We got on the road to our next race watching – the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps (formerly The Dauphine) – around 9:30 on a Saturday morning. The drive was nice and we stopped at a huge aire in the town of Saint-Pourcaine-Sur-Sioule . It was next to a multi-sports ground and there was some kind of event happening. There were kids everywhere playing soccer and doing skills, although the noise shut down fairly early.
Continuing east the next morning we found the route for the Team Time Trial and picked a nice spot that got good reception on our starlink.
There were some lovely horses in a couple of fields next to us and we settled in nicely.
We were joined by a british campervan, who were waiting for some friends – in the end there were four other campervans there with us.
On the Tuesday morning the teams started doing their re-cons, and up until about 1:00 we saw all of them at least once and some of them twice. The course is, apparently, very challenging for a TTT – somewhat hilly and very narrow and winding, but at least it wasn’t raining.
I’ve never been to a Team Time Trial live before so it was a new experience for me. We put our flags up, but nothing compared to the giant Union Jack that the Brit put up, although Colin did have to go and tell him it was upside down so he could fix it before the race started.
They’ve changed the rules about TTT’s and I don’t clearly understand them – you used to need to have four riders cross the line to score your team’s time but that’s not the case now.
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Anyway it was still exciting and we had a couple of hours of watching before taking down our flags and hitting the road in the same direction as the race had gone.
We headed east towards the mountains – we’ve chosen the general area that we want to watch Friday’s stage from and took the ‘scenic’ route to get there in order to avoid Lyon. It was a very lovely drive, and along the way we passed one of the funniest sights ever – a giant pink pig ‘sculpture’ with an American flag on its side and a huge Trump figure beside it. If only I’d had my camera ready! I almost asked Colin to turn around and go back so I could get a pic – it was so perfect!
We stopped just outside the town of Legny at a large aire/carpark and had a nice quiet night – at least until about 6:15 in the morning when some very large loud equipment started up. They loaded a pile of rocks onto a truck then left, only to return again about 40 minutes later. Oh well – an early start to the day is nothing new for me.
We drove southeast through some very beautiful countryside with lots of lakes/ponds – a giant bird sanctuary of sorts – ending up finally in the mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a lovely town and it was very interesting – I ordered ‘bruschetta’ which sounded good, although asking for an Italian dish in a French restaurant can be a bit cheeky. What I got was delicious – but it was not bruschetta. It was more like a thick piece of bread with a whole bunch of toppings – very tasty, and as usual lots left over for dinner and next morning’s breakfast. Max helped me a lot with the prosciutto and cheese – he will eat almost any kind of cheese, but soft goat’s cheese is one of his favourites.
Stopped for the night in the town of Saint-Pierre-d’Entremont, which is half in the province of Isere and half in Savoie. We found the aire fairly easily and had a nice early night.
Since we returned from our marathon trip we’ve done countless loads of laundry, commented every day on ‘is the river flooding more or has it gone down’, wearing winter coats, and lighting fires and now…’how low is the river – there’s hardly any water coming over the weir’ – wearing shorts and flip flops, and replacing the old broken down air conditioner.
One day we could see a couple of ‘hippy looking’ folks at the welfare office – they were leading two donkeys that were loaded with baggage. Colin took the last of my carrots to feed to the donkeys and went to chat with the woman – they’ve just left Goue and are on their way to the Dordogne.
The Sunday after we returned we helped out with a regional race – once again we manned the beverage table.
The weather was somewhat inclement – bits of sun and lots of rain. Luckily we were under a nice big canopy so were shielded from most of it. For the first half of our time there we sold dozens of cups of coffee, then when the worst of the rain had passed we sold more beer. A couple of little boys were so cute – standing on the podium perhaps dreaming of being Tour de France winners in 20 years!
We’ve been for several really nice meals – twice at the Penalty Bar (veal with rice, then Beef Bourgignon – both just delicious). Another day we went to Verdille, which was also excellent.
I also cooked rabbit for the first time ever – then again! The first attempt was a stew in the slow cooker – very tender and delicious. The second time was roasted in the oven with potatoes and shallots – also very good, but would probably go with the slow cooker if I do it again.
