Autoroute going North

This is our first opportunity again since Sanary- wow that was a long time ago! Have sent a few texts via Craig but expect they will appear shortly.
Sanary was one of those campsites that looked pretty grim as we approached it - the pitches were a bit rough and a chappy was trying to mow the grass but there was so little of it amongst the sandy patches that he was really having quite an easy day! But the site had everything else to offer - the warmest loo block with very hot showers, a lovely swimming pool if it were hot enough and the free wifi. Since then, we have had the most beautiful of pitches - by the sea, beside a river and beside 2 very different lakes - but none of them had any internet access, either at the sites or in their towns/villages. Le Lavandou - where the site was just along the coast at La Faviere and perched on a hill and down to the sea - we decided against paying 9€ just for electricity (the site was costing an arm and a leg for overnight anyway! and we were high up on the hill, where everyone else were by the lapping shore. Spent a day out from here, cycling through Le Lavandou and all along the coast on an old railway track above several pretty little coves, two of which we stopped off at for a lie in the sun, almost 11 miles round trip. Then we turned away from the sea and began a slow journey north. We spent 2 lovely days by Lac de Ste. Croix which is a man-made huge EDF lake and stunningly beautiful. The water is turquoise and no motor boats allowed on it. It is surrounded by rocky hills and perched villages. The second night we stayed at Les Salles on the eastern side of the lake - their old village had been flooded and a new one built in the late 70s, very very tastefully. Definitely somewhere we want to return to see more. From there we planned to stay a couple of nights at Digne les Bains (had seen an article in a mag) but although the town looked lovely, the campsite was closed for a very very long lunch and we'd have had to have waited till 4 pm to get in, so we continued along the route Napoleon to Valonne, where the campsite was beside a river and we could pitch right beside it at no extra cost! Also the sun was brilliant and the wind was blowing, so I got a load of washing done and dried within 2 hours. The day that we meant to stay at Digne, was replaced by a visit back to Digne, for a trip on the Chemin de Fer de Provence or le Train des Pignes (pinecones). The line actually goes from here to Nice - a journey of 3.5 hours. We chose to go as far as Annot, 1.5 hours high up in the mountains. Cost, by the way, just €13 each. It was terrific - a little push me pull you diesel railcar weaving its way through narrow gorges and tunnels and passing little villages with names such as St. Andre-les-Alpes. We had just over 2 hours before catching the next train back to Digne, and enjoyed our picnic up a little path in the woods behind the village,beside the "meteors" massive rocks precariously perched on the steep wooded hillside, then exploring the delightful ancient village streets. A very memorable day.
From Volonne on to Lac de Paladru, north of Grenoble and east of Lyon. A small natural lake this time, and we were the only tourers there. Others were fishermen who were up bright and early this morning despite the ground frost and out on their boats. All looked very tranquil. And so we move on northwards, today finding an autoroute stop with wifi at a reasonable cost. But time is now running out, so till next time ...
Love to all and thanks for messages.

While at Cassis

We have discovered that we have free wifi at this campsite at Sanary-sur-Mer, so have had time to put on a few photos from the last couple of days. They are of our stay in Cassis, the second and third pics show our long walk to the calanques (inlets) on Sunday, and the last is us after a ride on the petit train on Ann's birthday!

Cassis and Sanary-sur-Mer

We arrived on the Med again on Saturday - this time at Cassis, a beautiful small town tucked behind Marseilles. Lovely campsite so we decided to stay for 3 days. There was one drawback, it was half hour's steep climb up from the harbour and we did that each day! The sun just didn't stop shining the whole time, so we took advantage and spent Sunday walking ... and walking ... the paths take you round several stunningly beautiful inlets and we followed one down into a pretty sandy cove for our picnic lunch. This was Sunday and we are in France, so we had to share the beach with tout le monde! There was quite a lot of uphill involved and it was very rocky and then once back into the town, we still had the climb - not surprised when the GPS told us that we had walked 8.6 miles! The whole harbour area of Cassis is lined with restaurants spilling out onto the quai - on Sunday they were packed to the gunnels, so it was really lovely to go back down there yesterday and have a great birthday lunch at La Veille Auberge with people about, but not packed. So apart from the climb, we spent a very enjoyable lazy day. This morning the clouds had come up and its quite chilly with the odd shower. We've moved a little further along the coast to Sanary-sur-Mer to a slightly scruffy campsite, so will only do one night here. Have come down to walk along the sea front and harbour here - it is lovely but would look so much better if the sun was shining. Forecast for tomorrow is much warmer.
Shame about the snow back home - keep yourselves warm!

