Category: France

Travels in France

October 24, 2023 Piana FR

Ton and I have had the privilege of driving some beautiful highways in our time traveling, the Alaska Highway, Utah Highway 12, the Pacific Coast Highway, the Amalfi Coast, and today we added another beautiful and memorable highway to the list, the D81 between Sagone and Osage on Corsica.

Some of the mountain scenery at the beginning of the drive.

Our thought was to move up to Calvi today. It is the next major town north of us and somewhere we planned to spend a day during our visit to Corsica. I had looked at a map and I remember telling Ton that it was not going to be a quick trip as the road looked very curvy, and mountainous. I punched Calvi into Greta our navigator, and she first reported that it was 47 kilometers north of us by air, she then calculated the route and said it was 118 kilometers of road. That is a lot of curves.

The road we followed to get to this point is in the center of the picture. The scenery is incredible, and the road is a roller coaster.

I checked the weather and it was not good. It was supposed to rain most of the day, so in addition to the mountains and curves we were going to have wet roads. We had a short debate about whether to stay put for the day, but while the campground was nice the only entertainment around it was a very nice grocery store next door, so we decided to move on.

This would not be our only goat encounter of the drive.

Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot of the supermarket there were a couple of thunderclaps and the moderate rain we had been experiencing turned into a full on downpour. Ton asked if we should abort the drive, but I decided to push on.

This view is incredible in the rain. I can’t imagine what it is like on a sunny day.

For the first 45 minutes of the drive the windshield wipers were on high to handle the volume of rain. We had to keep our eyes out for water running across the road and deep puddles. Fortunately the traffic was pretty light, and we did not realize it at the time but this was the wide and straight part of the drive.

Approaching a small town on the route. There was a decent sized town every 10 kilometers or so.

After about 45 minutes the rain let up and then eventually stopped just as we were reaching the area around the town of Piana. The timing it turns out couldn’t have been better as we were reaching the Calanques de Piana. We passed thru Piana which was the largest town we had seen so far on the trip. There were several substantial hotels in the town and the views from the town were great including some red rocks in the distance.

Some of the Calanques with the road carved into the side of them

A couple of kilometers outside of the town we came to a sign in French which said approximately, the road is very narrow, there will be places to pull out so when you run into another car, work it out. Or words to that effect. We were entering the Calanques de Piana.

I’m in the pull out on the right as this car went by.

But what a magnificent stretch of road. The road is carved thru these amazing red rocks that reminded me a bit of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. There were hair pin turns to negotiate while you were peering around the corner to see if anyone else was coming, and simultaneously gawking at another beautiful vista.

This guy gave way to allow me to squeeze around the corner, while giving me a hand signal telling me no one was coming.

Once going around one of the corners I ran into a tour bus coming the other way. We both stopped and checked our mirrors and I was planning to back up about 50 yards to a pullout, but before I could get into reverse he gave me a hand signal to wait and he threw the bus in reverse and backed into a small pull out part way to give me enough room to squeeze thru. Over the 10 kilometers or so of the narrow part of the road I came across 5 vehicles, 3 times the other person backed up to make enough room, and twice I did. Often you would see another car coming and we would park in a pull out and wait for them to go by. As the sign said use the pull outs and work it out amongst yourselves.

Not only did you have to deal with cars on the narrow road, but four legged traffic.

Not only do you have the red rocks but you can see the ocean from the road. This stretch of road is absolutely one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. When we set out in the morning we had no idea we were going to have one of the most memorable drives of our life. Today is the reason why we enjoy traveling in our little RV’s. We would have never experienced the D81 and the Calanques de Piana.

Even the goats used the pullouts to allow traffic to flow.

We left the campground at 9:45 and arrived at our campground in Calvi at about 1:15, so our 118 kilometer drive took three and half hours for an average speed of 33 kph or 20 miles per hour. It was not a fast trip but we enjoyed it immensely. Right as we got settled into the campground the sky opened up again and we spent the rest of the day watching the rain pour down with high winds and the occasional thunderclap. It was a memorable day.

October 23, 2023 Sagone FR

We woke up early as we were both a little nervous about the Controle Technique that François had to undergo. The Controle Technique is an inspection that every motor vehicle in France has to go thru every two years. There are 136 points of inspection and if you fail you have to find a mechanic to fix the issue and bring it back in to have it reinspected. We were also worried because our inspection was due in August, but we were in the US and François was in Greece, so we did not know if we were subject to any penalty for being late.

All of the things that are checked in the inspection.

If the timing was better and we knew a mechanic in town we would have arranged to have someone go over François before we went in for the inspection. I took a look at the list of 136 things, and while some of them were easy to understand such as are all of the lights working, is the windshield intact, are the tires in good condition etc. Some were pretty obscure, and some require a diagnostic computer. So after talking it over we decided to just go in and get the inspection and see what happens.

