Thursday 17 November 2016

France

HOME IN WALSALL

Thursday 24th November.   Hometime 😥


We sleep till 5am, Lisa is too excited to go back to sleep, Alastair manages 10 minutes.

Just before 7am using a head torch we get up and empty our grey water.  There is one other Moho here so we try to be as quick and quiet as we can then we are off.

We choose the motorway today and at €1.80 it's worth it.  We pass an aire but it's closed, for obvious reasons, so we arrive 45 minutes later at Le Manche and are given the opportunity to take the 8:50 train instead of the 9:50 for free, fabalass.

The crossing costs us £96.  Pretty good value.  We paid in advance over the internet.

We drive to the security check and a guard asks us where we have been, we imagine he isn't making polite conversation.  He then passes a black wand thing over the drivers window and steering wheel telling us we need to wait for the results.  A couple of minutes later we are on our way.  Lisa wants to ask what the wand thing does but Alastair is not having any of it telling Lisa 'you don't mess around with those guys'. 

We manage to find our way to passport control, usually we are following a line of cars but there is no one else to follow and it's dark.

As we pull up Lisa says bonjour, a broad English Southern accent replies, none of that bonjour stuff here!  Lisa apologies explaining we have been away for a while.  He asks where we have been and this feels like polite conversation, he asks about work and we all shake our heads at 'bloody brexit'.

We have 10 minutes to get a quick cuppa and a bowl of cereal before we are off again.    We then have to pass through the check to make sure our gas is turned off, Alastair is thanked for speaking French.

Once the chocks are down and the gates are closed on the train we clean our teeth, get washed and changed.  We will come out the other end transformed.  At least Lisa will, until you try putting eyeliner on you don't realise how wobbly this train is so she'll probably look like Morticia.

Off and straight onto the motorway north, passing London via the Dartford Tunnel.  It isn't until we are up onto the M1 that we can get a Motorway Service station- about 2.5 hours into our journey.  Crazy.  Obviously now we are back in the UK there are no sevice points.

Home around 1.00.  What an anti-climax.


Watten, Wednesbury 23rd November 

Watten with Barge


A horrible, wet grey day.  There have been floods in the South of England and we are obviously close enough to be getting that weather.

Our route takes us on a free motorway around a city and the sky becomes gun metal grey.  On the opposite carriageway a car is facing the wrong way and the traffic has stopped, it's the first of 2 accidents we see.

Alastair uses the tablet to try to find an aire on route just incase tonight's aire isn't operational.

As before we have to get off the route to find a supermarket and towards the end of the journey we went to an Auchan to get wifi.


H in Watten Aire

Our aire was next to a canal.  To operate the services a Jeton was needed that cost €4.  Thanks to our earlier stop we did need anything.


We walked into town, another post WWII town, uninspiring.   We found Tourist Information, our first in weeks.  Most of the local sights were War related, Wilfred Owen died near here.

Obviously because things weren't depressing enough we went to have a look around the graveyard.  It was a busy and chaotic graveyard. 


We think this is the River Aa.  But it might not be.

 Three plots were up for sale, complete with current occupants who have obviously been there a while.   Some headstones were obviously for a whole family.   The dead persons name, year of birth and death were inscribed.   Underneath were their relatives name, year of birth then a hyphen!!!! So every time you go and visit your partners, sisters grave your name is on there with that hyphen just waiting for a date?? 
Charming.

Some of the headstones simply said 'Regrets'.  Lisa started to sing 'I've had a few', time to go home.

Trepail to Marcoing, Tuesday 22nd November 


Starlings or étourneau

We wake to dry skies and walk to the boulangerie for breakfast bread.   Sadly it's no longer warm from the oven but it may be the last time we get the opportunity of this treat.

It's a very small village with various signs indicating different champagne houses.  There is also a walk through the vines with boards explaining how champagne is created.    It's a shame we don't have time to spend another day here.   Another time hopefully.

As we are doing our services a huge flock of starlings are startled out of the vines.    There are thousands of them flying over our heads making the sky go dark.  Lisa has been desperately hoping for a mumeration having never seen one but they just settle in the next field of vines.

We need petrol today and through Lisa's drive of almost an hour and a half we see nothing so when we get to a little town we take a detour.  The first petrol station we stop at is too expensive so we travel slightly down the road to a second, that will not take Alastair's credit card.  

We put in sat nav a petrol station on the route and we soon realise that it is taking us back to the first one.  We give in, get enough petrol to get us through the next couple of days and carry on.   

This dual carriageway is popular with lorries, we imagine for the same reason as us, because it's cheap.   Consequently every lay by has a lorry in it.  

We pull into a little village and park on waste ground for lunch.    This little village in the middle of nowhere has video surveillance.    France feels scared, cameras, big dogs barking behind high fences, shutters over windows.   

