{"id":2878,"date":"2012-01-03T20:10:04","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T20:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/?page_id=2878"},"modified":"2012-12-13T09:49:36","modified_gmt":"2012-12-13T09:49:36","slug":"august-september-2007","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/?page_id=2878","title":{"rendered":"August-September 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

We left home on 23rd August and headed down to Dover, crossing on the ferry and making our first night stop at Le Treport.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Le Treport\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

We had to be in St Malo by the 25th as we were meeting up with our family on that date. \u00a0We hadn’t booked anywhere but hoped to be able to stay around St Malo for a few days as we had booked our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter into a hotel on the seafront there. \u00a0We arrived at a reasonable time but after looking around we were unable to find a suitable Aire to stay for a few days. \u00a0We eventually stumbled on the municipal site at Saint-Servan-sur-Mer. \u00a0This is a very nice location alongside the old fort with views over the bay to Dinard on one side and St Malo on the other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>St Malo<\/h2>\n

The only downside is that being a municipal site there is not much in the way of polish or structure. \u00a0That said we enjoyed our stay and would go back again.<\/p>\n

The following day we waited at the ferry port for our family to arrive having taken the overnight boat from Portsmouth. \u00a0After seeing them booked into the hotel we spent the rest of the day touring around St Malo and playing on the beach with Greta. \u00a0August is a good month for \u00a0visiting St Malo as the place simply comes alive in the evenings with lots of side shows, suitcase traders, travelling performers, artists and children’s magicians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Making Sand Castles<\/h2>\n

There are dozens of restaurants on the inside of the town walls, most offering seafood dishes, a favourite of our son and ourselves. \u00a0It is possible when the tide is out to walk out to the small island on the north western edge of the town. \u00a0The old submarine pens have been converted into a marina and fishing dock with the rest being used commercially. \u00a0We spent 4 great days here just messing around, BBQ’ing, eating out in the restaurants, visiting the old Fort, walking along the coast path to the Rance Barrage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Site at St Servan-sur-Mer<\/h2>\n

This all ended too quickly when our family had to board the boat for their return journey to Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

From St Malo we headed south west to La Rochelle, a place we have visited many times over the years but this was the first time we had travelled by Motorhome. \u00a0According to the books we had with us there are five or six Aires in and around La Rochelle, however one or two were full with private cars, others were simply full so we found one site by the river side on the opposite side to the town centre harbour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La Rochelle<\/h2>\n

We stayed here for a couple of days before moving to an Aire on the northern outskirts of town that was better for Chase as it was restrictive for him being able to run around without his lead. \u00a0We love La Rochelle and have a certain number of places that we visit each time in addition to seeking out new places. \u00a0In a similar fashion to St Malo, La Rochelle comes alive at night and we spend hours walking along the harbour viewing the various artists and their work. \u00a0The old town is great even in summer as there are stone arches along each street where shoppers can walk, browse and sightsee without getting overpowered by the sun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La Rochelle Harbour<\/h2>\n

La Rochelle has the distinction of being one of the first places in France to fit electric charging points for the advent of electric vehicles. \u00a0(not that we saw any charging points or electric vehicles)<\/p>\n

On moving to the north of town it gave us the opportunity to cycle into town each day along the coastal cycle path achieving two goals – one – exercise for us and a quicker trip into the town centre – two – good exercise for Chase as he could run alongside us either on his springer or run free on the open parts.<\/p>\n

After 5 days we decided to move on to the Dordogne area, a place we visited briefly several years ago. \u00a0We started off by overnighting in a small village outside St Emillion, famous for its wines. \u00a0It was a lovely spot, nestled in among the vines with a dedicated service point – it even had EHU for those that needed it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Vineyard at St Emillion<\/h2>\n

We walked around the village and was tempted to pick fresh figs that were hanging on the trees in the roads and fields around but decided against it as we didn’t want to get arrested or thrown into prison. \u00a0We called at the vineyard on the way back to buy a bottle of wine to go with our BBQ but failed on a number of counts – one, they didn’t sell loose bottles, only cases of twelve. \u00a0Two, the cases were over \u20ac100 each and thirdly – they didn’t take credit cards so we politely declined as we didn’t want to purchase \u20ac100 worth of wine we hadn’t tasted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Aire at Bergerac<\/h2>\n

