Two Go For Cheese

[nicholsong]

<Broken link removed>

I refuse to put soft cheeses in the fridge, so I have to keep mine in the MH garage.

I would rather do that than go without.

 

[Spriddler]

I refuse to put soft cheeses in the fridge, so I have to keep mine in the MH garage.

I would rather do that than go without.

I'd had two inconclusive visits by Dyno-Rod before I kept my Camembert in the shed.

 

[DBK]

DBK is there any special cheese you are looking for, and havnt found, we are going to ventimiglia market tomorrow and I will see if there is any here.

No but thank you. I'm mostly looking for cheeses local to the area we are in at the time. Unfortunately, I can't eat them as fast as we could buy them.

 

[DBK]

Another last minute change of plan this morning, influenced by the weather, saw us change our destination from the Vercors region to "somewhere more south". We were not quite sure where we would finish but after several hours of driving we have ended up here.

We are at an aire beside the Lac de Serre Ponçon.

Which is here, note Nice in the bottom right corner.

Except, when we went for a walk this afternoon there was no lake to be seen.

The Lac de Serre Ponçon is a reservoir formed by a dam across the Durance River. It is one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe, or should be if it was full. A newspaper article from July this year said the level was 13m below normal and still falling every day. Given we are at the end of the lake I suspect we will see what is left of the water when we leave, but up here there is nothing other than what is left of the river flowing over the gravel.

Tourist activities here must have been hit hard this summer. This non-floating pontoon sums it up.

 

[suavecarve]

Another last minute change of plan this morning, influenced by the weather, saw us change our destination from the Vercors region to "somewhere more south". We were not quite sure where we would finish but after several hours of driving we have ended up here.

We are at an aire beside the Lac de Serre Ponçon.

View attachment 664753

Which is here, note Nice in the bottom right corner.

View attachment 664751

Except, when we went for a walk this afternoon there was no lake to be seen.

View attachment 664752

View attachment 664754

The Lac de Serre Ponçon is a reservoir formed by a dam across the Durance River. It is one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe, or should be if it was full. A newspaper article from July this year said the level was 13m below normal and still falling every day. Given we are at the end of the lake I suspect we will see what is left of the water when we leave, but up here there is nothing other than what is left of the river flowing over the gravel.

Tourist activities here must have been hit hard this summer. This non-floating pontoon sums it up.

View attachment 664769

Wow.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

We are staying a second night here. Despite the absence of the lake it is a quiet spot to relax.

Mrs DBK did a hand wash of clothes first thing this morning. After hanging them out to dry and a visit to the service point, which has a useful slope for better grey water evacuation if you approach it from the right direction we went on a geocache hunt.

There are seven caches here spread around a fitness circuit through the woods. We found the first yesterday but set out today to find the remaining six. We were successful but I only managed to photograph five of them.

We went for another walk in the afternoon and spotted this notice. It was planted in the dry lake bed some distance from the normal shoreline. English on the bottom right.

The forecast suggests 6°C tonight so I have deployed the SilverScreen for the first time.

 

[paddymcc]

Another last minute change of plan this morning, influenced by the weather, saw us change our destination from the Vercors region to "somewhere more south". We were not quite sure where we would finish but after several hours of driving we have ended up here.

We are at an aire beside the Lac de Serre Ponçon.

View attachment 664753

Which is here, note Nice in the bottom right corner.

View attachment 664751

Except, when we went for a walk this afternoon there was no lake to be seen.

View attachment 664752

View attachment 664754

The Lac de Serre Ponçon is a reservoir formed by a dam across the Durance River. It is one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe, or should be if it was full. A newspaper article from July this year said the level was 13m below normal and still falling every day. Given we are at the end of the lake I suspect we will see what is left of the water when we leave, but up here there is nothing other than what is left of the river flowing over the gravel.

Tourist activities here must have been hit hard this summer. This non-floating pontoon sums it up.

View attachment 664769

Been there many times and not seen it that low
You're quite near Barcelonette. It's a pretty town - and the pass over to Italy is a fine drive .

 

[Just smiffy]

Been there many times and not seen it that low
You're quite near Barcelonette. It's a pretty town - and the pass over to Italy is a fine drive .

Love it there, and there is a free Aire just over the the river…

 

[Jenben]

Crikey we have been along the side of that lake a few times, we once stayed at Les Orrez above it, I can’t believe it is that empty ( although of course it is ) .

 

[KiwiKampers]

The lake photos are really shocking.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

With a forecast minimum temperature of just 6°C last night we turned the heating on for the first time on this trip. It was still cold when I took Charlie for his first walk this morning and it wasn't made any better by the stiff northerly breeze blowing. It was picking up dust on the dry bed of the lake and we didn't go very far.