We did have to go down to Angouleme and get a new air conditioning unit – the cost of the machinery was dwarfed by the cost of getting it properly installed (a law in France – not just anyone is allowed to do it) and the old unit taken away. But it will be much appreciated as it’s now getting up into the high thirties each afternoon with no break in sight.
We’ve been enjoying watching the Giro d’Italia on tv, although many of the top riders are not participating. At this point unless there’s a disaster it looks like Vingegaard will take it rather easily – guess it beats throwing ice on freshly caught fish in Denmark.
There were a couple of kind of exciting moments here – both on the same morning as we were sitting outside the Penalty Bar on VE Day. The first involved what sounded like a car alarm but was actually the defibrillator box on the outside wall of the Mairie – someone had opened it and it was in use just down the road from us. In a short while the paramedic van arrived, loaded a man in and took him away. The defibrillator was returned to it’s glass box on the wall, apparently having done it’s job.
The second bit of excitement was when a gendarmerie car screeched to a stop at the corner and two (rather fit) cops jumped out and ran up the road, one of each side of the Mairie. A few minutes later one of them returned and jumped back in the car, turned around and sped over across the bridge. Presumably the second cop was either pursuing someone on foot, or perhaps swimming for it in the river.
We got a few flowering plants for the terrace – mostly they’re doing ok except for one of the lobelias.
We left the lovely village of Wanne the morning after L-B-L and drove the relatively short distance back to the aire at Hamoir for the next night. Then we continued on into northern France looking for a place to fill up our GPL/LPG gas for the stove and heating. We’d commented a couple of times that the indicator was still showing ‘four lights’ but we’d been using it for weeks, so when it failed in the morning – in the middle of making breakfast and tea! – we weren’t that surprised.
As we headed west we fruitlessly tried several places – some were ‘out of service’ at the time, others never had it at all. We finally found one that was being serviced right then but was supposed to be ok in half an hour. We decided to wait, and – miracle of miracles – the technician came up and knocked on our window when he was done. He even stuck around to make sure it worked for us and didn’t leave until we’d successfully filled and I gave him the thumbs up.
We stopped for the night at a beautiful aire at Bray-sur-Somme. It was just lovely and we were almost surrounded by the river, and the banks were home to many geese and ducks, most of which had little ones of various sizes.
It was very calm and quiet and ended up being one of my favourite aires yet – and we’ve been to some really nice ones on this trip.
On Wednesday morning we drove southwest to the coastal town of Ouistreham hoping to get into the aire there, but it seemed to be fully booked up. It actually wasn’t a problem as there was a very large paved parking area not far away and we just pulled in there instead.
Thursday ended up being – as I expected – one of the few ‘serious’ days for me. After breakfast we went first to Pegasus Bridge as it was so close. It was a very important site in WWII and a number one priority for the British.
There are several displays and monuments to commorate what happened there.
We had a cup of coffee at the cafe – not the best and very expensive – and sat outside in the beautiful sunshine for awhile.
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Our next stop was west along the coast a bit, and we walked along the promenade above part of Sword Beach – the easternmost of the five landing beaches…
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There’s a nice memorial partway along before the next village.
We found a nice restaurant and had an excellent lunch in the sun – I realized later it might have been good if I’d had a hat to shade my forehead and nose!
Our next stop was a bit further west as I really wanted to see Juno Beach – where the Canadians landed.
There are two main points of interest and both were worth the visit.
There was a very nice looking museum but I couldn’t go in – it was all I could do to walk around outside and look at some of the monuments and read the descriptions of what happened.
I did cry as I walked around, but as I was wearing my sunglasses I don’t think many people noticed, although my sniffling might have given me away.
I must say that everywhere we’ve been – Netherlands, Belgium, here in France – they haven’t forgotten what they went through in both of the horrible world wars. All of the memorials and cemeteries are immaculately kept and the appreciation of what was done to help them is ever present – LEST WE FORGET!!
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it…read a book Donald Trump!!! Or at least get someone to show you a cartoon depiction of the realities of war.
We probably would have gone to all of the five beaches and paid our respects but were really looking forward to getting home.
Since it doesn’t get dark so early now – yah!! – we drove for a bit south to the town of Falaise (where William the Conqueror is from) and parked up right below the castle, along with several other campervans and a couple of big trucks.
