Off to the Atlantic Coast of France

Now before I start, just a little whinge.  Last night, I had a terrible time trying to upload photos and writing this blog.  First I received a message from Google to let me know that I had run out of photo storage and that I needed to part with some money in order to increase the storage space.  Then a huge van moved into the site beside us, and the wifi modem could no longer find a good connection to a hot spot.  I wrote my blog twice and lost it all.  In the end I gave up and went to bed.  

But tonight I have a fantastic connection, and plenty of photo space on Google storage. Back in business as they say.   So here I go.  

We are on the way back to Britain, and taking the long way back via the Atlantic Coast.

We have been on the road now for three days, and all has gone well so far.  Just a tiny little problem yesterday morning when we tried to use the caravan mover to take the caravan wheel off a ramp, before winding up the steadies.  Well I can tell you that did not work.  But other then that, hitching and unhitiching has been easy, and the caravan has stayed steady on the back of the car, even in the very windy weather during the first two days.

We left Camping Manjastre reluctantly on Sunday morning.  After driving through Toulon we took the A7 to Aix-en-Provence, and turned off towards Monpellier. At that point we felt like continuing up the A7 towards home, but we had decided to return via the Atlantic, and nothing was going to deter us from that route.

We drove easily on the motorway, without the heavy traffic one encounters during summer holidays.  We drove past Arles and Nimes, where the weather turned nasty, strong winds and heavy rain.  Luckily the sun came out as we bypassed Montpellier and drove to Narbonne.  

Our campsite for the night was at Camping-la-Nautique on the Narbonne inlet.  An ACSI camping ground run by people from the Netherlands.  Spotless of course.  There were high hedges bordering all the pitches, which was just as well, as the wind was very strong.  Good protection.

And we had our own private ablutions block.  All for €20.  Luxury.  However I did cut back the blackberry vine that trailed over the footpath.  It would not do to get one's leg or towel caught on the prickly vine.  

We woke to glorious sunshine, and set off on the A61 motorway towards Toulouse.  The plan, made in Britain, was to take minor roads through this section in order to enjoy the scenery between the Pyrannees and the next mountain range.  But we forgot.

The motorway passed some spectacular country, so we did not miss out on too much. We passed through vineyards, woodland, ancient villages and pastures.  

The motorway also ran beside the Canal du Midi which runs for 241 kms from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean.  The canal, which was built in the 17th century, connects with the Garonne River, and the Canal du Garonne at Toulouse.  A short cut for people travelling between the two seas?  I am not really sure what the canal was used for, but the planning was certainly grand,

We stopped at an aire overlooking Carcassonne, for a bit of reminiscing and to take some photographs.  We remembered when we drove our motorhome down here in April 2010.  Jackie came with us, and Carcassonne was the first place that was warm.  A very exciting trip down but so cold, especially for Jackie who was sleeping in the tent. Jackie needed one duvet on the mattress, and two duvets on top of her, plus a hat, in order to keep warm.  We had a great time exploring the town, and the castle of Carcassonne, which was actually a fortified medieval town.

After Toulouse we took the A62 to Bordeaux, taking great care not to take the A20 to Paris.  We needed to be very vigilent.

Last night was spent at a very beautiful wooded campsite called Camping la Moulin.  We turned off the motorway at a quaint town called Agen, but no time to explore sadly.  The area is called Lot-et-Garonne, which looks a wonderful area to explore further, with plenty to see: villages, plum orchards galore, museums.  There are good cycling and walking tracks too.  Everything was very green and lush.

Interestingly, Lot-et-Garonne is in the south east Aquitaine, and I cannot let this opportunity go by, without including some British history. During the 12th century King Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine.   She had been briefly married to King Louis II of France but the marriage was annulled.  King Henry owned much of France and much of the British Isles.  But Henry and Eleanor's many sons could not get along with each other so the land was divided up, and given to the sons.  No doubt to keep them away from each other.  On another note, Henry had quite a bit to do with Thomas Becket's death in Canterbury Cathedral.  He then built Dover Castle in order to provide accommodation for the rich people who came from France on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.  Henry was a very busy man.

The camping sites in the woodland at Campingla Moulin.

There was also a lovely pond with flowers bordering one bank.

The camping grounds also had a restaurant, so we had take away pizzas for dinner.  And they left our baguettes in a wooden mailbox, in front of our caravan, this morning.  Very good service.

It rained all night.  And the world looked dismal through our window.  Even the delivery of our baguettes did not cheer us up.  Mind you, I was still feeling very cheesed off with my internet problems.

 It did take some time to dry the knees of my jeans, but we hitched the caravan without any problems.  Thank goodness. We were both a trifle short tempered this morning.

Luckily the rain stopped and the sun appeared, and we could not believe our luck.  We drove north west on the A62 motorway, and then drove around Bordeaux, which was reasonably close to the Atlantic coast.  No time for exploring the coastline.

We were planning to drive north on the A10 motorway but the satnav took us onto the N10, which was a free motorway.  So we joined the bumper to bumper line of trucks, mostly from Spain and Portugal, travelling north.

Our lunch stop.  It was called 'lunching with trucks'

 And the trucks rolled past us consequently.  Very noisy.  And a bit scary.

After lunch we turned the satnav off and took a D road, which was very peaceful.  We ended up going through the town of Cognac, as well villages and small towns that focus on growing the grapes for the cognac.  Amazing countryside, and very different grapevines too.  Some of the villages were very old, and many buildings looked very neglected.  But it was interesting.

As I was navigating, we got lost around the town of Cognac, due to a roundabout that was not on the map, but eventually I managed to get us back on the right road again.  Walter drove very well through the many side roads that I directed him onto.

We arrived at our destination, quite late, as we needed to stock up on groceries at a supermarket.  Luckily the carpark was nearly empty, as parking a car with a caravan  could be quite tricky in a full carpark. 

We are currently staying in Camping Le Martin Pecheur, not far out of the town of Niort.  We are not far from the Atlantic Coast and Portiers is on our right.

And tomorrow evening I will write about our week in the south of France as I have finally uploaded all the photos.