Sunday 20th April Lac de Neuvic to Aurillac via Ussel and Bort les Orgues

We leave with heavy hearts. The decision is helped by the slightly cooler weather. This lake side location is unreal. We honestly, perhaps ignorantly weren’t aware that places so remote and devoid of human life existed in Northern  Europe. We urge anyone reading this to visit this place if you can.

We have earmarked a stopover in Sornac, but it’s Route Barre so we head to Meynac instead, just near Ussel. After so much wild camping and isolation, not to mention consumption of all liquid and food on board we need a town to stock up, feed the van all its necessary life aids and connect to the outside World. 

Sadly Meynac is not what we hoped so we decide to zoom on to Bort Les Orgues, which is bigged up in the (fictional) book of knowledge. Borg is also not that place. Pretty, but the Campervan area is rather unappealing after we have been so spoilt. After a Coffee and and a vain attempt to buy bread from 3 Boulangeries (easter Sunday disaster) we give up and head towards the largest place on the map nearby: Aurillac. 

Saturday 19th April to Sunday20th April Lac de Vessiviere to Lac De Neuvic

For the first time the day dawns and the weather is cool. We decide to leave our wilderness and go in search of another one.  We have earmarked another lake which looks just as wonderful and the forecast looks a bit more promising than where we are currently. We drive down to Eymoutiers which is really beautiful. Excellent little town and really pretty. It yields up a coffee but sadly no vermeez or fish bait. But we reckon we’ll find a big LeClerc on the way which will sort us out. We wanted to go to a big town to do some wifi, but all the places we were thinking of turn out to be too industrial.

We carry on to Lac de Neuvic, the pictures in the aire book look very promising and sure enough we arrive at possibly the most spectacular place yet. Vast forests, vast reservoir, sandy beach… collapse (and a bit of fishing..)

Spot the van... 

The remainder of the day we spend lazing by the side of the lake. We are literally the only people around. It is quite a strange sensation. We sit by the water with the sun going down over the horizon and other than norm paddling in the shallows there is no sound, other than the distant calling of the Cuckoo in the forest. How lucky we are. Bliss.

Thursday 17th April to Saturday 19th April Lac de Vessiviere

Our arrival at Lac de Vessiviere as the gloaming closes in.. happy folks, Norm turning into a water baby…

Because of all the zooming we are all pretty tired. So after a quick look around the lake and some staring back at nosey camper types we retire to consider some wine and some bed. 

Having arrived relatively late last night we find ourselves caught short for fresh bread so we decide to go and explore around the lake and try and find a boulangerie and some yummies. Eventually we find somewhere and stock up on coffee, bread and other basics (beer). On the way back there are two spectacular wild spots on the other side of the lake from us. One on the edge of a damn, Jon flicks a spinner in, but to no avail. The surrounding woods did provide some cover for some smelly ablutions though… why do it in the van when there’s a perfectly good forest right there??!  We pass another spot and there are some old dudes fishing who look like they know what they are about. Noush goes and asks them what bait they’re using…. Maggots and worms are key apparently.

Jon and Norm have a go, but nothing’s biting on the spinner. Time to find some worms.

We find another spot, totally secluded and no soul around, just around the corner but out of sight from the old dudes . Noush is dispatched to dug up worms. Turns out there are three worms in France and Noush found them all. Well, Jon found two and Norm found one. Moo unearthed some underpants. So proud.  Managed to catch though. Woop!

By this stage the weather is getting a bit chilly so back to lake side for an afternoon of exploring and messing about. The chill begins to win so we batten down the hatches. But then it’s just so wild and beautiful here that we can’t resist getting back out there and going for another fish on the sneaky bay around the corner out of sight from the other campers.

Darkness falls. We light a campfire. We start catching fish. Jon goes into full on hunter provider Ray Mears mode and the fish are being reeled in thick and fast while fire blazes ever higher.  It’s fabulous and as wild as it gets. Completely numb we return to Valerie at nigh on midnight, we sneak past the battered VW that turned up late that now seems to be having some sort of smoking/fire extinguisher catastrophe with bottoms and naked bits flying everywhere as they attempt to..er…succeed in their endeavours.  Norm manages not to bark and we make it undetected to Valerie… cosy in our van in the wilderness. 

Thursday 17th April Le Grand Pressigny to Lac de Vessiviere via Chauvigny, Montmorillon and Bellac

Lazing in the sun last night we decided that we needed to get the most bang for our buck, so today we are off to Chauvigny –  apparently overlooked by five, yes five, Castles or Chateaux or Forts or magnificent things of some description that we can’t quite pin down, we feel that we can’t go wrong. Chauvigny actually does live up to expectations historically speaking. 

Allocated motorhome parking is not so bad, if a bit unlikely, but town centre is just there and so are the forts (they turned out to be forts in the end).  The history of the place is quite special  - it is the only example of its kind in the whole of Europe in that five forts are all housed within one all-encompassing wall. Bear in mind these were all built or rather finished in the 12^th Century it’s amazing that anything survives at all. This is the worst of it….

