Day 8 – Au revoir Cessenon-sur-Orb – Bonjour Carcasonne

So we limped along the motorway in 4^th gear much to the annoyance of several big trucks that let us know their frustration by letting off their air-horns as they passed us in the middle lane.

We arrived relatively problem free at www.campingcitecarcasonne.com (trusty satnav did us proud) and joined the queue to get in.   We had emailed to say we were going to arrive and had received a lovely email in response saying that it was first come first served.   If you don’t mind staying on an Aire there are several around here, or as quite a lot seem to do, park on the side of the road.  One thing to note here is you do need your passports – it was quite funny watching the Dutch woman in front of us giving her husband a right ear-bashing because they didn’t have theirs and were promptly turned away.   It’s not a cheap campsite but there are lots of very nice facilities – bar, restaurant, snack bar, swimming pool, children’s play area etc.  We have a very nice pitch that has the stream running alongside – it also happens to be the local fitness running track, the locals at times do appear to be quite ‘fit’ too...

Day 9 – To infinity and beyond...

The walk into Carcasonne took us about 30 minutes (I walk very slowly), the path along the side of a stream is flat until you get to the old cite then it’s up and up and up but the views and the buildings are so spectacular that you just don’t notice.  – security is very tight here, and one of our first sights was of soldiers carrying machine guns patrolling the area.  The second reminder of the terrible terrorist attacks France has suffered was the sign as we entered the ramparts.

The cite is in two parts the outer part is full of restaurants and shops.  The church had some beautiful stained glass windows and some lovely comfy seats....

We wandered around for a good three hours until lunch time where we sat at one of the restaurants (there’s lots!) and ate a fabulous sausage cassoulet (note to self to get a lovely recipe from my good friend Colleen because I’m sure she has one). 

Once we’d finished we joined the queue to get into the inner cite (the bit where the ramparts are).  I suppose we queued for about 15 minutes and the entrance price was 8.50euro each.   This part of the adventure is not for the feint hearted but I managed it albeit slowly and with some assistance from Del, but I did it!!!!!!!

  

The views from the top were just amazing and worth every bit of climbing.   We’d been recommended Carcasonne from several different friends but wow was it worth it – a definite must if you are in this area. (I'll upload more photos when I have a better connection as this one is painfully slow)

Eventually we had seen the village of Carcasonne and areas from just about every point on the compass so we headed home.  Now, the walk up was quite steep in some parts, walking down those steep inclines is pretty painful, thankfully I had shoes on and not sandals or worse still flip-flops.   The walk back (on the flat part) along the stream was just so pretty with dragonflies swooping across the stream and little tiny fish swimming against the flow – I could have watched for hours.  

It’s been a great adventure today, thoroughly enjoyed it but with all that walking just only one thing left to do:

As they say.... You can take the girl out of Essex.....

Day 5 – even hotter today 31C

The heat has made us so lazy, but as we normally live such hectic busy lives it really is nice to just not do anything at all, except sit and watch the World go by. 

There is no escape from the sun here so in the end we had to put up some more shade – trailer trash?   But it worked! 

Tonight we went into the village for dinner but everywhere was shut because of the village fete, so steak sandwich and frites it was!   There was some good music and plenty of drinking but we opted for breaking open a bottle of bubbly under the stars and it’s still 25C.

Day 6 – A 'ho hum' kind of day....

Do you think that other people have calamities while they’re on holiday or is it just because the blog documents it we remember it?   This morning Del goes off on his trusty steed to collect some supplies in the village but he returned without his wallet having dropped it on the way back.   There was about 50euros in it, but of course, credit cards, loyalty cards, driving licence and the pass key to our camper storage back in the UK.   We quickly retraced his steps but it wasn’t too be found.   Lots of phone calls which actually was relatively easy (note to everyone – put the phone numbers that appear on the back of your cards in your mobile phone) and we reported it to both the campsite and the local tourist office.  But of course, this is us isn’t it?  Whilst all this is going on our wifi decided to run out – no wifi for 2 days.   As my lovely friend Carole says “ho hum....”

