The Road more or less already Traveled... (1 Viewer)

[Bacchus]

Bonjour toute le monde. I have returned to Grisolles, weird, after a couple of nights here it really felt like coming home! It is a sleepy little town, but very pleasant for an evening stroll feeding the midges.

Tonight is my last night as a solo traveller for a while, Lady B arrives at Toulouse tomorrow morning (only half an hour from Grisolles, so very convenient). Looking forward to seeing her, obviously, but the dynamic of the trip will change and I probably won’t get as much work done – I have managed a couple of chapters of the novel amongst the crashing into Audis and ripping off of bumpers.

I have tried to “sell” the refrigeration issue as a plus point; we will have to eat out or buy fresh food every day, that’s good yes? Last night I tried what I thought was an ingenious solution, the top of my water tank has quite a large access hole so I lobbed a couple of beers in there to keep cool – always used to work in the river, but it wasn’t much good in the van. Maybe if I bought some ice from the supermarket…

I have, however, come up with a deciding and infallible solution to the problem of not being able to chill the beer – well one good solution, which is simply to go to a shop or a bar and buy beer that someone else has chilled, and one infallible solution which is:-

Vin rouge, nicely chambred a la sac (c;

I will sign off with a typical view of the lovely scenery down here in the foothills of the Pyrenees, mile after mile of this:-

Heaven!

A bientot!

 

[jollyrodger]

A novel way of cooling ,brings back memories of days gone by,or hang em on the wing mirror when traveling

 

[The Dudess]

All clouds have a silver lining though, I managed to get it back on and move it slightly so the bolts aren’t tugging on the same ten square millimetres of aluminium that they have been tugging on for nearly twenty five years, also adding a couple of washers to make it much stronger than before

What is it with motorhome manufacturers and washers, or the lack of!! - haven't they heard of them? Has there been a dearth of them? Earlier this year the (very heavy!) sun visor/roller blind fell down on my husbands head whilst he was driving in Spain - when he finally came round from the concussion we discovered that it was held on to the plastic underside of the drop down bed with just 2 screws and NO washers. Just this weekend we could see that the right hand front bumper of the motorhome was showing a gap between that and the body - upon further investigation it was just attached with 4 screws and NO BLOODY WASHERS again. Grrrrr!!

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[Bacchus]

What is it with motorhome manufacturers and washers, or the lack of!! - haven't they heard of them? Has there been a dearth of them? Earlier this year the (very heavy!) sun visor/roller blind fell down on my husbands head whilst he was driving in Spain - when he finally came round from the concussion we discovered that it was held on to the plastic underside of the drop down bed with just 2 screws and NO washers. Just this weekend we could see that the right hand front bumper of the motorhome was showing a gap between that and the body - upon further investigation it was just attached with 4 screws and NO BLOODY WASHERS again. Grrrrr!!

Sorry I shouldn't laugh but the addition of the words "on my husband's head" made me! (especially "whilst driving"... not what you want!!)

But I agree with the tirade, I was quite surprised to see how my rear bumper is attached, it's coming off for a permanent solution when I get home (this one's only lasted 25 years...!)

 

[Bacchus]

A novel way of cooling ,brings back memories of days gone by,or hang em on the wing mirror when traveling

I think there'd be a very real danger of 'em boiling on the wing mirror here these last couple of days, but the weather has broken in the last half an hor with a very welcome but quite scary storm!

 

[Bacchus]

Bonjour.
I have missed writing this little blog since the arrival of the queen of Sheba, Lady Bacchus!

The arrival of the Q of S

Meeting her at Toulouse was simplicity itself, I just went and lurked around the car hire lots until she called to say that she was through the gate, and then popped up to departures (of course, arrivals is far too complicated) to pick her up, then straight into the city centre for that obvious camping-essential, a manicure! I kid you not, this was first on the list, along with a pedicure. Really! We don’t have those in London???? Actually we do have them in and around London; where I live you can’t throw a brick without hitting a manicurist (this is generally frowned upon) BUT we don’t seem to have them around Toulouse it would seem. We stopped every elegant looking girl and lady that we could find but “non”. Surprised me I’ll admit. The French even have a style of manicure named after them. Probably should have thought out of the box and stopped gay couples, they’d surely know a good manicurist, but we hadn’t got to Nice then…