Arriving at the building. We were nervous.

The other concern I had was if something was wrong would I be able to communicate effectively with the technician to understand the issue. Google translate is pretty good, but sometimes for technical issues things are not that clear. When we arrived we were both pretty nervous, but the guys in the office and the other customers put as at ease by treating us as an interesting twist to their day and having fun with it. I surrendered our registration document to the technician and he immediately got a giggle out of the name of the “company” François the motorhome is registered to which is Corbin Voyage. He showed it to a couple of the other customers who smiled and one of them gave me a thumbs up.

François going thru the third and final station of the inspection.

The tech finally asked for the keys and drove François into the bay for the first station of the inspection. Ton and I were at the window looking into the shop like two parents watching their child trying out for a team. We watched the monitors, and tried to guess from the reaction of the tech if he was doing good. After about 20 minutes of nervous observation interspersed with being teased by an older gentleman who was there getting his Smart car tested. The tech drove François out and came into the waiting area and announced that our score was perfect! Though I did see him shoot some air into one of the tires, so it wasn’t quite perfect. There also wasn’t a fine for being three months late getting the inspection. We were very proud of François and celebrated by going to a LeClerc and buying some French goodies that we both have missed since our last foray here.

The direction signs for our campground. These are all towns in Corsica.

I had picked out the closest campground North of Ajaccio that was still open. It was only 38 kilometers, but we are learning that the coastline of Corsica is very rugged and the roads are full of hairpin turns as a result. Between some traffic in Ajaccio and the hairpin roads it took us nearly an hour to cover those 38 kilometers. As a result we arrived 10 minutes after the campground office had shutdown for their two hour lunch break. I may have muttered a curse word when I realized we were going to have to park and wait two hours, when I heard a voice behind me ask if I spoke English, she then said she was going to open the gate and let us in, and that I should then come back at 2pm and check in.

A flower near the entrance to the campground. Ton doesn’t know the variety but she really likes it.

We set up François, and Ton whipped up a wonderful lunch. It was our first food of the day, which probably contributed to the high bill and the amount of deserts we had bought from our pass thru LeClerc. All in all a good day.

The campground has an orange grove. Ton was ready to go in and start picking when I showed her the sign that said no entry.

October 22, 2023 Ajaccio FR

The day got off to a good start as when I woke up Ton looked at me and said we should wash some clothes while we are here. She then sent me out to look for a laundromat. I scouted the main road in front of the hotel, and just as I was about to give up, I spotted a laundromat in a little strip mall walking distance from the hotel. So we gathered up our laundry in François and by 10 am had our laundry done. To celebrate our logistical victory we stopped in a Boulangerie and bought a nice French breakfast.

A statue depicting Napoleon Bonaparte as a Roman emperor near the waterfront in Ajaccio.

Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napoleon and his name shows up on many of the buildings, streets, and businesses in downtown Ajaccio. We spent a good part of the day walking from one memorial to Napoleon to another and finally to the street where he was born and raised. He last visited his boyhood home in 1799 and never returned as he became Emperor of the French and then went into exile after he was defeated at Waterloo.

The street that Napoleon grew up on. The large building with the security guard in the door is his boyhood home, and now a National Monument of France.

Beside being the birthplace of one of the most famous Frenchman ever, Ajaccio is also the capital of Corsica. But it is a nice compact city that is easy to move around in. The city is surrounded by mountains in 3 directions and the ocean in the fourth. It is a beautiful setting for a city.

Looking across the harbor at the mountains in the background that we drove over yesterday.

Sundays are usually pretty low key in France, but the waterfront in Ajaccio was humming and the unseasonably warm weather had all of the cafes full. We enjoyed walking around and noticed that for the first time in a long time we heard nothing but the native language of the town being spoken. We can’t remember the last time we went a whole day without hearing either English or German being spoken by a significant percentage of the people. There were so few tourists around that all of the people we needed to talk to just assumed we were French until we proved otherwise. It was fun.

One of the more interesting groups hanging out today was the Corsican Motorcycle Club. A lot of Harleys and the leather vests we see on all of the Harley clubs in the US. The biggest difference we noticed as while there was some Budweiser on the table, most of the members were drinking wine.

We noticed that the market was open, so we made a bee line for it as most things grocery related shutdown around 1 pm. The market is always a happy place for Ton. This was a good one with a great variety of foods.

Part of the market in Ajaccio.

The food looked a lot like what we saw in Sardinia. Great looking seafood, a lot of smoked meats, and cheese primarily made from sheep. There were vegetables and fruit available, and while nice were not up to the quality and variety we saw in Sicily.

