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!!

DAY 390 - million dollar boats, million dollar views, a castle & nudity

The drive back over the French Boarder is amazing.  It is one of the best coastal drives you can do in Europe.  The road hugs the coast all the way from Genoa at the heart of the Italian Riviera to just past Nice in the heart of the French Riviera.  We couldn’t believe that the road hasn’t been closed off or re-routed to make way for resorts and houses.  The scenery is amazing and it’s not hard to see why this area is often rated as one of the best views in the world.  As the road is narrow there aren’t many stopping places so unfortunately it was hard to get any good photos.

After crossing the border back into France at Menton, just near Monaco, we virtually re-traced our steps from our last visit here in 2007.  We drove past Monaco, Aze & Nice….who would have thought that 5 years later we would have thrown caution to the wind and be driving wher’dmadaygo’ down Promenade des Anglais in Nice on our 2 year gaunt of Europe?  We didn’t stop in these places as “been there, done that”, but it did bring back some great memories of our 2007 trip.

Antibes is a great fortified town and being on the Riviera has an equally impressive marina.  The annual Antibes Boat Show was on when we were in town and decided to rub shoulders with the rich & famous for an afternoon.  If you have a cool 400million Euro to spend then you can pick yourself up a very nice boat, which comes with a matching helicopter, Ferrari & “James Bond” speed boat.  We couldn't find anything we like that matched where'dmadaygo so decided to not place an order....lol

The drive to Avignon was not the prettiest in our opinion.  TOM-TOM took us via a very windy National Park which reminded us of the S.A. scrub, some might love it, but we didn’t think much of it.  Our reward when arriving in Avignon was a great campsite, right opposite Pont d’Avignon and the Papal Palace – awesome view.  On our journey further south our lunch stop was Arles, this is where Van Gough lived for a few years and produced over 300 paintings and drawings during his time here.

view from our campsite

In true Rose and Paul style we never really know where we are going to spend the night and often do little research, we kinda just hit the road with a rough plan and see how we feel and how far we get.  So we ended up in Agde, which also happens to be a naturist seaside resort (i.e. nudist resort) and hence is nicknamed the "Naked City"…… GULP!   It’s totally acceptable to wear just your birthday suit to lunch, dinner, shopping, getting your hair done, riding a bike – oh can you just imagine???  Where would you put your keys & wallet?  I was a little afraid to get of my bicycle as I didn’t know where to sit!  Thank goodness the weather was coldish so we luckily didn’t see any “francs and beans” or “oranges in footy socks”. 

Cather Country was our next stop for a few days and again we had a great campsite in Carcassonne with a Million Dollar view of the ‘Cité de Carcassonne’ from our pitch.  It’s a “Disneyland Fairy Tale“ type fortified old city with a castle and was used as a strong defense on the French frontier in 1247 against the Kingdom of Aragon (now Spanish) and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The real highlight of our time here was finding a winery called Rose & Paul.  We of cause did the obligatory taste test and purchased as much as we could fit onto the motorbike.   It’s a family run winery and has an interesting history.  Paul (the grandfather) went off to the war and Rose (the grandmother) had to attend to the vineyard all by herself for years.  Paul returned from the war and they eventually increased the size & quality of the vines.  

It’s a great love story and business story here’s there website if you want to know more about their wines.  

Domaine Rose & Paul

DAY 376 - a taste of Italy

You know you’ve crossed the border and arrived in Italy when the first thing you see is a local’s garden full of concrete and marble statues.  And when the supermarkets have whole aisle’s dedicated to Olive Oil and tomatoes.

We have quite literally eaten our way through this part of Italy and enjoyed every mouthful.  When we first arrived Pizza was often been the food for choice for brekky, lunch and dinner…and we have now expanded our diet to include Pasta, fish & gelato!  Ah how we love Italy…..we love it a lot.  

Turin

Turin is in beautiful Northern Provence of Piedmont which is like Tuscany but without the tourists.  Rolling green hills filled with grape vines, hazelnut & olive groves, hill top villages all boasting a castle and/or massive church, wineries galore and beautiful villages with winding cobblestoned streets full of B&B’s and restaurants.  A lot of people bypass this area, but it really is a gem and a gourmet food lover’s dream.

We didn’t release it at the time but Turin & Piedmont is considered the capital of the food of Italy (however I’m not sure every Italian will agree) but it’s bursting with fresh produce, sparkling wine, rare white truffles, chocolate,  the “Bra Sausage” & is where the Slow Food Movement headquarters are located.

