Four go mad in France...
Friday, August 25
Aire, La Tremblade Our schedule and itinerary had been shot by the enforced layup in Saint Savin so we had virtually no time at all to hang around if we were to reach the Ile d'Oleron by Sunday, in time to meet the Muses, Kathy and Jeff. Even so, we pulled into La Tremblade, close to the beach town of Ronce les Bains, on the Côte Sauvage. This is probably our favourite aire in France – a quiet, smart and tidy car park-style stopover just a short walk from the beach. For €10 we got electricity, free wifi, all the services and a nice picnic area. We parked up around lunchtime and walked into town for an early evening drink. We had a couple but would have had more if they hadn't been so expensive. What is it with France at the moment? Everything seems to be so dear… is it any wonder that bars are half-empty and campsites are not doing anything like the August business they should? Saturday, August 26 Campsite, Fleur Oleron, St Pierre Back on track, we rocked up on the Ile d'Oleron and set about inspecting a number of sites suggested by Kathy. On a mini tour of the island, we saw around five but only one seems suitable – a lovely, newish campsite on the west of the island, a little inland but with a pool and an early ACSI rate of just €13. We returned here in the afternoon and checked in to a remote pitch, having explained we needed two together for us and our friends, who were arriving on the following day. On Sunday, having seen two vacant spaces in a nicer part of the campsite, we moved the van, commandeered the neighbouring pitch and waited for the Muses to arrive. They pulled in around lunchtime and shattered the peace, with their holiday fun and enthusiasm, their keenness to explore the locale and eagerness to share their bootload of English beer. They'd also brought emergency supplies from the UK, God bless ‘em, and once we'd taken delivery of make-up, DVDs, Heinz salad cream and an awning rafter, we set about drinking, eating, laughing and sharing gossip, stories and travellers’ tales, interrupted only around midnight by a very polite Frenchman asking us to keep the noise down. On Monday, we all cycled along the coast to La Cotiniere then back towards the campsite for a swim, a sleep and lunch at a campsite bar close to the beach. Then more swimming back at the campsite, more fun, table tennis, drinks etc. Wednesday, August 30 Camping du Soleil, Ars en Re, Ile de Ré Our time in the Ile d'Oleron consisted of cycle rides, sea swims and exploring the island. We'd cycled as far as Boyardville, having lunch at Le Bout, but time was running out for the Muses and we wanted to see the Ile de Ré again, after our successful joint visit there last year. On Wednesday, we checked out of St Pierre and drove the short-is distance to the Ile de Ré, crossing the €14 toll bridge, checking out a couple of inappropriate sites, before settling on a small, very tight campsite in the north of the island. Despite its unwelcoming nature (only a certain number of pitches were ACSI-designated) we found a couple of neighbouring pitches and shared the costs between us, foregoing electricity (€5) and relying on battery power for the length of our stay. This corner of the island is particularly suited to cycle rides and we covered more than 20 miles exploring the northern tip, a wild and desolate stretch taking in St Clement and Le Port. The ride took on a wonderful coastal strip and the salt marshlands, both areas a haven for birdwatchers. On Thursday, we had a farewell meal at a beach bar near the campsite, almost ruined by my bravado in ordering what I thought was a sample of the local delicacy, Andouilette, a rustic sausage made from intestines. When the waitress asks if I'm sure, and checks I know what it is, that should be a warning sign, but I ordered it anyway. It was inedible, as much because of the baby's nappy smell as the taste, which I still had in my mouth more than a week later. Friday, September 1 Camping la Remondeu, La Couarde, Ile de Ré We said our goodbyes to the Muses on Friday, then we set off for the municipal site a La Couarde and three nights on our own. We found a pitch by the beach and the showers then had a walk around the village. Jane found a hairdresser and made an appointment for that afternoon. On her return, it seemed like we'd almost shaken off the disappointment of the van's breakdown and we're ready for the next phase. On Saturday, we embarked on a very long walk along the coast, back towards St Pierre, covering about eight kilometres, then got ready for a meal at La Cabine du Bain, our favourite restaurant on the island, if not all of France. We'd booked a table for 7.30pm and were glad we’d got there so early as by 8.30pm the dining room was packed and the lady owner was turning people away. It was our third meal there and was every bit as good as the previous two. We’ll be back. Monday, September 4 Mobile home, Camping Les Charmettes, La Palmyre Time for a something of a departure for us. Before coming away, I had contacted a number of holiday companies offering my services as a reviewer and Siblu kindly offered to put us up in their flagship holiday park in low season. Happily, we managed to coincide the start of the week with the end of our time on the Ile de Ré, just 30 miles or so to the north of La Palmyre, an area we knew from previous travels in France. La Palmyre is a lovely coastal town. It's beaches are fringed with pine trees and a mile or so inland are around 