location as we want to visit the Gorges du Verdon to the North and the coast to the South between Cannes and Le Lavandou. Le Muy is also right next to the RN7 main road from Aix-en-Provence to Cannes and the A8 autoroute covering the same ground. North of these major routes the roads tend to be narrower and twistier as the terrain becomes more hilly and so they are harder work with our full outfit, including the towed Smart.

We decided to avoid the rather narrow and twisting road through Loumarin to the South of Bonnieux - after driving it yesterday in the Smart we decided that although it would be feasible for us in the motorhome with Smart in tow, we would prefer to drive the extra distance involved in leaving Bonnieux the same way we approached it (to the North) and routing via Cavaillon. This would have been fine had we not made two navigational errors, both requiring complex turning manoevres to get back on the right road. But we made good progress and at Aix we decided to abandon our resolve not to use autoroutes and take the A8 all the way from Aix to Le Muy, nearly 80 miles of blissfully relaxed driving. This certainly convinced us that staying clear of autoroutes carries a big penalty in terms of driving workload - N and D roads can be very hard work, especially when they are busy through-routes and when they pass through town centres, as they often do!

At the Le Muy exit "peage" we were classed as Category 2 and charged 13.20 euros - we felt the time gain and reduced hassle factor were well worth this cost. We may well change our strategy and use some sections of autoroute on our Northbound journey.

Camping Le Sellig could have been tricky to find had we not spotted a sign for it; it is very close to the autoroute exit in fact but has a slightly complicated approach via the RN7 sliproad towards Le Muy. As luck would have it we were there within a few minutes of leaving the autoroute. We chose this site from the ACSI guide (we can't find any other recommendation for it) having rejected several sites in the locality that are in the Caravan Club Europe book on grounds of their excessive prices - given that it is no longer "high season" in France, sites charging over 40 euros, and in one case over 50 euros a night, for two people in a motorhome with electric hook-up, simply have to be joking.

We got a friendly welcome at Le Sellig and a large pitch:



even if it was a bit strangely situated with tricky access between the boules court and a large static "mobile home" (why are these called mobile when they are never going to move?). The site caters mainly for static accommodation, mostly bungalows, and has only 31 touring pitches. When we had set ourselves up and walked around the site, we soon realised we were the only campers; about 18 static properties were occupied but the campsite seemed oddly dead. It has a nice pool and we went for a swim soon after arriving - we were the only people in the pool though a few were lying on sunbeds. R discovered that they have chargeable wi-fi that works from our pitch, even inside the motorhome, so we bought 5 hours of online time for 5 euros. Our first impressions of Le Sellig are rather mixed - we will say more about this when we have been here longer.

We were both tired after today's journey, even though it was only 125 miles, so after our swim we had an early supper and early night.


Saturday 5 September 2009

One of the main reasons for coming further south-east in Provence was to visit the Gorges du Verdon. We decided to make this a priority and do it today. The weather has become even better again after the few cloudy intervals of the last week or so; this morning there wasn't a cloud to be seen! It is also getting hotter again, although less so than the hottest days we experienced in August - today the temperature peaked at about 32C.

We set off northwards from Le Muy via Draguignan, refuelling the Smart just before reaching the town. Traversing Draguignan, a medium-size town, was a nightmare because of very heavy traffic, lack of signposting (again) and the presence of a Saturday market. It took us about 30 minutes to do a mile and a half (it would literally have been quicker to walk); this was a London or Paris rush-hour level and speed of traffic! We ended up on a road we had not intended to use but decided to stick with it, making for Aups and from there to the western end of the gorges. There was a Saturday market at Aups as well so it was slow-going again through the town, but it is a smaller place and looked pleasant.

We took nearly 100 photos of the Gorges du Verdon and the Lac de Sainte Croix. This is without doubt one of the great landscape features in Europe and is better described in images rather than words. So we have included a selection of our pictures here, but it may also be useful to give some advice about the best route for exploring the gorges by car.

