Haute Savoie here we come ! - back to skiing

Mon 23^rd

Cold and sunny to start but the sun soon disappeared as we drove NW.  We passed over several Cols that were snow covered but the roads were perfect. As we entered the Ardeche the mountains became larger and more impressive. The road down to Privas was brilliant, full of twists with fantastic views down to the valley. The final descent was 10km and 10% - slowly does it. We found a lovely free aire at Chomerac, unfortunately the water was turned off but we had enough onboard for showers.

Chomerac aire

Tues 24^th

Another sunny start to the day but this didn’t last as we encountered rain as we negotiated our way around Grenoble. We were avoiding tolls so used the RN parallel to the Isere river. What a find, very rural with lots and lots of walnut orchards. I mean lots!  We had the Vercor on our RH side and that also looked very impressive. There were loads of cycle routes marked so it must come alive in the summer months, right now it was empty.  

After a quick shop in Decathlon we parked up at the aire in Conflans above Alberville. This is a very interesting small medieval town perched on the opposite side of the river from Albertville. We had a birds eye view down onto the river and the town. They still had their Xmas lights switched on as the French leave them until after easter. We walked down into town as we both had a hankering for steak frites. Nothing appeared to be open the town was empty. Eventually we found a really nice place the lady said “Albertville – ville mort!”  the steak was lovely, we went to bed very full and looking forward to getting up tomorrow to head to the start of our skiing “holiday”.

lost in translation.........!

moody mountains & Albertville behind us

happy to be back in the mountains

Weds 25^th

Lovely sunny drive up to Bourg St. Maurice a place we know very well from many ski holidays. Nice to be back 11 months after we started our trip here. We drove up the mountain to Ste Foy to collect our skis and kit from longtime friends Sue & Andy. It was really good to see them again and catch up with all the swanky new changes in their Auberge. The newly refurbished rooms looked very nice indeed.

Next we drove back down to the campsite, once installed it was laundry and more laundry for Tina whilst I sorted out the van garage and organized our skis and boots. By dinner time we were both very tired and ready for an early night as we had to get up early to go skiing. Yipeeeee!

Thurs 26th

Blue sky day and very cold overnight - 10 deg C.  First time we have had frost on the inside of a window, but we were very snug and comfy the Alde heating system working very well.

After a bit of first day faffing with boots and kit we were soon swooshing down the pistes on fresh snow with the beautiful mountains all around us. We just love being being up in the mountains playing on the snow. There were a lot of folk on the slopes but we know the area well so avoided any big lift queues by skiing over the lunch period before stopping ourselves. This week is the last of the big school holidays so from Saturday it will be much quieter on the slopes. The sun shone all day and we returned to the vans very happy after our first day back on skis. Tina was in her words, "pooped".

blue sky first day back on skis

Tarn Gorge & Mende

Sun 22^nd

After a walk up the river to see the viaduct stretching across above the town, we packed up and headed for the Tarn Gorge.  

viaduct

Millau - old & new bridges

Magnificent is the best word I can use to describe it. The sides in many places are vertical and tower above you with huge pillars of rock protruding upwards. The road was very narrow in places but thankfully there was no traffic for us to cause a logjam for!  The arches carved out of the rock were very narrow in places but we squeezed through, no doubt helped by Tina holding her breath until we popped out the other side!  What a wonderful drive, we must come back when the weather is warmer.

Tarn Gorge - van view!

tight in places

duck !

hamlet - cable car access

Our stopover was at Mende, the free aire is right by the river next to a weir and a lovely old bridge. We enjoyed a walkabout in the ancient maze of streets surrounding the huge cathedral. What a nice town to visit with a nice calm atmosphere.

Mende - view from aire

Mende Cathedral

Carcassonne and onto the Haut Languedoc

Fri 20^th

After a relaxed breakfast ( we are now very good at these) we wandered down to the  Citadel. This has 52 towers and 2 concentric walls totaling 3km in length. Impressive . It has been built up and modified since 1226 and is currently still being changed – a new tourist welcome centre is under construction. We walked around the maze of streets, along some of the ramparts and then along part of the outside down to the river. The sheer scale of the place is very obvious when you look up at it from below as it dominates the skyline above the new town.

amazing stained glass in church

After studying the map we decided to explore some of the wiggly roads and mountains of the Haut Languedoc. We drove up and over some very narrow roads to Lac du Lauzas where there was an aire on the side of what turned out to be a reservoir. We saw hardly any other cars which made the drive so much easier. The views were lovely over the windswept hills and valleys. There is a holiday village and a campsite but all were empty as was the reservoir – well half empty. We parked up and enjoyed a walk around the edge to a dried out harbour, I hope they refill it for the summer tourists.  We thought we were on our own until a French van pulled up at 5pm.

lunch stop with a view

Lac du Lauzas aire

tides out..........

Into France - Peyriac sur mer & Carcassonne

Weds 18^th

Another big drive as we wanted to get into France, so we planned our route to use mainly N roads with only a bit of peage to get round Barcelona. It was relatively easy but boy did we see a lot of lorries. They dominate all the roads and take no prisoners if you drop below 60 mph. I just let them get on with it and we usually wafted past them again on the hills!

We had chosen Peyriac Sur mer as our destination as it is just north of Perpignan and close to the main road. We found the aire and were soon parked up in a sunny spot. A quick walk into town to stretch our legs revealed a really nice little town right on the edge of disused salt pans and lagoons. We saw more flamingos out on the lagoons which was nice.

lots to see

Thurs 19^th

It was cold overnight – down to -2 deg C which was a shock for us. The sun wsas soon shining, so all wrapped up we walked around the lagoons down to the fishing port. It was very small with only a  few small boats but had empty moorings for about another 40. As we walked back into town we saw a pelican fly overhead then circle above us. Wonderful.

Peyriac lagoon

empty berths

2 groups of flamingos 

disused salt pans

After lunch it was cleaning time – I washed the solar panels as they were covered in thick dust, then washed the van. Tina was meanwhile hovering the inside. After polishing the inside we were ready to move, you just have to have sessions like this every so often!

Whilst having lunch I had decided that we should visit Carcassonne to see the citadel, so sat nav set off we went. We followed a huge yacht on the back of a low loader, it was so wide that oncoming lorries had to pull over. The driver was not hanging about either only slowing down for roundabouts. Entertaining to watch it snaking down the road and just passing under a bridge. Obviously they had researched the route – I hope.

We found the aire just outside the citadel and once parked up we got chatting to another Brit couple Greg & Caroline. They were 3 months into a year’s travel so we had plenty to chat about. They joined us for dinner and we all enjoyed one of Tina’s yummy stir frys and  2 bottles of Spanish plonk. What an enjoyable evening swapping tips and experiences. We will definitely keep in touch with them and follow their journey.

Carcassone Citadel