Sunday 25th May Argeles sur Mer to Collioure

After a sketchy start to the day our luck changes! We have scampered off to Collioure up the road. We park up in a lovely spot in the aire there, but then realise that the tariff in the aire book does not match the actual tariff. You get an hour free but then it’s €15 for 24hrs rather than the 10€ advertised. We have a conflab and a look at the acsi book and realise there is a campsite just around the corner, walking distance to collioure, private beach that is about the same price. We decide to go there instead. Despite only being in the aire for 40mins we get ransomed for the full €15. Much aggrieved and cross we leave anyway. Stupid aire, don’t go there people. Instead go the campsite Les Amandiers. Initial slightly scary narrow access resolves itself into one of the best campsites ever in the world ever. It’s French Mother’s day today and with this being a family run campsite there’re generations of women all about to sit down for lunch. Despite this they greet us like friends, get us settled in and even put the Grand Prix on in the background for our pleasure. By the end of lunch Nonna is braiding Noush’s hair and children are hanging off Moo’s fur and capering about with Norm.

The family are lovely, the campsite is down to earth and peaceful. The Beach is a five minute walk, crystal sea, fishing, Collioure a twenty minute walk, free wifi, great bar, possibly the best food in the restaurant in the form of homemade Catalan specialities (and a large free bowl of cherries from their orchard after lunch), excellent little shop, bread and croissants in the morning, excellent sanitary block (even got a doggy shower!), sun, shade, just perfect. We resolve to stay put for a week and just enjoy it. Why leave paradise when you’ve found it? As a sign from the Gods Noush even manages to catch her own first ever fish. We are indeed being smiled upon J

Moo and Norm mooching on old fortifications

 Our campsite beach

  Cliff top Norm

Art work on the old Bunker

 Collioure and their military training base thingy

Poisson!!

Saturday 24th May Vinca to Argeles Sur Mer

We are a hop and skip away from the coast, it really was an EPIC loop! So we head towards Argeles sur Mer, somewhere we have been before and can trust to provide us with some beach action and a pause in the sun for the weekend, we need a bit of recovery time from giant hop. We have earmarked a couple of ACSI campsites, but as ever with these things sometimes the description doesn’t match the reality! The first one, La Chappelle, might as well have been in the amazon. The tree cover is unrelenting and despite the morning sunshine the entire place is freezing and completely shaded.  

We leave and head next door to Les Pins. This place, initially, seems much better but we soon encounter problems. We chose a sunny pitch of which there are plenty, but the campsite has only been under new ownership for a few years and they are still modernising. We managed to choose the old bit which means that the electricity point thingy for hook up won’t work without an adapter. Other campsites we have stayed on with this issue usually keep a supply on hand to lend out, this campsite offers to sell us one. Not only do they want 12€ (nearly as much as the pitch!), but it’s also the wrong one. Smooth. We make noises about leaving, but then Frederick finds us another pitch with functioning lec. The new pitch is nice, close to all the amenities i.e. sanitary block, bar, wifi etc etc. Things are looking up. Then they look down again. The wifi doesn’t work, the sanitary block is only half open and sill sort of being built and the bar is open rarely and with little stock. Major fail all round really. This campsite will be lovely when it is finished, but don’t bother going there until it is! The pool however, is lovely, but not really a priority when you’ve got the beach just there. We are not impressed and leave the next day. Campsite non fonctione.

Friday 23rd May Douillhac to Vinca Via Mont Louis, Grimbsby and just about everywhere else

We are off to Quillan today, or so we thought. Upon arrival we discover that the Aire we had hoped to stay in has been commandeered for the whole weekend for the annual Horse Fair. Quillan has nowhere left to park that is anyway enticing and we don’t fancy being snuggled up to horses and hoards of people all weekend – especially with a certain something’s propensity for barking. We go for plan b which is to move onto the start of a big loop south towards Mont Louis. This loop becomes something of a mission as nobody warned us that once you start you literally can’t stop, there are no laybys, aires or anything. Not even any passing spaces it would seem. Very eek roads…

When we finally get to the end of this rather tortuous drive everyone is somewhat done in and, loathe though we are to say it, the end is totally not worth it. The landscape is barren and bleak and resembles nothing so much as an abandoned mining site. We push on manfully to Mont Louis which also turns out to be somewhat disappointing – think bleak Alaskan outpost. 

