Sérignan Days 6-23 Part Six – a ride around La Maïre and farewell to Sérignan (for now)...

After quite a lot of relaxing at the beach, it was Mrs B who suggested we get the folders ready and have a ride around the local nature reserve we were situated in – Les Orpellières – a massive 150 hectare ‘site naturel protégé. It’s very easy to access via the cycle path that runs from the campsite into Sérignan, where it runs along the meandering river Orb (cue Fluffy Little Clouds playing in the background…) 

The ride is an easy one, in that it’s one of those compacted tarmac surfaces to begin with and is level. Surrounded by birdsong, our only potential hazard was the odd bit of bamboo that had leaned precariously close to head height as we bowled along.

All along this first stage that hugs the Orb, our anticipation of gazing across to look at the river was thwarted by these enormous stands of bamboo. It's very easy to see how there is so much bamboo washed up on the beaches around here, when you see how much of it grows along the rivers! But luckily there were a few patches where it was possible to pull over and enjoy the cool breeze coming off the water…

Before long we arrived at the ‘Maison des Orpellières’ where our Google map had told us there was an information centre. Which indeed there was – but as we are not quite yet in the French summer season, it was closed, so its delights, which include the local tourist office and information on guided tours, will have to wait for another visit.

What was open however, was the magnificent Belvedere – a huge tower that was built with the sole purpose of enabling visitors to climb to the top for the views across the site…

… as well as providing a nesting box for a resident ‘chouette dame blanche,’ a much more interesting name for Barn Owl, and, some very helpful information boards…

Who knows, this may well be Mr B’s elusive owl that he could hear from the edge of the campsite...

After the excitement of the tower, Mrs B took it to another level by suggesting that we took the folders for a proper off-road test that would take us out into the interior and away from the bank of the river…

...where we discovered huge amounts of salicorne which, when we see it in Blighty (samphire) we love as a salty addition to fish dishes and salads – so we had to partake in a little bit of mindful, respectful, but no doubt frowned upon, foraging! 

We were running out of time to explore further west to see if the ferry boat to Valras was operating, so we completed our circular route, accompanied by dive bombing swallows (maybe some from our site?) and loads of skylarks – a pleasing reminder of the Sussex Downs and not at all expected! With extra time we could also have watched for more of the large variety of birdlife, which includes Hoopoes, Kingfishers and Flamingos – the latter of which we had seen in flight heading towards the lagoon area from our pitch one evening.

We have had a truly relaxing and enjoyable time here, again, but after 18 nights on the campsite we realised that we were ready to head off for a bit more exploring. We were both keen to explore the nearby city of Béziers properly, as the best we had managed in the past was a view from the Canal du Midi, when we did a very long and hot ride along the canal in 2019 as far as the famous old locks, Les 9 Écluses de Fonseranes.

We are sure we will be back again, as the climate is perfect for us most of the time and there is always loads to do without having to trouble Evie for a lift. The jury is still out on whether we will return to Beauséjour, with the changes to the sanitaires and the impact on those Hirondelles, but luckily there are always other choices of campsite offering the excellent ACSI discount…

With one last late night farewell to the beach, we are off in the morning. Merci Sérignan – a l’année prochaine!

S&J 09.06.26

Seignan Days 6-23 Part Five – Failed Fish Friday

There is a regular market in Sérignan; something we have enjoyed cycling to on previous visits, where we have fond memories of buying Megrim to cook, and eating in the oyster bar. And having checked that Friday was one one of the market days, we set off, secure in the knowledge of having done this before.

As we set off on our trusty folding bikes, we passed the nearby Aire, now much improved and run by the Camping Carpark firm. The pitches have been clearly set out; they all have electric; and, access to black/grey and fresh water, whilst still outside the Aire, is also much improved. These Aires have variable costs that are seasonal. This was just over €15 when we arrived and just over €17 when we left.

