Southern France, Part 1

10th March, 2000

Our progress to the border was uneventful, as we had already been most of the way along the N11.   France did not start too well and, as we were to discover later, this was to to be a "via horribilis" for us.   As we crossed the border we thought we must have missed a sign, since the narrow main street of Le Perthus does not look as if it could ever have been the main route.   Part way along we noticed that we had a knock, the frequency of which followed our road speed.    At the first opportunity, we pulled over to examine the car and found, to our horror, a large self-tapping screw stuck in one of our front tyres, which we had only just renewed before leaving Benidorm.   We expected the tyre to leak when we removed it, but fortunately it was OK.   We were surprised at how much noise - and indeed vibration - it had caused.

Our next bit of bad luck (or lack of thought) followed, as we took the opportunity, just across the road, to change our Potatas to Francs.   We thought, with all these fixed exchange rates, that only a nominal charge was levied between Euro countries, but only afterwards realised we had been stung by 10%!   We found later that even in the airport they charge 5%.

Being so early in the season, many of the sites were closed and we made our first stop at Camping de la Plage, St. Marie Plage, east of Perpignan.    It was a pleasant enough site, once we had found the hidden switch for the lights at the washing-up station.   On the first night we had to use our car lights.  In order to enclose the showers, a temporary wooden wall had been installed, with a hole cut in it covered by a cardboard flap through which the initiated were able to switch on the lights. 

We renewed our acquaintance with Perpignan in the afternoon.   The picture right is of the Castillet standing in the centre of the city between the old and new parts.   Our first task was to find a French chip for our portable phone and the next was to find somewhere to read our e-mail.    The first was not too hard, but it cost more than in Spain - something that were going to get used to.   Also with their Napoleonic paranoia the French, unlike the Spanish, insist upon ID.  Civil libertarians take note.   The   Internet Cafe was found on the road to the railway station.

The campsite was only barely open, as was also the case for the surrounding area of holiday homes.  After the first day it got windy, then wet and, as there was no washing machine available, we decided - after we had watched the Malaysian Grand Prix - to head on up the coast to the Camargue.

12th March, 2000

We were following the coast as much as possible, past Cap d'Agde along the narrow causeway that borders the Bassin de Thau.    Naturally we continued on the coast road.  It was a Sunday, the roads were quiet and we were enjoying some good weather.   All of a sudden, and without any warning or evident reason, the road was closed.   It is not only in France that they do these things, but this fact was not uppermost in our minds.  

Rather than backtrack, we turned up a steep side road that we hoped would get us round the blocked bit.   Mistake!     Once started  up the hill, we could find nowhere to turn our rig round and had to endure the steepest hill climb we have ever done with the caravan.    We arrived at the summit of St. Clair, with its stunning views and from which we took the picture on the left looking down on Sète.  The car had got rather hot on the climb and when we came to restart gave only a click.

One of the prices we pay for going green is higher exhaust temperatures (and poorer consumption) as in effect fuel is burnt to clean the exhaust.   The exhaust passes very close to the starter solenoid which, when it gets too hot, fails to operate.   A simple heat shield might have fixed it but then ... 

We used a hammer restart, descended and went inland round Sète and on to Palavas and eventually to the Grand Motte where we found quite a good campsite called Le Garden.   We had been to La Grande Motte a few times in the past, but this time spent a few days getting to know it better.   It is quite a good over-wintering place as flats and apartments are plentiful and cheap in the Winter.   It also has far more shops open than we had found at the previous site near Perpignan.  

13th - 17th March, 2000

We spent our first full day catching up on washing and had a bike ride around La Grande Motte.  Our next venture was to look at a property that was advertised in the private property sales magazine.  The property was inland, between Alés and Bagnols, but our route took us through Nîmes and on to Uzès.   Nîmes has a few more one-way streets than when we last visited and we had left our map in the van.     Our efforts to cross Nîmes and find the yellow road to Uzès was little short of a disaster and we spent the best part of an hour on dead-ended roads into new housing areas.   Once on the D979, we enjoyed impressive views of the Gardon river valley and its gorges.  