Despite hours on the road we make the executive decision to scarper. We beat a not-so-very hasty retreat (13km of hairpins anyone) and reach the sanctuary of the N116 and zoom to Vinca. We arrive safe and in one piece and have a major collapso onto camp chairs outside in the late afternoon sun. Vinca has a glorious lake/reservoir with beaches and campsites dotted alongside, the town itself is small with a Spanish feel to it, we admire all from afar and rejoice in being back in the land of the beautiful scenery and civilised accessibility. Phew. 

Thursday 22nd May Narbonne to Duilhac sous Peyrepertuse

We decide we have had enough of city life and hurricanes and decide to head towards the country and follow the wine and Cathar trail. The drive is spectacular and with every mile south east the weather improves. We are presented with glorious views of vines and castles, all drenched in sunshine. 

We climb one of the hairiest hills we have encountered so far (don’t look down!) and arrive at Duilhac which, it transpires, has the most glorious aire.

More by luck than judgment we manage to snaffle the best spot and settle in for some serious basking. We are so high up yet we still nestle under towering mountains and the castle itself 3km above. The mountains green, the sky deep blue, the village sleepy and stoney all is quiet and peaceful. Even Norm. Able Seaman moo is prancing around like a puppy catching flies, glad to be back on land.

Perched on top of the picnic table, while the aire is still quiet, Noush gives Jon a haircut which of course results in an instant influx of fellow campers all much amused. We spend a thoroughly relaxing day here in the sunshine, but as the evening draws in the weather catches us up again. We have nipped out to get supplies (we fail.. 2€50 for ONE bottle of takeaway beer…??? Don’t think so) and get caught in a sudden torrential downpour, despite racing back to Valerie everybody is drenched. No matter though, everybody happy and what’s a little weather with such in incredible view…

Wednesday 21st May Sigean to Narbonne

The weather is cloudy and a bit rubbish today, but we’re not bothered as we’re off to the city! We take small diversion en route to check out Peyriac, but we park up in the aire and are immediately told off, for no evident reason, by some interfering old French A-hole so we don’t even bother turning the engine off and just leave. We find the aire in Narbonne without incident and a very civilised affair it is indeed: Carrefour enorme and Mcdonalds around the corner one way and town a ten minute walk the other – with a free bus if you need. For some reason every other camper is parked on one side of the car park and it’s just us and one other on our side – what do they know that we don’t know??

The weather is looking ever more threatening so we decide to go straight into Narbonne before it gets really bad – the forecast is grim for later. Narbonne is beautiful even when overcast, the place des Halles is a wondrous place full of yummies and small little bar café type places where you can sample the wares and enjoy the paper at the same time – very civilised. Unfortunately we are not civilised to join as we have two wagging dogs waiting patiently outside, we buy something unidentifiable and delicious for us all to share on the wall outside.

After ‘lunch’ we wander around Narbonne enjoying the sights, it’s got a really lovely feel to the place and despite its long history has a distinctly boho and young vibe. Jon finds his niche…

We pop into the ‘Le France’ bar for a swifty and discover we have fallen into the most popular bar/restaurant in town it would seem. Everywhere else is quiet, but this place is packed and continues to fill up. When we see the plates of food that are coming out of the kitchen we are not surprised.. they look and smell heavenly! Norm practically turns himself inside out trying to inveigle his way inside. Anyway… rain threatens so we decide to beat a retreat to Valerie. This turns out to be a good decision as shortly after our arrival chez nous the weather takes a serious turn for the worse – severe weather warnings are issued to the team and we batten down like mad… 100kmh winds ahoy!

