La Tour de France – and not a bike in sight! Days 26 - 27

Our first stop as we left the campsite at Serignan was the local wine cooperative to stock up on the amazing rosé we had been buying on draught at the campsite shop for €3.70. Of course at the Cave it was a little less and also available in boxes. Nice and easy to tuck a couple away in the garage!

It was a fascinating reminder of just how much local wine is a staple part of the community, as we were surrounded by the locals, filling their containers ready for le weekend.

 

 

After shopping at the local Carrefour (our first supermarket shop in two weeks), where we were reminded of the ready availability of washing and drying machines in many supermarket car parks (what a boon for campers!) we headed off for the motorway to Perpignan, to eat up the miles as we headed into the foothills of the southern Pyrenees.

 

 

Mrs B had suggested `Camping La Tour de France’ as our next destination, as it had great reviews for its restaurant, as well as being well positioned to explore this part of France. Situated in the small town of Latour de France, the campsite was a cool oasis of well-shaded pitches, with plenty of availability.

 

 

Dodging the storms we had feared would be part of this leg of the trip as we skirted the Pyrenees, we lucked out on our visit the next day with just an overcast sky, to see the amazing ‘Orgues’ near Ille-sur-Tet, a series of incredible naturally sculpted geological features referred to variously as ‘fairy chimneys’ or ‘organ pipes’ as in the site’s name.

 

The drive over the hills was dramatic – if only it hadn’t been so cloudy!

 

 

Sculpted by erosion over the millennia, the site had an eerie and impressive feel about it with very few other people about at the time we visited.

 

 

 

The short 800m walk from the ticket office to the actual site itself was accompanied by some vibrant convulvulous, and a number of welded metal ‘works of art’, some of which Mrs B enjoyed more than others!

 

 

Returning to the site after another picturesque drive via a different route, we decided to try out the campsite restaurant for dinner. And what an amazing meal it was! For a small campsite restaurant in a village, the food was outstanding by any measure. We clearly weren’t the only ones who thought so either, as we counted around 50 diners throughout the evening, including a lot of local customers.

 

We shared a meat and cheese tapas platter to start, followed by a delicious and inventive main of squid on potato puree, with shaved fennel, a cashew nut and wasabi dressing and chorizo mayonnaise, washed down by a lush local white, Canigonenc, followed by tarte tatin and a chilled local sweet wine, finishing with what we think is the French near equivalent to a cortado, café noisette. It was one of the best meals we have ever eaten in France and a real testament to the skill and inventiveness of the chef!

 

 

Before we left we visited the local Cave to get a bottle of the village cooperative’s sweet wine, made under the Rivesalte DOC – a bottle we’ll be saving for home!

 

Our next stop will be a return visit to Maury and its fabulous wine cooperative, as well as one of our all time favourite wine producers, Elodie Grebule, whose ‘Belle Enfant’ red we first came across in one of our favourite hotels in the UK, Corse Lawn in the Cotswolds – fingers crossed it’s open this time…!

 

S&J  26.06.23

Au revoir Sérignan! Days 22 – 25

Keen to take full advantage of all the delights that Sérignan has to offer now that the weather was drier, we crammed a lot into the last few days here!

Some beach time not being sandblasted by gusty winds was high on the list…

And of course, sampling the local cuisine. First up was a meal out at an old favourite of ours, Chez Milou, a 10 minute walk away from the campsite. Seating is outdoors and part covered and the food is straightforward and lovely, grilled local fish, moules, paella or steak frites washed down with a pichet of local rosé.

 

 

We had to do one final trip into town as well of course, and found ourselves back at the Cabane á huîtres at the market, enjoying the ride alongside the vineyards that cover the land all around here.

 

 

This time murex (sea snails) were on the list to try and we wolfed down a plate of these with aïoli, rapidly followed by oysters and another tielle. Delicious! 

 

 

Free wine was flowing to remaining customers towards the end of the lunch shift, as staff packed the stall down and Mr B was just a tiny bit wobbly as we set off for ‘home’, but we still managed a stop at one of the roadside vendors for delicious local fruit, veg and olives. There are two of these stalls close to the campsite with a fantastic array of seasonal produce, much of it grown in the land around the stalls.

Whilst we haven’t quite stuck to Rick Stein’s route in the south, we have been very close and have been eating the wonderful seafood available in the region. Rick visits Gruissan, (where we’ve been many times) which is just west of Sérignan and of course fish and shellfish, including oysters feature prominently on the menu there.  We also travel into the Rousillon region, not far from Prades, in the next instalment, and enjoy the local wines, including a vin doux: for us a Rivesaltes, for Rick a Banyuls, along with a delicious meal…

A final snapshot of Camping Beausejour was taken in one of the shower blocks. These have been colonised by swifts which swoop in and out of the doorways and build nests in the rafters, filling the space with their chatter and keeping the insect population under control (and the cleaning staff busy!).

