Two Go to Corsica

[hilldweller]

Today was a public holiday, Victory in Europe Day

I assume the locals were cheering you on and buying you a big drink.

 

[klaatu]

Didn't realise you were coming to our town! It's a nice aire, we lived in it for a few weeks while we were buying our house here just over a year ago - no-one seemed to mind, and the aire is pretty quiet early in the year anyway. Would pop round to say hello, but although Lathus St Remy is our postal town, we actually live 10km away from Lathus.

 

[DBK]

This seems to be a very quiet backwater region of France. I can understand why you like it.

 

[Ridgeway]

We really enjoyed Corsica when we were last there in 2014. We were lucky that we bumped into 2 retired teachers that had been going for over 20yrs (they had the Corsica Ferries stickers on their camper to prove it) and as such they pointed out several nice aires around the island that we used. Particularly enjoyed one on the North West coast that was about €6 per night and directly on the pebble beach.

Have fun and enjoy the nice brebis cheese

 

[Abacist]

Just catching up with your latest trip. Have a great time.

A l'abri du soleil means sheltered from the sun! I thought you'd like to know that!

I now see that this has already been pointed out along with "Perhaps re-tie your shoelaces?"

I have now caught up and looking forward to reading about your trip.

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

 

[Anthea M]

Loving reading about your trip already John , Mrs DBK and Charlie.
Safe travels and enjoy!

 

[DBK]

We really enjoyed Corsica when we were last there in 2014. We were lucky that we bumped into 2 retired teachers that had been going for over 20yrs (they had the Corsica Ferries stickers on their camper to prove it) and as such they pointed out several nice aires around the island that we used. Particularly enjoyed one on the North West coast that was about €6 per night and directly on the pebble beach.

Have fun and enjoy the nice brebis cheese

Brebis cheese sounds good as unlike the famous cheese from Sardinia it doesn't have maggots in it.

 

[scousebird]

Brebis cheese

Delicious.

 

[moulin 87]

This seems to be a very quiet backwater region of France. I can understand why you like it.

Certainly quiet, but there are much quieter regions. Too quiet (and cold) in winter for us so we migrate south..

Though fairly perfect for communication links, North South we sit between the A10/N10 and the A20 and West East we are almost astride the infamous 'Road of Death'!! Bordeaux, Angouleme, Montlucon, Dijon or Macon. Between Limoges and Poitiers airports there must be 20 flights a week to the UK plus the TGV of course..

 

[DBK]

An uneventful hop across a bit of France today. We are staying tonight at another free aire, this time in Thiel sur Acolin, CC21411.

We have been here before and it is an amazing aire as it even has free electricity although it lasts for two hours apparently. You can see the EHU post on the left in the shot above. We haven't connected to it as we arrived with fully charged batteries and the sun shone a bit in between showers this afternoon. Although everything is available free there is a notice listing tarifs for water and electricity. There is a letter box next to the service point and I wonder if you are supposed to put the money in an envelope and put it in the box? The notices don't seem clear on this and none of the reviews on CamperContact mention it.

This is the route we used to get here.

Which may not mean much as there are no obvious landmarks. This is the bigger picture, about three hours of driving to give perspective.

The aire is on the edge of the village but as we observed when we first came here it is a very quiet place. There is a small supermarket and a boulangerie and that's it. There was a funeral being held in the church, which seemed somewhat appropriate. If you come here with a dog beware there are a lot of houses with dogs loose in their gardens which bark very loudly as you pass plus on the corner by the aire is a GSD which is not behind a fence. It is well trained to stay in its bit of ground but it was a bit disconcerting when it rushed towards us barking loudly.

Tomorrow we should be at a campsite by the Rhône, south of Lyon where we will stay two or three days. The trip should get more interesting from then on.

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

 

[Lenny HB]

free - aires which like magnets are drawing us towards them.

