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Harvey10 - Europe-bound

Dezember 2023 - März 2024
Ein 91-Tage Abenteuer von Pip & John Weiterlesen
  • 133Footprints
  • 5Länder
  • 91Tage
  • 939Fotos
  • 43Videos
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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 18

    Swim chill

    28. Dezember 2023 in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    I finally got my swim! It was a pretty cold experience. Hung around the site today. Apart from a walk to get provisions. Sunny and warm, but not so much so in the shade. And we're in the shade. My morning exercises warmed me up a bit. It's great because we have a private little area.
    A bit of research into next destination brought us to the decision of heading west towards Spain, not east to Italy. One reason being that in the North they're quite strict about where you can park overnight and some southern Italian 'sostas' like 'aires' have people come and tell you that they'll look after your van for you if you pay them. Apparently, advice is to move on or pay. Don't stay and not pay. That all sounded a bit Mafia-like and outside our comfort zone. It's difficult to tell if there are campsites open and if they are, they are quite costly. Staying every night on a site would blow our budget.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 19

    Perfume - then back to Brignoles

    29. Dezember 2023 in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Left our campsite, which was a bit overpriced we thought, with on arrival only 3 (mixed) showers for 39 pitches, a cold pool, which again on arrival we were told wasn't open till Christmas Day, poor signage and VERY tight maneuvering to drive in and out and to use the emptying facilities. €220 for 7 nights. But it's the only one in the whole area open all year, and was full. Also it was convenient to get a bus to Nice and to the sea, shops, cafes etc. The staff were friendly enough till on paying, they asked me if everything was alright, my answer was that we were disappointed that the pool wasn't open all the time as we'd chosen the site due to the pool. I had actually mentioned it to two staff members and was told it would be open on 25th. Today I got a defensive response from them, saying it had opened on 23rd and a denial that they'd said 25th. They dismissed my suggestion that there should be signage showing open and closing times and how to raise theshuttered door. Told me there was a sign just inside the door. I said I couldn't see it as the door was locked!
    They huffed and puffed. I decided not to comment further on other potential improvements. They clearly didn't want to hear a customer's viewpoint.

    So, we left for Grasse to visit the International Museum of Perfume. Grasse was THE perfume centre of the world. The translations left a bit to be desired, and at first I didn't learn much, but further on, the displays and videos told us a lot of social aspects of perfume and make-up. I discovered that in the middle ages (?) it was believed that washing in water was a way for disease to get into the body through pores in the skin. Dry washing was the thing, with phials of perfume secreted in corsets or boots. It was Marie Antoinette who was a forerunner of bathing in actual water. Also that make-up wasn't just for cosmetic effect but was used to protect facial orifices from evil and to protect the soul. E.g. dark lines around the eyes were for protection.
    Lots of gorgeous bottles on display, plus Marie Antoinette's 'escape' case and lots of other interesting stuff.
    A nice traffic warden had reassured us that we had 3 hours free parking so we grabbed a sandwich to consume back at the van and stopped for a coffee on route to this free spot again by the dried up lake.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 20

    Cold night, warm day

    30. Dezember 2023 in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    What a difference a day makes! (12 little hours)! I was shaking with cold in the night and had to get up to put a jumper and socks on. It said '5° and feels like 2°'. Felt more like minus 2° to me! John was fine but he always is at night time, when under a duvet.
    Woke to someone with a speaker and a loud base coming from their vehicle. Managed to survive it for about 1.5 hours though, as I didn't want to get up and brave the cold.

    Once on the road towards Marseille, as the day went on, I was roasting and had to put shorts and a t shirt on. It was showing as 14° but I was behind glass taking in the amplified sunshine. Almost felt summery but cooled again now.

    The route around Marseille was very industrial for a long stretch towards the Camargue.
    We got to our planned destination of an Aire for €12 but it was packed. Three of us were queuing to get entry. I talked to someone who'd just tried to get in. She told me in rapid French that it was full. There were a lot of words, but I asked questions like 'gendarmes'? Anyway, I got the gist that parking in winter is ok and they won't bother. In summer it's different. Finding places around the south of France is a problem. Most places have height barriers, and campervans are clearly not welcome. We drove 20 mins or so north and found a much nicer and free spot here in a side road.

    We're finding that getting a campsite open is rare, but there are quite a lot of campervans and motorhomes around, and Aires are generally pretty full. It's getting a bit frustrating.

    Just road trip shots today.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 21

    Away from the Med

    31. Dezember 2023 in Frankreich ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    Came up here to a municipal site. Cheap at only €15.88 a night. Tried to join in on monthly Greenwood Zoom chat, I lasted about 30 seconds, then WiFi (or Whiffy as they call it) let me down. New Year's Eve, so I got a treat for John, and of course, I had to join in too. Delicious! They know how to do cakes here!

    We stopped for lunch in what we thought was a layby, then John realised it was actually a slip road for people to turn left. There had been a camper, which was clearly disposing of their grey waste water. We tut-tutted and noticed that they disappeared pretty sharpish after we arrived.
    We moved on ourselves, too, to a safer designated parking stop.
    Inland feels so different from the area around the Med. Much more French. We keep reiterating that we don't like the Med area but keep on ending up there. Think we're in denial.

