Our wee trip to France

[lorger]

just a wee thread about our current holiday in France, hopefully you’ll enjoy it and it might be helpful to others heading this way.
Due to forecasts we decided to come back down to Provence after we enjoyed it last September.
Left Dumfries on Thursday for overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam, we normally enjoy this crossing but this one was ruined by a bunch of drunks partying a few cabins away. I reported it to security on 4 occasions and end up having to knock the doors myself and receive some abuse, also gave some but have raised a complaint with the boat manager next morning.

Anyway we were up and through passport control with in 45 minutes, nice to get on the road early. We drove to a lovely little village called Bulgneville where we stayed on a lovely Aire for €5.

 

[Dorwyn]

These days, every trip is a wee trip for me!!

 

[lorger]

Friday morning we headed off in rain and encountered some of the worse conditions in over 35 years of driving, couple that with bank holiday traffic meant we didn’t progress as fast as we hoped. We spent the second night at a lovely little vineyard. Details below

 

[lorger]

After a great nights sleep we drove 50 miles to Lumieres, staying on a camping car site for €12. It’s adjacent to a cracking cycle path.

Today we cycled 15 miles to Cavaillon to visit the market only to discover it wasn’t on due to bank holiday, it was a lovely town so worth the cycle. While there we had lunch and walked round for a while.

 

[lorger]

Today has been another stunning day with clear blue skies and temperatures of 26, just enough to turn my Scottish an off white

We decided to cycle to Gordes as the reviews where good and they had an all day market, the cycle was on quite country roads and all uphill on way there. The effort was worth it for the views and the village itself, we came back via the village of Goult and stopped for a walk round and an ice cream, would recommend a visit here.

Tomorrow we have a 20 mile loop planned taking in Le Pont Julien and back via Velo Luberon.

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[Jo662]

Loving this travel thread. Thank you for taking the time to share it.

 

[lorger]

Today the weather has been even better, we were very thankful of the slight breeze especially on the uphill bits. We managed a 29 mile loop stopping off at La Pont Julien, Bonnieux, Lacoste and Menerbes and back to the van, not bad going considering I’m 12 weeks post op today for my right hip replacement, certainly getting my money’s worth out of it
We’re going to move on to Apt tomorrow and discover some of the villages around there.
La Pont Julien

Bonnieux

 

[mapman]

Enjoying following your travels. Some of favourite villages in the Luberon. If moving to Apt Saigon and Roussillon are well worth a visit.

 

[bigtree]

Love that area of Provence and have visited Pont Julien several times, we usually base ourselves at St Remy de Provence. There's some good trails in the Alpilles for mountain biking.

 

[DerryW]

Thanks for sharing. Some lovely views

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[WESTY66]

I think Lenny HB has driven down some of them streets

 

[Lenny HB]

Friday morning we headed off in rain and encountered some of the worse conditions in over 35 years of driving, couple that with bank holiday traffic meant we didn’t progress as fast as we hoped. We spent the second night at a lovely little vineyard. Details below
View attachment 746268View attachment 746269View attachment 746270View attachment 746271

Its fatal stopping at vineyards, as they say no such thing as a free lunch. Always ends up costing a fortune.

 

[lorger]

Its fatal stopping at vineyards, as they say no such thing as a free lunch. Always ends up costing a fortune.

We don’t drink wine so just bought a jar of pate and a bottle of sauce, both items we would buy anyway, the guy next to us bought 4 cases of wine though so his stay was expensive

 

[gus-lopez]

weather looks lovely

 

[Grianan]

Looks stunning. The village names remind me of the A Year in Provence books.

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[lorger]

weather looks lovely

The weather has been perfect, nice and sunny but not too hot to do things.

 

[lorger]

Double post

 

[suavecarve]

Looks stunning. The village names remind me of the A Year in Provence books.

I always thought Gordes was where Mayle lived but now firmly believe it to be BonnieuxGordes was the Russel crowd film A good year.

All stunning round there. Keep up the great photos lorger

 

[MisterB]

Great thread, thanks for sharing

 

[lorger]

I always thought Gordes was where Mayle lived but now firmly believe it to be BonnieuxGordes was the Russel crowd film A good year.

All stunning round there. Keep up the great photos lorger

I think it was Menerbes if my memory serves me correctly.

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[suavecarve]

I think it was Menerbes if my memory serves me correctly.

You may well be right.
Especially as Google appears to agree with you !

 

[Grianan]

I remember the names Menerbes and Bonnieux from the books. We did buy a recent one but I’m not sure if we still have it as it didn’t have the charm of the original books.

 

[bigtree]

Here’s a couple of pics from the last time we were at St Remy.

 

[UptheGas]

Today has been another stunning day with clear blue skies and temperatures of 26, just enough to turn my Scottish an off white

We decided to cycle to Gordes as the reviews where good and they had an all day market, the cycle was on quite country roads and all uphill on way there. The effort was worth it for the views and the village itself, we came back via the village of Goult and stopped for a walk round and an ice cream, would recommend a visit here.
View attachment 746889View attachment 746890View attachment 746891View attachment 746892View attachment 746893View attachment 746894View attachment 746895View attachment 746896View attachment 746897
Tomorrow we have a 20 mile loop planned taking in Le Pont Julien and back via Velo Luberon.

Visited Gordes last summer and took a photo from the exact spot you guys did !

 

[Grianan]

Here’s a couple of pics from the last time we were at St Remy. View attachment 747587View attachment 747588

Which site were you at? We went to the other one - this one looks more open.

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[DP+JAY]

Loving the photo's Gerry and the blue sky. Enjoy your trip.

 

[bigtree]

Which site were you at? We went to the other one - this one looks more open.

Parc de La Bastide.

 

[Twitters]

Lovely pictures and information, have you been to the Aires in the pictures before or did you seek them out on a website, we are going to France and dipping into Spain next month we have a couple of campsites booked but also want to experience Aires as well, its our first time going to Europe in our Motorhome.

 

[lorger]

Lovely pictures and information, have you been to the Aires in the pictures before or did you seek them out on a website, we are going to France and dipping into Spain next month we have a couple of campsites booked but also want to experience Aires as well, its our first time going to Europe in our Motorhome.

We never book in advance as we tend to decide where to depending on forecast, we have been staying on the camping car Aire for the last 4 nights at €13 a night including ehu. If you haven’t joined I’d recommend them, you pay £5 for your card and just top it up when needed, this can be done at the gate or before you leave home. The good thing is you can see the spaces on their app, for instance we’re heading to the one below today. As you can see it has 9 spaces left, this is handy as saves you turning up to find it full

 

[Offagaingr8]

Friday morning we headed off in rain and encountered some of the worse conditions in over 35 years of driving, couple that with bank holiday traffic meant we didn’t progress as fast as we hoped. We spent the second night at a lovely little vineyard. Details below
View attachment 746268View attachment 746269View attachment 746270View attachment 746271

The big German unit behind you, parked near him on the aire in Terrugem in Portugal end of March.

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