Uzès is a place we had seen signs to on our previous visits to the area, but had never visited.   It turned out to be an impressive small town where we photographed its notable 12th century "Tour Fenestrelle", which is slightly reminiscent of the leaning tower of Piza, the more so as our camera was not quite square for the shot.   Once again, just passing through, it was difficult to photograph as it was difficult to stop anywhere and long range views were blocked by trees and buildings.

By following the directions given to us over the phone by the vendor, we found the attractive little cottage pictured left.    It had been largely restored and the asking price of £38,000 was probably about right.   However, it was only a 2-up, 2-down, very close to the D6 road but a long way from any other houses or shops.   It had quite a bit of ground with it, but it did not really attract us.   It illustrates the problem with property in France in that there are many of these remote properties on the market and, if you buy one and restore it, you may have difficulty selling it.

We left the house and continued on to Alès before heading south on the N106 back to Nîmes, following the Gardon river at first.   As we left Nîmes for Montpellier, we planned to drive again through Milhaud, where we had enjoyed a fantastic - if slightly lonely - evening meal in the garden of a restaurant on a warm summer's evening many years ago.

Just outside the village we spotted a caravan accessories shop and stopped to try to sort our water pump out.   The pump had been intermittently stopping since soon after we started.  In recent weeks we had been going out and giving it an 'impact restart'.   The camp site directed us to a firm on the edge of  Lunel, but it turned out to be closed, so we were pleased to find one open.    Needless to say, the pump was not exactly the same and we had to enlarge its outlet pipe to make it a tight fit in our water-pipe.   Thereafter it worked perfectly.   These water pumps operate submerged in a water tank and, on examining the old one, it could be seen that the power cable was only sealed by a blob of silicone sealant and, over time, water had seeped into the motor and it was surprising that it had continued to work for as long as it did.

15th March, 2000

We had made a brief trip to Aigues Mortes after first arriving at La Grande Motte and returned to spend a little more time in the splendidly walled town, pictured on the right.

We lunched in the main square and had a look inside the church, shown on the far right, where we saw the figure of St. Louis who had built the town as a staging post for his Crusades.   We had been here before a few times, as a neighbour owns a flat nearby.   After lunch, in bright sunshine, we visited Grau du Roi, scenes of which are shown below.

On Thursday we went into Montpelier and wandered the town, the main square of which is shown right.  We found a free internet terminal at a France Telecom promotion in the main shopping centre and took the opportunity to catch up with home.  Montpelier is largely dug up as they are installing a tram, which may well ease congestion when it is finished.  We would have spent longer but the Mistral wind was getting ever stronger and very cold.

As we returned to La Grande Motte, which incidentally could be interpreted as 'The Big Sod', we were held up getting past a large boat on the dual carriageway, stuck under a bridge that was really a bit low for it.    The crew were lowering the suspension as we passed.   After we had done a little shopping and were returning to camp, the boat, shown left,  finally made it to the port.   By evening, it was clear that we were in a full-scale Mistral.

17th March, 2000

The Mistral, we understand, is caused by high pressure (descending air) over the Massif Central, which rushes down the Rhone Valley.   Bearing in mind that we had to get to Nice to meet our daughter, we thought we would move on and hope to get out of the way of the Mistral.   We drove across the Camargue, crossing the Rhône at Arles, and headed for Martigues.   The wind was almost as strong as the worst we had ever experienced and, as we approached Martigues, where we had thought of stopping, we realised that not only was it very exposed to the Mistral but it was heavily industrialised.

We continued on to Marseille, which - as we have a soft spot for it - we chose to drive through the centre of and along the old port.   We followed the coast road opposite the Chateau d'If in the Rade de Marseille, where we stopped to take a little video.   The long crawl through Marseille had over-heated the starter solenoid again and another 'hammer restart' was called for.   We had another problem in that the price of French petrol varies by up to 20%, dependant upon where you get it and we were very low on fuel and surrounded by silly prices.   When we did find suitable prices, it was on a busy roundabout and we were very concerned as to whether the engine would restart.   Our solution to the problem may not have been totally legal.   We continued along the coast road, which has a very steep climb to the Col de la Ginestre, at the summit of which there are breath-taking views.    Still worried about restarting if we switched off, we were unable to both leave the car at once, so David went back on foot to take some pictures.   We had come this way once before on our way to the Circuit du Castellet several years earlier. 