We made it all the way back to the house the next day – as it was May Day there wasn’t quite so much traffic on the roads so we made pretty good time.
After over nine weeks on the road it was great to get home. Comfy as the campervan is it’s quite nice to have a shower whenever you want and be able to do laundry – as long as the washing machine co-operates.
The places we’ve been, the experiences we’ve had and the races we saw were all wonderful – an excellent trip!
We got going very early to get a spot on the Paris-Roubaix route – it wasn’t that far and we found the route no problem and just followed the arrows. In 2019 we were on sector 12 of the cobbles but this time we ended up on sector 11 (they count down, not up). This sector is one of the three in the race that have a five-star black rating – the hardest of all.
It wasn’t easy to find a good place – there were already dozens of campervans in almost every available spot. We ended up backing up into a fairly lumpy place that was infested with what we believe to be Japanese knotweed – at least we were off the road and not on a farmer’s field.
During the day on Friday several of the main teams rode by perusing the course, then some official folks came around during the afternoon and roped us in by pounding metal spikes into the ground and threading a rope through a loop at the top of each.
On Saturday there was a huge fondo/sportive and thousands of amateurs came by over a period of eight or nine hours. Max watched it all from his position in the co-pilot’s chair.
By race-day Sunday there were hundreds of cars and campervans, and a constant stream of fans going up and down the cobbles in front of us.
The atmosphere was awesome!
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Some folks even had a wood-fired hot tub – not kidding!
The junior men came by first, followed an hour or so later by the under-23 men. We retreated to the campervan for cheeseburgers and to watch on tv as the race progressed, then went out in plenty of time to stake our spots to photograph from.
As we’d known from the tv coverage the two leaders were Pogacar and van Aert and neither one looked like they were having fun. Mads Pederson was right behind them…
…and Van der Poel wasn’t too far behind him – he’d had a bike problem earlier so was not at the front with the other two where he might have expected to be.
After most of the racers had passed we went back inside the campervan to watch the end on tv. It was close enough but van Aert is a better sprinter than Pogacar so he was triumphant in the velodrome in Roubaix – I think he was crying as he crossed the line in first place. Cheers from the local crowd around us were almost deafening – we’re not far from the Belgian border and most of the fans along this stretch of the cobbles were Belgian.
I was impressed by how many folks stayed to watch the women come through – hardly anyone had left. After that I took Max for his evening walk, and we went and visited a group down the road. They were from Paris which is only a two hour drive away, and they were very nice – they especially liked Max.
They’d taken some of the rope down and we’re playing skip-rope in the middle of the cobbles – it went fairly well with one girl, then two skipping but when the guys jumped in it didn’t last too long. They fed Max a bit of sausage that I don’t think he liked too much, and I smelled something very fragrant being smoked, although I didn’t ask to partake.
It was a fairly early night, and for the second time in two days our electrics ran out. We have a good solar panel and battery but it hasn’t been very sunny and since we had the tv on all day and we’ve not driven for two or three days the system just shut itself down.
The day after La Ronde we got going at a decent time, along with several of the other campervans around us. We headed south, and hoped to find an open supermarket along the way. Alas, it was Easter Monday and all of the stores and businesses in Belgium were closed.
We did find an open boulangerie and when I went in I got quite excited – it was a full supermarket – except they didn’t carry wine! Bummer! But at least we had fresh bread for lunch.
We passed the border into France and encountered the same thing, at least at first. Then when we were passing through a couple of the towns we saw that the Lidl and Aldi stores had cars in their parking lots – success!
We stopped first at the aire in Crespin but what we needed most wasn’t working – the water tap to fill up with was out of order.
We continued on to the town of Bavay, which had a lovely aire with everything we needed in working order. It was both beautiful and quiet and I took Max for a nice walk in the late afternoon.
As we were in no hurry to get anywhere else we stayed the day, taking a leisurely walk around the town. It happens to have the largest Roman forum yet discovered in France.
We walked around a bit before being told that dogs weren’t allowed, so we continued on looking for a cafe for a coffee/drink.
The only cafe we saw had no tables outside that were in the sun so we retreated back to the campervan and made our own beverages. We then enjoyed another delicious roasted duck thigh with potatoes and carrot for lunch – it might even have been better than my first try was.