We continued northwards on the D957 from Aups for 23Km, turning right onto the D19 towards Aiguines; we did not use the "short-cut" D519 11Km north of Aups which confusingly becomes the D19 as well earlier than you would expect (another masterpiece of illogical road numbering so common in France). The "main" D19 through Aiguines turns into the D71 (we think) as it traverses the spectacular section above the gorges on the left bank of the Verdon known as the "Corniche Sublime"

Aiguines is a pretty village at the western end of this superb road and enjoys good views of the Lac Ste.Croix:



We continued all the way along the D71 to Comps-sur-Artuby, stopping briefly at the Balcons de la Mescia for ice creams. The Relais des Balcons not only charged 7 euros for two Magnum Classics (not exactly "glaces artisanale") but then had the temerity to try to charge M 30c for using the loo! She used it all right but didn't pay. At Comps we took the D995 heading north to Pont-de-Soleils, crossing the Verdon and turning left onto the D952 along the river's right bank. At this point the road runs right by the river and although it was fast running a number of people were swimming and others sunbathing on the pebble beaches:



In general the area was not crowded for a Saturday with perfect weather, and all the roads we used had quite light traffic; we imagine this would be very different in the high season.

After passing the famous "Point Sublime" viewpoint, just as we approached La Palud-sur-Verdon, we turned left onto the D23 signposted as the Routes des Cretes. This is the most spectacular road in the Gorges du Verdon - it forms a loop and emerges on the D952 again at La Palud, only a short distance west of its starting point. But you must do it this way around (clockwise) as there is a section in the middle that is one-way (no entry is permitted from the other side of the section); this is in the middle of the loop and as far as we could see there was nothing to signify it at the junction with the D952 should you try to drive it in the other direction. What can we say about this road? Well, if you think the Corniche Sublime on the left bank is good, just wait until you get here! The road does require care - most motorists respond to this although there are inevitably a few idiots who imagine themselves to be rally drivers and typically don't even know the width of their cars! Some even drive with one hand. As for the motorcyclists - we'd better not say too much for fear of becoming abusive; a tiny minority rides responsibly while the vast majority are a serious hazard to themselves and everyone else who might get in their way.

As for motorhomes, well we wouldn't take ours anywhere near the Gorges du Verdon but even if the Corniche Sublime and D952 are attempted by some "camping-caristes" (we encountered several), taking one on the D23 would be sheer lunacy.

Most of our pictures were taken from the D23 using one of the numerous viewpoints where you can get a car off the road; doing this would be a nightmare if the road was busier, as in the high season.

Selected photos - Gorges du Verdon:



We saw Egyptian vultures circling above the gorges and this magnificent eagle:



We also spotted these climbers who had just traversed an enormous overhang:



One other point about this route: doing the left (south) bank Corniche Sublime followed by the right (north) bank D952/D23 puts you on the "inside" of the road (away from the drops!) for most of the time. The Corniche Sublime, seen here from the D952 on the opposite bank of the Verdon, has some impressive rock tunnels:



Stopping on the D23 loop road is challenging because the parking spaces are tiny, but the main D952 has plenty of larger pull-ins:



After the D23 the rest of the D952 towards Moustiers-Ste-Marie, while still spectacular is a bit of an anti-climax. We drove through Moustiers and used the small hilltop road running south-west to Ste-Croix-de-Verdon, giving fine views of the Lac de Sainte Croix:



We briefly visited the pleasant lakeside beach at Ste-Croix:



There is a big "aire de service" here for "camping-cars" and it was absolutely full.

We made our way back to Le Muy and the campsite, routing via Lorgues to avoid Draguignan, after a fabulous day.


Sunday 6 September 2009

Today we drove via St Aygulf and the coast road:



to St.Tropez where we took the easy option and parked in a well-signposted underground car park. We strolled through the modern centre of the town and then around the port ogling the fabulous yachts and other displays of wealth beyond most people's dreams - Ferraris, Porsches and the like were numerous enough to make a mere Mercedes seem as mundane as a Mondeo. BMWs of all varieties were just commonplace.

The millionaire's favourite yacht builder seemed to be Riva who had a sales promotion in front of a quay full of their boats which went up in size and price as you moved from left to right along the line. Smart young men and women clad in white were ready to answer your questions; we do wonder how many boats in this category are actually sold like this - to someone strolling along the quay and suddenly considering a purchase. Yet the white-clad salespeople were showing folk around the boats and most of these potential clients looked the part at least - clad in designer wear with gold lame handbags and the like. Perhaps this is how it happens - "oh darling, isn't that boat just fabulous - I simply must have one right now!"

R considered expressing an interest in this little number (about to dock after a "test drive" for a possible client) which would make quite a replacement for the canal narrowboat we sold last year! He was deterred by the probability that his strictly non-designer apparel would give the game away right at the outset:



Amusingly one of Riva's perspex signs had blown into the water and sunk, so they whistled up this diver to retrieve it:



We consumed a very small beer and a glass of coca-cola at a street bar for a total of 9 euros and R bought an ice-cream for 5 euros:



Then we walked around the old part of the town which was delightful and gave at least a hint of what St.Tropez must have been like when it was essentially a fishing village and before Bardot made it famous. We are told by those who know more than we do about these things that it is a shadow of what it was in its heyday, but we liked St.Tropez in spite of the ostentatious displays of wealth and the consequently silly prices of quite ordinary things.