This evening we wanted to go to our favourite restaurant but it was closed again for the festivities.  We did however, manage to reserve a table in the other restaurant and the food was quick and okay this time, washed down with a carafe of the local vin blanc.   The party was really taking off in the square with a live band, so we bought crepes for dessert and sat with a pitcher of vin blanc (the pitcher held over a bottle) listening to the music, watching people dance and before we knew it we were consuming a second pitcher....

We’re not sure what this is about but the dance is part of the festival.  The dancers dressed in nightgowns had bellows which they puffed throughout their dance around the square.

Day 7 - last day in Cessenon and it went with a Bang!

So we woke early (8ish) this morning, had a cup of tea and then decided to go back to sleep again - until 11.30, ahh so what we're on holiday!   Anyway, it was very hot in the camper so I opened the door and there, on the table, was Del's wallet!   Minus the cash but all the cards etc. were inside - phew, that was a relief!   Del popped into the village on trusty steed (and cash in a zipped pocket) and returned with some lovely steaks and frites for dinner - very nice it was too.

Del's Trusty Steed

Tonight was the final night of the festival and the river was to be the centre - a torchlight canoe procession followed by some amazing fireworks - all just 50m from our camper.   So we sat outside watching the procession and the spectacular fireworks.

Sorry for poor quality - this is the torchlight procession

Fireworks at Cessenon-sur-Orb

Au revoir Cessenon-sur-Orb, we've really enjoyed ourselves in your lovely village. Tomorrow we're off to Carcasonne.

Day 4 – Hot hot hot and dinner with friends

The temperature is 30C and unbelievably hot.  We’re still on a do-as-little-as-possible because we CBA’d!   We walked into the village and found Carrefour – bit better than our own ‘Express version and a very good selection of local wines.   We had a chat with the butcher who told us which were the local wines – yes I did mean the butcher.  Because this evening we’ve been invited to dinner with Robert’s (my son) teacher from his secondary school – Carolyn.   

Caz and her husband Chris live in Brighton but have recently bought the most amazing house.   The house came full of furniture and was just as the previous owner had left it; full of photos, birth/death certificates, costumes, hats (in the most gorgeous period hat boxes), paintings, tapestries – it was like going back in time and I could have spent hours just exploring.   Caz cooked a lovely dinner which we ate on the patio and then all spent many hours drinking and chatting – really fab evening.

Day 5 – even hotter today 31C

The heat has made us so lazy, but as we live such hectic busy lives it really is nice to just not do anything at all, except sit and watch the World go by.   There is no escape from the sun here so in the end we had to put up some more shade – trailer trash?   But it worked!   Tonight we went into the village for dinner but everywhere was shut because of the village fete, so steak sandwich and frites it was!   There was some good music and plenty of drinking but we opted for breaking open a bottle of bubbly under the stars and it’s still 25C.

The village square ready for tonight's festivities

And so, not too much to report at the moment as we really are doing as little as possible!  Just time for a quick (and pretty awful) selfie!

Day 3 - STOP PRESS!

Before I start to write about today’s adventures I realised that I’d completely forgotten to tell you about another ‘oops moment’ from yesterday.   So there we were following trusty satnav’s instructions “....at the roundabout take the first right then turn left”  - turned right we did and entered the chevrons in the centre of the road to turn left “left Del, left!!!! ...down there, there!” and Del does turn left where I said...  have you ever met head-on a queue of French locals all waving their arms and shouting expletives at the “stupide Anglais” (one of them even had a beret on) – hands up totally my fault – sorry! 

Anyway, onto today Birthday Boy woke early and was overwhelmed with all his cards and presents.   We ate breakfast in the sunshine – freshly cooked (still warm) croissants.  Today the weather app said it would be 30C – we really needed some downtime after the travelling so we opted to stay in the camp and watch the people swimming in the river.  Fabuleux.

This evening we went to Restaurant l’Orb – oh wow!  Simply superbe.   A small menu but the food is definitely the best I have tasted dare I say “ever”?   

We wandered back through the village to the campsite and finished the day with a glass of Baileys.   Fantastique!  (have you noticed how my French is improving?)

Day 2 – It’ll be Alright on the Night.....

After not a particularly good night (it was bloomin cold) we were up and on the road by 8.50am for the long drive South.   The French A6 motorway was busy (a bit like the M25 on a quiet day) but the miles soon passed and we saw some beautiful countryside – lots of sunflowers and vineyards and getting warmer by the mile.  