 

 

It’s a bit like have having a shower in an aviary!

Goodbye Sérignan, it’s been a beau sejour!

 

J&S 20.06.23

Another sojourn in Sérignan – part 1 Days 11-21

The drive from Millau to the Med was both relaxingly familiar and without incident, and, for the first time ever, we were able to see the amazing Millau viaduct from the old route through the town that we used to take whilst it was being built – and what an extraordinary achievement that was!

 

 

After a couple of hours driving we were pulling in to the familiar Carrefour supermarket on the outskirts of Bèziers to stock up. Our destination, Camping Beausejour, whilst perfectly located right on the beach, has only a small shop selling the essentials (like fresh bread and draught rosé), but not a great deal else!

 

We have come to love this beach a bit like we love Oliva’s beach in Spain: it’s a very long stretch of sand that’s away from the concrete developments to the north and south, and far enough from the nearest town, Sérignan, about 4 miles away, that the simple act of re-provisioning turns into an adventure on the folders – and being France there are decent cycle lanes to make it a pleasant ride too. Plus, there are a couple of excellent local fruit and veg producer’s huts just 5 minutes’ ride away that make provisioning that little bit easier!

 

Arriving at the campsite with some trepidation that there may not be any vacant pitches, we were relieved that not only were there spaces, but our details were still on the campsite system (making registration much easier and faster), complete with details of the pitch we had had in 2019 (with lots of shade) but, now the system is configured to highlight shade at different times of the day to help campers choose!

 

And although our previous pitch was already taken, we were offered a good few that were nearby to choose from, offering shade and relative quiet with easy access to the facilities and the beach. Which is how we found ourselves, perhaps a little unimaginatively, just diagonally across from where we were in 2019! (Since taking a wander around the whole site, we have come to realise, and appreciate, that what you get offered is roughly divided into the quiet-seeking ‘oldies’ and younger people with families).

 

 

We wrote quite a bit about our stay in Sérignan when we were here in 2019, and as we’ve arrived with pretty much the same intention of getting some downtime in the sun again, we’ll keep it brief, with just some highlights.

 

The beach – just as beautiful as we remembered it, and this time including a display by the Securite Civile on a training exercise in their fire fighting planes, dipping down into the sea to pick up and then discharge water…

 

 

The thrice-weekly market in town, as busy and bustling as ever, with some great produce (we treated ourselves to faux-filet and mackerel for the BBQ), its relaxed arty vibe and some new street art…

 

 

…as well as a couple of plates of oysters, followed by a delicious tielle sietoise (a local octopus pie), washed down with a couple of glasses of rosé for lunch…

 

 

Riding out on the folders – for fun, provisions, or, yesterday, a failed attempt to get to Agde along the Canal du Midi (not quite as straightforward as we’d thought once we had arrived at the canal – oops!)…

 

 

Board games in the sultry southern heat (this time as well as Scrabble, a new numbers game, Nexus, that we learned about from our good friends Debbie and Adrian)…

 

The weather, however, has not delivered a re-run of (almost) endless days of sun and blue skies that we had in 2019. Instead, and in league with France Meteo, it has delivered a difficult to predict patchwork of very changeable extremes, often within one day, from the expected blue skies and sun – and wind, to thunder, lightning and torrential downpours.

 

So, as we near the end of our two weeks here, and although we have not been thwarted from getting to the beach on a daily basis, it’s become more of a lottery with the weather! So much so, that none of the many weather sites we use to help plan our days has been entirely accurate – with even Apple weather delivering different forecasts to each of our phones for the same day!

 

 

As we write this, we have had a sunny morning in Sérignan, some time on the beach, followed by thunder and rain (briefly) late afternoon and now, the sun is out again – hurrah!

 

We plan to update the blog just before we leave to head along the foothills of the Pyrenees and towards the Atlantic coast…

 

S&J 13.06.23

 

An homage to Charolais beef, Voie Verts, Volcanoes and heading south! Days 6-10

Leaving Les Andeleys, we headed west along the Loire into the agricultural heartland of the Saône-Loire department, seeking out a small market town that had featured in Rick Stein’s ‘Secret France’ series: St Christophe-en-Brionnais.

 

As we drove along at our customary leisurely pace, we were amazed at how many river/canal-side Aires there were as we got closer to our destination, many of them pretty new too by the look of them.

 

Which is how, on a gloriously sunny evening, we decided to stop short of our planned campsite further west, opting instead to try out one of these new Aires, this one at Thiel-sur-Acolin. By this time, we’d already driven 268 miles, so were in need of a rest! With around a dozen spaces, all hedged and some with electric, plus water and toilet emptying, all free, we could only endorse others’ comments on the Park4Night app in thanking the local municipality for their thoughtfulness and generosity. A lot of these Aires are to promote tourism in the wider area too, with no expectation of immediate benefit! Take note Royaume Uni!