It turns out this is serious wind. Sitting in the powder room (proper posh here) the van is being rocked from side to side. It is actually akin to being on a boat. After a prolonged stint I begin to feel seasick such is the violence of the wind. Such is the gravity of the situation I decide to call a second severe weather warning to all on board. Troops informed we all hunker down and ride out the storm. Admiral Norman seems completely unperturbed and oversees operations from the Bridge, valiantly assisted by Anouska

As the storm continues to rage on, not everyone has the stomach for the conditions it transpires. Able Seaman Moo flees below decks and hides under the table for the duration. Sea legs not with him yet we assume.

Fellow camper van types are all in the same boat (ahem); satellite dishes are being lowered at pace, awnings reeled in, everybody parked up in a row resembling tiny armoured armadillos – perhaps this is why everybody was parked next to each other… shelter? We watch on the news that he wind has knocked out the electricity in 28000 homes, severe weather warning indeed. Hard to believe we’re on the med!

Tuesday 20th May Marseillan Plage to Sigean

Our plans to leave are somewhat stymied this morning. We have packed up Valerie but she is in a snit and refuses to start. Once again the trusty European AA come to our rescue – their drivers are amazing, zooming down the narrow campsite lanes with nary a qualm – no worries with overhanging trees for these boys – Campers watch and learn. Fortunately all that’s wrong with Valerie is a flat battery, but Monsiuer AA declares that “il est mort” and we actually need a new one if we are to have any hope of holing up for a couple of days without it dying on us. So.. we head off to Narbonne Accessories in Beziers to go and get ourselves a new one. This is duly accomplished with relatively little pain, although we had to bribe one of their mechanics to fit it! Fitting a new battery isn’t hard normally; unscrew, disconnect, lift out, replace, reconnect rescrew. , but Valerie has so many funky connections for water pumps and such like that we gladly shell out the extra €20. 

Superzoomed up we head towards Narbonne for a heavy culture hit. While navigating the outskirts of Narbonne we find another, considerably bigger, arm of Narbonne Accessories – the mother ship we think. We pop in to ask about a couple of other problems that Valerie has encountered and we are put in the safe hands of what all talented mechanics across the world seem to look like: dreadlocked, skate shoes, threadbare surf t-shirt, with his own old VW clapped out van that still works perfectly. This is one of those moments when you know that even it’s completely heath robinson the fix will work. Sure enough, within the hour Valerie is not only fixed but the original design considerably improved upon. Merci Monsiuer (big shout out to S.O.S camping car). 

Much as this has been successful we are a bit wiped out having spent the day either on the road in the garage an neither of us can face the metrop so we decide to hideaway in a French passion for the night and do Narbonne tomorrow.  There is a French passion not very far away in Sigean and we arrive to find a really lovely peaceful little secluded hotel/restaurant. Alain, the owner, is lovely and waves us around the corner to go and park up on a large stretch of immaculate shady lawn. Ideal! Dogs loose, pichet of wine from Alain, everybody happy (except Alain’s wife for whom the wind seems to have changed at the wrong moment). After a mooch around Sigean we plot our assault on Narbonne and then retire for the night.

Wednesday 14th May to Tuesday 20th May Marseillan plage

Heatwave, sun, waves, oh and some phoning of garages and things. It’s not so bad. Not much to say really, you all know about Marseillan plage already. What we didn’t anticipate was TOO MUCH NAKED and hurricane smash it up.

Our first wedding anniversary was over the weekend and on the Saturday we decided to take a nice romantic stroll down the beach to Cap D’Agde and have some lunch out. As it turns out the only thing out on our walk was a sausage fest and neither of us had the good old French merguez as our dish of choice.

We knew there was a nudist beach some way down the coast and we successfully navigate the first part of the beach. Neither of us have an issue with the naturist lark, but why do they insist on making such a deal about it? Very few seemed to be sunbathing or lying talking to their loved ones, reading the latest Jackie Collins, instead they all hung (sorry) around in groups, posturing madly and looking menacing because you haven’t whipped off your ferret pants. Still, worse was to greet us just around the corner.

