DAY 423 - all roads lead to London – via France!

Spring has sprung a leak in France and many of the rivers are swollen (or flooded) which is the case with the Dordogne & Loire Valley.  Dordogne is really different to Loire, more rustic is probably the best way to describe it.

We also made some new friends on this leg of the journey (Hi Jason and Tony) and where delighted to be asked to join them in a day trip (YAY – no motorbike for a day) to check out Gouffre de Padirac cave which is by far the best cave system we have ever seen.

This SMAZING cave system is nearly 2 kms long and after the descending down over 300 steps, then walking underground for nearly 400meters, you then get in a boat for totally amazing an eerie trip along an underground river,  passing through various majestic underground caverns & tunnels with amazing rock formations & massive stalactites which includes 1 giant one measuring over 60 meters.  You then get off the boat for another walk through 2 stories of chambers to view lakes and high vaulted chambers.  So, so amazing and this would have to be one of the highlights of our trip so far and is worth every effort to get too.

Here is the website for the cave - hop on and have a look: 

gouffre-de-padirac cave

When then headed towards Carnac to visit the megalithic alignments with a stop along the way in Cognac, where they have motorhome parking right on the river with a bird’s eye view of Hennessy.  We met another great couple here (Hi Andrew & James) and again got on like a house on fire.  Due to a ‘wee’ bit too much wine & the night before, the obligatory tour and tasting went out the ‘windy’ so we bought a ‘roadie’ to enjoy in the motorhome at a later stage and headed straight for Carnac in Britany, France.

Carnac has one of the largest Megalithic standing stones alignment’s in the world, with over 3000 in the alignment and can be seen from outer space.   Some of the stones are meant to predates Stonehenge with many of the stones weighing up to 40tonne.  It’s unreal to see how modern day man has built itself around this ancient site with peoples drive ways, chicken coops and horse stables right between some of the stones.

The bad weather followed us all the way from Carnac to Loire Valley, Paris & UK.  Loire is so pretty, but after seeing so many beautiful château’s and castles that we’re a bit “chateau’d out” and decided to enjoy some ‘time-out’ at a riverside campsite not far from Tours.  We tried our hand at some fly fishing, however one could go hungry if you rely on this for dinner, so it was just as well there was a Supermarche only 5 mins down the road.

It was also pretty cool to hit Paris again and not have to be in a rush to do all the touristy things.  We saw a totally different side of Paris, which we loved and stayed in an town called Joinville, along the river Marne, which is basically suburbia.  It’s only about 9kms from Champs-Elysees and reminded us of suburbs along the Brisbane river, it’s so different from the Paris we all know and love & we totally enjoyed it.

We couldn’t resist getting the bike out and rode past Notre Dame, Louvre, down the Champs-Elysees, around (and around) Arc d’Triumph who gives way?????  Parked “pole position” at Trocadero & soaked up that amazing view of Eifel tower and Paris beyond for a few hours.  We really like going back to places we have been in the past and not having to run around like a mad tourist to see everything and not worry that you might have missed something.

I’ve also learnt how to cook the perfect Roasted Duck Breast, not sure how French this method is, but it turns out perfect every time.

Perfect Roasted Duck Breast:

• Place the duck breast, skin side down, in a frying pan on high heat & brown for 4 mins.
• Then turn the duck breast fillet over to brown the other side for 4 mins.
• Then place on a try, skin side up, and roast on the middle rack of a pre-heated oven (180-200c) for another 8 mins.
• Remove from the oven, cover with foil and let the duck breast rest for 5 minutes. 

   No need to use oil in the pan as the skin of the duck will be ample when you brown the first side.

   

DAY 414 - sun, sand, vino & aussie’s

After our big drive over the Pyrenees we stopped off for a few nights to enjoy the sun, sand and the lakes around Bordeaux.  Dune Du Pyla is around 80km south of Bordeaux and is the largest sand dune in Europe.  After an exhausting climb to the top your instantly rewarded with some of the best views of the bay and surrounding area.

We stayed not far from the dune on Lac Biscarrosse before hitting Bordeaux itself.  Lake Biscarrosse is a huge, HUGE!  fresh water lake & from our campsite we could see a number of towns located around the perimeter.  I didn’t realize how big it was until on a clear day I could see the other side and realized it would probably take you all day to drive around it.  The whole area had a holiday shack/house feel to it and reminded us of Goolwa & Victor Harbor in SA (but better) and a real relaxing atmosphere about it.

I must admit the excitement was building up as hit the road and headed to Bordeaux.  We were able to escape the camper for a few nights and caught up with some friends from Adelaide, Will and Bea who now live in this amazing city.  After being in the Alps for 3 months and having no one, other than ourselves, to talk too we were so excited at the prospect of being able to get past obligatory “Bonjour” & "Bonsoir".

Will & Bea live virtually right in the heart of Bordeaux city and it’s not hard to fall in love with the place like they have.  Bordeaux is just awesome and the water front promenade is pretty spectacular and especially so on sunset, when they use different lighting & water affects to showcase it.  I think we'll definitely be going back and spending some more time in this amazing city.

