France 2022 – Part 3

Click HERE to jump to LAST post

• Tue 11th Jan

  Into station car park at Narbonne. Interesting way in, there are two entrances off the main road, and both have no entry signs up. It seems one is no entry no entry, and the other is no entry enter. So we did. Nothing awful happened, I’m glad to report.
  

  A cloudless sky, but the relentless wind chills, um, relentlessly. Narbonne “historic centre” is composed of very high buildings, many of then superbly decorated, and very narrow streets. Well designed to catch one unawares, going round a corner, thwacked by a cold wind.
  First stop, Saint-Just et Saint-Pasteur Cathedral. Built between 1272 and 1332, it was never finished. Something I’ve never thought about, the event that interrupted its completion was the 100 year war. Obviously know of it, but from an English perspective, and have come across other things whilst here that have been so interrupted, because of course everything happened in France. What was built was huge, very heavy stylistically, and unusual in that it is not in the shape of a cross.
  

  Quite spectacular.
  Then went to the Horreum, subterranean galleries (Roman), which may have been public warehouses, dating from the first century BC.
  

  An example of the huge amount of stuff found in them.
  

  Apparently, it is known there are three wings, and only one has been excavated. And it went on and on, which numerous side openings, presumably for storage. The whole complex is five metres underground.
  This is the first Roman site we have seen this trip, and apparently this area was the first to be occupied by the Romans.
  In the middle of a square infront of the Hotel de Ville is a sunken view of the original Roman road.
  

  A Roman road. Looks will designed to twist an ankle.
  Our final stop was Saint-Paul Basilica.
  This was even heavier construction than the cathedral, makes Durham Cathedral look almost gossamer, but quite spectacular for all that.
  

  And, the font had a frog in it. With a handy explanation of why.
  

  

  So now you know.
  Walking round Narbonne, which we both enjoyed, we passed many restaurants, but knowing there is nowhere for overnighting, we passed them by, but it never ceases to amaze me how many pizza restaurants there are. The main ingredients of a pizza, are they not, are bread tomatoes and cheese. No one goes out for an evening to a restaurant to eat half a dozen cheese and tomato sandwiches. My penultimate last pizza (does that make sense?), was Christmas Day 1980 in Nairobi, a memorable day, but not for the pizza. However, a couple of months ago, Sue was invited out to lunch one Monday, and the only place I could find open (it was Brighton, I couldn’t have tried very hard), was Fatto a Mano, which is, I believe, a well known pizza place. So, I decided to find out what I was missing. The first mouthful was quite nice. By the last, I couldn’t wait to get out.
  Rant over.
  We then rather backtracked to an area called Corbieres, scenically stunning, which was why we didn’t come here yesterday, because of the rain and general gloom. So we ended up heading into the setting sun (which made driving really difficult, cannot complain, keep on shining), on a narrow road winding circuitously along deep gorges, really spectacular. The distance to our stop for the night was 50 kilometres, and it took over an hour, slow and spectacular, hardly a sole the whole journey, and at the end of it an Aire de Campingcar, which could easily accommodate 30 vehicles, probably more. A short time after we arrived, another camper arrived, so now there are two.
  The ultimate reason for coming here, apart from the drive, is to visit the Castle of Peyrepertuse, with a name like that, it’s a must!
  We started the drive a little above sea level, and now, according to my natty little app, we are 1200 feet above sea level. And, we can see the castle on a craggy hilltop a zillion feet above us. But that’s for tomorrow.

• Wed 12th Jan

  We drove from our Aire a short distance up a precipitous road to Peyrepertuse castle, one of several built by the Cathars, a much persecuted religious sect. The guide book describes this as “one of the most remote, difficult to get to, even today, a long, narrow stone citadel hacked from a high, craggy peak over 2,000 feet high”. From the ticket office, the path to the castle is precipitous, stoney, difficult, and mostly alarmingly dangerous. The blurb from the ticket office “We maintain the entire site in a spirit of authenticity ……in the exploration of a place that was designed to be inaccessible”. And it certainly was, even after having completed 90% of the journey by vehicle on a road.
  Seems origins are a bit muddy, but was in existence in 1250.

