Anyone caught up in the fires in Europe?

[StephandJohn]

Looks horrendous. We've been to some of the places which are now on fire.

 

[maison]

Not this time but a few years ago we left a site at Frejus as we didn’t like the news regarding wild fires in the vicinity. The day after we left the campsite was totally destroyed by fire, together with the vast majority of caravans and motorhomes that were there.

Fortunately no lives were lost there.

 

[jumar]

No we are not...however this time of the year I remain on guard and would be ready to evacuate if needs be.
A few years ago in Australia we went into a campsite bar and asked the barman how close the firefront was in relation to our location...his reply was enough for me to turn the car around and face the site exit and have a look where we could take refuge...

 

[bladerunner]

In Canada I re-fueled the motorbike whilst a forest fire felt as if was just across the road.
"No naked flames"??

 

[Fragle]

We are going around Bordeaux tomorrow. Hopefully a lot cooler than today 40 at Mortagne. Probably why there are only 10 vans here.
Off towards the Pyrenees and a bit cooler we hope. This is like having a holiday in a fan oven. Even the air conditioning is struggling but without it I think we would struggle to carry on. Lesson learned for next year. Norway it is

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[bladerunner]

It was 34'c North of the Arctic circle a few weeks ago. 24'c above circle when I was there 5 years ago.

 

[solaris]

Fragle. TdF is in Pyrenees this week. Check you don’t get mixed up with route

 

[Fragle]

Fragle. TdF is in Pyrenees this week. Check you don’t get mixed up with route

I’ve always wanted to be that van on the side of the road as they wiz past.
Now could be our time

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Saw smoke in the hills north on Niems.
And further north three water planes but not seen the fires.

 

[HKF]

We're surrounded by smoke this morning. No idea where it's coming from. We can see it for miles, in every direction

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[Holly's mum]

We're surrounded by smoke this morning. No idea where it's coming from. We can see it for miles, in every direction

That sounds worrying, do you have local alert systems to warn you if it is getting close?

 

[drpeej]

I’ve always wanted to be that van on the side of the road as they wiz past.
Now could be our time

We did that about 10 years ago. Rolled the day before and found a space. Amazing experience, I can still smell that waft of sweaty lycra as they went past. Dutch laid on a firework display the evening before.

 

[jwells]

In the Tarn gorge a few weeks ago aire /carpark became a major water replenishment point for the Pompier fighting a fire. Very interesting 24 hrs, not much sleep, water bombers, fire retardant bomber and all over the area we had been walking the day before!
Certainly food for thought - very strange feelings while swimming in the Tarn to cool off, while the Pompier were working to pump water out to their tankers!! Decided to leave the area earlier than we had intended!

 

[Branston]

Reached 39.5c yesterday at Plouscat. That was hot enough! Short thunder storm first thing this morning which has left a more bearable temperature.

 

[HKF]

That sounds worrying, do you have local alert systems to warn you if it is getting close?

I have no idea

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[jumar]

I have just noticed Ash fallout on the windscreen of the camper....
We are on the Galician Coast...there are some significant wildfires in Northern and Central Portugal that can been viewed by NASA..
Nothing local to here....rain expected overnight and tomorrow also...

 

[Mr porky]

We are sticking to the coast in northern Spain for a little while, I'm not sure what it was but we could smell smoke last night which was concerning but it's not the area for wildfires at the minute.
Currently in Avilès (lovely town, great cider).
It's very busy though with lots of campers and motorhomes.
We got the last genuine motorhome pitch with another 15 campers on the car park area.

 

[Monty777]

I’ve always wanted to be that van on the side of the road as they wiz past.
Now could be our time

It’s worth it if you are interested in cycling-but you have to plan it well, we followed the TDF in 2013-spent 5 days on a site in Bagneres de Luchon waiting for the tour to arrive, then 3 hours by the barrier whilst the whole promotional caravan and the Tour passed. We then drove to Mont Ventoux, managed to wiggle into a tiny gap between all the other vans in the forested section and waited 4 days for the Tour to pass. It took us 3 hours to get off the hill because of the traffic and since the next day was a rest day we managed to get ahead of them and found a nice lay-by at the side of the route about 25 kilometres after the start, watched them pass and then drove up to a site on the outskirts of Paris for the finish…..phew!

john

 

[Devon Sue]

We have a friend who lives in Duras, an hour drive inland from Bordeaux. He phoned yesterday and mentioned that he cannot put washing out at the moment because of the smoke drifting across from the fires in the Landes forests

 

[Chickie]

The smoke was also over us near Angouleme luckily the wind got up by afternoon it had gone. Big storm last night some spectacular lightning. Hope the Gironde got rain.

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