I had contemplated driving south east from here and over the Col de la Bonnette, which at 2,700m is one of the highest roads in Europe. There is a parking area near the top where you can overnight which we tried to do once on an earlier trip but found the access was blocked by snow and we couldn't get on. But the problem with this route is it is fine if you are heading into Italy, as we were at the time, but staying in France it would have meant returning either along the coast road by Nice or inland via the Gorge de Verdon. The former didn't appeal and we've done the Gorge before, once in my case on a push bike.

So instead we headed west then south. The first part of the journey took us on the bridge over the Lac de Serre Ponçon where we could confirm there is still a watery lake left but at a level, as the news article suggested of at least 50 feet below where they would like it.

Soon afterwards we saw signs for a "Route des Villages Perchés". My French is rudimentary but my guess was correct. These are villages "perched" on hills and are most frequently found in south east France and particularly Provence.

And by coincidence we are now parked underneath one.

The village is Saint Julien and we plan to visit tomorrow. It looks a steep walk!

Zooming out a bit you can see us on the left of the map. The Gorge de Verdon is on the right.

Zooming out further.

We are not far from the coast and we might dip a toe in the Med next week.

But we are honoured today by the presence of MHF royalty.

On the far right is a splended converted ambulance. It's chaser fresh from his Italian adventures.

 

[chaser]

With a forecast minimum temperature of just 6°C last night we turned the heating on for the first time on this trip. It was still cold when I took Charlie for his first walk this morning and it wasn't made any better by the stiff northerly breeze blowing. It was picking up dust on the dry bed of the lake and we didn't go very far.

I had contemplated driving south east from here and over the Col de la Bonnette, which at 2,700m is one of the highest roads in Europe. There is a parking area near the top where you can overnight which we tried to do once on an earlier trip but found the access was blocked by snow and we couldn't get on. But the problem with this route is it is fine if you are heading into Italy, as we were at the time, but staying in France it would have meant returning either along the coast road by Nice or inland via the Gorge de Verdon. The former didn't appeal and we've done the Gorge before, once in my case on a push bike.

So instead we headed west then south. The first part of the journey took us on the bridge over the Lac de Serre Ponçon where we could confirm there is still a watery lake left but at a level, as the news article suggested of at least 50 feet below where they would like it.

Soon afterwards we saw signs for a "Route des Villages Perchés". My French is rudimentary but my guess was correct. These are villages "perched" on hills and are most frequently found in south east France and particularly Provence.

And by coincidence we are now parked underneath one.

View attachment 665900
The village is Saint Julien and we plan to visit tomorrow. It looks a steep walk!

View attachment 665904

Zooming out a bit you can see us on the left of the map. The Gorge de Verdon is on the right.

View attachment 665905

Zooming out further.

View attachment 665903

We are not far from the coast and we might dip a toe in the Med next week.

But we are honoured today by the presence of MHF royalty.

View attachment 665901

On the far right is a splended converted ambulance. It's chaser fresh from his Italian adventures.

And very pleased we are to meet you, didn't say anything before in case you wanted to keep it quite

 

[Figaro]

This is lake Iseo this evening, low water level, but not as low as the lake your at

 

[DBK]

And very pleased we are to meet you, didn't say anything before in case you wanted to keep it quite

Meeting in a CCP aire is somewhat embarrassing.

 

[MichaelT]

Meeting in a CCP aire is somewhat embarrassing.

Are you sure its the real @chaseas he wouldn't be seen dead in a CCP Aire, oh wait he was in an ambulance

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[weemalkie]

If all goes to plan we will be sailing overnight from Plymouth to Roscoff today.

Tomorrow will be spent chilling at an aire near Roscoff then the next day we will start to cross France, probably taking three or four days. We are aiming for the Vosges region first, somewhere between Strasbourg and Mulhouse then we will meander south through the Jura and then on to the Savoie and Haute Savoie. Depending on the weather we might carry on to Provence but that is too far in the future to worry about.

The aim of the trip is to find some interesting cheeses, which these regions are renowned for.

The route across France isn't obvious on this map but from Roscoff, which is the knobbly bit sticking up between Brest and Lannion, we will go via Le Mans, Orléans and Troyes.

Updates to follow!

View attachment 657551

You must try Munster!

 

[DBK]

You must try Munster!

The only Munsters I know are in Germany.

 

[DBK]

We walked up to the "perched" village of St Julien this morning but before describing the walk here are a couple of interesting items.

With the lavender this could only be in Provence.

The "Trions + Trions mieux" means "Sort and sort better" I think. The recycling bins were behind it.

And this snuck into the aire this morning.

It could be a new type of stealth van, or by the registration number just a Polish truck.