A selection of different salamis and ham. Ton was very tempted but we need to eat some of the stuff we brought from Sardinia before indulging here.

Ajaccio was a great introduction to Corsica. The natural setting of the town is beautiful, the people looked happy and prosperous, and the food looks like it is going to be a treat. Even the Corsican beer we tried at one of the cafes was a cut above anything we have had since we left Belgium. We are excited to begin digging in to Corsica tomorrow after we take care of our technical inspection and make François legal to drive again in France.

Another view of the harbor and mountains surrounding Ajaccio.

October 21, 2023 Ajaccio Fr

Well today is going to be a short one. We woke up early after a night of steady rain. We wanted to get on the road pretty early as we were paying for a hotel room we were not using in Ajaccio.

The drive over from Porto Vecchio to Ajaccio was only 150 kilometers, but I noticed that google had it pegged at 2 hours and 40 minutes, and they base it on driving a car at the speed limit. I told Ton it looked like it was going to be a tough drive thru the mountains. The roads themselves were in good shape but it was mountain driving with multiple switchbacks and steep slopes that frequently had me down to 3rd gear. On top of that it was raining most of the way, so we took about 3 and a half hours to cover the distance. Our first impression is that Corsica is much more rugged than Sardinia was.

The desert menu for today.

Next to our hotel is a Buffalo Grill. This restaurant chain is very popular in France. We have seen them in almost every large town and city here and I have told Ton we should try it to get the French take on an American steakhouse. While we were eating Ton googled the company and found out there are over 300 Buffalo Grills in France, plus a few in Spain and Switzerland. I had a hamburger and Ton had a pepper steak and we were both pleased. It is a lot like a Sizzler or a Applebees, but red wine costs the same as a coke.

Our American meal at Buffalo Grill.

One of the stereotypes of the French is that they hate all things American. But, our personal observations are different than that. We see more American themed things here than in any other country in Europe. In addition to the Buffalo Grill, there are more McDonalds, Burger Kinds and KFC’s in France than any other country in Europe, so while they might not like the best of American food, they don’t seem to have any problem embracing some parts of our food culture. Several times we have come across clubs of French with vintage US cars, police cars, or military equipment, with some of the club members even dressed as American police officers or soldiers. I mention this because we do not see the amount of Americana in other countries as we do in France. Except McDonalds, they are everywhere.

The outside of the Buffalo Grill, you see them all over France.

I think some of the issue is that the French are just not very good English speakers, just as we are not very good French speakers. Because of that the communication breaks down. When you can break thru the language barriers the French are just as charming as any other people we have met in Europe. It just tends to be harder than with other European to break thru the language barrier.

October 20, 2023 Porto Vecchio FR

We left Italy and Sardinia today for France and the island of Corsica. This involved another ferry crossing. This one also turned into a bit of an adventure. The weather has been unsettled the last few days, very windy with occasional showers and then clear skies. The wind has also been very warm. Our friend Ovi says that this weather pattern is common in the fall in the Mediterranean and is called a Libeccio.

We had a mild panic yesterday evening when we received an email from the ferry line saying our crossing was cancelled due to weather. We had booked a hotel in Ajaccio for the weekend, because we are going to get François’ Controlé Technique ( safety inspection for all French vehicles) done there on Monday. We needed to get to Corsica as our hotel was non-refundable and we want to get the inspection out of the way so that we are legal to drive in France. When I went to book the inspection the only time left for the week is 9am on Monday.

The email from the ferry had a link to book other options. The link recommended a crossing leaving for Corsica from the same port on Sardinia but leaving 2 hours earlier than our original booking. When I looked it was the same ship. I clicked that I would take it, and they transferred our original appointment to the new sailing time and even automatically assigned us to the same room we had on our original sailing. I thought that it was a weird way to tell us the ship was leaving two hours earlier than before. But the devil is in the details.

We still had plenty of time in the morning to pack up, fill François with LP gas, and diesel and head over to the port unrushed. We arrived and there was no ship in port, but there were cars and motorhomes parked about waiting.

François waiting in line to board the ferry.

When we received our boarding paper, I noticed that the port on the paperwork did not say Ajaccio, but Porto Vecchio. I told the guy from the ferry that we were going to Corsica he said yes Porto Vecchio Corsica. Remember I said the devil is in the details. So I quickly googled Porto Vecchio and saw that is was 140 kilometers from Ajaccio on the other side of the island.

I then noticed we were put in a separate line with about 20 cars while the other motorhomes were put in a separate line with all of the other cars. I thought all of the other vehicles were going to Ajaccio and we somehow had been assigned to the wrong port. So off I went with my phone in hand only to be told that all of those people were going to Toulon after they dropped us in Corsica.

The storm did give us a nice sunset to enjoy as we drove thru Porto Vecchio.