The scenery changes from hillsides with vines to large expanses of flat agricultural land.  Then we start to see signposts to Commonwealth war graves.   We are travelling along the line of the Western Front.

We carry on to our overnight stop and arrive at 2pm which makes a lovely change.    Nothing works on the aire which is fine, we don't need anything and there is nowhere else to go.

We walk into town, it is functional rather than attractive.  Most houses having been built after WWII.  The streets are named things like Rue Charles de Gaulle, Rue 6th May 1945, which we imagine was when the town was liberated.


Town Hall

We find an information board that explains the town was occupied in WWII and used to house troops.  Henry Tandy won the VC for liberating the town.  Apparently when Hitler saw Tandy's photo he remarked that Tandy had saved his life as he once had a gun pointed at Hitler but didn't shoot.

The town feels depressing, it's whole being shaped by WWI and II.  We walk back towards Hamish to a little park around a canal basin where men are fishing then see a sign pointing to some British commonwealth graves.

It's good to be out walking so we follow the sign.  A track veers off and we are on a lane that cuts through agricultural land.  Alastair spots deer, there are 4 deer on the grass verge of the field watching us.  As we quietly continue walking they bounce off, their white tails bobbing behind them.


Deer centre of photo.

The graves are situated next to the lane in an expanse of flat ground that spreads for acres.   No car came up the lane and it felt incredibly peaceful.


The graves are all from September and October 1918 when the offensive on the Western Front took place.   The graves are for soldiers of regiments from West Yorkshire, Northumberland, Liverpool, the Gordon Highlanders and other regiments.    Every so often a grave is simply marked 'A soldier of the Great War' and underneath 'known unto God'.    Some men were in their 30s but most were 19, 20 and 21.   A number of the graves are for New Zealanders.     



Against the wall are graves of German soldiers, most of them unknown.   All these young men came here, some of them from the other side of the globe to die and in less than 20 years we were at war again fighting in the same fields.


A guy called Peevey from Walton in Liverpool had been awarded the VC and we find the registration book that outlines his bravery to receive it.    It is an incredibly moving space.

We walk back down the lane, along a railway embankment that is now a green space and back to H.  It's the first time in 3 days that we have walked more than our 6,000 steps and it is great to straighten our backs for a bit.


Villegusien to Trepail in Champagne, Monday 21st November 



Lisa wakes from a nightmare around 6am, coincidence that we are heading North?   She dreamt she had sent Alastair home for the night(?) and as she walked back to H he had been broken into and our clothes had been hung on coat hangers all around him.    When she relayed this to A he thought it ironic that he lies awake listening for noises while Lisa sleeps like a baby next to him dreaming about it.

Rain today for the first time in a while, another sign we are heading North.  On a positive note we can usually get Radio 4 now and listen to TMS.  Sadly we hear England lose their second test with India.

We head off and it chucks it down for most of the journey.  We need shopping so stop at a Geant we spot but it doesn't have wifi so we take the trolley back and move on to eventually find a LeClerc.

The rain has eased.   We get lunch, swap drivers and carry on.  Most of today's journey is on dual carriageway so the scenery is pretty boring.  It has made a marked change to a plain of large hedgeless fields of crops and ploughed earth.

Eventually we reach our turn off and as soon as we are off the dual carriageway we are in the middle of field after field of vines which are being tended by lots of people in vans and 4x4s.   All the vines we have seen so far have already been prepared for Winter.   As we are so far North we imagine these vines flowered later.   Then we are in the village and understand how the vineyards can afford to employ so many staff.   We are in Champagne.

We drive through tiny streets with no sign of the aire so we switch sat nav off and Lisa uses our map to guide us slightly South.  

To find the aire we drive up another narrow, steep street and up a steep slope to the little aire which is on a small plateau with views across the vines of Champagne.  Well we think there's a view, the rain is torrential again so we stay cooped up in Hamish.


We are already getting tired, long days of mostly driving.   It needs to be done, this time next week we will have been home for 3 days.


 Last night we said how wierd it will be once we are home not to be in each other's space. 24/7, we'll miss each other!!!    We have had words less than a handful of times in 4 months of living on top of each other and have become closer, literally and emotionally.   


Vinzelles to Villeguisen a Percey.  Sunday 20th November 


Our leisure battery seems to be working fine now so we think the earlier problems were our fault. Every so often we should charge the battery on a hook up and, because we are so tight, we hadn't done it for weeks.  Now we have everything seems OK. 

We get showers and are still off before 9:30am.

Because we have chosen to avoid the autoroute we are saving ourselves over €100 in tolls and we are becoming intimate with the French countryside.

We are loosing vines around here and the ground is becoming more agricultural with beautiful Charolais cows.   We drive through a little village and Alastair spots a boulangerie, Lisa pulls over so he can buy a baguette.   If we lived in France Lisa would look like ten tonne Tessy with all this amazing bread.