As it turned out we had stumbled into a naturist village. This was an enormous sprawling small town purely catering for the naked delights of mainly middle aged fat German people. Yummy. As we attempted to navigate this compound, which was heavily guarded by menacing security types the piece de resistance greeted us in the mall area behind the beach. Some oldish chap, meat and two veg out for all and sundry to see got out of his car and headed into the opticians. Oh the irony. You really couldn’t make it up. We soon began to realise that these were people who took nakedness very seriously. The compound thingy had restaurants, bars, shops of all types, nightclubs even its own marina. Everything.  Walking past a bar trying to navigate our way out people were seemingly naked having a drink. ‘Will that be on the rocks Sir?’ ‘er….in the glass will do please….’

Finally we manage to extricate ourselves and try and work out where the ‘real’ town is. Miles later we finally begin to see signs of civilisation and it’s fully clothed. Yay!! We go for a delicious lunch (no sausages!) in the marina port area, turns out Cap D’Agde is actually pretty cool. A leisurely wander around and then we ask directions from a shop owner as how to walk back with minimal nakedness involved, understandably this sends him into gales of laughter and he wishes us a bon voyage of ‘if you can’t beat them, just join them!’. He is still chortling as we walk away.  

We reckon if we can just get back on the beach then we’re sorted. This proves impossible. Unbelievable. The only access to the stretch of beach that we need to be on is more heavily guarded than the…erm.. crown jewels.  

For the privilege of taking our clothes off and accessing the beach they want nearly €20. We’ve seen enough anyway and get a cab, supplied by the superbly named ‘joe le taxi’. We arrive back at camp, back to normality, haunted by the surreal nature of a totally naked town. Apologies Norm, far too young for that kind of thing, but what a crack….sorry J

A restorative champagne toast to our anniversary cheers everybody up, thanks to next door for taking the photo (Mr Next door has a Hook Norton hoody would you believe, used to work around the corner – small world!!). Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages…Bottoms up!

Next day the weather turns savage….

Everybody damp and cosied up…we make plans to leave.

Wednesday 14th May Lac de Lauzas to Marseillan Plage

The modern world catches up with us early doors today and we are informed that the only way we are going to be able to move forward with our insurance claim against Mrs Bladdered is if we go and sort out a garage and get parts sent and blah blah. Seeing as we know we are going to be in Marseillan Plage in a few weeks anyway, plus there are numerous camper van fixer types down that neck of the woods, we reluctantly take the grown up decision and head off. It’s so tough being forced to go the Med. Sigh. 

Tuesday 13th May Mont Roc to Lac de Lauzas

We skip off to Lac de Lauzas…no actually we negotiate another set of endless hairpins in the middle of nowhere. The things we’ve recently seen give a whole new meaning to the word ‘rural’.  In total since leaving Albi we have seen two and a half people. And a cat. There is nothing anywhere!! Anyway, peace is just what we’re after, so this is good news and we arrive to find our own private pitch, with its own beach, the entire lake at our disposal and not a soul for miles and miles. It’s beautiful.

Monday 12th May Camares to Albi to Mont Roc

Albi is once again lovely and our prayers to the wonderful Saint Cecile seem to fall on attentive ears as all our insurance nonsense and Van issues get attended to with minimal fuss and pain. God bless Sofra too. We have earmarked Lac de Lauzas as our final destination, but it’s a bit of a hop so we decide to make an interim stop at Mont Roc. Neither of us had really paid close attention the map at this point and Noush manages to navigate us straight into the middle of nowhere and the other roof of the world. The 360 view is incredible. There’s a 10^th century chapel and we say prayers and silently marvel at the world laid at our feet.

It’s the most peaceful and isolated night’s sleep and we awake rejuvenated and ready to zoom to some lake side action.