It soon gets addictive

 

[DBK]

It soon gets addictive

We are planning to break the free aires run tomorrow at a campsite so we can do the laundry but I guess you could travel indefinitely in France using free aires. Some of the supermarkets, especially Intermarché, have laundry facilities. Someone needs to produce a map of them. That would be useful*.

*Which prompted me to see what Google Maps returned when fed "laundry Intermarché". There could be some mileage in this.

 

[Lenny HB]

We are planning to break the free aires run tomorrow at a campsite so we can do the laundry but I guess you could travel indefinitely in France using free aires. Some of the supermarkets, especially Intermarché, have laundry facilities. Someone needs to produce a map of them. That would be useful.

Every self repecting F'LT carries a washing machine.

 

[h1ghway1]

Great stuff so far.. keep it up and good luck with your trip

 

[DBK]

We are now on the banks of the Rhône and the sun is shining! On a map of France we are here - where the blue blob is.

And in close-up:

We are staying the weekend at Camping Municipal Les Lucs at Tain-l'Hermitage. This is listed in ACSI €16 a night and is in CamperContact as CC64523.

There's a chocolate museum not far away which we might have a look at tomorrow. Tain is the centre of Hermitage, one of the most famous of the Rhône wine appellations. It isn't cheap so we may pass on giving it a try.

There is a promenade beside the river just the other side of the fence.

I walked Charlie on it after arrived. I'm not sure why he is looking dejected in the shot below. Did he not approve of me depositing his "dejections" ?

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

 

[jockaneezer]

Charlie's looking dejected

 

[DBK]

We took a gentle wander up the river yesterday. On our side of the Rhône in Tain l'Hermitage there was a little market going on.

On one of the hills overlooking the town is a tiny building referred to as the hermit's chapel. Built in 1235 it is dedicated to Saint Christophe who decided to live there as a hermit after returning from one of the Crusades. Legend has it he planted the first vines around the Chapel and this vineyard became the basis of the wines now produced under the Hermitage appellation. If you have a bottle of the 1961 La Chapelle Hermitage lying about put it on eBay quick - you might £10K for just one bottle. Even much more recent wines are £30 to £40 a bottle.

There are two bridges crossing the river to Tournon. A relatively modern one and a much older bridge now used for pedestrian and cyclists only.

It was built by Marc Seguin and completed in 1849 but this was his second attempt. An earlier bridge by him is marked only by a small stone on the Tournon side a little upstream of his second bridge.

Tournon is dominated by a château which is also a museum.

The centre of the old part of Tournon is worth a wander around. This wall of the church of Saint Julien shows its long history.

A shot looking back towards Tain. The boat is a floating restaurant.

A couple of river cruise liners were moored and we saw one party following a lady holding a sign saying "Viking River Cruises". There are also big barges.

Jim has started a thread about cassette emptying points so not to be outdone here are some photos relating to the comfort of our dogs. First a "pee post".

I saw one of these in Spain which had a button so it could be flushed!

And to widen your French grammer

And after the above this seems appropriate.

*"divagation" defeated Google translate. I think it means in this context not to let your dog perform freely.

 

[Easyliving]

On the subject of French lorries, we have arrived today at the lovely aire at Charmes. All the way here all the parking areas were full of trucks. Apparently they are not allowed on French roads on a Sunday.

Paul

 

[DBK]

On the subject of French lorries, we have arrived today at the lovely aire at Charmes. All the way here all the parking areas were full of trucks. Apparently they are not allowed on French roads on a Sunday.

Paul

From memory they do the same in Italy. Curiously the motorway aires in France were packed with trucks this Thursday but the public holiday was Wednesday. I'm not sure what that was all about because there were a few lorries driving on the roads.

 

[Fenman]

On the subject of French lorries, we have arrived today at the lovely aire at Charmes. All the way here all the parking areas were full of trucks. Apparently they are not allowed on French roads on a Sunday.

Paul

Only lorries carrying perishable goods allowed on roads on Sundays. Makes it a good day to travel.