The first thing we stumbled across in Turin was the local produce market, so we stocked up on local wine, tomatoes, meat and bread.  The food is so much cheaper than France and better quality and to our delight it was on daily, so we went back twice.  We didn’t really know what to expect but we liked Turin and found it easy to get around.  The locals are really friendly and with an abundant choice of pizza and gelato shops on every street there was not much of a need to cook in the motorhome.  It’s also home of the ‘Shroud of Turin’ but that’s not really our sort of thing, plus only the Pope & the bishop of Turin can view it so we skipped the big line up at the museums and spent most of our time in and around the produce market.  We made sure we left Turin with full pantry cupboards & a bit of wine to wash it all down.

We then headed south and stopped at an awesome little town called Cherasco.  In the lush Langhe wine district.  It’s apparently well known for its chocolate & snails (we didn’t see any or try any).  We intended to only stay a night as a stopover on our way south, but found it really well situated and ended up staying for nearly a week.  It’s a beautiful village around 1000 years old with 7 or 8 castles (and summer houses of past Kings & Queens from all over Europe) and just as many churches, built on a hill overlooking the hills.

From here we did day trips to Alba (factories for Frerro Rocher, Kinder Surprise & Nutella), La Morra & Barolo (home of Nobbiolo grapes and famous for its red’s where you can do wine tasting in their castles’) Monfortme d’Alba (beautiful village sitting on a hill top ridge) Cuneo & Fossano.  All beautiful, all worth seeing and extremely affordable.  Tuscany gets a lot of attention and so it well should, but if you’re after a less crowded Italian experience, Piedmont is perfect.

We then headed south and drove along a route that Napoleon took and past many ‘Jesus boxes’  as call them (concrete shrines depicting scenes from Jesus life and death)  down to the coast and along the Italian Riviera from Savona ending in SanRemo.  

The weather hasn’t been so kind to us so we didn’t get to see much outside the motorhome windows, but with it’s typical cobblestoned winding narrow street, impressive coastal drive and world class marina’s it wouldn’t be hard to spend a summer anywhere along here.

We could only stay in Italy for a few weeks as we are heading back to France and UK & looking forward to returning and working on our waistlines again for a few months in June.

DAY 359 - le tour de ski resort Francia & Italia

It was a little sad to leave our apartment in Bourg d’Osians but also exciting to get back on the road and check out a little more of Europe.

As our season pass for Alpe d’Huez gave us free access to other ski resorts and with fresh snow forecasted in the coming days, we didn’t get very far, just 20kms up the road is Les Duex Alpes.  We got a fresh dump on the 2^nd night and it continued to snow lightly for the next couple of days. 

Les Deux Alpes is huge and we actually liked it better than Alpe d’Huez.  They have about the same amount of runs in km as each other but Les Deux Alpes in sqm would be bigger.  The runs are huge, really long & really wide and so many lifts and pommers to use, you never had to line up.  Whereas Alpe d’Huez  has long skinny runs which lead into flat return tracks which require you to skate back to the village or lift system and always, always had line ups.

Pole Position camping at Villenvue - Serre Chevalier

10days later we drove to Serre Chevalier.  It’s approx. 1hr drive from Les Deux Alpes and is beautiful.  The chair lift system is really well linked to 5 villages which are situated on the main mountain road to Italy, so you can ski all day on the mountains and then have the convenience of being in a bigger town or village at night or for non-ski days. 

We stayed in Villenvue and really liked it.  It was really pretty, built on both sides of a little waterway that goes straight through the village.  It was full of yummy bakeries & restaurant’s and has a really good vibe about it.  It’s only 5kms from Briancon which is a decent size town, with big brand shops, easy and convenient to get too and thus made it more reasonably priced that Alpe d’Huez or Les Deux Alpes.  We stayed for 3 days here and totally enjoyed it.  It has really picturesque, nice long tree lined runs right from the top down to the village with an excellent lift system.  Not a soul in sight (ie School kids) and with light snow at night we were able to make some fresh lines virtually every day.

We then moved onto the Italian Milky Way (via Lattea) ski resorts.  We ended up staying right on the boarder (French side) in a ski resort town called Montgenevere as they had a really excellent camper park.  The Milky Way is made up of 5 Italian ski villages and 1 French village.  All linked by ski runs and chair lifts and as it was host to the 2006 Winter Olympics, so therefore the lift system, ski runs, services and facilities are excellent.