The latest in fashionable rain-wear in Toulouse

We gave up on Toulouse and moved on to find an Aire for the night, and with an urge to at least see the Med we headed to Valras Plage which looked like a “nice enough” place. I found an aire listed on “aireCampingCar.com”, but was confused by the signage when we got there – it appeared to me that camping cars bigger than 3.5t are banned between 1st April and 15th. Great, I thought, yet another win for the smaller camping car! The gendarmes didn’t seem to see it quite the same way though, and turned up just after Lady B had fallen into a deep sleep to move us on. The aire is next to a block of newish flats, and I think the flat-dwellers are a bit anti-camping-car, but I think the gendarme (incidentally a very pretty lady gendarme, we should take note, I’m sure that could diffuse all sorts of situations) was anti flat-dweller; “monsieur,” she said, “you can parque your camping- car ‘ere!” and she indicated a free parking place about ten feet from where we were parked, just not on the aire. Excellent policing. I moved, they left, Lady B woke up, which made her very happy after a tiring day.

We went exploring Valras Plage, very, very, sleepy we thought, and were just about to go back to the c-c when I saw bright lights and, being part-moth, went to investigate and found a very agreeable little bit of night life. Nothing outrageous, but enough to entertain, and a great little shopping centre which had “petit dejeuner” written all over it (not literally, but you get my drift). We did return for breakfast and discovered the most amazing fish market amongst other delights, for the first time I REALLY cursed the lack of decent refrigeration facilities.

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[Bacchus]

Montpellier, St Tropez and … er, I can’t remember!

After a lazy start in Valras Plage, we struck East, stopping for lunch in Montpellier – a delightful city and one on the list for further investigation. We had only a couple of hours there, but did find the amazing historical centre with its magnificent piazza (do the French have piazzas, or should it be
“la place grande”??), and… wait for it… a manicure! The camping holiday can begin!

I had a “eureka” moment in a super-u and bought 12v coolbox to act as a small fridge. 75 euros, but I am sure it will be useful for, erm, I dunno, picnics etc. It must be, it’s on wheels…

Le saving grace?

We pushed further East to a little town whose name escapes me, but it is famous for a nice little church, two boulangeries, an aire next to a main road, a VERY NOISY clock, and arguments. Even with beautiful fingernails, lady B is a light sleeper and gets grumpy when her sleep is disturbed, or, as I found out, gets grumpy at the very prospect of disturbed sleep. I confess that I was a Bullish Bacchus, not the most tactful, and put my foot down with a firm hand. By the time we got there it had been a longish day, and a disappointingly warm beer beckoned. It’s only one night… right? (the answer is “no, wrong” if anyone out there is wondering!)
Oh, and the MoHo decided that it had been running too well, and the “Hymer step” refused to go down. This is bad enough for me, but at only 150cm tall, lady B needs a parachute to get down. I don’t have a parachute on board, but help with a friendly shove.

 

[Bacchus]

After a brace of disturbed nights (one each...), we managed to find le café to grant us the necessary energy to move on, and decided to head for St Tropez. Easy drive, using les peages to keep it simple and allow the caffeine to guide us, found two pretty ropy aires and TRAFFIC. Wow did we find traffic! It was worse than Hampton Wick!

Not liking either of the aires, I did something I have never done in France before and checked us into a campsite; and we all know what that means. If we don’t, it means a nice secure pitch on a site with its own private sandy beach, lovely hot showers, clean loos, an excellent launderette, a surprisingly good restaurant, a bar showing the footie, and electricity (which here means “cold beer” – hallelujah!)

Bearing in mind that the aires were 10-14 euros a night anyway, I think this was amazing value at 32, possibly we are just off peak season it being September, but only a fifteen minute bus-ride from the town of St Tropez (just over an hour with the traffic!), and a really great place. I shall book a beach side pitch next year if only I can

a) work out when I will be in France,
b) remember the name of the place… (this is why blogging should be done there and then not retrospectively, but somehow there seem to be fewer hours in the day when her ladyship is around)

First impressions of St Trop weren’t amazing, yeah, yachts, money, glitz, and petanque, but somehow a bit cheesy, however we spent a few hours walking around the old town and climbing up to the citadel and it gradually wormed its way into my affections. I shall be back.

