Coast to Coast – from the French Atlantic to the Med (again!)

One of the great things about travelling in the way we do is the flexibility it allows. When we were first planning this trip we envisaged a chunk of time exploring Spain’s northern costas, meandering through Galicia and across Asturias and Cantabria, followed by a quick leap across the Pais Vasco and the Pyrenees to meet up with Chris and Sue again in Salies de Béarn, south east of Biarritz. Then we found out that our lovely granddaughter Ada Mae (or ‘La Nieta’ as we often call her) would be arriving with her Mum Lucy at Salies more or less at the time we would be in northern Spain. So, not wanting to miss an opportunity to see La Nieta after two months away, we re-shaped our plans and decided after our stay at the amazing Paxariñas, to save more of the beauty of northern Spain for a subsequent trip.

After the sunny stop in bird heaven near Burgos, we watched the weather deteriorate as we neared the Pyrenees. This was entirely fitting and matched our disbelieving and darkening mood post-referendum result, as we travelled in our Italian designed, and Spanish-built for export to the UK van. We’re still struggling to come to terms with returning to a country where more people voted for an essentially anti-Eurpoean agenda than for it…

We’d never crossed the border this way before (Arnéguy) and had looked forward to the spectacular scenery we had read about – as well as the easy access to Salies on the other side. Sure enough though, the clouds and mist came down to greet us and we enjoyed the endless switchbacks more as a test of driving skills in wet weather, than for the views. At least we had a chance to check that the fog-lights were still working.

With an appreciation for water that only the English could fathom, we descended from the clouds/rain and opted for a campsite with a ‘babbling brook’ promised in the blurb near St Jean-Pied-de-Port at €19 (more raging torrent than brook in the overnight thunderstorm…) but then woke to a sunny sky for our last leg over to Salies. Hurrah!

Chris and Sue are making steady inroads into the conversion of their massive French farmhouse into a new home in a really beautiful part of France. Having not long shed the responsibilities of renovating a house in Spain ourselves, it was easy for us to see and appreciate the enormous amount of work that had gone into things that would never really be obvious to subsequent visitors (think cesspits, cubic metres of concrete, roof repairs and chemical warfare against the myriad pests). We hope to make a visit on a regular basis each time we are in France and will be keen watchers of the progress.

Although getting the chance to fire a shotgun for the first time (and even hitting the target!) was a highlight of the visit to Salies for me, seeing La Nieta again after such a long time was priceless. We couldn’t believe how much she’d changed and that she now looks even more like her dad Laurence (minus the beard of course!) and after an initial fairly frosty reception from her we were soon overwhelmed with the irresistible pull of Nieta-fuss we’d missed so much. (It was of course also lovely to catch up with Chris and Sue and Lucy…!)

Keen to show Julie and me what a pair of wusses we were, Lucy suggested a swim in the river at nearby Sauveterre. Needless to say, we left the icy plunging to Lucy and Chris and after hearing their exclamations of ‘it’s a lot colder than yesterday!’ echoing across the river as the current pulled them downstream, we heaved a sigh of relief as the plan was revised to head off to a nearby bar sooner rather than later. Lucy and I took the steep route up the steps and decided to take this photo as we gathered our breath and let our heart rates settle before meeting the others at the bar.

It was at the bar that we met the ‘demi-peche’ for the first time. Draught beer with a slug of peach syrup might sound wrong, or even rank to those who have never tried it, but it turned out to be surprisingly refreshing! After a fun evening barbecue back at the farm, we were treated to another tranquil night’s sleep parked in the yard at the front of the farm, as last year, beautifully quiet and dark.

Next day we’d intended to have a classic French lunch – but it being a Sunday, all the places that Chris and Sue tried were booked, so we headed off to a Vide Grenier (car boot sale with panache) in a nearby village and had some very tasty saucisson et frites amongst lots of French families having a great day out.

You never know what you might find at one of these events, and Chris and Sue came home with a new kitten to join the cat already resident at the farm. They’d been waiting for one to come along, and sure enough this one did!

And so with mixed feelings of sadness at leaving La Nieta and co – and excitement at a return to the Med to catch up (eventually!) with an old friend currently touring in the Herault departement in the sunny south, we bade our farewells to our hosts Chris and Sue, and bonus visitors Lucy and Ada Mae!

The journey along the Pyrenees and over to the Med near Méze to catch up with Dave and Jan was a classic southern sojourn – the closer to the Med we got, the bluer the skies and the hotter the temperature. We broke the journey near Foix at camping L’Arize (€15) where the American receptionist warned us about the pitches near the river being a bit waterlogged after the recent heavy rains – and that if we did park there we were on our own and no conferring. So, rather than opt for a nice safe hard standing (and clearly in need of more babbling brook experiences), we set up camp in a very pretty pitch next to the river.

It was only after we drove off the pitch the next morning and we saw how much our ramps and grip mats had sunk into the ground that I realised we had probably erred on the wrong side of a pretty pitch versus the safe one Mrs B had advised!

The journey over to Méze was fast as we took the autoroute, being keen to make sure we got a pitch at the site at Loupian where we had agreed to meet up with Dave and Jan. This meet has been at least five years in the making, as every year we had talked about meeting up as each of us wandered around bits of southern Europe – and at last we had managed it!

Dave and Jan are big fans of this bit of France – which is largely new to us. And what a revelation – we’d pretty much assumed that it was all over-developed tourist hell – but no – there are some real gems to be found. And Loupian was one of them. Situated on the Etang du Thau east of Béziers, this lovely old village has a well-appointed municipal site – much better than might be implied by this old sign we came across!

We have come to love the enormous pitches frequently found in French campsites and this was no different. Dave and Jan had reserved us a pitch adjacent to theirs – and between us we had plenty of sun and shade – perfect! And although this site was off the ACSI tariff, we were able to get a deal without electricity for under €15 – no doubt a product of it being run by the municipality.

Loupian itself is a small village with plenty of southern charm and enough amenities to support a decent stay. So nice, we’ll probably come again!

There is also a ‘voie verte’ (cycle/walking path) that runs alongside the campsite and into the much larger and nearby town of Méze – where we went the next day after a very pleasant (and intoxicating!) evening round at Dave and Jan’s. Although the ‘beach’ at Méze is on the inland side of a massive ‘etang’ (lake) it is still super pretty and very relaxed.

After hitching our bikes to a nearby post, we settled down to lunch at one of the eateries that overlook the small harbour. Of course it had to be ‘moules et frites’ (mussels and chips) with a jug of the local rosé – like much of our trip those clichés are just too hard to avoid!

After a fab couple of hours munching moules and downing the rosé, we cycled back to the site at a slightly slower pace than our outbound trip – at  least we did – Dave and Jan who are clearly more aclimatised than us to the joys of southern lunches kept up a steady pace on the voie verte and at one point were just dots in the distance…

Having put in so much effort cycling, eating and drinking we fell into an easy post prandial torpor – siesta time suddenly makes so much sense! Slowly coming round to the realisation that dinner for the four of us was round at ours and not far away, I launched into my classic (and, I’m told, tortuously slow!) prep for a seafood risotto and as darkness fell we enjoyed another evening of tucker and wine. It’s great fun sharing food and drink with like-minded peeps and as the evening drew to a close, we all agreed that we’d not leave it quite so long before we caught up again!

Dave and Jan were staying at Loupian for a further night, so after saying our farewells and thanks for the intro to this area to our two chums, we left them in peace as we headed off to another site actually on the Med that they had recommended.

Next stop Serignan plage!

S.