It was pretty cool to wake up in the morning and have brekky in France, board a chairlift 100m from the motorhome and get off the chair lift in Italy.

Out of all the ski resorts we visited on this trip, if I was to do another season in this part of France or Italy then it would be Serre Chevalier or the Milky Way.  But for next year we are tossing up Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

No major stacks or face plants to report and yes we can confirm we are officially addicted to the snow!

DAY 312 - winter wonderland

Well, we are in the French Alps enjoying a season in the snow and perfecting our turns on the hazardous bumpy moguls. Europe has been experiencing one of the coldest and harshest winters on record.  It's bloody cold and even colder on the motorbike. We don't have a car and the public transport system is a joke so we take the motorbike up the mountain every day.  

Yes - we are crazy!

We are just like this scene from Dumb and Dumber

We plan to be here till mid-late March and then will hit the road again.  We are renting an apartment in the village of Bourg d'Oisans which is at the base of Alpe d'Huez (home of the famous 21 turns of Tour de France) as it's cheaper than a campsite at this time of the year, a damn site warmer and a load more room. 

Alpe D'Huez - L'ile au soleil (island in the sun) boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year and we can certainly vouch for that.  At times it’s been cold & dark in Bourg d’Oisans & by the time we’ve ridden the bike up the mountain and above the clouds, its china blue ski’s and warm sun.  And for the winter that Europe is having its certainly good for the soul.

Start of La Sarenne

Pic Blanc is the highest point in resort at 3300 m above sea level & has the most spectacular array of mountains as far as the eye can see.  On clear days it’s said you can see one third of France.  In the distance we can see Les Duex Alpes & Mont Blanc.  It’s just breath taking & I only hope some of my photo’s can do it justice.

From here we can ski La Sarenne (our Favourite run) down the mountain.  There is also the longest black run in Europe, at 16km and is definitely a must-do when in Alpe d'Huez.  On a good day it will take around 1.5-2hrs to complete.


Some of the runs are so beautiful & at times we have to stop, take it all in and make sure we don’t rush the experience or miss anything.  At the very top is Pic Blanc, with views across to Mont Blanc & is where we can ski on a Glacier…it’s HUGE!  Further down we ski through the Gorges of Sarenne with views across to Les Duex Alps….it’s amazing.  And around the other side of the mountain towards the resorts of Oz and Vaujany, we ski past frozen water falls and through Pine Forests…just beautiful!

Frozen Waterfalls

The fresh snow has been so deep at times that we’ve had some pretty spectacular stacks, but with such deep snow it makes for soft landings & we have not had any injuries.  I’m sure we would have been good contenders for Funniest Home Videos.

It’s been a dramatic couple of weeks here on the mountain, which always makes it interesting and are certainly not to have been caught up in any of it.  60 people were rescued from the Pic Blanc cable car/gondola (which normally carries 160 people at a time) when a mechanical problem left them stranded for 2 hours.  They had to abseil to the ground, approx 70m below after the cable car got stuck half way between the stations.  Apparently the high winds caused the cables to cross over….how scary!

Also, a Russian snow boarder died aftering choosing to go ‘off-piste’ in dangerous terrain…and jumped off a cliff.  His mate on ski’s stopped & held back as soon as he spotted the dangerous terrain ahead, however the snowboarder kept going and died on impact!

To keep warm during all this cold weather we’ve discovered the art of making Vin Chaud.  It’s a traditional wintertime drink that is a favorite in the cozy cabins of the Alps.  Vin Chaud aka French mulled wine is easy to make, so give it a go.

Vin Chaud Recipe

• 1 Bottle of Cheap Red Wine (your choice of dry or sweeter) 
• Coarsely ground cinnamon or 4 cinnamon sticks 
• A few cloves (optional) 
• About ¼ cup of honey (or more–sweeten to taste) 
• 2 thinly sliced oranges and teaspoon of orange zest.

Directions
Combine ingredients and heat on the stove over medium-low heat and let simmer. Do not allow wine to boil. After several minutes it will start releasing beautifully spiced vapors that fill the kitchen space with intoxicating aroma. Serve hot.

