Author Archives: Kenny Mitchell

Avignon to Tain-l’Hermitage – 22 September 2024

Booked this place in advance as it is very popular and got there in a couple of hours after an uneventful treck up the motorway. Being a Sunday again every motorway aire was packed whether they offered shopping and fuel or just picnic tables. It looks likee travelling in France on a Sunday has become impossible if a stop is needed:

Wandered aimlessy around town on Monday after picking up some provisions and crossed the rickety old Passerelle Marc Seguin to Tournon and back again.

Tain-l’Hermitage from the Tournon side

Back to Avignon – 20 September 2024

What a carry on – can’t go any further south, west would take us to Spain, and north looks very dodgy weatherwise, so back to Avignon via a supermarket, as we have no food or wine:


Unfortunately supermarket absolutely rammed, nowhere to park this thing, and even if we cold park we would have needed sleeping bags while waiting at the checkout. No more supermarket shopping before noon from now on. Then the satnav lost its mind and tried to take us to Spain.

Chaos at the pumps trying to fill up at the motorway services as well. French screeming at one another, horns blasting non-stop, a French man wearing a woman’s sweater in a white Arran pattern doing his nut in an attampted macho style and failing. More swearing, tooting and screaming. After 30 mins (at least) a car length from a pump, filled up in 5 mins and on our way. Maybe the French have’t got used to automated pumps. I have a dash-cam that I never use – wish it was switched on for this performance as it would have gone viral.

Montblanc – 11 September 2024

What a ridiculous and epic journey. Failed to get into two campsites and then went random and found a campsite really not optimised for bigger motorhomes. Finally manouvered into pitch with much help from some Dutch and another Brit.

This is not the Montblanc adored by those winter types – it is a small backwater somewhere near Beziers with only a few shops and a bar. The campsite is nice enough with decent showers and toilets.

Got the bus to Beziers on day two, which turned out to be a typical French provincial town with not a great deal to interest tourists.

Beziers – in France

Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire

Turns out getting out of this campsite was even harder than getting due to horrible hedges we nearly took with us, and not helped by stupid  parking at reception, and even stupider caravaners who thought  it would be a good idea to arrive before 11:00am.

Don’t think we’ll be back here.

Avignon – 8 September 2024

Travelled to Avignon on Sunday. Madness. Every motorway services rammed, even the small Aires. Got to Camping du Pont d’Avignon shortly after 4.00pm to find chaos – staff run ragged, constant arrivals, nowhere to park. Eventually got a non-electric pitch for the night with two more days on electric:


Weather better and spent a couple of days wandering aimlessly. Avignon has great public transport links and much to see, so we really must spend a week here sometime armed with a plan.

The usual tourist pics:

Palais des Papes

Le Pont d’Avignon

France – 2024

Back in France at last, courtesy of short stops in Birmingham, Folkestone, and once in France, Guines, Guignicourt and a couple of days in Chagny:


Chagny is an unassuming place, with only Netto selling wine at reasonable prices (although there is an Intermarché on the outskirt of town. The mini-mart in town wantedf 40 Euros for a bottle of red. The town has a gaint metal chicken:

Giant chicken laying an Audi – rather have an egg

UK – 2023

Not much to write about in 2023.  We got to a few places in the UK though.  Here are a few highlights:

Art at Weston

Motorhome parking at Girvan – how forward looking

Some boats at Garlieston

Garlieston was the best trip of the year, a place we had never heard of up intil that point and an area worthy of further investigation.

 

Cheddar – September 2022

“Road Ahead Closed” doesn’t always mean the road you are on – it could be a side road, and as there were no diversion signs and nothing to suggest any issues we carried on.  MISTAKE.  Back we went (where of course there were plenty of diversion signs) through Wells and onto the lorry route to Cheddar.  Not a motorhome-friendly route and far better to approach  the place from the other direction,

Cheddar village centre is ok with most of what you need while the walk up to the gorge reveals more interesting bars, tea rooms and gift shops.  Trouble is by the time you walk from the campsite to the gorge you don’t feel like walking much more, let alone climbing up to the viewing points.  There is loads of parking at the gorge, so maybe a place better visited by car.  A place to return to after doing a bit more research.

Cheddar tourist part – Arthur been here?

There is public transport to Wells and Weston and a few other places.  We went to Wells for an afternoon – busy but pleasant.

Wells Cathedral

The Bishop’s Palace

 

Crossways – September 2022

Getting into Salisbury was bad, but getting out was worse.  No matter – Crossways was easy enough:

Two campsites here – Caravan Club one where we were and the Camping and Caravaning Club one pretty much next door.  Oddly, the latter is the more manicured of the two.  The Camping Club one has composting toilets and they did smell a bit but not of compost – just an odd whiff which was neither fragrant or unpleasant and no reason for anybody to be put off.  Just don’t drop your phone down the loo.

Train station next door has a regular service to Weymouth, Dorchester, Poole, and further afield.  We skipped Dorchester (probably a mistake) and went to Weymouth and the Saturday and Poole on the Sunday,  Weymouth was pleasant  with a castle to go round whereas Poole seems a bit less interesting but featuring boat cruises.  Unfortunately on a Sunday on a bank holiday weekend, the place was mobbed and so were the cruises.

Who ate all the pies?

Tudor toilet where the pies ended up

Portland Castle

 

Salisbury – September 2022

Brokenhurst to Salisbury – easy drive apart from the Saturday morning Salisbury ring road.   Confusing and busy.

Salisbury is a pleasant enough place with a cathedral, nice architecture, decent public transport and a nice ambience.  The Magna Carta is here but that is a bit out of date these days.  Salisbury seems like a very cool place to live but on first impressions is lacking a bit as a tourist destination.  No doubt we’ll come back after doing a bit more research into the local area.

There is a big Spitfire on a pole outside the campsite:

Secret Spitfire

They built them here and (other places) without Hitler knowing about it.

Of course the main reason to visit here is the stones, and here they are:

Stonehenge

Stones

Awsome.