St.Tropez:



We drove on along the coast, passing Ramatuelle, stopping briefly at Cavalaire-sur-Mer where the beach was surprisingly crowded:



We continued along the coast all the way to Bormes-les-Mimosas where we turned inland and made our way northwards over the mountains using the fabulous little roads across the Col de Babaou and the Col des Fourches; incredibly narrow and twisting routes through these forested hills. The initial climb up from the coast provided fabulous views of the landscape in the late-afternoon light:



This route took us neatly to the RN7 and so back to Le Muy. This had been a more enjoyable visit to the Cote d'Azur than we had expected.


Monday 7 September 2009

Ten years ago we visited a perfume factory at Grasse, just north of Cannes. Grasse is widely acknowledged to be the centre of the French perfume industry; indeed the capital of perfume in France. The factory was that of Fragonard who make perfume bases for several renowned brands. It isn't well-known that Fragonard also make their own perfumes for retail sale; these are available only at the factory shop in Grasse or by mail order. We discovered Fragonard in 1999 when R was working at Sophia Antipolis between Grasse and Cannes. We visited the factory at the earliest opportunity, buying far more than we intended! But the range of perfumes is superb and very good value in comparison with shop prices for anything of equivalent quality, whether bought in France or the UK. All Fragonard perfumes are packaged in aluminium bottles to improve the length of time for which they may be kept without deterioration.

This time the visit was even better than in 1999 - you more or less have to do a factory tour, but that is interesting in any case and we thought they had improved it. There are tours in several different languages so ours was in English and our guide was excellent. Naturally you finish your tour at the shop, but there is a very good system whereby your guide helps you sample as many of the perfumes as you wish; if you then want to buy she makes a note of your proposed purchases against your name and the items will be waiting for you at the cash desk in just a few minutes. Also there are significant price reductions for buying five or more perfumes - they must be of the same size but can be mixed types; the best deal is obtained by buying five of the largest size (120ml) but, better still, you are allowed to club together with others in your tour party to make up the 5 minimum and get the lowest price; indeed the guide encourages you to do just that. M wanted two different perfumes; three other ladies in our party wanted to buy a 120ml bottle each so M got her two at the 5 item price. R also bought some toilet water "pour hommes" and we bought perfumed soaps in presentation sets for various family members and friends. So the bill was quite impressive but Fragonard is anything but a rip-off. As long as you can get to Grasse - we imagine shipping costs would make the mail-order option unattractive.

Parking at Fragonard was interesting too - the car park is very small and was clearly full when we arrived. A man in charge of parking turned a car away immediately in front of us, but when he saw the Smart he persuaded us to get it into a tiny space between a car and a tree where there was insufficient length for a normal car but just enough for the Smart. This was quite a performance, R being egged on in voluble French by this Fragonard parking attendant who demonstrated a considerable capacity for optimism, but whose judgement of the situation was flawless - the Smart fitted perfectly. The whole incident was highly amusing too and if filmed it would have made a great Smart commercial. They had got the parking well organised too, for when we came out there was a car behind the Smart blocking it in (one of many cars blocking others) but the same man had kept the keys for all the blocking cars and moved the one behind the Smart swiftly to let us out!

Fragonard:



Filtration:



Distillation:



Bottling:



We should have called it a day after Fragonard and used the autoroute back to Le Muy but R decided to drive into Cannes and along the Croisette with the roof down (of course); actually that bit wasn't too bad although the traffic in Cannes was fairly heavy as you would expect and as bad-mannered as we have come to expect having driven here several times before. Our larger mistake was to take the coast road from Cannes past the red-rock "Calanches" to St.Raphael and Frejus:



The traffic on this section of coast road was heavier than we ever remember it being, even in the height of summer and culminated in near-gridlock in St.Raphael and Frejus (practically the same place as they adjoin each other). It was another snail-like crawl, inching along, spending more time stationary than moving. After more than an hour (to do less than 3 miles) we escaped at last onto the main road back to Le Muy. What surprised us was how different this had been from yesterday's drive (on a Sunday) along the next section of coast beyond Frejus. So we had a great morning visiting Fragonard followed by a tiring, frustrating and unrewarding afternoon. A swim in the pool helped restore us.