The next morning we headed a very short ways north to a proper campground in the village of Bellignies, but once again were thwarted in our efforts to find an open cafe/bar.
There was a nice looking restaurant, but it wasn’t open on Wednesdays – there was a menu on a chalkboard outside that sounded very good, but the place was all locked up.
Once again we went back to the campervan and ended up having fried eggs and toast for lunch. It’s very lovely weather finally, and I actually got my shorts on for the first time. Windows and vents in the campervan are all open and we’re really enjoying the sunshine and warmth.
Well…Trump hasn’t destroyed the world yet, but he’s doing his best! Why isn’t anyone saying no or stopping him? I try not to get too upset about things I can’t control…but good lord he is making the US a third world country and I still wonder what Putin has on him – something big. Or as Trump himself would say ‘the biggest thing in the history of the universe’. And if they are going to reinstate the military draft I wonder how many of his children will get drafted – or do they all have ‘bone spurs’ like he did? I will quote my sister here as I agree with every word: he is a ‘corrupt despicable morally bankrupt fat orange fuck’.
Anyway, it is another beautiful day here in northern France and we’ve stocked up at Lidls in preparation for the next three or four days. I looked up my photos from 2019 and we know exactly where we were then for Paris-Roubaix – here we come!
The campervan place in Vera finally got the part in that we’d been waiting for so we dropped it off one morning and continued on in the car to Mojacar for a couple of hours. It was a bit early for lunch so we just had some tapas, which were just delicious.
It was super windy and the palm trees along the promenade were almost bent in half from the force, but it wasn’t really cold. We were sheltered a bit under an awning and it was quite pleasant sitting and watching all of the little birds come around and scrounge for scraps.
The water was very blue, and the whitecaps were beautiful.
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The ‘check engine’ light came on shortly after we left the campervan place but we continued back to the house. We were planning to leave back to France the next morning but were forced to wait a day because of the extreme weather warnings for the wind. The advice was to stay home unless you had urgent business. The power went off and on several times and the wind was fierce but we came through without much damage.
Leaving a day later than planned we went to our mechanic just outside Albox to get the check engine light looked into – Colin in the campervan and myself in the black beemer. They hooked up the diagnostic tool and we were told it was ok to drive – one of the filters just hadn’t finished a ‘self-cleaning’ and the best thing to do was drive it fast for a while – alright!
We arranged to take three days of travel and meet for the first night in Teruel which shouldn’t have been too long a day. However…the spanish farmers were taking their turn at protesting and I encountered them twice. The first time was on the main motorway between Lorca and Murcia. At first I thought it might be an accident – three lanes of traffic were funneled into one, then off the motorway and onto a secondary road. We moved very slowly and there were dozens of police along the way with lights flashing directing the traffic.
Finally we passed the cause of the jam – about a mile of tractors and other equipment clogging up the motorway, and at the far end all of the drivers having a bit of a party. There was music and everything.
Once past we were led back onto the motorway and I started making good time again. My GPS turned me north at Murcia, and about 45 minutes along I came across another slow down. This time it wasn’t quite so bad, and I didn’t notice tractors, but rather just a couple hundred men blocking the road, surrounded by police holding them back. We were able to inch around them without a large detour and were once again on our way. Encountering no more protests I still made it to Teruel before dark and was even greeted by a lovely rainbow – I took that as a sign of better things to come.
It was a pretty early and quiet night accompanied by rain off and on. The morning was bright enough and we each got on our way by 9:00. The drive to the French border was fairly easy and Colin and I met for the night at the large shopping centre with no problem. Another early and quiet night, with more rain.
The drive north wasn’t bad, although the rain during the last hour or so was very heavy. It was good to get back to the house, and I quickly turned the water on, as well as the water heater and the wi-fi connection.
There had been a lot of rain here during the last several weeks, and the river just keeps getting higher and higher.
We took the campervan down to Angouleme to get the ‘check engine’ alert dealt with and had to leave it there while they ordered a part – unfortunately it wasn’t just going to fix itself by driving it.
We had a meal out at Le Breuil, not far outside the small town of Verdille. It was excellent, starting with soup (served in our own pot at the table) followed by self-serve salad bar, then the main course. I had pork with mushroom sauce, served with cauliflower in a creamy tarragon sauce – just delicious! The owner has his own vineyards and winery, as well as makes his own cheese.
