Tour de France - Part 1

I'm nearly half way through the trip, currently staying at Camping de L'Arre in Le Vigan. It is a very nice site ideally situated for touring the southern part of the Cevennes. Among its many attractions is a wi-fi network so I've been enjoying the delights of the Internet this week as well.

Rather than give you a day-by-diary of my travels, I thought I'd describe some of the highlights and lowlights so far.

The Weather

Definitely a lowlight. I know that into each life some rain must fall but this is very noisy and inconvenient when you live in a tin can. Rather spookily, it has rained at exactly 8.00pm every Sunday when I'm due to ring home. Last weekend on the Mediterranean it was more like Whitley Bay than St Tropez.

Camping



So far I've stayed at fourteen different campsite, some for just a night, others a bit longer (I've been a week here in Le Vigan). They have varied quite a lot in their facilities from a five star luxury site at Vallon Pont D'Arc which even had a shower for the dog to one site that had birds nesting in the toilets (which made visits rather interesting). The lowest point of the whole trip came on a site near Barjac. I arrived about 5pm in the pouring rain and had to conduct a telephone call with the owner in French. I obviously misheard her as I pitched opposite the washroom instead of next to it. I soon realised that Archie was mired in mud and we would not be able to get out unaided. I had an anxious wait expecting an irate owner. When she did turn up, she towed me out with practised ease and plenty of sang-froid using a makeshift tow bar out of hammer, watched by all the other occupants of the site (an elderly couple next door who acted as translators).

My favorite so far is Camping Le Pont du Mercier at Thueyts in the Ardeche mountains. Its facilities were quite basic but its setting was beautiful in an old orchard on the banks of the Ardeche river, with a little string gushing through the site. However the most attractive thing about it was the fact that I was the sole occupant.

Les Grande Sites de France

Several of the places I particularly wanted to visit are labelled Grande Site de France. This are areas of either outstanding natural beauty or historical interest and so far I've visited six of the 32. I think the Pont du Gard stands out for me. It is a magnificent Roman acquaduct build nearly 2000 years ago. It is very well preserved and very attractive, spanning the river Gardon.

St Guilhelm Le Desert

Cirque de Navacelles

Aven de Orgnac

Gardon Gorge

Pont du Gard

Puy du Dome

The Scenery

Having driven across France there has been a significant change of scenery. Firstly the rooves of the houses change from slate to red tiles somewhere in the middle of France, indicating that you have left Northern Europe behind. In quite a small area I've seen volcanic plug (puys), deep gorges, meanders, abandoned meanders, sink holes, underground rivers, caves full of stalagtites, stalagmites and drapery, vast plateaus, medium sized mountains, the source of the Loire (France's longest river), the garrigue scrub lands of Provence and the flat plains and lakes of the Carmargue. Everywhere seems to have a wide variety of wild flowers, much more than you see at home. Quite a geography field trip.

One of the lowlights is that so far every trip to a mountain top has been accompanied by total cloud cover. This was particularly disappointing at Le Puy du Dome as apparently you can see about an eighth of France. Mount Aigoual (the highest point of Gard at 5,200ft) was not only cloudy, but extremely windy and incredibly cold. I'm hoping for better luck next week on Mount Lozere.

Driving


I've had some brilliant drives up in the mountains along crest roads running along the tops of the valleys or gorges, or up some long snaking pass roads with lots of hairpins. I drove down one road which descended very steeply through the hillside which was covered in broom, (brilliant yellow flower with a rather unpleasant scent). It was actually had a road sign which said it was "etroite and difficile" which translates as narrow, bendy and difficult. Irresistable!

I set off down one track which led to a car park and mountain arboretum. It was fine at the start but got narrower and narrower and closer to the edge of the mountain. As there was no room to turn round, there was no option but to continue to the "car park". It was a relief not to meet anyone coming the other way, but I doubt whether anyone else would be as stupid. From the picture it looks as Archie is on the edge of the mountain. (White blob in middle of picture)

Walking

The best walk I've had so far was at Theuyts where I was able to stroll from the campsite to the beautiful Pont du Diable and pick up a walk described in one of my books. The French marked out their walks with splashes of colour painted onto trees or rocks so it's a bit like a treasure hunt. This walk was marked as "easy" in the book. It involved climbing about a 1,000ft/ 300m up to the top of the gorge, back down to the river, up 230 steps of the Queen's staircase and down the King's staircase, which was like walking down a ladder cut into the basalt rocks of the gorge, extremely narrow, steep and a bit slippery. Well, I wouldn't want to try a hard walk! I grown to become very wary of signs that say "panorama 5 mins walk".

There have been times both walking and driving when I seem to have France all to myself.

I've also taken the bike out a few times after having the punctures repaired by a very nice young gentleman in a sports shop. On my last trip out in the mountains, on a ride described as "negligable height gain". True the gradients weren't very steep but I still spent a lot of time pushing it. At one point the leg of my shorts got caught on the saddle as I tried to get my leg over, which left me with my stomach on the saddle and my head over the handlebars, heading downhill and picking up speed. This could only end one way but I was fortunate to make a very soft landing on my bum in some mud. Not very dignified but disaster avoided.

The Best Bits

Monet's garden lived up to my expectations. Despite being a major tourist attraction it was incredibly cheap to enter (€5.50). Although crowded you could still find areas in the garden for a bit of solitude.

I don't think the Roman Amphitheatre of Nimes is as spectacular as the one at Verona but the tour was certainly interesting. Armed with an audio guide you could visit most of it without restriction. There were some alarming open spaces in the gallery and you could climb right to the top of the original seating which also didn't have any guard rails. The French have an alarmingly laissez-faire attitude to public safety.

There have been many interesting villages and towns along the way, including several completely preserved medieval ones with street plans, walls and houses all intact. The one I've like most was Thines up in the Ardeche mountains. It was consisted of one street perched on a rock, about 10 houses and church. From above it looks as if it suspended in mid air.

Where to next

The itinerary will take me to the Northern part of the Cevennes mountains, then onto the Tarn and Jointe Gorges, the Grand Causses, the Cantal Mountains, the Mont Dores, the Puy du Dome (again) and then home on Bastille Day.

Au revoir