No idea where this is, just typical of the area

We carry on and drive through beautiful mediaeval towns with gorgeous chateaus.  Around 11am we stop for coffee in the grounds of a monastery.  We are now on the Cistercian route.


Another unknown but beautiful chateau

For lunch we find a little marina, the wind is fierce although it's still dry and reasonably warm.

Around 2:30am we arrive at our planned overnight stop.  It's down a little track by a small fishing lake and it just doesn't feel very nice.   We look at our map and there are very few places to stop around here.  We choose a spot just over an hour away and get going again.


Eventually we arrive at a large car park beside a lake.  That'll do.  We put into sat nav our next stop tomorrow, another long driving day, only 4 more to go.



We go for a walk through the leaves.  


The Lake on a grey afternoon- the further north the greyer the weather.

Boulieau to Pouilly Vinzelles, Saturday 19th November 


We are woken at 7am by a beautiful peel of bells.  There are worse ways to be woken up but we have no time to fit in a rest day so could have done with some more sleep.

The electricity has held its charge enough for us to put on heating, shame we would be quite happy to have run the engine very early this morning just to support our partying neighbours who were less than considerate last night.

It's another grey day.   

We walk to the boulangerie to get bread for lunch.   The baguette we buy is warm, soft and irresistible.  Lisa looks like the woman from the Malteser advert, cheeks full of lovely bread.  We manage not to eat it all before getting back to H.


We are on the road by 9:15am, the sky clears to blue.  We should arrive by 1pm, what could possibly go wrong?

Lisa drives for the first hour or so with no problems, we even found LPG on a bypass around Lyon.  





Then Alastair starts to drive and we arrive in Villefrance.  The traffic becomes very heavy and it gradually dawns on us that the Beaujolais marathon is on today and every route we try to take is blocked.  Initially it was entertaining with people wandering past us dressed as chickens and other things.  We see a group of guys in kilts with tam o shanters on top of ginger wigs, we give them a pap and a wave.


Such stunning Countryside



Then it's not funny we just can't get through the town.  We arrive at a roadblock with a guy chatting and helping people.  When it came to our turn we told him where we needed to get too.  He slowly shook his head and exhaled.  On our tablet which, much to a Alastair's excitement now has a proper map thanks to wifi, he showed how we would have to drive South again to circuit the town, what!!!!????

With Lisa using the tablet map for directions we circumnavigate the town to get back on a road heading North.   Once we are out of the madness we rise to a plateau overlooking the Rhone valley and stop for lunch.  Avocado and what was left of the baguette.  As a special treat Lisa crashes one of our last vegan ice creams from Italy.

The rest of the drive is fine but we arrive the same time as we did yesterday having set off 2 hours earlier and not having driven as far.


We are in Vinzelles, Beaujolais and on the edge of tiny Pouilly Fuisse.   
We find the aire overlooking the valley and go for a walk.



Vines around Vinzelles.

older part of the Chateau at the top of the hill.
View from the Chateau- across the Rhone Valley

Gates to the Chateau, which still makes wine and is lived in.

The Chateau main entrance.


The Avenue approach to the Chateau.





Stunning.















We are surrounded by vines and there is a very beautiful and probably exclusive little village with a chateau at the top of the hill next to the remains of the original chateau from the 11th century.


the washing trough

The houses are mainly built in limestone and we find an original trough used for washing clothes.  It's lovely to be out walking in the lukewarm sunshine.  Having checked out the village we head back to H for an Italian gin and tonic.



Gothic extravagance, now flats.





It's such a lovely evening we crash the 2002 Vouvray that has travelled around Europe with us.    It is simply delicious.



La Roque Sur Ceze to Boulieau, Friday 18th November 


We wake to our first grey and cloudy day in a while.  This aire has wifi but only if you are standing next to the box so Alastair makes regular trips to the box as he continues to update FAcebook with our adventures since the end of October, which is the last time we had wifi.

As it's shower day and A continues to update FB we don't get off until 11am.   This was a lovely little aire that we had to ourselves.  Time to move North.

It's a big driving day as we have to crunch the miles.  We share the driving and thank goodness we got wifi to download podcasts to keep us entertained.
Lisa chose tonight's aire as it is directly North and looks fine.  It turns out we are driving the tourist Cote de Rhone wine route.  Shame we don't have another month.....this time around.

The road is easy and we drive through rolling countryside packed with ruddy orange vines and roads lined with avenues of trees in their Autumn finery of red and orange and yellow.

We get to the aire just after 3pm.  We are the only van.  The aire has beautiful hedges in between the spaces but that stops the magnificent view across the countryside.  As we are alone we park on the side of the aire; opposite and slightly up from the bays.   We are very anxious that we aren't in anyone's way and will move later if we are but the aire has plenty of room.   We go for a wander.