Using top tips learned on this forum, I froze just about everything that I could over the two nights of “EHU” and crammed the icy things into the cool box. Once cold it functions pretty well, but it struggles to cool too much stuff down against the Mediterranean heat.

 

[Bacchus]

Bon Soir!

In one of those bizarre coincidences, some friends that we last saw for dinner in Bucharest happen to be in Nice (what a jet-set bunch we are, normally it’s Reading), so we decided to press further East along the Cote d’Azur. Stunning drive letting my friend Tom (Tom) do the navigating, taking us up through the mountains and along the cliff tops. Amazing.

Still haven’t had time to look at the step (where DO the spare hours go) so am still giving lady B a helping hand up and down, trying to park next to kerbs or rocks.

We arrived at Nice, and following my good friend Tom go to duck under the railway, luckily noticing the 2.5m height restriction before it’s too late and creating the world’s first open top A-class camping-car. That would have taken some explaining. As it was, all I had to do was reverse back up the slip road against a deafening wall of sound from the French horns (not the brass instrument, the French drivers showing their disapproval) and then drive the wrong way up a one way section to make good our escape.

We opted to park and walk into town, but turned round after about fifteen minutes to go and find an aire first. Good job really, because as it turned out we were still twenty miles from Nice!

Villeneuve Troubet Plage. If anyone reading this learns one thing, it is to camp at Villeneuve Troubet Plage. We opted for another campsite (“Mourettes” I think it was called) which was absolutely delightful, even better than the previous. Well established with shaded private pitches with water, electricity (and TV points if you are so inclined), and top quality facilities (including a small pool with a Jacuzzi, even an ironing board if you budgie-smugglers have become a bit creased) for only twenty four euros a night, but the great thing is that there is a train station 200m from the site, with excellent access to Nice, Cannes, Antibes, and Monte Carlo.

Camping Mourettes (or le ****ing camping Tourettes, as it was known... to me anyway...)

Also, seriously jealous of this Russian vehicle that rocked up


This is a blog not a travel guide, and many words have been written about these places so all I’ll say is that Monte is the most “impressive”, but Antibes won an instant place in my heart! Like a secret lover, I look forward to my next visit with sweet anticipation even as I silently leave.

Glamorous Cote d'Azur



What I will say is that I finally fixed the Hymer step! No more friendly shoves. All that was wrong was a loose wire on the switch which became dislodged as I crammed tin after tin of cassoulet into the cupboard – don’t ask me why, but whenever I visit the supermarché I feel the need to buy tins of cassoulet. I wouldn’t dream of buying beans and baby sausages in the UK, but cassoulet is so much sexier!

A bientot

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[Bacchus]

Cher blog (I should really look up “dear diary” on google translate)

With a stifled tear and some fond memories tucked away in the Bacchus heart, I have to point the Hymer back West. Lady B has to catch a flight, although a strained third metatarsal/phallangial is threatening that. Too much walking has asked for its price in pain and she can hardly walk, but being out of “cat-sitter” days from number one son who has had to go back to Uni, the options are limited. Ask friends to step in and feed the thing, make a mad dash North, or stuff lady B to the gunnels with ibuprofen. I contacted a good old bud who could make a mad dash the Bachery with a tin of catfood, but is tied up for the following few days so it would have to be a one off. We opt for the ibuprofen and head for the hills in the shape of the Parc du Cévennes; a stunningly beautiful and mountainous national park, but somehow with a flight to catch, the mood isn’t really there, even finding a village with an even louder clock failed to trigger happy memories of lady B being really cross with me.

We make the journey to Toulouse almost in silence, and lady B catches her flight. I instantly break out the cocaine and hookers, or, if lady B is reading this, shed a silent tear and slope of to Grisolle with my tail between my legs.

The dynamic is definitely different. Some time to write, less stuff cluttering the van, no-one telling me off for using the wrong towel, but, for me, journeying alone is an accompaniment not the main meal. That said, I shall head off further West to La Rochelle and see what the road brings, so far it has brought me Bergerac, and mile after mile of vineyards with wing-mirror crunching tree-lined roads (I haven’t, yet)

I suppose I can indulge in "boy food", I would never have believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes:-

Yup, kebab flavoured crisps. The ultimate beer snack?



A bientot!

 

[parknride]

Loving this blog, hope you managed a cold beer with your new kebab snacks.

