A road tour of France

The beginning of the road tour of France.  The outer edges of France.   Plus about ten days in the Cote d'Azur.

Currently we are in Dole, east of Dijon, and the sun is shining, with the temperature at about 10 degrees.  Very cold one might say, but compared to the last week and the last two days in particular, this is warm.

We have also been very patient as it was easy to lose one's patience in freezing weather when sorting out the caravan and hitching and unhitching, but we kept our cool and did not make any mistakes.  Although we managed to get lost when finding the camping grounds in Metz and Dole.  And that was using a sat nav system and map.

We left De Vliert in Houten, Netherlands, on Monday morning, and travelled on very quiet roads through the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and into France.  Luckily there were very few trucks on the motorway, due to it being a public holiday.  

One small problem. Our Satnav system took us through the town of Liege, rather then bypassing it on a motorway.  This happened six years ago when travelling with Aaron and Kylie, when they turned onto another motorway and we turned towards Liege.  Luckily we managed to meet up later on.  Travelling through the narrow streets of Liege while towing a caravan was tricky to say the least.

Yesterday was overcast and bitterly cold, with the temperature lower than seven degrees.  At least it did not rain.  A small consolation.

We accidently drove through the the centre of Metz and realised it was a very interesting and historical city.  Sadly, once in the camping ground we did not venture out from the caravan.   It was so cold outside.

We had a great view of the Moselle River though.  This is a confession which definitely shows my ignorance.  I did not realise that the Moselle river started in the southern part of the Vosges mountains, and flowed north through France, Luxembourg and into Germany where it joined the Rhine river at Koblenz.  We had previously only travelled along the Moselle (Mosel) river at the northern end.

Interestingly there were rotary clotheslines placed at intervals along the banks of the river at the camping ground.  So that campers can enjoy river views through the clean washing hanging from the clotheslines.  An interesting concept.

A view from our caravan window, of the sun setting over the river.  The fact that the sun appeared late in the afternoon was quite uplifting.

We woke to a cloudless sky, and a heavy frost.  But so preferable to heavy clouds, and rain.  Our spirits lifted.

We set off towards Nancy on the A31, a little later than we should have, due to basking in the sunshine, inside the caravan, while eating breakfast.

After Nancy we drove on the N57, on the edge of the southern Vosges mountains, and often on the edge of the Moselle river.  The scenery was spectacular, with forests, small towns, villages, and fields set amongst the foothills of the mountains.  The Vosges mountains are not particularly high anyway, more like very high hills, in comparison to the alps.

And sunshine, glorious sunshine all day.  The temperature during the morning did not go over 7 degrees, but it was cosy in the car.

 Lunch in the caravan.  My apologies to Walter.  Not the best pose, when one is chewing a mouthful of food.

 After we left the motorway we drove on the D roads for the remainder of the trip.

An avenue of trees lining the road.

 I might add that we avoided going anywhere near Dijon, due to always becoming lost if we venture anywhere near that city.

We finally arrived in Dole, on the banks of the Le Doubs river.  It was also the birthplace of Louis Pasteur.   A picturesque old town, with beautiful and well maintained buildings clustered around the imposing Basilique Notre-Dame high up on the hill.

A view of the church from our camp site.

As the temperature had reached the relatively warm 10 degrees and the sun was still shining we decided to walk into the town centre.

A canal on the edge of the city centre.

The imposing Basilique Notre-Dame rising above the houses.

The narrow street which leads up to the church.

Another very narrow street.

The grand organ inside the church.

The scent from the wisteria was very overpowering.  Spring is definitely more advanced down here.

We visited a very large fairground on the way back to the camping ground.  I think we were most impressed with the size and newness of the caravans which house the families that run the fairground.   And their expensive cars.  Obviously owning and running fairground stalls and rides must result in a good financial return.

Tomorrow we continue on our way south, hopefully in sunshine.