24 large holiday parks, the kind you find in Brittany, or all over East Anglia back in the UK. Here, low season means hibernation and once the schools have returned there isn't a lot going on. Nevertheless, in between the showers, we managed to get in a few bike rides, some walks, some shopping and some tennis on the site’s excellent courts. More importantly, we managed to relax completely, watch some telly and even enjoy the luxury of separate bedrooms at opposite ends of the van! On the Tuesday, we headed to the bar and took part in the weekly music quiz, a challenge to identify a mixture of French and English language hits. Despite putting ‘Johnny Hallyday’ down for the male French singers and ‘Vanessa Paradis’ down for all the female Frenc singers, we managed 72 points and and came third. Not bad we thought. On the Friday, I interviewed the park manager, Olivier Carton, who told me the history of the site. However, despite my blandishments, he couldn't do us a rate on a second week so we decided to continue our destiny and get back on the road after our seven says we're up. Monday, September 11 Municipal campsite, Montech We didn't fancy hanging about after leaving La Palmyre and set the satnav on a beeline for Spain, thinking that the weather would be finer and the supermarkets and bars cheaper. There were a lot of miles to get under our belt, though, and we planned a couple of stops, including the walled city of Carcasson which we'd often bypassed but never visited. First, though, we had to get past Montech, around 150 miles from the west coast. The municipal site was just outside the town, alongside Deux Myers canal and, unbeknownst to us, right by a rare ‘uphill canal’ – one of only two in existence, but out of use all the same – the Pente d’Eau. The site was old and almost deserted as it came to the end of the season while the town had a market and great cycle paths, but very little else. Tuesday, September 12 Aire, Carcasson Next to the incredible cathedral at Albi, the pristine citadel that is Carcasson is the most impressive site we've seen in all our travels in France. It looms up at you from the plain along the northern edge of the Pyrenees and once you've caught a glimpse of it you can't take your eyes off the walls and towers which dominate the landscape. We arrived in mid-afternoon and parked up at the aire right next to the citadel, probably a five-minute walk away but, helpfully, as we were strolling to it a free bus took us right to the gates. We spent the next few hours strolling around the battlements (authentic) and the tacky shops and restaurants within the walls, selling plastic suits of armour and every souvenir imaginable. For dinner, we found a bistro off the main drag which sold good, reasonably priced food in a lovely setting. But for another couple, we had the place to ourselves and, after some indifferent culinary experiences in France this time around it was a good note to leave the country on. Wednesday, September 13 Camping Illa Mateua, L’Escala, Costa Brava This site, right on a headland dividing two very different but both very wonderful beaches, was meant to be just a stopover on our way to discover what we'd felt would be the more suitable campsites in L’Estartit, a dozen or so miles to the south. But, as it was the first on our route, we thought we'd check it out. More than two weeks later, we're still here, having settled very comfortably into the hazy, lazy lifestyle it promotes. Illa Mateua is a little islet just off the rockier beach, to the north of the Punta Montgo where the campsite is based. The campsite itself is located on both sides of a main road that leads to the main town of L’Escala, about a 40-minute walk along the coastline. With great facilities (we had the tennis court to ourselves) and two great pools, plus lovely showers etc., this place is just what we were looking for. The beach resort has two very good supermarkets, some great little bars and, just up the hill back into the town, a super bistro where you can get a three-course meal, plus bread, water and wine, for €10 a head. Over the course of the 15 days we were here, we cycled, walked, swam, snorkelled, played tennis, saw lots of live music, including a great jazz band in the Marina on the second Sunday, and generally fell in love with the place. The sandy beach is perfect for swimming, the water is warm and clean and gently shelving over soft sand while the rocky beach, very close to the campsite, is a diver’s paradise and, aptly, is home to a very busy diving school. In search of a Decathlon, we drove the Figueres for the day early in our stay but were put off by stories of thieves targeting campervans. Nevertheless, we found a Decathlon, where they helpfully exchanged the faulty snorkel mask I'd bought in Reading for a new one in the store, even without a receipt! Later in the day, our drive took us to Empuriabrava, a very lovely lively town built around a network of canals… here, every house has both a mooring and a garage. As you might imagine, the beach was more or less deserted so late in the season but the town seemed very busy. We helped ourselves to some cheap diesel (€1.029) and visited its Lidl and yet another Chinese bazaar before heading back to L'Escala. By the time we'd been here a fortnight, however, we were starting to think we'd just about seen everywhere, and it was shutting down anyway on September 30. We needed somewhere that was going to be open all through the winter and those places, as