Aix en Provence

Left the Luberon yesterday and drove south to Aix, stopping during the day at Roqufavour Aqueduct. This is not Roman, only built in early 19th century, but it is an amazing construction with 3 tiers of arches spanning a huge valley. It was built to carry drinking water to Aix. Not only did we view it from below, but we followed instructions in our Green Guide on a walk to the top level. Turned out to be 2.5 miles up to a very very windy cliff top overlooking one end. An enjoyable walk but it was a bit scary on the top! Today we are exploring the town - came in by bike from the campsite then parked them as things started to get busy around us. Been for a trip on the petit train to have all the interesting buildings and fountains pointed out. A lovely place on a very busy sunny day. We ate our picnic in a little park (Parc Rambot!) along with hundreds of students doing what students do in their lunch hour! Now we are making our way back to our bikes - hope to find them again and in one piece, to ride by the river with the possibility of another geocache hunt - if we have the energy. Aiming for the coast again tomorrow. Good to receive some comments - many thanks.

The Luberon

Our first oppotunity to put on a bit of blog ourselves since the weekend. At Bonnieux, a beautiful ancient town on a rock - like lots of them round here. All stunning scenery. Went in search of a geocache here this morning - we went up hills, old cobbled sreets, steps till we realised the first clue was right near the bottom - still carried on and found the other clues up where we had already been! Found the 'treasure' right on the top, having walked about 3 miles! Great views and then came down lower to a super pizza and free internet access.
Lot to tell you about other days in between, but we think the cafe may be closing!

Brilliant stunning sunshine! Explored Gordes, another village perched on a rock. Very scenic. Also village of Bories. Dry stone vaulted dwellings from 200BC.

Rained this morning. Drove to Roussillon just 19miles east in the Luberon. Amazing ochre cliffs. Red orange yellow sandstone with village perchech on top of the ridge.

Spent Saturday morning walking for miles along sandy beaches near Grau, Ann paddling! After lunch farewell to friends, drove to l'isle sur la sorgue. Lovely campsite by the river. Today went to Fontaine de vaucluse by bike. Water source as foot of high cliff in beautiful setting.

A Grand Day Out

Good to hear from you Carolyn/Chris - so sorry about your weather back home and the ongoing car problem. Housegroup must have been fun! Things have started to look up in leaps and bounds here - we had hoped that spring would arrive but today Summer came! Our first real T shirt day! Keith and Tessa had hair dressing appointments in Arles this morning, so we had no excuse but to tag along too, spend a couple of sunny hours strolling through the beautiful old town, standing in awe of the Roman arena, amphitheatre, Espace Van Gogh, Place du Forum and more before meeting up with K & T to sample their favourite restaurant with them. What a life eh? Then came Keith's Grand Tour - Daudet's Mill - Les Baux, wonderful rocky scenery with a village perched on top - Van Gogh's Asylum, the hospital he went to after he cut off his ear and where he painted many many of his famous works - St. Rémy de Provence for a welcome drink - home journey with us girls snoozing in the back. What pleasant exhaustion!
Leaving here some time tomorrow, so either back to the limited blog time or short texts via Craig. Had a lovely few days, but looking forward to being back in the van.
Comments always welcome!

Le Grau du Roi

Yesterday morning we arrived at the Med. and greeted by our good 'old' friends Tessa and Keith (from Tenterden days) at their new second home here in Le Grau du Roi. It's in a beautiful quiet spot just 2 mins from the beach. They are giving us a wonderful time, wining and dining us as well as taking us out and about. We've cycled all along a track behind the dunes, walked along the beach into the little town for a look around the arty shops and read lots of menus outside numerous restaurants and done a bit of bottle shopping. In between, lunch was served on the terrace. Oh - and before we went out this morning, John helped to repair the door on the garden shed - very successfully too! The sunshine is lovely and warm, but still that chilly wind.

