Tuesday 19th April

Eventually, 2 other camping units turned up last night (small campers) but they were gone this morning.

A rather overcast day today but nice when the sun breaks through. We decided to explore the Vallee de la Creuse which has supposedly “inspired famous impressionist painters, seduced by its remarkable landscapes along the water and its picturesque and peaceful villages. Emotions, discoveries and inspirations, come visit the Valley of Painters.” Wonder which ones they were?

The towns look rather uncared for and in need of a jolly old cheer up. Plenty to work on. The villages on the other hand are quite charming. The biggest town in the area we suppose is Argenton-sur-Creuse and we were a little disappointed in its shabbiness. High above the river sits the chapel of La Bonne-Dame topped by a very large gold leaf statue of Mary giving what looks like a very dodgy salute whilst holding the baby in one hand. Be careful up there.

S IMG_2530.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

The small village of Le Menoux on the other hand is a gem with another small church, Notre Dame de le Menoux and its brightly coloured fresco Ceilings.

Evidently, a Bolivian Artist called Jorge Carrasco visited the village and offered to paint the bare walls and ceilings of the church. The work took place between 1968 and 1976. Different isn’t it and it certainly has a wow factor? It’s supposed to depict the spirit of God and the meaning of life. Wow, I need some of that spirit and now. Lidl spirits are weak by comparison

S IMG_2546.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2537.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2540.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

In another part of the village there is an artist who looks to be producing original design garden sculptures in stone or welded metal and some of his/her works are displayed on the roadside outside the workshop.

We visited a few more charming villages before returning to the campsite this afternoon.

S IMG_2552.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

One thing that I have noticed during this trip is the amount of French folk who are now gadding about in large campervans. When we last stayed in France for any amount of time back in 2018, it was my feeling that the French still preferred caravans. The Dutch seem to be going the same way and there would appear to be far more Overnight stops for Campervans now which will probably be detrimental to the wealth and availability of nice campsites this country once had.

This campsite is a casing point. It has been around for a while I think but is new to ACSI, probably to try and drum up more business. I suspect that Covid has knocked it and other campsites for six. Almost next door there is a Municipal Campsite. I don’t know how long it’s been there but like a lot of Municipals, it lacks a bit of security. OK for campervans but I wouldn’t wish to leave our Eriba there with all our trappings laid out. That Municipal is at the moment, equally dead but even they have to stop campervans from parking in the lane adjacent to the site by putting up warning signs.

According to Mrs R this area of France has some of the cheapest houses on offer but I don’t think we would like to live here. It’s quite nice but lacks something

All sounds a bit French to me Islay
Randa

Wednesday 20th April

Another dull day but no rain fortunately. It’s so peaceful here and the amount of bird song is immense and that’s said by a couple who live on the edge of a forest. There’s a cuckoo out there who hasn’t stopped for two days. Don’t here them in our part of the UK.

Today we took a drive up to Chateauroux, about 20 kms north east of us. A really pleasant city and very easy to drive through. Lots of shared car/pedestrian lanes and very many underground car parks where the first hour is free and beyond that about 1.80 euros an hour. Plenty of restaurants and cafes. We decided on trying a Thai Restaurant that was offering lunch for 11.90 euros each. Don’t ask what we had, mine was beef and rice, Mrs R had prawns and pasta, both very difficult to handle with 2 sticks. There was a fork that came to the rescue however.

S IMG_2555.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

The centre of this modern city leads onto the older lanes and buildings and a very friendly Tourist Office gave us a walking map to follow. Not a huge amount to see but still a very pleasant couple of hours.

When we got back we noticed that we had fellow campers, a German couple with a large Eriba Nova pulled by a stretched VW Caddy. They were in a dilemma as their mover was u/s but the van was a dream to push, even onto a sloping pitch.

I’ve just been told that there is another couple who have turned up with a Pop Top caravan so time to ‘vestigate as our granddaughter would say.

S IMG_2558.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2563.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2566.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Randa

That dinner looks good.

The other Pop Top was a small Silver owned by a couple from Switzerland. During the evening 3 campervans turned up and the French one in particular brought back a chuckle. He moved from space to space while his wife was left to walk around the campsite with her dog. He was looking for a good TV signal and was getting very aggrieved.

