Feb French Frolic

And we're off! I'm off. Off to check on the French house and then spend a few days trying to find some warmth further south.

Breakfast stop. I like Chateaudun. To me it marks the start of central France. The town isn't hugely exciting but there's a lovely central square. I stopped here on the first morning of the first day after the travel lockdown lifted. Yes, I was one of just 7 people on that first ferry to dock in France after the COVID ban lifted. Seems like another lifetime.

Charroux, Vienne. After checking on the house I drove down to the camper park and pitched up for the evening, allowing a very easy stroll across the street to an early pub dinner at The Green Man. It was so nice to sit and chat to the friendly English bar man in there. He's a great guy and life must be pretty hard for him and his family. He's trying all sorts to make that place profitable (dinner and live music seems to be the most popular) but it was clear that the French are very hard to read as customers. I hope their tenure lasts. Day one done.

An early start but fone by me, and no one else to disturb at this time of year. Plus I have those amazing A roads to look forward to – bliss!

First stop – a Geant Super U! What a perfect Sunday morning! Using my usual “French house” shopping list I bought enough food to last half the week, including fillet steak, cod loin and pasta bits and bobs (plus all the usual goodies!)

As you can see from the rather impressive dinosaur shape that I have drawn on the map, I found a nice long circular walk – or randonée – to walk. 10 miles or so it took me just about 4 hours. Through forests into valleys, up steep inclines and along some stretches of quiet country lane. This is the Gorge de Vienne trail, in the wonderfully named Millevache region of the Haute Vienne department. Here the Vienne starts as a raging torrent which accompanies the 2nd quarter of the walk before broadening out into the refreshing river that it becomes in the region nearer Charroux. I'd heartily recommend this walk. I think I did it the wrong way round though, and at this time of year parts were touch and go as trees were down in places almost entirely blocking the trail. It's well marked though, and there's an amazing section where you have aqueduct, railway line and raging torrent alongside the path. Ace

After a great, and long drive it was time to pull up for a fairly late arrival at the free camping car aire at Albi. A simple affair on flat ground just a short walk across the river from the cathedral. I ate a delish steak dinner and then had a walk over the old bridge and up to the cathedral before heading back for a very sound sleep. Nice to be back here. Last time was with mum and dad in 1994. Day two done.

What a find this stop was! Again prior research had lead me to a private parking lot on a farm, but a stone's throw from the walled city and citadelle of the old town of Carcasonne. Easy to find it was sloping gravelled site with a barrier into which you had to enter a number emailed to you after online purchase. No one present and no facilities. An oddball selection of vehicles presented themselves. All were heavily chocked to create a level pitch and so I followed suit. What a view though – the soon-to-be floodlight walls of the castle were right there. And, as I discovered on one of two walks today, there was a secret doorway right into the heart of the walled city, literally 5 minutes away! I mean to get this kind of exclusivity and proximity you'd have to pay a fortune for the 5 star hotel that sat between the farm park-up and the city walls and this was just 10 euros for the night. Ace. Again! End of day 3.

Coffee and croissant in the main square at Limoux on route south. The croissant was delish but had a rough looking exterior in much the same way as the locals. Grand cafe interior.

Via Quillan I had a stunning drive into the mountains of Cathar Country, which was over too soon. Cloud all the way through the valley meant no castle views for me. The skies cleared beautifully as I arrived at the coast though.

I realised that my destination – Collioure, right in the south-east corner of the Pyranees – was still under the clouds and a wind had picked up, so rather than reaching Collioure I quickly made a beeline back towards the sun and the nearest beach.

I drove up the coast from Argéles sur Mer to St Cyprien and parked to scope out the joint. Had a cheeky beer at a seafront cafe sat in the sun.

Ending up back at Argéles a beach front car parks' height barriers had been removed while works are carried out. Needless to say the area is full of campers! Sleep to the sound of the waves tonight. Day three done.

Risking some fairly tricky parking after finding out that it was market day. It was a nice early stroll down towards the square where the market was on, pausing briefly to buy a croissant from what seemed to be the only boulanger in town. I then sat and had a coffee on the beachfront of the beautiful little harbour in the sunshine as the temperature warmed. A stroll out to the end of the harbour wall followed and then meander through the rest of the town returning to the market to buy some goodies for birthday presents and treats to take home. Such a lovely little town. It would be great to return for a holiday. As you can imagine, the Pyrenees in the distance would keep the air cool, even mid-summer.

This was the hairiest drive I've attempted in a long while. Spurred on by the fact that someone had said they'd driven this track to an extra special wild camping spot in their First Ducato just last month on Park4Night I lurched straight on up the steep gravel trail into the hills towards the most southerly coastline of France. I made it to the top with some wheel spinning due to the uneven nature of the trailing making my big old heavy Sprinter lurch from side to side. I could see the goal and it looked like a flat park up with spectacular views, but the trail down to it from the top there looked way to hairy. I pulled over and walked it. No chance. I bottled it. Even if I;d slithered down would I ever make it back up? Too much at stake with your home on your back so I managed a 3 point turn and wobbled back down testing my brakes to their limit.