Avignon day 2

How good to wake up, pull back the blind in the roof above our heads and see waving green branches against a vivid blue sky. Still cold though! But what a fantastic day we have had in Avignon - it was extremely windy on le pont, but it didn't stop us listening to all the commentary on our hand-sets taking us right out to the end in mid-stream. We discovered the origins of 'Sur le pont .....' and that the dancing was more likely to have been 'sous le pont', ie under the bridge because it originally spanned 22 arches across the Rhone with lots of little islands in the middle. Now there is one long island, l'Ile de la Barthelasse and there are only 4 arches of the bridge left. Then went to the Palais des Papes and again had the audio commentary telling us all the history of the building and various popes through the ages. We even had a hot drink at the terrace cafe on top of one of the towers! After all that walking and stair-climbing we were ready for our poulet and frites at a pavement restaurant in Place de l'horloge. Then it was back on our bikes to cross both parts of the river to explore Villeneuve lez Avignon - along a very pretty canal and then to climb through the ancient streets to search for a geocache high on a hill in a small park with fantastic views across to Avignon. Quite an energetic day - most enjoyable.

Avignon

First of all, thanks to Craig, our Deputy Blogger, for putting on our brief texts when we have no internet access ourselves. This will happen on many occasions.
But tonight here at Camping du Pont d'Avignon (right opposite the ancient half-a-pont) we have purchased 1 hour of wifi, so here is our latest news.
It's still cold, but at least we left the snow behind in Tournon - we woke up this morning to 1cm of it. Travelling south, we soon ran into sunshine and it's stayed with us all day. Set off on our bikes soon after our arrival in Avignon and explored the old town, including the Rochers des Doms and around the Palace of the Popes. We are going back tomorrow to go inside. We also found our first geocache of the holiday, a micro tucked into a crack in the city wall! Although it is so unusually cold, we have noticed that we are now in Spring - the trees are bursting with new green leaves - such a change from the bare branches further north.
We trust you are all keeping warm back home and that you had a very happy Easter.
We went to Easter Sunday Mass at the catholic church of St. Julien in Tournon yesterday. Quite a change from our usual Easter Day, but we grasped a little of what was going on and enjoyed the singing. We planned to follow this with a meal at an attractive-looking logis close by, but unfortunately it was complet when we arrived. So we ended up in a little bar/restaurant with a limited menu - prawn salad followed by steak for John and Fritures for me (deep-fried sprats including eyes) and then we chose eclairs chocolat from a whole list of desserts! Very tasty.
(Saving a bit of our wifi time for tomorrow).

Happy Easter. Came to Tournon sur rhone yesterday. Still cold but after the hail the sun came out this evening we enjoyed a walk on the rocky hillside overlooking the town.

Anse, near Lyon

It's been a long time finding somewhere with internet access, but this morning at a very nice campsite we've found it! One big problem is the French keyboard which makes it very slow for a Brit touch-typist! We loved the comments from Graham and Doreen - we are having a great time but it is NOT warm! We have stayed 2 nights on campsites and 3 on FREE aires. The first of those was by Lac d'Orient and Thursday beside a Voie Verte, an old railway track now for cycling with a station car park for camping. The Restaurant de la Gare was excellent. Shame we woke to rain yesterday for our visit to Taizé. First time we've been in cold weather, but the spirit was just as warm. A very friendly young German girl welcomed us and showed us a video about Easter at Taizé, we joined thousands for the lunch-time Prayers - beautiful singing - and we decided to leave while the youngsters queued for their lunch in the pouring rain. It didn't stop all day. We continued south in the hope of some sun and today it is trying, but not quite what we hoped for. We're hoping for better when we get to the Med. Will write more when able - lots to tell already.

Rained all today. Spent morning at Taize. Joined thousands at lunch time prayers with beautiful singing. Then south to Anse with internet. Will use in the morning.

Traveled 50miles south today following canal du centre to st Gengoux to a lovely aire on the site of and old station. Cycled on trackway through some vineyards.

Last night at geraudot by lac d'orient. Was peaceful until the circus turned up this morning! Country route today to Beaune. Still quite cold, but there has been some sun.

Ready for the Off tomorrow evening

With the return to work of the officers of Seafrance, we expect a trouble-free crossing to France late tomorrow evening. After a night's rest in the 'Sans Billet' car park at Calais Harbour, we will be setting off on our latest adventure - this time to Provence. We look forward to posting our story.