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Touring > France Touring > France 2002
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OUR FRANCE 2002
TOUR
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Photo features The
Camargue Var and Aups
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Here is our report of our June 2002 trip to France. This year we traveled just
over 2000 miles, again crossing
from Newhaven to Dieppe which was altogether a better experience than last
year as we
paid extra for 1st class which included a meal and priority loading.
Here is a brief summary of our journey, more details to follow. OUTBOUND...
We
headed further south this year mostly avoiding the autoroutes. We
bypassed Rouen being a Saturday morning by
turning west to Yvetot then south across the Brotonne toll bridge and
through the regional park which
was a much more pleasant drive. After travelling south on N and D roads we
took a short journey on the A71 autoroute to miss
Montluçon and then east to Vichy. Heading south on N roads took us to
Ambert and Le Puy en Velay which is an impressive sight as the road
descends into the town, with several laybys for photostops.
East from Le Puy we headed on minor roads across interesting moorlands and hills
with vivid yellow broom in flower to
Gerbier de Jonc, a domed rock and the source of the Loire, then
down to Aubenas in the Ardeche and on into the Rhône valley. Our target was
Vaison la Romain, a busy town with Roman ruins and an excellent
market on Tuesdays, near to Mont Ventoux.
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Ochre
cliffs at Rousillon
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TOURING PROVENCE...
After a short circular tour of the pretty hilltop villages of Segurat and
Gigonas, famous for their vineyards, disaster struck when we suffered a radiator failure, luckily in Carpentras rather than out in
the wild. Having a Renault Trafic should be no problem to get
fixed in France we thought! However the Renault main dealer was totally disinterested - offering to look at
it in two weeks time! Luckily with
the help of Carefree and Europ Assistance it was repaired most efficiently by
a small garage, Gilson Auto
Services in a few hours, and we continued to the villages of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse,
(similar to Cheddar Gorge), Gordes
and Rousillon with its ochre cliffs.
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Grande Canyon du Verdon
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We continued east
across Haute Provence, unfortunately a bit early in the year for the lavender
fields in full bloom, arriving at Moustiers Ste Marie in its impressive
mountain side setting then across to the
Grande Canyon du Verdon, taking the less hair-raising northern road which
was still most impressive, and headed east to Castellane and the Reservoir
de Castillon. From there we travelled south
across rough garrigue terrain and after skirting Draguignan arrived at Tourtour and Aups, another
old
market town with narrow lanes. Following a day of torrential rain and getting
caught up in a motor rally in the Ste Baume Hills, we skirted east of Marseille
staying at Gémenos, and then down
to the coast at Bandol, a pleasant small resort. Since it
was a
Sunday and thinking the roads would be quieter, we headed west around the outskirts of Marseille
through a maze of ring roads and autoroutes, passing oil refineries and
chemical works at Fos  |
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Camargue - bulls being herded
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THE CAMARGUE
We arrived in the Camargue via a
small chain ferry Bac de Balin de Giraud and Port St Louis. Passing through paddy-fields of rice
we first visited
a
nature reserve at La Capelière where we saw our first
glimpses of pink flamingos, white horses and black bulls. Continuing to
Saintes Maries de la Mer which was more attractive than the some older
guidebooks claimed with a smart new promenade we found overnight parking for
camping cars at the east beach from where a short stroll along the digue
provided excellent views of the Camargue with its fascinating wildlife.
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HOMEWARDS . . .
We left the Camargue via the main road to Montpelier which we tried to
bypass - a total disaster in the late afternoon. One hour later
after visiting several suburbs, several times, we found the road north
to St Martin de Londres. From there we travelled north to the Cirque de
Navacelles, best approached from the north for the stunning views (we didn't take
the motorhome down the valley road). Continuing north via the long
climbing road to Mont Aigoual in
the Cevennes region for more panoramic views and we drove down to Meyrueis
and the Gorges de la Jonte to watch the
vultures. we travelled north to the Lot area and the Dordogne via
Conques, an ancient monastery town with impressive abbey. |
Cirque de Navacelles
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In the Dordogne we visited several Bastide
towns although the grandness of the impressive square at Montpazier was
spoilt when we visited as it was full of market stalls. We then travelled
north via the free A20 autoroute and across to Chaumont-sur-Loire to visit
the garden festival, a bit different to Kew! where the air temperature
reached 40°C. From there it was a leisurely journey back to Dieppe stopping
at Lyons la Forêt for our last night in France.
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Chateau at Chaumont-sur-Loire
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