The walk up to the village took us about 45 minutes including a diversion for a geocache we failed to find.

This was the route. South west from the aire (blue blob) and though the map suggests a break in the route this is wrong, the track goes all the way to the top.

Where it says "Lavoir et fontaine" was, apart from the missing geocache, the village's water supply. A notice explained they had several attempts to get flowing water to the top of the hill but all failed and water was brought up by horse and donkey every day.

Perhaps because of this need the track or road to the top was well engineered.

Supported on terraces up to 4m high according to another notice. The stones used at the bottom of this wall are massive.

Arriving at the village these notices explained what was going on. On the left an invitation to help with repairs and on the right an advert for a photography exhibition.

The repairs were still ongoing.

The photographs were dotted around the village.

There are a couple of windmills just outside the village. This is how they used to look.

And now restored.

Possibly not the most sympathetic of restaurations, there were concrete steps inside the one with "sails" but better than letting them fall down. A notice described how the Mistral and Tremontane winds made this a difficult place for windmills!

And the chairs placed were a nice touch. Note the blue pebble. They were everywhere and marked a route around the photographic exhibition I think as did the wind socks.

The village used to have a wall around as you might expect. You can just see remains of the curved wall in this old photo.

And this is the Porte de Gourdane. Which the builders inconvenientally placed in the worst possible location for photography.

The area between the gate and the windmills was cobbled. No notice explained this. Cattle/sheep/goat market perhaps?

Some views from the village. The aire is the rectangular wood in lower left.

You will have to take my word (I used binoculars for confirmation) that very slightly left of centre in this shot is Mont Ventoux.

The church was like the gate placed badly for photography.

The compact cemetery beside it was mostly family plots but was clearly very well cared for. I won't mention that the family crypts reminded me of a concrete coal bin we had at home when I was a nipper.

It's not the prettiest of French villages but worth the effort of the walk up and full marks to the locals for doing their best to conserve it.

We're going to stay here another night so we can watch the Royal funeral tomorrow then move on, either to the coast or west on Tuesday.

 

[Dutch 68]

I am enjoying some Austrian mountain cheese currently, it’s very good but omg, the smell is something else

 

[DBK]

I am enjoying some Austrian mountain cheese currently, it’s very good but omg, the smell is something else

Stinking Bishop is the best example I know of that effect. It genuinely smells vile but tastes divine.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Abacist]

Stinking Bishop is the best example I know of that effect. It genuinely smells vile but tastes divine.

Pont l’Eveque is like it in France - from Normandie from memory

 

[Just smiffy]

Stinking Bishop is the best example I know of that effect. It genuinely smells vile but tastes divine.

I always think if something smells so bad then why did someone taste it anyway to find out if it tasted ok, I do wonder how many tries at making stuff how many go straight in the bin not realising that it tasted good from the start…

 

[BooBooKing]

That sails looks perfect and a good price too. How do you attach it to the ground and your awning? Is that the 2x3m size?

 

[DBK]

That sails looks perfect and a good price too. How do you attach it to the ground and your awning? Is that the 2x3m size?

Yes, it's the 2m * 3m size. I attach it to the awning by tying a loop in the cord and hooking that over the end of the awning, using the winding pole when necessary to lift the loop up. The lower edge is just pegged to the ground. I'll try and remember to take some photos the next time I use it.

 

[BooBooKing]

Very clever. Much better value than other sunblocker screens!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ingwe]

Great thread, loving all the photos too DBK. We’re currently st St Rome du Tarn and pretty nippy now once the sun’s gone down. Currently 4°.

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

I always think if something smells so bad then why did someone taste it anyway to find out if it tasted ok, I do wonder how many tries at making stuff how many go straight in the bin not realising that it tasted good from the start…

When I was in Malaysia I'd promised myself that I would try the vile smelling fruit called durian. I'm told that it tastes like the sweetest strawberry's and cream you ever had, but when I spoke to various folk about it, they said it smells of raw sewage or death so I passed as I've got a dicky tum at the best of times
I was told it's so bad it's banned in many places

 

[GarryP]

Spent two years in Malaysia. Despite my penchant for trying new foods, I just never could get past the smell of durian to actually taste it. Banned in most hotels along with mangosteens which permanently stain any fabric they come in contact with.

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

Spent two years in Malaysia. Despite my penchant for trying new foods, I just never could get past the smell of durian to actually taste it. Banned in most hotels along with mangosteens which permanently stain any fabric they come in contact with.

I only spent a week in Penang on my way to NZ and a 2 day stop over at Kuala Lumpur on the way back, if I had bit more time I may have tried it ......... or maybe not

 

[Andycap]

Keep up the good work really enjoying this thread.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}