But the other buildings have been preserved either in their original form or turned into museums. The 11^th-12^th Century Church is still amazing. How did they build such wonders so high up???

Lovely as the history is we have other destinations today so after a super zoom espresso we head off towards Montmorillon for lunch. The weather is still favouring us and lunch on the river sounds pretty good. Now….. a word of warning for the faint hearted.  AIRE BEWARE! The aire in Montmorillon has a somewhat hair raising entrance. Don’t be shy, just stop the camper, hold up the traffic, get out and have a good luck before attempting. Jon made the turn with grace and aplomb, but he’s a driving God. And our van isn’t monster sized. Just look, mkay?

We make it in, picture post card view again, sunshine, little beach for fishing on should you want to. Lunch heaven basically.  Spot the pooches and the ducklings J

Lunch over we decide to head off. While the view is perfect it’s not quite the solitude we’re after. Off we zoom to Bellac. A small aire on the banks of the river, only three spaces, nice and quiet and on the edge of a park and the bottom of some more ruins. Sounds ideal. We get there and it’s everything it promised to be. Except there are goats next to the aire. Cue Norm barking like mad. Sigh. We move round the corner, STOP VALERIE there’s a bar! There’s also a pretty little Roman bridge and all is serene. We take Norman Pet and Moo for a walk up to the ruins, the sun continues to beat down… marv.

Upon return to Valerie there are youfs hanging about, the bar is closed, the sun has vanished behind the ruins and someone is chainsawing the tree next to us. We exchange glances. Time to zoom. We hadn’t planned to travel so far today, but peace and quiet is the order of the day so we decide to make one last final jump to Lac De Vessiviere. This kills two birds with one stone. We will be holed up in advance of what might be a Good Friday rush and we will be guaranteed peace and solitude and hopefully some decent fishing. It’s a long a tricky zoom, Jon and Valerie do a fab job on bone shaking hairpin roads in the gloaming. We arrive early evening and instantly paradise is found. 

Wednesday 16th April Saumur to Le Grand Pressigny Via Chinon and Loches

The day dawns fair – again!! With aire mayor nowhere to be found and despite the fact that we suspect he might be the actual mayor we set off. Our first destination of the day is Chinon, another medieval town where we intend to breakfast and sightsee. Note to all campers about trying to park in Chinon…. just don’t!! It’s wonderful from a distance but seems to be populated by the rude and those inept at driving. Streets are narrow, no campers shall pass. We slink across the river, everybody’s tales between their legs and admire from afar. It looks beautiful from a distance, but perhaps the impassable fortifications should have given us a clue! The fortress is 400m in length and its surrounding wall dates from the 10^th century. Truly none shall pass! We breakfast on the (far) bank of the river and consider ourselves defeated and zoom on towards Loches.

Another medieval town, Loches is amazing. We had hope to stay here for the night, but the fair is in town and the aire is situated a little unsafely shall we say. Loches is too good to abandon though, so we park up and take a look. It’s just beautiful and dripping with history everywhere.  Evidently this is the place where all the best Kings came on holiday. Apparently all the Kings of France have used the Chateau as a holiday home; one half dates from the 14^th century and the other half from the 15^th Century (why did they need to expand it?).  As the residence of Charles VII it became known for its decadent feasts held for his mistress (Ah. All becomes clear).

In the park there are the remains of a Sequioa tree (spot Jon).

The tree was struck by lightning but the three forks remaining were preserved…

We return to Valerie, walking along the river banks. At this point Moo spies his first ever fish. The water is shallow and clear. Moo is transfixed. And looks very perplexed. Fight or flight? He decides a dignified retreat is the best bet and tries to look super casual as he walks away. Around the corner he spies a more familiar looking piece of water, not transparent, just weedy, reedy, safe… no fishes here and in he sploshes for a drink. Clearly some fishy beasty is lurking under the reeds after all; Moo evidently startles it and the dog leaps out of his skin, water up nose, ears flat, eyes looking every which way -  total whack attack. After a moment he realises that he’s fine actually. Thank you.  Then a dead reed breaks off from the clump and lands across his nose. Moo turns himself inside out and scarpers for the van. Dignity be damned.

Everyone is back in the van in one piece and we decide to try our luck at our First French Passion which looks to be down the road. French Passion is a scheme operated purely for Camper Vans by French business folks who have the space and the inclination to allow campervans to stay on their land for a night. It’s free and you get to know the locals, sample the local produce if you’re lucky and enjoy a slice of ‘real France’. Staying on a farm, lovely French hosts, lovely countryside, peace… what could be better? Off we toddle. We drive straight past. We know it said “farm” in the book, but the animals were closer to our parking spot than we’d anticipated. Norm would have barked, Moo would have probably gone to bed with a full belly. Eek.