We promised to say a bit more about Camping Sellig. The pool is its best feature - out of season at least it is very nice. The site also has wi-fi (it worked in our motorhome) reasonably priced at 5 euros for 5 hours (can be used in any number of sessions until you reach the 5 hours total). But the site is so dominated by static bungalows and "mobilhomes" that touring camping really feels like an afterthought (we were the only touring unit there). It also suffers from excessive "end-of-season-itis" with the cafe closed and the bar open only briefly in the evening. Today the reception didn't open in the morning as it was supposed to (10.00 - 12.00) - the lady simply didn't turn up. She was in the office when we got back from our excursions (it is also open 3pm - 6pm) and said she would be there tomorrow morning so we would be able to pay and also get out through the barrier! Yesterday the toilets were cleaned so thoroughly that we suspected we might be witnessing the Last Clean of the Year! Sure enough, this morning, three of the five loos were locked and "out-of-service". The site can also be quite noisy as it is located right next to a large paper-recycling plant with heavy lorry traffic close by, some of it at night; typically it woke us around 6am each morning. For all that, Camping Sellig isn't such a bad site and it was not expensive at 14 euros a night including electricity. But we don't think we'll use it again.


Tuesday 8 September 2009

Today, in effect, we started our journey home although we still have 15 days of holiday to go. We left Camping Sellig at 11.15 and made an abortive attempt to refuel the motorhome at the large filling station almost opposite the campsite exit onto the RN7. This involved turning right towards Le Muy, driving about a mile to a roundabout and then driving back the way we had come to access the filling station on that side of the road. The whole exercise was abortive because the filling station was unmanned and relied on "automate" pumps with payment by card. But these pumps had an interesting feature in that they required a bank card containing a photo ID and then used a camera image of the presenter's face to compare with the face on the card. As there is no photo ID on British credit cards (at least not on ours) the transaction failed with the display of a message (in French of course) explaining what had happened. We have not encountered this new additional security feature anywhere else in France; indeed we had no idea that French "cartes bancaires" now have photo IDs on them. If this system spreads widely it will make the use of "automate" pumps in France impossible for foreigners and since about 80% of French pumps seem to be automatic it will become difficult to obtain fuel. Of course, this could be part of a grand scheme to introduce internationally compatible photo IDs on cards throughout the EU but we doubt it, and even then Britain would probably insist on being different. This seems to be another example of a difference between rhetoric and reality when it comes to foreign tourism in France. Let's hope the pumps at Le Muy are just part of a trial.

We were thus destined to buy fuel on an autoroute (near Orange) at a price premium of about 15% as we had decided to use autoroutes all the way to our destination just north of Lyon. This was a France Passion stopover site - a vineyard in the Beaujolais region, the Cave St.Cyr near the village of Anse. This is listed in the 2009 FP Guide as having a restaurant, and a phone number is given, but when we called them yesterday they explained that they don't have a conventional restaurant but will prepare for you a plate of charcuterie and cheese to accompany your own meal. This seemed fine so we confirmed that we would arrive this afternoon. The autoroute journey was very easy and much less tiring than using N and D roads - indeed it would have been impossible to get to Anse at a reasonable time today without the autoroutes. Again the tolls were much more reasonable than we had originally anticipated - at every "peage" we were charged at Category (Classe) 2. We judged it well worth the cost for the benefit of a fast and relaxed journey of about 270 miles. Apart from some traffic on the urbanised (and free) section of road through Lyon we maintained a steady speed of between 50 and 60mph, meaning that almost everything overtook us including lorries. But we arrived at the Cave St.Cyr just after 5.30pm, finding it easily thanks to good directions in the FP guide.

At the vineyard the grape harvest ("vendange") was in full swing - it's quite unusual for FP vineyards to be available during harvesting activity but the Cave St.Cyr has a big sign saying "Bienvenu pendant la vendange" and this applies not only to those wishing to taste and buy wine but also to France Passion invitees. There was already one motorhome parked on an area behind the buildings of the "Cave" when we arrived; this area was large enough for at least six motorhomes:



A third one arrived shortly after us and there was plenty of room for the Smart and its trailer. All around us the "vendange" continued until late in the evening. In the yard, right by the motorhomes, a grape sifting operation was taking place, semi-mechanised but relying on people separating out leaves etc. from the grapes themselves:



Amongst the vines a small army of people was hand-picking grapes - we saw no sign of mechanised picking here:



The weather was still magnificent and the temperature almost as warm as in Provence. From the motorhome we had a superb view to the west across a sea of vines towards distant hills:



We explored the property and concluded that this France Passion site would take a lot of beating - it is fabulous! On the other side of the wine-making plant there is a smart tasting area and shop in a conservatory-like extension with tables inside and also outside on a terrace with that same view of the western hills. There is a customer loo that is also smart and spotlessly clean; if you're camping this is available 24 hours a day. While on the subject of facilities this place has everything - fresh drinking water just across the yard to refill your motorhome's tank, rubbish disposal and, wonder of wonders, free electric hookup! Once the "vendange" activity stopped (about 9pm) it was utterly peaceful.