The ride to town is a very pretty one at this time of year, passing loads of fields full of wildflowers alongside the acres of vineyards…

...with much of the ride running alongside the river Orb…

However, as the title signals, we were thwarted in our attempt to buy fresh fish, as Monsieur le Poissonnier clearly enjoys a three day weekend…

With the temperatures continuing to rise, we didn’t really fancy staying for a sit down lunch and then cycling back, so we grabbed a quiche from one of the boulangeries, ate it in the shade of some trees in the nearby park, and decided to have a quick wander around before heading back. We think we may have posted this bit of inspiring graffiti before…

… but this one is new to us…

… some of this street art might be inspired by the annual comic strip festival in Sérignan (Bande desinée) – another thing we knew nothing about either in spite of its 31 year history…

This aerial street decoration was different crocheted pieces last time – now with its little windmills whirring away…

The decision to do our fruit and veg shopping from one of the nearby stalls en route back to the campsite was an easy one to make. These are a real bonus, as some of the produce they sell is grown on the adjacent land – so super fresh, tasty, and zero food miles! And the prices are not a great deal different from the supermarché either!

Returning to Evie without fresh fish turned out to be not such a big deal, especially when we discovered that the local mini-market sold one of our Sérignan faves – refill rosé – and more besides, which disappointingly our campsite used to do but now doesn’t! A more than adequate compensation for our failed fish Friday!

S&J 03.06.26 

Sérignan Days 6-23 Part Four – a trip to the Regional Museum of Modern Art

Ever keen to ensure that Mr B’s cultural capital continues to expand, Mrs B was particularly excited to discover that the little town of Sérignan is home to a regional Museum of modern/contemporary art – the Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain (MRAC). And it’s taken our third, more extended stay to realise this! (It’s been there since 1991 and in its current beautifully designed building since 2006) The museum has its own permanent collection, plus a rolling programme of temporary exhibitions; three of these when we visited.

Cunningly preceded by a lovely lunch in the central tree-lined boulevard, we opted for seiches grillées. We were going to wait for sepia a la plancha in Spain, but just in case we didn’t get over the border (you never can tell with the way we travel) we couldn’t say no! We both feel the same that it’s a much under rated dish back in Blighty, given that cuttlefish are a common sight around the coast. And they were cooked to perfection!

On our way to the MRAC we passed the Town Hall, with its proud display of the 1^st Article of the French Constitution, reminding us not only of the absence of one in Blighty, but how our oft mentioned admiration of French civic pride also extends to public displays like this!

It’s surprising that we’ve never noticed the museum before, as it’s literally a stone’s throw from the parts of town we have circumnavigated on loads of occasions! It’s a very striking building from outside…

and the integrated use of coloured glass is even more striking from inside…

Featuring French and international artists, we enjoyed a couple of the short films on display – the first by Brice Dellsperger, a humorous take on Dynasty from the 1980s featuring two trans actors…

… and the other, Morgestraich, by Clémont Cogitore which features players from an annual plague-mask type carnival in Basel…

Here are some of the displays we liked best…

...with Mr B particularly enjoying the ones he felt were more interactive, although Mrs B did point out they were perhaps meant to be more of an immersive experience…

...particularly this one room that was given over to a pair of high-end decks running at a very slow speed, sometimes in reverse…

It was only when she later found Mr B stood in front of a couple of pretty obvious ventilation grilles rather than the art to one side, that she realised that perhaps letting his enthusiasm have some free reign might help with his cultural voyage in the longer term…

We passed a very pleasant and informative couple of hours at MRAC (€5 each and no additional charge for being non-EU citizens) and as we left, we were given a leaflet of other sites in the region that we may well be visiting, so perhaps it is as well we had those seiches after all…

S&J 03.06.26

Sérignan Days 6-23 Part Three – Camp Babley

The process of setting up camp for what will likely turn into a longer stay, seems to follow a familiar pattern for us. At first it’s just chairs and table, this time with our new smaller and durable mat we got for occasions when the pitch surface isn’t up for walking around barefoot. 

This is the basic overnight pitch...