  

  Up there!

  

  Going up. The path was much steeper than it looks here.

  

  Phew!

  

  

  The view down.

  

  

  Goodness knows how this was built. Hauling thousands of blocks of stones, timber, everything else up there, not to mention building huge walls directly on the cliff edge.
  We had hired an audio guide, but it was pathetic, we both gave up on it. Unfortunately, Sue was freezing cold (I was none too warm, either), and the going was so tough, she found a sheltered spot in the sun (which was difficult to find, the wind whistles round every nook and cranny), while I climbed up to the highest point, the keep.
  There are other Cathar castles in this area, and we had wondered whether to visit another one, but Sue could not face another difficult path, at least not until tomorrow, and frankly, because of the paucity of history and information, we decided not to.
  Drove to Alet-Les-Bains, a small village, with a ruined monastery, and described by the guide book “beautifully preserved half timber houses”. When we arrived, the monastery was closed, opens 2.00 pm tomorrow. We aren’t waiting.

  

  Photographed from the road, this section is a Roman apse.

  

  And, the houses in question. It was a really excellent little village, remains of a fortifying wall. We drove to a campsite that was closed, but the group of blokes playing boules let us in. We were then charged full rate, but everyone was so friendly, it seemed churlish to baulk at the price, when we could easily park up down the road for free, so here we are.

  Have really enjoyed this region, Corbieres, which is clearly off the beaten track, very scenic, very slow, unspoilt and undeveloped. Hope it continues that way. Pity about the wind.

• Thu 13th Jan
  Cold overnight, minus 2 degrees this morning, and a thick mist. Drove out of the valley, mist stayed behind, we could see it hanging onto the river. A wonderful sunny day, but a lot of driving, heading east. Now parked up at Pont du Diable, bridge built between 1321 and 1341.
  At the end of a stunning gorge, there is an improbable legend involving two monasteries, a cat, the devil with a dead priest impaled on his horns, and some holy water. For a less garbled version, consult Wickipedia.
  

  The bridge in question.
  

  The view up the gorge from the bridge in question….

• Fri 14th Jan
  Very cold morning, cloudless sky.
  Drove to Pont de Gard, a Roman aqueduct north of Nimes, and built to supply Nimes, in 50 AD. What an incredible structure.
  
  
  

  Prior to coming away, I recorded TV programmes, to watch during the long cold dark evenings, and one was about the cave paintings at Chauvet cave, which neither of us had heard about. Not surprised! The website for the caves is unbelievably hopeless. They do not include the opening hours! Actually, that’s wrong, they include the opening hours for the period May to December. 2021.
  So we went there, to the exhibition centre. Huge car park, actually huge multiple car parks. Couldn’t find where to go, no “this way” in any language. Eventually found the place I first went to was correct, I just hadn’t ignored the no entry sign. The cave is comparatively recently discovered, and there is a recreation in a multi million euro secret building.
  Will try again tomorrow.

• Sat 15th Jan
  Minus 5 degrees, dropped to minus 7 degrees later. But, cloudless skies, unbroken sunshine, and thankfully we have left the constant wind behind, so a wonderful day.
  We were parked for the night opposite the tourist information office, who thought the Chauvet Cave site opened at 12, and could go round at 1.00pm.
  Am now going to reveal a closely guarded secret, Chauvet cave opens at 11.00 am.
  We had to go round the cave (not, of course, the original cave, but a super expensive recreation, wonderfully done) joining a tour. The tour was in French, but we were given an English headset commentary, which was very well done.
  The cave paintings are astounding, very different from the ones at Lascaux. Not so colourful, but very emotive. The Lascaux drawings are 18,000 years old, the Chauvet drawings are astonishingly 36,000 years old. All sorts of interesting information. Next to some paintings, there is a child’s footprint embedded in the mud floor, and soot remains from a burning torch he/she was carrying. Radio carbon dating of the soot on the wall dates it to 30,000 years ago. So, the nearby paintings were already 6,000 years old when this unknown child went in there.
  The furthest reaches of the cave revealed the most concentration of paintings, flowing and surprisingly depicting movement.
  Photos were not allowed in the recreated cave, and, unlike Lascaux, there was not another display I could photo. Pity, I would really like to have had a pictorial record, but when I queried this, I was told I could download or view pictures on their website: here  Downloaded pictures are shown below (click images to enlarge them):

