One week into our trip to France

[bellabee]

I know Funsters like a travel thread with pictures, so I'll try to do one.

I'm not too disciplined, and find it challenging to do, on my 'phone, so it'll probably be a bit of a bing thread, and I'll cross my fingers that I'll actually be able to post my photos.

We arrived in Dieppe on Saturday night, and this is where we are now - the aire at Collonges-la-Rouge.

 

[bellabee]

The weather is lovely, predicted to be 26c today. We generally come to France at this time of year, and, so far, this is the best weather we've had.

Thanks to Lenny HB for posting about the aire at Belleville. We headed there on arrival at Dieppe, which was fortunate as we later learned that the Dieppe aire was full.

It was a good stop, but Gus soon put paid to any idea of a clifftop walk on Sunday morning, when he point blank refused to walk past the cows.

Our first stop was the aire at Chatres- lovely, easy Sunday drive. We've been several times before, so didn't bother walking up to the town.

Monday, we stayed at a France Passion aire at Huisseau-sur-Cosson, within easy cycling distance to Chambord, along the cycle route.

We can thoroughly recommend the aire - very clean and tidy, with plenty of shade. Shade has been one of our main priorities in choosing places to park. Because Gus is with us, we try to keep the van as cool as possible.

 

[LesW]

Chambord has some lovely 'hides' in the woods, when we were there we saw wild boar, and stags.

 

[bellabee]

Tuesday, we had a restful day, driving an hour to the CCP aire at Vatan - an immaculate, ex municipal campsite with huge, shady pitches. The town is nothing special - just another Ville Étape, with empty shops and an Intermarché just outside town, but it's a convenient stop, and they have made great efforts with the aire, and the town square.

Wednesday, we headed to Saint Leonard de Noblat, where there is a clean, new aire with views over the surrounding countryside. It's an attractive small town, on the route to Compostela, with an interesting collegiate church, made famous by the Bishop of Limoges, in the 11th century, who wanted to attract visitors to the town, in the form of pilgrims. As St Leonard was the patron saint of prisoners, and given the proliferation of wars at the time, St Leonard provided to be a big draw.

By afternoon, we were so hot on the attractive but unshaded, aire that we decided to move down to the municipal campsite, beside the Vézere.

 

[Lenny HB]

Looks good so far, have a great trip Chris and give Gus a cuddle from me.

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[Realist]

What do you do with the dog when your on your bikes?

 

[bellabee]

What do you do with the dog when your on your bikes?

We keep the van cool, blinds closed, parked in shade, and don't go out until late afternoon.
We only leave him for 2 hours max, and he's fine.

We did try a bike trailer, but he wouldn't go in it.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Have great trip, always enjoy a travelogue. Looks like you are going to some interesting places.

 

[bellabee]

Looks good so far, have a great trip Chris and give Gus a cuddle from me.

I'm following your trip, too.

Have a lovely time !

 

[bellabee]

Our next stop was Uzerche. There's a free aire at the Old Station, set above the river on the bank opposite the town. Again, it was very shady and the spaces were long enough to get out table and chairs behind the van.

There's a view of the town through the trees, and a shady walking/cycle route through the woods.

There's also a footpath along the river bank. We took this path and crossed a footbridge over the river, to complete a circuit.

After dinner we walked up to the very attractive town and had a beer in the square.

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[bellabee]

And that's how we got to Collonge-la-Rouge.

We've been here before, in early September, and it's a tourist honeypot. The last time we came, we couldn't really appreciate it because it was packed out with tourists. This time is very different.

The aire is three quarters empty and there's lots of room to spread out and park among the trees.

The town is very beautiful, as is the surrounding countryside.

We're staying here for a second night tonight.

We walked to Meyssac this morning, but have spent the afternoon sitting in the shade.

The sun has just started to go down and I'm going to take Gus for another walk.