The reason we changed ports was because the storm over the past few days had raised the sea state to a point where the ferry line decided to go to the east side of Corsica instead of the west side as originally planned for safety reasons. So right at sunset we arrived in Porto Vecchio, I found a scruffy looking campground near the town as I have a pretty strict no night time driving rule. Tomorrow we will drive over to Ajaccio and claim our hotel room.

September 25, 2022 Strasbourg FR

We had visited Strasbourg on a previous trip and had really enjoyed it despite the weather being really poor. We decided to give it another look today despite the weather forecast calling for rain.

A statue to Guttenberg the inventor of the printing press. The inscription on the book he is carrying says “And there was light”.

We woke up a little late to some rain tapping on the roof of François, and by the time we got organized to leave it was 10:00. The drive to Strasbourg was 400km’s (about 250 miles) but the road was largely good without too many small villages to slow us down so we made good time and arrived at the campground in the city about 2:30. We were a little surprised to end up in the overflow parking for the night as the main campground was full. As we were having a late lunch Ton and I were entertained by watching a Dutch couple shift their motorhome from spot to spot around the overflow trying to get their satellite dish to work. By the time we left for town they still had not found a spot where they could connect.

Three of the canals in Strasbourg merging. The towers were part of the original fortification system for the town.

The walk to town was about a mile and a half along a nice canal. The old part of Strasbourg is built on an island in the middle of I’ILL River with several canals splitting the island on one end. It is very picturesque. It also has a beautiful collection of half timbered homes.

Some of the half timbered homes along the bank of the I’ILL River.

The cathedral is very elaborate, and one of the larger ones we have seen. While we were walking around it the bells were sounding for quite an extended period of time. In fact they were going for so long that Ton thought it might have been a recording and not the actual bells.

The main entrance to the Cathedral in Strasbourg.

We spent quite a while walking around downtown enjoying the sites and watching the people, which is always fun. Strasbourg is the major city in Alsace and this region has always been a border region between Germany and France, and has changed hands multiple times in the last 300 years ago. It is an interesting mixture of German and French culture and food.

Ton really liked the cute animals representing the types of meat you could get in the butchers shop below.

After a couple of hours of walking around we decided it was time to head back to François for dinner. We got back just as the rain arrived so today turned out really well.

Every French city seems to have a carousel in the downtown. This one dated to 1904.

We also watched the Dutch couple move their motorhome one last time in an attempt to connect to the satellite. As we went to the shower we noticed their dish was locked up, and their TV was glowing inside so the 5th time was the charm for them.

September 23, 2022 Migenness FR

We are still in Migenness waiting for our power cord to arrive and recovering from jet lag. Each trip it seems to take just a little bit longer to get over the jet lag. As much as we don’t want to admit it we are getting older.

Today will be short and sweet as we did not do much. I am still falling asleep early and waking up early and Ton is still falling asleep late and waking up late, though she did fess up to not wanting to get out of the warm bed delayed her getting up this morning. The temperatures have been in the high 40’s overnight gradually warming up to about 70 during the day, which is nice except François is a little cold in the mornings. While we are talking about the weather, it is going to put a crimp in our travels. Everywhere we want to visit between here in France and Zagreb in Croatia is supposed to have rain for the next ten days! We finally decided that we are Oregonians and a little rain is not going to hold us back.

We had a couple of short walks today, and that is about the extent of our activity so there is not much else to talk about. Hopefully the power cord will arrive tomorrow as promised by Amazon and we can get on our way.

September 22, 2022 Migennes FR

There is not a lot to talk about today. Ton and I are both jet lagged but in different ways. I am falling asleep very early in the evening around 8 am and waking very early. Ton is having a hard time falling asleep and ended up waking about 10:30.

Since I was up early and didn’t want to bother Ton I went for a walk into town. It turned out it was market day. Ton usually loves these town markets so I thought I would go back to François and see if she wanted to go. She was still asleep so I went for another walk.

Later in the afternoon we both headed into town, but by then the market was closed, and you would not know it had been bustling with vendors in the morning, just a small cleaning crew putting the finishing touches on washing the floor.

We know we are back in France when we see our first Petanque game.

After a visit to the local Aldi to buy some more groceries we followed the canal the town is famous for and came across a group of seniors playing Petanque. Ton tried to take a stealth photo of the group but one gentleman saw her and began teasing her in a friendly way, until he realized she did not understand his French and it was all wasted on her, so he gave a big Gallic shrug and turned back to the game.

We ended our lazy day with a nice pasta meal, and an early bed time for me.

September 21, 2022 Migennes FR

We have returned to the campground that we spent our last night in France in June. It is located pretty close to where we store François, and we really like the people. Our loyalty was more than paid back as you will read later.

