We probably wouldn’t have come here were it not for the fact that we couldn’t stay for another night in Brighton and there was no room in Chichester today. Reasonably easy drive, if a bit slow:
Got the 700 bus to Chichester on Sunday, which was rather expensive at over a fiver return for only a few miles. There was a decent car boot there, and it was a generally pleasant place to wander.
A journey of only 30 odd miles but seemed longer, not helped by the rubbish signposting from east Brighton to the A27. Ended up on a construction site belonging to University of Sussex. Thought I’d seen the last of university construction sites.
The campsite at Littlehampton is not well signposted from the north either. If you go over the railway you’ve gone too far. No problem, though, turn around at the roundabout at the supermarket and there is a nice big sign coming from the south.
Littlehamton town center is supposed to be a 25 minute walk from the campsite but seemed further, possibly due to the uninspiring route. The town is pleasant enough, but hardly a place to visit on its own right. Coastliner bus passes through here so this is a good place for a base for those of us relying on public transport to get around.
Dreary grey day in Littlehampton
Following those few dull and dreary days in Wimereux, long delays at the tunnel due to a broken down train and a dreadful trip on the A259, the France part of the trip is over and we find ourselves in Brighton. As we hate the appalling M20, and the nearly as bad M25, we decided to try to avoid both and spend some time in the south-east. Bad move – the A259 is horrible. Narrow, rubbish road surface, and too many bends. Add to that busy towns and dreadful on street parking and we have a stressful journey:
We are spending a couple of days here, then heading towards Chichester before heading back north.
A fiver each for a full day bus pass duly purchased on board, so off we went for a day out in Brighton. Got off at the Royal Pavilion and went for a wander. However, in spite of the rather obvious landmark of the sea, this is an easy pace to get lost in:
When we last visited here about 30 years ago, the obvious place to visit was The Lanes. All these years on it seems more of a tourist attraction and less of a place to bag a bargain. No doubt bargains are to be had for those who know what they are doing, but for those of us who don’t, fortunes are there to be lost.
The Lanes, Brighton
The northern part of town has a nicer ambiance and more interesting and affordable shops:
Nicer shops
No normal tourist leaves without a picture of:
Royal Pavilion
And here is a seagull, who once again puts the Cornish variety to shame:
Bird on a bin
The French part of this trip is at an end:
So we pretty much drove on the motorway to Avignon and back, visiting a few places on the way. We must try harder next time, but there are worse ways to spend six weeks going into Autumn:
The crossing has been booked for Wednesday (half the price of Monday or Tuesday) so we are killing time before returning to UK. Nowhere better to do that than Wimereux at Camping L’olympic, where only three months ago we said we would not come back to. Our gripe was that while most of the pitches are spacious, some are tough to get in and out of. Today the place is nearly empty and we were told to park where we like, so we have loads of room and easy access.
Took a slight detour at Arras to look for a relative who was killed near here, but we need to do a bit more research into the local cemeteries if we are going to find him.
Left Montbard with no idea where to go other than north. Took the D980 towards Châtillon-sur-Seine. In comparison to yesterday’s trip up through Burgandy, this is a bleak and desolate land, with the towns much less picturesque and the vines replaced with cabbages and turnips. From Châtillon-sur-Seine we took the D971, which took us into Champagne county with the agriculture and villages becoming more interesting.
On joining the motorway just south of Troyes we headed north and eventually noticed we were not that far from Péronne, where we stayed at a couple of times some years ago, but where it always rained. There are shops in Péronne, an interesting museum, some public transport, and La Somme to walk along should we get some sun, so decided on a return visit for a few days to recover from this longish journey.
Turns out it has been five years since we were last here, and finally it has stopped raining. However, it is pretty cold.
Canal du Nord
Revisited the Museum of the Great War here, for the first time in six or seven years. Similar exhibits, but more information including topics on the lead up to and aftermath of the conflict. Also, there are developing touch screens all over the place, but much of the information there is a duplication of what is already written on the walls. The audio-visual presentation of life on the front was still in French at this time, but we were told will soon be in English as well.
Museum exhibit
Ignored the attraction of the motorway and left Cluny on the D981 north. What a great road, taking in picturesque villages, fields of vines and load of vineyards. Cormatin and Sercy looked particularly nice, so we need to find some places to stop on this route for future visits.
Eventually ended up at Campsite Municipal de Montbard ‘Les Treilles’ in Montbard, via Montbard’s Intermarché. Nice campsite:
Proper motorhome pitch – why aren’t there more like this?
Moving north now:
Arrived at Campsite Municipal de St. Vital, which we pretty have to oursleves:
Campsite Municipal de St. Vital
The town is a short walk from the campsite and a nice place to wander around. Bars, butchers, bakers, wine shops and interesting second hand shops.
Cluny
The great old abbey, the main reason we came here:
Abbaye de Cluny
Abbaye de Cluny again
Behind the prison ship is Camping de Tournon HPA
A boat, on the river, with passengers paying lots of money to be on a boat
A great big duck, looking for its supper
They take the wine seriously on this side of the river, here is Ceres – Goddess of harvest, fertility, agriculture:
I am Ceres, and these grapes are MINE
Moving on tomorrow, so Chocolate City will have to wait for another trip. Went into the shop though, 30 Euros spent on chocolate in no time. Hang on, that is three bottles of Pouilly-Fumé.
After a few days of doing not a lot in Die, we move on to Tain-l’Hermitage, just across the river from Tournon, where we were a few weeks ago:
Maybe Chocolate City tomorrow.
Église du Prieuré de Tain
Vines from the right bank