Friday 22nd April and it was a long drive south to Camping Du Viaduc (ACSI 1690) near Pers, Aurillac. A distance of 212 miles and 5.5 hours. This included a slight detour of about 30 miles and one hour to call in on Darren Millar (Yuki Puck). He’s the guy who runs the Facebook Page site Retro Caravan Stuff.com and he and his girlfriend live in a small village just north of Limoges.

French Map 05.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_20220422_110626.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

We told him we would only stay for 10 minutes as we had a long journey but it was nice to have a chat with him. He is a very easy going softly spoken Scotsman and we were glad we took the time to meet him. Always generous, he gave us a box which we thought contained some of his chickens freshly laid eggs and a cake his girlfriend Kelly had made. When we opened the box there were loads of other goodies as well. I had packed together some spare Meet badges I had hanging around but we completely forgot to give them to him until we were about 5 miles out of his village and on our merry way.

S IMG_2589 - Copy.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

This campsite is by the side of a large reservoir about 10 miles west of Aurillac and it’s on a road to nowhere. Very narrow single lane roadways for many miles around. Lovely campsite though with large pitches. 16 euros off the lake and 18.5 euros overlooking the lakeside. Splendid toilet block, wifi near reception. A really nice lady owner whose young dog had a scrap with our cat and Mrs R lost as the cat flew into her arms claws projected.

S IMG_2582 A.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte) S IMG_2581.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2584.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Randa

So envious.

Colin

Not long now Colin. You'll be out here soon
We've just had a small thunder storm and some rain which will hopefully have cleaned the pollen off the car,the Eriba and the Isabella. All are yellow at the moment.
Randa

Should be Zuki Puck. Didn't I say how much I hate these silly phones?

Sunday 24th April

When we arrived on Friday the weather was very hot and sunny and there were several people around the lake renting paddle boards and canoes. They may have been staying in the chalets at the top of the campsite but by Saturday Morning they were gone. At around 7pm on Friday we had a short storm followed by showers

It rained on and off through Friday night and during yesterday, The temperature dropped as well during the evening which allowed us to try out our convector heater. Very easy and very quick. Our long Isabella is doing a fine job as well and the extra 600 mm of length mean s that the door and all the side windows of the Troll are covered. A bit flappy in the wind but stood up well.

This campsite is a lovely campsite but it is too far off the beaten track for us. It’s 6kms drive through lanes to the nearest small town with a bread shop. For folk who like boating, fishing and generally hanging about it is a great place to stay and very relaxing. We’ve been doing nothing in particular for the past two days and we feel better for it.

Travelling further South East tomorrow and probably going over THE BRIDGE. Millau……...

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................


Monday 25th April and a 4 hour drive to the village of Nant just South West of Millau. We are at Campsites and Paysages Les 2 Vallees. (ACSI 1932). 12 euros a night all inclusive including free Wifi. 800 metres from the medieval village of Nant.

French Map 06.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

A lovely campsite with clean toilet facilities only half of which are open at the moment but 3 of the 5 loos are Turkish Water Skiing bogs. There is no way I could get down there and back up again. Why do people still install them?

S IMG_2607.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2608.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

S IMG_2609.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)S IMG_2610.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

On the way down we drove south (ish) on the D920 from Aurillac general direction Rodez and Millau and came upon some really beautiful large villages in the Lot Valley and the Lot Gorges. There appears to be many places to visit the Lot (could say Lots of Lots) but we’ve never done this trip before.

The town of Montsalvy with huge views over the surrounding hillsides. Next was Entravgues-sur-Truyere with it’s splendid ancient bridge which the Sat Nav tried to take us across. Then Espalion before heading to the A75 (E11) to view the greatest bridge of all. The Millau Viaduct. It now costs 14.20 euros to cross with the Eriba (we seem to remember it was 7 euros when it first opened) .

S IMG_2598.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte) Entravques. S IMG_2602.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte) Espalion.

We decided to stop at the Bridge Services for a break before travelling on but in my endeavour to park alongside another Eriba I missed the spot and ended up going out again. No way back. Mrs R wasn’t amused.

S IMG_2605.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Millau itself is a fine town with several good riverside campsites but we wanted to head on a further 20 kms or so to Nant (there’s Welsh sounding isn’t it?).

Randa