We stopped at Niemes for some fuel, water and leg stretching – all good, excited to be nearing Cessenon-Sur-Orb, until....  the wind took the door out of my hand and bashed the petrol pump (fortunately no damage done).  Then as we left the Aire Del worked his way through the gears as we accelerated and boom, boom 5^th gear? “non” – I couldn’t possibly write here the contents of the following conversation as I’d get banned by the Internet! Thank goodness for Google and our friends on Facebook page Motorhome Adventures!   It seems that the 5^th gear on Fiat Ducato engines has been a long-term problem but most of all we were assured that we can continue without doing any further damage – albeit a little slower.

So we arrived at Cessenon-Sur-Orb, a beautiful little village but the “trusty” SatNav was telling us we still had a few miles to go?   Now the campsite was situated alongside the river Orb but we were climbing higher and higher through the mountains mmm....  maybe not alongside the river????    We eventually found “a” campsite but not the one we wanted - bad Google giving us the wrong information (got to blame someone).   So down the mountain we came and pulled up at the correct campsite in the “nick of time” as they were closing - http://www.campingfrance.com/uk/find-your-campsite/languedoc-roussillon/herault/cessenon-sur-orb/camp-municipal.  - we have since found out there is nowhere to empty toilet cassettes on this site, but the shower/toilet facilities although a little dated are clean and pleasant.   Very busy here but situated alongside the river Orb with beautiful views of the village on the other side – we are metres away from the bridge that takes you straight into the village with some good shops and restaurants – perfect for me and my dodgy legs!  

As we had only had a baguette all day we were rather hungry so we decided to go into the village for dinner.   We arrived at 8pm and after moaning we finally received our starter only to be followed almost immediately by the main course at past 9pm!  Can’t say either of us particularly enjoyed our meals but it seems they were also catering for a large gathering of people (60+) across the road and the kitchen was really struggling.   I’ll not say too much because we intend to give it another go when it’s a little quieter.

The 60+ gathering of people were well “tanked up” (we think it may have been a wine tasting event) and they had laid on live music to round off the evening.   Now, Del & June had drank rather a lot of the local produce whilst waiting for their dinner so we upped and joined them!   Picture this...  10.30pm in a French village square, temperature still very very warm and we were doing the Twist!  Ha ha great way to see off a particularly eventful day.

Cheers!  from the Birthday Boy

Day 1 - And then we were on our way....

It’s been a pretty hectic time in our house just lately as my daughter and her boyfriend have been staying with us before their 6-month tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.  http://alisttoolong.com  We said a tearful farewell to them yesterday and then finally managed to think of our own holiday – good job too as we left at 3.45am this morning!   We are getting pretty good at packing up now.

The journey to Eurotunnel was uneventful, quite a lot of traffic on the road considering the time and we were through the tunnel and saying "Bonjour" quicker than a Friday night on the M25 – but then most things are.

We were heading towards Troyes where we stayed in May.  There’s not a lot to say about the A26, it’s long and straight.  However, there really did seem to be some very odd ‘niffs in the air today and we seemed to experience - along with the usual cow dung - malt, onions, thyme and strangely enough a very strong smell of cheese & onion crisps!

“So?” I hear you say... “what’s the weather like?”  well you know the Hawkins-Worley holiday/France history of #cold/windy/rainshowers so here we are Day1 sitting in the van watching DVDs....   mmmm.... moving on tomorrow pdq!

Quick photo between clouds!

France 2016 - the "Which socks are dry?" one!

Bonjour!  Mes amies.   So here we are back on our travels 2016 and off to Troyes in France.   Why Troyes you may ask?   How do you say Troyes? Is it, Troy...es?  No my good fluent French speaking friend Colleen tells me – it is named after Helen of Troy and so therefore in French it is pronounced T..roy..ay! 

Anyway in true Hawkins/Worley tradition we hit the road at 3.30am – Del had snoozed his way through at least four hours sleep (thank goodness as he was doing the driving) but I wasn’t so lucky and had tossed and turned until the alarm went off.  Everything was packed and we set off promptly.  We arrived at the tunnel with just enough time for a quick wee before we were called.  Coffee and a pack of garibaldi biscuits kept us going until we arrived in Calais at 6.30am.  