An added bonus of catching up with these guys is that Bea works for one of THE top wineries (or should I say Chateau’s) in France and in fact the world!  Many of the wines from Bea’s work range in the Hundreds of Euros per bottle, so understandably we didn’t get to taste those, but  a visit to the Medoc region and a little bit of vino education from Bea, we now consider ourselves to be ‘slightly better informed’.  The Medoc region is beautiful and is home to some jaw dropping fairly tale like Chateau’s.  It certainly put’s old McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley to shame.

Will is Operations Manager for Sports Pulsions which the highly successful official tour leaders for Tour de France.  If your a cycling enthusiast (or fanatic as I call you) then Will &  Sports Pulsions are your man!

Paul and I often laugh over a memory we have of a chairlift ride we shared with a guy in Alpe d’Huez.    He was the first English person we had come across in nearly 2 months and we were talking with him a million miles an hour, that when we got to the top, he took off like lightening (kinda seemed like he couldn’t get off quick enough).  We then looked at each other and said ‘do you think we scared him?’ and burst out laughing!

So we are now a little afraid that we may have ‘talked their ears off’.  Hope their healing well Will & Bea?

DAY 407 - zig-zagging the Pyrenees – SMAZING!

Smazing is our new word for anything that is well – amazing!  The Pyrenees are beautiful and we are glad that we made the effort to come this far south to experience it.  We weren’t sure how different they would be to the French Alps and if we would feel a little disappointed or underwhelmed by it but we are happy to say we enjoyed them just as much & they are beautiful.

Sure the Pyrenees Mountains are not as high as the Alps and the valleys not as deep, but the Gorges & high mountain passes are breathtaking.  The great thing about Europe at this time of the year is that it is  ‘low season’ so you virtually have the road and place to yourself.

For this part of our journey we defiantly had a LOVE-HATE relationship with TOM-TOM.  HATE him for the least logical route he takes us on (ie virtually straight line from departure to destination) and LOVE him for exactly the same reason.  I’m sure we have taken our very large outfit (motorhome talk) many places that people wouldn’t even take their camper van, but we kinda feel that what’s the point in doing a road trip if you’re not prepared to take the ‘road less travelled’.  We do admit however there has been a few heart-stopping moments and on a number of occasions and in the early days had our fair share of ‘un-hitching’ the motorbike trailer to be able to either back up or do a 10-point turn, but for this section of our trip we are happy to advise this was not required.

TOM making an appearance in the Pyrenees

We followed the Aude River Valley in a virtual straight line south from Carcassonne to Spain.  This valley is famous for its beautiful Thermal springs, waterfalls, canyoning, whitewater rafting,  river slalom racing & other adventure sports.  We followed the Gorge down into Spain and it was just beautiful.  The road itself was just wide enough for 1.5 cars, has rock cut outs just high enough to pass under and twists and turns so much that you almost think you’re going around in circles.  It’s a little hairy when a Semi is coming towards you, but if a Semi can get past, so can we!!!!

We took this route to avoid paying a toll to enter Andorra and we are so glad we did.  It’s beautiful and worth the effort and stress trying to dodge the overhangs and other road users.  Andorra was a whistle-stop, not much to report about here, unless you’re into hiking (we’re not) but the drive in and out of Andorra is beautiful.  We did however get cheap booze and fuel which was an added bonus.  (Bombay Sapphire Gin 3Lt for $20 – total bargain). Stocked up on cheap booze and ½ price fuel we were ready for the next part of the journey, headed South again and drove through/over/in and around the Spanish Pyrenees.  We thought we were taking a fairly straight path to our next destination and where a little concerned when TOM-TOM told us to turn right.  We are glad we followed his instructions, because yet again we experienced the best mountain passes, virtually to ourselves.  The only traffic we passed where farmers on tractors & 2 guys on bikes who looked like they were on a “Forest Gump’ experience through the mountains and hadn’t shaved or showered for a few years.

We then, by sheer luck, pulled into the most SMAZING campsite near Graus in Northern Spain, which had a pitch available overlooking the lake and stayed a few days.  I’m sure there is a lot of history in this area (doesn’t everywhere in Europe?) and it looked absolutely lovely but we were happy just to kick back a few days and soak up the view.  The lake changed color every time the sun come out from behind the clouds and was like a mirror in the mornings…so beautiful.

We decided that we’d had enough of high mountain passes that felt like you are on a roller-coaster ride and thought a day of ‘easy driving’ on a motorway would be would nice.  So instead of going North back over the high mountain pass, we took the main road west towards Pamplona before heading North for the 9km Somport tunnel into France.

As mentioned on previous postings, we often don’t do any research, just hit the road and work it out along the way.  This time we can’t blame it on TOM-TOM, we decided to do this route, not knowing that another SMAZING day of driving was in front of us.  Had we had known we might have taken the easy road so I’m glad we didn’t as we would have missed this SMAZING part of the world.

This part of Spain and France is one of the least visited areas by tourists.  It boast’s beautiful remote ski villages, megalithic standing stones, caves and fortresses that have protected the French frontier for centuries.  Oh and the Pyrenees Bear.  YIPES!!!  – be careful where you camp!!!

I would love to have been a fly on the wall (or windscreen – perhaps not) during these days of driving over the Pyrenees as we must have looked like those funny clowns at the show, that have their mouths wide open and heads turning left to right waiting to catch a Ping-Pong ball.

The beauty of this area and what is has to offer is indescribable, these are probably some of our most memorable driving days but you really do have to see it for yourself it just – SMAZING!!