Switzerland to St Tropez - Have we got lost?

Driving to Croatia from western Switzerland via the Cote D’Azur may not look like the most logical route, if your style of travelling assumes the shortest, cheapest and most direct route from A to B. For us, however, one of the fun things about camper-vanning is the ability to throw logic out the window and run with an impulse for a bit. So, after a not overly sun-drenched first week of travel, and loving France as much as we do, we left Neuchâtel in a south westerly direction heading for the Rhône valley and onwards to the Med.

With the weather forecast super accurate, we set off in heavy rain and stayed that way until well after we had crossed the Swiss/French frontier near Geneva, avoiding toll roads and driving at a leisurely pace, knowing that the sun would grace us with its presence before long…

And so it did, after a fashion, as we pulled into an Aire (free) at Reventin-Vaugris just south of Vienne.

In common with lots of these French Aires, it was tucked away in the village near a boulangerie promising a morning croissant, and not far from the small church. Always a risk, churches, as they will sometimes have bells that will ring all night – and often on the half hour for anyone stupid enough to think they could grab some kip in the intervening 59 minutes. Yes, you’ve guessed it, this stop was blessed with bells every 30 minutes… And as Mr B is still to develop a love of campanology, he had a restless night instead, whilst Mrs B remained blissfully oblivious!

You can see the offending church in the next pic – one of a series we hope to do this trip that will be in the style of ‘what we can see out of the van window today’ – a sure way to capture the mixed bag that overnight stops can deliver!

The symbolism of the tractor mural was lost on us – and as the next day was a public holiday, not only was the boulangerie closed, but, there was literally no-one about to ask!

And so we left Reventin-Vaugris in warm weather and broken cloud to continue our journey to the coast. Before we set off for a drive, we always have a quick tactics talk about the best route/ where we might want to stop off and explore etc. We decided to avoid the autoroute, which would have put us on the coast easily in one hop, and decided to take a slower and more interesting route instead. The route looked to be peppered with plenty of Aires so we drove on, looking forward to being spoilt for choice…

Our journey turned out to be much slower than we had anticipated though, as we encountered more ‘route barées’ and diversions than ever before, and having left an area with plenty of Aires after a late afternoon stop for tea, (we decided it was too early to stop) we realised that our choice was getting limited and that we would be arriving a bit later than we would normally choose (ie, close to darkness!). Using our trusty guide, however, we decided to try an Aire that had once been a municipal campsite in the spa town of Greoux-les-Bains – described as ‘shaded and pleasantly terraced’.  Hmm… Now, we’re not exactly choosey, but not only were the vans parked up more closely than a motorhome dealer’s forecourt, but the Aire was full…

Not to be put off by the one-way barrier we were now stuck in front of, Mr B decided to put the van’s famously good turning circle to a proper test. Unfortunately, this also involved reversing into an overhanging (substantial) branch of a tree that he had successfully avoided the trunk of – resulting in a cracked awning casing and a now jauntily angled WiFi aerial bracket…

Undeterred, and with darkness falling, we headed off to our ‘plan B’ stop – another 30 minutes drive into the hills to a lake-side stop at Ste-Croix-de-Verdon. Fearing that this might also be full, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive, along with the last of the daylight, to find the Aire half empty and a cracking spot overlooking the lake just waiting for us!

After a very quiet night’s sleep and with a bright blue sky to welcome the day, we looked out of the van’s window and were amazed by the breathtaking view that opened out before us.

Not only had we fetched up at a gorgeous location, a quick inspection of the awning casing revealed that no damage appeared to have been done to the moving bits – just the end casings – something that would need to be tested once we had arrived somewhere we could wind it out.  

After a quick walk along the path that led from the Aire to the small village, we decided that this would definitely be somewhere worth returning in the future – an observation confirmed on the drive south to the coast.

We had really enjoyed Provence a couple of years ago on our way to Sicily, and as we drove though fabulous fields of lavender under a hot sun and blue sky, it wasn’t hard to remember why. And, to add to the joy, a quick glance at our ACSI discount camping App revealed a good few campsites on the coast to choose from. Deciding it would be good to have somewhere close to the beach and with easy cycling, we plumped for Plage d’Argens near Fréjus. Arriving with enough time to enjoy a walk on the beach and a couple of hours lazing in the sun, we retired to bed looking forward to a few days of soaking up that Med sun before heading to Croatia, the long way round…

Unfortunately, whichever of the deities had been sorting our weather out for this trip clearly had a sense of humour, as the day broke with no sign of the sun and a forecast of rain and strong winds to come the next day…  So, deciding to make the most of the fact it hadn’t started raining yet, we cycled off to the nearby town of Fréjus, making full use of the cycle path that ran alongside the (busy) main road, having also got a load of washing sorted at last.

The town was pretty typical of many in this area – very developed in a sort of stylish way, throbbing to the sound of Harley Davidsons, and complete with a quirky take on old and new values…

Deciding to take the awning in (having been delighted that it still worked!) after seeing a forecast for 45mph winds in the night, we were serenaded in the first part of the (windless) night by an animal we have encountered across Europe but failed to identify (possibly a bird or amphibian with a distinctive ringing call), and in the second part by the roaring of the wind and the gentle rocking of the van…

Dawn brought with it no sign of a change in the weather (and plenty of evidence of hurriedly stowed awnings in the night) and so, beginning to wonder what we had done to offend the weather gods, we set off for Croatia, this time deciding to use the Autoroutes and Autostrade across the rest of France and northern Italy. Surely the sun will be shining somewhere…?

S&J.