This trip had a little more adventure to it than normal, but nothing too dramatic. We decided to try a slightly different route to Paris than in the past. We had been flying a shuttle to Seattle and taking a direct flight to Paris from Seattle. Portland has a direct flight to Amsterdam, and then you connect to Paris. Since it is still two legs we decided to try leaving from our hometown. Everything was on track until the Friday before we left we received an email from KLM saying they had canceled the flight from Amsterdam to Paris and we should contact Delta to get a new flight. I called Delta and the lady who answered said that KLM had not notified them that they had canceled the flight, I told her I had an email from KLM telling me, she asked if I could wait on hold while she called KLM to see what was going on. After about 30 minutes on hold she came back on the line and confirmed that the flight was canceled, and asked if we would mind being rebooked on Air France a couple of hours later, which was better than I expected. The slight delay however, meant though that we could not make it to Sens in time to pick up François, so we ended up in a hotel near the airport for the first night.

Then after we unpacked I realized I had left the power cord for Greta the Garmin at home in Oregon which is a huge problem because as much as I complain about her she is our second most important tool for getting around over here. We visited 5 stores in an attempt to find a replacement with no luck. Ton confirmed it was available on Amazon so as it was getting late we decided to try to figure out how to get an Amazon account set up in Europe and order one for delivery here. When we checked into the campground I explained our problem to Leo the campground manager, and he immediately volunteered to order one using his Amazon account. So our new power cable should be here on Saturday, and once again the wonderful people at Confluence Campground in Migennes have made us very happy.

June 14, Sens FR

The cover photo is a greatest hit picture not from Sens. Today was a simple drive up to Sens where we took care of a short list of shopping we wanted to do for some friends, washed François, and returned him to Eurocampingcars.

After that we hung around the hotel and had some Chinese for dinner. The last day is always kind of boring and a let down after having been on the move for a couple of months. But we are already looking forward to the next trip which we are thinking will be Croatia and Greece.

June 13, 2022 Migennes FR

Today was packing and final preparation for turning François in tomorrow. I went for a quick walk in the morning down to the canal to see what boats had put in for the night. There was an American flagged boat, and a New Zealand flagged boat side by side. So there are a lot of different ways for foreigners to see Europe.

After packing Ton asked if we could do a shopping trip so that she could try to find a couple of gifts for friends. So we prepared François for travel and headed into a mall in Auxerre. The shopping trip was a bit of a bust as she didn’t find what she was looking for, so we will try again tomorrow in Sens.

The rest of the day was about preparing for the trip home and eating huge meals as we tried to empty the fridge. We did find time to relax in the evening with a good bottle of wine from Southwest France.

June 12, 2022 Migennes FR

There is very little to talk about today. We spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and taking inventory. Ton wants to have a written inventory at home of what we have here so we do not pack things that are redundant. Because we had been gone so long we lost track of what we had here, and found several items we had brought over were not needed. Ton decided to make a list of what was here to take home so we can pack a little leaner next time.

The couple who manages the campground love Thailand and when they found out Ton was Thai they went out of their way to tell her how much they loved the country. They are planning their vacation there for latter this year and have already visited before. The manager told us that his dream job would be in tourism in Thailand.

June 11, 2022 Migennes FR

The plan for today was to go to Auxerre. I picked it last night because it was the first city we had visited in France. The first time we visited we couldn’t get into the campground because it didn’t open until two days later, and ended up staying in a campground just out of town. Today we had a short drive on nice country roads until we were about 20 km’s from Auxerre when the dreaded Deviation (detour) sign appeared. This time the deviation took us an extra 35km’s out of our way, but eventually we arrived at the campground. But as we pulled up the place was a zoo with bicycles everywhere. We didn’t know but there is a big bicycle race in Auxerre today, and of course the campground is full. It looks like we are not meant to stay in Auxerre.

Cafe with Burgundy tiled roof in Megannes.

We had planned to move to Megannes tomorrow to work on cleaning up François before our departure. So after a quick look at our options we headed over a day early. Megannes is a small town along the Bourgogne canal. It has a nice dock for canal boats and looks like a popular spot for people to put in for the day.

Part of the canal port in Megannes. The boat in the left side was flying an American flag.

The town is a typical small town in France with a big church, a couple of nice looking cafes and a small grocery. But it does have a really large train station for some reason.

The canal of Bourgogne, now used almost exclusively for recreation.

As we were walking back from town the wind was dead calm and the air was suddenly full with tens of thousands of gnats. For the entire walk back we were in a cloud of gnats, fortunately they were not the biting kind, just the get in your mouth, eyes and nose kind.