DAY 287 - journey to the French alps

It was a long journey from the Spanish Port of Ceuta in Morocco to the French Alps and our location for ‘A Season in the Snow’ at Alpe d’Huez.  1860km if we took the short route, but that would have meant we travelled back via places we’d already seen, so we took the long route and added another 450km onto the journey.  We did however visit some pretty amazing places in between!

Seville is a must see on any trip to Spain and is by far our favorite Spanish City.  We were lucky enough to find a really great spot to camp in a boat Marina called Puerto Gelves, which is around 5km from the CBD.   When you look at a map, Seville is nowhere near the coast and at first didn’t really make sense how they could have a Marina so close to the city.  The river Guadalquivir is a massive river system which comes from central Spain and finishes on the Atlantic coast near the Portugal boarder.  I couldn’t believe how many sailing boats where there from around the globe.  We met some really great people from Argentina, Boston USA, Netherlands, Barcelona, Norway, Italy, Canada, London and Sweden. Many had spent the past 10-15 years sailing the world.  

I’ve since discovered that Marinas are great places to spend the night as often they have facilities like electricity, water, washing machine, WC, showers, WIFI, bars, shops etc. etc. to accommodate the ‘boat people’.  So it’s perfect for motorhomes as you just have to rock up and plug in.  We’ll be utilizing Marina’s a lot more in the future if we can.

Plaza Mayor

Seville is ‘chock-a-block’ full of Tapas Bar’s and can just imagine many family members spending day’s or even weeks experiencing all the food and wine that Seville has to offer. 

The Cathedral is spectacular, but we didn’t go inside as it’s 9euro per person.  We refuse to pay to go in & see churches or cathedral’s so we only saw it from the outside.  Real Alcazar, the Royal Palace, is pretty spectacular and walking around the winding streets in Jewish quarter was equally interesting, however the real highlight and treat (plus it was free) is Plaza de España. 

Plaza de Espana

I didn’t know anything about the Plaza and we decided last minute to see it on our way back to the motorhome.  It’s a beautiful plaza that was built in 1929 for World Expo and during the Art Deco era.   The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle with buildings running around the edge accessible over a moat with beautiful bridges. In the centre is a large fountain.  By the walls of the Plaza are tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain.  Each province has their own mural and mosaic tile and is really pretty.  We made sure to take a pic of every province we had visited. 

Madrid, the capital of Spain felt like a mix of London and Paris.  It was great to be in such a bustling big capital city again.  We really love ‘BIG’ cities as there is always something going on, lots of noise & people everywhere.  Plaza Mayor was so busy and filled with Christmas Markets that we didn’t get to see it like you see in all the pics.  Palacio de Cibeles, Madrid’s City Hall, is really beautiful and opposite the US embassy which is equally as pretty.  All the museums and art gallery’s where so busy as it was Christmas holidays and every man and his Spanish dog where out so we didn’t fancy waiting in line for 4 hours to see them but we really enjoy just walking the streets and admiring the buildings from the outside anyway. 

When then headed for the French boarder and crossed over into France just in time to welcome in the New Year.  It took 3 days to travel from Madrid to Nimes, where we spent New Year and not much to report from that part of that journey.  It was pretty boring, apart from the bodega’s (winery’s) we visited that are ‘not so’ along route, crossing the Spanish/French boarder very late in the evening on 30DEC.  

We eventually decided on Nimes for New Year as we wanted a big village fiesta feel to welcome in 2012.  Well, Nimes couldn’t be more different and it was a welcomed surprise.  I realize now after spending so much time and actually living in Europe, how much I don’t know about Europe!  Nimes is a beautiful city which is part of the Provence region of France, and boasts its own Roman Amphitheatre where they have bull fighting! 

la Maison Carre

We found the most awesome local Bar opposite la Maison Carré, a first century Roman Temple, to have dinner and drinks and see in the New Year.  There was an ice skating rink outside  the Temple which set the scene and made it look magical.  By 11pm the Bar was full, we had met some new local friends and had a great time.

The journey from Nimes, through Provence to the Alps is indescribable!  Sometimes we really ‘hate’ TOM TOM because he doesn’t take us on the most logical route and other times we ‘love’ him because he doesn’t take us on the most logical route.  We drove through Uzez, Vivers, Grillon and Valreas in the Provence/Rhône-Alpes regions…so beautiful I cannot describe.

We are now in our winter wonderland Bourg d’Oisans at the base of Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps.  It is so beautiful and we are addicted to the snow.