 

[Lenny HB]

Our next stop was Uzerche. There's a free aire at the Old Station, set above the river on the bank opposite the town. Again, it was very shady and the spaces were long enough to get out table and chairs behind the van.

There's a view of the town through the trees, and a shady walking/cycle route through the woods.

There's also a footpath along the river bank. We took this path and crossed a footbridge over the river, to complete a circuit.

After dinner we walked up to the very attractive town and had a beer in the square.View attachment 816376View attachment 816377

We stopped there on our way home in May.

 

[CAB96]

Raining in Buxton.

Jealous, moi?

 

[Grianan]

I would love to go back to Collonges La Rouge - great thread!

 

[Jo662]

Loving the photos,and look forward to following your travels.

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[rod_vw]

Always great to see others overnight spots thank you.

If you are able (and willing) it would be nice to see Latitude & Longitude on the photos. Having an Android phone I use 'Open Camera' app. I think Lenny HB uses something similar.

 

[bellabee]

Sunday, another very hot day - 32c, according to Méteo France.

Reluctantly leaving our shady spot at Collonges, we headed for the aire at Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne - about half an hour's drive.

Ingwe 's recent thread had reminded me of how lovely Beaulieu is .

We first came here 11 years ago, when we were fairly new to motorhoming, and nothing much has changed - an old town in a beautiful and picturesque location.

The afternoon sun being so hot, we headed through the town and across the metal footbridge to the park on the opposite bank of the river.

The aire is located near to the sports fields and beside, what looks like brook, but is probably a branch of the river. It's tidy, with some shade, but has the dreaded Flot Bleu service point. We can't bring ourselves to fill up with water from the same cupboard as the cassette emptying. Glad we filled up before leaving Collonges.

 

[bellabee]

33 degrees but with a cooling breeze.

We've arrived in St Cirq-Lapopie, via route specially selected by the sat nav.

Graham and Gus are relaxing in the shade, and I'm going to have a swim in the Lot .

 

[bellabee]

Thank you, all for your comments and 'likes' .
You give me the incentive to carry on .

I had a lovely, cooling dip in the river yesterday- something I'd never have dreamed I'd be doing in October! The water is very clean and there are lots of fish, of various sizes. I think some were trout.

The aire is behind the, now closed, Camping de la Plage at St Cirq. It has a small beach, beside a gently-shelving and slow-flowing stretch of the Lot. It must be heaving in summer, but now it's peaceful.

It's much cooler today, which is a bit of a blessing, and we're going to climb up to the town.

I took this photo this morning, and you will see the difference in the weather.

 

[Ingwe]

Am going to look up St Cirq-Lapopie for next year. Looks just great!

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[bellabee]

Am going to look up St Cirq-Lapopie for next year. Looks just great!

It is - but, probably best when the campsite is closed.

The aire is in two parts - the bit that we're on, overlooking the river, and another part - also very pleasant, but without the views - set among bamboos and on individual pitches. €12 pn.

There are footpaths and cycle routes along the river, for people who don't fancy the steep climb!

 

[bellabee]

The walk up to St Cirq was much easier than we'd expected. A well-made footpath runs all the way from the side of the campsite.

We passed an interesting, old dovecote, on the way.

As you approach closer to the town, there are great views of it and of the valley below. It's not difficult to see why St Cirq has been voted 'The Favourite Village of the French.'

It is a fortress town, with the vestiges of several old castles, a pilgrimage church on one of the main routes to Compostela, and many, many medieval houses and mansions. The colour of the local stone adds to St Cirq's outstanding beauty.

At the top of the town is a viewing area from where you can see for miles, around the surrounding countryside.

The tourist office provided us with a map of a guided walk around the town, and another useful, general tourist map of the Lot Valley.

In the afternoon, we rode our bikes along the towpath cycle route to Bouziés, which also has an aire close to the river.