We tasted almost all the wines on offer and bought seven bottles (4 white, 3 red, Beajolais) as they were very good and reasonably priced - the white "fut de chene" is especially good. Six of these were packed for us in a carton and one (white) we bought ready-chilled for drinking now. There is an argument that if you buy this much wine it makes the FP stopover expensive, but this ignores the fact that you have the wine! For us it's no hardship to buy good wine at fair prices (certainly less than in a shop or supermarket). We also bought the charcuterie and cheese plates and rather than take them back to the motorhome, we consumed them sitting outside on that terrace as the sun was setting:



This food was also good value at 7 euros each including a carafe of wine, and it proved to be quite enough for our supper. The welcome here, as with the other FP sites we visited, could not have been more friendly.


Wednesday 9 September 2009

We are convinced of the value of using the autoroutes, as we indicated yesterday. Unless you can be bothered to turn off and find a filling station (we can't) the fuel prices have a premium of about 15% above the prices on ordinary roads (similar to motorway fuel prices in Britain). At the moment the cheapest fuel we have seen (usually from supermarket stations) is just under 1 euro a litre for ordinary diesel (gazole) while the gazole price on the autoroutes has varied between 1.14 and 1.18 euros. Shell, BP and Total are almost always the most expensive; Avia is cheaper; Esso fluctuates across the range. Even with higher fuel costs augmenting the tolls, we find using French autoroutes worthwhile - a result we didn't expect when we set out on this trip.

Today's journey was just 90 miles, firstly via the villages of Pommiers and Limas on the southern outskirts of Villefranche-sur-Saone to join the "Autoroute du Soleil" northwards to Beaune, and finally a short drive along the D974 to the village of Premeaux Prissey. The D974 forms part of the "Route des Grands Crus", so named because it either traverses or passes nearby so many of the great names of Burgundy ("Bourgogne"): Aloxe Corton, Savigny, Nuits St.George, Vosne Romanee, Gevrey Chambertin... Premeaux Prissey is not one of the great names but does have a Chateau - the Chateau Premeaux - that makes and sells wine, using, like all Burgundy wines, the single grape variety Pinot Noir. It is also a France Passion site and was today's destination. As we didn't stop for lunch en-route we were there by 1.30pm. The chateau was very easy to find, being signposted in the village; it is relatively small but pretty, and lies in grounds consisting mainly of a large grass area with trees. The owner was enjoying a picnic lunch with his family under one of the trees; he indicated that we could park where we liked on the grass to the south-west of the house:



We were soon enjoying our own picnic lunch beside the motorhome. Later we visited the "cave", received another friendly welcome and tasted more wines - this time from Burgundy of course. We bought six bottles again but four of these (two white and two red - Hautes Cotes de Nuits) are to drink while still on holiday and two much more expensive (a 2006 Gevrey Chambertin and a 2007 Pommard - 18 and 20 euros respectively!) are to take home. It is certainly true that almost all Burgundy is now seriously over-priced in relation to international and even French competition, but this is especially the case with the better known names. So these two bottles were an extravagance but are for keeping - they will drink well in a few years time and should keep over 10 years without risk (of course we had the advantage of tasting them before buying). On several occasions this holiday, when we have bought wine we have also bought engraved glasses, a pleasant and inexpensive souvenir - we did so here and at the Cave St Cyr. This is another good FP location - it didn't have the range of facilities of the Cave St.Cyr but we liked it very much and would recommend it too.

We unloaded the Smart, lowered the roof and set off for a tour of the area north and west of Premeaux Prissey using small rural roads; the countryside nearby is delightful - not spectacular but very pretty. The weather remained fine and sunny with the temperature still in the mid-twenties. We found a big Leclerc supermarket on the northern outskirts of Beaune and stocked up on food and "household" supplies. This supermarket was brand new and is probably the best we have ever visited in France. Our purchases included filleted sardines and mackerel which made an excellent evening barbecue. We slept well again as the location is tranquil except for the occasional TGV on the nearby main-line railway - close enough to hear, certainly, but these trains didn't keep us awake.