    Had our first rain today. All five drops of it.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 22

    Walk up a hill

    1. Januar in Frankreich ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Had an early night last night (9pm) favouring warmth over seeing the New Year in. It's overrated anyway. But weirdly, for some reason, I woke up at 23.55. Soon afterwards, the fireworks started.
    We decided to stay another night here and went for a wander, which turned out to become a 4 mile walk up to a castle. Passed only 5 other people walking.
    There was some warmth in the sun today.
    Some trees just sprung their branches out fully horizontally, saying "I've sprung, I'm me!"
    Photo shows the campsite with church by it. We are in the country!
    Thinking about going to Carcassonne tomorrow, John did some research on suitable parking spots for campervans. He found tons of reports of people being broken into, while they were looking around the town. Mainly documents taken. It was almost every review that he read. The few that didn't have the problem said they just worried about it. I couldn't find any park and ride or campsites open that we could take public transport into Carcassonne from. So there we are. Carcassonne is now off our list. No longer appealing to us. The negatives outweigh the benefits. It's a shame.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 23

    A door day

    2. Januar in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    John did all the emptying and filling at campsite. There was a huge green water cushion affair. We think in case of fire or drought. Not for drinking though.

    Then a short drive today to an Aire in a lovely quiet village due north of Agde, called Montpeyroux. Our chosen route kept saying 'deviation' as the road was closed and inevitably the deviation signs disappeared so it was a longer journey than planned. Had a gentle wander around the place, which was so quiet that we thought it must be an extra bank holiday but it wasn't. We did notice that they had a 3 hr lunch break from 1.30 to 4.30 so maybe that was it.
    A ginger cat decided to follow John and join us on our walk.
    I like doors. We both like doors. Some people like football, some like cars but I like doors. And today there were a lot of appealing doors, we couldn't stop snapping them.
    Once back at the van, some people stopped with a couple of kids, who ran around and bounced off the van. Once was fine, a mistake but then it happened twice, it was when one of them threw a piece of gravel at the van that we decided to open the door. At which point grandma gave them a mouthful, a clip round the ear and apologised. Before they left, she knocked on our door and apologised again.

    I also spent 90 mins on webcam with SMARTY trying to troubleshoot on getting our TPLink MiFi dongle thingy to get the WiFi we've paid for. It eventually worked! Result! Downside is we can only have the roaming for 60 days, not 90 as we'd thought.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    2
    Tag 23

    Door day cont.

    2. Januar in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    More pics.

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 24

    Scenic route

    3. Januar in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Don't know why I chose the scenic route to here. The straightforward route along a dual carriageway/motorway to just past Bezier was the quickest, and the one which we had started out on. But then I saw a green line mapped, and some viewpoints along an alternative road. Better for John, he loved it. I liked the views but not the ensuing billious sensation I'm currently trying to banish. Not helped by a good deal of strange and bumpy routes towards the end in search of parking spots we'd seen on Park4night app. Had a few frustrating red herrings but eventually found this canalside spot in the nick of time just after sunset (5.15 here, 4.15 in UK). Checking out suitable spaces to stay overnight is no fun at night time, never mind the driving. This camera makes things look a lot brighter than they actually are.

    We saw huge wide expansive landscape from our sunny food stop on the ascent of our corkscrew route. Mountains and plains to the coast.
    Before we left Montpeyroux, we went to the tiny epicerie and bought baguette, cheeses and tomatoes for lunch plus other provisions and then sat in the small square with drinks. A chap with a dog appeared. Ordered wine, coffee, and pastries and spoke to his dog ... in English! The first time we've heard it since 13th Dec, apart from one American in Nice. Got chatting to him (David) and a French woman (Caroleen) who joined him. He moved here in Oct 2023 and had just spent Christmas in Texas and then London, where his wife lives. He had lots of tips about how to move to France telling John it's relatively easy. I told him John wants to live here but I don't. "You should do what I do. Best way to keep a good marriage going." He said.    Weiterlesen

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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    Tag 25

    Carcassonne we've arrived

    4. Januar in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    So we came to check out the Carcassonne parking for campers spot. Barrier is now working (we saw online 2 days ago that it was broken), and we got a nice spot with hedges either side. €27.40 for 2 nights. (£23.70). Filled up with fuel €118 (£101.90). Cheapest deisel so far at €1.68 per litre (£1.50), just a few pence more than UK.
    Beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Walked into Carcassonne and smooched around. It was fairly busy but not too much. Quiet compared to summer I'm sure. Lots of cafes, eateries bars and gift shops. We had a beer and did a bit of people watching. Not so warm high up and walled in.
    We noticed a strange radar type effect of radiating circle rings on the buildings. Weird. See pics.
    Have just looked it up and to celebrate 20 years as a World Heretage site, 'Swiss artist Felice Varini created concentric yellow circles, which are made from aluminum and attached to the castle's walls. They will be removed in September and will not cause any lasting damage.' That was in 2018. Must have been quite a geometric feat getting them all in place around buildings!

    There's some VERY posh motorhomes here. The Swiss guy next door got out and played with a PlayStation type control, which it turns out controlled hydraulic legs to make it level. We're already on flat land for goodness sake!    Weiterlesen

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