 

[bellabee]

Our next stop is Cajarc, just a few km along the valley.
It's an authentic small town, used as a location for some scenes of the film 'Charlotte Grey.'
We stopped here for nostalgic reasons, having rented a gîte here, 20 years ago.

We wanted to visit the "Auberge du Pont," an unassuming, family-run restaurant where we used to eat.

These days, it's only open at lunch time and is frequented entirely by locals. Apart from that, it was unchanged, with the same furniture set out in the same way.

We sat outside and ordered the menu du jour, which seemed to be the only thing on offer, anyway.

Gus was fussed over, and provided with a bowl of water.

It was lovely !

Good, basic French grub - three courses followed by coffee (the cheese was my desert - Graham has a sweet tooth and chose the homemade apple tart.)

The homemade pommes frîtes were the star of the show, but there were just too many, and Gus enjoyed some of mine under the table.

It's always a risk going back to somewhere, but we're glad we did.

The aire is very pleasant - €7 but the machine is out of order.

 

[Lenny HB]

€28
I know it's France but a family restaurant where the local eat it's not going to be expensive.

Have you not heard the French saying.
"A meal without wine is like a summer without sun"

 

[bellabee]

€28
I know it's France but a family restaurant where the local eat it's not going to be expensive.

Have you not heard the French saying.
"A meal without wine is like a summer without sun"

No, but I've just made up a saying ' Wine at lunch time, wasted in the afternoon. "

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[Thornebt]

Graham looks very surprised with his chicken and chips - although I know some people raise their eyebrows in photos to remove wrinkles and make themselves look younger!

 

[bellabee]

Graham looks very surprised with his chicken and chips - although I know some people raise their eyebrows in photos to remove wrinkles and make themselves look younger!

Yes, and he's only 35 !!!
Do you think the photo makes him look younger?

 

[bellabee]

The hot weather has returned.

It was 4c yesterday morning when we woke, and we had to switch the heating on.

By 10am, the mist had cleared from the valley and we headed for Capdenac Gare, at the foot of Capdenac- another of the plus beaux villages.

In the 19th century, a station was built at Capdenac Gare. This quickly became an important railway hub, and the town grew up around it. It's not a particularly attractive town, and very unusual in that the houses were not built in local style, but in a grandiose urban style. Many of them have wraught iron balconies, with steps leading up to them.

It is, however, nicely located beside the river, with views up to Capdenac le Vieux.

The aire is on the riverbank and we have a front line pitch with some shade.

In the afternoon, it was too hot to walk up to Capdenac le Vieux, so we saved that for this morning.

The climb was more strenuous than that at St Cirq, but not too bad.

Having seen so many plus beaux villages, it's easy to become a bit blasé. The buildings and streets were lovely, but because these places survive almost entirely on tourism, once the tourists are gone, they are almost deathly quiet.

We had intended driving to Figeac this afternoon, ready to go to the Saturday Market, but we've been loth to move from our shady spot - not that I'm complaining .

 

[bellabee]

We're taking it easy . It's another 3 weeks until we take the Dieppe ferry.

Yesterday we drove 10 miles along the Lot to the beautiful, free aire at Boisse-Penchot.

The river is very wide and slow flowing, punctuated with a series of weirs and navigable locks.

The village is now just a small, rural community, but was once a centre for coal and glass-making industries. The deserted, old glass works still stands, next to a street of glass-workers' houses.

The river, with its steeply sloping, wooded embankments is now the village's main attraction - particularly at this time of year, when the cold nights are turning the leaves to autumn.

It's lovely and peaceful, and I can't take my eyes away from the reflections on the wide, slow river.

 

[Ziggy123]

Can I ask what apps do you use to find these lovely aires? We are also currently in France with our dog...albeit the other side!..& struggling to find sites open. We are newbies but I'm finding it very stressful!

We use ACSI the most, camping cars, park for night & camper connect.

We are now in chambéry & contemplating whether to go deeper in to Alps, south or home!

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