The next bit is in Spain
1/4/22
Still at Saint Flour at the moment. It’s been a really cold night -4°. We awoke to the site covered in snow.
Things weren’t looking good, our water pipes had frozen and Bertie’s engine wouldn’t start. So we were looking at spending another night here in the freezing cold. Eventually, after much coaxing, the engine started. We packed up quickly and set off.
Now at Gruissan near Narbonne. We had a fairly difficult journey getting here. The A75 motorway goes high up over the mountains which today were covered in snow. For most of the way the French authorities had only cleared one lane of snow, but the high wind was blowing snow back onto the cleared lane from the uncleared lane. It wasn’t helped by my windscreen washers being frozen, so all the dirty slush thrown up by other traffic obscured my view. Every now and then we stopped to clean the windscreen, but with only one lane open it was difficult to find somewhere safe to stop. At one point we went over the famous Millau viaduct. By now the wind was blowing hard and gusty, but the viaduct has wind break barriers. Unfortunately this means there is no view.
The route of the A75 down towards the coast is very dramatic and it wasn’t long before we were looking for tonight’s stop, which is right by a marina full of very expensive looking sailing boats. The sun is now out and warm, but there is a very strong wind blowing which is buffeting Bertie about.
31/3/22
Saint Flour: Northern France is very flat with the land stretching away on either side. But now we are about 1000 metres up in the central mountain region. The change in the landscape was quite dramatic. It’s also colder here, frost, and possibly snow, is forecast for tomorrow. We left just before eight, made a quick stop for a baguette and to top up the deisel and made it here by about 11 o’clock including a pop in to a Lidl and getting lost trying to find the entrance to the site.
We chose this site from the search4sites app as it said there were toilets, showers and electric hook up. Well we have electric, but the showers & toilets are only open in the high season! So we have paid €17 for just electric, but that’s useful as we have been charging the battery ( whilst driving) for about 3 hours, but discharging for about 21 hours per day.
After lunch a walk around the old town was called for. So we wrapped up in many layers and set off. It’s quite typical of many old French towns. Narrow streets with high buildings, the doors and shutters painted in a drab brown.
The weather forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look good ❄❄
30/3/22
Saaint Poucain Sur Sioule : We almost overslept this morning, it was 7:00 before we roused! We put the bed away, had breakfast then went for a walk into the town to get a baguette for lunch. It was fairly cold and cloudy. As we go further south the weather get worse, that can’t be right! An uneventful journey to tonight’s stop at Saint Pourcain sur Sioule which we reached at about 13:30. We had originally intended to stop near Moulins. I’m glad we didnt, it’s a large industrial city. Like the two previous one this site is next to a river.
It’s a bigger site than before, with space for 45 vans, but it’s only about half full. After lunch we walked into town but, as usual with French towns, everything closes in the middle of the day.
29/3/22
Jargeau : At last night’s stop was one of France’s excellent “Motorhome service points” so we emptied our grey water before setting off. A bit cooler and grey today, we were heading for a stop near Orleans. We use the brilliant “Search4Sites” app to find each night’s stop. First we headed to Vitry aux Loges as we knew that we could top up the water and empty our toilet cassette there. After a bit of a winding route from our SatNav we got there about 13:30. A quick pop to the Boulangier for a baguette for lunch. The parking place was right alongside the Canal d’Orleans. we walked off our lunch with a quick stroll along the canal for a about a mile and back.
The parking place wasn’t ideal so, after doing the services we moved on to a really great spot on the bank of the river Loire at Jargeau.
28/3/22
Not actually France yet. We have just woken up to a very cold, misty morning in Kent. The tunnel is booked for 12:20. Since Brexit we are not allowed to take any fresh food into France. No even a sandwich to eat on the train! So our plan is to have a big breakfast about 9ish, then stop at a supermarket in France to stock up for the week.
It didnt go exactly according to the plan! Surprisingly we didnt see any supermarkets for the first couple of hours. We were begining to think that we would have to use our emergency tinned meal for our first night in France. Also we were getting a bit low on diesel. Then suddenly we saw a Super U with a fuel station. So we stocked up with both and soon were at our stop for the night Pont de L’Arche alongside the river Seine near Rouen.