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

 

[DBK]

A bit of a disappointment today. I had planned to overnight on the aire at the Col du Lautaret. At an altitude of 2058m we expected to see some snow, and there was a big patch - right over the access road blocking the way in! This is a cracking aire - check the video in the link below.

https://www.campercontact.com/en/fr...4-05-06-13-83-84/col-du-lautaret/2363/parking

But I had a Plan B ready so we drove on to the aire at Montgenèvre where at an altitude of 1800m the temperature is forecast to drop to around zero tonight.


In the bigger picture we are now just yards from the border with Italy, a little north east of Briançon.

From here we will cross and head towards Turin then just before Parma we will turn south for Livorno and the ferry on Saturday afternoon.

Though not quite a striking as the aire we had hoped to stay on tonight this still isn't a bad place - but it isn't cheap at €14 a night including electric.

After we left the Col du Lautaret I pulled over just beyond the summit where we had lunch at a spot you could possibly wild camp but it was right beside the road and in plain view. While we were eating lunch I heard what I thought was a call from a bird. I heard the same sound when we arrived at Montgenèvre but this time I soon spotted one of the culprits.

An Alpine Marmot of course. I've seen them before but not heard them calling. An example of their call can be heard here:



We went for a short walk but snow intervened again when we found snow across the path.

But there were a few consolation flowers for me.

Alpine gentian - I think.

And Common Rock Rose (I think!)

 

[DBK]

I forgot to mention we spotted a short toed eagle just after we arrived. My raptor recognition skills are dire but I'm fairly sure this time. It was big and very pale underneath with a fan-shaped tail. Which on its own could be almost anything but then the bird started hovering, which it is epeated several times. I think only the short toed eagle does this, apart from kestrels of course but it wasn't one of them. By the time I'd dug out the telephoto lens it had gone - so I snapped the marmot instead.

They live on snakes and lizards and spend the winter in Africa.

http://www.oiseaux.net/photos/vincent.palomares/short-toed.snake.eagle.8.html

 

[suavecarve]

We are now on the banks of the Rhône and the sun is shining! On a map of France we are here - where the blue blob is.

View attachment 302699

And in close-up:

View attachment 302694

We are staying the weekend at Camping Municipal Les Lucs at Tain-l'Hermitage. This is listed in ACSI €16 a night and is in CamperContact as CC64523.

There's a chocolate museum not far away which we might have a look at tomorrow. Tain is the centre of Hermitage, one of the most famous of the Rhône wine appellations. It isn't cheap so we may pass on giving it a try.

View attachment 302698

There is a promenade beside the river just the other side of the fence.

View attachment 302696

I walked Charlie on it after arrived. I'm not sure why he is looking dejected in the shot below. Did he not approve of me depositing his "dejections" ?

View attachment 302695

We were at tournon when you uploaded this (we think it was Friday)

@Lenny HB any self respecting flt parks closer to the river rather than have a washing machine !

 

[DBK]

While taking Charlie for his "constitutional" before leaving the aire at Montgenèvre this morning I came across some more white flowers. Superficially they looked like the one I found yesterday but they were different.

Crocus albiflorus or the Alpine Crocus.

After a probably unnecessarily long drive today, but the Po Valley seems devoid of reasonable aires so after the best part of five hours driving plus a lunch stop we have halted about 10km west of Parma. We took the blue route. It was very quiet at first but the last stretch on the A1 towards Bologna was full of trucks.

We have come to a wierd aire sited under a solar farm!

The "roofs" above us are solar panels. CC6435 at Fontanellato. It is close to the motorway but traffic noise is minimal as there is an earth bank in the way I think.

This is Fontanellato on Google maps.

As always we are under the blue blob at the bottom of the map but at the top is the moated Rocca di Fontanellato. A little bit of history can be found here.

This is the entrance.

And some more shots from outside. Here the bridge over the moat.

Looking back from the bridge in the opposite direction from the shot above.