Thursday 10 September 2009

We breakfasted earlier than usual and left Premeaux Prissey just after 9.30 as we have about 180 miles to cover today to Colmar in Alsace, using the A36 autoroute via Besancon and Belfort to Mulhouse (near the border with Switzerland), and then the A35 northwards to Colmar. We stopped for a picnic lunch en-route at a quiet "aire" somewhere between Belfort and Mulhouse; we also filled the motorhome's tank with diesel paying the cheapest autoroute price we could find (1.14 euros per litre). We found Camping de l'Ill very easily, again because of good directions in the Caravan Club guide (whereas the ACSI guide information included no directions at all!). We arrived just before 3pm. We walked round this very nice site beside the River Ill and eventually chose a pitch from the many that were available - our's was shaded by trees with just a little sun filtering through and had nice views towards the river:



The site has good, clean sanitation facilities in four separate blocks and all pitches intended for caravans or motorhomes have electric hook-ups. The only disadvantage we could find with Camping de l'Ill was the noise from the nearby A35 autoroute, but we found we soon adapted to it and could keep it in the background; it didn't keep us awake at night.

Camping de l'Ill also has a good restaurant serving a simple menu of dishes providing decent value for money. We had dinner there and found that the portions are enormous for both starters and main courses. The food was good but there was too much of it!


Friday 11 September 2009

We awoke to a cloudy overcast and a distinct chill in the air! Is this the end of summer and the beginning of autumn?

After our usual breakfast we walked into Colmar - from our pitch on the campsite we estimated this to be about a two mile walk each way. We spent most of the day exploring the old part of this interesting and pretty town. It has many beautiful buildings but we were slightly disappointed that some of the pedestrianised areas mixed lovely old buildings and their archictecture with modern shop fronts in close juxtaposition, giving too strong an impression of walking through a typical shopping centre and suppressing somewhat our enjoyment of the medieval structures above. As we explored more widely though, we warmed to Colmar, and the southern half of the old city around the Tanners' Quarter, the Koifhus (Old Customs House), the Place de L'Ancienne Douane and the Place du Marche aux Fruits is splendid:

Colmar:



The Unterlinden Museum:



St.Martin's Church:



The Pfister House:



We were slightly disappointed by the area known as Little Venice - its limited stretches of water seem to serve as an excuse to raise restaurant prices and run over-priced excursions in small, flat-bottomed boats!



Restaurants seemed very expensive throughout the old part of Colmar and we limited ourselves to modest drinks at a pavement cafe before walking the two miles back to Camping de l'Ill and having a very late picnic lunch.

On the way back we visited another Leclerc and did more food shopping - this was smaller than the one we used at Beaune but also very good. We think that Leclerc may get our award for the best French supermarket. The store at Colmar is also very conveniently placed for Camping de l'Ill.

The sun had shown its face again during the afternoon and the day warmed up sufficiently for us to take off our fleeces; back at the campsite we even changed into shorts again. But it cooled down rapidly as the sun set so a change back to trousers and fleeces accompanied the usual barbecue. It was more or less dark by 8pm.

There is no internet access at Camping de l'Ill. There's supposed to be but the lady at Reception says "il ne marche pas"! So we've no idea of the news, no idea of the weather forecast and there is no chance of posting this blog update until we move on. We are told that the tourist office in Colmar has Wi-Fi and we know there is a McDonalds nearby but we don't want to take the time to visit an access point away from the campsite.


Saturday 12 September 2009

Autumn is definitely here! It was only 18C inside the motorhome when we woke up and colder (16?) outside. But a thin cloud cover had disappeared entirely by 10am; the sky was a cloudless blue but the nip in the air persisted and the temperature stayed at about 18C. At home in Cumbria we would consider this one of our warmer days, especially for mid-September, but 2 months living with daily maximum temperatures above 30 does condition you to warmth. No doubt we will adapt in the other direction - eventually!