Sunday May 11th Mende to Camares

We arrive to a beautiful lake view indeed. Um, where's the water..?

We have been here all of 60 seconds when aire mayor comes out and starts giving it the beans about where we can and cannot park. Bearing in mind we are the only campervan here he gets fairly short shrift. Thanks for the welcome, mate.

Camares itself is like the town that everyone forgot. Odd ramshackle deserted houses cling to the river banks and we are quite certain that there has been no new blood here for generations.

This van may well be the most modern thing this village has ever seen….

Nonetheless we spend an easy night here and have formed a master plan for fixing Valerie.

We are going to undertake a wee loop and head to the familiar comforts of Albi to undertake all the bits and pieces we need to do in actual civilisation and then we’re going to find an actual lake. 

Saturday 10th May Pont du Gard to Mende (!)

We set off early doors in the hope that we will beat the early morning market mayhem in Uzes. Sadly we get snarled up anyway, so it’s a slow and not very zoomy start. Finally we extricate ourselves and head on towards Ales and Anduze – which is where we’ve earmarked our first evening. On arrival it transpires that the Aire is somewhat shabby and a bit plein de chiens, so we go for a quick wander around town – which is FILLED with Bikers – and zoom onwards to St Jean du Gard.

St Jean du Gard is a charming place, really easy access and a nice little parking spot, which unfortunately is next to some serious maintenance works being carried out, so we have a quick mooch around and move on.

Memorial service in progress for French Armistice day with very imposing statue… viva la france!

We take the executive decision to attempt the Corniche de Cevennes. It looks fun, if a little hilly on the map and there’s Florac at the end, which all the books of fiction rave about. The reality is a little different. This Corniche thing is MONSTROUS. We decide to take the low road and what we assume will be the easier option. How high/hard can it be? It follows the river on the map and everything. An hour or so later, knuckles somewhat white we find ourselves somewhere near the roof of the world. The camera can’t cope with what it is seeing, but if you look close enough you should see a tiny snaking road somewhere far below…

Anyway, finally we arrive at Florac. We find the aire and park up all set to enjoy a cool beer and a wander around what promises to be a lovely place. DISASTRO STRIKES!!!! Some French woman who we can only assume is bladdered cos not even women are that bad at driving, manages to reverse into us and breaks Valerie’s bottom. Bearing in mind we are stationary and there are witnesses and everything she initially beams up at us and asks  “are you sure it was me?”. One of the French witnesses wades in on our behalf. In the midst of this Mr Bladdered arrives and proceeds to kick off. Will this be the first ever aire riot??? With all the formalities dealt with and details exchanged etc etc we decide to leave rather than risk Mr Bladdered returning with whatever the French equivalent of a baseball bat is and finishing Valerie off. We zoom to Mende. Ahhh the irony.

Mende is a haven and we park up and collapse. We have reached the top of our “operation balloon” (which was our curvy excursion loop to go a bit inland and then back down to the coast) somewhat sooner than expected and we’ve covered some hilly kilometres. It’s time for some down time, so we pick a nice gentle route, via Millau, to a very secluded aire by a lake in order to hole up and recover. We are off to Camares. 

Thursday 8th May to Saturday 10th May – Gorges du Gardon

The Pont du Gard is amazing. Roman built and ancient, how did they do it???! The views down our river are spectacular and we decide to stay a couple of days as the weather is just too perfect as is the river.

We even manage to teach Norm how to swim properly. It turns out that he is a super swimmer, an otter in disguise. With his disproportionately large paws and his tail sticking up like a mast he powers through the river with incredible zoom. Moo is astonished and unnerved by this and spends a good ten minutes on the shore watching in shocked disbelief. Norm is Olympian!

We love it here and could happily stay here for the weekend, but the dog charge is simply too prohibitive. So with heavy hearts we say goodbye to the healthiest most beautiful river ever and set off northwards again.