Completely by accident we are in a small but very beautiful fortified medieval town.  The walls are the actual houses which connect nine stumpy round stone towers just the same height as the houses, about four stories high (6 of which still exist).  Behind the walls are a maze of tiny narrow streets.  This is not a big town, more like a village which can be walked around in about 15 minutes.


Lisa spots through a window some statuesque figures and moves in for a closer look.  A light comes on to illuminate a scene of women washing clothes in a medieval launderette:  basically a huge trough.

We carry on and find a little museum with photos of the town and the family dynasty's that are its foundation, Louis II sister is involved.  The guy was closing but at our request gives us 2 minutes to look around.   We then find a proper small craft boulangerie for tomorrow morning's bread and then wander back to H.
















We have company: a caravan on the back of a truck is parked in one of the bays.    We settle down then hear them moving.  They park in front of us along the side of the aire at the bottom, pinched our idea and our view!

We are just about to get out our Cidre when another van arrives, turns and slots itself in between us and the caravan facing towards us.   So we have gone from having a beautiful view to only being able to look into the cab of another van.   We try so hard not to inconvenience others.  We try to get our own little space then occasionally other people are so inconsiderate and mess it all up for us.   We move into one of the bays which is when we realise the caravan is running a generator???!!!

We listen to a Radio 4 Front Row podcast featuring the proposed closure of New Walsall Art Gallery as Walsall Council in their short sightedness are withdrawing funding.  We are very proud of our art gallery and until she lost her job Lisa was a 'friend' and financial supporter and had been since we were at its opening, (not the one when Liz popped up and cut the ribbon).     It's a pile of pants and cultural slaughter.  Absolutely outrageous!!!

We get ready to go to bed when a van pulls up, drives around, leaves their engine running, there is some banging and talking.   Alastair goes outside to see what's going on.  Some friends are meeting up in their mohos and parking at 90 degrees to each other, getting their ramps out etc.  Three vans eventually form a social gathering and erect a communal awning so they can sit outside and have a rather loud party.


We get into bed and try to sleep.  The generator is too loud, Alastair announces if they haven't turned it off by 10:05 he's going over to ask them too.  At 10am it is turned off. The group settle down and just sit chatting.  Eventually Lisa gets off to sleep, with A dosing fitfully.  The party finishes at around 1.00 am.  


Arles to La Roque Sur Ceze, Thursday 17th November 


Wired by the days excitement Lisa doesn't get to sleep until late so sleeps in till nearly 8am.

Whether the sun has already made its mark or some connection has tripped back into place, who knows, but our electricity is working again.

 We have heating, water and electricity, hooray!!

As it's such a beautiful day today we get some washing done.  Enough pants and socks to get us home, a couple of lightweight trousers and chuck them on the front to dry.  

All of this is hard work so by 10am we are sweaty and tired already but we have jobs to do today.

We drive towards the services slightly further up the street and when Lisa goes to collect our hose notices the garage door is open.  We have driven off leaving our washing box to dry in the sun.  Lisa starts to walk back to collect it and a French guy drives up shouting that we had left stuff behind which is very sweet of him.   Lisa tries to explain she knows but he keeps shouting.  Lisa lets Alastair explain.

We drive to the Geant Superstore we walked to yesterday. To get wifi in Hamish we have to park reasonably close and unlike Italy we are given space for the good hour that we are there.

Alastair's laptop has little charge left as we haven't had a hook up for days so Lisa gets organised posting the blogs to him which he uploads.  Finally we are published!!!  We contact a few people who we know read the blog and a few who don't just because we can.

We then drive Hamish further away from Geant and go shopping in the Casino supermarket.  We don't need anything but it seems pointless to be so close for so long, not shop and have to take time out to find somewhere but this is going on tomorrow's budget.

It's 12:30 by the time we get back to Hamish.   The sun is beating down drying our washing, shame we can't enjoy it.  We eat lunch of baguette and avocado.  Then begin to head North.

It takes about an hour and three quarters to arrive at our aire; chosen only because it was the right distance and had electricity.

The aire is brand new and has a very modern barrier.    We have to buy a card that can be used forever in similar aires.  We follow the complicated process of providing our details then credit card and it starts to produce our card that will let us in.  We wait and wait.   Non carte ex machina.  (A philosophical Descartes joke.)

Eventually Alastair calls the number on the box.  Rina is incredibly helpful, lifts the barrier remotely and says she will call us back when she can get our card.  We drive through the barrier and are just deciding on our pitch when a van arrives with 2 guys to sort the machine.  They unblock it and hand A his card.  We are gobsmacked by the speed of the service.  On the whole the French have been overwhelmingly helpful.

We park up and plug everything in and go for a walk.











It turns out this place has France's answer to Niagra Falls.  Well slight exaggeration.  There are signs warning that this is Dangereux and 30 people have died, since 1960.


