Gorges de la Méouge & The Breakdown

We were awake at 7am. After coffees we put the bed away and then Ellie had a shower while I got dressed.
Once Ellie was out the shower we had a cup of tea and then we hit the road.
We only had a 6 mile journey to our first location and we hadn’t really planned how long we would be there or where we would sleep yet but I did have a couple of options depending on how long we stopped for.
Within 30 minutes we had arrived at a little lay-by 600 meters above sea level in the mountains in the Gorges de la Méouge. Here there are some beautiful hikes, Roman bridges, rivers and waterfalls. This is our kind of place.
It was now just 9:30am and we both had breakfast and then left Wanda and hiked along the road to a gravel footpath. Here we could already see the gorge and the old Roman bridge and I left the path and got down to river level to get some photos. The river sounded angry running over the rocks but it was extremely shallow, probably just ankle deep in most places here and in the summer it is a popular bathing spot. The water is crystal clear. I really wanted to get in but Ellie was having none of it.
After grabbing some photos we crossed over the old bridge and picked up the hiking trail and started walking. The trail followed the river and then it started climbing up the side of the gorge. The path was gravel and once we were climbing it was tricky to find a steady footing but when it got really steep there was wire mounted into the side of the gorge so we could pull ourselves up. It was crazy.
It took us the best part of an hour to cover just over 1 mile and once at the top of the gorge there was a bridge crossing over the river and a crossroads on the trail. We decided to take the trail that would lead us back to Wanda. I think Ellie had,had enough of climbing hills already.
Once we had crossed over the bridge we were on a single track road heading down. It was a much easier walk and before long we were back at Wanda.
It was now 11:30am and we had done what we had planned for today so we thought we’d head to a park up spot 60 miles away and get some mileage under our belt.
I set the sat nav and we headed back the way we came, past last nights camp and then we picked up a single track road heading up into the mountains.
Just as we started climbing I checked the sat nav for switchbacks. It didn’t look like there were too many and the gradient wasn’t to steep at just 6% so we pushed on.
Unfortunately for us although TomTom says we’ll fit that’s based on the width limit I entered so aslong as the road is as wide as those dimensions TomTom thinks we’ll get down it.
The road got narrower and now it was just single track barely 2 meters wide. There were a few pull ins but basically if anything came towards us we’d be screwed. We had no way to turn around even if we wanted to.
At every blind bend we held our breath hoping not to meet anything coming the other way. Then we came to what is known as a balcony bend where the road is built around the side of the mountain. It was crazy and luckily on the tight bits we didn’t meet anything and the 2 cars we did meet let us pass with no problems and then we were at the summit of the Col de la Carebes at 1250 meters.
There wasn’t much of a view so we took some photos of Wanda at the top and then started the decent and that’s when the fun really started.
About 200 meters from the summit we came to a village and it was a tight fit for Wanda but I crawled through at 15mph incase anything came the other way and to exit the village we had to go up and over a blind summit. As we came over the top there were 2 cars blocking the road both had there outside wheels on the grass verges to pass but the car coming towards us had plenty more room to move over but didn’t know how big her little fiesta was. They passed each other and then it was my turn. I rolled towards her and as the bumpers passed I was right on the edge of the ditch and absolutely no room then she turned towards us and ran her car right down our left hand side. I couldn’t believe it. She had another foot over her side there was no need for that. I got out and she got out. She had a quite severe amount of damage down her left hand side and I looked at Wanda and I had a 2 foot red paint mark down our passenger side. I tried to tell her it was her fault the proof is there because her paint starts and stops half way down our bodywork. But she only spoke French and kept pointing at her car. In the end I said bollocks let’s go and Ellie and I got back in and started moving.
I was crawling down the mountainside. At every bend we came to I almost came to a standstill and it was lucky I did because 3 bends after our coming together a sprinter van came hurtling around a bend. I stamped on the brakes, and he swerved got on the grass and carried on going. My foot went straight to the floor and I realised we had just lost the brakes completely.
Wanda’s brakes haven’t been right since our very first trip 3 years ago. I’ve taken it to 2 separate mechanics and she’s had 2 MOTs and every time I said there was something wrong with the brakes the mechanics said there wasn’t. Now the rear brakes had completely gone which meant no foot brake and no handbrake. Except for the gears we had no way of stopping or slowing down.
We continued on. We had no choice as we were in the mountains with no cell reception and no Wi-Fi. We had to get to some kind of civilisation. We do have breakdown cover but obviously we need a phone to use that so there really was no option.
We crawled down the mountainside in second gear, we daren’t go over 20mph and if a car came up behind us I just lifted the clutch and slowed us down on a straight bit so they could go past.
A few years ago I probably would have lost my shit completely with this situation but I wasn’t actually that worried. The roads were quiet, I felt in control and quite calm and before we knew it we were back at ground level.
I found a lay-by at the bottom of the mountain but we still had no Wi-Fi but we did have a phone signal but I didn’t know where we were so I decided to at least get to a good landmark so I could tell the breakdown company our exact location. We crawled along at 20mph and being back in the main road more cars over took us but we stayed calm and then miraculously Wi-Fi came back, and even more miraculously we came to the edge of a town and the first building was a garage. We couldn’t believe our luck.
I rolled into the forecourt and just stopped before going through the wall. Ellie googled the garage and it had 4&5 star reviews but it was closed until 2pm and it was now 1pm.
We decided to wait until 2:10pm and then if the mechanic didn’t turn up we’d call the breakdown company but luckily at 2pm the garage owner turned up.
I showed him the brake fluid now pissing out of Wandas back left wheel and he looked and said we needed a new brake kit, which we knew and after some toing and froing using google translate we managed to get Wanda booked in for Friday afternoon.
We were so grateful and to make it even better he said we can sleep in Wanda on the forecourt and that’s where we stayed for the rest of the day.
I looked at Wandas red racing stripe. I was gutted that the car had hit us but the mark was only 2 foot long and except for her paint being left on us there was no damage at all. I got the washing up sponge and wasing liquid and started washing Wandas side and within 10 minutes all the red paint had gone with a little bit of elbow grease and Wanda was as good as new. I was well pleased, as we hadn’t actually caused the accident.
By 6pm it was getting cold and we checked the weather and it’s not looking good. Tonight is meant to get down to 2°c, tomorrow is meant to rain and there are severe flood warnings for this area and Friday it is forecast snow. We need to leave this area as soon as we can. Winter is Coming.Read more