Wednesday 7th May Mas de Rey to Pont du Gardon via Arles and Beaucaire

We make an early departure from Mas De Rey because everyone is sort of awake anyway, in a comatose sort of way. We travel the 8km to Arles and underslept and under-caffeinated we manage to land in the aire without mishap. We love you Arles. We love Arles even more when we actually have a look around. It’s market day and it’s possibly the biggest market either of us have ever seen. Unlikely Algerian types selling unidentifiable spices vie with dapper gents selling antiques. Stalls with fruit and veg literally tumbling off them in abundance impede our progress somewhat as Norm thinks manna is falling for heaven just for him and insists in attempting to hoover up anything remotely close to him.

We make our way to the tourist office and get a map of the city. To our shame neither of us had realised quite how much there was to see in Arles. Around every corner there is another majestic building or ruin or point of interest. Van Gogh made his mark here and his artwork is everywhere. Our senses are pleasantly overwhelmed with beautiful twisting streets draped in blousy roses and falling flowers. Ancient Roman ruins are present everywhere, dominated by the Colisseum. It’s just an incredible place. You could spend a week here and barely scratch the surface. Sadly for us though we are not staying. We’ve got a lunch stop lined up in Beaucaire and the heat is rising.. off we go.

We arrive in Beaucaire and Jon snaffles us an ideal place next to the Marina. We have a bite to eat and then take a walk around. Again there is a beautiful castle here and we tramp up in the midday sun. It’s worth it for the view.

After all the streets and heat we decide we need some river action so we zoom on northwards until we get close to the Pont Du Gard which is our next fixed stop. We end up in the campsite Camping Domaine Gorges du Gardon which is a total gem of a place on the river. Were it not for the €5 charge per dog (unbelievable!!) it would be perfect. Nonetheless it suits us and we settle in for a day or two of wild swimming, fishing, cycling and seeing the Pont du Gard. 

Tuesday 6th May Marseillan Plage to Mas de Rey via Saint Gilles

Our last evening in Marseillan plage and we attempted to get some evening pictures of “the strip”, but for some unfathomable reason they all came out a little fuzzy, here’s our best:

Nor did we manage any escapades to local things, we decided to save that for our return. However we have plotted a route today that takes us into Montpellier and out again giving us another stopover at a French Passion. Unlike us we change our minds and decide to bolt to Arles, which is somewhere that we’ve both always wanted to visit.

Zooming along we realie that we’ve taken this road before and when we stop for lunch in Saint Gilles, it occurs to us that last time we were here was with Badger. We go for a  wander and revisit old haunts and send up a prayerful greeting to the Bear, bless him.

We had contemplated staying here, but we’re surrounded by clapped out camper vans and sketchy characters who can’t seem to perform the most simple of functions i.e keeping their trousers up, staying clear of fluorescent clothing, driving at less than 200km/h, not sitting, not looking like six fingered imbeciles. Harsh but fair. We decide to skip down the road to a French Passion that looks terribly grand in our book.

Sure enough on arrival, we zoom down a very glamourous tree lined avenue onto a LARGE Domaine… Mas de Rey.  Vines everywhere…

This is the type of residence you see in glam glossies advertising the South of France. Provincial stone, slightly shabby chic, vines and lavender in all the right places. Tres Bien Rodney. Joking aside it really is unbelievably picturesque. There is, by all accounts a renaissance chapel, but on this occasion we don’t get the chance to get up close and personal. If for no other reason than the mosquitoes. Biblical. Even Norm gets spooked whilst sat outside admiring the view (edit – waiting for an opportune moment to (delete as appropriate) bark/chase another dog/cause severe embarrassment to us/attack Moo/Poo in the worst possible public place.

We choose to sit inside and polish off some (semi) local wine whilst dining in exquisite (safe) surroundings. We meet the lovely Sophie, who airily waves us a hello in the barn enorme (read uber glam conversion restaurant thing, islands are sinking because their marble bed rock now resides at Mas de Rey). We humbly enjoy our shady grassy pitch and our wine (sorry sophie, quick Norm eat the box!) and ease into the evening.