We arrived at Cassis, where we easily found a comfortable campsite.   The town has a picturesque harbour, shown right, but is blighted by tourists and parking is harder than in Monaco.

Cassis, in some ways, has echoes of Monaco, with narrow winding streets down to its harbour and centre.   When the French GP was held near here, it too was packed with F1 aficionados.   On the Saturday we found a small supermarket perilously perched on the hillside, with a near impossible car park exit.   We still needed a melon and some fish and decided to brave the traffic and parking and went down to the port.   By the time we found the fish shop, it was closed and we would have to wait till the morning.  

We decided to dine in town that night and walked down to the port.   We chose one of the more posh restaurants on the harbour side, but were very disappointed to be led to a back room with almost no view.   We were even more disappointed that they went in for 'Nouvelle Cuisine' and further disappointed by their silly prices.    Still, if one is daft enough to dine in one of the great tourist traps of the French Riviera, one should be prepared to put up with it.

On Sunday, we set off to visit Aix en Provence, a city we had passed several time en route for the Côte d'Azur.   We were quite surprised at how hard it was to park near the centre, having thought that Sunday would be quiet.   We were keen to check our e-mail and, seeing the Tourist Office, got a map and directions for the Internet Cafe.   The Tourist Office is on the main roundabout in the city centre, shown below left.   The Internet Cafe was not open, but just around the corner we found the Town Hall, shown below centre and right, with its interesting frieze in which a lady casually dangles her leg over the edge.

A little further on we came across the Cathedral of St. Sauveur, atop which the figure shown left stands.   We think it is good King Réné of Anjou, who introduced Muscat grapes to the area - which he is holding in his left hand.    Finally, we took in the Gardens of the Pavilion de Vendôme, shown on the right, before heading off for lunch.

After lunching along the N7, we came upon St. Maximin, where we took tea and watched the boules match, shown below left.   As we continued, a banner promoting the Internet alerted us to the fact that there might be some free Internet to be had and we stopped to look.  

We didn't find the Internet, but came across the remarkable Basilica where, it is said, that Mary Magdelene and St. Maximinus were buried.   The front, shown right, is still unfinished.

The interior of the Basilica is shown below left and centre.   Below right is the crypt in which is displayed what is said to be a piece of the cranium of Mary Magdelene.  

We returned to camp via the Ste-Baume Massif.   A treacherous, winding road leads to a plateau at the foot of a shear cliff at the top of which is the Chapel of St. Pilon, just visible in the top left corner of the picture to the right.

At the foot of the cliff is the cave in which Mary Magdelene was said to have spent the last years of her life and, part way up is the abandoned Parisians' Chapel, shown above, far right.    The area is popular for outings because of its religious significance and, despite the narrow roads, several coaches were at the Pilgrims Hostel.   We made the steep and twisty climb over the Col de l'Espigouliet to Géminos and then back to Cassis on the coast road, which passes to the north of Cassis.

As we approached Cassis, we found ourselves in a long traffic jam but were able to save a little time by gambling that it would be quicker to go into Cassis itself, then back out again on the other side.  We could see a profusion of blue lights in the distance when we left the traffic jam and David returned on foot from the camp to investigate.   At first, it looked like an appalling accident with one car on its side and another with its roof cut off.   Firemen and ambulance-men were milling about but, on closer inspection, it was more probably an exercise as both the cars were off the road on a forecourt and there were no tell-tale marks or debris on the road.    The real give-away, however, were wooden packing pieces under the wheels of the car on its side, and the fact that the old Citroen with its roof cut off had no obvious impact damage.

We decided to break camp and continue the following day towards Nice, as the weather was wet and a bit cold.  

Last updated:  18/03/01