We scramble around enjoying the waterfalls and amazing shapes gorged out of the rock before wandering back.  We have had 2 full on days and are shattered.


Alastair reads the papers while Lisa cooks the risotto.  Every now he huffs and puffs and declares about Brexit 'we are in a right mess'.

Budget done, we are €17 under.  

Lisa ferrets around in a cupboard looking for a book and innocently produces 'the aires of France'.  Aaaagh was Alastair's reaction, now you tell me.  Lisa thinks that's a positive outcome. 


We are drinking French Cidre, when in Rome.....








Port of Istres to Arles, Wednesday 16th November 


At 5:30am we wake needing a wee and Alastair checks the leisure battery, its red.  So we really do have a problem.  We lie in bed till almost 7, neither of us sleeping.  Lisa comes up with a plan.

We'll visit the Carmargue today as planned, tonight we'll find an aire with electricity and pay for it.  Tomorrow we find internet and book our train home then we plan a route via aires with electricity. We also phone the garage back home as there will be a guarantee on this battery and we are still within the limit.

Alastair agrees with the plan but he did buy some data so uses it to book our train, a week earlier than planned is fine, at least this didn't happen at the start of the trip.

It's a beautiful morning with a red sunrise and the full moon low in the sky behind Hamish.  As we have no neighbours and we need a shower today we run the engine to charge the battery which we have to do twice to enable us to get sorted.

After showers we head towards services, we plan an aire tonight but it's best to be prepared and having one thing wrong is more than enough!!

The services are just around the lake, we get a ticket and a set of bollards lower, we drive over them and have to wait for another set to lower, Fort Knox.

It's supposed to be €3 for 2 hours but we are obviously very quick and when we put the card in with our money ready it tells us we got this free and we are allowed over the bollards and out.

We head South to the Carmargue, a flat area of sea, marshes and various vegetation, we spot a couple of raptors as we drive in.    We see a group of white horses who look like they are being fed.

We head West and park where we were told flamingos can be seen.   There are none.   We scan the horizon with our binoculars and in the distance Lisa spots a line of pinkness.








We leave Hamish and start walking along a track, we spot a large bird of prey with a white head, too far away to work out what it is.    The track started to move away from the sea so we retrace our steps and walk across a flat Bank of mud completely covered in horse hoove prints. 

Eventually we get to the beach and can see the flamingos in their pink fluffiness, fast asleep, standing on one leg, their heads tucked underneath their wings.




We see several other groups in the distance, Lisa is amazed, she had never heard of he white horses of the Carmargue or the flamingos.







We walk towards another group and one flamingo is walking gracefully across the bay to the sleeping group, his knees bend the wrong way!!  An amazing experience.


We head back towards Hamish and drive South to the main town where we grab a baguette for lunch.  Driving North to find somewhere to spot we spot 3 small groups of white horses, sadly they are not galloping through the waves but we can't be too greedy.

We eat our baguette and as it's still early we decide to try to get Arles and wifi sorted today before heading to the aire with leccy.  We are effectively now starting our journey home as we are heading North.

We arrive at the aire in Arles and are parked next to a British van!!!    Alastair goes off to find out if we need to pay the €5 requested at this time of year, we were advised we didn't need too.
Alastair is missing for a while so Lisa goes to find him and we have a conversation with a lovely English couple, how exciting.  We swapped stories and advice.   

It was around 3:30pm so eventually we had to tear ourselves away, grab all of our IT kit and get going.

As we walk beside the bridge several pigeons are in different states of dying and 1 is alive, floating helplessly away on the river, it was very distressing.

We walked through Arles to tourist information, they have free wifi however it's currently not strong enough to even get our what's app messages, useless.

We pick up the laptop and tablets and ask for a mobile phone shop, there is one across the road.  The guy is very helpful, he can't help us but signposts us to a huge store that may be able to help.

We set off and with the help of a young French man who is suitably horrified by our lack of wifi we arrive at the store after about half an hours walk.

By default we find the first shop that had been recommended to us.  The guy is incredibly helpful and takes time with us.  Without a French bank account he isn't able to help.  We do buy a SIM for our tablet as Alastair wants to update FB.

Not expecting a positive outcome we try our last shop Orange.  Again the service we received was exemplary.  The guy explained again a deal we could get with a French address and bank account that would be the answer to all of our problems.  Sadly he couldn't help either but was good company as we chatted about the disaster that is Brexit.   

The positive news is that the shopping centre has excellent wifi and while we are wandering around sorting all of this Lisa downloads The Independent and Alastair downloads the podcasts we have missed.

As we walk out it's starting to get dark, we have given it all with wifi and we resolve to just use wifi we can find in supermarkets and cafes.

On our walk back Alastair notes how good we are at finding our way home from a variety of city's.  As we cross the bridge the remains of the sunset means the twilight is strikingly beautiful.