An early night beckons, especially after a good few miles covered during the day. Safe to assume then that a good night’s sleep is on the cards. Weill actually no. If you don’t believe in the supernatural then come and stay here.

Norm, the dog that once asleep resembles the dead does not sleep. At all. He maintains a dedicated nightly vigil with precise outbursts of barking and alarm alerts whenever the need arises. The need arises on a minute by minute basis. The clash of roman weaponry versus the scream of a clapped out 2CV at 4am (4am… lock up your daughter….woops, too late). The attack of the flying squirrels, the falling pine cones, the odd irregular shooting from across the way, but most of all the ghosts. Ah the ghosts. The restless ghosts still prowl their ground here, be prepared to share. But gosh it’s beautiful. Do stay, but bring anti mosquito stuff. And holy water??? J

Wednesday April 30th Marseillan Plage

After our arrival yesterday we took the dogs for an evening spin on the beach. It’s amazing, it’s like having your own private beach. The dogs get to tear around and exhaust themselves and we are confronted with the glittering blue med before us. It’s beautiful.

We are grateful that our neighbours witnessed the fact that Norm is in fact alive and breathing as he does his best impression of a stuffed dead dog after all his beach exertions: or perhaps as a result of an overly exuberant booting for (more) excessive barking and general delinquent behaviour (that’s my job Norm, leave it out) you decide.

The weather here is somewhat erratic, there are warnings of winds up to 100kmh and sure enough we are feeling them! The campsite is blustery and Valerie is actually being rocked by the gusts. (Honest) Oddly though the sky remains clear and if you can find a sheltered spot on the beach it’s baking. 

Everybody gets a bit sunburnt and Moo has managed to go lame on both front legs. Thank goodness we’re not moving anytime soon! Sadly Norm is unaffected by any of the conditions the rest of us face and continues to be a pest. Although you can’t help but love him. (Git)

We attempt a bit of fishing, but we are out on the point and the wind is too fearsome, we do catch a wee fish, but we were hoping for something a little larger – or even lunch. There’s one guy here with 7 rods out so there must be some serious stuff to be had. Perhaps try again when the wind drops a bit.

We do a bit of exploring of Marseillan plage itself. We are coming back here at the beginning of June to meet some friends and family and we are trying to scout out all the best bits.

Herewith our discoveries so far… Lard… we’ll see you at the bar! Plus an idea of your digs….

Marseillan plage itself is yet to hit full swing, being off season still, but there are all the things you would expect of a resort like this. There is the main drag with fish restaurants, cocktail bars, terraces and all your standard seaside shops. Beware the prices of the clothes though, Noush is tempted by a little white bikini only to discover it costs €60! Bearing in mind it is little bigger than a folded up napkin it seems rather pricey. Why not just go to the nudist beach down the way. Well, apparently, someone told me, you understand. (Now, where are my binoculars?) [Hanging off your bicycle handlebars you perv].

The supermarket ain’t cheap either, but then that’s to be expected. Best to travel to LIDL and stock up before you get here. On the upside there are fishmongers who are reasonably priced and the restaurants do some good deals.

There’s a train service that goes from here to Beziers, Sete and Montpelier but as yet we’ve been too idle to go and explore. Perhaps we shall scout something out for Mayday celebrations.. watch this space. 

Wednesday April 30th La Redorte to the coast!

We make an early start today despite our wine tasting last night; always a sign of good wine when you don’t feel broken the next morning! We manage to find the worst aire ever in Ouveillan, thankfully we’ve only stopped there to empty the poo tank and have a quick bit of brunch, but even 20 minutes was too long. The access is very narrow, made worse by construction going on all around the entrance and a semi route barre at the entrance, but what really tops it off is some total plonker who has parked his camper in the turning circle. He stands outside his van grinning at everyone who is having to perform 50 point urns around him to get in and out. We’d like to think he’s broken down – hence his choice of parking spot. We fear that if he hasn’t broken down, he may well be encountering some serious problems in the near future…. Even Noush has got no small degree of rage at his stupidity. Resisting the urge to empty the poo tank in slightly the wrong place we leave. Serenely of course. Jon noticed he was German and put it down to the football, obviously.