Then, as it becomes clear we are going to be staying, out comes the bigger mat, so Mr B has his own yoga one to move around wherever the shade can be found in the mornings; as well as the solar lights and flagpole, of course…

Next is usually the unloading of the bikes for shopping (Freddy and his very handy baguette carrier shown here)...

as well as the trolley and beach loungers, parasol for specific shade, the washing line…

Unusually, we haven’t put the awning out in any of these, as we have enjoyed the big open skies, and the pitch was providing enough shade from the trees. Except, by the time we had been on the pitch for over a week, the sun was getting higher, hotter (33c) and we cracked, grateful after all for that additional area of artificial shade…

Daily life revolves around very basic activities in places like this: and most days include going to the beach to read, swim and walk… And, as we reached a time when the southern German States were on school holidays, we became very grateful that we had chosen the site we had, as can be seen by the relative levels of beach activity on our site…

...and the one next door when we took our daily walk after the arrival of loads of younger German families…

The hotter weather also meant we had some unexpected guests – with an invasion of ‘les fourmis’ – teeny tiny little ants! Discovered by Mrs B when she reached for the daily baguette, safe, or so we thought, in its linen bag and hung up out of harms’ way, she pulled the bread out of its paper wrapper only to find it covered in 100s of petits fourmis – eek!

With Mr B on ant-hunting duties, we thought we had seen the last of them, until a few hours later we found them in most of the food related drawers, with confident convoys moving in all directions! After removing and cleaning all the drawers, and implementing Mrs B’s preferred natural approach to the deterrence of ants, using essential oils, all seemed to be well. But we had clearly been lulled into a false sense of security, when, the very next day it became clear that les fourmis had just been biding their time, returning in their thousands this time (or so it seemed!).

Abandoning all efforts to use a natural method, Mr B reached for his chemical/biological warfare pack (a recent purchase in France when we realised our trusty bottle of Spanish ‘stop-em-dead’ had run out). Untested until now, it seems almost as deadly, and after a couple of hours of death, destruction and copious post-war clean-ups, we now think we free of ants; save the odd straggler of course...

Most days sees Mr B doing his yoga entirely outside Evie. Whilst travelling on the road he does it inside, which is not ideal, for either of us! This view from his yoga mat shows why he enjoys the outdoor version so much more!

One of the reasons we have headed to the south is to enjoy the warmer evenings where it’s possible to sit outside well into the evening, eating, drinking, putting the world to rights, and sometimes continuing our long running Scrabble wars, which continue to see Mrs B triumph more often than not!

Staying for a little while in one place also means we get a chance to chat with locals in the shops and other visitors to the site, with German folk frequently being the most sociable. This is partly because Mr B has a habit of wishing all and sundry a good morning/evening/day or ‘Bon Appetit’ as he wanders around from one campsite job to the next, often disappearing for chunks of time; and partly as German visitors currently make up the vast majority of campers at Beauséjour.

So you can imagine our surprise one evening over dinner, when the occupants of the German motorhome recently arrived in the pitch opposite, seemed to be talking in Russian; a language Mr B has the unusual distinction of having studied at school, and Mrs B has an ear for, it seems! Not that Mr B’s Grade 9 (the lowest of three degrees of failure – those were the days!) was going to stand him in good stead though!

Unable to resist, it wasn’t long before Mr B and our new neighbour were chatting in German – and yes – we had indeed heard Russian being spoken, as the family had moved to Germany from Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is also somewhere we had been thinking about recently, as our fellow campervan travellers Sue and Steve are currently in Uzbekistan and recently travelled along the shared border! What a small world it is...

Admiring the very swish A class Hymer that Paul, Valentina and their kids Dani and Mischa were travelling in, it transpired that Paul works for Hymer (pronounced Heemer we now realise) and the family has the van on trial, which might also explains the unique number plate!

We also look forward where we can to eating out when we settle somewhere, and this site has a great restaurant (Chez Milou – still the same staff and basic but delicious menu) within easy walking distance, where Mr B always gains an extra level of ‘glow’ after doing his best to order in French…

And, after a delicious helping of sole, hake and awesome skinny fries, as we were walking back to Evie with the sun going down and a slight wobble in Mr B’s step, we could just make out the faint sound of that elusive owl in the distance…

S&J 03.06.26