 

With space as generous as a good campsite pitch, we joined the other (all French) camping-caristes and got our table and chairs out for a lovely sunset dinner, followed by an excellent night’s sleep.

 

 

Next morning saw us make the short hop to Digoin, right on the Loire and an excellent base from which to make an early start south to the cattle market. Except, after we had taken a short stroll into town (complete with stork nest atop the church!) from the basic but lovely municipal site, and discovered yet another Voie Vert that ran along the Loire canal, we decided that we’d stay an extra night and have a fun day on the folders, or at least that’s how Mr B described it…

 

 

As part of the ‘foodie’ rationale for this part of the trip, we had to go off and shop for our steak of choice – Charolaise entrecôte, with Mrs B leading the way off site and off road too…

 

 

With the thought of our first BBQ of the trip as a reward for the ride, we headed out along the amazing aqueduct that carries the canal over the Loire in Digoin…

 

 

Passing from the canal side one of the Aires we had seen the day before…

 

 

 

 

We made it as far as the locks at Coulange, where we met an interesting British couple (and their two Scottish Wolfhounds) who had sailed their canal barge across the Channel – piloted by a qualified skipper – and who had spent time since travelling around the French canal network.

 

Returning with enough time to get the BBQ lit and take a much needed shower, we enjoyed a lovely cold Pastis, whist waiting for the BBQ to get to temperature.

 

And what a fab bit of steak it was too, accompanied by a lush bottle of Rully, as recommended by Rick; we did our bit for the local producers!

 

 

We set an alarm for the Wednesday morning, market day, which is the only way we managed to get up and off site by 09:15 – a record for us, if not as early as the regular cattle market goers!

 

The drive to St Christophe was through some very lush pastureland, with a good number of Charolais cattle munching their way through the fields. It’s the grass that gives the beef its distinctive flavour in this region, apparently.

 

We arrived at the village in time to have a wander around before a guided tour, taking in this attempt to manage a typical French habit…

 

 

And passed by the resto that Rick had visited and which set us on the Charolais trail.

 

 

The tour, with our very friendly guide Georges, was exhaustive and exhausting! I’m sure had there been an NVQ Level 2 exam at the end (in English!) we would have passed. We learned loads, and it’s great to see how the locals are able to make the most of a market that has been running since the 1400s!

 

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the bidding ring, but hopefully the pics give some idea of the extensive range of info we were exposed to, including some of the different names for cuts of beef used here in France, compared to the UK.

 

 

 

Our tour (all of €5 each) also included a ‘degustation’ of some grilled Charolais rump steak, also yum and luckily not accompanied by a glass of red!

 

Our next stop after St Christophe was a leap south to the Puy de Dôme – a 10,000 year volcano (non active) that we have driven past loads of times but never until now, taken the time to visit. Its distinctive peak is visible for miles.

 

After a long, hot drive which unfortunately coincided with Clermont  Ferrand’s rush hour towards the end, we arrived at the paying aire in Orcines, near the Puy. Big and spacious, with entry and exit by barrier and payment by card, we had a lovely quiet night in the fresh mountain air for a bargain €8!

 

 

 

Although there’s a dedicated campervan parking area near the start of the ascent to the Puy, as it was so quiet, we joined other vans in parking up nearer in the general car park, where we saw the first of many parapentes!

 

It is possible to walk up to the top, but part of the point of the visit was to take the cog railway, opened in 2012. We were very excited!

 

 

The views from the top are fabulous, with maybe 20+ paragliders launching themselves off the side of the summit at any one time.

 

 

 

 

And to top it all and especially for Mr B, there were the ruins, and ‘reinterpretation’ of a Roman temple to Mercury right at the top!

 

 

With enough time to start the first leg of our great leap south, we headed off towards Millau where we planned to stay on one of the riverside sites we used to drive past before the viaduct was built. But first we had to drive though some pretty heavy rain and hailstones…

 

 

Which luckily had stopped by the time we reached Millau!

 

We stopped at the ‘2 Rivieres’ site – one we know we have driven past, and decided to stay an extra night and explore Millau given how the weather seemed to be defying the forecasts…

 

 

Which was a mistake, as although we wandered into town and just caught the end of the market, we had to take shelter as another storm rolled over, letting up just enough for us to squelch back to the van and mop up from where Mr B had forgotten to close the skylight over the entrance – eek! Luckily, as it’s also the shower area, no damage was done!

 

Our next post after this will hopefully be from the Mediterranean where, we hope, we will turn into sun-kissed beach bums for a week or so – weather permitting!

 

S&J

02.06.23