There’s an aire not too far and we decide that we’re going there. Even if it’s horrendous, that’s where we’re staying tonight. Thankfully it turns out to be fab. Sunny, small secure private park with picnic benches, free hook up, showers (good ones too) and loos for the princely sum of €1 and a really charming and (guess what) medieval village just around the corner.

We wander up to the Chateau. Some of it has been converted into a prehistoric museum and the remains that are too far gone to restore hang precariously in the sky. Spot the staircase anyone?

Sadly the Prehisto bar in town only has two tables outside in the sun, both of which are occupied by scary French types with an empty espresso cup who clearly won’t be moved. We retreat to Valerie and showers and air(e) drying in the sunshine J

P.S. Just realised that Easter is this weekend and not last weekend as previously supposed. This major error makes even Moo look good today. Woops. 

Tuesday 15th April La Fleche to Saumur

From La Fleche we head south to Saumur. This is the first leg of our trip where we don’t have a fixed destination in mind and where our true dedication to wild camping begins. No more campsites for us - we are determined to stay at as many beautiful and isolated spots as possible. Saumur might not seem like the obvious choice, being such an historic place and with so much going on, but we’ve earmarked our resting place for the night outside Saumur, a disused campsite admittedly, but now an overgrown and wild Aire by the banks of the river. Both Saumur and aire are beautiful.

We park up in Saumur by the Chateau to have a mooch around, the Chateau is mind blowing – originally built around about 1370 it looks like a fairytale castle perched up on high with the town and the river snaking their ways underneath it.  The medieval town is picture postcard whichever way you look. Even the post office is in the original postal building… ancient signange in old stone across the top proclaims “TELEGRAPHES POSTE TELEPHONE”, with a statue in front proclaiming “honour and Country” and there’s a even a ‘back to the future’-esque clock tower and everything. Marginally more impressive than the post office in WHSmiths on Worcester high street. Only just mind.

With reluctance we leave and lake our way to our free aire. We follow the river there on the way and it seems low with its sandy flats, perhaps it is always like that? We don’t know.

We arrive at the aire and park up, the view, while not medieval, is hard to beat. The dogs pronk off into the grass and we settle down for some sun. Not so very bad really. And free. Or so we thought. It turns out there’s an aire mayor and he wants an aire fare! €5. Exorbitant. Sigh, perhaps not so wild after all. Once again, the (new edition) magic book of knowledge reveals itself as a possible contender to the title of book of fiction. Campers beware.  Idyllic spot nonetheless and everyone sleeps like babes.

Sunday 13th April La Suze sur Sarthe to La Fleche

ZOOOM to La Fleche! Back to where we got engaged – “the Scene of the Crime” as Noush so delicately put it, back to yet more happy memories and with a couple of surprises up our sleevies too.

We make the short hop to La Fleche, eager to see this pretty town which holds such wonderful memories. The day is sunny and warm and the journey swift. Ironically and in true style, despite having made the journey from La Suze to La Fleche countless times we get lost. Only we can manage that!

As we breeze into La Fleche we decide that due to the surprise visit of La Momma Boss tomorrow evening, (Monday) we will stay at the Campsite and get some guaranteed peaceful shut eye.  We find it surprising that the site is virtually empty, Early in the year perhaps? Or more likely to do with horror film creepy dude (HFCD) at reception – what is his problem. And what has he done with lovely lady from last year. Still it all bodes well for a good night’s sleep. After a long walk around the town and through the park and all down by the river (engagement bench, hi J) and a big feed at the fabulous Gargantuan Restaurant, it’s a very early night with restful shut eye assured.

Sadly this is not meant to be and this time it isn’t even Norman Pet’s fault. Some complete sadist has decided that 7.45am is a perfect time to re-gravel all the pathways on the campsite. All of them. With gravel. With a tractor. With a BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP reversing noise thingy. This guy can’t drive, think reversing as in having an Austin Powers moment (those who know will know). Did I mention it was 7.45???? So in high dudgeon we go to reception to pay up and leave, all prepared to be snotty and have a word. Sadly, or luckily, lovely campsite lady is back and neither of us have the heart to be mean. On the upside when we park across the river at the free parking the campsite wifi still works. Siiiiiii. Sucks boo to you HFCD.

Anyway, we pass a lovely day in La Fleche and Mamma Boss arrives mid afternoon; Norm, who knew her when he was younger, goes WILD and just has to pee all over the dog bed in the back of her car. She doesn’t seem to mind. Much. We meet up for dinner and spend a wonderful evening together, long fun meal, full of laughter and then a wander around the streets of La Fleche with the team of dogs under a night sky. Thank you La Mamma, was a real joy and a pleasure, loved seeing you J

Tuesday morning dawns fair, breakfast with La Mamma and a brief visit into our favourite shop in La Fleche to buy a little something to commemorate our (nearly) first wedding anniversary  (we bought the engagement ring there, so it has huge sentimental meaning) and off we zoom again.