The road to Troyes is motorway and in true French tradition hardly anyone on it, so with a stop for the supermarket we arrived in Troyes at 14.30. Now, the past few days have been filled with the ‘Blocages de raffineries’ in France and the British press have certainly shall we say... enjoyed scaremongering – we’ve had no problem getting fuel and we did pass just one very civil blockade – not saying that it isn’t bad elsewhere in France, just that we’ve been okay.

Camping de Troyes http://www.troyescamping.net/ is really very nice for a municipal campsite. Lovely lush green pitches “park where you like”, bar, restaurant, swimming pool and it’s sooooo quiet that we fell asleep in the chairs! Tomorrow we are going to investigate the medieval town of Troyes. There’s a bus right outside the campsite that costs E1.35 into town every five minutes.

Day 2 – Friday

Loads of rain during the night leaving the site very muddy in parts – we are very lucky as we’ve found one of the few hard standing pitches available. Many caravans and motorhomes were well and truly stuck and needed the Dick and his trusty tractor to pull them out. Late morning early afternoon turned out cloudy but warm so we took the bus into Troyes centre-ville – E1.35 each. The No 1 bus stop is just outside the campsite.

Troyes centre-ville is in parts medieval with many churches and a wonderful cathedral. It’s a mixture of old and new and where the two eras meet the buildings have a ‘mock’ medieval fascia. It’s a town full of fountains, churches, restaurants and is clean and friendly – well worth a visit.

Troyes Cathedral

The Medieval Town of Troyes

After 2.5 hours of walking around my old friend Arthur Itus started moaning so we decided it best to call it a day and return to the campsite. Good job too, because as we got off the bus the heavens opened, thunder and lightening the works!

Day 3 - Saturday

Saturday arrived and we decided to go back in Troyes for another adventure – there’s a great market both indoor (food and wine) and outdoors for clothes, household etc. We walked around the food and wine hall and were very impressed by the quality of all the produce anything from lobsters trying to make break for freedom to bottles of the very finest vino..... nearly every stall holder had a glass of wine in their hand!

Troyes Indoor Market

We decided to have lunch at one of the kerbside restaurants, Del decided on a 4-egg omelette and I went for a ‘lucky-dip’ (because I didn’t understand the menu) e.g. Tarticrepe! Fab food and service at Maison Maxine.

Arrival back at camp bought the sun out and it was well after 9pm before we came back in again, to yet another round of Only Fools & Horses as we’re running out of videos to watch – always good for a laugh though.

Seems like that was the last of the sun we’ll see for a while as all through the night it poured down and we were woken up once again by Dick and his tractor pulling people out. Breakfast of croissants and coffee and Del decided to see what the roof of Deedee was like as we’d been parked under trees for 3 days.... mmm... pidgeon potty comes to mind – jeez what do those things eat to produce that????   

Day 4 - Sunday

It did stop once we arrived at Camping de la Foret http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/france/centre/loiret/montargis/campsite-de-la-foret-103849/ - but the campsite had also had very heavy rain and there were only about 6 other campers there – several of them looked a bit like they’d come out of a sketch of Only Fools & Horses! We’re going to stay the night but then move on tomorrow – this place is just not for us, I don’t know whether it was because it was raining so hard and there were a lot of old, unused caravans around but this place gave me the bloomin creeps!

24 hours later – Oh My Goodness! What a night, pouring pouring rain, it just didn’t stop all night and because we were under the trees it sounded like the entire troupe of Michael Flatley’s Riverdance on our roof. In the morning we very gingerly raised the blinds thinking we may need to call Noah and his Ark to get us out, there were huge pools of water everywhere. We decided to pack up and get out – I’m sure that campsite is very nice in the sunshine.   

Montargis - The Venice of France

Day 5 - Monday

We moved onto Chateauneuf-sur-Loire http://www.camping-chateauneufsurloire.com/index.php/en/ - quick stop in the Super U for refreshments and 10 minutes later we arrived. It’s still pouring with rain but because of the trees isn’t anywhere near as bad. The campsite runs alongside the Loire river, which at the moment is swollen and looking quite menacing. Forecast tells us that we’ve got this weather for at least another 24 hours. Oh well.....