May 4, 2022 Blaye FR

The next couple days will be a lot of driving. We are looking at covering about 300km’s per day as we aim for Galicia. Today we covered that distance in about 5 hours. I have been getting cocky about squeezing down tight roads in François, today we came around a corner on a narrow road and there were 4 work vans in a row coming at us, the second van and I tapped wing mirrors as we passed each other. The damage was really minimal, but it woke me up for the rest of the drive.

The Chateau Marquis de Vaubin our campground for the night.

We did have a place in mind for the end of the day. Ton rarely wants to revisit a place, but she did ask that we return to the Chateau Marquis de Vauban winery in Blaye. On our second trip to France we stumbled by here. It is a nice winery that allows about 20 RV’s to stay on site. We settled in facing the vineyards, and then attended a tasting.

One of our favorite plants. This one is approximately 50 years old.

Blaye is famous as the site of a giant fort that for 300 years defended the river approach to Bordeaux. Ton agreed to walk down there but did not want to spend a lot of time as she has had enough of forts.

Part of the fort. It is really immense.

We settled in early and watched the ducks and geese in the stream behind the van.

The designer of the fort. He is said to have stayed in the chateau at the winery while he supervised the construction.

May 3, 2022 Nourmoutier en Ille FR

After a wonderful time in Brittany it was time to begin setting south for Spain. We are not in a big hurry so today we headed south 200 km’s to Nourmoutier en Ille. Today was the day of deviations, which is French for detour. We encountered 3 in the drive. Like the US the French are hit or miss on marking the detour. Today one was poorly marked but my instinct and Greta Garmin got us thru it perfectly. The last two were pretty well marked, one was a bit narrow going thru a town, the other was easy once I circled a roundabout 3 times while Ton interpreted signs for me to find the right exit .

Some of the salt marshes near Nourmentier.

Nourmoutier en Ille is out on a prominent peninsula into the Atlantic, but surrounded by miles of salt marshes. There is an island on the peninsula that is accessible by road at low tide, but the road is covered by water at high tide. They have an annual race where runners race the tide as it comes in to cross the road before it is covered by water. I assume they have rescue boats standing by to pick up the losers.

Tractor hauling oysters from the managed beds at the end of the estuary.

It is a nice town and we enjoyed a long walk along a jetty out into the bay with salt making fields on one side and the estuary on the other. The jetty is about 1 mile long and topped with a road where tractors hauling oysters from the oyster beds in the estuary to the processing plants in town pass every few minutes. When we walked in the afternoon the tide was out and the boats in the harbor were sitting on mud, the estuary leading into the harbor was all mud and not very pretty. We decided to take an evening walk and the tide had come in and all of the boats in the harbor were floating and the estuary when covered with water was beautiful .

The view of the harbor when the tide is out.
The same harbor 6 hours later with the tide in.

The aire in town is a big parking lot with about 35 other RV’s tonight. The other deviation today was that when I went to pay the €8 for the aire the machine would not take any of our credit cards. We run into this problem occasionally at gas stations because American credit cards still require a signature, European ones do not. This means sometimes at self-service machines our cards are rejected because no one can take the signature. It does not happen often but is a pain when it does. I assumed that was the problem, but when I went back to try with a debit card there were three French people there having the same problem. Finally one of them declared Le Aire est Libre aujourd’hui (the parking is free today). We all cheered and headed back to our RV’s with €8 extra in our pockets!

Sunset along the jetty.

May 2, 2022 Carnac FR

We have going pretty hard since we got here almost two weeks ago and had planned today as a rest day for us and François. So last night as we settled into bed when we heard rain on the roof we were not too concerned. I told Ton it was probably just showers, but it rained all night and was still raining hard when we got up. So the timing was perfect for our day of rest.

Because we had some time on our hands this morning Ton decided to try to duplicate a Breton crepe she had seen in several of the restaurants. It turned out delicious and was really a treat for me.

The egg and sausage are Breton, the vegetable garnish is the Thai in Ton coming out.

We lazed around until about 1pm when the rain started to let up. We decided to walk over to the alignment museum which was closed yesterday. The museum was small but interesting.

The only way you can go onto the grounds of the alignment is as part of a guided tour.

We debated whether to go back to the beach, but after about 10 seconds decided to instead head on back to François to enjoy an early evening and some Netflix.

The sheep were back to work taking care of the grass, though they have a lot of work to do.

Brittany

Brittany has turned into one of our favorite places in France. For France it is off the beaten path a bit, but still incredibly beautiful. We were really lucky with the weather as it was almost perfect for the whole trip. The culture is a mixture of Celtic and French and we fell in love with Breton Cider. If you are traveling and want to see a very beautiful coastline and experience a fun laid back region, make sure you allow plenty of time for Brittany.