There were a few big fish in the moat - we saw several heavy splashes. This is the opposite side from the entrance.

The inside of the castle is open.

On the first floor we found an interesting bell pull - on the right of the photo below.

It might look like rope but it isn't. Brilliantly hand forged steel instead.

We retired after our exertions for an excellent ice-cream where you might see some green chairs in this shot.

We might explore Parma tomorrow but as we are making this up as we go things may turn out differently.

 

[DBK]

So as planned we went to Parma this morning - and it was raining! The forecast the previous evening was for a chance of showers around mid-day but today the forecasters decided it was going to rain all day and the weather obliged.

We sat in a so called aire* (CC10635) about 3km from the centre deciding what to do. Our original plan was to walk into the centre which wasn't going to be a lot of fun now in the rain. We could take a bus but it would still be raining in the centre of the city so we decided to postpone Parma and we will try again on the return trip.

To escape the rain we crossed over the Appenines to Italy's west coast...

... and Camping Viareggio. This is in the ACSI book and also in CamperContact where the most recent reviews are somewhat scathing! If I had seen these before we arrived we would have gone somewhere else but things seem OK so far.

The locals even came out to greet us. Thousands of them!

After we settled into our pitch Mrs DBK spotted the swarm of bees or possibly two swarms just a yard from the back of the van. Bees like this are not a danger. They have no nest or young to defend so are generally very calm. If you put your hand on a swarm cluster it will feel warm. We let the office know and moved to another pitch because if the local beekeeper turned up to collect them a degree of disturbance would be inevitable.

The technique is to get the swarm into a container like a cardboard box which they will hopefully adopt as their new home. How you get them into box is down to inventiveness. . If they are on a branch which can be cut off this is ideal. The bit of branch can be placed in the box otherwise, as in this example, you can try brushing and shaking the bees into the box - this adventurous approach results in a lot of bees flying around but this is unavoidable. By late evening all the flying bees will be in the box with their queen and can then be taken away.

Leaving the bees we walked about a kilometer to the beach. The path took us through a pine forest and it comes out right on the junction beweeen the "private" beaches to the north and the "commoners" beach to the south. This shot is taken looking north towards the fenced off private bits.

Charlie had a swim.



And we had a glimpse of our objective from the beach!

If you look really carefully in the centre of the horizon is a "blip". This is Corsica, or rather the tops of her mountains.

*Not recommended above 6m and even then you take a chance as there is no obvious sign you can stay overnight here.

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

 

[klaatu]

It’s a shame bees aren’t like cats:

How do you get a cat into a cardboard box?

Step 1: Put the cardboard box on the floor.

 

[DBK]

A relaxing morning, at least for me, Mrs DBK did all the laundry. This afternoon we walked a couple of kilometres to a marina surrounded by numerous shipyards. The marina was closely fenced off but we saw these large yachts.

The two outer ones and possibly the one in the middle have a curious red ensign. I can't identify it, not one of the Channel Islands, it might be some sort of club.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hoopoe watching. The bird on the left is having a dustbath.

The one on the right is a juvenile I think, it is a little drabber with the white not so bright as on the adult.

I shot a little video of them. You can hear bee-eaters calling plus Mrs DBK's speculations on the relationship between the two birds.

 

[Anthea M]

Loving your travels thanks for taking the time to post.

 

[DBK]

Loving your travels thanks for taking the time to post.

I probably wouldn't have had much to post today if it wasn't for the hoopoes. I must try again on the bee-eaters tomorrow, but they are very cagey and fly off if I get too close. If I had a T shirt with yellow and black hoops I could try wearing it, perhaps knock up some wings and antenna made from coat hangers as well...

 

[Greenway]

The two outer ones and possibly the one in the middle have a curious red ensign. I can't identify it, not one of the Channel Islands, it might be some sort of club.

Possibly the Cayman Islands, popular for yacht registry. Or one of the other Caribbean Islands.

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