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  After Chauvet, we decided to head in the direction of Avignon, via the Gorges de L’Ardeche, where the Ardeche river runs through a huge a dramatic gorge, rushing headlong to join the Rhône.

  A natural arch:

  And a stunning view:

  Just after this second picture was taken, despite the river running downhill, the road climbed steeply uphill, and seemed to go up for ever. This was really alarming, the road was on a north facing cliff, very steep, with a sheer rock face to my right, and a very long sheer drop to my left, a narrow road, devoid of any sun, and covered in a thick coat of frost. No chance of turning round, drive wheels were spinning, and a motorhome is decidedly not in its element in these conditions. We were both very relieved to finally reach the summit, I calculate about 15 feet below the summit of Everest…..well, it felt like that at the time…..
  Fortunately, downhill descents were sufficiently in the sun to be frost free, although we did encounter further frosty ascents, non as severe as that first one. Really would not have liked going down that hill!

• Sat 15th addendum
  Parked up on a very basic Aire, eight or nine other motorhomes, but plenty of space. Early evening, a lady came round selling goats cheese, small round, €1.70 each, Sue bought three, as she had three types.
  I was out walking Beckie, a nice surprise for when I returned.
• Sun 16th Jan

  Drove to Avignon. The bridge…
  

  But, went to the Palais des Papes. Built in the 13th century, it was the residency of six popes. A massive building, with huge chambers, and a very confusing audio guide.
  

  The outside.
  

  The smallest big chamber.

  
  
  
• Mon 17th Jan

  Spent the day in Arles, very nice interesting town. Bright sunshine, but the wind is back, cold, but not as cold as a couple of weeks ago. (Sue would not agree with that assessment, she was really cold).
  Started in the L’eglise de Saint Trophime, a 12th century church…the portal
  

  And the cloisters…
  

  Then on to the Place du Forum, a square in the centre of the old town
  

  The cafe painted by Vincent van Gough, “The Night Cafe”. Must only be open at night, certainly not open when we were there, which was disappointing, as we were hoping for a drink and lunch. In fact, we gave up on having lunch in a cafe, as we couldn’t find one. Found plenty of places open describing themselves as cafe/restaurants, but they all did full meals and nothing else. We have always been on the lookout for a restaurant in the evening, and not found any within walking distance of our night stop. What has happened to the famed French cuisine and cafe culture?
  The on to the Roman remains.
  

  The Roman Theatre, end on the 1st century BC.
  

  The Amphitheatre, built around 90AD. Scaffolding seating makes it usable as a modern, huge, venue, but rather spoils it as a magnificent Roman monument.

• Sue’s bit
  
  

  It was very cold with a ferocious wind, Mick went to the Amphitheatre, but you couldn’t see much as inside it was all scaffolded with seating for theatre use. (In this weather) so he suggested I went i to the Les Cryptoportiques which are underground storage areas, built in ad 50! Well it was very dark and eerie
  

  So I stumbled around and took another photo
  

  I was the only person down here, it got rather creepy

  So I decided to leave! An interesting 1/2 hour, and how did these things survive for so long without being demolished.

• Tue 18th Jan

  Went to the Abbay de Montmajour, a short way north of Arles. Founded in the 12th century, and substantially added to in the 17th century.
  

  The foundations of the monastery, partly built into the rock, and compensating for a sloping surface, it was an amazing and totally unexpected entrance.
  Every room in the monastery had a multi lingual display board, was which really informative, giving the use of the room, the history of the building, made the visit so worthwhile.