From here we sauntered along the river Dordogne making our next stop at Bergerac. \u00a0Here we stayed a couple of nights giving us time to look around the town. \u00a0We found the Aire right on the river bank, but close to the main road. \u00a0Our first task was to find the Tourist Info Office then take the Petite<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Town Centre – Bergerac<\/h2>\n

Train trip to orientate ourselves with the town and get an understanding of the places to see. \u00a0Bergerac has many oldie world buildings, a beautiful bridge and several interesting architectural sights. \u00a0The town square is a must see, as is the market.<\/p>\n

Bergerac has two bridges, one is the original stone bridge and the other is a modern steel structure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Old Bridge at Bergerac<\/h2>\n

Near the old bridge is the wharf where the old barques used to bring timber, cork and other goods \u00a0into and out of the town during the times when the Dordogne was navigable.<\/p>\n

From here we moved along the Dordogne to the small town of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. \u00a0This place is famous for its houses that are carved out of the rock face. \u00a0There are several villages in the region that are carved into the surrounding rocks. \u00a0The Aire is one of the best in the region if not the country. \u00a0It is located alongside the river with walks or cycle tracks on either side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Les Eyzies-de-Tayac<\/h2>\n

It is laid out into individual plots, each with its hedges, hard standing. \u00a0There is a toilet block and shower block as well as a service point – all in local stone. \u00a0During 2007 the cost was \u20ac3 per night. \u00a0In the town\/village there are museums of the troglodytes, a very helpful Tourist Office and a variety of shops, cafe’s and restaurants. \u00a0This is a great place to use as a base for touring round the Dordogne region.<\/p>\n

From here we moved on to Salat and Domme.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sarlat<\/h2>\n

Two lovely towns that symbolise the old Dordogne region. \u00a0Sarlat with its geese markets, where all the pate de fois gras comes from and Domme as a centre for the Crusaders back in ancient times when the Cathars were dominating the region to the south of the Dordogne.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Domme<\/h2>\n

Domme is situated on the top of the hills that are either side of the Dordogne river. \u00a0We stayed on the Aire at the rear of town at the foot of the town wall. \u00a0You can walk up the road into the town or the Petite Train travels every 30 minutes from the Aire up into the town square.<\/p>\n

From here we moved over to Padirac, an underground cave that is full of carvings and underground rivers etc. \u00a0Sadly on the day we arrived the whole workforce was on strike so we were unable to visit this place. \u00a0This is the second failure we have had here so if we fail once more it will be struck off the list for good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Campsite near Rocamadour<\/h2>\n

So we moved on to Rocamadour and stayed at the camping Blanche some 700 mtrs from the top of the road down into the Town. \u00a0This was a good move as it turned out as we were equidistant from Hospitalet and Rocamadour. \u00a0This gave us the opportunity to view Rocamadour from a distance at night and catch the town all lit up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rocamadour from Hospitalet<\/h2>\n

It is a good walk down into town and it was a hot day with many hundreds of steps to climb up and down. \u00a0Still it was worth it.<\/p>\n

Again we moved off this time calling at the Bretanoux Chateau – a well preserved chateau at the geographical end of the Dordogne region. \u00a0We spent several hours looking round the place and took the guided tour around the inside private rooms of the chateau.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bretanoux<\/h2>\n

The colour of the stone was very striking and the whole place is kept in very good order. \u00a0There are cafe’s and restaurants around the perimeter however we needed to move on if we were to reach our stop for the night at Clermont L’Herault. \u00a0Clermont L’Herault was a stepping stone for our next real stop which was the Camargue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Clermont L’Herault<\/h2>\n

Here we wanted to see the wildlife and were looking forward to seeing the famous pink Flamingos. \u00a0We were not disappointed. \u00a0We first pulled into the Aire at Salins – a very run down place. \u00a0We topped up with water, emptied our waste and WC cassette as we knew there would be no facilities where we were going. \u00a0We had decided to stop on the wild camping beach at Pie Manson Plage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pie Manson Plage<\/h2>\n

