Spring 2007 Travels

Well it's that time of year for us to start our, what is becoming a yearly spring tour of Europe, this year we are embarking on the longest trip yet of 14 weeks taking in the far south-west of France from the Atlantic to the Med via the Pyrenees. Before crossing over into and Italy taking in the Northern half upto and including the Dolomites and Lake Garda before crossing over into Slovenia which has a reputation of being a new destination for Motorhomes. After this its into Austria for a short hope via the Central Highlands into Bavaria before calling into see relatives in Dortmund for some respite from the long journey ( about 6000mls).

We start off by catching the Euro Tunnel on a cold and very windy March morning before arriving in France about midday and driving down to our usual first stop at Cleres north of Rouen, This year we decided to head a little further south and stayed our first night at Montville a lovely small town with a large lake full of wild birds and a great place for the children, after a restful night we headed via Rouen and Le-mans to end the day at Le Guideniau. This village is very small with a lovely Aire by an old lake which used to provide water for the local "Laveria" and water driven mill, its about 30 mins drive north of Saumur . The next day we had a short drive to Montreuil Bellay where we spent the night under the chateau on the banks of the river in glorious sun, spoke too soon! as the next day it poured with rain so we drove down to stay around the La Rochelle area for a few days rest.

Feeling more refreshed we continued southwards via the great Aire at Navarose north of Bisscarose in the Gironde we had visited the previous year, we stayed here for 2 days enjoying the good weather touring around on the scooter we had brought along on this trip. From here we journeyed ever southwards toward the Pyrenees visiting the popular resorts of Port Albert near to Vieux-Boucau and Capbreton with their famous surfing beaches and marinas, very quiet at this time of year but the French were out in their motorhomes taking in the glorious spring sunshine.

I wouldn't like to visit in the summer as it would spoil the enjoyment of exploring on the scooter at our own pace. After our first 10 days in France we embark on the next part of the journey into the French Pyrennes and we hope to find snow in the high mountain villages....

After a short drive of 100mls through undulating countryside we arrived in the Pyrenees area stopping for our first night at 4000mts at a small lake above the village of Larens, here you can catch the ski lift in summer to ride the "tourist train" round the mountain side. This train was built for the workers who built the dams in the area and is well worth a trip on. The next morning we drove down the twisty mountain road to the Aire at Larens from where we rode the scooter up the pass towards col d'aubisque near to Gourette ski resort, boy what a ride with twisty mountain passes in freezing fog/rain to arrive at the ski station and find things in full flow. We had hoped to ride all along the pass but the route was closed as the snow was too deep ahead, so back to the camper for a warm.

The next day we ventured via Lourdes to the next valley in glorious sunshine to arrive at the upmarket resort of Cautrets were we stayed for a couple of days. During our stay we took the cable car up to the 35km ski runs and enjoyed watching the French skiing/snowboarding, after lunch at the camper we took the scooter up the pass to "Pont de Espagne" well worth a trip even in winter to experience the breathtaking scenery. You could stop off at the mountain huts and spend all day taking in the experience and still not comprehend the vastness of it all, after a hike into the mountains we returned to a hot meal and wine after a tiring day made all the better by the glorious weather.

The next morning we were greeted by fresh snow falling fast so decided to move on while we could, when we arrived at Lourdes the forecast was for heavy snow and freezing winds from the Arctic so decided to cut short our trip around the Pyrenees as its no good if you can't see the mountains and didn't fancy getting snowed in, so we decided to head south to the Mediterranean and return again in summer one day to this special place.

So from lourdes we took the motorway to Foix and across country to stop the night at the medievel town of Mirepoix, which had a nice collection of very old houses in the town square. The next day we headed via the citadel city of carcassonne to have lunch overlooked by the walled city before pressing on the mediteranean and Gruissan a small but nice town with a excellent collection of Aires, one being on the north beach the other next to the marina a short walk from town. After spending 3 days relaxing fishing we headed towards the Spanish border due to the gale force winds and to try and find some cover, in so doing so we ended up at the nice village of Argelles sur Mer were we spent a couple of nights. On day two we ventured by scooter to see Collioure a excellent little sea side town with old fort and plenty of restaurants well worth a visit for a day relaxing watching people walking about town.

From the Spanish border we headed east to the Camargue and the old town of Aigues -Mortes where we stopped overlooking the ramparts of the old town, this town is situated at the end of the river Rhone delta and was deemed of importance by the king of France at the time hence the old walled town with its excellent shops and marina not to be missed. After to days exploring the Camargue by scooter we headed into the Provence via the hill top town of St Michael l` Observatories , and then on into the Verdon to spend three days exploring the area around the "gorges du Verdon" were we based ourselves at the small town of Castellane with its excellent Aire over looking the river Verdon. This area has been compared to the Grand Canyon in USA, while it is unique in Europe its not quite the same scale or wow factor but never the less well worth visiting. We toured the route via the D952 with it's overhanging cliffs and shear drops (not one for the faint hearted) with a diversion via the D23 from La Palud sur Verdon , allow a whole day for each side of the Gorge as its very busy with slow moving traffic or stop of at the Aires along the route at Trigance and Aigues or wild camp at the available spots although not encouraged it is possible. From here we continued along the winding N85 (route Napoleon) ending at Grasse on the French Rivera, then on to Ste Maxime for a few days touring the area on the scooter as the med is not renowned for its motorhome friendliness taking in St Tropez, Cannes and Monaco before crossing the border into Italy and that is a whole new story