France and Spain 2013

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martinjdover
Posts: 103
Joined: September 28th, 2014, 8:57 pm
Location: Poole, Dorset

France and Spain 2013

Post: # 1388Post martinjdover
October 7th, 2014, 9:16 pm

Spain and France via Northumberland - September 2013

The plan for 2013 was that there was no plan. I had saved 21 days of leave so there were four weeks available for our big trip of the year. All we knew for certain was that we had to be in the wilds of Northumberland on Sunday 6 September as we were to be God Parents at a Christening. We left Poole on the Friday lunchtime and wild camped in a pub car park in the Midlands before visiting friends in York and arrived in Northumberland late Saturday evening. After our God Parent Duties we moved onto Alnwick and visited both the Castle and Gardens using complementary tickets provided by one of my old rally co-drivers who now works part-time as a guide at the castle.

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Alnwick Water Gardens

The weather “up-north” was not that good so it was decided that we should head south. Our next night was spent at Donna Nook, a fabulous wild camp we had discovered on the north Lincolnshire coast a couple of years ago which is at the side of a target range and wild life sanctuary. Next morning we took the demountable back to the importers, Niche Marketing, to address a couple of minor, but irritating, issues. Then it was down to Spalding to stay overnight in the driveway of another of my old co-drivers (I got through quite a few)! We used his internet connection to check European weather and to book ferry tickets from Dover to Calais in two days time.

As usual, once we were on the continent, we avoided the toll roads and used mainly the far more interesting minor roads. The journey down through northern and mid France was uneventful and we stayed in camping car aires in some lovely locations. The only one we had to pay for was in Blois in the Loire Valley – not too expensive and a really nice old town.

After leaving Blois the weather was still a bit iffy and I, therefore, put the pedal to the metal to our next aire in the foothills of the Pyrenees and the beautiful small village of Peyrusse le Roc with its interesting towers overlooking a deep valley.

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Peyrusse le Roc Aire

Next day we pushed on again arriving at the awesome Millau bridge, the highest in Europe, for lunch. Weather was still poor with intermittent rain and mist but all was to change soon as just a few miles south of the bridge we exited a short tunnel and were greeted with blue skies and our first glimpses of the Mediterranean.

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Millau Bridge

Our first night on the Med was spent right beside the beach in a free camping car aire near Sete. We had a chat that evening and decided to head for Spain so set off westwards spending our second night at Narbonne Plage, again right beside the beach.

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Narbonne Plage Aire

We then made a detour inland up the Canal du Midi to the incredible fortified town of Carcassonne.

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Carcassonne

After a pleasurable afternoon exploring the town we headed for our next aire at Duilhac Sous Peyrepertuse. To get there our sat nav took us the scenic route, and definitely not the quickest, as we climbed several steep mountain passes and round countless hairpin bends. Great fun for me but Jan wondered where on earth we were going as she was trying to follow the route on the map. This aire is thoroughly recommended but can be a bit busy on a Tuesday when the Pizza van is open – lovely food!

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Duilhac Sous Peyrepertuse Aire

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Off roading in the Pyrenees

The following day it was back to the coast and an aire in the rather grand town of Port Vendres, not far from the Spanish border. Next morning we followed the coast road again which was just beautiful, the sea was the azure and the sky the bluest blue. We stopped for lunch in a layby near the Spanish border and when I took Anya (our springer spaniel) for a run I noted another area away from the road which ran down a narrow track to a disused area. After warning Jan to take the kettle off the stove, I engaged low range and drove over the edge to the surprise of everyone else parked in the layby!

Carrying on into Spain we headed to the coastal town of Feliu de Guixols. Unfortunately the aire was chocked full and even my small demountable wouldn’t fit, so we parked at the roadside just outside the aire. At 7am the next morning we were woken when the camper swayed violently – we had obviously been driven into. By the time I had pulled on some trousers and exited the camper the offender had driven off. The rear corners of the demountable are where the jacking legs are and one of these had fully protected the body – a passer by said the other vehicle had not escaped damage so well!

Not long after we had resumed our journey along the coast road we stopped at a view point near Tossa de Mar and looked down into a lovely rock lined bay where there was a quiet campsite. We decided to have a day off travelling so we could do a clothes wash, a proper shower, and just veg out. As there was internet available I booked my ferry home from Santander to Plymouth in eight days time.

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Tossa de Mar campsite

Next day we pushed on past Lloret de Mar and Blanes before stopping for lunch at Malgrat de Mar. Then it was on to Barcelona with the hope of getting a photo of the truck outside the Sagrada Familiar, Goudi’s amazing cathedral.

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Sagrada Familiar

That done, during three circumnavigations, Jan hopped back into the truck and we continued south stopping the next night in a deserted aire on the outskirts of Sitges.

It was now about time to think about heading west rather than south so our next night was spent at an aire in Vilafranca del Penedes a large rather uninteresting town but with a very pleasant pedestrianised centre. We used major but still toll-free roads towards Zaragoza spending the night at an aire in the lovely small town of Cascante.

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Cascante Aire

There was a scrap/reclamation yard on the outskirts of the town which had some amazing stuff but, as it was a weekend, we could not indulge ourselves (thank goodness), or three dolphins would have come home with us to make a water feature for the garden!

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The Dolphins

The next day it was on to San Sebastien and an aire in a national park above the town with a handy restaurant and some lovely walks. The following day we went into San Sabastien and took a coastal route to the west. After a few miles we went past a sign prohibiting vehicles over 7.5 tonnes then a bit further on another sign prohibiting vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, then a few miles further on again a sign prohibiting motorhomes. It’s funny how sometimes our vehicle is a motorhome and at other times, such as this, it’s just a truck!

We drove into Santander to see a vet who would do the necessary checks to enable us to bring Anya back into the UK. We then drove to an aire 10 mile south of the city at a beautiful village called Carbaceno.

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Carbaceno Aire

Carbaceno is famous in Spain in the same way that Longleat is in the UK – it has a game park. The aire was close to the elephant and water buffalo enclosure and you could walk along the perimeter fence close to the animals. As it was such a nice spot and there were plenty of nice walks in the area we spent the full day there and didn’t move on until the day of our ferry.

The crossing to Plymouth was really calm and we seemed to be bringing the good weather back with us. We made it back to Poole after 27 days, 10 hours and having covered 2850 miles. Oh yes, Arthur, our new Godson, is a real cutie.
Last edited by martinjdover on October 8th, 2014, 11:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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zildjian
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Joined: September 8th, 2013, 3:30 pm

Re: France and Spain 2013

Post: # 1389Post zildjian
October 7th, 2014, 9:35 pm

"woken when the camper swayed violently – we had obviously been driven into.
By the time I had pulled on some trousers and exited the camper the offender had driven off.
The rear corners of the demountable are where the jacking legs are and one of these had fully protected the body –

a passer by said the other vehicle had not escaped damage so well!"


Blimey nightmare close shave there mate,

are there some pictures on the way?
you couldn't a X where you want me to place them could you..

martinjdover
Posts: 103
Joined: September 28th, 2014, 8:57 pm
Location: Poole, Dorset

Re: France and Spain 2013

Post: # 1392Post martinjdover
October 7th, 2014, 10:27 pm

Will do.

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