This place is some 10 kms alond a narrow road that leads through the salt marshes of the Camargue and ends up at the beach at Pie Manson. \u00a0This is a beautiful expanse of some 400+ mtrs of clear sandy beach on one side with the Etangs of the Camargue on the other. \u00a0There is a strip of solid beach separating the two sections that is so flat and hard that it would make a good alternative to the Utah salt flats and Bonneville.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dragon Fly – by the Thousand<\/h2>\n

One creature we didn’t expect to see was the giant Dragon Fly – by the thousand. \u00a0They were up to 4 inches in length and looked like minature helicoptors. \u00a0There were hundreds of Flamingos. \u00a0The beach was spectacular and the sea very warm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pink Flamingos<\/h2>\n

We spent a few days here just beach combing and relaxing in general with BBQ’s every night. \u00a0Chase was able to run around free all day.<\/p>\n

We now decided to move across the Camargue to a little piece of civilisation at Saints Maries de la Mer. \u00a0The only real town on the sea front of the Camargue region. \u00a0here we stayed on the Aire by the sea wall some 200 mtrs out from the main town centre. \u00a0Sts Maries is a bustling town that enjoys \u00a0Spanish bull fighting. \u00a0There are numerous horse riding stables and the Etangs have strategic look out points to watch both the Flamingos and the Camargue wild horses.<\/p>\n

By now we had only ten days to go before our return ferry to UK so started to head north along the Rhone valley.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pope’s Palace<\/h2>\n

We spent our first stop at Avignon and decided to stay here a couple of days before \u00a0detouring along the Ardeche valley and “see if it was worth coming back to see properly”. \u00a0 \u00a0Avignon is one of those places that you need to come back to time after time as there is always something new to see. \u00a0Again we decided to make use of the Petite Train to get an idea of what there is to see.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pont D’Avignon<\/h2>\n

The train departs from the Pope’s Palace – a grand building just off the main square in a square of its own. \u00a0We climbed up to the top of the ramparts, walked around to the famous Pont D’Avignon but were unable to walk on the bridge itself as they don’t allow dogs. \u00a0Still we got a good view from the top of the river meandering its way south.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pont D’Avignon from Island<\/h2>\n

We stayed outside Avignon in the town of Veillenerve Avignon on the small campsite at the foot of the castle walls. \u00a0In future we will stay on the Isle de Bardelasse overlooking the old walls of Avignon as it is both closer and cheaper than where we stayed this time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Off we went again up the Rhone valley towards the Ardeche Valley. \u00a0This detour didn’t add many miles onto our journey as we went in a loop coming out some 150 miles further up the Rhone valley just before Lyon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ardeche Valley<\/h2>\n

It took us all day to work our way up after stopping at view points along the route, stopping for coffee, lunch and a browse around the shops and ended up staying the night in the village of Aubinas – up in the mountains.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Relaxing in the Ardeche<\/h2>\n

This was a good overnight stop as the Aire is positioned on a hill with a near 360 degree panarama.<\/p>\n

Aubinas is a renovated village isloated among the Ardeche mountains. \u00a0There are no shops, cafe’s or restaurants and the villagers rely on their own resources or go out down the valley to get food etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>View of Aubinas<\/h2>\n

They provided the Aire as they wanted folks to visit their village to see how beautiful it is.<\/p>\n

The next day we continued on our journey north and stopped for the night in the village of Prissey. \u00a0This is a wine growing area and we were lucky to arrive there when they were harvesting. \u00a0Even though they were obviously busy they made time to show us around the place, explaining how they made wine, how the grapes were graded and how each grower was assessed by the quality (sugar level) of their grapes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grape Grading at Prissy<\/h2>\n

Our next stop was at the town of \u00a0Mareuil-sur-Ay – another wine growing village, this time on the river Ay in the Champagne region of France. \u00a0The town was awash with flowers and all the grass was neatly cut. \u00a0On the downside it was very busy and we only just managed to find a place to stay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mareuil-sur-Ay<\/h2>\n

This was to be our last stop before reaching Calais where we needed to spend a day while Chase had his passport stamped. \u00a0Once formalities and timescale had been completed we boarded the ferry for home. \u00a0A very successful and pleasant holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We left home on 23rd August and headed down to Dover, crossing on the ferry and making our first night stop at Le Treport. \u00a0Le Treport We had to be in St Malo by the 25th as we were meeting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":2356,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2878","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2878"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3874,"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2878\/revisions\/3874"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vennwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}