 

[CandC]

I suppose I can indulge in "boy food", I would never have believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes:-

View attachment 75334
Yup, kebab flavoured crisps. The ultimate beer snack?



A bientot!

I'm really enjoying your blog and watching with interest as we may be off for a three week tour in France next summer holiday.

I need to ask though, can you remember what shop you bought the kebab crisps in please, as they will be going on a shopping list for my parents alongside apericubes and galletes de Breton.

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[Bacchus]

Loving this blog, hope you managed a cold beer with your new kebab snacks.

I'm really enjoying your blog and watching with interest

Your kind words are my succour! Thanks for taking the time to read it (c:

 

[Bacchus]

I need to ask though, can you remember what shop you bought the kebab crisps in please, as they will be going on a shopping list for my parents alongside apericubes and galletes de Breton.

I can’t remember the name of the shop, but it was a mini-market in Cannes. If you go to visit the old town, you will see this remarkable mural:-

(worth a close look, and remember it is painted on a flat wall!)
‎
If you stand roughly where I was standing to take the picture, the shop will be immediately behind you.
‎
Not sure if that is of any use, but it’s accurate (c; There must be loads of other stockists.
‎

 

[Fenman]

Brets are the number three crisp producer in France. Renowned for there more unusual flavours. Head office is in Brittany.
I suspect a lot of supermarkets will stock them but probably not all the flavours. There's info on them here: http://www.chipsandcrisps.com/brets.html
Enjoying the blog very much.

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[Bacchus]

Brets are the number three crisp producer in France. Renowned for there more unusual flavours. Head office is in Brittany.
I suspect a lot of supermarkets will stock them but probably not all the flavours. There's info on them here: http://www.chipsandcrisps.com/brets.html
Enjoying the blog very much.

Wow! "Number three crisp producer"!!!! This is a man who knows his crisps (c:

Great info though, thank you.

And

Enjoying the blog very much.

Thank you.

 

[Bacchus]

Bon Soir!

I have been teased by the rain-gods today. After drumming on the roof all night and soaking my windscreen cover, I thought that at least it would wash some of the flies off once I got under way, so told my friend Tom (Tom) to show me the way to La Rochelle and made an early start. The rain stopped immediately, of course, so I had a soaking cover leaking all over the floor and a windscreen covered in the contents of many wee beasties (I always wondered why the wasps were so interested in the front of the van after a motorway journey…)

Tom was also having fun with the routes; it doesn’t seem to have a setting for “choose a sensible route” only fastest, shortest, or eco (I have no idea what that does; least fuel I presume, I will try it…). Fastest seems to try and pare thousands of a second by leaving perfectly good “d” roads and taking short –cuts through people’s sheds before re-joining the road a few yards further down. I’m sure there’s logic to it, but you do spend a lot of time on narrow roads like this:-

I had to keep telling myself that the people who live here have furniture delivered, but I am not sure it isn’t carried by a ninety year old Gitanes-smoking Frenchman on a bicycle!

I have located a huge aire (Parking du Port de Plaissance, 17000 La Rochelle 4) which has about thirty camping cars moored up next to an even huger boat-park, there must be a thousand yachts!

Van park (there are three rows like this)

Boat park

Quite a variety of nationalities too, predominantly French, but also Spanish, Dutch, German, British, Italian, and even a Czech. It looks like long or full timers to me (generators and secondary modes of transport are de rigueur), there doesn’t seem much in the way of facilities nearby, a stroll by the marina just about covers it, but I will stop for the night and try to get some work done rather than seeking out distractions like a proper writer!

A bientot!

 

[CandC]

I can’t remember the name of the shop, but it was a mini-market in Cannes. If you go to visit the old town, you will see this remarkable mural:-

View attachment 75452

(worth a close look, and remember it is painted on a flat wall!)
‎
If you stand roughly where I was standing to take the picture, the shop will be immediately behind you.
‎
Not sure if that is of any use, but it’s accurate (c; There must be loads of other stockists.
‎

I'm not sure if we'll get to Cannes next summer, but I have to agree with you... That mural looks fantastic! I did a Google search for "Cannes cinema" mural to look on streetview and found out there is a whole trail of murals in Cannes. More info Broken Link Removed. That's just gone on my bucket list Thank you!