October 24, 2023 Piana FR

October 24, 2023 No Comments

Ton and I have had the privilege of driving some beautiful highways in our time traveling, the Alaska Highway, Utah Highway 12, the Pacific Coast

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May 1, 2022 Carnac FR

May 1, 2022 No Comments

Our destination today was Carnac. On the way to Carnac we made two brief stops that were recommended to us. Today is labor day in

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May 1, 2022 Carnac FR

Our destination today was Carnac. On the way to Carnac we made two brief stops that were recommended to us. Today is labor day in France so we were not expecting a lot to be open, but as we were driving we noticed that most of the stores that would be open on Sunday were open.

The bridge over the Elle River in Quimperle.

Our first stop for the day was Quimperle, a small town where two rivers come together. The first thing we noticed was that at every street corners there were little girls and some boys selling small bouquets of flowers. The flowers are Lilly of the Valley and they are considered good luck. The reason kids sell them on May 1st is because today wild flowers can be sold without a license or paying taxes on the receipts. So it is a chance for kids to practice a little free enterprise. We were finally cornered by two cute sisters about 8 and 10 and ended up with a sprig of Lillys.

The Lillys of the Valley, our good luck charm for the day.

The town itself was nice with some older half timbered buildings and a couple of stone archways, one of which fronted a parking lot for a grocery store. The town is subjected to frequent flash floods so they have built high walls along the rivers to help contain them when they happen.

Some whimsical traffic bollards in Port Louis.

Our next stop was Port Louis. It is another port town, that is famous for its Citadelle. It is a 17th century fort and is impressive. During WWII it was used as a prison by the Germans, and a lot of French resistance fighters were executed there. Along the walk there were signs showing photos of the Martyrs of the Citadelle, the photos were accomplished by the age and the occupation of the person who had died there. Most of them were 18 to 23 and their occupations were pretty mundane such as farmer, mechanic, and sailor. To me that made it even more touching, as these guys without any real military training laid down their lives for France.

The Citadelle in Port Louis.

Our last stop for the day was Carnac. Carnac is another beautiful Breton port city with a great beach. But the primary reason we came here was for the Alignments of Carnac. These are stones called Menhirs are laid out in three fields stretching over 4 km’s (2.5 miles approximately). There are over 3000 stones cut from granite, some weighing as much as 20 tons laid out in lines. There are also a few circular formations. Each of the sites has the largest stones at the western end of the field.

Some of the Mehirs at the alignment of Carnac.

These stones were laid out approximately 4500 bc to 3000 bc by the pre-celtic people of Brittany. They are roughly contemporary with Stonehenge, but laid out quite differently. Also in the immediate area are several burial mounds that are 410 ft by 200ft and 39 ft. high. When they were excavated they found a main burial chamber and 5 sub-chambers off of the main chamber.

These stones are part of a burial site.

The work to build such a massive site with the tools available at that time is incredible. This is the pre-history equivalent of a giant cathedral, or the pyramids. No one is completely certain as to the purpose of the alignments or the motivation to devote so much work to building the site, but the most common theory was that it was part of a religious site.

More Mehirs from the alignment.

April 30,2022 Pont Aven FR

Our first drive of the day was a relatively long 80 km’s to Cocarneau, the problem is we are still nearly 1000 miles (1500km’s) from Portugal, and we are 12 days into our trip. So if we are going to spend a lot of time in Portugal at some point we are probably going to have to get on the Autoroute and suck up some tolls. But not today, or tomorrow for that matter as we still have plans for Brittany.

Ton took this from the bakery the top flag is Brittany, the bottom flag is a composite of all of the Celtic nations.

Before we left we decided to revisit the bakery we had stopped in briefly the day before to pick up a Kouign-Amann. Brittany is famous for this desert that literally means Butter Cake. The area we are in is close to where it originated. We had tried it on our previous trip and thought it was ok. Yesterday when we visited the bakery near the campground they gave us a taste of some of theirs and we both thought it was fantastic, the problem is that we did not tell each other until we got to the campground.

Kouign-Amann the delicious local pastry, and Chouchenn a local honey based liquor. They make a great combination to end a meal.

While we were driving Ton researched another specialty of Brittany called Chouchenn. It is a mead like drink made from buckwheat honey with apple juice used to initiate the fermentation. It is supposed to have come over to Brittany from Scotland with the Druids. We picked up a bottle and used it as an aperitif with our Kouign-Amann. They were both delicious and complemented each other well.

Part of the walls that surround the old town in Concarneau.

Our first stop for the day was Concarneau which is another port town. The old town is on an island in the middle of the bay and is surrounded by 14th century walls. As we were walking to the old town we came across a line of very nice sailboats flying a bunch of company flags. It is a professional sail racing circuit that operates in France. The boats were really high tech compared to the typical pleasure cruiser.

Racing boats in town for week long race starting tomorrow.