Wow what a view! After that hairy off-road attempt I settled for something a little easier, and it was quite a find in this popular mountainous stretch of coastline. A road leading up to a military outlook had a little raised cost gravel area, big enough for the van. I backed cautiously up. I've again 5g signal and an almost perfect location for an afternoon's work and video calls. Even the rain didn't put me off. However I did have to work until after dark and the drive back down was pretty hairy, including some crazy deviations thanks to roadworks at Port Vendres. I arrived safely back at the Argêles Plage car park for a second nights peace and quiet.

Heading north I had a welcome pit stop at Leucate to buy, buy baguette and croissant and stopped to have a coffee in a little bar in this village that I visited in 1994 on my 5-month trip around Europe in my first camper van. Can't say I remember it but there's certainly a familiarity to this part of the world

Wow! What a great place! Bezier. I've not been here before. Found an ideal camper van park-up for the day with a sign saying no camping after 1:00 a.m. so knew I had plenty of time to stroll up the steep steps to the old town and then through into the main part of the city. Came back to the van for some lunch and to do some work in the afternoon before another stroll up after dark admiring the flood lighting. Moving on I found a car park that still had a view of the floodlit castle for my quiet night.

Happy Valentines! It took quite a lot of research to find a park-up in Sête. In the end I settled on the McDonald's car park about 2 mi out of town and walked in. It was lovely to be back here. The sun came out and it was warm enough to sit and have a coffee at the canal side. I strolled through the back streets and into the bursting, deliciously smelling and warm Les Halles, to stock up on provisions for the next few nights. Fillet steak, cod loin and some veg and fruit. Determining that I could park nearer the town centre for work I walked back to McDonald's and drove in to find almost immediately a parking spot that allowed me to face one of the wide and more luxurious canals as my base for the afternoons work.

The 1st photo here was my 2nd park up option for the night, the first bring a car park in Frontignan which was basically a station car park at the nearest station to Sête. Not a nice option. The abbey however had a large and level surface where overnighting was allowed apparently. The abbey – Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Valmagne – looked irresistible though so I paid up and walked round there before deciding my fate for the night. What a treat! I was virtually alone. An immense and beautiful space. I was very glad to have contributed 10 euro to a viewing.

My 4th option was my preferred option. After the abbey car park (where I was worried about too much road noise or joy riders in the car park in the night) I wound on up into the hills. I'd been looking for a view and certainly found one at an orientation table with incredible views back to Sête and the Med for one last time. However the same thoughts as previous prevailed. I didn't want to be disturbed. So as dusk settled I drove in towards this charming little village with just a few cars leaving before I was left alone… for a very cold night

Millau. It's amazing to be able to park right underneath one of the support pillars and look up and get absolutely no sense of scale, but just to know that the thing is massive.

Pit stop for a noisette and a stroll up to the viewing platform. But again, it's so hard to get the scale of this thing. There was quite an impressive video presentation in the viewing area.

A lovely little detour through some amazing mountainous countryside here in the Cevennes. Picked a little village – Chaliers – perched on and out crop. Looking over the Truyere river where there was a round-trip walk of 3 hours which I decided to cut in half only because I was tired. It was a stunning route through lovely hills and valleys and across little streams and through high plains

This was my third park4night option and turned out to be the best, the other two feeling a little too exposed for the coming chilly night ahead. I drove down through the village and parked up at the parking area just out side the castle at the top of the hill and then walked down through the village to check it out. Very cute! Not much to it. Castle was amazing, black and perched above the houses, and then I spotted a sign to a waterfall which turned out to be really lovely in a very blue lagoon type way. Very forceful jet of water coming through the hard rock. When I got back to the village the little parking area in their middle of the lower square was empty so I walked back up and got the van and parked up for the night in the little square. I fitted the extra outer screen on the van windscreen tonight and used my van life rug as an additional barrier over the inside of the back doors to give some extra protection against what turned out to be a minus 3° night. The diesel heater was ticking away all night. It was thankfully a very peaceful night though.

My final mission this final Sunday morning was to get back to Dieppe for my early Monday morning ferry. It was an 8 hour drive on N roads, but what a beautiful day for it. Plus of course the roads are so much quieter on Sundays with lorries off the road.

2 pit stops on route – one for another amazing motorway services coffee, and a lunch break at Briare where the canal goes over the Loire on a bridge. I know right! Here I finished off all of my fresh goods from the fridge following my well planned shopping trips on this trip.

Back on the top of the cliffs at Dieppe for dinner with a view as night fell then down to wait first in line at the gates to the dock. A quick shower and then bed. At 5.30am I was 2nd on to the ferry, and therefore 2nd off.

Cheers for following along.