It's almost 6pm by the time we get back, we are going nowhere tonight and will manage stuff in the morning.  Lisa cracks on with tea while Alastair gets first dibs at he newspaper.



Corro to Port of Istres, Tuesday 15th November 


We are awake but not braving getting into the cold yet and someone is running their motorhome engine to charge the battery.  Lisa comments that he needs a solar panel like us, fatal!!

Alastair gets up to put some heating on, we have no electricity meaning that nothing works.  

Alastair has a lighter for emergencies so Lisa puts the kettle on to give us some heat.

Alastair scrambles through the window to clean the solar panels off.  We have no idea why they have stopped working, since we had them 12 months ago.  We usually go days without needing to run the engine and there was plenty of sun yesterday.

We get breakfast and wash up using kettle water.   We also use it to get a wash and cold water from our drinking water container is used to clean our teeth.  Without leccy we can't run the water, flush the loo etc.

Unsurprisingly we are ready to go by 9am.  Hamish starts beautifully and we use the services before waving goodbye to the English couple.  It was so lovely to meet them.  We feel so much better than when we arrived having done loads of travelling over the last few days.

We need a supermarket today and follow signs for an Auchan but can't find it and en route to our overnight stop find a small Carrefour.  Amazingly for France we find felafel and houmous.

We drive on to our overnight stop which is less than an hour away from Carro.  We are still trying to chill.  Our car park is just past a tiny marina on a piece of waste ground overlooking the inland lake, an amazing spot.







We watch some little ones having a sailing lesson.

As we arrive so early we decide to walk into Istres to see if we can do something about our wifi problem.

We climb the steep hill out of the port, a woman passing us in a car.  We walk past a school, along a dual carriageway and then turn left towards the town.  The woman who passed us in the car is walking along the pavement and recognises us.

Eventually we arrive in the town and walk through to the other end where we find tourist information.  They have wifi and pass us a special bit of paper with the password.  It's useless, not fast enough to allow us to do any of the jobs we need to do.   


There is a photo reel of the annual fete where billions of sheep, goats and dressed up horses are paraded through the streets.

We walk back through town and spot an Orange shop.  Alastair's idea is that we buy a French data SIM.  The shop is closed but do are a number around here.  We decide to walk for a bit.

We head back the other way again and find a huge fountain of water jetting up in the sky.   By now it's 3pm so we walk back to the shop which is still closed.   We hang around.  



Finally the shop opens and we are in.  In his best French Alastair starts to explain our predicament, the guy suggests we try English.  He can't help us but is very lovely and tells us we need a Bouguet shop, 50 metres up the road.

When we arrive there is one woman serving.  She is dealing with a customer and has 2 more waiting, one with a bored child, us and another man.

Eventually it's our turn and Alastair explains what we need.  "Non".  she doesn't have one.  Does she know where we can get one? "Non".  Perhaps she is French Bavarian?

We leave completely bloody frustrated again.  We know she was hassled but to be so dismissive?  We are no further forward.  It looks like we'll be home before you can read this blog which wasn't the point!!! 

It takes us about 45 minutes to walk back and as we arrive in the port the woman in the car is there waving furiously at us.   A new friend.




We crash in H enjoying our view.

We are having the falafel for tea.  As we have time now we bought veggies today so Lisa could use the sauce we bought in Italy and freeze the meals for our journey home.  

Everything is ready and Lisa was just about to pour the pasta sauce in but something made her hesitate.  She hands the jar to Alastair to double check, using the Italian translation we realise it's got anchovies in.  Oooops.  The veggies get frozen and will have to wait for a pasta sauce!!!

Corro, Monday 14th November 

We have both had the best nights sleep in ages.   It's a cloudy day with a line of orange on the horizon.

Radio 4 works although we are dismayed to hear its warmer over the next couple of days in the UK than it is here!!  Then, because it's Charlie's birthday, we get the national anthem.   We cringe imagining the French wondering if this is something the Brits do every morning.

For breakfast we walk to the boulangerie to get a fresh baguette and a pain au chocolate for A. Delicious.


It's chilly again today and we are beginning to think we'll b e heading a North soon.  We start to look at calendars when Alastair sees an alert.  Hamish's tax was due last week!!  Alastair gets back on line to pay it off.   Again lack of wifi has proved a problem.

We need a couple of things from the shop and head out. There is a British van on the aire!!!  We go over to say hello and have a proper conversation.  Our first in ages.



We get back from the supermarket and walk around the coastline towards the lighthouse.  The clouds begin to clear and it starts to warm up.  

We walk around a beautiful cove, with a deserted beach.  Then pick our way over a big rock ledge beside the cove and up some stone steps to the rocks that lead around a promentary to the lighthouse.




The rocks are volcanic in nature: sometimes pink smooth doughy rounds, sometimes like white pizza bread piled in layers.  Nearer the sea, where erosion has occurred, it becomes sharp edged whorls revealing hundreds of fossilised shells.  Fascinating.