We set out in the Smart to drive part of the Alsace "Route des Vins" starting at Colmar and driving a section of this famous, signposted itinerary through the vineyards and "wine villages" to the north-west. The first place which tempted us to stop and walk around was the small village of Niedermorschwihr; this is not a famous tourist destination and is mercifully devoid of crowds - we were almost alone as we strolled round. We parked without difficulty and without charge. Niedermorschwihr is a lovely village and it served as an excellent introduction to the colourful architecture so dramatically featured throughout this region:



At this stage we were still surrounded by vineyards but soon the road climbed into the Voges and left the vines behind for a while. We continued through the hill town of Les Trois Epis and then descended again via Orbey to Kayserberg which gets its name from the Romans who called the mountain behind the town "Caesar's Mountain". We nearly didn't stop here as all the parking was "payant" at 2 euros but fortunately we changed our minds, parked, paid and then strolled around. We were pleased we had bothered - Kayserberg, with its castle on the hill, is lovely:



and although there were many visitors it didn't seen crowded. It is the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965) and the house where he was born is now a museum of relevant memorabilia:



By now it was lunchtime and the many restaurants were doing a roaring trade - almost all outside tables were occupied throughout the town. There were a few left and we considered having lunch but decided that the picnic we had packed in the Smart would suffice. So once agin we just strolled around, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring the splendid buildings. We visited the church and paid our 20 cents to illuminate the renowned altarpiece by the sculptor Hans Bongart of Colmar which is dated 1518 and in which wooden bas-reliefs describe the Passion and surround a depiction of the Crucifixion while the predella shows Christ and the Apostles:



It is a remarkable work of art; this is so, we think, whatever your religious views may be.

It was but a short drive through vine-covered slopes to our next stop at Riquewihr, one of the biggest "tourist magnets" on the entire Alsatian "Route du Vin"; this was a very different proposition from the first two villages we had explored. Immediate clues to this difference were the very large coach park on the village outskirts and the procession of coaches approaching Riqewihr from the main road, disgorging many hundreds of visitors an hour into the narrow streets. Though not before they had walked by the temporary "bier keller" set up at the entrance to the village from the coach park; this also served robust food in the Alsace / German tradition and was complemented by a very loud one-man band bashing out everything from rock to oompah!

Once past this hazard things improved a little. We were also pleased to have avoided paying for parking here - not an easy matter as everywhere was supposed to be "payant". Riquewihr would be gorgeous without the crowds. Yes, of course, we know we were part of the crowds, but that doesn't alter the fact that this volume of visitors inevitably changes the experience of visiting for the worse. Somehow we managed to get acceptable photos of Riquewihr in spite of the number of people, but it took an awful lot of patience:



Every other building seemed to be a shop selling goods aimed at tourists across a wide quality spectrum but generally with inflated prices. We spent nothing at all at Riqewihr other than the time for a fairly comprehensive exploration.

By now it was approaching 3pm, we had still not had lunch and we were hungry. We found a nice picnic table surrounded by vines about a kilometre outside Riquewihr and had a late lunch there. M observed that the vines in Alsace grow higher than those in other French wine regions we have visited; those in Burgundy and in the South are more bushy whereas the Alsatian vines are tall and slim!



Our last stop today was at Ribeauville a few kilometres north of Riquewihr. It is another famous destination and tourist hotspot, but was much less crowded than Riquewihr, mainly because it does not seem to be a calling place for coach tours. We suspect that Riquewihr has deliberately cornered the tour bus trade by building an enormous parking area for them; this is undoubtedly good for the economy of the town but for us it almost destroyed the environment, and that must be so for nearly half of the year. It was much more pleasant walking around Ribeauville:



Interestingly we spent nothing in Riquewihr but at Ribeauville we bought a set of six aperitif glasses engraved with a pair of storks, the stork ("cigogne") being the symbol of Alsace. There are many storks nests atop buildings in Alsace - we spotted this one at Ribeauville:



M was lucky enough to see a stork in flight above the River L'Ill by the campsite at Colmar.


Sunday 13 September 2009

We decided it was time to explore some of the hill country of the Vosges and so we set out in the Smart to Munster (20Km west of Colmar) and turned left (south-west) on the D10 via Sondernach, the D27 and the Col du Platzerwasel (the conjunction of French and German words in Alsace is fascinating) to Le Markstein - not so much a town as a hill-top gathering place for walkers, cylists and motorcyclists, particularly the latter; today there were hundreds parked here and we wondered if there might be some sort of rally going on. The roads were also busy with motorbikes, some ridden well but sadly too many ridden by prats.