We are off to Beziers today, or at least that was the plan. When we arrive at the quay-side aire we are somewhat disappointed. Construction seems to be the order of the day today and the aire is bang next to a site. Again. It’s not all it’s built up to be. Ahem.  The roads here are appalling and after half an hour of spine jangling driving we decide that Beziers can wait and we head towards the coast. Today is not going well, the aire we’ve ear marked on the coast is not only full, but also rubbish. It must be rubbish aire day today. After scouting about a bit we decide we need some pampering and bail into a campsite on Marseillan Plage. This turns out to be a magnificent decision. We have “tombee dans” Beauregard Plage, direct access to the beach, shady, private, dog friendly and peaceful. We park up and make a pact not to move for a few days. 

Tuesday April 29th Routier to La Redorte - Les Penitents Bleus (our first French Passion!) via Carcassonne.

We pass a very quiet night, this place has been a really quiet little gem of an aire.  Tonight sees us doing a small skip down the road to our first French Passion . We have been sort of avoiding them so far because they have been mostly Foie Gras producers or farms because of the regions we’ve been traveling through and animals mean Norm barking incessantly. But Les Penitents Bleus is a wine producer situated on the banks of the canal midi. It sounds perfect. Despite only being 40k or so away from where we stopped last night the landscape begins to change again… vines start marching away as far as the eye can see and we are on relative flat lands with the Pyrenees to one side and the Grand Massif looming away to the other.

We make a brief detour into Carcassonne to dip a toe into the fortress walls and see a little of the city. It really is breath-taking, but even at this time of year the old streets are very crowded and it makes for difficult passage with the dogs. Especially when it transpires that Norm is scared of medieval pageant type people beating drums! We flee to the relative sanctuary of the city proper and restore ourselves at the fabulously French Café Felix. The city is a strange combination of modern, ancient, beautiful and grotty. While Carcassonne is a must see it’s not somewhere we find ourselves wanting to spend too much time. With a quick zoom through an open air gallery after Café Felix we head back to Valerie to continue on to La Redorte.

With fortuitous timing we arrive at Les Penitents Bleus on the heels of one of the owners: Solange. There is only one other camper here and Solange makes us feel very welcome telling us to park up and enjoy the sun and giving us directions to the local town (La Redorte) should we want to go for a mooch. The dogs are allowed out and immediately take themselves off for a frolic down the canal which is about 10 metres away by fields of vines. It’s beautiful and completely quiet. And sunny! Solange leaves us to it with a parting invitation to join them for a wine tasting in the evening. Oh, if we must, but what a bloody inconvenience, really! If all French Passions are like this then it’s hard to believe anybody would stay anywhere else. Or indeed be able to leave capable of getting out of the parking space.  

We pass a lovely afternoon tinkering with Valerie and lazing in the sun. We take a walk and Michel (Solange’s husband) gives us sneaky snicket directions through the vineyards to La Redorte. The town is really charming, but quite quiet when we get there. There’s a slightly incongruously deluxe hotel which looks amazing, but perhaps La Redorte wasn’t quite ready for the uber glamour it exudes as it appears to be up for sale. We wander back in the evening sun, ready for food and collapso. Upon arrival back at Valerie we start cooking only to be kidnapped for the wine tasting - life is such a drag sometimes! We sample Michel and Solange’s selection of their produce, a variety of whites, reds and roses. They are all yummy and the other campers who have joined us all get stuck in with enthusiasm. We buy 5 litres of red for €10 and retreat to Valerie to salvage dinner and sample our purchase. Everything delish, we love French Passion! Thank you to our lovey hosts J