The rain did stop briefly and then slowed to a drizzle but it just kept coming down. We stayed here for two nights but just daren’t go anywhere because the weather was just too bad. However, it is a lovely campsite, the lady in the office speaks lovely English and it’s spotlessly clean (as are most municipal campsites) – lovely hot showers here.

Day 7 - Wednesday

Wednesday morning came and we decided to move onto Epernay (the weather said it would be a little better). This meant having to retrace our journey from Troyes but it was motorway all the way, so really not too bad. The morning was warmer, drier and we set out reasonably early for us. However! The motorway was closed off for miles both ways, no explanation, just closed, which meant we had to resort to the jolly atlas and my map reading skills – I knew my Duke of Edinburgh’s award would come in handy one day.

Our journey took us back through Montargis where we’d left only days before, oh my goodness, I have never seen such awful flooding. There was no electricity in the centre ville which meant no traffic lights, but people were being very sensible. Then we began to pass flooded houses where you could only see the top six inches of doorframes, gardeners’ allotments flooded, children’s play areas where just the top of the swings were visible and rivers of thick brown mucky water – it was really awful.

The floods of Montargis

Eventually we picked up the motorway and arrived in Epernay http://www.epernay.fr/hotel-restaurant/camping-municipal - the girl on reception spoke very good English and we were given a pitch. This really is a lovely campsite – big spacious pitches, toilets & showers immaculate, laundry (E4 per wash – get the coin from reception and E1 for 30 minutes in the dryer). There’s a small restaurant, electric boat hire (E30 for 2 persons for 1 hour) and they organise a bus to take you to a Champagne tour three times a week – we’re trying that tomorrow so we’ll let you know what it’s like! We were told the shopping area/champagne area is just 2 kilometres up the road. The rain seems to be holding off too.....

Up early, we even set the alarm so we could get some food inside before the champagne tour. The minibus to take us the 25 minute journey to the champagne producer Bernard Tornay just E8 each. Why is it that wherever in the World you get a cab they all drive like bloomin nutters? Anyway, the tour and tasting was very good – excellent champagne, but three glasses before 11.30am is a bit heavy! Now Del likes a bit of champagne so we ended up buying two boxes, one box of Brut Blanc de Noirs “Grand Cru” and 1 box of mixed. The tour was very informative and told of how champagne is made and kept – the lady who showed us around was the great granddaughter of the man who founded the business in 1875. The vineyard is right up on the surrounding hills and had it been a nice day it would have been beautiful. However, the lady did tell us they were very concerned about the vines because of all the rain and the possibility of mildew; normally they spray the vines but they have been unable to do it because of the rain.

Tipped so the sediment goes to the neck where it is then frozen and removed before shipping.

These bottles are owned by the Japanese and kept at the vineyard for up to 10 years.

There’s been more news about flooding in France and Germany, terrible pictures on the BBC and five people have lost their lives. Tomorrow we move on for our last overnight, we’ve chosen Lille as it’s quite close to the tunnel for Saturday morning.

Day 9 - Friday

We did the Intermarche shop on the way here – champagne grand cru half-price for a box of six! Don’t mind if we do.... also stocked up with 10-litre boxes of red wine and 5-litre boxes of Sauvignon – we’ve been buying the same stuff for the past 4 years and it’s good (and cheap). Also bought things like a huge bottle of Ariel liquid and dishwasher tablets – all much cheaper here than at home.

We weren’t sure where to camp but ended up at Camping La ferme des Saules in Bailleul, http://www.ferme-des-saules.com/ just outside Lille and about an hour from the tunnel. We’ve not really bothered to investigate too much, I poked my nose in the facilities, they were clean but pretty basic, there’s a fantastic farm shop here too. One night is just Euro14.05 so it’s fine for a stopover. 

The weather has been dry for quite a few hours now, but we’ve seen all the flooding in Paris and surrounding areas, terrible. Petrol situation seems to have gone quiet and we managed to get fuel with no problem at all.

Up early tomorrow for the 11.50 train and then home. Even until the final parts this
Holiday was going to be a ‘right-one’ – Miss Satnav decided to take us the fastest route back to the motorway via muddy sodden farm tracks!!!!!!!!!

We always treat each trip in Deedee as an “adventure” – this one has surely been that, but not one we would like to repeat again in a hurry. We still love France and can't wait to return again - I mean where else do you get roads like this?