The countryside is quite different from the mountains in the centre and south of France; the hills are wooded with large areas of open pasture often grazed by big yet pretty cattle with horns; some of the cows have bells. It is very like Switzerland and in the more wooded parts it resembles the Black Forest in Germany, not far away to the east. There are numerous walking trails, most of them waymarked and some with names - these walks look delightful and relatively easy. Many people were out walking, some in families, others in large rambling parties. The views are stunning in all directions:



At Le Markstein we continued in a south-easterly direction on the D431 towards the Grand Ballon, at 1421 metres the highest point in the Vosges. This was of nostalgic interest to R as he cycled this road (in the opposite direction, ascending from Cernay) in 1961 at the age of 17, while on a cycling tour of Alsace and Switzerland. He remembered some of the road:



and found it hard to imagine cycling all that way uphill!

The road passes below the summit of the Grand Ballon; we parked at the top of the Col and walked up a rocky path to the summit:



The path ascended via a monument commemorating "Les Diables Bleus" and skirted the base of a large radar dome:



from where we walked across to the cairn:



View from the summit of the Grand Ballon:



We returned to the road by a different path. R was pleased to see a fair number of proper cyclists as well as the armies of motorised ones. There were also extraordinary machines of various sorts, based on motorbikes but looking more like small cars - a huge motorbike with a sidecar as wide as a car, hybrids of motorbikes and quad bikes, three-wheelers in various configurations.

Both the restaurants / cafes at the Grand Ballon looked unattractive so we resigned ourselves to another late lunch - fortunately we had brought a picnic with us again. We found a pleasant seat with a good view somewhere on the way down to Cernay and ate our bread, cheese and fruit.

Further down this road we stopped at the memorial site known as Hartmannswillerkopf, better known to the French soldiers who fought here in the First World War as "Le Vieil Armand":



This was one of the focal points of the fighting in the Vosges - the French and Germans fought hard over this strategic ridge and the battles were especially bloody in 1915 when the summit changed hands no less than eight times! The memorial consists of a National Cemetery with 1256 individual tombs marked with crosses and a mausoleum where an ossuary contains the remains of more than 12000 unknown soldiers. With the fighting in the Vosges in the Second World War, more than 30000 combatants died upon these hills. There is a brutal simplicity in the horizontal lines of this monument to man's stupidity which serves to make its structure match the magnificence of its mountain setting.

Back in the valley among the vineyards again we decided to follow the southern section of the Route du Vin back to Colmar. We drove through Guebwiller, Soultzmatt and Osenbach to Gueberschwihr where we stopped to explore because we liked the look of the place; we had a good walk round it. Continuing northwards on a delightful but very narrow road through Voegtlinshoffen (we both had difficulty pronouncing this - what do the French make of it?) we reached Eguisheim on the south-western outskirts of Colmar. This is another picture-postcard wine village where another piece of creative (Smart?) parking avoided all the "payant" parks and spaces! Strolling round Eguisheim was a nice way to end another lovely day. But the village has such a maze of tiny, narrow streets that we got seriously lost at one point and couldn't work out how or where to exit the old pedestrianised quarter to get back to the car! We eventually realised that one of the streets we had been following described a complete circle and this had reversed our sense of direction; we were relieved to find the Smart!

Eguisheim is beautiful and was not crowded:




A word about Camping de l'Ill - this is a nice site with rather limited and basic facilities. It is prettily situated beside the river. Most of the site has marked pitches bounded by small bushes but there is a large area closer to the river that has no marked pitches and is more suitable for tents. The site was not busy at this time and the restaurant had limited opening. We suspect that in the high season this site could get crowded and the sanitary facilities (which are clean but basic) could become over-stretched. Some people may also find the motorway noise intrusive. We paid just over 18 euros a night here, including electricity, in September.

Tomorrow we move on to Obernai, about 25Km west of Strasbourg. From Obernai we intend to visit Strasbourg and explore some of the more northern parts of Alsace before the last part of our journey home via our friends near Rouen.

Cheers:

France Passion (again), especially the Cave St.Cyr, near Anse in the Beaujolais.

The Autoroutes - easy driving and better value than we expected. We have paid Category (Classe) 2 tolls throughout.

The Gorges du Verdon and especially the D23 loop road (Route des Cretes)

Fragonard "Parfumerie" at Grasse

St Tropez - nicer than we expected (but as expensive as we expected).

In Alsace: Colmar and the villages of Kayserberg, Ribeauville and Eguisheim.

Storks in Alsace - it's good to see them apparently doing so well.


Boos:

The traffic on the Mediterranean coast, especially around St.Raphael-Frejus. Combined with generally aggressive and plain bad driving, motoring on this coast road is no pleasure.

Markets that completely block the through routes in towns.

The volume of coach tour visits to Riquewihr in Alsace.