  

   

  

   

  

   

  

   

  

  

  The church, this is part of the 17th century bit, everything striped out, but a huge space. At the time this was built, the monastery had 30 monks. Seems surprising so few could command sufficient resources – the information board didn’t mention Devine intervention.

   

  Retuned to Arles, and went to the 4th century AD bath houses. There was very little left, was a bit of a disappointment.
  

  Then went to the hospital which treated van Gough, after he cut his ear off. As we were just round the corner…….
  

  The inner courtyard. The outside is a very grim wall, with a few tiny windows.
  And then we happened upon a Bio vegan cafe, and had a surprisingly nice slab of chocolate cake. Then the rest of the day disintegrated.
  Decided to go to Intermarche supermarket, where they have washing machines and driers. Loaded the washing machine, pumped it full on euros, it made everything wet, then stopped. Of course, the shop denied anything to do with the machines, there was no admission of ownership or contact details on the machines, so we wrenched the door off its hinges and smashed it, then pulled all the electrical cables from out of the back, which made a satisfying flash and bang.
  However, there was another machine half the size of the wrecked one, so we had to use that twice, which meant driving to our Aire along narrow unlit lanes in the gathering dusk. Fortunately, there was not too much traffic around.

• Wed 19th Jan

  Set off to explore the Carmargue, the area of swamp and wetlands south of Arles, and includes the Rhône delta. Basically two roads either side of a large lagoon, the first going to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a very out of season seaside resort. However, just before reaching there, is the Parc ornithologique du Pont de Gau, an area of lagoons and lakes, and home to a vast number of greater flamingos, amongst a host of other birds and wildlife. We spent ages watching the flamingoes, at this time of the year doing courtship dancing, a lot of head bobbing, running in unison, head shaking, and intertwining.
  

  Others were disinterested, and slept, looking a bit perilous, but seemingly happy, on one leg.
  

  The noise they make was astonishing, such odd birds, really enjoyed watching them, and walking round the park.
  We then drove to the other side of the Carmague, to a town called Salin-de-Giraud, and a large area of salt pans.
  

  Stretched as far as we could see.
  The town, quite a fair size, had absolutely nothing except a lot of houses, a sort of eight to late shop, a small general store and a tabac. Amazing for a good sized place, a good 30 miles from anywhere else. Never been to a town so utterly dead, but looked prosperous, and not at all run down. Cannot imagine what people do here, although didn’t see many.

• Thu 20th Jan
  Left The Camargue, returned to Arles. We were both disappointed with The Carmargue, expected it to be more interesting, although the flamingoes were definitely a high point.
  Back in Arles, topped up LPG, diesel, water, emptied waste and loo, as our travel eastwards sees far fewer Aires, and much more built up. After Arles, drove to the port at Toulon, hoping to find a ferry booking office to go to Corsica. No such luck. Lots of traffic, and every junction fantastically complicated. On one roundabout, we were stopped consecutively by three sets of traffic lights, and when the lights turned green, so did the pedestrian crossing lights. Not sure why the whole area is not littered by dead bodies and crumpled vehicles, presumably an efficient clear up operation. Goodness knows what the planners would have made of Fiveways, let quite alone Severn Dials.
  The journey there bypassed Marseille, which we decided was just too big and complicated. Most of the journey past Marseille was on a series of tunnels, in total must have been several miles long.
  We had found an Aire at the splendidly named town of Ollioles, but on return there, it was full. Managed to park up (in front of a takeaway pizza place), and went to the TIC, who directed us to a travel agent. The travel agent was closed, with a notice informing all that it now only conducts business by telephone.
  Went off looking for somewhere for the night, found a campsite open, but they wouldn’t let us in, so whilst looking elsewhere, have ended up in a parking area at the side of the road, in a concrete jungle of houses and flats in a place called La Seyne sur Mer, sounds an awful lot better than it is. Hoping for better tomorrow.

Next part →