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[CandC]

Brets are the number three crisp producer in France. Renowned for there more unusual flavours. Head office is in Brittany.
I suspect a lot of supermarkets will stock them but probably not all the flavours. There's info on them here: http://www.chipsandcrisps.com/brets.html
Enjoying the blog very much.

Thank you for the info and link... I'm off browsing virtual crisp world now

 

[Borisski]

Just discovered your blog and thoroughly enjoying it - looking forward to next instalment!

 

[mitzimad]

you do realise your fridge will only run on 12v whilst driving when parked it goes on gas or ehu if available

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[Bacchus]

Bonsoir le blog.

Well it is with heavy heart and light wallet that I point the bow of my little Hymer North to Le Mans and have booked an appointment with the tunnel sous le manche for tomorrow afternoon.

I have really enjoyed writing this, and enjoyed the kind words of those who have troubled to read it, and I have had a wonderful time piloting the Hymer around le Belle France, along Motorways, A-Roads, B-Roads, C/D roads, and some roads which I really, really, REALLY didn’t think I would get through. If it had been about one inch wider, or, more to the point, the wheelbase had been half an inch wider… My friend Tom (Tom) took us through a village, to be fair there was a “no more than 3.5 tonnes” sign, but with a high stone wall on one side and a deep drainage ditch on the other I thought we were stuck, especially when some wise engineer bolted a “road narrows” sign on a six inch post TO THE FACE OF THE WALL. Well, yes, it certainly does now mister!!!! Driving past that and avoiding the ditch felt like being in a cartoon van where it goes up on tippy-toes and crawls along.

I have learned much of practical use on this little foray; today’s gem of information fresh from La Rochelle is that if you leave the roof vents open and the black-out blind closed in the pouring rain, the first shower of the day will be a very cold one!

I very much like La Rochelle, it’s on the “come back and spend more time” list. There is a rather uninspiring aire in a public car-park, but at ten minutes’ walk from the city centre it is a must. La Rochelle may lack the glitz of her Southern cousins on the cote d’azur, but she has a timeless style in spades. I drove over to Ile de Ré which felt a little sad at the end of season so I returned to the city. I once went to Norwich in winter, and the Ile reminded me a little of that, more Ile de Rain, although I would imagine that a “ré” or two of sunshine would transform it.

Anyway, the time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings – except more tunnels than ships. I have dropped anchor once more in Le Mans and taken a final stroll round the delightful medieval centre.

It has become lonely in the van since the departure of Lady B. it’s funny, it wasn’t so before she arrived, but, like the oppressive silence when an alarm bell stops ringing, a person isn’t absent when they’re not there, they’re absent when they’ve gone.

 

[Zains Pops]

Thanks for the blog, you weave a good tale, good luck with the book, did you manage to make as much progress as planned?

 

[Bacchus]

Thanks for the blog, you weave a good tale, good luck with the book, did you manage to make as much progress as planned?

Hi Zains Pops, and thank you. I probably didn't make quite as much progress as planned, although I have had a tremendous opportunity to plan the "end game" in detail. It's only a light-hearted thing (as you could probably guess from the blogging..), but it still needs careful planning and attention to detail!

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[jollyrodger]

Thanks very much for Sharing your blog with us all and good luck on further trips gave us a chuckle or two

 

[Bacchus]

Thanks very much for Sharing your blog with us all and good luck on further trips gave us a chuckle or two

Really my pleasure (c:


Also just bunged some figures into a spreadsheet, and for those who like that kind of thing, it's interesting to note that my mpg has gone up from about 27 at the start of this trip to an incredible 33 on the last tankful (and over 30 on the mountain roads!!). Either I am getting more relaxed or thos tyres really did need some air!!!!

 

[TheWM]

What no more pics of Lady B?

You disappoint me, or can we set up a side thread...

Seriously, I came into this late and enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks and bonne chance with the novel, I dare say if I was into reading (and not adverse to copyright theft) I might in a few years saunter to a local library, where amongst other things, I might have borrowed a copy of your book

I look forwards to any more blogs of your trips, oh and did I mention photos..?!

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[Mr Ed]

Add me to the list of peep's who have enjoyed this blog immensely, kept meaning to hit the "like" button but was too eager to continue reading.

 

[MotorhomersRus]

Really enjoyed reading this !
Thanks

 

[Momo]

I've really enjoyed it too, Bacchus, and look forward to reading about your future travels!

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