We wander back across the rocks, across the beach and as we walk towards town we spot the yellow trailer box of our neighbour being towed.  The motorhome is on a low loader, ooops.

We already have a new neighbour.  A huge van that has come one step closer and completely blocks our sun.  We get our chairs out and sit in the sun but subject to the cold Mistral wind.

The English couple come over on their way for a walk.  Two conversations on one day.  We had worried we wouldn't know how having only spoken to each other for 3 months.

Eventually we are forced inside by the cold.   

We are keeping our eye open as we are due a Super Moon tonight.  Lisa finishes her tea and spots it making its climb over the lighthouse.   It's a beautiful, huge, orange moon.  The closest since 1948.    Lisa helps Alastair finish his tea then runs over to let the English couple know.  The four of us watch the moon and have another conversation!!!

  
Lisa persuades Alastair to play cards and she is in the lead until the third hand.   Then she looses.


Saints Baume to Corro, Sunday 13th November 


We wake to another chilly morning and are looking forward to getting down to sea level.  Two men are talking loudly outside H.   When we open the blinds we realise it's one man talking to himself?

Several people are arriving and starting the pilgrimage up to the grotto. We listen to TMS, a draw for the first match against India.

We are away just after 9am.  Another harem scarum journey down the mountain.  As we travel we listen to a 6 music podcast about Fela Kuti, what a man.  We make a note to get his albums when we get home.


We arrive just before 12 in the seaside village of Corro.  We park in the car park to check things out.   We debate staying here for a night before moving to the aire but we need water and signs say 'no parking for motorhomes', so we drive in.   

It costs just €13.70 for 2 nights and we are at the end of the harbour with great sea views.

We fill up with water and park up.  Hamish needs a proper clean.  Living in him 24/7 he soon gets grubby and Sainte Baume was muddy so the cab is filthy.   Carpets are out, cab, kitchen, bathroom and floor are all cleaned and it is just so lovely to have a clean home.

We go for a walk around the harbour to find a boulangerie and a little supermarket.  We wander on around the coast then back along the other coast to H.  

We have new neighbors who have a huge trailer covered in an unattractive yellow tarp.  They have parked it at the front of their van, so much for our sea view!!!  To be fair once inside Hamish it isn't too bad and the other side of the harbour wall is rammed with vans, we stay put.


We are shattered after several full on days.  Alastair frustrated by lack of connection with home and buys some wifi which is when he found out that his Senplus website has been cancelled because several attempts to contact him for payment have resulted in no reply.


Sainte-Baume, Saturday 12th November 

A noisy night and Alastair in particular has a poor night's sleep.  For the first time this trip there is ice on the outside of windows when we awake.  Alastair puts the heating on and does a lot of chuntering about how cold he is.  We'll be going home sooner if this keeps up.

We have no radio and of course wifi doesn't work.  While Lisa gets a shower Alastair spreads out all of the information about the wifi to give them a call.....again.   He phones at 8am but as it's Saturday they don't open until 9am which is 10am our time and we want to be on the road by then.  Reluctantly Alastair also gets a shower despite saying he was going to wait till later so it isn't so chilly.  He's always been a bit nesh. 

We set off for our first stop: Lidls for muesli.  It's absolute chaos at 9.30 with huge queues at the checkout and only two people serving.  One guy behind us in the queue asks a third woman who is near a till if she is opening it.   Her response is less than professional.  He questions the way she has spoken to him and a shouting match ensues across the shop.  Everyone feels embarrassed.

They don't sell fresh cows milk so we have to nip to the small Carrefour next door.  It's quiet with no queues and no shouting.   You get what you pay for.

We visit the service around the corner and fill up with water for €2 then we are off.  We have identified an aire by the sea where we want to spend a couple of nights, it's not free but we deserve a break.   So to get 2/3s of the drive done today without paying for autoroute we are heading to the Sainte-Baume plateau, whatever that might be.  No internet so no information.

The drive through the countryside will obviously take more time however after Italy the French roads are a dream: no pot holes (road moles) so we can drive at a reasonable speed, no tail gaters, people getting into their own lane before overtaking, bliss.   Alastair relaxes into the driving and begins to enjoy himself.  It is so less stressful when H isn't juddering over unprepared roads.  France is obviously so much wealthier.

Provence is beautiful and green and, unlike where we stayed last night,  the trees are turning Autumnal shades of copper.

Around 12:30 we find a layby and pull in for lunch and a break.   Alastair gets ready to make the call regarding wifi.   It's busy so we have to wait for a few minutes then Alastair speaks to a woman who helpfully explains that we have reached the limit of the data we can use in Europe for the next 12 months!!!!!!