The rain kept coming and the river kept rising, finally breaching the banks a little at a time. A few days later the whole area became a lake – hippodrome, campground…everything under a couple feet of water.
Everywhere we go the fields along the road have ponds in the middle because they just can’t drain anymore.
Because we couldn’t get down to the campground to walk Max we went to another park – I’m not sure why I’ve never been to it before but it was lovely.
We took a couple more day trips for lunch – once going south to the town of Riberac which was quite nice.
There’s an old castle/fort above a lovely park, and some nice restaurants around a large square.
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The campground in Mansle has been as full as I’ve ever seen it, with many folks staying a week or more.
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Colin had another couple of tests and appointments and all went well – even the extremely rude urologist was fairly polite the second time. Finally we were free to return to Spain! The birdies will miss us, and I hope the jasmine, passion flower and clematis manage to survive.
I drove the new BMW while Colin and Max were in the campervan. It took a lot of will power but I managed to keep near the speed limit – at least most of the time. Getting around Bordeaux was, as usual, a big pain but we did make it. We stopped for the night a little past Zaragoza and made it to the house just after noon on the second day.
We’ve enjoyed the pool almost every day, and had lunch out at Los Cerricos – not so many cats this time.
We’ve been spared the awful fires that are affecting many parts of Spain right now, but the dust from the Sahara is covering everything – there’s no way to keep it out of the house or off of anything.
Most of the terrace plants are doing really well – we haven’t been at the house this long in past years so they’re getting tended and watered more. The jasmine especially is very lush, and the two tomato plants have sprouted up like crazy.
Colin’s hernia operation went well – he has a follow-up appointment soon to make sure all is ok. I convinced him to use my upstairs bedroom for a week while I used the spare bedroom/office/library. Thus he didn’t have to go up and downstairs as much and all he had to do was move into the lounge to get to the couch and watch tv while he recuperated.
The ‘honey man’ is at the market every Friday morning – I’ve tried several of his products and all are delicious. We also get what we can from the veggie people, and have tried scallops from the fish guy.
We took a drive to Confolens one day for fish and chips – it ended up being a bit of an ‘adventure’. First of all we went in the campervan as the fish and chip shop is quite small and in case there wasn’t room we’d be able to park somewhere nice and eat inside the campervan.
There were roadworks on the way and the main diversion included going under a bridge with fairly low clearance. We couldn’t fit under so turned around and ended up following another campervan that seemed to know where they were going, eventually getting across the river and into the town. To top it all off the cafe was closed due to ‘it being too hot to open’!
We’ve been to the little restaurant at Villognon several times now and always enjoy what we get, although I must say that the duck confit I had the first time was my favourite.
We helped out at the annual ‘kids’ races in Saint Angeau, parking the campervan at a side road near the finish line to marshall any traffic and prevent them from turning in either direction. Luckily there was a french lady on the other side of the main road doing the same thing and she took care of most of the interactions with the drivers. There was only one driver that was somewhat ornery, but at least he did as directed and didn’t try to run us over.
The following weekend we helped again at another race – the Paul Poux, which has about 300 entrants and covers three different routes of varying lengths. This time Colin and I were at different places – he was right in Goue and I was just down the road at another spot. I was very nervous about being alone and not being understood so I printed up four papers in french with phrases on them such as ‘there is a cycling race on’ and ‘you may only turn left when I tell you it’s safe’.
There ended up being many more cars than I expected entering and leaving my little side road, but every driver was extremely nice and co-operative and several laughed at my phrase pages. Luckily the races had started early as it was getting very hot by the time we left around 10:30.
On our way to Aigre one day we saw that the restaurant in Villejesus had re-opened. We were very happy to see that and stopped on the way home for a drink. There’s a nice war memorial across the road…
…we went back several days later to have lunch but they wouldn’t let the dog inside and we didn’t want to sit on the outside area as it’s right on the road so ended up getting pizza from one of the places in Aigre.
The next weekend we helped out at yet another local race – this time the regional gravel championships.