we already knew, were further south in L'Estartit. Thursday, September 28 Les Medes, L’Estartit Well, we did plan to stay here and drove all the way down some very rough country lanes to find it, located about a mile inland and a half-mile from the uninspiring town of L’Estartit. We parked the van outside and asked to have a look around. It was densely populated – everyone had obviously seen the recommendation in the ACSI book suggesting it was a great place to spend the winter. It wasn't for us, though – it seemed difficult to manoeuvre the van into one of the available spots and, to be honest, I just didn't fancy. It was a long way from anywhere without a car and, with no tennis court and just a small pool, there wasn't enough to do on the site. So, we set co-ordinates in for another all-year-round site further down the coast and arrived at… Camping Internacional de Calonges The ACSI blurb for this place says it has everything the camper could want and when we arrived, about an hour after leaving L’Estartit, it was clear this was a great little place. Actually, it's a great big place – hundreds of pitches carved into the hillside, together with scores and scores of bungalows and mobile homes, with an amazing restaurant and double pool complex at the centre. The shower blocks, too, are pretty damn near perfect, too, with lashings of hot water and paper in the loos! We're in hog heaven. Only part of the site is open in the winter and only smaller pitches are available on ACSI rates (€19 plus taxes). Nevertheless, we found a decent spot not far from everywhere, coughed up €16 for a week's wifi, and pitched up. With lunch inside us, we had a walk to the beach, five minutes away according to the nice lady in reception. She was right, too. A sturdy wooden bridge connects the campsite with the other side of the busy main road that runs between it and the steps down to the beach. But once we'd negotiated this there was a fantastic beach waiting for us, sparsely populated but soaked in sunshine and fringed by the crystal clear Mediterranean, with a rock-free shoreline. It was perfect for snorkelling, sunbathing, lounging, walking and generally relaxing so if the weather could hold out for a few weeks we were set fair. On the Friday, the day after our arrival, we took our lunch to the beach and did all the things above. On Saturday, we cycled into the nearest town, Platja d’Aro, about 10 minutes away to the south, and had a good look around. For a town in off season it seemed very busy, full of classy shops, a spruce paseo along the front and, as you'd expect in Catalonia on the eve of its independence referendum, full of posters, flags and banners urging people to vote ‘Si’. The following day, we cycled back into the town to visit a tapestry exhibition (surprisingly good!). There were a few police around but instead of being there to disrupt the poll, they were marshalling a 10k race organised by the local running club. In fact, police baton charges and rubber bullets were conspicuous by their absence and it was only when we checked the UK news later in the day that we saw the shocking scenes elsewhere in Catalonia. The rest of the first week at Calonge was spent playing tennis on the site’s excellent hard court (Mrs Wells is getting alarmingly proficient thanks to the attentions of the resident coach), having an extremely long walk along the headland into nearby Palamos and back, and taking advantage of the local Carrefour’s offer to deliver shopping if you spent more than €40. Easy! We also took the decision to have a dry October – Stoptober – at least until the 26th when family and friends are coming to visit us and we're having a cushy break in a hotel in Tossa. Then we heard from Ian and Della, our great friends from Derby, that they were coming out for a short break courtesy of Ryanair, then in the midst of a massive flight upheaval thanks to the small matter of the company having no pilots. We decided we'd suspend Stoptober for the two days of their visit on October 9 and 10 and so we stocked up on the good stuff, locked it away in the garage and proceeded to give the local alcohol-free beer a try. Hmm. Jane seems to like it but I’m sticking to the Fanta until the Louches arrive. Needless to say, they can't get here quick enough and we're counting the hours until they arrive and we break open the bubbly! Until then, there is more to do – Jane found a local hairdresser to cut away what's left of her blond hair in advance of letting the grey shine through. To get there, we cycled into Palamos and braved the very steep hill on the way back. The journey down the hill took around 15 minutes while the journey back (once we'd stocked up on fruit and ice cream at the local Lidl) took 25 but we almost conquered every hill along the way. |
Top, the famous big wheel on the seafront at Ronce Les Bains near La Tremblade. Above, a very chic cafe at St Trojan Les Bains on the Ile d'Oleron. Below, one of the quaint seafront houses at La Palmyre, on France's Côte Sauvage
Above and below, two views of the impressive citadel at Carcasson... very Game of Thrones!
Kathy, Jeff, Martin and Jane about to embark on a mammoth bike ride on the Ile de Ré, above. Below, our last supper together at Ars en Ré, pre-dinner drinks, a market at St Trojan Les Bains on the Ile d'Oleron, another market, the main course at La Cabine de Mer restaurant at La Couarde on the Ile de Ré, and the dreaded andouilettes
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