The old town was nice and we enjoyed walking along the old walls of the town looking out on the port and in on the old town. In addition to the professional racers there was also an Argentine Navy vessel visiting town.

A street scene from old town Concarneau.
Argentine Naval vessel visiting the port of Concarneau.

After a couple of hours of enjoying Concarneau we headed to our main destination for the day, Pont Aven. It was made famous in the late 19th and early 20th century when Gauguin settled here and a bunch of other French and foreign impressionist artists moved in. Today it is still a center for art with a lot of galleries and boutiques.

One of the many bridges across the Aven river in Pont Aven.

The unexpected adventure of the day was trying to gain entry to the aire in town. When we arrived there was a gate and a machine that you paid your entrance fee at. These are usually pretty straight forward and I have mastered them. This one even offered English, everything was going smoothly and after I entered a lot of information it spit out a card that I was to use at future aires managed by this company, (the card cost an extra €5 which I was not happy about). When everything was done and my credit card was processed, the gate should open. But it didn’t. I double checked everything and no go. Muttering some bad words I tripled checked and still no go. At this point a French gentleman came over, he double checked everything and said it should be good. After a while another French couple came over and tried their luck, they confirmed everything should be good, but no luck with the gate opening. Finally, the lady went and got her cell phone and called the help line, and after some explanation and confirmation of my name, the company opened the gate remotely. Now I have a €5 card that I am not sure works if I come to another aire run by this company, but I am in the aire. Once again the kindness of strangers got us out of trouble despite no common language.

Scenes like this made us quickly forget the misadventure with the entrance at the Aire.

The highlight of the town is strolling down the river promenade. The river runs thru the center of town with shops and beautiful homes on either side of it. There are several picturesque watermills and bridges across the river. Near the bottom of town the river opens up to a port surrounded by mansions and a very thick forest of trees. It is a pretty magical place.

A Breton gaff rigged work boat that is part of the maritime museum in town.

At one point Ton and I were relaxing and enjoying a nice view of the river and the town from a bench when we found ourselves suddenly in the middle of a large group of tourists who were getting a guided tour of the town. The spot we had chosen was the place where Gauguin had painted one of his famous pictures from the area. They were very nice and told us not to bother, but we were clearly in the way and decided to move on.

The view Ton and I were enjoying when we suddenly became part of a Gauguin tour.

Pont Aven is a really beautiful town and the port and the river combine to make a really beautiful landscape. We strolled around for quite awhile and Ton took so many pictures it took her over an hour to narrow it down to 15 to send to me to post in the blog.

The first thatched roof we have seen in Brittany.
The point where the Aven river reaches the port.
One of the many galleries that are in Pont Aven.
Closing todays post with a door.

April 29, 2022 Pointe du Raz FR

We only had one fun stop planned for today as we wanted to take care of some of the routine things you have to do when living out of a RV. We began by visiting a Lidl to pick up some groceries.

I get to enjoy the food from our morning Lidl stop.

After shopping was completed we headed off to Pointe du Raz which as the name says is a prominent point sticking out into the English Channel. It is a regional park, and is a moorland sitting on top of 200 foot cliffs above the ocean. It was only about a 20 km drive from Douarnenez, so despite our late start we arrived before noon. The weather has been about the same every day, mid 60’s with a good breeze and sun. For this time of year it is great.

Blue sky and a brisk breeze welcomed us to Pointe

About 10 km’s from the Pointe we suddenly left the forests and emerged onto the windswept moorlands that the region is famous for. Suddenly you could see all the way to the ocean.

The park had great long views to enjoy.

They had a designated Campervan parking lot that you could overnight in for €20, or park for the day for €8. The parking cost also covers the admission price for the park. There are several trails that lead you to the top of the cliffs. The moors are covered with wildflowers, though the dominant plant looks like a type of gorse with yellow flowers. Ton was in her element as she loves wild flowers and I kept leaving her behind as she would see something else she wanted to photograph and suddenly stop.

The main trail to the point. The building in the front is a French Navy surveillance installation.

When we reached the end of the point the view out to sea was spectacular. We scrambled thru some rocks to get a good view. By the time we got there it was lunch time and most of the French were sitting down to their lunch among the rocks. The French take their lunches seriously and they do it with elegance even when the table is a rock.

The rocky point at the end of the trail.
We only saw these red flowers in this one spot, but it was a great spot.

We were enjoying the walk so we decided to follow a cliff side trail back. This got us away from the crowds, and it was quite a nice walk.

The cliff side trail we followed.
More wildflowers.

We had picked a campground on a farm near the point for our stop today. We arrived in time to give the inside of François a good scrubbing before settling down for some well earned Breton Cider.

We have developed a taste for Breton cider so we decided to acquire a couple of proper cider cups.