There are many ‘white roads’ around here and it was a sunny and hot day. We were assisting at the water table, handing out bottles as the riders passed. I ended up taking over the opening of the bottles and setting them out on the table for the others to ‘hand’ to the riders as they pass – not as easy as it might sound in some cases.
Colin got a new car! He’d been looking online for a Porsche Panamera but decided that the potential maintenance costs could get pretty high so we ended up at the BMW dealership in Angouleme. He’s dealt with them for many years and ended up getting a lovely sporty coupe.
I wouldn’t want to be getting in and out of the back seat as a passenger but the dog likes it, and the hatch/storage area is huge. Apparently it’s really nice to drive but I haven’t tried it out yet – I’m fairly comfortable with the ‘old’ blue one (which we have kept) but will eventually have a go with the new one.
We made another trip up to Confolens and had success this time with the ‘english’ fish and chips. The shop is quite small and there’s only sitting outside with space for about 20 people. We were lucky as we hadn’t made reservations and it was the best fish and chips I’ve had in a long time. Having delicious local french cuisine at one of the many restaurants we now frequent is one thing, but fish and chips brings fond memories from childhood.
We took delivery of firewood for next winter – the pile seemed so large when we started…
…but it only took about 90 minutes – with a small break – to stack it neatly on the lower terrace.
Colin had a follow-up appointment with the hernia surgeon and she was quite pleased with his recovery. He also had an initial appointment with a urologist – he was one of the rudest professional people I’ve ever encountered. First of all, when we were in the waiting area a woman came out one door and muttered ‘that was very rude!’. When we’d gone in we realized why – the doctor was constantly saying very nasty things under his breath in french because Colin’s french isn’t perfect, especially when it comes to medical terms. Part of the problem was that I understood much of what the doctor was saying and it took all of my self-control not to reach out and slap him, then dramatically storm out. I really hope that Colin doesn’t need surgery as that doctor was horrible.
On a nicer note we got a small bird-bath for our feathered friends – it has a solar-powered pump that makes a little fountain so now they have a fat-ball feeder, a lovely seed feeder (made by Claire) and now a water source.
Since being back in Mansle we’ve gotten into a nice, if somewhat lazy routine. I’m usually up pretty early, then after breakfast and a cup of tea we take Max down to the campground for a run about (him, not us!). Then we go to one of the bars for a coffee/drink.
We’ve been out for some very nice lunches – my new favourite place is in Villognon. I had the duck confit the first time and it was just delicious – we’ve been back a couple of times since. Then for Colin’s birthday lunch we went to the Cheval Blanc in Luxe, and it was so good! I think my favourite course was the cheese trolley but by then I was so full I could only sample a few of the twenty or more offerings.
We’ve had to leave Max behind a couple of times, and he wasn’t happy about it – witness the destruction left in his attempt to get into the garbage can to ‘help himself’.
On Easter Sunday we went to the bar for a drink and passed an old fellow carrying a bunch of ‘greenery’ – turned out he was on his way to the church. We saw that most of the other folks were also carrying bunches – looked like weeds to us, but I think it was ‘palm Sunday’, although they certainly weren’t palm fronds.
There have been several heavy rainfalls, with the river going up and down each time. The hippodrome has been flooded and even the road down to the campground was closed for a few days due to the overflow.
The local cycling club hosted a regional race about a week ago and there was a good turnout. Colin and I manned the beverage table, and we got a delicious lunch first with all of the other helpers.
There were several motorcycle riders helping as well to lead out the various groups of riders.
It was a lovely day and we were very glad to have been able to help out.
We ended up with lots of leftover coca colas (I did not have one – never in my life), but ran out of beer (not my fault either!).
It was VE Day yesterday and it was a big deal here – far more important than ‘May Day’ last week.
There were several different groups of service people represented at the local war memorial where they layed wreaths, then all gathered at the bar for a drink afterwards.
It’s the most crowded I’ve ever seen the place!
I know that in other places in the world the end of WWII was a big thing, but over here, especially places like France, Belgium, The Netherlands, etc it is a really, really big deal. It hits you in the face at times like you can’t even imagine back in Canada.
Whether you’re seeing a large cemetery with hundreds of graves or a small roadside memorial to one unknown soldier – they are everywhere. And each and every one is immaculately kept and tended with love by the local people.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 