When Alastair called 2 days ago and we were told everything was fine and that we haven't used our 20GB, it clearly wasn't and we have had to call again to discover this.     When Alastair increased his allowance they took the money and didn't say ' oh but you are limited to X'.  Apparently with 3Mobile the max data per month is 12GB (if you buy 20GB you can only use 8GB in the U.K.). AND you can only use the data sim in Europe for a max of 60 days per year.  When we topped up with another £15 after the data ran out last month they took the money but you can only use the top up in the U.K. So we were unable to use that as well.  There is nothing on the website, as far as Alastair who spent hours researching this, could see.  Apparently it is in the small print of the contract.  

Alastair gets put through to complaints.  A lovely guy from Glasgow refunds the £15, reduces our usage to the original amount and at Alastair's request closes the account. So when we get back to the UK we have to use our months allowance on the journey home because we can't use it here and the contract ends on the 12th December.

It looks as if we will have to buy data sims for the country we are in.

Wifi has been a huge learning curve, we need to find a different solution.  It has been infuriating.  In some ways this feels like a relief.  We no longer have the anxiety of wondering why it won't work and wondering if it will.  We can take control now and do something about sorting something out to at least be able to publish our blog.

We get going again and with the last 20 minutes there is a warning about a bendy road.  We stop and discuss it.  It's not Norway so we go for it.   The road is narrow, twisty and steep but we make it.




 On the plateau at the top half of France is parked.   We are obviously missing something.  As we were driving up Lisa wondered if this was a place of pilgrimage?  It is!   For French Kings!!!!  Apparently in the cliffs above us Mary Magdalane lived towards the end of her life.  On the cliff above the plateau is a cave which looks from the photos right tacky.  Every French king has made the pilgrimage to her chapel.  The path up is called the path of Kings.
We don't take the Pilgrims route.  We wander around the field through wild thyme then read our book in the sunshine for a few minutes although the chill up here soon sends us back to Hamish.


Around 5pm we move to a less muddy spot although the car park is still busy.  After tea we snuggle down with blankets as the temperature plunges.  We take the blanket to bed for extra warmth.   We are hoping it'll be warmer at sea level.








San Remo, Italy to Lac de Saint Cassie, France, Friday 11th November 

A lovely goodbye to Italy.  We wake to another blue cloudless sky and deep blue Mediterranean Sea.  Another free night.

We eat breakfast overlooking the sea: stunning!

We get going about 9:30 and travel along the coast road.  We drive for about an hour without travelling far.  There seems to be one long queue of traffic through the Riviera.    We dread to think what it would be like in the height of the season.  We are so bored we swap notes on what kind of motor scooter we'd have if we lived here.

Eventually we get going surrounded by cars with a Monaco license plate. 

We shed a tear as we drive along the last km of Italian coast road and then we are at the border.   We are pulled over by the border police, with big guns.

Since we left the Uk we have not once been asked for our passports.   It's been amazing.   No doubt that will change with Brexit!   The advantage we have with French is the amount of French Alastair can read, understand and speak.

We are still not asked for our passport.  The police guy asks Alastair to open Hamish's door and puts his head inside to check we don't have any 'additional passengers'.  Satisfied he waves us on.

It is very windy but an otherwise beautiful day.  Alastair thought he had instructed satnav to avoid motorways but as soon as we are in France we are paying tolls.  Looking at our mountainous surroundings it seems a fair deal.

We stop at a services to give Alastair a break.   We have to nestle in amongst the lorries and walk to the shop to stretch our legs.  Free toilets!

We are approached by a Frenchman who asks:  'Are you English and in zee Camper?"  We confirm we are and he tells us we need to move and park right by the services because where we were is 'darnjeruss'.   It is very nice of him to warn us.  We go  straight back to find out that, after Lisa locked the side door, Alastair had unlocked it.  There are no 'additional passengers' in the bathroom or anywhere else.  


We get back on the road but within an hour of arriving in France have had two  reminders about how things have changed here, since the atrocities in Nice and Paris.

We stop for lunch at another services but don't leave Hamish.  We get 30 minutes of free wifi.   Oh the luxury.   We discover Leonard Cohen has died.  He has been a regular companion on our journey and on our lives.  Another monumental talent taken from us this year.

We leave the motorway and are soon driving across a lake with some suitable car parks around it.  We find a services stop and after picking up the cheapest diesel (1.14€) we have seen in a while we return to the lake.

We find a car park near the lake.  It's a bit near the road but when travelling we don't have the luxury of searching for the best stop.

We go for a scramble through the trees to the Lake and have 5 minutes in the sun.  

 Back at H we try the wifi, of course it doesn't work.  Then we try the radio, it's GQT (Gardeners Question Time).  It works!   How delicious.

We manage the news and the Leonard Cohen feature on last doors then the radio becomes white noise.  Lisa has her head in her hands in despair but we turn it around. As our mark of respect it's a Leonard Cohen night.